Immediate Plan

1. Do all the junk scenes necessary for, say, the first 3 junk positions.
2. Implement the navigation method.
3. Make the new Bridgedata module, compile and test.

Hello again, GFORGE

To be honest, I was happier with GFORGE's terrains than I am with Terragen's, so I dug out the old W98 Notino, and verified that it would still run GFORGE. It gives me another development route problem, but I am relieved that I can get back to GFORGE if I have to.

Goodbye, GFORGE. Hello, Terragen

Oh, dear. GFORGE no longer works for me, not in Windows XP and not in a DOS cmd box within Windows XP. Rather than drag out my old Windows 98 laptop to try that, I downloaded a free copy of Terragen, which does a similar sort of thing.

Unfortunately, Terragen doesn't output in a form that POVray understands as a height field.

But after much googling, I discovered For Export Only (FEO) which is a set of plugins for Terragen, including one that creates a BMP file that POVray understands.

Ah, well. No-one said it was going to be easy.

Sprite rocks.

Next task is to devise a number of rock sprites. I'll try several of these GFORGE terrain maker files.

Aide-memoire for the Junk navigation map

This entry is PROVISIONAL. It will be updated as necessary.
Route S start -> F finish * = defined

  W   X   Y   Z
1 * - F   * - * 
  |       |   |
2 *   * - *   *
  |   |       |
3 *   *   S   *
  |   |   |   |
4 * - *   * - *

Y3 Start. Sprite rocks stbd 
   Sprite cone port
Y4 Open sea. Sprite cone stbd
Z4 Rocks 2 + pylon on port - visible from cockpit port, bow port and cabin port
Z3 Sprite rocks port 
   Sprite cone port
Z2 Sprite rocks stbd 
   Sprite cone port
Z1 Sprite rocks port and stbd
   Rocks 3 + pylon fwd - visible from bow fwd only
Y1 High Rocks fwd - visible from bow fwd only 
Y2 Rocks 2 stbd
X2 Rocks 1 fwd. Visible bow fwd only
X3 Girders
X4 Open sea. Sprite cone port.
W4 Rocks fwd.
W3 Open sea. Sprite cone stbd.
W2 Wreck port. Sprite cone stbd.
W1 Rocks 1 + pylon on stbd - visible from cockpit stbd, bow stbd and cabin stbd
   Jade on stbd bow - visible from bow fwd only
X1 Finish. Jade fwd - visible from bow fwd only 

Rocks at sea

One of the sets of rocks I've been developing for scenery purposes. The texture used is Cork, which appears as a nice arid island. Note the shadow of the junk's sails on the sea in front. In use, there will be a pylon with guidance 'traffic lights' on the island.

Back in harness

Having been distracted for several months by, for example, two editions of Mythaxis Magazine (worth a read), a golfing holiday, a new palmtop computer, new books and so on, I made a restart, two nights ago on my POVray creations.

In fact, though I only hinted about it, I made a plan for the first part of the game that involved a bit of varied scenery. At first, I was envisaging sprites to supply even static scenery. Now, I'm more inclined to a mixture of sprites and static images.

In the original post, I reproduced my notebook pages here. Totally incomprehensible, I'm afraid. I removed them.

The plan is to gradually reveal the route to be followed by indicating previous and next positions by traffic light style markers on shore or on buoys. The map is gradually revealed on the screen in the cabin. When the problem has been solved, the player can go straight to the destination, but the first time he has to either guess it or work it out by following the route.