Privateer: Ascii Sector

Chris Knudsen · 01-11-2007, 13:53

Hello everybody!

For the past 4 or 5 months I've been working in my spare time on an ascii game based on the classic Privateer (my absolute most favorite game!). I've got most parts of the actual flight engine worked out and am currently working on the bases and interaction with the characters in the game. Anyway, I'd like to post a few screenshots and get some feedback. As the entire game will be made up of ascii characters in 16 different colors (such as Adom, if anybody is familiar with that game), this game will mostly be for the retro-gamers out there.

Here are the screenshots:

The ship (the green #) is a Tarsus, by the way.

Regards,
Chris Knudsen

Bob McDob · 01-11-2007, 14:12

This is fantastic.

Fatcat · 01-11-2007, 16:21

I don't think any of us expected this.

... seriously, if this is real, this could be really cool.

NinjaLA · 01-11-2007, 17:10

I... I think I'm in love O_O

its like.. nethack in space!

jaeger · 01-11-2007, 17:29

I wonder if the people who own the wing commander title realise just how big it has become in the years since the last release? That is awesome work! cant wait to try it out!

st3lt3k · 01-11-2007, 18:13

Very nice! Looking forward to trying it out.

Kyran · 01-11-2007, 20:27

What kind of system specs are we talking about here? I've got an old one colour 8086 I wouldn't mind trying this out on.

Chris Knudsen · 01-12-2007, 01:34

Thanks for all the positive replies, guys! It's really encouraging to know that there's people out there who are just as interested in an ascii version of Privateer as I am.

Kyran: I'm not sure how fast the game will run on an old 8086. I'm programming the game on my old Pentium 40 mb RAM laptop and I suspect it should run pretty smoothly on a 486. However, the game repaints the entire screen (all 80x50 characters) 40-60 times a second, which will require a bit of processing power. The game WILL run on a 8086, but it will probably just be very slow. Also, I'm not sure you'll be able to run the game with music and sound effects on such an old computer (yes, I'm using the original music and sounds from Privateer)...

st3lt3k: I'm glad you're looking forward to trying it... but it will take quite a while before I have a fully playable demo up and running. The screenshots have been taken from a running version of the flight engine, but I still need to implement stuff like sliding (so that the ship doesn't change direction immediately) and missiles. I'll release a demo version, which will feature only 5 systems to visit and no plot. You'll be able to fly around these systems and carry out non-plot missions and upgrade your ship (or buy a new one), but that's "all". I suspect it will take at least a year before I have this demo version done. Then I'll start working on the full game with all the systems and the plot worked out.

I'll continue to post updates in this thread. And keep the comments and questions coming!

Ironduke · 01-12-2007, 02:29

Quite amazing! Looks like ASCII is not dead, after all...

I can only guess how much work went into this so far, but even that's just plain impressive. Keep it up!

(Will it support multiplayer?

Nah, just kidding...!)

Don · 01-12-2007, 03:08

Wow! A retro look of what 'could-of-been'. Privateer, in the early 80s? With multiplayer!?

Now thats wierd.

None the less, Chris is doing some impressive work here thats caught many of us in surprise and in amazement.

Scrotor · 01-12-2007, 05:27

Chris, you're truely insaine

I can't wait to play a demo.

privfan · 01-12-2007, 10:55

interesting

braces · 01-12-2007, 16:55

Thats a pretty nice ascii style of a game here.

Wish it had more of an original setting but thats just ok, and I'm still looking to see how the gameplay is done.

Chris Knudsen · 01-13-2007, 00:59

Just wanted to clear up a few things...

I know Ironduke was kidding, but: no multiplayer. I currently have no idea how to make an internet based multiplayer game, and the game is designed as singleplayer, so I have no plans to make it multiplayer.

NinjaLA was comparing it with Nethack, just like I was comparing it with Adom, due to the text-based character of the game. However, both those games are turn based -- Ascii Sector will be realtime.

braces: When I started working on the game engine, I was undecided whether or not to make a completely original game or a game based on Privateer. I decided on the latter, but the game will still have an original setting. The game takes place in a new sector with new systems and bases (all bases will be unique, and you can walk around them talking to everybody -- some people will have missions for you, some won't). So, just because it takes place in the Privateer universe doesn't mean it will be a rehash of that game.

Again, thanks for all the comments!

NinjaLA · 01-13-2007, 01:59

its real time? even better :P

KrisV · 01-13-2007, 12:33

Can you make a gameplay video? This looks great, I'd like to see it in motion.

