Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Earth As a Game Engine For Ship Simulation

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-i-ask-is-a-tall-e-ship dept.

dinther writes "Yesterday the program Ships was released. Ships is significant because it is the first serious application that uses Google Earth as a game engine. In Ships, you take control of a selection of ships and drive them around the world (if you have that much time). Building games around Google Earth is now viable, thanks to its ever-increasing level of detail. From a technical standpoint, the Google Earth browser plugin has proven to be quite a capable platform to work with. Further tech details about the application are available as well."

25 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by Norsefire · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Google Earth Plugin is currently only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+.

    Well, that's the first browser-based game I've tried to play that isn't cross platform.

    1. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by gandhi_2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Google Earth browser

      browser-based game

      are we forking the meaning of "browser" now?

      --
      THL phish sticks
    2. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by Jurily · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, that's the first browser-based game I've tried to play that isn't cross platform.

      Doing 3D games in a browser makes baby Jesus cry.

    3. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      http://www.quakelive.com/

      No, it really doesn't.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    4. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by lilo_booter · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, that's the second browser-based game I've tried to play that isn't cross platform.

    5. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by CarpetShark · · Score: 3, Funny

      No thanks. I choose my browser and platform based on important principles like freedom and openness -- principles that the web was designed to support. I've no intention to lie about that choice just badly designed game.

    6. Re:only available on Windows and Mac OS X 10.4+ by hr.wien · · Score: 3, Informative

      Linux/OSX won't magically be able to run Windows executables just because you change your browser's UA string.

  2. finally... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    finally a game that SHOULD account for piracy.

    --
    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:finally... by scsirob · · Score: 3, Funny

      But only when you pass Somalia..

      --
      To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
  3. Can we have pirates? by sammyo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Subs?

    There are AIS feeds for live ships at sea, it's only available when the ship is near a land receiver but for the ports that update, all the actual current positions of working vessels could be included in a 'sim'.

    But pirates would be more fun.

    1. Re:Can we have pirates? by digitalchinky · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I played with a military version of this about 12 years back when I was, er, military, though it was strictly a top down view only - unless you plugged the feed in to oilstock without permission, and wrote a small script to parse it all. After borrowing the world wide digital terrain elevation data CD's from another agency (again possibly without permission and subsequently taking up several gigabytes of drive space) you could even have a rudimentary google earth like view in 300 easy mouse clicks per reference frame. Want to change the view angle? Remember that 300 mouse click sequence I just showed you?

      They were fun days.

  4. load on google servers by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 4, Interesting

    wouldn't this type of game cause an exponential increase of load on Google's servers??

    1. Re:load on google servers by SailorSpork · · Score: 3, Funny

      Only if it looked more interesting than it does.

    2. Re:load on google servers by wayLateToTheGame · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why exponential?

    3. Re:load on google servers by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Informative

      Exponential? As in increasing geometrically? I don't think that's likely.

      Google's servers handle a lot of data, so I doubt this will even be a significant increase.

    4. Re:load on google servers by pipatron · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because people don't know what exponential means, they think it means "a lot".

      --
      c++; /* this makes c bigger but returns the old value */
  5. This is actually a big deal by LS · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Imagine if you could play GTA but across the whole world, dealing with drug cartels in Columbia and making weapons trades with the Russian mafia. Or recreate a WW2 battle. Google earth could become a platform for any game that is based in real world geography.

    The API may not be robust enough and the detail may not be comprehensive enough to do this yet, but it seems like it could be done in short time if Google so wished.

    The platform could become a general gaming engine as well, where you could select a universe (real world / Star Wars World / J.R.R. Tolkien world, etc) and visit other planets.

    I suppose google could call this Google Universe, a MMO engine based in GIS technology, with one of the Universes being managed by google based on real data, and any others being created by 3rd party developers.

    The potential is pretty exciting...

    LS

    --
    There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
  6. Want to drive your neighbours' Bentley? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Introducing GTA: Earth!

    --
    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  7. Its clever but... by gnalre · · Score: 2, Informative

    Collision detection leaves a lot to be desired. However it is kinda cool to driver a cruise line up Rotterdam high street.

    But all in all I'll stick to ShipSimulator 2008

    --
    Choose your allies carefully, it is highly unlikely you will be held accountable for the actions of your enemies
    1. Re:Its clever but... by Bucc5062 · · Score: 2, Funny

      talk about door to door pickup/dropoff, now that is customer service.

      --
      Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
  8. congratulations! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    congratulations! you've made the world's most boring game!

    coming next from the studios of dull-o-game are more tedious job with so sense of achievement related titles:

    canning factory tycoon. you work in a canning factory, making sure the machine that puts the labels on doesn't run out of labels. 70,000 hours of gameplay.

    night time security guard simulator. you play a guard in an office complex where nothing ever happens. walk around on the hour registering your prescense at various parts of the building. go home. do the same thing tomorrow.

    the sims 3. sit in filth and squalor because you don't have enough time to wash and clean because you are making some poxy computer character wash and clean *his* virtual place.

    1. Re:congratulations! by argent · · Score: 2, Funny

      congratulations! you've made the world's most boring game!

      Doesn't seem any more boring than those real-time simulate-flying-a-747 games. My father in law used to play those. "Don't touch the computer", he'd say, "it's on autopilot, I'm coming in to Intercontinental in an hour".

    2. Re:congratulations! by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      congratulations! you've made the world's most boring game!

      How does this upset Desert Bus from this title?

      You are a bus driver, going from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. You drive the bus in real time for the 8 hour trip, with little to keep your attention, save for a swinging air freshener and an occasional bug splat on the windshield. To make matters worse, the bus pulls to the right, meaning you have to keep your hands on the controller at all times. Let the bus go off the road and you'll be towed all the way back to Tucson in real time, which, depending on how far along you are, can take up to 8 hours as well. If you manage to make it all the way to Vegas, though, you get a point. You then have seconds to decide whether to drive back for an additional point. And then again. And again. No pauses, no game saves, not even a periodic reminder from Keifer Sutherland that events are occurring in real time.

      But hey, there's an idea: remake Desert Bus using Google Earth data!

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  9. Is it a game, or is it real? by snarfies · · Score: 4, Funny

    The only winning move is not to play.

    How about a nice game of chess?

  10. Survival Horror, please by tmosley · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think it's time for a zombie outbreak game that is based on the real world, with totally open gameplay. It's time to find out if malls really are the best place to take shelter or not, and settle a bunch of other zombie based issues once and for all!