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Devlog #30 - GUI Skin, SSL, Seams, Collector
Redis is a huge part of the modern Internet. Want to make your own Twitter clone? Just follow the tutorial.
https://redis.io/docs/manual/patterns/twitter-clone/
Heck, even Twitter is using Redis these days... and not paying for it.
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/twitter-stopped-paying-cloud-bill-before-desantis-glitch
For loading/saving character data FO used MySQL, Antaria Online used Redis, and currently FO2 uses MySQL. I'll be migrating to Redis in the future by way of Redis Cloud which is very reasonably priced.
Once implemented it will mean even faster login/logout times and it will allow the game to scale to a much higher concurrent user count as the login/logout process can cause a lot of congestion.
But I'll hold off on doing that for a couple months while I add stuff that players can actually have fun with.
https://www.photopea.com/ is kind of incredible. It's definitely way better than https://www.gimp.org/ for what I need it for. Great for quick editing on the go. You can even install it as a Chrome app. I'll have to figure out how to make FO2 an installable Chrome app in the future.
On May 31st I setup https://letsencrypt.org/ SSL certs for the game servers. The certs last 90 days so I had to update them this week. https://overcast.smartfoxserver.com/ does not provide ssh access so I can't automate refreshing the cert. That was a bummer so I decided to just buy a cheap 5 year SSL cert from https://www.namecheap.com/ and then https://porkbun.com/ DNS broke. Sigh. I'm never using Porkbun again. Terrible support. I have transfered all fo2 domains to Namecheap. Namecheap has very fast support that eventually gets the job done. This is not a paid sponsorship. I will be moving to AWS instances next year as https://overcast.smartfoxserver.com/ keeps letting me down.
Over the last month I've been chatting with GPT4 about the flickering seams issue in the sprite map. Well, we finally found a solution. It had to do with the floor function in glsl. GPT4's response after I told it the solution was kind of incredible. It's usually very serious when talking about code.
GPT4: "Ah, the infamous floor function strikes again! It's a common culprit in graphical glitches involving textures and shaders. The floor function was likely causing the UV coordinates to snap to integer values, which can introduce seams or other artifacts, especially when you're aiming for pixel-perfect rendering."
Ok, that's enough sidetracking for this week. Moving on now to the new GUI skin...
I'm a big fan of the new window look. I mean look at the new mail window!
Now that window has a big ol' exit button that any size finger can hit! Did you notice the Alpha Cape? It's a very nice Alpha Cape.
We be making progress! The GUI code is going from horribly ugly to oh so beautiful. To match the new art of course!
Oops it looks like Fisherman Gorton decided to gaze at the sea for eternity again. He'll be getting his quests back in the future when I revamp quests.
I also changed the initial spawn point for new players so they're right by the shipwreck.
Now on to the loot window. I'm converting it to the new UI for now but I will be also be converting it to the old loot window bag style in the future. It will look nearly the same as the BACKPACK.
Oh boy, this didn't convert well. LOL.
Ok, that's much better. I will further style all quest related windows when I return to focusing on quests in about 2-3 weeks.
Well, hello there.
Yes, the quest log is still an ugly mess but it's been converted to the new GUI at least. This will get a facelift as well once I work on quests again in 2-3 weeks.
Having bags open is so laggy. I'll put this on the top of my todo next week. It's annoying.
Ok, so I've converted the bank window, shop window, quest window, quest log window, bag window, mail window, skillbook window, character window, and more to the new GUI system. There are several things that aren't offset correctly yet, but don't worry I'm getting to them. I won't need to do this conversion ever again thankfully!
And now where to put currency aka coins and gems?
Top looks great actually.
I'll be fixing bugs and offsets for a few hours as well as working on the Collector. He's not quite ready. I will post again this weekend when he shows up.
I have seen a certain Banana Box filled with Banana pieces. This will be coming with Gem rewards on September 15th.
See you soon for the Collector.
Have Fun & Keep Gaming.
P.S. - After the Collector I'll be working on Guilds all this upcoming week.