Freedom Reborn

Freedom Force Forums => Freedom Force Discussion => Topic started by: bearded on September 27, 2011, 01:56:17 PM

Title: something big
Post by: bearded on September 27, 2011, 01:56:17 PM
i'm working on something huge, that's why i haven't kept up with my recent projects. (i will make a croc and squirrel, and hair thing when i get a minute.)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: cmdrkoenig67 on September 27, 2011, 06:42:11 PM
Hair thing?  What the-? :blink:

Anyway, its good to hear you're working on something big, B.

Dana
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ow_tiobe_sb on September 27, 2011, 07:18:41 PM
Quote from: bearded on September 27, 2011, 01:56:17 PM
i'm working on something huge, that's why i haven't kept up with my recent projects.

BiL, I thought we discussed this before.  No one--and I mean no one--wants to know what you do behind the restroom door. 





Besides, we detected the distinct atmospheric shift toward a less aromatic, high pressure system several weeks ago before you reemerged today to post your latest bulletin.  :o

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on September 27, 2011, 09:17:14 PM
Quote from: ow_tiobe_sb on September 27, 2011, 07:18:41 PM
Quote from: bearded on September 27, 2011, 01:56:17 PM
i'm working on something huge, that's why i haven't kept up with my recent projects.

BiL, I thought we discussed this before.  No one--and I mean no one--wants to know what you do behind the restroom door. 

Besides, we detected the distinct atmospheric shift toward a less aromatic, high pressure system several weeks ago before you reemerged today to post your latest bulletin.  :o

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

tmi  :P
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on September 27, 2011, 11:16:42 PM
Cool.  I'm looking forward to whatever it is.  Something ingenious I would guess.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 28, 2011, 12:51:18 PM
if things keep going well, and i eventually get some volunteers for help, it's going to be revolutionary. will try to post some screen shots this afternoon.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 28, 2011, 05:05:55 PM
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/6404/77935545.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/77935545.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
not much to look at right now, but trust me, it's a very good start. i have to figure out how to import animations, scale, and looks like i need to weld the verts a bit.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on September 28, 2011, 05:59:40 PM
I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at... but I'm intrigued.
Is it FF characters modded into another game engine?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 28, 2011, 07:54:02 PM
yes, that's a part of it. i am figuring out a way for all the work we've done over the years to be easily imported into another game engine. scriptable, moddable, everything.
(http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2332/newbitmapimagevm.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/854/newbitmapimagevm.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on September 28, 2011, 08:59:17 PM
man. that is effing amazing!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on September 28, 2011, 09:17:30 PM
Well somebody got a technical fire lit under their pants lately  :P
Nice job...
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on September 28, 2011, 10:16:39 PM
May I ask what engine we are talking about here?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: style on September 28, 2011, 11:59:00 PM
If im not mistaking that looks like the Looney Toons game :huh:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on September 29, 2011, 01:00:58 AM
Well, that's cool. Kind of the reverse of what I'm working on - instead of moving new stuff in, you're moving stuff out.

I thought about that when I was learning about converting, but my main stopping point was I didn't see any game out there that could do what FF could. Lifting heavy objects to throw, flying and all the fx's for the superpowers. Hopefully the engine you're working with can be adapted to handle that.

Good job and good luck. MM is looking good already.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Kommando on September 29, 2011, 01:16:56 AM
That does look pretty cool.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 29, 2011, 09:19:27 AM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on September 28, 2011, 10:16:39 PM
May I ask what engine we are talking about here?
why, yes, of course. you may.
Quote from: style on September 28, 2011, 11:59:00 PM
If im not mistaking that looks like the Looney Toons game :huh:
it's not loony toons! that is the panda3d engine, right? i've tried working with that, but it's so hard to work with, and it doesn't feel 'finished' to me. i know that's probably not true, there are games made with it, but all the updates make me feel that way.
Quote from: Randomdays on September 29, 2011, 01:00:58 AM
Well, that's cool. Kind of the reverse of what I'm working on - instead of moving new stuff in, you're moving stuff out.

I thought about that when I was learning about converting, but my main stopping point was I didn't see any game out there that could do what FF could. Lifting heavy objects to throw, flying and all the fx's for the superpowers. Hopefully the engine you're working with can be adapted to handle that.

Good job and good luck. MM is looking good already.
importing is pretty hard by itself, when i finish it will be easier for people to follow me. some of the ff engine can be emulated easily, some of it, like most nearly all the powers, will have to be scripted, like ffx. the fx is built in to the engine and super easy. lifting, and jumping easily coded to each character str, and flying can come directly from jumping.




i am working with unity. if anyone wants to work on it, let me know, and i'll share what i have so far. it's a big learning curve.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on September 29, 2011, 12:11:21 PM
Looks extremely promising, Bearded!

Agreed on Panda 3D. Many interesting elements, but it seems to need a few more solid developers and support people. No blog post in more than a year is not a good sign.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 29, 2011, 12:38:01 PM
the great thing about unity is it looks complete enough to do everything we want it to do.
game mechanics:
i've been thinking about how ff missed some classic comics opportunities. like character death. if you die in a mission, i think that would be a chance to rebuild your character as either a returned to life hero, ala green arrow, superman, or remake him ala dick/batman. what would be some game mechanics advantages to that? maybe you get to keep one component of the old character, equipment, exp, costume (i'm also thinking some costume choices would affect powers. capes aiding in protection, or slower falling, etc.
the way i work, is i will get a complete level functioning, with a mission, and then slowly add things to it. powers, fx, etc. when i get a functioning level, i plan on releasing it to you guys. if ppl are willing to help, we should make this a team effort.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on September 29, 2011, 01:16:35 PM
This sounds like an amazing project bearded, what kind of help are you needing? Right now, the scope of my abilities lies in Nifskoping and skinning, and my free time is really limited, but if there's on that level that you need, let me know.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on September 29, 2011, 04:10:12 PM
Unity is actually pretty slick.
I have a friend who does game development with Unity and he's a huge proponent.

I don't have a lot of time these days, but I have Unity installed on my machine and I would be interested in seeing what you've done.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 29, 2011, 04:17:46 PM
Quote from: Cyber Burn on September 29, 2011, 01:16:35 PM
This sounds like an amazing project bearded, what kind of help are you needing? Right now, the scope of my abilities lies in Nifskoping and skinning, and my free time is really limited, but if there's on that level that you need, let me know.
the thing i'm not familiar with that you could help with is ...i think it's called bump mapping? i don't know anything about it, but unity supports it.
Quote from: GogglesPizanno on September 29, 2011, 04:10:12 PM
Unity is actually pretty slick.
I have a friend who does game development with Unity and he's a huge proponent.

I don't have a lot of time these days, but I have Unity installed on my machine and I would be interested in seeing what you've done.

in a day or 2, i should have something ready to show.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Kommando on September 29, 2011, 04:40:28 PM
Bump mapping is an extra texture layer that, when rendered on a model, gives the illusion of higher polygons. Valandar had a nice example a few years back. It can also be used to apply textures to objects, once again kind of an illusion.

Wikipedia Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on September 29, 2011, 04:59:54 PM
Quote from: Kommando on September 29, 2011, 04:40:28 PM
Bump mapping is an extra texture layer that, when rendered on a model, gives the illusion of higher polygons. Valandar had a nice example a few years back. It can also be used to apply textures to objects, once again kind of an illusion.

Wikipedia Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping)

Also Tommyboy toyed around with it a while back. The FF games didn't really officially support it (though the nif format itself does).
http://tommyboymeshes.freedomforceforever.com/BumpmapTutorial.html
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on September 29, 2011, 06:08:31 PM
tommyboy also had a few meshes he released that had bumpmapped textures.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on September 29, 2011, 10:33:46 PM
It's cool that you are making progess on this.  It would be a great project for the community to work on and would be great if we could get a working project out there.  That would also a good thing to refocus the community as a whole on.

I'm assuming powers and such will be totally script driven?  Will it still be python based?  I can see tremendous potential if both are true.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on September 29, 2011, 11:05:35 PM
All the scripting in Unity is done in either C#, JavaScript or Boo (python like).
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 29, 2011, 11:47:14 PM
everything is open source script driven. and a lot of scripts are already prepackaged. like jumping is a coded script called an 'asset'. with optional code to let it be a controlled descent. which is the next step to a flying code. which leads to melee combat. as an example. there are a lot of precoded assets, like bullets or melee punches.
gameplay: i'm thinking of dynamic villians, based on character choices. like your main adversary could be a copy of yourself, or the opposite, or random features, etc.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 30, 2011, 02:13:35 PM
is anyone willing to make a nice bumpmap for minute man? i'll try to implement it.
i am going to make a full minuteman level, with as many of his powers as i can manage. it will be a third person action type game, i'm eventually hoping for mua type controls, with allies following you, that you can switch control to, maybe with online multiplayer capability, other ppl playing your allies.
so far, i have implemented the mm mesh, with all animations appropriate, and have started the flight code. if he is on solid ground and you jump, he jumps, if you are on a wall, he starts to fly. i'm thinking flight could be handled as basically a controlled jump, with descent speed constant, but based on the power level of the character. like, angel would have a flight of 5 and would descend slowly, unless you push jump while in air, which would give you altitude and a wing animation, but superman would have a flight of 10 and extremely slow descent, basically a hover with drop or altitude button control. hulk would have flight of 0, but his strength would give him extreme altitude, but fast drop, and no altitude gained from jumping in the air. this would really work well for spiderman, flight of 1. he could basically bounce from wall to wall. not web using his webshooters, i mean. my idea for webshooters is if you shoot something with your webline, like a wall or object very heavy, you are pulled to it, if you shoot something light enough, it is pulled to you. same for grapple guns.
the melee, as seen below, works excellent.  if enemy is in range of staff, when swung, you get hit. if you are a tad out of range, enemy missed. being hit sound effects based on each individual enemy.
(http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9474/newbitmapimageql.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/newbitmapimageql.png/)
ultimately, i am going to be practicing with the ff characters, but i want a character creation system like the city of heroes one, but i'm thinking of have an option wherein players can attain their powers based on how they look. you attach a shield to your character, you get the shield set of powers, like that. and have an option of creating your powers after the design, as an option.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 30, 2011, 05:00:42 PM
QuoteMesh Particle Emitter

The Mesh Particle Emitter emits particles around a mesh. Particles are spawned from the surface of the mesh, which can be necessary when you want to make your particles interact in a complex way with objects.
this is something the engine can do in a game. know what that means?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on September 30, 2011, 06:28:13 PM
Alright, this is extremely interesting, but I'm afraid I'm having to play a bit of catchup here because I'm not very familiar with the engine.  I just looked Unity up, and I'm starting to understand what Bearded is working on a bit better.  I can definitely see a ton of potential to this, if we could rig up a game that FF content can be imported to.  Sadly, without something as Benton-friendly as EZScript I'll be pretty much on the bench for this one.  If we could find a way to put together a functional co-op Rumble Room type feature and a heroeditor, this could really be amazing.  It looks like Bearded is well on the way to getting the basic gameplay set.

Bearded, I think you're taking the right approach, building in the FF characters and such.  I've got a couple of questions for you, just to satisfy my own curiosity.  I hope you don't mind. 

1) You said that the melee is working pretty well.  Is there a dodge function or the possibility of one?  I love the gameplay in MUA, but I feel like we might lose a bit of what FF had if characters don't have a chance to dodge attacks.  I suppose just having speed function as both dodge and ground-speed could simulate this to a degree, though.

2) What kinds of maps are available?  Are there pre-made maps that could be adapted to FF? 

3) How destructible are the environments in this game?  Can objects be interacted with? 

4) Forgive the ignorance of this question, but do you think it will be possible to port over some of the attributes and such?  If this game can use a Python-like scripting language, could parts of FFX be used in it?

So, color me very interested Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 30, 2011, 08:30:37 PM
Quote from: BentonGrey on September 30, 2011, 06:28:13 PM
...

Bearded, I think you're taking the right approach, building in the FF characters and such.  I've got a couple of questions for you, just to satisfy my own curiosity.  I hope you don't mind. 

1) You said that the melee is working pretty well.  Is there a dodge function or the possibility of one?  I love the gameplay in MUA, but I feel like we might lose a bit of what FF had if characters don't have a chance to dodge attacks.  I suppose just having speed function as both dodge and ground-speed could simulate this to a degree, though.
that's a good idea. for the player controllable, pressing the run button from standstill functions fairly well, with a movement key pressed at the same time. for the ally ai, it would have to be scripted in, with a chance based on dex, or skills.
Quote
2) What kinds of maps are available?  Are there pre-made maps that could be adapted to FF? 
maps are crafted by hand in the editor, but are easily made and can be exported as an 'asset' called map.prefab that can be imported into any level. anything can be exported as a prefab, any combination of things. like, all the skins, powers, meshes, and sounds of minute_man.
Quote
3) How destructible are the environments in this game?  Can objects be interacted with? 
i just imported an asset to my player (minute_man.prefab) called push_bodies that lets me push the ko'ed oppenents out of my way instead of bouncing off of them. any object can be coded to respond to this, you could push crates, rocks, anything. i don't have any code to pick up objects yet.
Quote
4) Forgive the ignorance of this question, but do you think it will be possible to port over some of the attributes and such?  If this game can use a Python-like scripting language, could parts of FFX be used in it?
they would have to be recoded by hand, unless someone made a converter, like python to boo. slightly different code, but based on basic. if then statements and things like that.
Quote
So, color me very interested Bearded.
i have nearly finished my minuteman level. i'm going to use the ff resources for ambiance and practice, and release my levels to ppl here that are interested or want to help, or beta test. no general release for now.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 30, 2011, 08:35:50 PM
Quote from: BentonGrey on September 30, 2011, 06:28:13 PM
... if we could rig up a game that FF content can be imported to.  Sadly, without something as Benton-friendly as EZScript I'll be pretty much on the bench for this one.  If we could find a way to put together a functional co-op Rumble Room type feature and a heroeditor, this could really be amazing.  It looks like Bearded is well on the way to getting the basic gameplay set.
...
after i get some powers and basic controls set, i'm going to make a rumble level, that is my main goal. the heroeditor would be extremely flexible, based on the .prefab, pretty much letting the player control the input to the prefabs. that means that instead of hard coded heroes, you would be able to level up any character as you wanted, with level maker suggestions for advancement. give bullet an el diablo flame throw power. i'm thinking of ideas for character redesigns being part of the campaign as well. but this is getting into game design area again.

i don't want to say anything uncouth about people i don't really know, so, i'll mostly just say i won't be joining the unity forums, for help or anything else. at best, they seem a bit cut throat. as far as i'm concerned, this project is just for us, and anyone that wants to join our forum.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on September 30, 2011, 09:09:41 PM
This is looking very promising, bearded!

But just a suggestion: I do like your idea of designing characters in the CoH/CoV fashion, but I think (if this is possible for you or whoever wants to work on this) that players should also be able to a) download meshes of other characters much like we do now and, more importantly, b) design your own powers. That is what I love about FF so much, the great variety in customization of powers and the fact that you aren't restricted to defined power-sets (i.e. City of Heroes) or pseudo-power-sets (i.e. Champions Online).

But that is just my humble opinion. It's your decision ultimately, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 30, 2011, 11:50:23 PM
i've got a fully playable level. short, about ten minutes of play. anybody want to playtest it for me?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on September 30, 2011, 11:52:30 PM
Well, if you'll let me know how I can get my hands on this "Unity" thing, then yes!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on October 01, 2011, 12:26:01 AM
I wish I could, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to do so.

Sorry :(
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 01, 2011, 01:29:47 AM
If you want to send it my way I have time tomorrow to do some testing.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 01, 2011, 02:38:52 AM
Did you get your Bumpmap file taken care of? If not, what format do you need it in? I'll take a look at Tommyboy's Bumpmapped meshes to see how it's done. Is your Minute_Man mesh already set up for it?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on October 01, 2011, 05:37:52 AM
Quote from: bearded on September 30, 2011, 11:50:23 PM
i've got a fully playable level. short, about ten minutes of play. anybody want to playtest it for me?

I'm game for takin it through a spin....
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 01, 2011, 12:31:48 PM
Unity seems suite interesting. There are annoying limitations with the free version, of course, but if this gets off, we could do a Kickstarter to raise the $1500 for one prqo license.

The flight control system you envision sounds great, btw, Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 01, 2011, 12:48:25 PM
Quote from: BentonGrey link=topic=54778.msg740387#msg740387If this game can use a Python-like scripting language, could parts of FFX be used in it?
it should mostly be rewritten from scratch, using some of the existing codebase for inspiration, I think. FFX is a hack, as FF didn't offer all that many hooks in the system. A VERY large portion of the FFX code is only there to work around these limitations. Additionnally, the codebase isn't really clean or modular.

However, the Unity code should allow much more, much more easily. I haven't the time to collaborate on this nearly as much as I'd want (many important RL issues), but I'll try to have a look FWIW.

Shame about the Unity forums, though.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 01, 2011, 04:19:56 PM
Okay, I played it immediately last night (couldn't wait) after you sent me the link. So these will be my initial thoughts after playing for about a half hour. I'm putting it here so other testers can compare notes. For starters, I hope that fact I'm about to list the negatives doesn't give the wrong impression. I know from my college days doing programming that I prefered being told what needed work over just telling me I did great (which you have).

*The very first thing that I noticed was the walk/run doesn't trigger at the same rate as movement. It gives the look that your guy is sliding then running. I'm not sure if he begins with the walk animation and then transfers to the run and it's so fast the animation never gets to begin fully? It's not huge but is really noticeable when your just tapping the forward key.

*I would have the character default to walk speed then have the player trigger running. Maybe hold down shift, double press forward, whatever. Platform hopping would be easier if I could walk.

*I'm not loving the jumping. Right now MM feels like he has boot jets even with just tapping the jump key. There is an extra landing animation he does that really slows down the fall. So you never just land. You have a controlled decent (if that makes sense). It really makes jumping feel sluggish. I don't know if there is some way to set up a jump or a flight set of animations- so that one skips that step. ***edited to add*** Looking at the animations available in CTool I think it's an issue with the actual keyframes. If possible maybe speed up the animations for regular jump?

*Just noticed while typing this that MM is going all Ace Ventura in the window. The character is Idle and he is pelvic thrusting. It looks like the start of the knockback animation that then resets. Maybe he needs an idle animation? I dunno how it's set up. If it's a bug or that if you haven't attached an animation yet or it just doesn't like being tabbed out of. But it is funny :D

*When using the bouncing pad things to get around you can't trigger flight/glide while in the air. For non flying characters it's not a problem but when you expect to be able to fly that could be a problem (kinda gives an unfair advantage to flyers though).

*Fighting seems really hard so far. I'm not sure if just touching the lost in space robot triggers the knockback or if he is constantly swinging at me. Whatever it is he keeps bumping me off the ledges.

So, so far, I haven't noticed any massive bugs or had anything that crashed me out. Everything at this point just seems like tweaks that need to be done the game-play engine.

In short, it rocks.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 01, 2011, 04:27:35 PM
And now two non-testing questions...
How hard is it to import a characters? There exists a ton of meshes and skopes and the list keeps on growing. A lot of us skinners customize the meshes so how much effort is involved to load in new content?
and
Is there a maximum limit to the amount of characters? Ctool/FF always had a limit and I for one always wished I could have all the content loaded at the same time. Not just for gameplay either. Having the ability to scroll through everything would make skoping easier. To have a Ctool like program with no max would be sweet and useful.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 02, 2011, 12:42:12 AM
busy weekend, i'll respond to everything monday, thanks for the responses and pm's! goggle's i'll get you a copy then also.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 02, 2011, 02:29:53 AM
have to comment on the ace ventura, that's funny. he is supposed to have an idle already, based on the idle_2 animation, standing and breathing. he doesn't do that?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 02, 2011, 06:47:47 PM
His idle animation seems to only go crazy if you play in windowed mode. If I change window focus and then come back he does it until I move him. It's not a biggie.

From continued playing the only thing new I have to add is that walking up inclines can be a problem. I think it's more of a map issue than anything else. If the lip of the disks are to high your guy gets stuck rather then just walking up it. Might be a problem in city maps if the curbs are to high.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: cmdrkoenig67 on October 03, 2011, 03:30:00 AM
BTW...Black Jack in  :ffvstr: already has a bump map in his skin folder, but I don't think the Irrational folks activated it.

Dana
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 03, 2011, 10:43:47 AM
Quote from: Epimethee on October 01, 2011, 12:48:25 PM
Quote from: BentonGrey link=topic=54778.msg740387#msg740387If this game can use a Python-like scripting language, could parts of FFX be used in it?
it should mostly be rewritten from scratch, using some of the existing codebase for inspiration, I think. FFX is a hack, as FF didn't offer all that many hooks in the system. A VERY large portion of the FFX code is only there to work around these limitations. Additionnally, the codebase isn't really clean or modular.

However, the Unity code should allow much more, much more easily. I haven't the time to collaborate on this nearly as much as I'd want (many important RL issues), but I'll try to have a look FWIW.

Shame about the Unity forums, though.
anytime you, or anyone else wants my source, let me know.
Quote from: area34 on October 01, 2011, 04:19:56 PM
...
*The very first thing that I noticed was the walk/run doesn't trigger at the same rate as movement. It gives the look that your guy is sliding then running. I'm not sure if he begins with the walk animation and then transfers to the run and it's so fast the animation never gets to begin fully? It's not huge but is really noticeable when your just tapping the forward key.

