12 October, 2008

Now Online

FC Resource is back up! You'll need to wait until your upstream DNS cache(s) are updated, but it might already be working for you!

New Boundary Markers for Screenshots

Design and level pages now have a new screenshot available: the enhanced wireframe. In contrast to the regular wireframe image, this also draws the axis of the arena and its three important boundaries. The axis is the same type of axis on any Cartesian coordinate plan: two lines cross at the origin (0,0). The inner boundary, colored blue, is the immediately viewable area that isn't shrouded by the top toolbar or the sides of the arena. Outside that boundary is the middle boundary, colored red, that is the area that can actually be panned to and viewed. Far out is the outer boundary, colored cyan, that shows the point at which physics "stop." Any object that is wholely beyond this point disappears from the level.


Above is the screenshot from the "Enhanced Wireframe" tab on design and level pages.

Math and Fantastic Contraption Levels

One of the possibilities made accessible by the FCML import feature is the creation of levels using more accurate methods. While writing levels by hand with your text editor is one way, writing a few scripts to do it is easier, provided that you know some programming. With a simple application of tan(x), you have a interesting looking level (although that one in particular is only a test). Combining the equation of a circle, its derivative, and some trigonometry, you can create a level with a mathematically perfect circle. Don't fret though; you won't need to program anything to make use of any mathematics, at least least for circles. When FC Resource is up, you will be able to use a handy circle generator for your levels. Beyond this, however, are other possibilities.

User jtbowden has worked on an TinySVG to FCML converter that makes level designing a much easier and more accurate process. TinySVG is a "vector" format—it stores an image as the composition of shapes, rather than the specific color of a specific pixel. Hopefully, when jtbowden is able to clean up his script, you will be able to make use of it on FC Resource!

10 October, 2008

Domain registration lapsed

The domain of the website hosting FC Resource has lapsed, so the website will be unavailable until the problem is solved. For some, the site may be accessible because your ISP may be storing the old information regarding the domain registration.