Chris Knudsen · 01-13-2007, 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by KrisV

Can you make a gameplay video? This looks great, I'd like to see it in motion.

I'd like to, but I'm not sure how I'd go about making something like that. I suppose I just need a program to capture whatever is on the screen to a movie clip, but what kind of program can do that? Also, the game has to run fullscreen in Windows, otherwise it won't be smooth -- will such a program be able to capture the contents of a DOS program running in fullscreen?

EDIT: Nevermind... I think I found a program to do this. I'll get a clip up as soon as possible...

Chris Knudsen · 01-14-2007, 03:48

I've tried a couple of programs and none of them were able to capture video clips of a fullscreen DOS program.

If anybody know of such a program, please let me know.

Scrotor · 01-14-2007, 14:15

Use a video camera or digital camera with usb or firewire hookups. Video the screen, dump it to the computer, voila!, instant happy viewers.

Andrewas · 01-14-2007, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Knudsen

I've tried a couple of programs and none of them were able to capture video clips of a fullscreen DOS program.

This is probably because these programs are intended to take videos of games, and all games these days render through DirectX or OpenGL, so the program looks at your video cards colour buffer and records that. But a DOS program dosen't touch that buffer.

It may be worth looking through the options to see if you can enable recording from SVGA or something along those lines.

Alternately, try looking for a program intended to capture windows, I saw one a while back which was for making tutorials for windows programs, but it was commercial only.

Or you could write a program to replay a set sequence of moves. You should have most of the code for doing that already.

Or you could point a video camera at the screen, but quality will suffer.

Im worried about graphical quality in a video of an ASCII game. I need to play more angband.

Chris Knudsen · 01-14-2007, 22:47

How come the simplest solution is often the hardest to think of?

I'll just film the screen with my girlfriend's digital camera...

AD · 01-15-2007, 00:19

This is a dos program? Did you try the video capture stuff in dosbox 0.65? As well, I had no problem recording wc2 in dosbox with FRAPS though the sound ended up wierd.

Shere Khan · 01-15-2007, 03:10

I've had similar problems some time ago: all the conventional capture programs only worked with D3D or OpenGL, and I needed to record a video from a Java game run in a browser. but there was this one app that made my day, called SnagIt. it can grab any region of the screen, and encode it using any codec you have. maybe it can manage capturing a dos screen, too? either from a window, or directly... could be worth a try.

Andrewas · 01-15-2007, 03:40

It just occured to me that DOSbox renders, or at least can render, with openGL. That should record easily in FRAPS or anything simila.

Chris Knudsen · 01-15-2007, 05:46

I finally managed to get three video clips of the game -- took me a couple of hours. I filmed the screen with a digital camera, then transfered the files to my stationary computer, then converted the three 15 mb AVIs to much smaller WMVs. The quality isn't very good, but they should give you an idea of the game:

http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/1.wmv
Here I encounter another ship (a Talon, but that's pretty hard to see) and shoot at it until it explodes. As I haven't programmed the AI yet, the Talon doesn't move or anything.

http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/2.wmv
Here I pass by a planet. I can't land on it yet, as I haven't finished programming the bases (planets, asteroids and space stations).

http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/3.wmv
Here I jump to another system. The jump point at the other system is surrounded by asteroids, so I shoot at them a bit. Then finally fly into one too many and explode.

I haven't done all the sounds and music yet, so there's only one tune playing in these clips and not all sound effects are working.

Shere Khan: I actually tried using SnagIt, but it could only capture the game in a window, which doesn't run smoothly.

Andrewas & AD: I couldn't capture any video in DOSBox. Don't know why.

Shere Khan · 01-15-2007, 10:42

wow, a lot of progress! targeting works, damage indicators work, even some FX are in place! very impressive.

you know, I've got an idea. there's this Belgian artist making damn good ascii portraits, Otium from Galza art project: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=145805637 . he's a good friend, and says he's willing to help with gfx for the game (talking heads, starbases etc) if you're interested. I'll PM you his e-mail; please contact the guy.

NinjaLA · 01-15-2007, 13:02

ok... that is truly neat.. keep us updated, will ya? and if you need a beta tester, I voulenteer.

