MERTIS: Modifiable, Extensible, Real-Time, Interactive Simulation

1. Team 03http://team03.robotfood.netLeandro Basallo, Ryan Leigh, Sam Talaie, Regan Snyder MERTIS: Modifiable, Extensible, Real-Time, Interactive Simulation Leandro Basallo ◦ Ryan Leigh ◦ Sam Talaie ◦ Regan Snyderwith Dr. Sergiu Dascalu and Dr. Fred Harris; Department of Computer Science, University of Nevada, Reno ABSTRACT Game and simulation development is a difficult process because it involves many low level infrastructure concerns that need to be addressed. This represents a barrier to development for many inexperienced programmers and distracts from pure game (and simulation) design. MERTIS seeks to ease the development process by reducing the design to the important elements, removing software design from the simulation design. This is achieved by using an extensible scripting engine that allows all elements of a simulation to be specified outside the operation of the program and dynamically loaded at run-time. The only foreseen limitation at this time is that the graphics used in the script will be two-dimensional. • Future work • •An optimized resource handler for better management of objects in memory. • An integrated development environment for creating and editing script files. • Support for object inheritance. • A library of Lua code for convenient reuse of common utilities and functions. • Cross-platform compatibility so more users can create and run MERTIS simulations. • Networking between clients in both peer-to-peer and client/server FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2 INTRODUCTION MERTIS is a tool that allows development of games and simulations as quickly as possible and as easily as possible. The user can focus on game design and development, without concerning himself or herself with the issues of programming an entire game from scratch. MERTIS is designed to handle all those issues internally, and it serves as a palette for design and creativity, rather than a palette for technical skill and knowledge. Components such as collision detection, AI, simple physics, graphics rendering, and user input are all accessible right from the MERTIS scripting language. This is a simple, lightweight, and friendly language that is as easy to learn as it is to use. By removing all the burdens that lower level languages have, there are fewer barriers to creation. FIGURE 1: Three main windows of MERTIS: The code tree, the display window, and the console FIGURE 2: MERTIS Use Case Diagram showing some of the interactions FIGURE 3: A sample of Lua code and accessing it with C code FIGURE 3 --[[ LUA SCRIPT ]]-- enemy = {} enemy.xPos = 100 enemy.yPos = 250 function enemey.update() if( dist(player, enemy) < 50 ) then move(enemy, player) else shoot(enemy, player) end return xPos, yPos end /*--- C++ CODE ---*/ lua_pushstring(state, "enemy"); lua_gettable(state, GLOBALSINDEX); lua_pushstring(state, "update"); lua_gettable(state, -1); lua_pcall(state, 0, 2, 0); int yPos = lua_tointeger(state, -1); int xPos = lua_tointeger(state, -2); lua_pop(state, 2);z Conclusion There is still much work to be done in the development of MERTIS. The code that we have generated in this semester required an intense learning process. The first version of MERTIS was strictly for proof of concept. It has been shown that a fast, graphics engine for a simple, lightweight scripting engine is possible and that there is a lot of room for growth. The first version has many errors and missed opportunities for increased efficiency. Many of the technologies and techniques used in the first version were completely new to the members of the team and with this newly gained experience these technologies can be better utilized. For the next version, the code will be rewritten with these ideas in mind. The code will be better designed to allow for future expansion, such as networking. Also, we plan on writing an IDE that will aid in the generation of scripts to take even more of the load off of the user. As development of scripts for MERTIS continues, a library of functions and objects can be built that could be shared to allow for reuse in code design. Almost every game or simulation designed “re-invents the wheel” in all the low level design. MERTIS has proven that there can be a unified low-end so only the actual game has to be made. This should provide a gamut of new material as now more people can create their vision. This project was developed in Spring 2004 as part of the course CS 426 Senior Projects