Recondite

About Me

(gloaming@rcn.com)

Hello, I'm an ex-java developer. Decided a) it was too much of a pain to find develoment work and b) just not fun. I'm currently looking for a developer/SI support position so I can focus my development/geek-artistic energies on modding I'd actually like to do game development, but don't know C++ and need to be practical about finding a job.

Anyway, my projects:

GameTypes

• King of the Hill - currently near beta. Interesting get-to-know-the-engine project. Should have done something simpler as a lone project. But it works... Though i do need to find some cleaner methods. Key details include:
  • reusing [CTF]/[DM]/[ONS]/DDOM maps–[working] Doesnt look possible to show all at once except through the MapVote configuration screen which nicely lets you specify map prefixes, which is a little obscure. And UT2Vote requires separate subclasses.
  • Runtime custom gameobjective creation and replication to client (done)
  • Re-use of assault hud (hokie, init ordering issues, currently forcing hud reset)
  • random hill spawn along pathnodes (complete)
  • configurable hill duration and hill respawn delay (in progress) this is ultra low-fluff-stuff
  • bots–working. a one line change. heh.
  • a large hill(wee) [todo, add some sort of size algorithm for ONS,etc]

KOTH Public Beta 1

http://recondite.blaspheme.net/KOTH.zip

Server at: 64.121.33.14

Maps

My first and only map, a small weapon skills sorta test. Never polished/completed, since it was really just a learn-the-system project. Pathing works, mostly. mainly issues due to non-line-of-sight with the tricky objectives. i could fix it, but it's not a priority.

http://recondite.blaspheme.net/AS-PowerCrystal-beta3.ut2

Working on another crappy race map, but with an actual race system where either team can win, and with some vehicle physics and sentinel spawn changes. It's a fun little side project.

Mods/TCs

Currently working on www.edeneclipse.com

Engine commentary

Well, I definitely grok the replication system now[though sometimes the behavior/process confuses me], though weighting different strategies will take time. I disagree with some of the advice given on writing with replication/netplay in mind first–specifically as it applies to new people. Getting the code functioning reasonably without worrying too much about replication is much much easier for a beginner than to try and code with replication in mind–if you dont mind refactoring. If you already understand the UnrealEngine, then by all means consider replication from the beginning. But if you dont, I would think you should basically look at getting the first few iterations done as a demo/rapid prototype, and then, after you have a better handle on the architecture and different variables involved, move on to incorporating the issue of replication into your design and rewriting or refactoring your prototype.

I love it when I overlook simple things and realize it before going too far down the wrong path–I did research on the bot classes but didnt start coding. Wasted research time on a new package/area isn't really wasted. Didn't connect the native path problem with the tellbothowtodisable hook. should have, but didnt until i started looking at commenting on the bot wiki and it hit me that i was overlooking the simple hook solution that epic put there. saves me a lot of time/work. makes me wonder though why VCTF released new maps. kinda thinking it might be possibly to do with an existing map at runtime. anyway hooray for wiki. of course, now i have to move into new code areas that i reaaaly dont know anything about: HUDs and that maplist issue. blah.

Texturing/Modeling

On hold. I've read a bunch of books, but not really done anything since i never took an art class and the tool i was using (TrueSpace) was a pain. Plus the tools seem a little to new and too much like work. Can't wait to see kids using 3dsmax instead of crayons

I am doing a little bit here and there, had the 3dstudio max trial but need to install gmax. and need to reinstall my old copy of truespace which has some textures i could use.

Comments

Tarquin: Hi, welcome to Unreal Wiki! (BTW, note that you don't need to insert hard line breaks )

Recondite: Heh, the IE off-the-end bug bit me and i was too lazy to figure it out.

Tarquin: Oh I didn't know it was an IE bug that caused that. /me never uses it

Daid303: There is a 'bUseCylinderCollision' in Actor, that might fix your problem?

Recondite: Lol, just when i was coming here to update. Thanks, though, it's a little cleaner than what i had. I'd originally used a static mesh with no collision saved (maybe a point). It wouldnt call touch unless i was on top of it, but it would use my actor's collision for the untouch (wierd). So i created a mesh with collision, and that made the touch work correctly, but only if i also set the collision height/radius in the actor, in other words bUseCollisionStaticMesh just wasnt working like i expected. Maybe it means use the collision map and scale it to the actor? dunno. anyway setting collision parameters in two different places is ultra hokie. So i'm using your method I _would_ like to just use the mesh collision, since it's more OO and since the two need to line up anyway, but oh well. Thanks!

