VastPark Release 0.83…released!
Update 20/04/2007: Another build, 0.83.1 is now online that adds some minor new features and fixes some annoying bugs from the 0.83 release.
The “best release thus far” of VastPark has been released online at the official VastPark download page. A number of improvements appear in this version, most notably in the scripting department.
New plugin and script functionality:
InputGrabber
wiki link
Allows input to be mapped from the keyboard when activated and a script attached to that mapping. One great example of this is in the recently released Rumpus Room by ashepherd and The Pianist by yours truly
PreloadSound
wiki link
Allows sounds to be preloaded from a web resource and referenced within a site. Used extensively in the Rumpus Room site and The Pianist
New Scripting object:
Scene object
wiki link
The heart of all VastPark operations. Contains functionality to Show, Hide, FadeIn, FadeOut the site, store and retrieve cookies for the site, GenerateBox, GenerateSphere, GenerateCylinder, GenerateCone entities for addition to the scene as required, as well as a host of other properties such as the User and UI objects.
Useful code:
Scene.Show()
e = Scene.GenerateBox(vDim, vPos) e.Visible = false Scene.Add(e)
Scene.User.Position = Vector(10,10,10) Scene.User.Rotation = Vector(90,0,0)
Deprecated Functionality:
GenerateBoxEntity()
GenerateSphereEntity()
GenerateConeEntity()
GenerateCylinderEntity()
ShowSite()
HideSite()
See the VastPark Wiki for full details on the new scripting changes and the VastPark Download page to get the new release.
The Pianist v1.0
After the easter break I decided to do a recording of every key on my Roland HP1300e digital piano (I used to play about 7-8 years ago). I also took some source shots of it on my Nokia N80. I took the shots in to work and ashepherd managed to whip up something fantastic very quickly 
Click the image below to be whisked over to the parks page on www.vastpark.com to have a go at it:
VietPark 1.5 Online
A new version of VietPark is now online, here’s what I’ve changed:
- The site now shows all of my photos rather than just 5 max
- Added smart caching system to prevent redundant queries to Flickr
- Added a loading animation
- Removed the movie clapper, it wasnt being used for anything just yet so was adding unnecessary size
- Removed the picture frames, instead im using the Slider plugin to display the images
Its starting to get closer to where I want it for version 2, which I had a few ideas about over here.
Check it out for yourself at vp://vastpark/craigomatic/vietpark and let me know what you think.
BTW, thanks to ashepherd for his efforts in making the assets for VietPark.
A collection of ideas…
After spending a lot of time developing and not much time on anything else, I’ve finally had a chance to have a think about some new ideas for sites I want to put together and get online.
Here’s a brief run-down on what im hoping to achieve:
VietPark 2.0
For the next incarnation of VietPark I want to improve the usability of the site as well as the presentation of the photos. Currently only 5 pics from the collection can be viewed at any one time and the picture viewing system isn’t powerful enough. I want to allow users to print, save and zoom into each image as much as they would like. I’d also like to use the Slider functionality for image viewing.
Pool Game
I’ve always loved Virtual Pool 3 so a pool game is definately on the cards for VastPark. Im thinking this site will be fairly basic to begin with, just a table in the middle of a room and some ambient sound. I want people to be able to play the game and then save their score to a high-scores list that shows up on the site.
MySpace Style
Everyone seems to have a MySpace page these days so to be different I want to try to emulate something similar.
Im thinking of an island thats filled with a heap of my favourite things; Music, movies, tv shows, sports, bars/pubs/clubs, restaurants, and maybe a dart-board with a random picture on it of something I dislike (ie: JAVA/Collingwood football club/Ian Thorpe/etc).
Most of this will be image based so hopefully the file size will be fairly reasonable.
Piano Site
A site that has a piano in it which can be played. Users will be able to save their songs for others to play back and rate. These songs might end up being linked to via a jukebox in the MySpace style site above and the history of these songs shown via the Slider plugin with a picture of the user’s avatar.
VastPark Release 0.82 Online
After another short sharp and sweet development session, the next release of VastPark has been made available online. Its recommended that any previous sites which have been built are reopened in the Creator and republished online to take the most advantage of this release.
Changelog from the official VastPark website:
- Added tabbed interface to the Creator
- Fixed some entity selection issues in the Creator
- Fixed issue that prevented custom screenshots being used when publishing in the Creator
- Added OnCollision functionality
- Removed OnFrameRendered functionality
- Fixed some issues with poor physics performance in the Browser
Login and download the new release from here: