3D Lunar Lander

Due Date: Tuesday November 13th 2007

Idea: Implement (re-implement, as necessary) assignment 1 using the C4 Game Engine (available on all the Macs in /swt/C4; see WebCT for Windows file). There is a wealth of information online for C4, including a Wiki, a help forum, the API documentation, etc. The specifications are the same as assignment 1 for the Physics as well as the Core. See the items below for the changes. See installation instructions if you want to use Windows.

Rendering:

• View similar to those in Lunar Lander
• 3D view is needed

Scenario(s). You need to create the following scenario:

• Landing on the moon with initial position in orbit around the moon (thruster pointing tangential) at distance of 2 lunar radius, and initial velocity so that orbit would be maintained.
• Required: Landing on the earth - initial position is geosynchronous orbit. You must simulate air resistance as well as gravity
• Bonus: Landing on moon (like first scenario) but initial ship velocity has the ship "spinning" in all 3 directions.

Submission Requirements:

• README file containing notes on what libraries you used and how to get them (if not included)
• Reference(s) file containing notes on what references you used. This includes books, web pages, discussion with friends, etc. This is an 'engineering journal'. [can be appended to README]
• Makefile or build script or detailed instructions on how to compile
• Source code of your components.
• Sample user input files for your scenario(s)
• Must be submitted as a single file (zipped or gziped archive).

Notes:

• All notes from assignment 1 still hold

Marking:

• 30% software engineering, 70% rendering/playability

Bonus: (implementing any/all of these features will be worth extra marks)

• [See above for scenarios]
• Any extra controls, extra textures, fancy background graphics will be worth more
• Bumpy terrain (like the original lander game)

Installation (Windows) The official instructions are a little vague, but contain all the links you need. In particular, you really need to install Visual C++ 2005 Express and the 2 SDKs which are linked from that page. Those are huge downloads, so if you have a slow connection, download them at McMaster and put them on a USB stick! To be precise, you need to:

1. Download and install Visual Studio
2. Download and install Platform SDK
3. Download and install DirectX SDK
4. Set up SDK in Visual Studio: this means add the right paths to the include files and the libraries! The part about the libraries is documented in this forum page, where you need to make sure you get the right directories, which are not necessarily the same as what is on those pages.
5. Build all