01-11-2007, 13:53	#1
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	Privateer: Ascii Sector Hello everybody! For the past 4 or 5 months I've been working in my spare time on an ascii game based on the classic Privateer (my absolute most favorite game!). I've got most parts of the actual flight engine worked out and am currently working on the bases and interaction with the characters in the game. Anyway, I'd like to post a few screenshots and get some feedback. As the entire game will be made up of ascii characters in 16 different colors (such as Adom, if anybody is familiar with that game), this game will mostly be for the retro-gamers out there. Here are the screenshots: The ship (the green #) is a Tarsus, by the way. Regards, Chris Knudsen __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-11-2007, 14:12	#2
Bob McDob Mola mola Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Grassy Knizzle Posts: 3,117	This is fantastic. __________________ Aboard one destroyer, [Admiral Jacky Fisher] saw the sign "UT VENIANT OMNES" in gold letters mounted on the bridge. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Let 'em all come", replied the youthful lieutenant in command. Robert Massie If it's stupid but it works, then it isn't stupid.

01-11-2007, 17:10	#4
NinjaLA Drowned Kilrathi Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seward, AK Posts: 737	I... I think I'm in love O_O its like.. nethack in space! __________________ WC webcomic and art galleries

01-11-2007, 20:27	#7
Kyran 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192	What kind of system specs are we talking about here? I've got an old one colour 8086 I wouldn't mind trying this out on. __________________ A Perfect Plan 1.2.0 - A Standalone Release based on Flight Commander A Perfect Plan 1.2.0 to 1.2.1 Update

01-12-2007, 01:34	#8
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	Thanks for all the positive replies, guys! It's really encouraging to know that there's people out there who are just as interested in an ascii version of Privateer as I am. Kyran: I'm not sure how fast the game will run on an old 8086. I'm programming the game on my old Pentium 40 mb RAM laptop and I suspect it should run pretty smoothly on a 486. However, the game repaints the entire screen (all 80x50 characters) 40-60 times a second, which will require a bit of processing power. The game WILL run on a 8086, but it will probably just be very slow. Also, I'm not sure you'll be able to run the game with music and sound effects on such an old computer (yes, I'm using the original music and sounds from Privateer)... st3lt3k: I'm glad you're looking forward to trying it... but it will take quite a while before I have a fully playable demo up and running. The screenshots have been taken from a running version of the flight engine, but I still need to implement stuff like sliding (so that the ship doesn't change direction immediately) and missiles. I'll release a demo version, which will feature only 5 systems to visit and no plot. You'll be able to fly around these systems and carry out non-plot missions and upgrade your ship (or buy a new one), but that's "all". I suspect it will take at least a year before I have this demo version done. Then I'll start working on the full game with all the systems and the plot worked out. I'll continue to post updates in this thread. And keep the comments and questions coming! __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-11-2007, 16:21	#3
Fatcat Swabbie Banned Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: At my computer, duh. Posts: 597	I don't think any of us expected this. ... seriously, if this is real, this could be really cool.

01-11-2007, 17:29	#5
jaeger 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: California Posts: 195	I wonder if the people who own the wing commander title realise just how big it has become in the years since the last release? That is awesome work! cant wait to try it out!

01-11-2007, 18:13	#6
st3lt3k I can have an avatar now Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 179	Very nice! Looking forward to trying it out.

01-12-2007, 02:29	#9
Ironduke Captain Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 354	Quite amazing! Looks like ASCII is not dead, after all... I can only guess how much work went into this so far, but even that's just plain impressive. Keep it up! (Will it support multiplayer? Nah, just kidding...!) __________________ Wing Commander: Tactical Operations

01-12-2007, 03:08	#10
Don 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: UK Posts: 235	Wow! A retro look of what 'could-of-been'. Privateer, in the early 80s? With multiplayer!? Now thats wierd. None the less, Chris is doing some impressive work here thats caught many of us in surprise and in amazement. __________________ "Whereas the passion, lies a degree of lunacy" SJ, 2006

01-12-2007, 05:27	#11
Scrotor Cadet Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 23	Chris, you're truely insaine I can't wait to play a demo.

01-12-2007, 10:55	#12
privfan 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 170	interesting

01-12-2007, 16:55	#13
braces Cadet Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 5	Thats a pretty nice ascii style of a game here. Wish it had more of an original setting but thats just ok, and I'm still looking to see how the gameplay is done.