*I would have the character default to walk speed then have the player trigger running. Maybe hold down shift, double press forward, whatever. Platform hopping would be easier if I could walk.
i use a game pad, xbox style for the pc, and it really gives a lot more control. all of this is coded anyway, should be an easy fix to change and you are correct, it starts with a walk that turns into a run in .3 seconds. so, i think you lose that .3 everytime you press forward. if i remove the walk animation and change the run to a walk. also, the 3 button on my controller goes autopmatically to a run. also, the 1 key switches the camera to behind your back. i'm thinking of giving fps mouse camera control, would that work?
Quote
*I'm not loving the jumping. Right now MM feels like he has boot jets even with just tapping the jump key. There is an extra landing animation he does that really slows down the fall. So you never just land. You have a controlled decent (if that makes sense). It really makes jumping feel sluggish. I don't know if there is some way to set up a jump or a flight set of animations- so that one skips that step. ***edited to add*** Looking at the animations available in CTool I think it's an issue with the actual keyframes. If possible maybe speed up the animations for regular jump?
he does have boot jets in this version! are the flames at his feet not showing in your copy? i think i can change the animations to the last second of his jump keyframe and see if that works better.
Quote
...
*When using the bouncing pad things to get around you can't trigger flight/glide while in the air. For non flying characters it's not a problem but when you expect to be able to fly that could be a problem (kinda gives an unfair advantage to flyers though).
i code thing again, easily adapted to different purposes.
Quote
*Fighting seems really hard so far. I'm not sure if just touching the lost in space robot triggers the knockback or if he is constantly swinging at me. Whatever it is he keeps bumping me off the ledges.
the fighting is something i haven't focused on much yet.  the robot ai is very simplistic. if you jump over him while he is charging you, he will keep going in the same direction and you can swing at his back.
Quote
So, so far, I haven't noticed any massive bugs or had anything that crashed me out. Everything at this point just seems like tweaks that need to be done the game-play engine.
a lot of my tweaks are very subtle and i wonder if they are noticed. it took me about half a day to get his footsteps in right! can you hear his footsteps? also, small dustclouds around his feet when he runs, lands or attacks.
Quote
In short, it rocks.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 03, 2011, 02:48:37 PM
To further the discussion, here are the comments I sent Bearded via PM:

Spoiler

Alright, I've downloaded it and put this little build through its paces.  Would you like to do feedback in private or in public?  I'll go ahead and send this to you via PM to start off with, but we can always do future stuff in the thread if you'd like.  First let me say, Bearded, what you've done here is remarkable.  I can see tons and tons of potential in a second platform for FF content, especially an MUA style, co-op type experience. 

Initial Impression: Pretty much all of the pieces necessary to make this great are already here, and that's great.  Now we just need to make them play well together.  I think with some refinement, the basic gameplay will definitely be fun, but I definitely think that what we need to shot for, gameplay-wise, is a pretty MUA/XML type experience.  We've got the building blocks, but I think there are a few things it needs.

Major Strengths: You've got 3D environments, knockback, and collision detection already going great.  I don't know how much of that is native and how much is you, but either way, that is working well.  I see what you mean now about the jumping system.  Being able to almost superleap with Minute Man is pretty cool.  You can jump from running and change direction mid-jump very nicely.  That part is pretty seamless.  I also love a lot of the little touches you've already got in place, like the music and the sound effect that plays when you die (which I heard a lot!).

Major Issues: The controls are extremely clunky.  I had a devil of a time getting a hold of things, and the controls often felt unresponsive.  MM has a tendency to keep running when I'm desperately trying to stop him or change directions.  This often lead him into jumping to his death or running straight into the cold steel embrace of 'ol Robbie.  Changing direction is often fairly tough, and there seems to be a bit of inertia to fight against in some areas of the map or close to enemies.  Perhaps the most pressing issue with the controls is the need to be completely stopped in order to attack.  Your attack command should, perhaps, overrule the move command, or at least blend with it.  I understand (or at least I think I do) that MM's animations are probably a factor in this, but we've got to come up with a way to allow for more flexible attacking. 

The camera is also extremely troublesome, and it magnifies the issues with the controls.  If there was a way to lock it behind you, it would be much easier to manage, or better yet, having it turn with the mouse or one of the joysticks of the 360 controller.  As it is, I died quite a bit while trying to see where I was leaping, or desperately trying to get the camera to face the robot I was duking it out with. 

Minor Issues: The shadows don't hit MM quite right.  He's a bit too heavily shadowed most of the time.  He's also only got one attack.  I imagine this is all you've implemented so far, but I suppose I'm curious as to how a selection of powers and such will work.  MM is also a bit on the fragile side.  Will we be able to make some characters tougher than others?  I'm just trying to think of things to mention here, and this is all I've got.

Suggestions: I'll have to see more of what you've got planned before I can really offer any suggestions.  I imagine most of what I'd say would simply be going over things that you'd already intended to do.

So, final analysis, this is a great beginning Bearded!  It's definitely rough, but that's to be expected for a pre-alpha. :)  I'm excited about this, and please let me know if you'd like me to do any more testing or bounce ideas off of me.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 03, 2011, 09:45:26 PM
if you dont mind me asking, is thie plan to make something new, or to make this an  :ff: based game? are you planning on making something completely new like tommyboy and alex were doing? or is this meant to be like an ff3?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 03, 2011, 10:22:29 PM
i plan on making a game engine that supports superheroic type characters, and (with permission from each artist) the ability to simply plug in past works of art. so far, i'm finding that the best way to do that is make some generic mesh types, male basic and so on, and use the engine to add premade parts to it, importing nif files is nearly impossible. so the main resource would be the skins made.
i'm going to make this totally open source, so anyone that wants can create content of any sort for it. if it takes off, i am hoping there will be a way to keep track of singular 'updates', so coding efforts aren't duplicated. but that's getting ahead of myself. i'm still learning unity. i am using the ff characters as a base. if someone wanted to make a story with them, that's even better, as far as ff3 might be concerned.
my main goal is to make a mua type game, but with scripting and the source, it could be made into anything, tactical, strategy, even turn based rpg.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 03, 2011, 11:00:14 PM
Quote from: bearded on October 03, 2011, 10:22:29 PM
i plan on making a game engine that supports superheroic type characters, and (with permission from each artist) the ability to simply plug in past works of art. so far, i'm finding that the best way to do that is make some generic mesh types, male basic and so on, and use the engine to add premade parts to it, importing nif files is nearly impossible. so the main resource would be the skins made.

If you need a few skins created for your base meshes, I'd be willing to help.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 04, 2011, 10:17:57 AM
here is my tentative hope for a team, based on messages sent:
gogglespiano, coder and camera control
cyber burn, project skinner
hoss, model parts for the mesh templates
bentongrey, playtester, story and plot (not mentioned, but would you consider it?)
area34, playtester

if you don't want your name on this list, let me know. and if you want in, it's an open project, anyone is welcome! i just hope to maintain coordination, so we don't duplicate our efforts.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 04, 2011, 10:20:30 AM
i'm a bit confused about the controls. on my end, i feel he handles perfectly. but i am using a game pad. but when i try the keyboard it doesn't seem much different. does anyone have a game pad for pc? (how fun would this be with an actual joystick?) i do want the camera to be a little free roving, i hate looking at the back of laura croft's head.
i am thinking about a roguestyle melee. you run into the bad guy and the punch animation plays automatically.
here is cyber burn's mm bump map!
(http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2492/90037542.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/33/90037542.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
i'm wondering if the sluggish play might come from system specs? can you try toning down the resolution and graphics setting on the demo?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on October 04, 2011, 07:03:44 PM
While these complaints below sound critical, understand that a lot of my issue comes form being primarily a PC gamer, and me not having a lot of love for console like controls. All my issues could equally be leveled on games like Prince of Persia etc.. to some degree. Other people who do a lot of console gaming may feel right at home like you do. For all the little quirks I have, this really is quite an accomplishment and works really well for a first showing.  :thumbup:

The sluggishness I think comes form the way the walk/run animations in handled via the "ramp up." ie. You start walking and then change to running. It feels like owning an old car that just doesn't have any get up and go. Every time I stop to adjust or try and reorient the camera (especially on the jumping parts), I feel like I have to wait for a few seconds for minute man to rev back up again.

Now, you've implemented the "console" like control scheme pretty decently, but like i said, I just really don't like console controls on PC games. I find them unwieldy and confusing, and it takes me a lot of trial and error to get the character moved or pointed where i want them to go. Couple that with the walk/run issue from above, and it makes the whole thing feel slightly unresponsive, or inaccurate.

My preferred method of control in 3rd person on PC is in the mold of Hitman or the Witcher where the camera is locked behind the character (looking at the back of their head  :P), and moving the mouse rotates the facing direction of the character/camera (similar to FPS). Then using "w" or whatever is mapped to forward will move the character in the direction they are facing. The left and right direction keys work more like a strafe or side to side movement. This way the camera is always facing the same direction the character is. I don't mind looking at the back of someones head if i feel like I can easily get the character to go where I want them to go.

Ultimately I think the control issue is going to come down to implementing it the way you want for the type of game you are trying to do. There is no way for you to address every issue or preference people have. I think if you are going to go the route of console controls, the two big things you need to address initially are the responsiveness of the character when you move him, and slightly more controllable camera (either through user input such as the mouse or coding logic to automatically reorient it to some default position as the character moves). Just something so people can adjust the view to see parts of the level that might otherwise be obscured or confusing.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 04, 2011, 07:10:57 PM
the b button on the game pad goes automatically into a run. and the a button puts the camera behind the head, no matter your facing. i'm wondering if there might be a way to use the mouse and click in the environment, and partially use the ai to find the path. then use edge of screen scrolling for the camera.
if we can get the code for both systems, it could be set up in game options by the player.
i'm also thinking about having a 'talking head' style cam up at all times in place of the portrait.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 04, 2011, 08:54:53 PM
i'm sorry for all the questions, i'm hust really curios and interested.

1. do you need to download somesort of unity software or program in order to play this, or is it a selfcontained game?

2. will you be using irrationals meshes for the male basic, or will you be creating your own?

3. have any of the artists on the forums given permission to use there base skins? or work in general?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 04, 2011, 09:20:59 PM
Quote from: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 04, 2011, 08:54:53 PM
i'm sorry for all the questions, i'm hust really curios and interested.

1. do you need to download somesort of unity software or program in order to play this, or is it a selfcontained game?
complete standalone executable.
Quote
2. will you be using irrationals meshes for the male basic, or will you be creating your own?
i'm not sure what the end result will be, i'm using ff meshes to learn unity right now. a male basic type, to be sure. i want the game itself to allow for 'skoping' parts on, and those parts will be custom made. so, a male basic base, with templates to choose from, like dark hero, or super generic, and then customization.
Quote
3. have any of the artists on the forums given permission to use there base skins? or work in general?
i don't think it's gotten quite big enough to be noticed by the artists yet. altho i do have a completely playable level if anyone else wants to test it for me.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 05, 2011, 08:26:26 PM
(http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3641/bmpi.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/543/bmpi.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 05, 2011, 09:47:06 PM
that bumpmap has a great look to it. it really adds depth to the mesh. also, thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 05, 2011, 10:01:49 PM
Quote from: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 05, 2011, 09:47:06 PM
that bumpmap has a great look to it. it really adds depth to the mesh. also, thanks for taking the time to answer all of my questions.

This is my first Bump_Map work, so I wasn't sure what it would turn out like.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 06, 2011, 05:50:23 PM
it is awesome. the bump scale can be set in the editor, and i'm wondering if i need to scale it down some. the previous pic is at .25 and it looks a little exaggerated, but what do you think?
here is the ff car with a refl level, you can really see the headlight in the shadows there.
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6469/ffcar.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/210/ffcar.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
request, would you be willing to give me a ffcar bumpmap? i would love for it to look similair to this next pic, but cleaner.
Spoiler
(http://lars.rinde.net/taharez/Models/Shuttle_04/Victor_01.jpg)
here is a model that is in the tutorial i am working from:
(http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7371/byte.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/byte.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
i want to add him, but i don't know if he would make a better ally or enemy. should mm have a pet robot dog? his name is Bytes.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 06, 2011, 08:50:57 PM
i'd say make bytes a microwave sidekick.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 06, 2011, 11:17:57 PM
I like that, a sidekick/pet for Microwave to help teach him about feelings/emotions.

As for the FF_Car, can you send me the file you're using (The Nif and the TGA files), and I'll give that a shot.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on October 07, 2011, 04:21:18 PM
I would like to say "I cant believe I missed this thread" but well, the reason is that I've been back more for the community than the projects. That said... WOW!!!

I'm not a programmer or anything but if you guys start up a kickstarter at any point please let me know.

Also I will be happy to playtest any link you PM me, I have a gift for breaking things, finding exploits and walking off the limits of the map into oblivion.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 07, 2011, 05:38:02 PM
i'm right in the middle of working on the controls. i'll have something for you in a day or 2. i'm giving playtests to whoever wants to try a new game.
the unity engine is free, and can make standalones. as far as i can understand the license, we are free to do whatever ever we want for free. if we ever want to make money with it, i.e. sell it, we would then have to purchase a license for 1500. then, we would also have to use totally original characters.
the list of members and projects i posted earlier was simply my idea of a dream team. no obligations, of course.
oh, and please, vote in the poll!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 07, 2011, 07:06:35 PM
(http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/5981/newbitmapimagent.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/newbitmapimagent.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
doesn't look like much, but this is a pretty big deal. open up your mm in ctool and you won't see this. this is a merging of the run animation and the melee animation, for swinging on the go. unity can apparently merge any 2 animations into 1.
it's also me experimenting with the toon shader.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on October 07, 2011, 07:57:18 PM
Are you planning on having a "watch" mode at all?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 07, 2011, 07:58:43 PM
Ahh!  That IS a big deal!  That will solve a lot of the issues with the combat Bearded.  Also, MM himself looks much better there.  I haven't had a chance to test the new version out yet, but I'll likely do it today.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 07, 2011, 08:56:58 PM
New version?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 07, 2011, 09:44:12 PM
BentonGrey is playtesting for me. you want a copy, area34?
BG, it's not much of a change, some small tweaks.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 08, 2011, 12:49:33 AM
Okay Bearded, I've tested the new version and I've got some comments and suggestions for you.

First off, I noticed that you had already set the attack up so it overrides the moment, not only that, but that you can attack on the move.  This made the combat MUCH smoother.  In fact, I found the controls handling more smoothly in general.  I did notice the start up walking that folks have been talking about, and I tried out your "hit x" to run method to help me get up speed.  That worked fine, but I have a suggestion that I think might make the whole thing work a bit better.  What if you switched the two?  What if you just had MM take off at a run whenever he moves, but make X force him into a walk?  That way you can control PRECISELY when he's walking for those difficult jumps.

I found the whole game controlling easier, and I had a much easier time taking 'ol Robbie out.  The little boot jets from the bottom of MM's feet are gone, so it looks and feels better when he jumps now.  That's good.  I think that, especially given your most recent animation breakthrough, that the basic foundations of the combat and control system are now working well.  It seems to me that there is one more big interface issue to be cleared up before we move on to adding details.

I'm getting used to the camera now, but I still think that there is a better way to handle it.  I suggest that we do one of two things.  Either A) have the camera be controllable with the mouse/joystick, perhaps combined with your "B" button "snap."  Or B) Have the camera stick behind the character at all times, but have movement available through mouse or joystick, with the camera simply snapping back once you're done looking around.  I think the more robost system is the first one, and it will allow for a more MUA style game.  As it is, we're more in the range of an action/platformer than a beat-em-up with the camera system we have now.

As for your little dog-bot, I'd say add him in as a villain in your test level.  I'm interested to see what a more straightforward type of villain would be like in combat.

On a larger scale, you've been talking about the next step, and I think that what I'm most interested to see is, in order, the following:
-Some FF villains (Maybe thugs or the alien soldiers, who would be more map appropriate)
-Implementation of some powers for MM
-More FF characters

I realize that this would be a lot of work, so please don't mistake me, Bearded.  I'm not saying you should whip these things up right now, but just telling you what I'm most interested in seeing. :)

Anyway, I enjoyed playing this one more.  Just running around and fighting felt much better, and I am really impressed with what you've done so far.

:EDIT: Boy am I dense.  I'm sorry Bearded, I forgot that you had asked me if I'd be willing to plot stories for your project, and I would be thrilled to do that.  I'm afraid that I won't be too much good for you, since I can't really script, but I'd be more than happy to do your writing and plotting.  I've got a question for you, are static meshes transferable to Unity?  I know you said that character meshes aren't, but could we possibly port over map objects?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 08, 2011, 02:02:24 AM
I'm in skinning mode but I still can play test. I still play around with the original exe.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 08, 2011, 02:44:45 AM
wow, that's encouraging, benton. a lot to take in, and it's the weekend, so not much work i can do on it. i'm still figuring out how to do the hit on the run animation, but first i'm working on camera control. maybe mmo style.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 08, 2011, 03:21:19 AM
ok, i've been tweaking the controls, and have the camera more controlled by the mouse more now. working in a new terrain now, i got to the point where minute man was stifling me, so:
(http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6254/newbitmapimageia.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/406/newbitmapimageia.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
wow. bullet looks really good in a good 3d engine.
i'm going to focus on run, walk, camera, and speed settings. and running on slippery.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 08, 2011, 03:40:27 AM
Wow...that looks cool.

I'm a bit behind schedule with things so I haven't gotten to play the demo yet, but I will by Sunday. Quick question...where do I extract the files to so that I can play?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on October 08, 2011, 04:24:05 AM
This is all really awesome Bearded. Thanks for doing all of this. I'm excited to see your progress :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 08, 2011, 05:02:41 AM
Okay now I really want to get my hands on the new demo!
You might want to hit up Court and see if you can get his updated skins for them.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 08, 2011, 05:43:49 AM
Hey hey!  That is so awesome, it's hard to believe just how awesome it is. :D  New terrain AND a new hero.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on October 08, 2011, 08:41:27 AM
I'd like to know about the static meshes too. With Gmax and Blender, it would be possible to export meshes out to lots of different formats and make all sorts of maps available, not just FF meshes but the other games and sketchup as well.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 08, 2011, 03:05:59 PM
Quote from: Xenolith on October 07, 2011, 07:57:18 PM
Are you planning on having a "watch" mode at all?
I play  :ff: with a custom power that makes all the controllable heroes fight with custom made ai. i really hope to be able to port that over to b.i.g. (bright idea game). i want all the heroes to fight on their own, but have the option of pausing and taking control of inidividual heroes. maybe make the custom ai changeable before each battle, like the old ogre battle combat.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on October 08, 2011, 03:25:27 PM
That sounds great.  I like to make AI and watch the hereos fight more than anything else.  Thanks!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 08, 2011, 04:22:11 PM
I'm the same way. I'm watch mode only anymore.

Are there ranged attacks in this version? I've been wondering how targeting will be done.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on October 10, 2011, 02:28:39 PM
Quote from: bearded on October 08, 2011, 03:21:19 AM
ok, i've been tweaking the controls, and have the camera more controlled by the mouse more now. working in a new terrain now, i got to the point where minute man was stifling me, so:
(http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/6254/newbitmapimageia.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/406/newbitmapimageia.png/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
wow. bullet looks really good in a good 3d engine.
i'm going to focus on run, walk, camera, and speed settings. and running on slippery.

sweeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is so cool bearded. i'm enjoying folloing this thraed. thanks for all teh hard work your putting into this.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on October 10, 2011, 03:15:15 PM
Quote from: bearded on October 08, 2011, 03:05:59 PM
Quote from: Xenolith on October 07, 2011, 07:57:18 PM
Are you planning on having a "watch" mode at all?
I play  :ff: with a custom power that makes all the controllable heroes fight with custom made ai. i really hope to be able to port that over to b.i.g. (bright idea game). i want all the heroes to fight on their own, but have the option of pausing and taking control of inidividual heroes. maybe make the custom ai changeable before each battle, like the old ogre battle combat.

Talk about the best of all worlds. For me freedom force (in watch mode) was a "meta game" of designing hero files that behaved like the comic character should. This was challenging given the A.I. limitations so when you made a really awesome Magneto it was a real rush to watch him hold his own against a big group of mutants (or the Justice League, lol). Now jumping in and controlling individual team members (or oponents in watch mode) really changest things up, makes them a lot cooler.

Ultimately one of the most important things will be unfairness though, because that is the beauty of freedom force. Sure, it is nice that you can mod it a lot and all that but what makes it special is that you can have a Superman level character who is unbeatable. A tribute to the game needs to accomodate both Aunt May and Thanos, and not make them remotely equal. That is of course if you dont count Aunt May's ability to guilt the master of death into taking up two jobs to pay for her medication and mortgage.  :D
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 10, 2011, 04:42:42 PM
Quote from: area34 on October 08, 2011, 04:22:11 PM
I'm the same way. I'm watch mode only anymore.

Are there ranged attacks in this version? I've been wondering how targeting will be done.
i don't have ranged attacks yet. for the ai, it will simply be math, like in ff. for the controllable, i am thinking of holding the fire button down to get a reticule, a toggle for zoom (with the zoom level based on a range stat), and releasing the fire button to fire. so, not a good idea to fire when you are surrounded, while you are zooming, they will be beating you!
Quote from: lugaru on October 10, 2011, 03:15:15 PM
Talk about the best of all worlds. For me freedom force (in watch mode) was a "meta game" of designing hero files that behaved like the comic character should. This was challenging given the A.I. limitations so when you made a really awesome Magneto it was a real rush to watch him hold his own against a big group of mutants (or the Justice League, lol). Now jumping in and controlling individual team members (or oponents in watch mode) really changest things up, makes them a lot cooler.