Foxpaw: If you're looking for a way to display all the maps in the map browser, you can set the prefix to "". This will display all maps. It will, however, display some maps you might not want it to, like the NVidia logo map, the Entry level, etc.

Recondite I tried that, but it completely removed my gametype from the list when i started up ...unless there's another execution path for setting it in prop files vs the default in the code. of course i admittedly dont understand the map list classes–do you have to have a custom subclass of maplist? thanks

Foxpaw: I don't know if you need a custom subclass or not, but you probrably do. I'm guessing that since all the other gametypes do even though they are just blank objects.

Recondite blah, oddly enough, putting the class in makes it generate the full map list in the ini. unfortunately though, it doesnt show my game type in the host/instant action page because it thinks there are no maps(?!). Sounds like the GUI part wont work I'll try and poke around a bit later.

Recondite well, i can get it to work in ut2vote, somewhat, it requires different entries for the different map types (which is fine) BUT it also requires a different gametype round between the two.

Recondite well...everything else is working...i've put it off till last...and now...i have to fix the HUD. but first, it's time for beer. If anyone's at all interested, the download link is current. Note the ONS version is currently un-fun, needs vehicle tweaking or teleporters. But i really enjoy DM version and CTF. Odd though, because in Halo it was the vehicle maps that were the best. The download is only 34KB...but dont export the source...it's suspicious lookin at this point.

Tarquin: See Testing Lab Btw, you can post a game url with the protocol part and it should appear clickable.

Recondite Head meet wall. Blah, so i've got the damn-skippy shoulder weapon mutator working in non-replicated fashion [heh]. And it worked fully until I moved it to my personal class directory and tweaked a couple variables–wish i had a local source control system installed. Anyway, after screwing around with overrides, i figured it would be easier and cleaner(!) to just toggle the firing and set the timer appropriately. So i ripped it out and started over...seemed simple enough. but nooo...damn replication variables...which one am i missing? hmmm???? the weapon APPEARS on the client, perched right on the pawns shoulder, but doesnt ever have any methods called. arg. eventually i'll add an interaction instead of a mutate command–i have to if i want to fire two weapons at once and don't want the weapon to actually switch...and dont want to replace pawn or the hud...etc etc...and want to have a hud display for the second weapon as well as the pawns weapon. but that's waaay ahead of myself since im supposed to be working on EE.

If you're really bored and want to learn how many degrees it takes to be successfully unemployed, then read on:

Resume

PRIMARY SKILLS

Technical

• Java, EJB (entity/session/message), SQL, EJB-QL, UML, JSP, Servlets, JavaBeans, JDBC, UI frameworks, DAGs, hierarchal queries, javascript, Apache/Tomcat/Weblogic, MySql/Oracle, XML, Linux/Unix, Clarify, Perforce

Development

• Product and application analysis, design, and development. Developer support and peer training/review. General unit test and knowledgebase experience. Problem escalation/product support experience.

EMPLOYMENT

2003-2004 Sabbatical

• Sun Certification (EJBs/Business Component Developer—May 2004)
• Sun Certification (Java Programmer—April 2004)
• Non-profit work(apache/perl/slash)
• linux administration
• Mod development (Unreal Engine)

2001 - 2003 Model N, Inc

Software Engineer

• I moved upward within the company over the course of my employment and worked with three small development teams:

Product Engineering

• Simplified community metadata to easily support JDE/SAP integration for average deployments.
• Designed application components and functionality to support customer requirements for contract management in medical device manufacturing.
• Developed community application components and maintained community infrastructure.
• Assisted with prototyping and revising the product's new application component framework (Similar to JSF).
• Assisted in recovering an off-track customer engagement and provided technical and process feedback on the professional services organization.

Application Engineering

• Worked with four engineers to develop a suite of template applications (orders/rfqs/contracts).
• Gained experience in distribution systems and order management.

Customer Engineering

• Maintained and extended a web based order management application for a healthcare portal site (Veranto) using Java and JSP.
• Assisted in a gap analysis of the early server product and professional services infrastructure with an emphasis on identifying unnecessary complexity, extensibility weaknesses, and defining best practices.

2000 Moai Technologies

Technical Support Analyst II

• Provided second tier support to developers and integrators in their use and extension of Moai's auction/procurement software.

EDUCATION/Certification

SUN – Certified Java Programmer, Business Component Developer

ASU – Computer Science Certification/MA work (English)

ASU – BA Interdisciplinary Studies, English