01-13-2007, 00:59	#14
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	Just wanted to clear up a few things... I know Ironduke was kidding, but: no multiplayer. I currently have no idea how to make an internet based multiplayer game, and the game is designed as singleplayer, so I have no plans to make it multiplayer. NinjaLA was comparing it with Nethack, just like I was comparing it with Adom, due to the text-based character of the game. However, both those games are turn based -- Ascii Sector will be realtime. braces: When I started working on the game engine, I was undecided whether or not to make a completely original game or a game based on Privateer. I decided on the latter, but the game will still have an original setting. The game takes place in a new sector with new systems and bases (all bases will be unique, and you can walk around them talking to everybody -- some people will have missions for you, some won't). So, just because it takes place in the Privateer universe doesn't mean it will be a rehash of that game. Again, thanks for all the comments! __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-13-2007, 01:59	#15
NinjaLA Drowned Kilrathi Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seward, AK Posts: 737	its real time? even better :P __________________ WC webcomic and art galleries

01-13-2007, 12:33	#16
KrisV Space Marshal Administrator Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: The Reid System Posts: 3,168	Can you make a gameplay video? This looks great, I'd like to see it in motion. __________________ The Wing Commander CIC Forum Rules

01-14-2007, 03:48	#18
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	I've tried a couple of programs and none of them were able to capture video clips of a fullscreen DOS program. If anybody know of such a program, please let me know. __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-14-2007, 14:15	#19
Scrotor Cadet Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 23	No Sweat Use a video camera or digital camera with usb or firewire hookups. Video the screen, dump it to the computer, voila!, instant happy viewers.

01-14-2007, 22:47	#21
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	How come the simplest solution is often the hardest to think of? I'll just film the screen with my girlfriend's digital camera... __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-15-2007, 00:19	#22
AD Finder of things, Doer of stuff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 3,066	This is a dos program? Did you try the video capture stuff in dosbox 0.65? As well, I had no problem recording wc2 in dosbox with FRAPS though the sound ended up wierd. __________________ "I saw a monster come with speed, Its face of grimmliest green, On human beings used to feed, Most dreadful to be seen." - Excerpt from Horrors, Lewis Carroll, 1850

01-15-2007, 03:10	#23
Shere Khan Cadet Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Moscow, Russia Posts: 62	I've had similar problems some time ago: all the conventional capture programs only worked with D3D or OpenGL, and I needed to record a video from a Java game run in a browser. but there was this one app that made my day, called SnagIt. it can grab any region of the screen, and encode it using any codec you have. maybe it can manage capturing a dos screen, too? either from a window, or directly... could be worth a try.

01-15-2007, 03:40	#24
Andrewas 2nd Lieutenant Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 78	It just occured to me that DOSbox renders, or at least can render, with openGL. That should record easily in FRAPS or anything simila.

01-15-2007, 05:46	#25
Chris Knudsen 1st Lieutenant Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 186	I finally managed to get three video clips of the game -- took me a couple of hours. I filmed the screen with a digital camera, then transfered the files to my stationary computer, then converted the three 15 mb AVIs to much smaller WMVs. The quality isn't very good, but they should give you an idea of the game: http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/1.wmv Here I encounter another ship (a Talon, but that's pretty hard to see) and shoot at it until it explodes. As I haven't programmed the AI yet, the Talon doesn't move or anything. http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/2.wmv Here I pass by a planet. I can't land on it yet, as I haven't finished programming the bases (planets, asteroids and space stations). http://www.asciisector.net/development/07-01-15/3.wmv Here I jump to another system. The jump point at the other system is surrounded by asteroids, so I shoot at them a bit. Then finally fly into one too many and explode. I haven't done all the sounds and music yet, so there's only one tune playing in these clips and not all sound effects are working. Shere Khan: I actually tried using SnagIt, but it could only capture the game in a window, which doesn't run smoothly. Andrewas & AD: I couldn't capture any video in DOSBox. Don't know why. __________________ Privateer: Ascii Sector NEW SECTOR NEW ADVENTURES

01-15-2007, 10:42	#26
Shere Khan Cadet Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Moscow, Russia Posts: 62	wow, a lot of progress! targeting works, damage indicators work, even some FX are in place! very impressive. you know, I've got an idea. there's this Belgian artist making damn good ascii portraits, Otium from Galza art project: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=145805637 . he's a good friend, and says he's willing to help with gfx for the game (talking heads, starbases etc) if you're interested. I'll PM you his e-mail; please contact the guy.

01-15-2007, 13:02	#27
NinjaLA Drowned Kilrathi Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Seward, AK Posts: 737	ok... that is truly neat.. keep us updated, will ya? and if you need a beta tester, I voulenteer. __________________ WC webcomic and art galleries