Ultimately one of the most important things will be unfairness though, because that is the beauty of freedom force. Sure, it is nice that you can mod it a lot and all that but what makes it special is that you can have a Superman level character who is unbeatable. A tribute to the game needs to accomodate both Aunt May and Thanos, and not make them remotely equal. That is of course if you dont count Aunt May's ability to guilt the master of death into taking up two jobs to pay for her medication and mortgage.  :D
yes, i'm my goal is to pack a lot of different playstyles into one engine! i think i can do it. the ai mechanic i'm thinking of, you decide things for each character, like "attack strongest", "assist leader", or "defend and heal weakest ally", etc. and have different sets of powers, "melee", "ranged", "movement", "defensive", and have chances of the each power working. so you don't have to program each hero every battle, there will be a default value for all of this. there will be character classes, which will determine the default ai. like, leader, healer, tank, eneryg weilder, with the type being customizable as well.
power levels are tricky. i haven't thought about them a lot yet. has anyone played the dcu rpg? it has authentic power levels ranging from jimmy olsen all the way up to superman. each increase in number in a stat is double the last. so, superman str is 50, but shazaam is 49 means that superman is twice as strong as shazaam. maybe that would work? what if each algorythmic number had a linear subdivision? like, batman is level 2.10 strength, the upper level of normal str, and green arrow would be 2.5? bane would be maybe 3.2, twice as strong as batman, but not as strong as killer croc, 3.3, does that make sense?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: area34 on October 10, 2011, 05:47:53 PM
Sounds good to me. I can't wait to play test it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: cmdrkoenig67 on October 10, 2011, 06:04:57 PM
I not exactly sure what is going on, but it looks pretty neat.

Dana
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on October 10, 2011, 07:28:25 PM
Regarding stats:

How are you going to limit what can be picked up and destroyed in the game environment?  Do things have weight?  The answers to those types of questions will give a better idea about how how to implement things like strength, endurance, and other stats.  I've always thought using a rating system of 1 to 10 was fine, but i know other folks would prefer a broader range.  I can't decide if Hercules has a 6,7,8, or 9 strength, let alone having options running from 1 o 50.  If a car weighs "4" then I know how should have a strength of 4 or better. 

I like your basic AI thoughts so far.     
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on October 10, 2011, 07:39:21 PM
Also regarding stats (sorry if I get wordy, cant help it, bored at work)

Well as somebody who designs a lot of table to games I have two pieces of advice:

1) Dont make it too granular: If your scale is between 1 and 5 you are constrained in what you can do. In a scale from 1 to 10 (or 100) you can make much more "small adjustments" between one guy and the next. In an rpg this is annoying to deal with but in a computer game without dice or math, well, even Decimals aren't that bad (although always look weird if the player can see them).

2) Stats modified by Powers: So for example just to make up random numbers you could say that batmans strength is 6 and Supermans strength is 50. The only problem is how strong is Superman if you take his powers away, or Batman if he becomes a kryptonian for a day. On the other hand if the base strength is then modified by a superpower then you have much more flexibility. So let's say 5 strength is a fit guy who looks good in a spandex outfit, and "Ultra Strength" multiplies it by 5, giving him a total of 25 strength which is enough to throw cars around in the game.

All that is arbitrary and pulled out on the moment but what I mean is that it allows you to represent the fluidity of Superheroes. You know, today a character has powers and tomorrow he does not, and vise versa. Also it goes with my idea of "power stacks". For example you can have laser blasts, cosmic strength, super speed, flight, etc and call it "kryptonian heritage".  That means that you have an easy way of knowing what Clark is like without powers (due to kryptonite or without a yellow sun) while you know exactly what Lex Luthors stats would be if he stole Clarks powers.

Also it allows for some lazy character creation... as a player I could create powers like Cyborg or Werewolf by stacking powers. For example if I create a power called "Vampire" I could do vampire versions of X-Men via simple drag and drop. It can count for status changes too, like "Giant", "Shrunken", "drained", etc.

As for what each strength level does, I would be 100% un-scientific. Just pick what you want to see as milestones, and assign it to arbitrary numbers on a scale.

For example:
3: average strength
5: athletic
7: snap chains and locks
10: lift cars
20: lift a plane or other huge object
30: rip a building from its foundations
50: smack asteroids around.

In other words you are creating a world and all that matters is what is the minimum strength required to interact with the objects in the world. Once you get into how many tons somebody can lift or how many jules per square inch a punch inflicts... you are giving yourself a headache.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 14, 2011, 04:38:11 PM
lost in c# code for days. making progress.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 16, 2011, 07:13:19 PM
Really great work, Bearded. I'm impressed by what you've done so far.

From the very limited digging I've done so far, one of the challenges AFAIK would be the AI and especially pathfinding. On a game with a dynamic environment where movement capabilities vary wildly from character to character (and even from character state to character), finding the optimal path becomes  much harder. Most games, having to cope with a far simpler pathfinding problem, don't manage it all that well.

There doesn't seem to be much built-in behaviour available out of the box in Unity, though there are a few 3rd-party solutions, such as RAIN (http://rivaltheory.com/product, $100) and Path and Behave from a Unity dev (http://angryant.com, open source).

Quote from: bearded on October 10, 2011, 04:42:42 PM
what if each algorythmic number had a linear subdivision? like, batman is level 2.10 strength, the upper level of normal str, and green arrow would be 2.5? bane would be maybe 3.2, twice as strong as batman, but not as strong as killer croc, 3.3, does that make sense?
You probably already know this, but just in case, using integers for the code itself is usually better, as it improves performances and avoids round errors.

Quote from: bearded on October 14, 2011, 04:38:11 PM
lost in c# code for days. making progress.
Errr... have fun? For my edification, what are the advantage of using C# instead of the easier Python-derived Boo? The third solution, Javascript, seemed to have a few major limitations, but I haven't really discovered anything major against Boo. Is it compatibility with other existing code?

BTW, I wonder if you've checked the abandoned open-source Unity RPG project, Sunderworld? While it was very early alpha work, it may still have some elements woh forking: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sunderworld/
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 16, 2011, 10:02:20 PM
i haven't gotten to pathfinding yet, but i've thought about it. i've seen some pathfinding scripts, and will probably try to code my own. i am building everything from scratch. the demo i released was with the 3d platform tutorial, proof of concept.
as for c#, it seems to work hand in hand with boo scripts, you can seemingly call functions back and forth between them. more experimenting to do, but i want to use this experience to learn c. i've proto programmed in python, and i want to learn it. it's a bit more complex than boo, but i feel like i have more control. i am actually having fun!
the stat system i have in mind actually uses whole numbers. the first 'level' of the number is the rating. rating 1, rating 2. and within each rating is a subdivision of ten different 'levels'.
thanks for the rpg link! i'll look at it as soon as possible!

i really need help with labels for the different 'levels' and ratings. think of dnd. i'm a level 3 caster that can cast level 1 spells, that's just confusing. what can we call the different degrees of power levels? and how to differentiate between the overall power rating of the characters? like, xmen's legion is a 'class alpha' mutant.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 17, 2011, 07:03:50 PM
it ain't purty, it's mostly formula's for stats and derived stats, with some very very basic font and images. some of you hardcore rpger's might recognize some of the stat designations. i'm fixing it so when the mouse hovers over the initials, the full name will pop up. the numbers shown don't mean anything yet, they are just stand ins. i'm thinking a character can have an over-all rating, based on averaging the stats and powers.
(http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/9958/newbitmapimageco.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/newbitmapimageco.png/)

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just found out something exciting, level loading can be done with integers, so that means dynamic campaign arcs are easily done.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on October 17, 2011, 11:48:27 PM
Re: levels

Some RPGs use levels names like "pulp," "street level," "super," to describe power levels but I don't see any reason you couldn't use alpha, beta, etc. 
I sort of like the designations of City of Heroes for type; scrapper, blaster, controller, etc.  They seem to be good catch-all generic names.

maybe you could combine the two?  Wolverine is a super scrapper.  Doctor Strange is a super controller.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 18, 2011, 02:29:52 AM
Quote from: bearded on October 17, 2011, 07:03:50 PM
just found out something exciting, level loading can be done with integers, so that means dynamic campaign arcs are easily done.
Nice!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 26, 2011, 09:42:47 AM
in my experimenting with animation and physics i replaced a static car with bullet. he drives like a fast car, but animates like a speedster. i've been thinking about releasing my experiments, not as complete games, but as prototypes. would ppl be interested?
my newest idea is to take the same attribute engine and apply it to different game types, all within the same game. so you could have racing levels, or flight sim levels, or arena levels.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 26, 2011, 12:13:07 PM
Interesting. Releasing your experiments as is sounds good, as it might get you feedback and possibly contributors. Too bad I have so little time these days.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on October 27, 2011, 05:44:00 PM
Sounds like a remarkable project and it's great that progress is being made. Keep it up :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 02, 2011, 06:21:08 PM
here is cyber burn's generic hero skin behind some old school thugs. the normal map detail came out well here. you can see the pores in the thugs skull. gene's costume almost looks like scale mail. and the refl from the belt and gloves.
(http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5041/genek.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/192/genek.png/)

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i am hoping to take the base skin that cyber made and be able to add different layers of skins, like belt or chest symbols, as well as easily add weapons and gear.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 02, 2011, 08:56:52 PM
here is gene, standing on the back fin of the ff car. he is able to do that, cause the engine creates colliders based on shape! that means, if you can reach it, you can stand on it. or hit it. which solves any questions about flying combat.
(http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/3400/genec.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/genec.png/)

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Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 03, 2011, 03:46:19 AM
Sorry for my lack of response, Bearded, but I certainly think it's a good idea to test out whatever you feel may be ready for testing.  If you want an extra set of eyes on what you've done with Bullet, or even if you just want the encouragement that comes from knowing that someone is playing what you've created, go for it.  I'll be happy to test anything you'd like.

As for these new images you've put out, they look great.  The thugs are especially impressive.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 03, 2011, 05:10:27 AM
Quote from: bearded on November 02, 2011, 08:56:52 PM
here is gene, standing on the back fin of the ff car. he is able to do that, cause the engine creates colliders based on shape!
Yes!
Quotethat means, if you can reach it, you can stand on it. or hit it. which solves any questions about flying combat.
Re-yes!

BTW, would this work on character meshes? i.e., could the Wasp stand on Giant-Man's shoulder?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 03, 2011, 11:30:56 AM
here he is standing in a randomly generated tree. the engine proceduraly generates limbs and foliage. and at first he clipped right through it. but i discovered when you import a mesh, you simply check the 'create colliders' box, and when you procedurally create something, you add the 'rigidbody' component. i haven't figured out how to do it to animated bodies yet, but i'm close. when i get more in depth with the combat colliders, i'm sure it will work.
as for testing, i wish i had something more tangible, in stead of the math and code.

(http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4530/geneg.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/153/geneg.png/)

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Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 03, 2011, 12:23:52 PM
Very interesting. This will help a lot to give the game a comic-book feel. As far as FF went for its time, environmental interaction was still way too limited in this regard.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 03, 2011, 05:53:56 PM
(http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/18/gener.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/715/gener.png/)

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dynamic cape! this is gene falling. the cape has no inherent animations, you set the verts to inherit dynamically from the attach area, the further the verts are out, the more you can have them sway. each vert has a collider, which isn't perfect, but generally keeps it from clipping. the only time it doesn't work great is if you do an instant 180, which should be programmed out anyway.
and i can use animations from male basic as well as thug, but male heavy did not work.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: UnkoMan on November 03, 2011, 06:13:20 PM
Wow!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 03, 2011, 08:39:41 PM
Wow indeed!  It took me a bit, but I'm starting to see the potential in what you've been describing here Bearded.  This sounds great!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 03, 2011, 10:32:31 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 03, 2011, 05:53:56 PM
the cape has no inherent animations, you set the verts to inherit dynamically from the attach area, the further the verts are out, the more you can have them sway. each vert has a collider, which isn't perfect, but generally keeps it from clipping.
Quite interesting yet again. Can this be changed on the fly? For example, for a freeze blast on a caped crusader or for turning an elastic heros into a parachute?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 04, 2011, 11:00:52 AM
Quote from: Epimethee on November 03, 2011, 10:32:31 PM
Quite interesting yet again. Can this be changed on the fly? For example, for a freeze blast on a caped crusader or for turning an elastic heros into a parachute?
that's a good idea. i didn't think of that. what you would do is use the editor to set up the plastic man body into cloth material, but then deactivate it, using c# to activate it on call. freeze blast on a hero would be as simple as calling an animation and leaving it there, but the cape would have to deactivated.
another thing i've been thinking about is using the tree generator to make hair. trees are moving, affected by something called 'wind zone', similiar to an omni light, but it only affects the trees set up for it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 04, 2011, 11:44:03 AM
So... Procedural hair blowing in the wind? Cool!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 04, 2011, 01:59:06 PM
awesome :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: jeremy355 on November 04, 2011, 04:42:46 PM
Awesome looking stuff Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 04, 2011, 07:51:23 PM
thanks guys. friendly support helps.
not much of a big update today, i have day and night, and lights that go on when it gets dark. also, gene had just turned, so his cape flowed a tad.
2 different kinds of lights here, which one looks better?

(http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/2236/genem.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/genem.png/)

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(http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5605/genevd.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/714/genevd.png/)

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Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 04, 2011, 08:15:59 PM
Personally, I like the first one. Has more of a street light feel.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 04, 2011, 09:26:33 PM
Ehh...I can't see the difference very clearly.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 04, 2011, 10:02:36 PM
(http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/74/genea.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/genea.png/)

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Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 05, 2011, 12:40:21 AM
Working headlights? Cool.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on November 06, 2011, 09:13:37 AM
I can't believe all this amazing work youre putting into this bearded. does that collision detection work with the characters too? so a punch will actually land on the character?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 06, 2011, 03:37:23 PM
i'm still at the learning stage. but i am determined to finish it. i don't know much about how i can do combat yet, my first playtest i sent had a bounding box type system, but i am beginning to learn about rigid bodies, so i have high hopes for a location based combat system.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 08, 2011, 05:21:08 PM
haha!
right now, when i can actually manage to target my jump just right, gene starts slowly sliding down and then falls to the side. i think it's cause cyber thug is round on top. i will soon find out what will happen when cyber thug moves, with gene on top. i imagine he will stay in place, and fall to the ground when cyber thug is no longer under him. i think i can write some code to attach to characters and call it 'carrier', where the person on the carrier inherits it's movement. but unless the carrier is big, gene'll probably slide off anyway. hmm, tricky.
(http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5214/shoulderso.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/shoulderso.png/)

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Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 08, 2011, 05:25:29 PM
Haha, neat!  The Atom could stand on Hawkman's shoulder!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 08, 2011, 06:43:04 PM
haha! that is cool.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 08, 2011, 09:01:02 PM
The progress is ridiculous. How are collision detection going so far? I'm no programmer but I know that is one of the things that can bog down the game a bit, and if this program handles it well... well... I'm looking forward to some huge battles.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 08, 2011, 10:53:00 PM
Quote from: lugaru on November 08, 2011, 09:01:02 PM
The progress is ridiculous. How are collision detection going so far? I'm no programmer but I know that is one of the things that can bog down the game a bit, and if this program handles it well... well... I'm looking forward to some huge battles.
that is one of the things i'm deciding on. if i make collision detection simple, big battles are possible. but, i could make collision detectors for different body parts, so there could be bruised or bleeding decals to indicate low hp in each area. code powers to different spots and you could have them stop working at a certain damage level. but this would preclude large battles, it would really zap framerate.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 08, 2011, 10:03:57 PM
While the latter does sound cool, go for simple and big battles!  That's one of the coolest things about FF.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 08, 2011, 11:07:34 PM
Quote from: BentonGrey on November 08, 2011, 10:03:57 PM
While the latter does sound cool, go for simple and big battles!  That's one of the coolest things about FF.

I tend to agree. :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on November 09, 2011, 02:16:25 AM
Yeah, specific body part damage isn't really that important. I'd say that the capability for large battles and an overall better combat system would be awesome.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on November 09, 2011, 02:45:13 AM
Bigger and better battles most definitely.

While I do like the idea of area based damage, I think that should be implemented later on when the combat system has developed.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 09, 2011, 04:29:06 AM
That's very impressive progress indeed. So cool to see!

Quote from: bearded on November 08, 2011, 10:53:00 PM
that is one of the things i'm deciding on. if i make collision detection simple, big battles are possible. but, i could make collision detectors for different body parts, so there could be bruised or bleeding decals to indicate low hp in each area. code powers to different spots and you could have them stop working at a certain damage level. but this would preclude large battles, it would really zap framerate.
Specific body area targeting would add a new dimension in tactical fighting. To reduce frame rate impact, maybe it could be enabled only on the hero and his currently selected target. For other characters, targeting could be applied randomly (plus eventual modifiers).
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 09, 2011, 10:29:57 AM
Quote from: Epimethee on November 09, 2011, 04:29:06 AM
...
Specific body area targeting would add a new dimension in tactical fighting. To reduce frame rate impact, maybe it could be enabled only on the hero and his currently selected target. For other characters, targeting could be applied randomly (plus eventual modifiers).
simple, and effective. genius!
make sphere colliders a public variable and naturally deactivate them all except for torso, which will be default. simply use the script that calls target to activate all the colliders and deactivate them when the target case is switched.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 10, 2011, 05:49:21 AM
I'm glad you think it's worth pursuing, Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 15, 2011, 10:11:08 PM
thanks to Randomdays!

(http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7379/townad.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/42/townad.png/)

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i can import any map now and with a little work, make it work. i am starting to think along the lines of starting a paypal donation tab on a new website to fund the unity pro. i am missing out on a couple of things.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 15, 2011, 10:31:23 PM
Agh! Buildings!

Let me know when you have a site up.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 15, 2011, 10:44:46 PM
cool :D
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 16, 2011, 05:02:22 AM
This is starting to look  real.

For donations, how about a Kickstarter?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on November 17, 2011, 03:04:11 PM
i'd donate :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 17, 2011, 05:16:56 PM
"Donate $10 or more and I'll add your name into the comments in the code"
"Donate $25 or more and I'll name a call function after you"
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 18, 2011, 03:06:00 AM
everything going back to normal in my house, i'll be able to go back to work on this tomorrow.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 18, 2011, 09:27:09 PM
i'll get back to you guys on the license plan...
as to my work, i'm trying to import this big monster:

(http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/2263/towni.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/towni.png/)

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you can't see it clear in this shot, but the water has waves, and there is a way to implement swimming.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 19, 2011, 12:50:24 AM
whoa...the carrier? cool
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 19, 2011, 03:31:18 PM
last night i had an idea for different unlockable levels. each level would be a mega level, with many missions in each. each level would unlock different costume and power choices.
1. golden; the origin of your character or team. the missions would be danger room training type missions. your powers would be simple, basic. jumping, climbing, fighting. guns. the enemies would be gangsters with funny names.
2. silver; you get a costume change. addition of new unlocked powers, flight. enemies are supernatural, alien. guns are gone.
3. lead; costume change, power upgrade. guns are back. long hair possible. enemies are a mix of the first 2, upgraded and changed.
4. crisis; team up of all the previous versions of your character. mission is huge even based, saving reality or realities.
5. iron;

any thoughts or ideas on this theme? especially the iron level.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 22, 2011, 08:35:33 AM
the unity pro license is $1500. this is real, i'm going to make it happen. the more help i get, the better i can make it.
i've set up a donation website:
http://brightideagames.com/ (http://brightideagames.com/)
i'll find a good website maker and make it look better. start a project update section, and host the pics there.
right now, i've decided my goal is a fan remake of ff. i'm going to follow the game as close as possible, and insert code for all the things we've been wanting over the years. i'm going to make it super mod friendly. i am not, at this time, going to try and duplicate ffx. too much! but, it should be easy for other creative types to put it in.

after that, i'll think about designing my own game engine, using what i've learned from this. that's when i'll use the kickstarter website.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 22, 2011, 08:00:06 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 19, 2011, 03:31:18 PM
last night i had an idea for different unlockable levels. each level would be a mega level, with many missions in each. each level would unlock different costume and power choices.
1. golden; the origin of your character or team. the missions would be danger room training type missions. your powers would be simple, basic. jumping, climbing, fighting. guns. the enemies would be gangsters with funny names.
2. silver; you get a costume change. addition of new unlocked powers, flight. enemies are supernatural, alien. guns are gone.
3. lead; costume change, power upgrade. guns are back. long hair possible. enemies are a mix of the first 2, upgraded and changed.
4. crisis; team up of all the previous versions of your character. mission is huge even based, saving reality or realities.
5. iron;

any thoughts or ideas on this theme? especially the iron level.

I would say leave any and all character designs in the Golden Level with slight power upgrades on each additional level. As for the Iron level, if it's the last level, I'd say make it a massive boss fight of some type.

Quote from: bearded on November 22, 2011, 08:35:33 AM
the unity pro license is $1500. this is real, i'm going to make it happen. the more help i get, the better i can make it.
i've set up a donation website:
http://brightideagames.com/ (http://brightideagames.com/)
i'll find a good website maker and make it look better. start a project update section, and host the pics there.
right now, i've decided my goal is a fan remake of ff. i'm going to follow the game as close as possible, and insert code for all the things we've been wanting over the years. i'm going to make it super mod friendly. i am not, at this time, going to try and duplicate ffx. too much! but, it should be easy for other creative types to put it in.

after that, i'll think about designing my own game engine, using what i've learned from this. that's when i'll use the kickstarter website.


I'd be interested in seeing what FF would be like on another game engine. I will definitely be following this.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on November 22, 2011, 11:51:56 PM
One thing I would caution you about is not to make this a complete remake as far as including all the Freedom Force characters, storylines, art, and models in the main release.  Copying the basic system and interface should be okay, but you don't want to possibly run afoul of certain corporate interests, while limiting what you can do with this at the same time.  If you wanted to released a complete FF copy as say, a separate download not included in the "official" game, that would be a better approach.

As for a main campaign, our community is both creative enough and talented enough to make something to take it's place.  I hesitate to offer this, but I may even be willing to come out of retirement and create a version of Liberty Bay to serve as a default campaign.

As for ffx stuff, provide the basic foundation and the mod support need to fully integrate stuff like that into the main game instead of welding it in with hacks and such and I think modders will gladly adapt those thing to the new system for you.  I would be a pleasure to do so.

Note that this process would be much easier if python with similar scripting functions could be integrated, although it could be done with more work reguardless.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 24, 2011, 04:59:01 AM
python is something that can be integrated, i'll learn more about that asap.
i would welcome the liberty bay originals.
seperate "mod" from official, good idea.

here's what i have so far for the first level:
(http://brightideagames.com/park.jpg)
i plan on making a walkaround demo for it very soon. i am going to replace the trees and lightposts first, wind blown trees, and light posts that light up depending on the time of day.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 24, 2011, 05:53:09 AM
What about running this as the FF3 that everyone has always hoped for?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 25, 2011, 03:37:05 PM
that would be a good name for my project. uff3, unofficial freedom force 3.

here is gene, after climbing up on the statue, and the sun is rising. trees next!
(http://brightideagames.com/park2.jpg)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Outcast on November 25, 2011, 05:25:20 PM
argh....the sun's too bright...hurts my eyes....need shades....(just kidding bearded). :)

Really impressed on how far you've gone and gonna go on making this project of yours. :o
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 25, 2011, 09:47:35 PM
now implemented trees and swimming! it uses a simple box collider. set how deep you want to go, activate all the right keyframes, and turn off gravity for that character.
i was thinking about colliders on moving vehicles, what about a scene where the hero has to jump on the tops of cars to catch the speeding away villian?
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2687/park2j.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/210/park2j.jpg/)(http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6855/park2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/park2.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 25, 2011, 09:51:47 PM
I think that would look awesome.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ShawDAMAN on November 26, 2011, 08:56:14 PM
looking more awesome every day :p
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 27, 2011, 11:56:43 AM
i have finally gotten to a point where pictures alone can't show my progress. so, here is a walkabout:
http://brightideagames.com/freedom_test.zip (http://brightideagames.com/freedom_test.zip)
if you test it, let me know what you like about it. keys are a, s, d, w, q, e, 2, and space bar. i know there is a jump bug, what i'm learning from doesn't show me the fix for that.
this one doesn't look as polished as the first one, but the difference is i hand coded every part of it.
shawdaman, you have to be sure to check out how your skins look. i haven't gotten to them all yet, and haven't gotten to cyber burn's either.
the day night cycle is crazy, i'll fix that.

also, the right mouse button rolls the camera, and the left interacts with things. right now, only one thing. scavenger hunt to find it!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on November 27, 2011, 04:49:00 PM
Awesome, bearded!

Can't wait to give this a whirl :D
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Sioux City Dynamo on November 28, 2011, 03:39:08 AM
This is awesome!  Please let me know what I can do to help!!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 28, 2011, 09:32:27 PM
stand by, i'm sure there will be a lot of things i need help with. for example, for the character generator, i have permission from grenadier and tommyboy to use their parts hidden on their meshes. i will need base standard skins for all of them.
right now i just perfected the head turn! now your hero will actually look at the cursor when you move it around: (the white ball is the cursor)
(http://brightideagames.com/park3.jpg)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 28, 2011, 10:43:02 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 28, 2011, 09:32:27 PM
stand by, i'm sure there will be a lot of things i need help with. for example, for the character generator, i have permission from grenadier and tommyboy to use their parts hidden on their meshes. i will need base standard skins for all of them.

Definitely good news.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 29, 2011, 12:26:50 AM
Dang, cant wait to get home now. Doing some overtime in the office.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 29, 2011, 05:00:25 PM
41 downloads. tell me something. anything.
what do you think about the aquatic guy effects? and fire?
don't worry about movement, final version will be more of a strategy type camera and controls. like ff. this was simply a walkaround so you can see the trees and water and special effects.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on November 29, 2011, 05:27:38 PM
I only had a few minutes due to all manner of RL problems taking all of my time recently, so these comments are based on just that limited amount of time.

As a tech demo of things you can get into the game and working FX etc.. it's a really good start. The water guy looks from a distance like a mesh that was tweaking out, once I got close and saw the effect it was more impressive. Part of that confusion came from the distortions that were going on with the main character's cape. The physics and behavior of that were distracting and making it sometimes hard to see what was going on in the scene. I think it's good that you have started working out ways to get all custom content into the game -- making it all original is long term the best way to go, but I think my original issues with getting the movement and controls tightened up really apply more now. While everything in the scene is there and interacting, it all feels a bit "floaty" and non physical.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 29, 2011, 05:53:16 PM
the cape, yeah...i need to work on that. thanks for reminding me.
i think i can set up a webplayer so ppl could try it without having to download it. is that something that would be beneficial?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 29, 2011, 06:10:19 PM
Downloadedit, but haven't had a chance to play yet. 2 more weeks of classes to go, then I should have more free time.  :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 29, 2011, 07:10:34 PM
I'll get back to you tonight, the overtime is biting into my chance to do fun stuff.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 29, 2011, 07:52:10 PM
sorry guys, guess i'm over eager!

i've got an idea for a simple project to make a complete game (not ff, yet), anyone interested in helping? i have the code and mechanics. i need:
1. 3d models. not animations, simple shapes, could be done with blender or any 3d generator. even nifskope, someone to help me extract the parts from tommyboy's versatile.
2. skinner. for the parts. and maybe some walls.
3. story editor. i've got the basic simple story. someone to check it for lameness, and write some dialogue and original characters.
4. music. simple elevator type music i think. o tiobe sb?

pm me for details.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on November 29, 2011, 08:05:57 PM
I just finished trying it out. This is really cool. Some thoughts:

- The day and night cycles are a cool addition, even if they are too fast (like you mentioned).
- When I jump, I seem to land and automatically jump a second time. Is this supposed to be some kind of bounce effect?
- The lighting effects emanating from the fire characters are really nice.
- The water character is pretty cool, but he gets kind of glitchy (as do other characters), causing his head and arms to move around rapidly.
- I noticed that none of the characters or objects are casting shadows, which does kind of make the objects seem "floaty".
- Characters walk directly through hills and other terrain features. I'm assuming you're aware of this already, though.

Either way, this is really exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing more :-)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 29, 2011, 09:29:52 PM
Quote from: Figure Fan on November 29, 2011, 08:05:57 PM
I just finished trying it out. This is really cool. Some thoughts:

- The day and night cycles are a cool addition, even if they are too fast (like you mentioned).
i'm not sure how long to make the day cycle. real time?
Quote
- When I jump, I seem to land and automatically jump a second time. Is this supposed to be some kind of bounce effect?
bounce effect! you win the no prize! bug i can't find yet. when you press the button, the jump message is sent twice for some reason.
Quote
- The lighting effects emanating from the fire characters are really nice.
simple engine feature. i'm going to put an activate toggle in it, so they flame on when 'awake'.
Quote
- The water character is pretty cool, but he gets kind of glitchy (as do other characters), causing his head and arms to move around rapidly.
i think the glitchy comes from a faulty pathfinding ai. i'll work on it.
Quote
- I noticed that none of the characters or objects are casting shadows, which does kind of make the objects seem "floaty".
shadows require the pro license! i want them also...
Quote
- Characters walk directly through hills and other terrain features. I'm assuming you're aware of this already, though.
no...they aren't supposed to do that. you should be able to climb trees, and climb the statue. do the bipeds collide properly?
Quote

Either way, this is really exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing more :-)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 29, 2011, 09:40:13 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 29, 2011, 09:29:52 PM
i'm not sure how long to make the day cycle. real time?

As somebody who did a lot of modding for Fallout 3 and New Vegas I find that for an open world 1 hour = 1 day is great. That way if a mission takes a half hour in game, you might start being all stealthy and have achieved victory by dawn.

Honestly though I would not worry too much about a day/night cycle unless it is open world and ongoing... Still always a nice touch.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on November 29, 2011, 09:42:40 PM
Sorry Bearded, I've continued to be crazy busy, and I missed you putting out another test package.  This is all looking incredibly neat and very promising.  I'm particularly excited about the possibilities inherent in built in aquatic and aerial combat.  Hopefully I'll have time to check this test run out this weekend.  I'll try to provide some detailed feedback soonish.  It seems to me that a day/night cycle should be much reduced from reality for it to be noticable.  Perhaps an hour in length?  Two?

As for editor/writer, well, you've got a PM coming your way.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on November 30, 2011, 01:21:02 AM
Quote from: lugaru on November 29, 2011, 09:40:13 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 29, 2011, 09:29:52 PM
i'm not sure how long to make the day cycle. real time?

As somebody who did a lot of modding for Fallout 3 and New Vegas I find that for an open world 1 hour = 1 day is great. That way if a mission takes a half hour in game, you might start being all stealthy and have achieved victory by dawn.

Honestly though I would not worry too much about a day/night cycle unless it is open world and ongoing... Still always a nice touch.

Yeah, and hour might be good, or even 30 minutes would probably be fine as well. If possible, maybe you could allow the player to set the time of day the mission begins. Obviously I'm not sure how feasible that is.

As for the bipeds colliding..it seems to work fine for the trees, statue, and characters. It's just the hills and terrain that I phase directly through.

How much does it cost for the pro license, and are you going to set up the donation page?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 30, 2011, 02:04:24 AM

pro license is 1500.
donation page:
http://brightideagames.com/ (http://brightideagames.com/)
hills and terrain...i'll look into it. it's odd, if you went thru the terrain, i would think you would fall, as if you went over the edge.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 30, 2011, 02:16:21 AM
Quote from: bearded on November 29, 2011, 05:53:16 PM
i think i can set up a webplayer so ppl could try it without having to download it. is that something that would be beneficial?

That would definitely be awesome.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 30, 2011, 02:58:24 AM
It is funny that people have used terms like floaty and dreamy, I feel like I'm inside somebodies art school movie project. I know it is just a tech demo but in trying out random things you have created a weird little dream scape.

Right off the bat I'll say the following:

Special effects are great. Did you create the particles or did they come in it? I'm refering to fire, smoke and snow.

Day/Night cycle works great. On a much slower pace it will add a ton of atmosphere and make a "career mode" a really cool thing.
(My fantasy of a career mode is like the FFX patrol missions... go around town, fight random crooks, recruit team mates).

I love the WASD movement. I don't know if anyone else played "dragon age" but the problem with strategy games is that getting from point a to point b can be a pain... WASD and then zoom out for strategic mode would be awesome.

Water man is creepy but I think on a optimized mesh/skin that would look cool.

Cape is really ambitious, most games don't do that stuff. If you can pull it off, more power to you.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 30, 2011, 03:33:06 AM
Quote from: lugaru on November 30, 2011, 02:58:24 AM
It is funny that people have used terms like floaty and dreamy, I feel like I'm inside somebodies art school movie project. I know it is just a tech demo but in trying out random things you have created a weird little dream scape.

Right off the bat I'll say the following:

Special effects are great. Did you create the particles or did they come in it? I'm refering to fire, smoke and snow.

Day/Night cycle works great. On a much slower pace it will add a ton of atmosphere and make a "career mode" a really cool thing.
(My fantasy of a career mode is like the FFX patrol missions... go around town, fight random crooks, recruit team mates).

I love the WASD movement. I don't know if anyone else played "dragon age" but the problem with strategy games is that getting from point a to point b can be a pain... WASD and then zoom out for strategic mode would be awesome.

Water man is creepy but I think on a optimized mesh/skin that would look cool.

Cape is really ambitious, most games don't do that stuff. If you can pull it off, more power to you.
most of the fx like fire and snow are part of the engine, it's simply a matter of placing and tweaking the numbers. the ground stomping by earth thug was a bit of coding and sphere placement. but now it's done, each terrain piece can have different sound effects. dirt, grass, stone, water, etc. just a duplication of the ff engine, that. i'm not sure how they did it, but my code actually registers when each foot hits the ground. feet multitapping the ground for some animations is really neat.
the day night cycle was meticulously coded by hand. blending the sky boxes was from a tutorial, and the sun is actually a directional light with a lens flare. i need a better skybox, and the night sky, i plan on having a moon. the problem is half moon, crescent, and the like.
career mode, yes, i plan on having something very like that. i don't want to get too ambitious, but i'm thinking of terrain that can be permenantly affected by the player.
i have am on the same thoughts on movement. i want the rts mouse click movement for groups or individual controllables, but with the option of being able to take fps control of a character. this is a lot easier to do than it sounds. there are 2 code sets, camera control, and character control. switching back and forth would simply be a toggle. click on a character and press "t" or something, and you take that character. no effect if no character selected.
what does aqua thug need? less jelly in his roll? or splash fx?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 30, 2011, 05:40:59 AM
Things are really progressing, Bearded. Wish I had time to play with this more. With that said, the web player would be extra nice for those of us on Macs – no need to launch a virtual copy of Windows beforehand. Be extra careful of copyrighted asset if you go this way, though.

As for the shadows, maybe blob shadows could work short term? Of course if you need to code them in manually, they'd have to be disabled when not on even terrain.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on November 30, 2011, 08:04:27 AM
I actually wanted to point out how awesome the gradual blend from day to night looks. It's even better now that I know you did the work manually.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 30, 2011, 11:52:33 AM
goggles should like where this is going.
both of these downloads are the same thing, just different ways to access them.
the first one is a regular zip file:
http://brightideagames.com/rts.zip (http://brightideagames.com/rts.zip)
and the second is an html document. i know i'm not doing it right yet, i'll make it a real webplayer asap. meanwhile, if it works right, you should be able to download this and launch it from your pc, regardless of system, using whatever you use for html; firefox or ie.
http://brightideagames.com/webtest.zip (http://brightideagames.com/webtest.zip)
the basic mechanics are there, no animations yet, but they twitch a lot instead, so that's ok i suppose. i'll fix the animations next thing.
use your mouse to drag a box around them, or left click on them individually. do not right click, it makes them do strange things sometimes. unless that's what you want to see?
the camera moves with wasd, and the mouse wheel can scroll in and out.
to make it smaller and more coherent, i left out everything but the 2, and some neat windzone grass.
anyone that wants to test it out, let me know if it works please.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on November 30, 2011, 01:39:52 PM
Very cool, basically the bones of an RTS are there.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 30, 2011, 10:20:48 PM
i reverse engineered an rts engine and converted the code for the camera control and unit selection/movement. i'm going to have to recode the collision a bit, sometimes they bounce and roll when they shouldn't, and i'll have to figure out how to animate each unit individually. i think if i do a static "walk" or "run" and make sure each mesh has that animation named properly i can do a 'send message "walk" to each one at the same time the transform location is sent. i like the way they rotate, but maybe a little faster? the twitching comes from having a character collider and a box collider at the same time. i'm going to recode the selection to use the character collider and get rid of the box collider, that should work. switching to fps nearly works out of the box, already if i activate the fps script at the same time, when you move the camera left, the character animates and moves left. i just need to set a toggle.
how large should i make controllable teams?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on November 30, 2011, 10:42:01 PM
I actually got about 2-3 minutes to play this last night. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember all the buttons used and didn't have a chance to go back and find out.

The cape tweaks out a bit on different animations, and there is a double jump, I believe both have already been addressed.

That said, I loved the Elemental thugs. Shaw, the skins look good in game, Bearded, I really enjoyed the fluidity of the water based thug. I can't wait to see what's next.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on November 30, 2011, 11:04:21 PM
As for team size, I would say no more than 5 normally.  It becomes impossible to really control anything much beyond that.  There's a reason the FF games used 4.

EDIT
If you do still want to do a close approximation of FF itself, I would like to propose the following alterations to the FF power system.

FF had a set up where you picked the damage type, then chance to stun and could tweak other magnitude levels and power costs and such.  This is so limiting that FFX found a way around it.

So instead you first choose the damage category. (physical, energy, mental, and so forth)  Ideally the list of types should come from a scripting function so modders and change them however they like.  The actual category has no effect by itself other than to determine resistances and such.

After that, you would pick a primary and secondary effect and their respective magnitutes.  So, for example, you can make Mental the category, Damage the primary effect, and Hold the secondary effect, making it a mental attack that causes damage and also has a change of holding the enemy, both depending on its resistance to mental damage.

Note that this system can still exactly duplicate any power made in FF.  A Fire primary Damage secondary Stun would be exactly the same as a regular FF Fire attack, for example; it just adds a ton of new possibilities in a easy to use package.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on December 01, 2011, 01:36:31 AM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on November 30, 2011, 11:04:21 PM
As for team size, I would say no more than 5 normally.  It becomes impossible to really control anything much beyond that.  There's a reason the FF games used 4.

EDIT
If you do still want to do a close approximation of FF itself, I would like to propose the following alterations to the FF power system.

FF had a set up where you picked the damage type, then chance to stun and could tweak other magnitude levels and power costs and such.  This is so limiting that FFX found a way around it.

So instead you first choose the damage category. (physical, energy, mental, and so forth)  Ideally the list of types should come from a scripting function so modders and change them however they like.  The actual category has no effect by itself other than to determine resistances and such.

After that, you would pick a primary and secondary effect and their respective magnitutes.  So, for example, you can make Mental the category, Damage the primary effect, and Hold the secondary effect, making it a mental attack that causes damage and also has a change of holding the enemy, both depending on its resistance to mental damage.

Note that this system can still exactly duplicate any power made in FF.  A Fire primary Damage secondary Stun would be exactly the same as a regular FF Fire attack, for example; it just adds a ton of new possibilities in a easy to use package.

I would like to second this. Great ideas, Cat.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 01, 2011, 02:12:05 AM
I have a question on control. One thing in RTS's I would have liked that FF didn't have was setting up a command queue. Is this something already done/scripted or can be done? Or is it still too early in the process to look at? Another RTS/RPG function would be commands to party members like "follow me", "guard me" or "attack target till told otherwise". 
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 01, 2011, 02:20:29 AM
ai will be scripted in c#. i'm going to do a basic ai, and i'm going to try and open it up to python so you guys that are way better at ai than me can come up with custom commands.
cat's ideas are good. i'm thinking each power can have 2 special effects. damage over time, hold, stun, knockback, etc. and leave each power be customizable as to which two. does that sound good?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on December 01, 2011, 02:26:04 AM
Quote from: bearded on December 01, 2011, 02:20:29 AM
ai will be scripted in c#. i'm going to do a basic ai, and i'm going to try and open it up to python so you guys that are way better at ai than me can come up with custom commands.
cat's ideas are good. i'm thinking each power can have 2 special effects. damage over time, hold, stun, knockback, etc. and leave each power be customizable as to which two. does that sound good?

That does sound pretty good, actually.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 01, 2011, 03:36:19 AM
Quote from: bearded on December 01, 2011, 02:20:29 AM
cat's ideas are good. i'm thinking each power can have 2 special effects. damage over time, hold, stun, knockback, etc. and leave each power be customizable as to which two. does that sound good?

That's basically what I'm saying, bearded, just make regular old damage one of those effects for ultimate customizability.

Also, I would advise not putting the effects into the engine at all, except for something basic for testing before python (or whatever you decide to use) is integrated.  Instead the engine just calls up python for all attack effects.

Here's what I mean.  Let's say you have a power that does fire damage and stun.  For this example, both damage and stun as set to there highest level.  This is in turn turned into a number from 1-100.  Since we've set it for the highest setting, it's 100 for both.

Now we use this fire burst again an enemy with a high fire resistence.  Let's say for example purposes that the highest fire resistance reduces damage to 25%.  So the engine takes the 100 magnitute of both damage and stun effects and reduces it to 25%, so 25 for each.  Then it simply passes that along to the python functions.  The format would be, say power_effectname("powerusername", "powervictimname", magnitute).  So for damage in this case, the number would be 25 and the function would be power_damage().  The damage function then take the 25 magnitute, does some math on it to turn that into a hp damage number, the uses the victim name to reduce the victim's hp by the set amount.  Easy peasy.

And with all powers set to python like that, then can be easily modified, added to, and you can get some people like me to help you make all of them, reducing your own workload.

EDIT:  I just realize the power effect function should add what type of damage that power it's in does, just in case we wanted to take that into account, so a fire hold lasts longer again those with a weakness to fire, for example.  So that makes the function say power_effectname("powerusername", "powervictimname", "powertype", magnitute).  All just for example of course.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on December 01, 2011, 10:23:36 PM
I think that's a great idea Cat.  That would make the power creation process more nuanced, and that is definitely a good thing.  Ha, you lost me with the technical bit though. :D

RandomDays, I think that's a good idea.  A command queue, even the ability to set waypoints, would be really handy for team management.  Something that is absolutely VITAL, though, is the ability to tell a character to use a power continuously.  I can't believe that was left out of FF2. 

Here are a few gameplay/design issues I've been thinking about.  First off, Bearded asked how large controllable teams should be, and that's a really interesting question to me.  FF's team size of four was just about perfect, gameplay-wise.  It allowed for missions that were challenging, but heroes who still felt powerful and heroic.  If you've got a team of 10 super powered guys around, it is going to be really hard to give them a decent challenge.  I know ALL about this from my JLA campaign!  However, that's about the CAMPAIGN, which shouldn't necessarily dictate every aspect of game design.  Personally, and this is, of course, contingent upon how hard something like this would be to do, I recommend having the ability to bring several characters into the game at once.  Five would be a reasonable ceiling, but I think higher might be better.  Then, you can always limit how many characters are available for any given mission, but have the ABILITY to bring in more when necessary.  I'm just thinking about how the FFX team has had to find ways around the four man limit in the rumble room and other things.  We don't want to put a hard cap on something like that if we don't have to do so.

Second, I realize that this is a ways off, but I think it might be worthwhile to talk about character building strategies.  As far as it is possible, I think it is definitely the right idea to copy FF.  However, we've all struggled with the lack of gradation in the FF powerscheme.  I think that a 20 point attribute system would give us much better gradation without being overly complicated.  I think it goes without saying that an energy system like FF1 is almost a necessity.

Third, resistances should be customizable in some fashion.  I always liked the idea of material types, but they are pretty restrictive.  So, we could have material selection provide a set of resistances which can then be customized for points.

Alright, that's all I've got at the moment.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 01, 2011, 11:59:08 PM
I would also be in favor of changes to the resistance system.  Here's a couple of ideas.

First of all, I think divorcing material types from resistances would not be an altogether different thing.  Or alter how to it works.  Two ways this can be done.
1.  Selecting a material type sets up a default set of resistances, which can be changed or ignored as you wish.  It's  merely a suggestion and the material type is there mostly for interaction with certain powers.
2.  Selecting a material type sets up the default configuration AND sets the cost of raising/lower the different resistance types.  So for example a metal character would be weak to electricity by default.  You could raise that character's resistance to electricity, but it would be expensive.  Making it even more vulnerable would give back a ton of points though.  Actually, forget the default, just making it set the price to raise/lower would do it by itself I think.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I like method 2.

And yeah, either way, allow resistances to be raised or lowered individually, with the price varying depending on the type being considered and possibly the material type if you like suggestion 2 above.  And just to make things clearer, make the resistance a percentage rather than a word, so if you take a 25% penalty, you know what you're getting, not just "vulnerable."
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 02, 2011, 02:54:16 AM
i'm going to start working on the character generator, make it really polished. we need to get some solid ideas about attributes and what they do. also, need to decide on the basic mesh models we are going to use. the engine supports a higher poly count, and with some of the morphing i'm doing, the old standard looks very blocky at times.
i am looking at http://www.mixamo.com/ (http://www.mixamo.com/)
they let you create your own mesh and download it for free! the only downside is the animations that will work with it are from the site. that means, i can purchase a set of animations from them, and then players can build their own characters to import into the game engine, and they will work with the set i buy. i think. they create them based on the fbx format, so that means that meshers can add animations and tweak the meshes.
how does that sound?

as for the resistances and damages and things, what i plan on doing is setting up the basic combat system, and then sending a copy of the c# to cat or benton or anyone that wants to add things. they can send it back, and i can import it into the engine. ultimately, i'm going to use the python plug in for ultimate modding, but for now, c# is the best way to go to set up the base engine.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 02, 2011, 04:02:46 AM
What kind of animations do they have available? Are there ones set up for most of the FF superhero functions - flight, takeoff/land, the various area effects, hand/arm out in weapon/beam attack mode?

How are you handling animations in the game? does each character have one large kf type file to handle all its animations, or is each action handled by an individual routine?

Can you take a kf from FF or FFVTTR and make it work? While the poly count may be low, if we could tie the armature and kfs that go with to a higher count mesh then that might save a lot of work.

And for that matter, I was wondering, with the vastly increased power of today's PCs, what would happen if we took a higher poly mesh, say from Ultimate Alliance 1 or 2, and put it in FF? I've already put in mesh's from Elite Force from 2002, which is close to FF in look, and they work alright.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 02, 2011, 03:10:23 PM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 01, 2011, 11:59:08 PM
I would also be in favor of changes to the resistance system.  Here's a couple of ideas.

First of all, I think divorcing material types from resistances would not be an altogether different thing.  Or alter how to it works.  Two ways this can be done.
1.  Selecting a material type sets up a default set of resistances, which can be changed or ignored as you wish.  It's  merely a suggestion and the material type is there mostly for interaction with certain powers.
2.  Selecting a material type sets up the default configuration AND sets the cost of raising/lower the different resistance types.  So for example a metal character would be weak to electricity by default.  You could raise that character's resistance to electricity, but it would be expensive.  Making it even more vulnerable would give back a ton of points though.  Actually, forget the default, just making it set the price to raise/lower would do it by itself I think.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I like method 2.

And yeah, either way, allow resistances to be raised or lowered individually, with the price varying depending on the type being considered and possibly the material type if you like suggestion 2 above.  And just to make things clearer, make the resistance a percentage rather than a word, so if you take a 25% penalty, you know what you're getting, not just "vulnerable."

I love the idea of editing material types... that way "metal" could be cranked up and called tinanium, adamantium or whatever, but still be metal as far as any masters of magnetism are concerned.

As for defense in general I like the concept of Armor and Density... Armor is subtracting points because of a coat of armor, such as -5 damage on piercing and bashing due to bullet proof vest. Density is what the character is made from, so it is like -25% everything since he is made from stone. It goes into the spanish concept of "soy" and "estoy".

Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 02, 2011, 03:22:07 PM
Quote from: bearded on December 02, 2011, 02:54:16 AM
i'm going to start working on the character generator, make it really polished. we need to get some solid ideas about attributes and what they do.

I think to decide attributes we need to decide in what ways the heroes can interact iwth the world.

Absolutely required:
Strenght: They need to lift things, break things, punch things.
Speed: They need to get from point A to point B.
Health: Characters need to eventually drop.
Energy: I think some abilities need to use up a limited resource so they are not spammed.

Maybe: (these might be covered completely by resistances, powers and other stuff)
Endurance: What does endurance do? Modify max health? Increase resistance? Decrease chance of negative effects?
Power: The "Strenght" for non punching. Usable to influence telekinesis, blasts, etc.
Will: Kind of like power has a lovechild with endurance... the characters ability to not cave in to influence, pain, etc.

Probably not:
Intelligence: I would rather go for character attributes like "scientist" as a requirement to perform actions rather than an intelligence stat.
Charisma: this is not a bioware game... I doubt we will have conversation trees, merchants and team mates you are trying to get it on with.
Agility/Skill: I'm guessing that dodging, accuracy and such are in the realm of individual powers rather than an overal modifier.
Coolness: that will be determined by the number of pouches, guns and muscles on the mesh, not a stat.     ;)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 02, 2011, 10:40:39 PM
Endurance and Will could be used for recovery rate of health/ energy. Instead of using FF's method of using a powerup to regain full health, I would have preferred the standard method of recovering health over time.

While resistance and material could decrease damage by type, maybe it could heal as well. IE hit Iceman with a freeze ray and he could use the energy to heal himself.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 02, 2011, 11:03:22 PM
RandomDays, the mixamo animations are fairly basic, but can be modified in 3ds max. each character can use any animation seperatly from any set, as long as the bones match. so any male cape or male basic can use either flight. you could script in to change the flight animation midgame for cutscenes.
lugaru that sounds like a good basic setup. we have time to work out the details, the parts part of character customization is bogging me down. if anyone would be willing to take a tommyboy versatile and simply nifskope out the different parts as different objects, we'd have a nearly complete character customizer ready. if anyone volunteers, let me know, and i'll tell you how to do it right.
as for heal over time, i like that. i never liked city of heroes medic characters. you hardly ever see that in comics. i like your idea of freeze ray healing. that could be one of the stats. what energy or material heals you, customizable, and how much. you could make a character who gets hp back from dr pepper.

i also like the idea of player created materials and energy types. player comes up with the name of it and one type it is resistant to and one type it is vulnerable to.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on December 03, 2011, 03:14:02 AM
I think that Passive Defenses and Active Defenses should have an extra option to only block a certain magnitude of hits.

It bothered me how a little shield could block a batarang and an armor piercing round from a .50 cal rifle with the same efficiency.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: vamp on December 03, 2011, 02:34:31 PM
I have to agree with Spyder. If thats possible, it would be cool to implement.

While this really doesn't have much to do with character creation, I was wondering if it was possible to separate a weapon from its user. For instance, if Cap threw his shield and is attacked at the same time, his shield magically reappears and he blocks. So I was wondering if it was feasible to make it that when he throws his shield, he cannot call it back magically, or at least that he cant block with it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 03, 2011, 02:37:36 PM
Quote from: spydermann93 on December 03, 2011, 03:14:02 AM
I think that Passive Defenses and Active Defenses should have an extra option to only block a certain magnitude of hits.

It bothered me how a little shield could block a batarang and an armor piercing round from a .50 cal rifle with the same efficiency.

This is something that was implemented in FFX although I avoided it for most characters since Mike had to jump through some serious hoops to get it to work (it was not in the original game) therefore it never felt 100% right. Seeing it at the core of the new game would be really cool.

As for items being separable that would be awesome, to be able to have actual items and inventory. If possible, great, if they are all just whatever the mesh allows, well ces la vie.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 03, 2011, 02:59:04 PM
Hmm...how about adding a tag to powers that make those "object dependent."  This causes the object to start with the character, but if he loses the object, those powers become unusable.  So if cap uses an object dependant "throw shield" power that also has a tag that causes it to use the item in question, he loses his shield defence abilities.  Along the same line, have an "object optional" tag that allows a character to use optional animations depending on whether on object is present or not.  Again, we'll use cap.  Let's say he has a power called "bash."  If he has the shield, he's use it to bash the bad guy.  If he doesn't, he'll use his fist instead.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 04, 2011, 12:34:06 AM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 03, 2011, 02:59:04 PM
Hmm...how about adding a tag to powers that make those "object dependent."  This causes the object to start with the character, but if he loses the object, those powers become unusable.  So if cap uses an object dependant "throw shield" power that also has a tag that causes it to use the item in question, he loses his shield defence abilities.  Along the same line, have an "object optional" tag that allows a character to use optional animations depending on whether on object is present or not.  Again, we'll use cap.  Let's say he has a power called "bash."  If he has the shield, he's use it to bash the bad guy.  If he doesn't, he'll use his fist instead.
for the character generator, i am making dummies called "mount points". if that gives you any indication.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 07, 2011, 04:59:25 PM
working on a character tool now. what you are seeing is the Muscular (male_basic) mesh with weapon #5.
(http://brightideagames.com/snapshot.jpg)
i will remove, or move, or toggle all the different buttons you are seeing, but eventually they will all represent different mount points for different objects, such as collars or gloves, or anything. switching skins of the different weapons and mounts will allow a lot of customization.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 07, 2011, 06:04:46 PM
That is really sweet Bearded, I'll try to get you a few variant colors for the "Male_Basic".
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 07, 2011, 08:28:47 PM
That is really cool... now are all objects part of the mesh or are they separate meshes, textures and alphas that are attatched to the mesh?

Just wondering cuz a "sims" approach would be cool, where somebody can design a cool cape and toss it in, making it available for all compatible meshes.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on December 07, 2011, 09:22:57 PM
I like this approach to character creation. It's sort of like The Sims and CoH combined.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 07, 2011, 11:35:55 PM
Quote from: lugaru on December 07, 2011, 08:28:47 PM
That is really cool... now are all objects part of the mesh or are they separate meshes, textures and alphas that are attatched to the mesh?

Just wondering cuz a "sims" approach would be cool, where somebody can design a cool cape and toss it in, making it available for all compatible meshes.
they are seperate objects. objects can be made with any 3d software, unity will import nearly everything.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 08, 2011, 12:40:03 AM
Very promising start, bearded.  Looks like you're trying for the best of both worlds approach, and it looks like one that might actually work rather well.  Seems like you really know what you're doing here.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 08, 2011, 08:41:18 AM
i want all characters to have several mount points, and if you pick up an item during a mission, it mounts appropriately and you get it's powers. how many mount points do you think there should be?
for power generation i am thinking along the lines of science, biological, and mystical. powers are tagged as one of the 3, scientific powers are item or battery powered, and can be acquired by anyone picking up the tech. mystical powers are similiar, item based, but can only be used by magic characters, channellers. biological powers are the third type, only usable by individuals.
this isn't perfect, it doesn't leave room for spellcasters or cyborgs for example, so i'm thinking i need more generic terms to fit those categories. any ideas?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 08, 2011, 12:38:05 PM
I've got a long post I wrote last week but decided not to put it up so I saved it in a word document. I'll post it when I get to work, because it is along the lines of the things you are talking about.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 08, 2011, 06:19:59 PM
i might have a fully functional character tool by next week! i have managed to get the skin to change on command.
(http://brightideagames.com/park5.jpg)(http://brightideagames.com/snapshot2)
what you are seeing is male heavy using a male basic skin. and the second pic is a little more troubling to me. in my process of managing weapons and hair styles, i discovered it will be very easy to set up various skins on the same mesh. that is 2 of cyberburn's skin on the same male basic. this means in addition to adding parts and pieces with the click of a button, mixing skins with the right face, hands, legs, feet uvw setup will be super easy. this means character tool level kitbashing, in effect.
should i abandon this area of learning? stick with simple skin switching?
or should i follow this, and maybe alter the uvw mapping so that new skins have to be made, those made with the intention of this sort of mixing?
my idea is to allow total character creation with the character tool, stats, attributes, powers, and complete mesh/skin setup, and exporting that as a hero file that can be imported into the game, or set up as mod ingame characters.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 08, 2011, 06:42:07 PM
Very cool progress! I love the idea of mixing and matching, and hopefully at least a minority of the forums talents would not mind seeing pieces of their work show up in the character creator.

Here is the long idea rant I promised. It pertains to the idea of giving powers different sources and attatching powers to items.





There are my "Long term" things I would love to see:

Cooldowns:

Some powers would require a cooldown between uses, giving us a bit of "easy" AI (superman does not constantly use freeze breath!) and limits how many times we see 'em in a battle (10 minute cooldown means you wont see an attack more than once or twice). Also some powers could start with it used already, so for example you could have a villain where if he survives 5 minutes his cooldown refreshes and he can do something really dangerous.

Examples:

Iron Fist: +10 bashing damage. 1 minute cooldown.
Reinforcements: 5 minute cooldown, starts already used, summons 5 thugs.

Power Origins

A word or two attatched to each power, which makes them suceptible to enhancements and dampening effects. That way a "mystic medalion" could enhance Magic based powers or an EMP bomb could disable Tech based powers.

Example:

Cyclops
Punch
Blast (mutant)
Mega Blast (mutant)

That way a mutant who cancels mutant powers would make everything but Punch unavailable.

Superman
Punch
Flight (Alien: Kryptonian)
Super Strength: (Alien: Kryptonian)
Heat Vision: (Alien: Kryptonian)
Etc.

Well Kryptonite has an aura of canceling Alien: Kryptonian powers, so bam, those are gone. Ideally something like Super Strenght would be a power (like 10x Str) meaning that Clark would go from mighty to average.

Character Meta Tags

If this catches on we will end up with 500+ hero files, by multiple authors. I think simple user defined tags would make things easy. Anyone can write any tag that he thinks is helpful in finding hero files or establishing connections between them. For example:

Spider-Man: Super Hero, Marvel, Peter Parker, Mutant, Avenger, New Avenger, Fantastic Four, Taskmaster

That way if I click on my cloud, on Marvel I get all marvel characters. Same goes if I want to quickly build a New Avengers team for a fight. Lastly if I want all Taskmaster files, I click on Taskmaster. Also say if I had a Hank Pym one and I clicked on it I would get Ant-Man, Giant Man, Atlas, Wasp and all his other personas over the years.

Power Stacks

Remember the premade powers in Freedom Force? Imagine if you can combine powers and attributes into a larger attribute, for instant power granting. That way you can drop "Vampire" on Jubilee for a recent marvel storyline or "Yellow Lantern Ring" on Batman for a fan geekout moment. Same goes for items... such as Symbiote Suit (which changes your default skin), Iron Man Armor (changes your mesh) or Cosmic Cube (an item you hold, and MAN does it have a lot of powers stacked on it!).
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 08, 2011, 10:56:47 PM
Pretty good ideas Lugaru, and another reason why scripting should be enabled asap, because it makes it a lot easier to intergrate text tags and things like that if we have it set up that way off the bat.

Quote from: lugaru on December 08, 2011, 06:42:07 PM
Some powers would require a cooldown between uses, giving us a bit of "easy" AI (superman does not constantly use freeze breath!) and limits how many times we see 'em in a battle (10 minute cooldown means you wont see an attack more than once or twice). Also some powers could start with it used already, so for example you could have a villain where if he survives 5 minutes his cooldown refreshes and he can do something really dangerous.
I'd also like to see cooldowns, although for a couple other reasons.  In FF, you could easily game the system by creating a character with one really powerful, but low to no energy power.  Making one uber power would cost as much a several lesser ones, so it was easy to do.  Cooldowns can be attached to the power level of a power though, to solve that.  Try to do that with cooldowns tied to power, and you end up with a really powerful, no energy kill power--that you can only use ever so many seconds.  So much for gaming the system.
Quote
Power Origins

A word or two attatched to each power, which makes them suceptible to enhancements and dampening effects. That way a "mystic medalion" could enhance Magic based powers or an EMP bomb could disable Tech based powers.
Hadn't though of that, but yes, good idea.  Have some standard tags with the base game, but modders can add their own of course.
Quote
Character Meta Tags

If this catches on we will end up with 500+ hero files, by multiple authors. I think simple user defined tags would make things easy. Anyone can write any tag that he thinks is helpful in finding hero files or establishing connections between them. For example:
could be done as well

Quote
Power Stacks

Remember the premade powers in Freedom Force? Imagine if you can combine powers and attributes into a larger attribute, for instant power granting. That way you can drop "Vampire" on Jubilee for a recent marvel storyline or "Yellow Lantern Ring" on Batman for a fan geekout moment. Same goes for items... such as Symbiote Suit (which changes your default skin), Iron Man Armor (changes your mesh) or Cosmic Cube (an item you hold, and MAN does it have a lot of powers stacked on it!).
That is the type of thing best done with scripting, imo, but more fully integrated than FFX does.  If all powers and attributes are already scripting based rather than part of the main game, than stuff like this will be a snap to do.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: UnkoMan on December 09, 2011, 02:12:15 AM
I really haven't been following this too much, but it certainly looks very cool.

I just wanted to say that, from a skinning standpoint, feel free to use any of mine for your mixing and matching. And, depending on how things turn out, who knows? Doing random little things (various coloured tops and bottoms, etc) might be something I would be interested in. I am not 100% on how it is working...
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 09, 2011, 10:55:23 AM
unless anyone has a better idea, i'm going to make seperate for body, waist and belt, legs, arms, and head. then skins for boots and gloves can be alpha layered on for any length. this isn't counting mounted items, like bootscuffs or hats.
i just discovered particles can be mounted! any particle defined and customized can be mounted on any dummy points!
(http://brightideagames.com/park4.jpg)
particles react to the environment and animations. this is after spinning the model around, the flame is actually set on the head.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 09, 2011, 02:57:13 PM
That pic just looks seriously cool.

Also,

Quote from: UnkoMan on December 09, 2011, 02:12:15 AM
I just wanted to say that, from a skinning standpoint, feel free to use any of mine for your mixing and matching.

Ditto.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: vamp on December 09, 2011, 05:15:53 PM
Will particle amounts effect weapon mounts? (like are they the same mount)

Also, will you be able to mount multiple weapons on the same mount? For instance, deadpool uses swords and guns, so would he be able to use both?

And this is looking better and better. Thanks for all the hard work your putting into this.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 09, 2011, 05:44:05 PM
cat is pretty close with his idea of how it will work. items will have powers attached to them, and you can then attach the items to mount points, probably with sticky colliders. i am going to try and do an array for some of the points, so you can wear a hat and have hair. topically, for the most part, if you have a sword and a gun, you'll have to choose a spot for each of them.
(http://brightideagames.com/park6.jpg)
here is the current character tool, one mesh wearing several different skins for the different areas, cyberburn's skins look great. also, i managed to fix the hair rotation, position, and scale scripts.
i'm going to experiment with decals next, applying alphaed symbols. if cyber or unko want to help, that would be good. any number of any types of symbols will do, even letters or numbers. they need to be alphaed out around them, and should conform with male basic uvw for placement.
i'm also thinking of making extra mount points being based on character advancement, would that work?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Vertex on December 09, 2011, 05:53:00 PM
my question comes up around .. what happens with diff bodies? Say not only larger and smaller but female? sounds like you are gonna have to set up a lot of stuff to handle different bodies.. basically duplicating everything you're doing for that one.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 09, 2011, 06:43:58 PM
Quote from: Vertex on December 09, 2011, 05:53:00 PM
my question comes up around .. what happens with diff bodies? Say not only larger and smaller but female? sounds like you are gonna have to set up a lot of stuff to handle different bodies.. basically duplicating everything you're doing for that one.
good question. i am working that out right now. for the different objects during character creation in my ctool, there is a command called transform.localScale with x, y, z co-ordinates. i simply determine how much larger the hairpiece has to be for heavy and hulking compared to the base basic, and attach a script to the heavy that automatically resizes. the mesh completed will be saved and loaded by the game engine which will then instantiate all the attachments as they were saved.
simple, yes?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Vertex on December 09, 2011, 06:47:24 PM
hrrmmm...

   methinks still need entirely diff parts to fit female body...
and of course in addition to resizing.. stuff has to be moved to new correct placement..

eh too complicated for me..   :banghead:
GOOD LUCK! :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 09, 2011, 07:53:48 PM
Quote from: Vertex on December 09, 2011, 05:53:00 PM
my question comes up around .. what happens with diff bodies? Say not only larger and smaller but female? sounds like you are gonna have to set up a lot of stuff to handle different bodies.. basically duplicating everything you're doing for that one.

Actually that is easily fixed by putting breasts on the chest mount point of a male basic (or heavy). Add some particle effects, alphas and powers and well.. might not be convincingly female but would be hilarious.      ;)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 09, 2011, 11:43:45 PM
Since Bearded is setting it up the body parts as switchable, you'd just have to swap in a female torso,legs, etc.  They still might need seperate skins and mount points though
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 10, 2011, 12:46:39 AM
Quote from: bearded on December 09, 2011, 05:44:05 PM
cat is pretty close with his idea of how it will work. items will have powers attached to them, and you can then attach the items to mount points, probably with sticky colliders. i am going to try and do an array for some of the points, so you can wear a hat and have hair. topically, for the most part, if you have a sword and a gun, you'll have to choose a spot for each of them.
(http://brightideagames.com/park6.jpg)
here is the current character tool, one mesh wearing several different skins for the different areas, cyberburn's skins look great. also, i managed to fix the hair rotation, position, and scale scripts.
i'm going to experiment with decals next, applying alphaed symbols. if cyber or unko want to help, that would be good. any number of any types of symbols will do, even letters or numbers. they need to be alphaed out around them, and should conform with male basic uvw for placement.
i'm also thinking of making extra mount points being based on character advancement, would that work?

Hopefully Unko can help you out in the Alpha department, that's something that I never learned.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 10, 2011, 10:13:12 AM
actually, now that i think about it, decals would work even better if they were shapes. can you make shapes other than squares and rectangles? they don't even have to be .tga, it could be gif, jpg, probably many other formats. anything other than the ffvttr, i can't remember what that is even called.
edit update:
scale offset works perfectly! edit: just realized it might not be obvious, that is male heavy instead of male basic. the hair mesh is resized according to script attached to the heavy model, with a size ratio of 1.37.
(http://brightideagames.com/park7.jpg)
now i'm thinking about females. should there be a whole seperate category, or should it simply be a tag? for character creation, it could simply be a different model, instead of a different list of models.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: vamp on December 10, 2011, 04:07:26 PM
I think it should be a different list of models completely. Just works better to me
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on December 10, 2011, 09:04:23 PM
the amount of progress you're making is almost disgusting... Almost. ;)
Quote from: bearded on December 10, 2011, 10:13:12 AM
they don't even have to be .tga, it could be gif, jpg, probably many other formats. anything other than the ffvttr, i can't remember what that is even called.
If you want to support an 8-bit alpha channel, you should go with TGA, TIFF or 32-bit PNG. In addition, GIF and JPEG are lossy formats. I suspect that TGA is faster to process than PNG, which of courseis more important for games than file size.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: UnkoMan on December 11, 2011, 09:23:48 PM
So logos are alpha'd on. Gloves and boots are too? Are underpants and belts?
How are colours handled? Does each colour have to be a separate thing or do you have any way to change the hues? And textures, does each one have to correspond to each different skin or can you just, say, use a different lightmap on them? I think I saw some bump mapping or something like that.

And how much have you already got? I might do some generic logos this week. I probably have photoshop files of older skins that I can swipe logos from, too.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 12, 2011, 02:34:44 AM
Quote from: UnkoMan on December 11, 2011, 09:23:48 PM
So logos are alpha'd on. Gloves and boots are too? Are underpants and belts?
How are colours handled? Does each colour have to be a separate thing or do you have any way to change the hues? And textures, does each one have to correspond to each different skin or can you just, say, use a different lightmap on them? I think I saw some bump mapping or something like that.

And how much have you already got? I might do some generic logos this week. I probably have photoshop files of older skins that I can swipe logos from, too.
logos can be alphaed on, the engine handles alpha channels really well. everything is automatically alpha enabled. i was thinking decals, to allow maximum customization.
gloves and boots could be skinned onto the legs and arms, naturally, but alpha boots and gloves would be better, so that you can match the leg skin easier.
so far i am using pics for colors, i haven't experimented with changing hues. i know it is possible, i just don't want to bog myself down with too much. i'm thinking of adding an option later of a rgb slider, maybe. lightmaps, i don't understand. they are cube shaped and don't correspond to uvw, so i don't get it. bump mapping is superb. i find i can easily convert a skin into a greyscale, and then into a pretty good bump map. custom made bump maps would be good for things like scale mail, or maybe even hair.

and i have no logos at all! i simply haven't takent the time, and to be honest, i've tried something similiar years ago, and i'm not very good at it. anything you make will be absolutely great!
skinning is something i don't do well, but i think psd layers would be perfect.
Quote from: Epimethee on December 10, 2011, 09:04:23 PM
the amount of progress you're making is almost disgusting... Almost. ;)
...
If you want to support an 8-bit alpha channel, you should go with TGA, TIFF or 32-bit PNG. In addition, GIF and JPEG are lossy formats. I suspect that TGA is faster to process than PNG, which of courseis more important for games than file size.
most of my progress is simply having the time to learn from tutorials. i know for a fact you are a much better programmer than me. i just need to get enough of a base so you guys that are better meshers, skinners, and coders than me can get involved. i'm a jack of all trades, master of none!
thanks for the tech advice! what does lossy mean? all advice is welcome.

Quote from: vamp on December 10, 2011, 04:07:26 PM
I think it should be a different list of models completely. Just works better to me
aye aye. you're the boss! male/female toggle for different list of models. now, should i make all the different parts available for both genders? spiked heels, all the different hair styles, etc. oh, that reminds me. i'm trying to allow the character generation to allow you to pick an animation set at creation. so, male basic with alchemiss style animations?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 12, 2011, 03:37:37 AM
Too soon to think about yet, but at one point are you going to be looking at non - human meshes? Something on the order of Big Cat versatile, FF's dinosaurs, etc. And any thought on vehicles?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 12, 2011, 06:02:47 AM
Quote from: Randomdays on December 12, 2011, 03:37:37 AM
Too soon to think about yet, but at one point are you going to be looking at non - human meshes? Something on the order of Big Cat versatile, FF's dinosaurs, etc. And any thought on vehicles?
not thoughts from me on this yet. i'm sure i'll be wanting this later.
Quote
Quote from: vamp on December 10, 2011, 04:07:26 PM
I think it should be a different list of models completely. Just works better to me
aye aye. you're the boss! male/female toggle for different list of models. now, should i make all the different parts available for both genders? spiked heels, all the different hair styles, etc. oh, that reminds me. i'm trying to allow the character generation to allow you to pick an animation set at creation. so, male basic with alchemiss style animations?
thanks for the input! i work better with some direction, i'm without focus on my own. all you guys are the boss!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 12, 2011, 04:56:34 PM
I'm pretty far from being the worlds best skinner but if somebody posts a template for emblems I'll be happy to adapt some royalty free clipart, hero logos and maybe an original creation or two. Same goes for bump maps, texture patterns, recolors or anything else you would like so that when we start testing it there are some presets.

Hues would rock but yeah, one thing at a time.


Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 12, 2011, 09:15:53 PM
Quote from: lugaru on December 12, 2011, 04:56:34 PM
I'm pretty far from being the worlds best skinner but if somebody posts a template for emblems I'll be happy to adapt some royalty free clipart, hero logos and maybe an original creation or two. Same goes for bump maps, texture patterns, recolors or anything else you would like so that when we start testing it there are some presets.

Hues would rock but yeah, one thing at a time.
that would be perfect. i have tried using clipart and alpha enabling, but i couldn't make it look good. as for uvw, for right now, if you could align it with male basic uvw that would work.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 15, 2011, 02:17:58 PM
Wow all I can say is that this is beyond amazing.
Awesome stuff.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on December 15, 2011, 09:56:08 PM
Quote from: hmarrs on December 15, 2011, 02:17:58 PM
Wow all I can say is that this is beyond amazing.
Awesome stuff.

agreed, to bad most of this is going over my heaed. :blink:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Courtnall6 on December 16, 2011, 06:13:56 PM
Jeez...where have I been? I'm 8 pages behind of what's going on in here...but it all looks really cool! :cool:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 18, 2011, 04:33:27 PM
thanks guys.
i'm about to do a character tool pre alpha .000000001a release. all i have so far are 3 male models and some gui buttons to let you do different things to them.
Courtnall6, one of the skinners is using one of your bases, is that ok? also, grenadier said i could use any of his work, and a lot of his meshes use your skins as the standard.
the idea is players can create custom skins and meshes in the character tool with sliders and buttons, and i will also have preset meshes and skins, like gren's set up to use in the game also.
i'm thinking of being able to change costume parts as part of the campaign rewards. change your look, and as per cat's suggestion, some costume parts will give powers.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 18, 2011, 06:28:17 PM
Quote from: bearded on December 18, 2011, 04:33:27 PM
i'm thinking of being able to change costume parts as part of the campaign rewards. change your look, and as per cat's suggestion, some costume parts will give powers.

Actually, no, that's not at all what I was suggesting.  What I was suggesting was that when giving characters their own powers, then could create powers linked to an item which the character would always start a mission with.  It simply allows players to more accurately create weapon and item using characters.  Having costume piece earnable that add their own power is exactly the opposite in fact, although that does not mean it's a bad idea in and of itself, just not what I was talking about there.

I am however, all in favor of certain items granting powers when picked up as this could add all sorts of options.  The lampost attack of FF, for example could be duplicated by having lamps grant a smash power when wielded.  Same for other objects.  It also means things like swords or spears found in mission could be used appropriately and if your hero gets hold of a villains magic sword he could use it against him.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 18, 2011, 08:16:44 PM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 03, 2011, 02:59:04 PM
Hmm...how about adding a tag to powers that make those "object dependent."  This causes the object to start with the character, but if he loses the object, those powers become unusable.  So if cap uses an object dependant "throw shield" power that also has a tag that causes it to use the item in question, he loses his shield defence abilities.  Along the same line, have an "object optional" tag that allows a character to use optional animations depending on whether on object is present or not.  Again, we'll use cap.  Let's say he has a power called "bash."  If he has the shield, he's use it to bash the bad guy.  If he doesn't, he'll use his fist instead.
you are correct, it is the opposite. i think i can manage to do both.
i'm trying to figure out the best way to do uvw now. i think i'm going to have to go with seperate tga's for different body parts, so as to work with the customization. this will decrease the overall size of the hero file. each character will have legs.tga, arms.tga, face.tga, torso.tga. otherwise there will be 4 male basic.tga attached. not counting the logo.tga.
any ideas for a better way?
edit update:
i just discovered that unity automatically combines materials for each object, meaning only one call to each object. the other route is "render to texture", which is a unity pro feature.
the first method simply means the hero file will be larger, but once loaded will not slow down the game. the second feature, if i understand it correctly, allows a new texture to be created by combining several. meanwhile, i'm going with the first option. until we get the pro.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 18, 2011, 10:19:41 PM
You are correct, there is no reason not to allow for both options.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on December 19, 2011, 10:45:29 PM
All of this has been over my head lately, but I just thought I'd say that I'm still following along!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 20, 2011, 02:43:49 AM
i'm in the final stage of the character tool, setting up costume parts (from tommyboy versatile), and making the skins work right. i need a volunteer to try and help me figure out how to easily set up more parts and skins by simply dropping them in a folder. all you have to do is download the tool and not have unity installed and see how easy it is to access the assets.
also, any ideas for what to call the character tool?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 20, 2011, 03:51:05 AM
How about the Phone Booth?

:)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Outcast on December 20, 2011, 03:33:41 PM
Quote from: bearded on December 20, 2011, 02:43:49 AM
also, any ideas for what to call the character tool?
"Hero Maker" comes to mind but i think it's already been used by others.......how about the "Character Suite" or "Character Builder"? :P  "HeroCraft"?  :doh:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 20, 2011, 05:33:04 PM
I personally like Phone Booth. Unique name, clearly invokes the idea, and is a bit humorous to boot.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 20, 2011, 06:31:34 PM
i like it also, great name.
i'm tempted to try and make one for it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 20, 2011, 06:35:47 PM
Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 20, 2011, 05:33:04 PM
I personally like Phone Booth. Unique name, clearly invokes the idea, and is a bit humorous to boot.

And if this catches on it will be what people will think of when they hear the term Phone Booth, since those are pretty much extinct. I think these days Superman mostly changes in Starbucks Bathrooms.

I like the idea of unlocking costume elements... DC UNIVERSE ONLINE does a good job of this. Each costume part gives you boosts while worn, but you can default to your old costume esthetically speaking. That means that I can find gloves that do more punching damage, but since they dont go with my character all I get is the stat boost form equiping them without them changing the look.

That said I love the concept of superhero rpg... start with a really low level character with barely any powers and a fairly lowsy costume (sweats, ski mask) and work your way up into the caped crusader by unlocking bits. Of course at the heart Im mostly interested in a danger room, but any game elements besides that are highly welcome.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: yell0w_lantern on December 20, 2011, 08:33:43 PM
The Drawing Board
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on December 20, 2011, 09:20:46 PM
Quote from: yell0w_lantern on December 20, 2011, 08:33:43 PM
The Drawing Board

Ohh, I like that one.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 21, 2011, 06:55:49 PM
the drawing board, love it. that will be the character tool. i will use the phone booth ingame as a way to level up.

i just discovered cloth tearing! if i can find the right settings for movement, that means bullets and fire and things will tear your cape up!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 21, 2011, 10:17:18 PM
I love drawing board too... I was originally gonna suggest "sketch pad" but it sounded too lame... drawing board really nails it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 22, 2011, 12:21:35 AM
here is a good beginning, i think. the problems i already know about; the weapons coloration, the cape clips badly on hulk, and a bit on heavy, but looks pretty good on basic, i think i found the right settings. i plan on making a lot more features, masks, helmets, basically, this is an interactive "nifskope" to design characters to be used directly in the game itself. i'm going to see if i can figure out how players can drop parts in folders, and have them show up in the board. also, the scaling on the cape isn't working well. scaling and the interactive cloth parts don't play well together.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
or if you want to download it and tinker with the assets:
brightideagames.com/Drawing Board.zip (http://brightideagames.com/Drawing%20Board.zip)
i need parts! masks, hair, etc, anything. you can use any modelling software, it takes nearly everything, but fbx works best. just make sure the pivot point is centered.
also, any skins would be welcome.
and that license, we will need that eventually. specifically; render to texture, asset bundles, and proper shadows. the first 2 especially, they help frame rate a lot.
any troubleshooting advice welcome, and more ideas for how to do things, using this as a base.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on December 22, 2011, 12:42:04 AM
Quote from: Randomdays on December 20, 2011, 03:51:05 AM
How about the Phone Booth?

:)
Seconded!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 22, 2011, 04:51:49 PM
I just downloaded it at work and I'm playing around... THIS IS TOO COOL!

I need to go through my folders and see if there is anything useful I have that I can contribute from my skinning past... there are a few faces, logos and accesories I was pretty proud of.

Also: I highly suggest getting those "robot, cyborg, stone, reptile" etc bases. If they can be applied a limb at a time that would make for great cybernetics. I used to do it (as intended) by using some of those great bases and coppying and pasting the limb I needed. If the creators are not interested, well, we can create new bases.

Faces would be cool too.. there are some collections of expressions out there, like eyes, mouths, noses... we can probably mix and match that into a dozen preset faces.

Sorry, I'm feeling hyper after too much coffee and too much cool character creator.

EDIT: btw resizing a character (a feature I did not expect.... cool!) does not modify the cape, so it ends up in an odd spot. Weapons and other accessories seem to work great. LOVE the logos!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 22, 2011, 06:29:55 PM
great logos.
i appreciate you like it. right now it is a low rate coh. my plans are to include a pivot slider for each item, and possibly a scale slider also. my biggest concern is a place on the screen for all the arrows and sliders. maybe give the option of placement? the best part is the placement is based on mounts.
if anyone is nifskope friendly, and wants to help, gren gave his permission to do anything with his nifs, and so has tommyboy with his versatile. all i need are the parts exported individually as .obj, any volunteers?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on December 22, 2011, 06:36:27 PM
Fantastic work BiL,  I just played around with the web version and I thought it was great.

how difficult is it to export to .obj with nifskope? I've never tried that before.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 22, 2011, 07:10:52 PM
super easy, just tedious and time consuming. all you have to do is open the nif, make sure the part is selected and then under...i think it's the 'file' tab, there is an export as obj function.
from versatile, i have already taken the usable hair and the capes. i don't think the versatile masks are usable, unless anyone knows how to center the pivot points? i haven't tried any of the gren parts yet.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 22, 2011, 10:34:25 PM
Names....
How about:
1.Hero Tool
2.Hero Creator
3.Character Creator(I think I like that one best because their not all hero's)

Character Creator!!!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on December 22, 2011, 10:44:55 PM
Okay, new rule, hmarrs doesn't get to name things.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 22, 2011, 10:49:46 PM
Hey, how can I break open the assets file and look at the bits and pieces when I get home? Not sure if I can do much about it but seeing how you are handling the images will tell me how much I can contribute.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 24, 2011, 06:10:02 AM
sorry, sorry, christmas requirements.
i haven't had time to try and get into the asset folder. i can only guess how. if you manage to get in, you should see some folders with tga files in them.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on December 24, 2011, 07:32:26 AM
Whoa..this character creator is awesome. It has so much potential.

Also, this is going to sound pretty silly, but I actually *didn't* realize you are "Beardedinlair". I thought you were another person..
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 25, 2011, 02:26:52 PM
Holy Smokes :blink:
I didn't realize you were Beardedinlair myself.All respects and apologies I thought you a some new Jack.
Het you see they are calling it the character creator already! :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 26, 2011, 04:55:42 AM
sometimes i am another person, but that's not important right now. leslie nielsen?
i've decided to sell some of my comics to add to the license fund. does anyone know of the best venue for that?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 26, 2011, 08:16:45 AM
Probably either Mile High Comics or Lonestar comics (mycomicshop.com) I've had good sucess with selling on ebay as well, but that can be iffy.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on December 26, 2011, 11:55:17 PM
a few materials that you might find useful

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=eec66e8f08e6f73b671f6323d623e27e&prevstart=0

there's also links to alot of other textures in the right corner
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on December 27, 2011, 12:49:20 AM
Maxwell Render Resources has a ton of freebies.  I'm trying to use these with SketchUp, but am having some trouble.  Lots to choose from.

http://resources.maxwellrender.com/news_scripts.php?t=1
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on December 27, 2011, 03:54:12 AM
Quote from: bearded on December 26, 2011, 04:55:42 AM
sometimes i am another person, but that's not important right now. leslie nielsen?
i've decided to sell some of my comics to add to the license fund. does anyone know of the best venue for that?

Dont do Ebay... people usually end up selling comics "for shipping" there, like I got a full run of Marvel Comics Presents for like $20.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on January 02, 2012, 06:28:52 PM
Any updates?????????On Somthing Big.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on January 02, 2012, 06:31:13 PM
Hope all is well?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 02, 2012, 11:24:25 PM
holidays and blues, and the limitless programming possibilities are stymieing me.
planning on getting back in the saddle tonight.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on January 03, 2012, 04:25:42 AM
I got time to play with both demos a bit more this weekend. This definitively has potential, Bearded! I've send some money your way for the licence.

Speaking of which, if you're unsure what to tackle right now, I'd suggest working on your site a bit, to show what you've done and what you intend to do. It'd also help to state how people can contribute, what you intend to do with the money and why it's useful to get Unity Pro. You might also want to clarify your game's intended business model and licence type. For example, if you're looking for contributors, the cvarious open source and copyleft licences might attract more collaborators and donators.

And of course don't forget to recap this in the first post here and to add a link to your site there and in your signature/profile.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 03, 2012, 04:58:45 AM
thank you!
good advice, needed that.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 03, 2012, 10:23:56 AM
not much, i found some random words from the internet and designed a random mission maker. hopefully, end result will be based on this.
http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
i would like to make a game where players can create the rules of their own world. sliders for how much magic, or super tech, or mutants, or aliens are in their 'verse. then random missions based on their settings.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 03, 2012, 08:09:03 PM
Quote from: Epimethee on January 03, 2012, 04:25:42 AM
I got time to play with both demos a bit more this weekend. This definitively has potential, Bearded! I've send some money your way for the licence.

Speaking of which, if you're unsure what to tackle right now, I'd suggest working on your site a bit, to show what you've done and what you intend to do. It'd also help to state how people can contribute, what you intend to do with the money and why it's useful to get Unity Pro. You might also want to clarify your game's intended business model and licence type. For example, if you're looking for contributors, the cvarious open source and copyleft licences might attract more collaborators and donators.

And of course don't forget to recap this in the first post here and to add a link to your site there and in your signature/profile.
the above test does not have the stats i plan on using, i was simply dropping something in for comparison.
and good questions. got me thinking.
do you know of any good site making software?
i had never heard of copyleft, that sounds good. in regards to that, if anyone ever decides to help code, i'd like to imagine somehow keeping a control over what's added, so there will be an official version instead of various tangents. but i dunno, that might work also.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on January 03, 2012, 09:42:40 PM
"copyleft" is simply a term used to indicate the use of copyright laws to protect the rights of people to freely use and distribute a given thing instead of restricting it, which is the normal use.

If you want multiple contributors, then it might be best to dive in the world of SVN, as that's what it's made for.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on January 03, 2012, 09:50:06 PM
I really like Joomla for site design... it spits out a finished site but then it is super versatile as you get deeper into building. The way I like to describe it is "It is as easy as setting up a blog, but a blog is just one of hundreds of plug ins"

And some inspiraton from my favorite "unfinished" to "never will be finished" (like minecraft, constantly tinkered) games and their websites:

http://www.minecraft.net/

http://projectzomboid.com/blog/

http://www.wolfire.com/overgrowth
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 06, 2012, 02:05:29 PM
joomla had 55 page tutorial...
i'm using another unity tutorial, and will most likely have another level to play saturday morning. maybe even a way to let ppl play at the same time.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 07, 2012, 02:38:22 PM
ok, so i did a tutorial about bullets, and sound fx. and rotation. here's the result:
www.brightideagames.com (http://www.brightideagames.com)
click on the liberty_fighter button to test it out!
i want to do everything that epymithee suggested, but i feel like i need to create something more meaty for ppl to sink their teeth into.
meanwhile, if you test it (it's a webplayer), let me know how the controls feel. wasd and the mouse button.
also, trivia question! which mission is the music from?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on January 07, 2012, 04:46:46 PM
Ran around and did some shooting... very cool! It emits light as you would expect and overal looks and sounds great.

I guess this makes Liberty Lad the Bucky, since marvel has retconned Bucky into a totally hardcore soldier.  ^_^
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 08, 2012, 01:12:57 PM
yes, that was my bucky tribute. i have a new demo up today. it is simply the same scene with manbot. what i have learned, and you will see if you test it, i am learning to finally merge animations correctly, the way i want. when you fire, he will duck down a bit, repeatedly, even while running. the ducking isn't going to be the end result, as is, but i am imagining the ducking being a button you can use while doing other various things. picking locks low, or crawling, or meleeing short ppl.
after i import a couple more, i am going to work on the character selection, and then either branch out to a multiplayer demo, or using the previous drawing board/phone booth character maker to select your character. eventually both.
meanwhile, i have a complete level, similiar to the minute man level, from using tutorials. help me pick out 4 ff characters to choose from? they should be primarily ranged based. then, after i drop in some voices, i can upload it for you to try. or make it a webplayer, or both.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on January 09, 2012, 12:02:20 AM
Quote from: bearded on January 03, 2012, 08:09:03 PM
do you know of any good site making software?
I don't know much the free/cheap WYSIWYG options (apart from Dreamweaver – which certainly isn't cheap –, most output terrible HTML), but you'll eventually want a dynamic site, which require a good code view. On the Mac, I'm using Coda, but a couple of other good choices which are also available on Windows are Netbeans and, with the proper plugins, Komodo Edit.

Quote
i had never heard of copyleft, that sounds good. in regards to that, if anyone ever decides to help code, i'd like to imagine somehow keeping a control over what's added, so there will be an official version instead of various tangents. but i dunno, that might work also.
Intellectual property (code, story, names and art assets) could be a problem down the road. Before deciding on a licence, I'd suggest you re-read Unity's licence to see what you can and can't do. For example, Unity's closed source might mean that your project might not be compatible with some of the commonest open source licences, such as the GPL 2. Mind you, I'm not an expert on the subject! Anyway, a look on Wikipedia and on http://creativecommons.org can't hurt (well, as much as legal stuff can't hurt).
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 12, 2012, 09:56:52 AM
not looking at the legal documentation, it appears in essence that unity co doesn't want any control or rights over anything created, other than using the 'powered by unity' logo, until you get the pro license, then not even that. i'll look more into it.
meanwhile, i have created a demo learning how to add sounds, and rotation, and a couple of other things. the tutorial i used resulted in another playable level:
brightideagames.com/liberty_fighter.zip (http://brightideagames.com/liberty_fighter.zip)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 13, 2012, 10:23:51 AM
could someone playtest this and give me a bit of feedback?
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on January 13, 2012, 02:06:17 PM
Quote from: bearded on January 13, 2012, 10:23:51 AM
could someone playtest this and give me a bit of feedback?
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)

Works for me, I click a spot and he moves. Looks nice too. Is there anything else in there I should be testing?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 13, 2012, 02:17:44 PM
that's it for now, just wanted to make sure it works ok. thanks.
i've used some of the donations to get an asset called playmaker. it's going to speed me up a lot. i've got the setup for character creation to morph from male basic to male hulking now, with a slider, in addition to the height and width slider. so, there will be morphing for character creation! basic face, to flat mask, and any variation in between. or morph into various animal heads.
i'm not sure, but i think this will allow morphing as an aspect of a power.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on January 15, 2012, 12:31:41 AM
Bearded, I just found this and it looks very interesting for your project....you could generate the map, export as .obj, texturing as fits. The one screen shot link still works and looks good.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-872466.html
Title: Re: something big
Post by: GogglesPizanno on January 15, 2012, 05:55:41 PM
Quote from: Randomdays on January 15, 2012, 12:31:41 AM
Bearded, I just found this and it looks very interesting for your project....you could generate the map, export as .obj, texturing as fits. The one screen shot link still works and looks good.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-872466.html

This is another one that has been around a while as well, that for whatever reason i tend to like better -- at least for the stuff I ever attempted. Its been a while since I played with either of them though.

http://jerome.le.chat.free.fr/index.php/en/city-engine/news/
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 21, 2012, 12:39:53 PM
thanks, this helped me find a good city generator, for when i'm ready for it. on cat's advice, i'm pushing toward making a complete character tool first. meanwhile here is a screen shot of gren's ogre on an island asset.
(http://brightideagames.com/ogre.bmp)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Outcast on January 26, 2012, 08:28:59 AM
Quote from: bearded on January 21, 2012, 12:39:53 PM
....on cat's advice, i'm pushing toward making a complete character tool first...

How would the character tool look like? Would you be able to make the character move by pressing buttons like WASD too? :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on January 26, 2012, 11:40:25 AM
I was just going to ask about keyboard movement. Also;

Is there a maximum map size and how big would it be?

Can you zoom in to First Person View?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 26, 2012, 04:45:26 PM
i'm still plugging away at the ctool.
my plan for movement is first, similiar to ff, click or drag to choose and click to direct, and then have a toggle to move into fp with wasd or controller movement.
as i was falling asleep last night, something occurred to me. i have seen a unity example that uses decals for bullets. when you shoot a wall, you get a bullet hole. i think i can actually adapt that to the drawing board/phone booth/ctool. pick a logo or spike or anything, and then click on the character somewhere and it should apply it there. the trick will be to make it save and load the same way.
this is good, but means i need to rewrite a lot of my code.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on January 26, 2012, 06:38:45 PM
That is nuts, but potentially a huge payoff. My impression is that decals have some degree if system requirements though, hence the fact that they often disapear after a couple of seconds. That said if it eventually leads to some freedom to apply logos, scars, tattoos, emblems, splotches of color anyplace you want... well rock and roll!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 26, 2012, 09:08:39 PM
i think the decal system requirement problem is cause the bullet holes start really adding up, with every shot.
maybe i will be able to merge the decals onto a single tga material, single draw call, i think that is a thing that pro license can do. and i think, i'm not sure, that when character creation is done, the complete final mesh can be exported as a single fbx!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 30, 2012, 02:38:45 AM
i have a new demo, this time i created my first power, i'll let you see what it is. the buttons are in the middle of the screen for now, you'll see them. eventually there will be a hud with right click pie menu.
the character is a new design, by me. (needs a better skin.) the city is by tommyboy.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)

also, hmar are you getting my replies to your pm's?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on January 30, 2012, 02:48:19 AM
I just spent a while pretending to be a plain clothed Juggernaut running through buildings.

Very cool, and great to see size morphing working... I'm guessing this is 1 model and not 3 given all the cool stuff we have seen so far.

BTW one of my recent favorite games was made with Unity... it is called Rochard... it is a 2d half life ripoff, but it is one of the few games that gives me the joy that playing half life does.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on January 30, 2012, 03:40:37 PM
Quote from: bearded on January 30, 2012, 02:38:45 AM
i have a new demo, this time i created my first power, i'll let you see what it is. the buttons are in the middle of the screen for now, you'll see them. eventually there will be a hud with right click pie menu.
the character is a new design, by me. (needs a better skin.) the city is by tommyboy.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)

also, hmar are you getting my replies to your pm's?
Yes sir I am just sent you another one.
Played the Demo and I am loving it.
Awesome interaction.
Loving the directional keys for movement.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 01, 2012, 07:27:53 AM
i need help. i need a director. someone with a good idea of a universe, and what i need to build to make it. i have the skills now, i can make the game that you want.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on February 01, 2012, 12:33:22 PM
Lets exchange emails... Im a big veteran of homebrew rpg design so I can skeleton up a world in no time and the forum is full of legitimately talented writers who can be roped in through other sections of the forum.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 01, 2012, 09:10:16 PM
i check my pm's here a lot more than my email.
i need more than a writer, you being a veteran of rpg design, you could help me come up with the game engine itself. and you've playtested most or all of my demo's so you know what it's capable of.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: catwhowalksbyhimself on February 01, 2012, 09:39:28 PM
I'd also be willing to help.  As you've seen in some of my posts, I have some very clear and specific ideas and what I'd like to see and some ideas on how the engine itself should work.  Plus, I've done enough coding and tinkering with engine to have some idea of what can be done and how to implement it. 

Perhaps what we should do is get the three (or more) of us on some kind of chat so we can talk things over for a while.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 02, 2012, 08:36:16 AM
chat sounds good.
what i need to do at this point is focus on some characters and settings, light plot, and universe. doc challenger said he has a universe built around public domain characters, sounds interesting.
i'm trying to create everything all at once. if i can focus on a few, and let the rest evolve from it, i will get more done.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Randomdays on February 03, 2012, 11:50:52 PM
If I could, I'd like to suggest a few things.

If possible have "adjustable" stats, IE "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets" Strength increases each round of continous combat, decreases when not. Both Moonknight and Nighthawk have strength increases during the day and Superman is Solar Powered and might have power decrease at night. Items could change stats as well, like a potion of speed or belt of weakness.

No matter how good a campaign is, most people probably won't go through it multiple times. Instead maybe an open world like the GTA's - trigger events that happen once a day or once a night if a character is in the area - like a bank robbery. Random events happening every now in then. That way when a character is "on patrol" he won't know what might happen and every time he wanders the city, things will be different.

And last, if possible, a good multiplayer mode in co-op or death match, with a way to keep characters close to each other's power level, so you don't get the problem you had in FF multiplayer

Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 04, 2012, 01:46:34 PM
i'm afraid i'm going to have to go with some base campaigns, just to get me really started. i've decided to run with doc challengers idea and use public domain golden age characters. i'm going to start with some simple heroes and try to adapt the stories into gameplay. after i get a few of those done, i'll have the start of a game engine and various powers and stats. then i'll try to get back to character creation and sandbox play.
trying to create everything all at once was wiping me out. soon, there will be some levels to play.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on February 04, 2012, 02:18:02 PM
I think the golden age characters is a nice idea. The plan sounds good – burnout is probably the #1 risk in this kind of project, so getting concrete results regularly matters a lot. Looking forward to what you're working on.

Quote from: Randomdays on February 03, 2012, 11:50:52 PM
A good multiplayer mode in co-op or death match, with a way to keep characters close to each other's power level, so you don't get the problem you had in FF multiplayer

I an ideal world, every game would offer both great single- and multi-player experiences, but MP is technically much harder and brings its own game design constraints. I guess the design choice is between customization (optimized for single-player) and play balance (optimized for multi-player).
Title: Re: something big
Post by: doctorchallenger on February 04, 2012, 03:37:01 PM
Quote from: bearded on February 04, 2012, 01:46:34 PM
i'm afraid i'm going to have to go with some base campaigns, just to get me really started. i've decided to run with doc challengers idea and use public domain golden age characters. i'm going to start with some simple heroes and try to adapt the stories into gameplay. after i get a few of those done, i'll have the start of a game engine and various powers and stats. then i'll try to get back to character creation and sandbox play.
trying to create everything all at once was wiping me out. soon, there will be some levels to play.

I am working on a character bible for my concepts. It will be slow as I have a lot of ideas worked out in my head and/or on paper, but nt typed up. I will post somethings soon, but it will come in waves, to give fair warning - real life.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 04, 2012, 11:03:36 PM
the really good thing about this is daglob has skinned a lot of these guys already!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on February 05, 2012, 01:22:09 AM
Wow, there's alot to catch up on since my last visit. I will say that publi domain characters sounds like a great idea.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on February 05, 2012, 04:23:11 AM
Okay, now that GA characters have popped up, I have something to contribute.  Is this the website you are using?

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 05, 2012, 10:53:51 AM
yes. i look on it for interesting characters, then i try and find the public domain comic in cbr format. i'm looking at raven right now.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: President Raygun on February 05, 2012, 09:30:43 PM
Just a heads up, Sioux City Dynamo skinned a lot of the characters from Dynamite's Project Superpowers, who are all public domain. They're up on NPI.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on February 05, 2012, 10:02:21 PM
Quote from: President Raygun on February 05, 2012, 09:30:43 PM
Just a heads up, Sioux City Dynamo skinned a lot of the characters from Dynamite's Project Superpowers, who are all public domain. They're up on NPI.
However, the way the characters have been changed from the originals is quite probably not in the public domain. So one would be careful to avoid meshes and skins which follow Dynamite's specific interpretation of the originals. The same goes for the Marvel and DC versions of these characters, such as Daredevil, Blonde Phantom or Quicksilver. Also, the latter names are trademarked, so while they're should be OK for in-game use, you need to avoid using them to promote the game.

Caveat emptor: I ain't no lawyer.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on February 07, 2012, 08:22:00 PM
Ehh, if you want neat characters, Liberty Bay is a treasure trove.  I really wish we had that old thread with all the suggestions.  Anyway, I'll be happy to help with any brainstorming session.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on February 08, 2012, 03:33:50 PM
Don't know if this will help but I like going to
3DXtras.com
also
artist-3d.com
Tons of 3d models for free.
Buildings,Bridges,just about everything. ^_^
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 09, 2012, 12:58:27 AM
hey, BG, send me a mission type story with characters, i can work from that.
other than that, medical hiatus, i'll be back very soon.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 12, 2012, 08:59:49 AM
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
closer to a good control scheme. i think this is it.
things you might not notice, check out the pants legs, and arm cuffs. they are cloth animated, as well as the cape, which i think i have finally configured right.
also, click there to check out the awesome skin and mesh by daglob and tommyboy. this is the first character i'm going to work with, but by far the last.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on February 12, 2012, 02:02:09 PM
Quote from: bearded on February 12, 2012, 08:59:49 AM
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
closer to a good control scheme. i think this is it.
things you might not notice, check out the pants legs, and arm cuffs. they are cloth animated, as well as the cape, which i think i have finally configured right.
also, click there to check out the awesome skin and mesh by daglob and tommyboy. this is the first character i'm going to work with, but by far the last.

Nice work, Bearded!

The only issue I see is that if you switch to walking while running, the character walks at the pace he runs. However, if you just walk, it works fine.

I understand that this is just a test, but I'm just trying help point some issues out.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: WyldFyre on February 12, 2012, 08:42:44 PM
Looks really good. The cape works well and the cloth cuffs are a nice touch.

And Kudos to Tommyboy and DaGlob for a great looking mesh and skin. 
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on February 13, 2012, 02:24:14 PM
fantastic work on the controls.  i kinda dig the walk/run options. a nice aesthetic touch
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on February 14, 2012, 09:16:08 PM
Very nice demo there B.  It's looking good, and the animation on the cuffs is pretty cool.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 17, 2012, 11:35:14 PM
brightideagames/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
some new things to look out and test. start of the state engine.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on February 21, 2012, 11:01:19 PM
temporary medical hiatus.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on February 21, 2012, 11:57:03 PM
Quote from: bearded on February 21, 2012, 11:01:19 PM
temporary medical hiatus.

Best of luck with that... keep us posted.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: jeremy355 on February 22, 2012, 12:15:10 AM
Hope you get better soon Bearded. The latest up date is awesome.  :D
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on February 22, 2012, 12:37:40 AM
Take care of yourself bearded. Health comes first.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: ow_tiobe_sb on February 22, 2012, 04:44:15 AM
May you have a swift and complete recovery, BiL.

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on February 22, 2012, 06:17:05 AM
Have a prompt recovery.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Outcast on February 22, 2012, 03:34:44 PM
Quote from: Cyber Burn on February 22, 2012, 12:37:40 AM
Take care of yourself bearded. Health comes first.

This is what really matters Bearded. Get well soon.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on February 22, 2012, 05:25:29 PM
Quote from: Cyber Burn on February 22, 2012, 12:37:40 AM
Take care of yourself bearded. Health comes first.

CB said it.  Feel better man, and don't worry, we'll be here when you do.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: cmdrkoenig67 on February 26, 2012, 05:49:58 PM
Get well soon, B.

Dana
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on February 28, 2012, 02:46:58 PM
Amen.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on March 21, 2012, 03:11:26 AM
feelin better. back on task as of tonit! jee and aics button broken! jee and ayjs? toni@4t.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on March 21, 2012, 03:17:30 AM
Glad to see you back buddy.  :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on March 21, 2012, 10:17:55 AM
Gréât to havé you backgammon in shape, BiL.

(Stoopid auto-correction... I'll leave it as is for the sake of ridicule.)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Xenolith on March 22, 2012, 12:23:54 PM
Glad to hear it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on March 25, 2012, 12:26:02 PM
thanks guys. something new to look at:
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
nothing to play, just a demo to watch. i am playing around with the ai and pathfinding, using some tower defense tags. the engine when done will be able to target based on character tags. making it easier to program in ai. using gren's crusader and daglob's suit. (i know the suit needs to be animated.)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 09, 2012, 06:39:38 AM
working on a campaign.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on April 09, 2012, 10:44:15 PM
Sounds cool Bearded, looking forward to it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: jeremy355 on April 10, 2012, 03:17:29 AM
Cool. Can't wait to play it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on April 10, 2012, 09:09:37 PM
sounds fun
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on April 10, 2012, 09:13:38 PM
I'm really looking forward to it, Bearded :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 18, 2012, 08:16:05 AM
danger room mission!!! ive been working hard, and am very excited about my progress, and excited to see what you guys think.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
i need a few more things, i need the full version of the fury framework (100 dollars) which will increase the number of units available during play, i need something called "Dinky Dungeon Level Generator" (30 dollars) that will help with procedural content at runtime, and i have researched how to open the game to modders. the modding framework will be in lua, which is similar to python, and is free to implement, but we need the pro version of unity for it to work. the donate tab is back up at the website, which i also need to work on, expect a better one soon, it's my next project since i've reached a pretty good plateau with the game engine itself.
almost forgot credit, hidden in spoilers so you can play the mission first.
Spoiler

beast by grenadier and courtnal6
jean gery by miguelyankes' all in one Skope of marvel_girl_rachel_2 (INK); classic_Jean (INK); rogue_Jimlee (INK) and courtnal6
sentinal by Grenadier with the collaborative ideas from Entwaidemla and courtnal6
hellfire goon, Hexed Hyrdra_Soldier by Ren and JM_Challenger by Grenadier with skin by area34

no favoritism, i used what was available and asked permission. if i have erred, let me know and i will use other art. contrary, if you want your art in my missions, let me know! i'll make extra effort to include any volunteers.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on April 18, 2012, 08:00:09 PM
Insanity.

