Sorry for not releasing an update last week. School assignments and homework are back with a vengeance so I took some time to get them done. However in the time I did have to work on Rivalry I added in two noticeable features. I have now added in a client to host network protocol which currently only lets client cursors highlight limbs on the hosts side. So currently it’s a little bit incomplete but finally I have settled on a design that sends client information to the host. The way I have it working is that the host will perform all physics simulations and send frame information updates to all the clients. The clients will send their input to get processed and the results get incorporated into the frame information updates. I have started with just mouse-over limb highlights as it was the simplest method to test and prove this design. An outstanding issue is that the mouse interpolation now renders the mouse position lagging behind the mouse-over limb highlight.
I am hoping that next week I can incorporate mouse-over limb highlighting into the host frame information updates so all the clients will be able to see the host’s mouse selection. Then I will attempt client to host limb dragging and movement. Weapon pushing has also changed so now when weapons collide, the weapon with the largest velocity will push the other weapon away instead of it being based on who’s turn it is. I added this because it was creating weird effects when weapons would collide at high velocities. For example if someone flung themselves at their opponent with their weapon extended but it wasn’t their turn, then their weapon would just bend backwards against the opponents stationary weapon.
(player flings at opponent with longsword extended)
(opponent's weapon bends when it is impacted by the players extended longsword even when it is the opponent's turn) The next step for weapon pushing is having the impact stop gradually instead of having it suddenly locking into place.