User talk:Technopeasant

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Raycasting[edit]

Hello! I hope you don't mind my change in the article on raycasting. I replaced the reference to Catacomb 3D with a reference to Wolfenstein 3D, just like the text on the English wikipedia. That's because the rendering in Catacomb 3D is not based on raycasting, but on rasterizing polygons. There's a video about Wolfenstein 3D where John Carmack explains it as follows (around 4:00): The two previous 3D games Hovertank and Catacombs 3D were done in an object space rendering where it drew limited polygons. They were one-dimensional in terms that they were just line segments that were restricted on axises. We had something that resembled a polygon rasterizer and a polygon clipper and those were both done in four to six weeks a piece. I had really quite a bit of difficulty with it. Going back in time twenty years, there weren't all of the references in existence, books and tutorials on this subject. I was having a hard time getting some of that stuff to be as robust and reliable as it needed to be. You could get a few freak out cases in Catacombs 3D and one of my real goals was to simplify it enough that it would be really rock and solid. That's why for Wolfenstein 3D, Carmack switched from polygon rasterization to raycasting. I got that transcript from the Game engine black book: Wolfenstein 3D by Fabien Sanglard. That's an interesting book. :) --Arno (talk) 20:03, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

  • Thanks for the info, I shall delete the article, as it is not directly relevant, and replace it with Polygon Rasterization. Always good to get someone actually familiar with the source code to sort out technical details. I just ordered the Black Book the other week however, so that should help me too. Technopeasant (talk)
    • You're welcome! Good job on the newest articles. Enjoy the book. --Arno (talk) 20:54, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Catacomb Apocalypse enemies[edit]

Hello, I'm a bit confused about the names of the enemies in Catacomb Apocalypse. For example, I noticed that you refer to one of the enemies as warlock. In the source code this enemy is called a wizard. The level name The Wizard's Garden also seems to hint in that direction. So I'm wondering, where does the name warlock originate from? Regards, Arno (talk) 19:56, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

My sources are all third party, so the source code should probably be taken as the more legitimate reference. Technopeasant (talk) 02:12, 11 June 2019 (UTC)
On Time Lords however, I am unsure. The level text refers to them as Android Mages. What does the source say? Technopeasant (talk) 02:33, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply and edits! The source code is not necessarily the absolute truth either, since in some cases the developers used shortened or funny names. I think the level texts (when available) should be leading, as that's what is seen in the actual game. I've tried to create this overview, to get the complete picture:

Source code WDC Level text
AquaMan Water monster ?
Blob Shadow monster Gallery of spectres
Bug Cyber Ant ?
CyborgDemon Cyber demon ?
ShooterEye ?? ?
FutureMage Cyber Mage High Chamber of the Android Mages
InvisDude Cloaking Beast ?
RoboTank Metal Gear Beast ?
RamBone Skeleton water Treasure Room of the Death Squad
Stompy Walking Tank ?
Troll Yellow Troll ?
Wizard Wizard Wizard's hiding place
Bounce fireball ?
Grelminar Nemesis The First Testinfg Chamber of Nemesis
RunningEye Cyber Eye ?
Ray Manta Ray water ?
EgyptianHead Nemesis Pharoah Axis of the Time Lords
Demon Blue Demon Demon's keep

As you can see, there are still many monsters that I cannot directly link to a level text. Too bad there's no official hint manual with monster names available (that I'm aware of). Arno (talk) 20:34, 12 June 2019 (UTC)

Ah, the plot thickens... And again the confusion between Nemesis and Grelminar rears its ugly head. Technopeasant (talk) 04:21, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Spam[edit]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the most efficient way to report spam, but can you please delete the page Dark Designs? Thanks and regards, Arno (talk) 17:13, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

It probably is, but I just granted you admin powers so you can delete things yourself too. Technopeasant (talk) 23:53, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
Great, thank you! I will use these powers with care. Arno (talk) 15:19, 4 July 2020 (UTC)

Dormancy policy[edit]

Hi, I just noticed the dormancy policy for this website. It's quite strict, don't you think? Arno (talk) 19:03, 6 November 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, I had a wiki get blanked on a false dormancy positive once. I just have to uncheck the box and it goes away though. I can understand the motivation seeing as how this is free crowd-funded hosting, but I think six months would make more sense. I still prefer it here to something bloated and awful like Wikia. Fortunately my Blood Wiki has a very generous hosting patron. Technopeasant (talk) 20:18, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
Oh yes, this site is definitly a lot better than Wikia. I also check the wiki occasionaly, but it's good to know that you're on top of it. Thanks! Arno (talk) 21:45, 6 November 2021 (UTC)