Mars Explorer - Streamed Worlds

47 Comments - 4359 Views

Coming in Mars Explorer 2.0...

Submitted By admin on 09/07/24

Mars Explorer, admin, Official

If you have been working hard on a new world for Mars Explorer - please accept my thanks, and the congratulations of the rest of the Mars Explorer community!

However, you aren't alone...

With it's 5 current maps, Mars Explorer's web player data file is already nearly 13 megabytes - which is a large amount of information to package into an "all or nothing" game file. I can't add any new maps without increasing this size still further - and I don't want to start "rotating" maps, because it will be too sad to bid an entire world farewell after it has become a beloved feature of the game.

There's a much better solution: Streamed Worlds.

I have begun developing a new world format that will allow game worlds to be described as a simple text file (much like a source file for 3D objects in Sketchup or Blender), and which will allow anyone to create their own worlds and use them in their games. This will be the paramount feature of Mars Explorer 2.0, and it will add a whole new dimension to the game we all enjoy.

I am even going to be releasing the source code to read and write these worlds from any Unity application - which means that all the Unity games which implement it will be able to seamlessly share worlds with each other!

I can't provide a timeline yet - but let's just say that I begain work this morning, and already have a library to load extremely simle BZFlag worlds off the internet and generate them inside Unity.

At this rate, Mars Explorer 2.0 should definitely be a reality within several decades!

Anyway, here's a fun screenshot of nothing in particular:

(The "World" panel is a part of some custom Unity editor tools I have in the works...)

First Test: BZFlag world successfully generated inside Unity

All the best,

-Aubrey

» Comment on Document Threaded Hybrid Flat 47 Comments

babag

5 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 5:43 GMT

:( That's sad. Is there a fast forward button at least?

-sigh-

Alright! Alright! Just stop yelling :P

Im looking forward to the future.

How long is a decade? Two minutes? I guess i could wait that long... :)

MacDane

1 week - 15,726v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 7:18 GMT

Just about 5.256.000 minutes...

Don't hold your breath waiting. :O)

babag

5 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 7:27 GMT

Now you tell me... I was getting pretty blue for a while.

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 18:31 GMT

A decade is ten years... I think he was joking...

tsa6

1 day - 2,908v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 21:44 GMT

I got exactly 1,576,800.

That's all 3 decades.

Olim

1 week - 10,736v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 7:34 GMT

Great idea Aubrey! This will certainly stimulate people to get into 3D-modeling! :D

Will people be able to save maps that are not their own? Of course the name the creator gave it and the creator's name should still be visible. Saving maps that are not your own will provide new players with a lot of insight in how these things are done, it also makes for a very fast spread of loved worlds.

Save, load, share. :)

MacDane

1 week - 15,726v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 8:51 GMT

Hi Aubrey,

As I read it, the worlds we play in would be pulled from a simple text file.

If this is correct, why not make a map rendering program?

Choosing map size, would provide the player with a slap of land to start modifying.

Different brush sizes for use with the different tools available

Elevation settings applied by brush in different levels of elevation from deep seas to towering mountains.

Default lava altitude would be just under the default land level.

All this could provide fast, easy to build maps, but...

What if the maps could be tried by the creator and there could be sliders in the map menu, allowing for the creator to scale the map in all 3 dimensions?

I also suggest that map files could be stored and shared through a map server, properly fitted with a preview option for each map.

Sincerely,

- Johnny

Aubrey (admin)

2 weeks - 17,125v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 13:08 GMT

All this - and more - is planned!

...And with the with the way I am designing these libraries, the map creation system could even be inside a game like Mars Explorer...

shadowflyer

19 minutes - 27v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 11:31 GMT

several decades!

thats a long time i bet that 2.0 will be realy good

kruncher

3 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 12:35 GMT

So if Velociraptor shared this technique, we could play Mars Explorer in the map from that game?

Dane and I were going to ask for something like that map at some point. Cool!

Aubrey (admin)

2 weeks - 17,125v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 13:02 GMT

Heh! Yep, that was what I first thought of when sharing maps as well :)

cheezburger

3 days - 11,836v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 13:45 GMT

Wait.. are we going to have the same worlds we have now in newer versions? Oh and maybe make the size 14 MB. Because if we stop at 13 MB, then we might be unlucky and we might not get many new people and .. ya.

cheezburger

3 days - 11,836v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 13:48 GMT

OH and one more thing..

Within like 10 or 20 years...

Gaming will be compleatly different...

3-D games will be a thing of the past and they might make them 4-D or even somthing unimaginal, so maybe having 2.0 within severl decades will not be good. compared to the other games in that time era.

ACC (matthew)

1 day - 4,262v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 17:10 GMT

4-d has to do with space and time.

DECADES? Wow. I'd be like 30 or 40 by then.

Malcon

22 hours - 2,470v

Posted 2009/07/31 - 15:46 GMT

so maybe a game with a ingame time travel sistem alowing for real time travel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

=D i need that beta-suit from timeshift!!!!!!!!!!! Malconer

lol me from roblox, lol

killerdude (ericlujan)

3 days - 8,162v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 17:05 GMT

*has a sad face and sighs* Does this mean you won't implement my newest maze?!

ACC (matthew)

1 day - 4,262v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 17:22 GMT

Woah Did you say five worlds?

