The Dink Network

The last thread was getting out of hand, so I'm starting a new one (This time a preview thread).

Completion:
Unknown

Estimated Release Date:
Unknown, probably not for a while

Next Expected Beta Release:
Unknown, postponed due to bugs

Specifications:
Windows:
Internet: I dunno how fast, I guess any reasonable speed is okay
Screen Resolution: 1024x768
Microsoft compatible mouse and keyboard
DirectX 7 or higher

Official Site

Screenshots and Concept Images:
Early Interface Design

Current List:
Ducks
Chat
Levelling System
Capture the Flag
A virtual economy
Secret areas
Level dependant zones
Multiple spells and items
One on one battles
Wandering monsters
NPCs for shops etc
Betting on fights
Changeable armour
Intro sequence
Trading between players
A way of humiliating banned users

NOTE: means it is not implemented yet, means it is being worked on, means completed. This is meant to be a colour code, the actual smiley doesn't mean anything.

Those pictures looks like they were drawn by a 10 year old with ghetto ms-paint skills.

I mean actual screenshots this time, and better demonstrative graphics. The MS Paint pictures were kinda half a joke and half too lazy to make proper pictures.

remember to make heaps of buildings and eye candy.

I probably should increase the screen resolution to 1024x768, shouldn't I?

If you're going to increase the resolution, don't aim for the bronze medal. Go for gold man.

The highest my monitor supports is 1080p, only problem is making it high res would mean people with smaller screens may suffer. I'll try and work something out.

People are still using screens in that size? o.O

A lot of the computers at my school are 1024x768, though it does look awefully weird and, "largish". I, myself, have a larger monitor, but I just want to make sure I don't alienate or exclude too many people. The larger I can make it without becoming too large for most people, the better.

1920x1080 plz.

No Glenn, just, no.
1024x768 is as high as many of us can go, myself included.

I can go as high as 1080p (16:9) as GlennGlenn asked, but many people can't, so the new interface will be ncreased to 1024x768 (from 800x600) which is still better than the original 640x480.

Good move. Go for what everyone can do. Not just what a few people can do.
You wanna be popular, right?

By the way, I like that interface, FB!

We're all okay with still having a sixteen item inventory, right? Any objections?

I recall someone saying that Seth thought that would be all anyone needed, but then again someone else said that 640K RAM would be enough for anyone...

Why not make the res an option?
& my memory says that Seth didn't want peeps stacking their inventory with potions (cf diablo) which was the reason for a small inv

Good old Bill Gates. I have been wondering, who will host the server? You can't run it out of your garage forever. (Or wine cellar etc.) Would RedInk host it?

Otherwise you'd have to rent out a russian shell server which is prohibitively expensive.

I had a good talk with BG (good being relative...) today and discussed ODA. We got some stuff sorted out and up-to-date. New problems have arrisen, but I will get these sorted out quickly so I can start getting something playable (for a possible beta release).

A host for the server still hasn't been established, but one of us will be undoubtedly hosting it, BlackGuard most likely, but don't be put off by the fact it will be run from a PC because as far as I know, mine is average and BG's XP is far superior to my Win 7, and I trust his machine(s) more than my own.

BG probably needs a pretty good connection as well as a decent computer.

ADSL2+ going on fibre good enough?

Depends, what is your upload limit? While many connections nowadays have a ton of download speed, upload speeds tend to be limited to something ridiculous like 100KB/s.

;(;(;( No Linux support........ Thought it was browser based at first.

It will be a downloadable executable. Linux support will likely only be available when I get Linux and the Linux version of the compiler.

...and when you get rid of the entire DirectX dependency. (Unless you've written a way around that, to, say, use a different graphics API rather easily, and use that for any non-Windows version?)

What's the progress behind this, by the way?

Yes. Linux support will not exist unless you use opengl. (Directx is windows only!)
Maybe make the windows version WINE Capable? (WINE means :Wine is not an Emulator, it lets .exe run on linux, its very limited but works well with a-lot of games, such as guild wars)

WINE is pretty cool, I once played WoW on it when my Windows partition was screwed. Now I have neither (WoW or Wine, actually I don't have Linux dual boot at all anymore).

I think people would appreciate a proper port rather than having to resort to WINE, not saying it's bad or anything, but it might not work as expected. As far as I know, the libraries are portable, it definitely uses DirectX on Windows but it says that it can be ported to Linux, Mac, and even Amiga. I'm assuming it will use different libraries when compiling for OpenGL or something, but I'll have to check that out.

And the progress: I have blown my sound card up. Long story... It involves op-shopping for a second hand phone that cost $1 and finding a way of recording phone calls on my computer...

So I guess you're using some special libraries that already handle the graphics engine used? Cool.

By the way, the Wine folks prefer the non-allcaps naming of "Wine" over "WINE", because it is more aesthetically pleasing. Yes, I'm an active member on the forums there.

Status Update:
- Interface is almost completed
- Database has been tidied up
- Still an unresolved issue with connectivity
- The original intro concept has been scrapped
- The map is planned to be big

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions don't be afraid to ask, but I don't want to make a WoW/Runescape clone.

this should a whole new level for dink
no pressure

For a suggestion, well in runescape they have something called clan chat. You create a channel and other players can join it and talk, similar to irc only built into the game itself. Will you have something similar?

That's a good idea, I have been thinking of making multiple chats, but for the moment the main issue is making the client usable before we go adding all the fancy features. Right about now I'm working on improvements to the server and adding in more of the DCP commands. Afterwards, there will be extensive work on the map.

I will take this into consideration though when the client is ready for these things.

The mention of Runescape by the Violator scares me further. MUST RESIST DUEL ARENA CHALLENGING.

Can you use PNG-images for the game?
I'm thinking about this ones.

Zeddex said: "make heaps of buildings and eye candy"

Boobs.

This has gone nowhere, I suspect?

Clearly.

Based on personal experience, a developer isn't going to post weekly as he's a developer, not a marketeer. So it could still be in active development although based on previous Dink Online projects, this may follow the same fate.

Update:
I will be working extensively on the gigantic map over the next few eeks. I will probably make a map editor that saves to the ODA map format to speed the process along, but I doubt it will be made public. Anyway, just to let you guys all know, I'm still considering finishing this. Also, BG is MIA, so I am unsure of who is going to host the server at the moment, but we actually need something to serve first, so it isn't necessarily high up in the priorities.

If you make this game, I could host it.

;(

;(