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Darkstar GL aims at being a free, open-sourced game development system for Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac, and many more systems, complete with built in support for OpenGL for 3D rendering, OpenAL for audio, networking for multi-player, and a complete multimedia subsystem for videos and sounds.



The most recent release of Darkstar GL is version 0.1.2.
Visit the SourceForge Project Page for more.




News:

- 09/11/2001

Whew...Update time. Version 0.1.2 is out with lots of reorginizations and bug fixes. No new features, but the engine is now completely memory-leak free, and the API has been completely reorginized into namespaces. This effectively groups the functions into common groups, making functions like dsExportSceneCached and dsDrawCached more common:

dsDraw::Draw()
dsDraw::ExportScene()

Much nicer, IMHO. This also makes documenting the API much easier, as it can be done in groups. And, while we were at it, we gave some of the functions more meaningful names, like:

dsFile::LoadWorld() instead of dsFile::BuildObjects()

Also, we have a kdevelop project file in the distribution for your convenience. Its use is optional of course.

Enjoy

- 08/10/2001

Wow, been a long time since I updated this thing... Just to show you we're not dead, I've posted a new update in CVS. It's mainly a bug fix around the lighting system, correcting some annoying bugs that disallowed setting position and color settings in the world files.

Still moving...

- 05/21/2001

OK, a little bug fix for you. Version 0.1.1 is out, with a vastly cleaned up interface. I went through the code and cleaned out all the functions that shouldn't be in there any more. I also updated the make scripts so that installing would work. Example programs are now installed in /usr/local/lib/darkstargl by default. It would also seem that there was a problem with outdated includes that I had deleted but never removed from the rest of the includes. This meant there were dependancy problems that shouldn't have been there and probably prevented some/most of you from compiling the engine. But it should work now.

All that needs to be done to install all the libraries, includes, and examples is:

./configure --prefix=/usr
make install

That should build everything in the right order and compile without a problem. I would like to know how this works on everyone's computers, so please let me know.

Any bug reports are welcome. I'm still working the bugs out of the new queue-based drawing system, and I know reflections need work.

Enjoy

- 05/19/2001

Great news: Reflection support has been fixed. It now works better than ever, allowing for (theoretically) any surface, rotated in any manner, to reflect every other object present. It also works transparently in the drawing subsystem, allowing for a simple call to dsDrawCached() to draw it. All this thanks to the new queue-based drawing system. ;-) Enjoy

- 05/18/2001

Huge update for you today. DarkstarGL version 0.1.0 is finally out with TONS of new features and bug fixes. Among them are:

- New depth sorting for proper alpha blending
- Queue-based drawing system
- Quaternion-based rotation for both objects and the camera
- Vertex lighting support, calculated on-the-fly
- Billboarding support

Support for reflections is temporarily broken due to the complete revamp of the engine drawing subsystem. But it'll be back in soon.

I want to start on a Windows port for the next release if possible since the engine is starting to get to a more stable state.

Have fun with this release, it's taken a lot of work. ;-)

- 04/26/2001

Brand new support for quaternion-based camera rotation has been implemented. This will allow for various new camera transformations, and will make rotating the camera a cinch. It also avoids the nasty Gimbal Lock that the other mechanism was subject to.

Next up: Billboarding, fixing reflections, and Z-Axis sorting.

Once all that's done, version 0.1.0 will be released, the first major release of this engine's life. (Woo hoo!)

- 04/15/2001

Brand new release today, version 0.0.4. This one sports brand new reflective surface support, and a bunch of other bug fixes and stuff. Be careful with this one though, if you have an older Voodoo 3 or 2, it may not work for you. Also, if it does work, be prepared for a massive drop in frame rate--it isn't the most optimized of algorithms.

- 04/14/2001

Added particle fountain support today, and also added this handy news section so you wouldn't think we're dead. ;-)



Features:

Currently (as of 05/19/2001), the engine supports:



Much more development needs to go into this engine.


Screenshots:

You asked for them, and here they are.

Frame1Frame2Frame3

Frame1_1Frame1_1_1Frame1_1_4

Frame4Frame5



Development:

Darkstar-GL could ALWAYS use more help. We currently need someone to:



You can reach me (Cory) by email at darkstar6262@home.com.


Downloads:

Darkstar-GL is currently available from SourceForge as source tar.gz archives. Get them here:


It's also available from anonymous CVS. Under Unix, log in using the following:


Under Windows or any other OS, I can't help.


FeedBack:

If you're interested in helping with the development of Darkstar GL, or want to submit a bug report, or even if you just want to chat with me about the engine, send me (Cory) an email at:

darkstar6262@home.com

I'll respond as quickly as I can. Also, bug reports are MUCH appreciated. Better yet, if you can download the CVS version and work on it, I'd be more than happy to accept patches.

Have fun.