Ok, ZDoomGL v2 For Real This Time

[timmie]

Ok, I think that's enough of a break from things :)  I'm finally looking at restarting ZDoomGL once again.  Things are still in the research and planning phase but at least things are progressing!  Stuff I'm looking at this time around:

OpenGL 2.0 Required
The new materials system is going to use GLSL exclusively, at least for now.
New Materials System
I'm looking at using a materials system that will automatically generate the high level shader code in the game engine.  You'll be able to edit said materials using a visual editor that I'm working on right now.  Hopefully it'll look something like the Unreal materials editor.  Should be interesting.  Basically it'll be like an uber version of the old "shaders" stuff that the current ZDoomGL stuff supports.  You'll be able to edit materials and then bind them to textures, at least that's the plan.
Normal/Specular Mapping
This goes hand in hand with the materials stuff, but everything in the game will have those render passes.
Shadows
Yes, dynamic shadows.  I've always thought there was nothing stopping people from adding it to the Doom engine, but nobody has yet.
Frame Effects
Heat haze, reflection/refraction, bloom, etc

All those things are going to be completely controllable by the mapper since what's the point of adding that stuff if you don't let the people with the artistic vision fiddle with it (at least, that's always been my thoughts on engine features)?

No real timeline on things since I do have a real job that I quite enjoy, but I'll do my best at keeping people updated on my progress (or lack of it).  Oh, and I'm not planning on doing any more private alpha/beta releases.  Any release is going to be 100% public, source and all.

edit: ok, the list stuff doesn't work on the news page...

[DD_133]

Sounds awesome, can't wait to see some progress!

EDIT: Do you plan to incorporate the latest Zdoom into this as well?

[timmie]

Yes, I'll be using 2.1.7 for any work now and will keep it updated to any public releases.

[Graf Zahl]

If you start with 2.1.7 you will run into problems because important low level code has changed since then. Better start on the current SVN repository.

[timmie]

Sweet, thanks for the heads up.  I generally tried to stay away from using development code because features would be unstable, but since any sort of release is way out still I guess it doesn't really matter ;)

[Graf Zahl]

You should know Randy well enough by now that the official releases don't represent particularly stable revisions. Since I am actually playing the game with the latest development code I would notice serious problems immediately. The current SVN code is stable enough in my opinion.

[Galaxy_Stranger]

YAAAAY!  Awesome news!

If the new Skulltag buzz pans out, if ZDoom inherently gets client/server in the future will that screw with your work much?

[timmie]

No, I'm looking to keep the rendering code as separate from the game code as much as possible.  It started to get too tied to the game before and was becoming cumbersome to merge with any drops from Randy.  Hopefully with the new interface design things can be segregated as much as possible, making any changes from Randy/Graf easier to bring in.

[PacifistGunman]

Ok, I think that's enough of a break from things :)  I'm finally looking at restarting ZDoomGL once again.  Things are still in the research and planning phase but at least things are progressing!  Stuff I'm looking at this time around:

OpenGL 2.0 Required
The new materials system is going to use GLSL exclusively, at least for now.
New Materials System
I'm looking at using a materials system that will automatically generate the high level shader code in the game engine.  You'll be able to edit said materials using a visual editor that I'm working on right now.  Hopefully it'll look something like the Unreal materials editor.  Should be interesting.  Basically it'll be like an uber version of the old "shaders" stuff that the current ZDoomGL stuff supports.  You'll be able to edit materials and then bind them to textures, at least that's the plan.
Normal/Specular Mapping
This goes hand in hand with the materials stuff, but everything in the game will have those render passes.
Shadows
Yes, dynamic shadows.  I've always thought there was nothing stopping people from adding it to the Doom engine, but nobody has yet.
Frame Effects
Heat haze, reflection/refraction, bloom, etc

All those things are going to be completely controllable by the mapper since what's the point of adding that stuff if you don't let the people with the artistic vision fiddle with it (at least, that's always been my thoughts on engine features)?

No real timeline on things since I do have a real job that I quite enjoy, but I'll do my best at keeping people updated on my progress (or lack of it).  Oh, and I'm not planning on doing any more private alpha/beta releases.  Any release is going to be 100% public, source and all.

edit: ok, the list stuff doesn't work on the news page...

I was wondering, do you want to make ZDoomGL 2.x be based on OdaMex, I'm sure you can get permission from the zDoom staff for the name.

Basically, do an IO library switchout from SDL to more convetional, yet equally modern and open-source libraries.

It would be ZDoomGL2, not ZDoomGL 2.0, of course, but this is a better idea for a project.

The additional functions would be to retain compatability with zDoom levels, vs using Doom Legacy / Edge level format.

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Uh - then it wouldn't be ZDoomGL.  It would be OdamexGL.  Besides, they're planning on a GL version anyway.