GalaxyAwesome

17 hours - 1,169v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 17:36 GMT

He might be talking about the Mons world in the iPhone app.

cheezburger

3 days - 11,836v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 19:32 GMT

I think you are right flyclub!! (I hope) wow sure did think that it was going to be decades. Because if it was, there will be versions like, 1.9.9.9.99.9999.3.2.45

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 19:33 GMT

no, more like version 1.9.9.9

MOD- The file converter (supercheese)

4 days - 10,991v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 23:36 GMT

Just to speak frankly, I don't entirely like this idea. Yes, doing this would allow us to make our own worlds, witch I would love to do, but I think it would lead us away from the very essence of mars explorer. There would be worlds like "My house" or "war zone". I just think that this would just make mars explorer to expandable. So I suggest that just a simple world editor with fixed terrain textures (with some mars explorer-y buildings) so that the mars part of mars explorer is preserved.

Super Cheese

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 23:39 GMT

GUess what! THe noobs would not know about those things... And..... Who cares if they did! Do you play in those servers anyway? Start your own server, and MAKE your experience mars explorer!

MOD- The file converter (supercheese)

4 days - 10,991v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 23:41 GMT

Yea, another thing, maybe there could be a 'Members only" lounge. That way, I can find all of my MX buddies and get my butt tagged to 2000 alt! and we could see the worlds made by pros like you and eric!

Super Cheese

babag

5 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 3:35 GMT

I think the way it would work is, you would be able to make your own world and use it in your server and people in your server could save your map and use it as well. It wouldn't be like a giant list of everyone's maps i dont think.

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/24 - 23:43 GMT

Aubrey - Do you really mean that it will take decades?

I'm pretty sure you don't, but I am rather literal in some cases, especially possibly negative ones - so please do enlighten me!

killerdude (ericlujan)

3 days - 8,162v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 3:29 GMT

It is probably a typo or joke.

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 6:24 GMT

That's what I was thinking, but I was just being sure lol.

My thought was that many people were thinking "2.0 is going to take FOR EV ER", and being sarcastic might say:"we would have to wait decades to get it!", I think Aubrey may have been playing off of that - I sure hope so. THough the more I think about it, the more I think he probably will not have made THAT little progress by the time he's 30/40/50 lol.

Yeah, he was joking lol.

babag

5 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 7:16 GMT

You over think things... quite a lot... lol.

Chi (Fai)

1 week - 8,888v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 13:10 GMT

well i suppose a mars decade is about 18.8 earth years... so actually if it were to take a decade on mars, it would take almost two decades on earth... So if it took multiple decades on mars, i would probably be dead by the time it was finished. And nobody really cares, i just wanted to actually make a post after looking up how long a mars year is and doing all the calculations...

AppleSky

1 week - 22,668v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 17:48 GMT

But what if he stated that it would be decades on Mars but meant for it to be time on Earth. As such the reverse ratio would need to be applied giving only 5.319148936170213 Earth years. And if he has been working on it since the first version it would only take 3.68901194986884 more years!

killerdude (ericlujan)

3 days - 8,162v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 16:45 GMT

That's right! Lol. He would be dead. Good observation. Could we stop taking this so seriously. If it were to take decades, he probably wouldn't have mentioned it now.

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 19:26 GMT

he would not die at the age of 50, the average human life span is 80! We are no longer in the 10th century!

Nikki (Ren467)

6 days - 14,801v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 19:41 GMT

And minute by minute McDonalds are growing faster and faster averaging the human life span TOO

*drum rolls*

50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not anything I say is probably not a true fact but is a well thought out guess.

AppleSky

1 week - 22,668v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 19:52 GMT

And 74% of statistics are made of the top of someone's head.

Flynn Clubbaire (mod) (flyclub)

4 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 20:25 GMT

would this one be from the remaining 26?

AppleSky

1 week - 22,668v

Posted 2009/07/25 - 20:55 GMT

Experts say there is a 23.568% that it is.

teriva

1 day - 3,538v

Posted 2009/08/13 - 0:45 GMT

lol

Richard (richardb)

1 week - 14,143v

Posted 2009/09/15 - 13:26 GMT

I don't think this is the 25% either lol

MacDane

1 week - 15,726v

Posted 2009/07/26 - 8:15 GMT

You are quite right.

MacDane..... Erhhh..... MacDonalds are doing their worst at this.

Kiwipai

6 hours - 742v

Posted 2009/07/27 - 13:18 GMT

Maybe I'll start playin' again if there are new worlds that look like Runescape like that one..

Sweet ^^

ACC GLASTIE (dinamicdiamond)

5 days - 10,423v

Posted 2009/07/31 - 15:57 GMT

SQUEEEE AWESOME AUBREY THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOUUU!!! *GLOMPS* SQUEE NOW WE CAN MAKE OUR OWN WORLDS SOON!!!

teriva

1 day - 3,538v

Posted 2009/08/13 - 0:42 GMT

WHOA!!!! YOU MADE THAT?!? I PLAYED ON THAT LEVEL ON BZFLAG!!!!!!!!!...its prdy popular

teriva

1 day - 3,538v

Posted 2009/08/13 - 0:42 GMT

i love though!

kruncher

3 weeks - 32,767v

Posted 2009/09/15 - 3:44 GMT

I am truly astonished at what's going on, players making worlds like mad, creativity abounds and it's only blocks at this point! Although flylcub's roller coaster is not block-like.

I prefer the gigantic worlds and can easily load and play them at high frame rates.

I am now understanding the full potential of streamed worlds and I'm very excited about the future!

Thanks to Aubrey and everyone making worlds to explorer!

Sr-2|Zachary (ZAM)

1 day - 2,505v

Posted 2009/09/15 - 17:04 GMT

I LOVE THIS IDEA!! BIG TEXT!

Slayer

1 hour - 282v

Posted 2009/09/21 - 23:17 GMT

So does that mean that 2.0 wont be coming out for a while?

(SR9) ACC (Afish)

17 hours - 1,701v

Posted 2009/09/21 - 23:22 GMT

This stage looks awesome, Aubrey!

» Comment on Document Threaded Hybrid Flat 47 Comments