hi everyone!

i am a student at the university of munich (same as krisso) and i intend to write my diploma thesis in the scope of 3d computer graphics. ive been offered a few topics concerning the jade engine...these two im the most interested in: pathfinding and extending the animationsystem.
i read something about your intention to cut off anything apart the gfx-part of the engine for version 2, while offering a plug-in system for additonal functionalities.
first question: did i get this right and - more important - would this also apply to the issues i mentioned above. or the other way round, would it make any sense for you guys to have somebody working on extended pathfinding or extending the animationsystem?
2nd question: as im trying to complete my thesis in the next 6-8months: is the current status of version 2 advanced enough especially regarding the underlying architecture to work on one of the topics, without having to throw over with some of my work due to major changes in the engine?
3rd question: do you guys meet regularly in irc?
4th question: unfortunately i missed the meeting of yesterday, could anyone send my the log?

so thats enough for now. im looking forward to talk to some of you guys.

br,
daniel

Daniel,

I'd definitely recommend starting with Jade 2.0. Many of us are regularly on IRC (typically evenings during the week), and would be happy to discuss this in detail with you.

As to your specific points -

1) Jade 2 is based around a series of plugins. The basic idea here is that most functionality in a game engine isn't required for every application, so by providing the individual aspects as plugins, people can choose which functionality to implement. Also, using plugins allows a specific implementation to be replaced very easily without needing to rewrite large amounts of code. The Jade plugin system (based on Pluto) is very flexible, and fairly easy to learn. Writing your code as a plugin shouldn't be difficult.

2) I do think the current status of Jade 2 would be fine for either of these topics. Right now, extending the animation system (which is basically non-existent currently) would probably be the most useful, although either option would be beneficial to some of our users. The engine is changing somewhat regularly, but mostly its being extended, so working off the current design should be fairly safe. You will find, though, that the design in version 2 is quite clean, so even if some minor things change under you, it should be easier to deal with than it was using 1.1.

3) We are in IRC regularly, especially in the evenings during the week.

4) I'm not sure if there was a log taken. Mostly the meeting was about who was going to be handling what aspects of Jade 2, and how to keep pushing it forward at this point. Jade 2's development has slowed a bit over the last couple of weeks (most of us are quite busy), and we wanted to make sure everybody knew what is going on, and had a good sense of how to keep pushing forward. There wasn't any real discussion relating to major design decisions.

-Reed

Hi!

welcome to the Jade community I'll try to answer your questions:

1) I think both areas of work are welcomed and it makes sense to have someone improving them.
2) I can't talk about animation, but I can talk about pathfinding. So far Jade 2 contains no AI code but my idea was to start porting Jade 1 code to Jade 2 little by little polishing mistakes I did in Jade 1 (from a design point of view). I wanted to start first with graphs, pathfinding and steering behaviors and I doubt that having the basics would take more than 2-4 weeks (as most of that code was tested and working).
3) Yes, we do meet most nights from 6-8 PM till 11-12 PM (GMT + 1).
4) I didn't save it, not sure if someone saved it either But the meeting was more a check of our free time status right now to see our future plans. Reed has a lot real life work right now so Quimbo is going to help him as architects/designers of Jade 2 putting the barebones for Jader to fill the graphics code. Quimbo is also quite busy right now but things should easy in a month more or less. This means that we have no one working on JadEd (gonzo is out with work also) and the idea is to try to find 2 more people who take care of JadEd and work on it. I'll keep doing miscellaneus thing in the engine (VFS and finishing part of the input next week if possible) and work on AI code.

Probably Jader or Reed can fill you more on the animation status and if you want to check for pathfinding we can chat tonight on IRC about it

Regards!

Vicente

Hehe, we wrote at the same time Reed

Wow, thanks for your quick response!
Currently I'm reading "AI Game Programming Wisdom" by S. Rabin where several authors from the industry (e.g. Valve, LucasArts, etc.) cover pathfinding algorithms (especially advanced A*-algorithms), swarm AIs, tactical issues and intelligent group movement. Im quite excited by this topic so I'd prefer to do the pathfinding but it sounds like you have finished most work or as the case may be you (vicente) prefer to deal with that topic. By all means I'll have a look over the algorithms already implemented in 1.1 and maybe there are some more which are beneficial for the engine. Hopefully Ill manage to join you in irc later this evening.
bg,
Daniel

AI Game Programming Wisdom books are very nice Most AI code in Jade comes from Programming Game AI by Example (Mat Buckland) and AI Game Engine Programming (Schwab). I enjoy particullary Mat Buckland way of writing, he is a very good teacher and he explains things in a very concise and interesting way (and funny too ).

About your thesis: my suggestion is that you do what you like the most I agree that animation would be more useful for the engine, but both subjects are very interesting and you are the one that will expend 6-8 months on it, so choose what you feel more confortable with, we'll support you on either of them

Hope to see you around on IRC. Regards!

Vicente