GSim 0.31.01

What did you draw?
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testtubegames
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GSim 0.31.01

Post by testtubegames »

Here goes!

Been working on the simulator once more, and my goal is to get more regular in the updates (until, of course, it's all tied up with a nice bow). You can grab the update from Humble, or if you don't have the full version yet (?!) you can grab it here.

Version 0.31.01

Changed:
-Orbits now draw differently, so they're much faster. And they are also more dynamic (down the road, I can add a 'thickness' setting, say)
-Menus are redone in a way that's a bit easier to change / add to (since many of the new features will require a menu item, I wanted to nail this down)
-New font, color scheme, etc

Basically, trying to get the base working a bit better / faster / more easily - before I add whole slew of new changes that are coming. So on to the longer list...

To Do:
(Nuts-and-Bolts)
-Add back in finite-trails (haven't rebuilt them in the new system yet)
-Various optimizations (make the planet-objects more lightweight)
-A couple orbit bugs remain (sometimes panning leads to strange artifacts)
-Update browser version (yay, WebGL!)
-Better SFX
-Moar Zooming!
-Get Tutorial working again (it interacts so much with the UI, I disabled it for now)
-Improve collision animation (boom!)
-Allow right-clicks on buttons
-Hover-button lag

(Save System)
-Make the save system more intuitive (so confusing right now... maybe more like Shocktopus?)
-Revisit the save-code (make it more dynamic, allow more colors, no confusion when it comes to merging planets)

-A quick system to save and reload setups, allowing for experiments
-Save the settings (resets every time now)

(Menus)
-Science Equipment (ruler, protractor, etc)
-More intuitive menus for tracking / ptolemy / lagrange
-New color-picker
-Make the Save menu and planet editor menu fit into the new style

(Sim Additions / Overlays)
-Add in an easy way to take screenshots or make gifs (will help greatly with the Image of the Day project)
-Make the sim more mod-able (i.e. you can add in your own planet images)
-Add in comment-system
-Edit position and velocity with mouse
-Polar Grid, Apsis view, eclipses (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=140#p2937)
-Mode where color is based on mass
-Selective orbit trails (on / off for particular objects)

(Under Discussion)
-Inertial Mass != Gravitational Mass? (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=160#p3281)
-Changing Newton's Laws (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=160#p3281)
-Use dr/dt as a variable in force law (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&start=170#p3455)

Edited: 7/14
A Random Player
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Re: GSim 0.31.01

Post by A Random Player »

Some quick initial feedback:
When I click action buttons (center, crop) etc, I usually use a right click, so I don't accidentally add an object; this seems to not work at the moment.
The resolution issue I noted earlier has been fixed (though I have two empty black bars at the top and bottom of the screen)
The simulator loads a lot quicker.
The quality of orbit lines is noticeably a lot better. Especially with collisions, as the orbit lines now go all the way to the surface of the star/planet. However, the collision animation still occurs at the same place (which I believe is the frame where the object's next position is calculated to be inside the star/planet?), which should be fixed.
Seems like there's a not insignificant amount of lag caused by the new version of GSim? I checked with 0.30.02, and I don't notice much there. Definitely not as much as with TES, but still very noticeable.

Edit: This isn't new to 0.31.01, but when two moving objects collide (such as dust and an orbiting planet), the collision remains fixed in space. Perhaps it should move with the object created as a result of the collision?
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testtubegames
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Re: GSim 0.31.01

Post by testtubegames »

A Random Player wrote:Some quick initial feedback:
When I click action buttons (center, crop) etc, I usually use a right click, so I don't accidentally add an object; this seems to not work at the moment.
The resolution issue I noted earlier has been fixed (though I have two empty black bars at the top and bottom of the screen)
The simulator loads a lot quicker.
The quality of orbit lines is noticeably a lot better. Especially with collisions, as the orbit lines now go all the way to the surface of the star/planet. However, the collision animation still occurs at the same place (which I believe is the frame where the object's next position is calculated to be inside the star/planet?), which should be fixed.
Seems like there's a not insignificant amount of lag caused by the new version of GSim? I checked with 0.30.02, and I don't notice much there. Definitely not as much as with TES, but still very noticeable.

Edit: This isn't new to 0.31.01, but when two moving objects collide (such as dust and an orbiting planet), the collision remains fixed in space. Perhaps it should move with the object created as a result of the collision?
-Thanks for letting me know about using right-clicks, I'll change that in the new update (as well as adding in some colliders so you can't accidentally launch *near* the buttons
-I'm curious about those black bars. Do you have a screenshot you could send along?
-Collision-animations could stand some work, agreed. The part that stood out to me was how silly they looked if you pan while objects collide. Will add this animation to the 'fix' list
-Lag... grr! Well, it's helpful at least to know it happens in both games. Does the sim lag overall? Or is it just about button hovers?

Edit: Not sure if this is a new observation, or just one I forgot -- Shocktopus seems to have menus lag more when it's fullscreen. Not really a problem when windowed. (Discovered this when I showed off the game this weekend on a PC). Could be a hint as to what is going on.
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