As I've said in previous threads I have taken the mapviewer code and have slowly been adding networking code to it. Last week I had it to the point of hosting a server and being able to join it.

This weekend I switched all my raw socket code to a more advanced C++ library called Raknet. The reason I switched is because it's a professional networking library and is extremely fast. It also takes care of things like banning ips, setting server passwords, lobby servers, file transfers, and connection encryption. Unfortunately this meant I had to write a wrapper to expose the library to Python, which took me the better part of saturday and sunday.

The good news is Raknet is up and running. You can pick a player name, player colour and rig and roam around the map and chat with up to 7 other players.

I will now work on improving the user interface, and adding actual races and a highscore system. I will also make a dedicated server program, which hopefully someone here will host eventually that will track highscores and other things.

Some screens:

*wang asplodes*

jesus christ dude you own

also i could probably host the dedicated server when i fix my pc poo poo

also i like how winner gets capitalized 

+1 CP for life!!!!!!!!!!

Someone should update the stellar stone blog and start spreading the news to websites likes kotaku and rockpapershotgun. BIG RIGS ONLINE IS COMING!

I think this deserves infinite cool points and four three-handled trophies.

Words can not describe how happy I am. Perhaps you and I could play around for a bit so I can screen cap some in-game shots so I can make a HYPE trailer for it

im working on fancying up that online menu, dont worrryyyy!

oh my fetching god

i think i just lost 2 pounds from sheer orgasm

With this power, we should develop and release (as freeware to spread the WINNER) a Big Rigs 2: More Over The Road Racing

Words can not describe how happy I am. Perhaps you and I could play around for a bit so I can screen cap some in-game shots so I can make a HYPE trailer for it

The next downloadable release will actually have races implemented. Not sure how long this will take but I'd say a week tops. I have tons of work to do still, but I'm steadily making progress. I usually spend about 2-3 hours a weekday and about 8 hours on the weekends working on this.

CAN I HELP

CAN I HELP

At this early stage their isn't much that can be done unless you know python extensively. You'll also need a good knowledge of 3d graphics concepts and networking.

Just to give you an idea of the tasks that need to be done here's a list of things that I'll be tackling over the next few weeks:

- Write a GLSL fragment shader to adjust the terrain brightness based on a lightmap. (You could use my alpha texture and terrain alpha splat mapping materials as examples on how to do this.)
- Wrap more of the Raknet C++ interface using boost.python (You'll need to know C++, python, and the boost.python library to do this)
- Create a colour palette widget that'll interface with the QuickGUI library. (You'll need to delve into the QuickGui C++ source in order to figure out how to do this)
- Code a dedicated server interface that will minimize to the taskbar and do the following things (You'll have to use C++ or Python to interface with Raknet):
                        - Keep a database of account names and passwords, and the high scores associated with them
                        - Create an administrative account interface for things like banning ips and changing maps
                        - Maybe interface with a webserver and display high scores as html in your web browser?
- Decode the fonts in BROTRR and figure out how to wrap them in Ogre.
- Make a nice looking multiplayer menu (Some graphics design knowledge and knowledge of QuickGui skin definitions)


Each of these tasks can easily range from 8-40 hours each of coding time for me, and I have a fair idea of what I'm doing. But basically unless you know Python extensively there is not much you can do at this stage. However if you do know Python and Ogre3d there are a lot of tasks I could give someone.

DAMN IT i cant do any of that