I fooled around with it for a second (the fact that it runs in a browser means I can at work) but I cant wait until it slows down and I can really mess with it. Very cool progress.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 18, 2012, 08:12:21 PM
the biggest hurdle is keeping my motivation. sometimes simple words of encouragement are all i need. thank you.
did you notice the:
Spoiler
random attack animations? collecting powerups for later use? implementation of some stats?
right now i am limited on the number of unit types, but eventually when we go pro, virtually unlimited. manage all the avengers at the same time!
it is time for me to start developing  powers and fx. i decided the character generator was a dead road, it was too big for me right now. i think i need to make a character based player game and let the eventual modders make specific characters instead of trying to recreate the coH engine.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on April 18, 2012, 08:13:37 PM
Wow Bearded, that looks great!  I'm impressed man.  That has come a very long way.  I didn't notice the randomized attack animations, but that is a very nice feature.  I did notice the items, and I think that is a good idea.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 19, 2012, 09:23:16 PM
this is how my gf plays the game:
(http://i41.tinypic.com/2z4jodi.png)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on April 19, 2012, 09:28:53 PM
To be fair, that's how I play it too....
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 19, 2012, 10:05:07 PM
i need to put better instructions in it. you can select each character, point and click, or you can drag a box around them. simply right click to attack anything. the lower left box with the bolt on it is a damage over time, you can have jean attack and run. loot the crates for more health power ups. the 'deactivated sentinal' is easier than the one on the middle of the island, he's more fully active.
i need to put a zoom to character feature in, and portraits for which one is active. any other ideas for the gui?
(she got upset. "He's standing right on my head!")
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on April 19, 2012, 10:58:15 PM
Haha, Sentinels are so inconsiderate.  Hmm...those things sound good.  When you have selectable powers, a right click menu like FF will be handy, but at the moment, I think a click-zoom feature and portraits would be most important.  Do you have a plan for what's next?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on April 19, 2012, 11:17:54 PM
I agree with Benton on the portraits, also, what's the max number of controllable characters going to be?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on April 20, 2012, 03:03:09 PM
Quote from: bearded on April 19, 2012, 10:05:07 PM
i need to put better instructions in it. you can select each character, point and click, or you can drag a box around them. simply right click to attack anything. the lower left box with the bolt on it is a damage over time, you can have jean attack and run. loot the crates for more health power ups. the 'deactivated sentinal' is easier than the one on the middle of the island, he's more fully active.
i need to put a zoom to character feature in, and portraits for which one is active. any other ideas for the gui?
(she got upset. "He's standing right on my head!")
I remember at one one time you spoke of making a toggle switch so the the characters can move with directional keys instead of point and click is this somthing you are still considering?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Amazo Version 2.2 on April 20, 2012, 05:28:53 PM
wasd controls would be cool
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 20, 2012, 11:40:39 PM
yes, wasd, or my preference, the xbox controller. im going to want a better friendly ai for that, so my next target is different tactics for allies. for beast, i am going to make a taunt power and defensive tactics, so he draws all attention to himself and then jumps around while jean smacks the enemy. also, an all agggressive manuever where the ai automatically attacks all enemies in range.
the number of player characters right now is limited to 5, until i can afford the better software. after that, only limited by your pc!
in addition to wasd movement, im thinking about making a superhero flight simulator, not related to this project, it's own game. the sim would have different kinds of flight, with different physiques, wings, jetpack, tk, anti grav, etc.
right now instead of a right click menu, i have the powers hot keyed to numbers. i havent figured out how to pause and give commands yet...
i might have discovered a way for players to create levels. is anyone interested in trying that, or should i wait till i get cutscenes and better character options? right now it would only be maps.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 23, 2012, 07:35:28 AM
super flight sim! using skin by daglob, mesh by me, and animations by grenadier.
now, if i decide to make it a full on game, i'll need to work out a better terrain, and probably need some mission ideas.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
also, probably will make different kinds of physiques, jetpack, wings, antigrav, etc.

if anyone wants to try the danger room, i made it an exe download:
brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.exe (http://brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.exe)
on the modding side, i found a way to import .obj files. this means modders can create new characters, but not animations, but only if i make each body part a seperate obj file. which might be clunky. the only other thing i can think to say is if modders want characters, i am willing to import them myself individually. we are at that point very soon.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on April 23, 2012, 12:56:37 PM
I LOVED that flight simulator bearded!
Heh,,, i was able to land properly too! The background music was a nice touch, and I really liked the collision with the mountains and ground... I can just imagine a Big Blue/Big Cheese fight in the sky now!
I couldn't get the danger room to work though.
got this error There should be 'DangerRoom_Data'
folder next to the executable
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 24, 2012, 05:32:43 AM
oops, ill fix the danger room problem, i forgot to upload something. a local playtester here discovered you can run up the mountain and jump off the top! its pretty neat looking.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on April 24, 2012, 12:57:11 PM
Quote from: bearded on April 23, 2012, 07:35:28 AM
super flight sim! using skin by daglob, mesh by me, and animations by grenadier.
now, if i decide to make it a full on game, i'll need to work out a better terrain, and probably need some mission ideas.
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
also, probably will make different kinds of physiques, jetpack, wings, antigrav, etc.

if anyone wants to try the danger room, i made it an exe download:
brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.exe (http://brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.exe)
on the modding side, i found a way to import .obj files. this means modders can create new characters, but not animations, but only if i make each body part a seperate obj file. which might be clunky. the only other thing i can think to say is if modders want characters, i am willing to import them myself individually. we are at that point very soon.
Wow!!!! :lol:I almost feel out when I was able to use the directional keys on the flight simulator!!!
Awesome.
I downloaded the Danger Room and could not get it to open.
What do I need.I'm at my job and I don't have either game loaded however since this was done in a different engine I didn't think I need it.
Can you help me out????
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on April 24, 2012, 09:19:40 PM
Flight sim is a ton of fun, and yeah, somehow I was able to land without digging a trench in the ground so that added to the fun!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 26, 2012, 04:47:54 AM
i'll fix danger room tonight. i need someone with leet hacking skills to see if they can get into the data files. any volunteers? i want to see if it can be modded better.
trench in the ground! good idea. i want to add ragdoll physics when he crashes also. and maybe a jetpack. press space and shoot forwards.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 26, 2012, 08:00:27 AM
fix for the danger room:
brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.zip (http://brightideagames.com/DangerRoom.zip)
and gave jean a new power.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: DrMike2000 on April 26, 2012, 12:08:14 PM
I've just had a look at the DangerRoom - thats a very impressive start to this project you got going there. The basic animation and pathfinding and all that stuff that we kind of take for granted looks like its working.
I keep meaning to have a play with Unity - I've heard really positive things about it from a lot of games industry pros, but never found the time myself.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on May 19, 2012, 10:38:23 AM
nothing to see yet, but i have perfected pathfinding, and am focusing on random map generation with procedural pathfinding.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on May 21, 2012, 10:10:05 PM
If you manage to get these two feature reasonably solid, it will be a huge win.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on May 21, 2012, 11:16:08 PM
Quote from: Epimethee on May 21, 2012, 10:10:05 PM
If you manage to get these two feature reasonably solid, it will be a huge win.
and i did it!
took me three days, and it is a regular feature of unity pro apparently, but maybe i won't need pro. i seem to be able to code workarounds. procedural pathfinding, using raycasts.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on May 23, 2012, 12:25:40 AM
Impressive! How are the performances?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on May 23, 2012, 02:16:48 AM
here you go, you can see for yourself:
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
i left the pathfinding debug stats in the upper left so you can see how well it runs. the only problem is he will run up doors sometimes. i'm thinking with height based pathfinding, this could be used for wallcrawling.
same control as before, drag a square around the guy or click on him to select, and then right click anywhere on the map. right now i have the camera centered on him. to exit out, hit your windows key and when you click refresh, it is an entirely new map, with fresh paths!
i'm going to import some freedom force assets. replace the dungeon tiles with city tiles, and replace the guy with one of daglob's heroes.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: detourne_me on May 23, 2012, 11:22:04 AM
wow, that pathfinding is seemless!  also, are those randomly generated dungeons?  they look great.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on May 23, 2012, 12:20:15 PM
yes, randomly generated. i bought the tileset and made it randomized and then made a pathfinding that generates at runtime, so when the dungeon changes, your path is reset. i'm going to change out the dungeon tileset with streets and buildings, for randomized cities.
i am thinking of missions like xcom, wherein you have activity and decide which team members to send, and the location is dynamically generated.
tempted to start working on combat and stats, and make a basic diablo clone first, so i have something to work with. or i could start with the city generation.
it's weird to actually be able to progress, i've become accustomed to making some code and debugging it, now i can just drop in some assets, it's great!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: lugaru on May 23, 2012, 04:34:08 PM
Few things are as infuriating as bad pathfinding, great to see it is a priority in this project. I would love to see some basic diablo style action when you are ready, leading up to the eventual skeleton of the project.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on May 23, 2012, 09:04:24 PM
All this is going waaay over my head. I'm just really going to need to find the time to play this. Glad you're still working on it Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on June 20, 2012, 09:45:17 AM
brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html (http://brightideagames.com/WebPlayer.html)
a little further on the superhero flight simulator. 'w' and 's' controls, and mouse for direction.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 20, 2012, 08:32:29 PM
(http://s13.postimage.org/a72oy7nif/thm.jpg)
i'll explain more shortly.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 20, 2012, 09:20:22 PM
this is gryphon's thing skin on a flat plane. the mesh holds 2 skins, gryphon's thing, and a heightmap skin based on it. i simply greyed it out, and applied it. the way it works is the whiter something is. the more it deforms the mesh outward. blacker it is, the more it leaves it alone. as you can see from the torso and belt area in the pic.
the downside is it requires a lot more verts than ff. i am going to have to make brand new meshes. the great news is, they can be very simple. skinners will now have the ability to generate their own shapes to a very large degree. for example, for the head i am going to make a blank face shield, similiar to iron man's helmet. the whiter you skin the nose the more it will stick out.
i am going to make a character tool now, after i make a few meshes.
imagine, scale mail armor, with lumps. the thing in his rockiest form.
i think i am going to be able to create talking heads from this also.
to be clear, 2 skins for each character. the base skin, and the height map.
i have all the tools prepared now, i need the math and setting, with characters.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on September 20, 2012, 10:27:55 PM
Looks promising Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on September 21, 2012, 04:04:16 AM
Great to see this progress, Bearded!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 21, 2012, 09:56:49 AM
(http://s10.postimage.org/w3g4bz6hl/spiderman3.jpg)
some progress. this is simply a regular skin with the height map all black except around the eyes.
i am going to release a face tool soon, to see what a real skinner might can do. the lines can be a lot more exact, cleaning up on the edges.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Deaths Jester on September 21, 2012, 03:18:42 PM
Ohhh...height mapping...can't wait to give this a try!!!!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on September 22, 2012, 12:29:42 AM
it works, here is the modifications i made to cyber burns skin in greyscale:
(http://s8.postimage.org/9qt1x3429/skin5.jpg) (http://postimage.org/)
pretty bad, i know. i'm not a skinner. here is the before and after shots:
(http://s11.postimage.org/9gv3dj3wf/faceb.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/9gv3dj3wf/)(http://s15.postimage.org/49meycm7r/facea.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/49meycm7r/)
seems to work great. the only problem i think i might have is i have to change the image file to "read/write enabled" inside the editor. is there a way to make an image file enabled when it is saved or exported from the skinners paint program?
also, i'm not sure if my finished face tool will allow changes while running. you might have to skin, save, and open program to see progress. the models are in fbx format, by the way.

edit update:
i have managed to fix it so any textures are automatically imported correctly. but i found out to dynamically add textures i need something called asset bundles which are available only in pro.
alright! i have it set so textures can be imported at runtime!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Figure Fan on October 01, 2012, 05:12:10 AM
This height map stuff looks awesome. I had no idea you could use it to create details like this. :cool:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 01, 2012, 05:45:32 PM
it is actually beyond height mapping, it is using a script to deform a mesh. if i can find the time, i will have a release soon, after a couple of needed tweaks.
a volunteer beta test skinner would be great.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Deaths Jester on October 01, 2012, 05:46:52 PM
I'd volunteer but I'm up to my neck bones in other stuff.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 01, 2012, 09:56:10 PM
I can't volunteer right now, but I am curious, what format are the texture files in?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 01, 2012, 10:44:22 PM
for the deform h/m only .png, base textures can be anything.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 02, 2012, 12:31:53 AM
Wow B, that adds an impressive amount of detail!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Sioux City Dynamo on October 02, 2012, 03:06:27 AM
I will test
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on October 02, 2012, 02:03:18 PM
Quote from: Sioux City Dynamo on October 02, 2012, 03:06:27 AM
I will test

That is good news indeed, I can't wait to see how things turn out.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hoss20 on October 02, 2012, 10:35:31 PM
So, will this technique/method also do away with some of the need for extra pieces like gloves, boots, and wristbands? I would imagine that as long as they still conform with the body shape, that this would work.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 03, 2012, 12:50:18 AM
that's right, it can be anything that extrudes, but only extrusions. no underhangs.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 03, 2012, 07:12:39 AM
for Siox City Dynamo:
brightideagames.com/facemaker.zip (http://brightideagames.com/facemaker.zip)
if anyone else downloads and tries it, just let me know.
for now, the way it works, you can unzip it anywhere. you should have 2 texture files, one named tex.png and base.png. the tex png is your heightmap, and the base is your male base, based on the standard wiremap. these two files have to be in a folder as follows: c:\test.
right now, you have to have them in these folders, later i will make an option for browsing for texture files, and i'm pretty sure you will have to reload the facemaker after any changes. i think i can fix this also.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: daglob on December 08, 2012, 07:33:20 PM
Hmm... I've been working on a bumpmap for Tommy's Thing mesh. I guess I need to finish it.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on October 10, 2013, 05:58:30 AM
Quote from: bearded on September 30, 2011, 02:13:35 PM
... and have started the flight code. if he is on solid ground and you jump, he jumps, if you are on a wall, he starts to fly. i'm thinking flight could be handled as basically a controlled jump, with descent speed constant, but based on the power level of the character. like, angel would have a flight of 5 and would descend slowly, unless you push jump while in air, which would give you altitude and a wing animation, but superman would have a flight of 10 and extremely slow descent, basically a hover with drop or altitude button control. hulk would have flight of 0, but his strength would give him extreme altitude, but fast drop, and no altitude gained from jumping in the air. this would really work well for spiderman, flight of 1. he could basically bounce from wall to wall...


I am back working on this. Will have a website up soon with new free content. Flight sim for superflight types. A zombie killer. Some of my experiments.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on October 10, 2013, 11:28:58 AM
Excellent news! I'm happy to see that you're still working on this, Bearded.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on October 10, 2013, 02:10:26 PM
 :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Skerdilajd Shehi on October 15, 2013, 04:33:13 PM
lol that looks awesome! should we make are own mod calling the Freedom force force of power! that might be are own ne freedom force game like number 3!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on October 15, 2013, 05:59:43 PM
Awesome, B.  Just the other day I was wondering what had become of your projects.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Skerdilajd Shehi on October 16, 2013, 07:13:25 PM
well.. Damn it i have non idea!  :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on April 28, 2014, 08:16:07 PM
Hey anything new lately???
Title: something small
Post by: bearded on May 03, 2014, 06:05:55 AM
yes, I have scaled back my concepts a lot. Still working, but not in a 3d environment yet. making a character generator for 2d graphical management game right now. so, "something small"
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on May 03, 2014, 07:27:35 PM
Something small is infinitely better than nothing big, Benton!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 04, 2014, 05:06:47 PM
Just wondering has anything became of this and how's Bearded haven't heard form him on here in a while.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 04, 2014, 05:31:48 PM
hi, thanks.
Lurking. I will have the free time to work on this within the week, so good coincidence you mentioned it!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 10, 2014, 04:19:35 PM
Hey Bearded don't give up man I was more interested on how your doing btu glad to hear your still at it I truly believe the concept your on is awesome.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 19, 2014, 04:25:57 AM
good progress today, with some surprises in store very soon.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 19, 2014, 01:22:55 PM
YEAHHH!!!!...Bearded your the man!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 26, 2014, 10:03:10 PM
I plan on having something to play tonight, look for a link later today!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 27, 2014, 06:58:13 AM
I keep wanting to add more before I release.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: SickAlice on November 27, 2014, 04:18:15 PM
Always better to wait until you know everything's complete than to try and meet a deadline incomplete.
I'm a little jealous that you get to play with Unity. I have that old GS7 engine. Not a real cumbersome environment, may as well just be modding Quake at that rate.
Can't wait to see what you unveil.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on November 27, 2014, 04:25:58 PM
I'm right there with SA. Keep working until you feel that what you have is ready.

Can't wait to see what you have! :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Outcast on November 27, 2014, 04:39:18 PM
Of course, i'm also interested in this.

As they say, good things come to those who wait.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 01, 2014, 01:22:29 PM
Ahhh...at the risk of being Devils Advocate BEARDED......

:stupor
SHOW US WHAT YA GOT!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 01, 2014, 02:30:23 PM
I finished up a large chunk last night and it worked perfectly in the editor, but I had compile errors. gonna work on those today.
Here is the future location and something to look at. The big blank space in the middle is where the unity player will be.
http://www.brightideagame.com/
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on December 01, 2014, 05:13:54 PM
Quote from: bearded on December 01, 2014, 02:30:23 PM
I finished up a large chunk last night and it worked perfectly in the editor, but I had compile errors. gonna work on those today.
Here is the future location and something to look at. The big blank space in the middle is where the unity player will be.
http://www.brightideagame.com/

Can't wait to check it out, bearded! :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 01, 2014, 07:50:36 PM
For now I am going to use golden age public domain characters as stand ins for originals. I am starting with Rocket Riley for some sci fi superhero and then Silver Streak for a racing level.
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Rocket_Riley
http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Silver_Streak
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 02, 2014, 04:14:56 PM
BEARDED YOUR THE FREAKING MAN  :thumbup:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 02, 2014, 09:57:21 PM
Does this error message mean anything to anybody?
A script behaviour has a different serialization layout when loading. (Read 24 bytes but expected 120 bytes)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on December 03, 2014, 02:35:55 AM
Does this help? http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/a-script-behaviour-has-a-different-serialization-layout-when-loading.209650/
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 03, 2014, 04:12:56 AM
Thanks Epimethee, with that I was able to remember how to fix it. Somehow my google searching overlooked that link.
Ok, now I have a working functioning game, but my webhosting is too tiny, I will look on fixing that tomorrow.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 03, 2014, 07:20:31 PM
I have a working 48 meg zip file with the game executable now (pre alpha testing model), but am in the middle of changing my webhosting, so it will be another couple of days before I can upload. Meanwhile I can keep working on fixing things.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 03, 2014, 11:55:17 PM
I have a bare bones website, and a functioning level. This is up for those interested, and alpha testing. If you download it, please, post here any issues or comments.
www.brightideagame.com
yay! I'm live again!

Spoiler
function wise, it is supposed to be different every time you load it, but I don't think that is working yet, but if you fall, or get knocked out, it should load a new random level. If you get to your ship, it will start a new random level also. Some functions I know are not working are exp gain, sound, loading and saving. the eventual idea is a procedural layout that gets progressively difficult, with leveling and inventory.
your keybindings of interest: p, c, i, ?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 04, 2014, 12:18:17 AM
Not sure if it's just me, but I'm having issues with the download. I tried a few times, each time I received an error message stating that the download was interrupted. When I was finally able to get a complete download (Twice), I received an error message both times stating that the file could not be opened as an archive.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on December 04, 2014, 12:37:27 AM
Hmm...

I haven't had an issue.

I'll e-mail the file to you, Cyber ^_^

EDIT: Well, I loaded up the game, and from what I can tell, once this gets polished more, this will be a great stepping stone for our community!

Spoiler
I love that the demo enemies are slimes :P

I'll have to delve into it more once finals are over.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 04, 2014, 04:10:53 PM
I cant figure out what Im doing wrong is it my CPU or what?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 04, 2014, 04:49:43 PM
Quote from: hmarrs on December 04, 2014, 04:10:53 PM
I cant figure out what Im doing wrong is it my CPU or what?
what happens, and what is your cpu?

also, the m key does something neat.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 05, 2014, 01:41:33 PM
its ok my work CPU is blocked ill have to wait until I get home.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 07, 2014, 04:33:57 AM
almost done with another level. I am trying to make a roller coaster cowboy zombie shooter. like in Zombieland.
For the game I am thinking of a modular gameplay, in which you download levels based on what sort of game you like to play. The engine will piece them together to make a cohesive mission story.
Maybe the Silver Streak would go good for a runner type level, but what would make a good course with obstacles and powerups?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 09, 2014, 02:45:32 PM
Thank you for giving us daily update that really help with he WAIT!!! :lol:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 15, 2014, 05:22:51 PM
technical slowdown, but I am pushing for a christmas release.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 18, 2014, 02:18:12 AM
pic of the new model and skin. I know, my skin isn't great, but it works for now.
(http://brightideagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/silverstreak-244x300.jpg)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 19, 2014, 01:51:37 AM
I think you need to give yourself more credit here Bearded, that looks pretty good to me.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 19, 2014, 08:18:08 PM
It's a decent model and shadows, the shadows make it look good. Other than that it is mostly solid colors.
The animations are set for unity and I can't revert them to ff, but I can probably export the biped and shapes. The head, hands, feet, legs, and upper body are all separate pieces you could skope. Does anyone want me to try?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on December 20, 2014, 12:06:30 AM
I, for one, would rather that you concentrate on your Unity project for the moment. ;)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Cyber Burn on December 20, 2014, 12:09:00 AM
While I want to agree with Epimethee, you've gotten me a bit curious about the Mesh. I would definitely be interested in an FF version.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 20, 2014, 01:12:41 AM
I have the Silver Streak Rooftop Runner mini game 99 percent done. I just need to tweak some graphics. By "done" I mean playable. I actually found a scene in the comic in which he is actually rooftop running!
http://brightideagame.com/?page_id=28
Next time I load him up, I will see if I can export a nif, for the shapes if nothing else, or maybe I can easily export to obj.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: daglob on December 23, 2014, 12:03:48 AM
Looks good to me.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 23, 2014, 01:28:02 PM
I have a build ready to play. My webhost wants 41 dollars a month for the proper webplay that I will want, so for now it is a download. The download will be html so it is sort of ridiculous, but that's what it is right now.
My goal is an html based city map with grids that are colored based on each player. As you patrol a grid, it changes to your color. You patrol a grid by picking someone on your team. Each team member will have a preferred method of patrol, for example, Silver Streak will do the Rooftop Runner, Black Orchid will do a Stealth patrol, the Flag will have a platformer, and I am going to have a 3rd person shooter. As I come up with new ideas, I will make and upload them. The conceit is that you are the hero team and all the other colors are bad guys. Eventually there might be a pvp 2.5 fighter.
Now that I have a patrol type I am not sure if I should work on the Stealth level or the html city grid and get a competition going. Thoughts?
Also, unity pro has a deal where you can "rent" it for 75 dollars a month, which I think is what I need to make my assets moddable.
I'm going to post a link to it in the "other games forum" so I can keep track of the different mini games.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Red Fantom on December 26, 2014, 02:35:16 AM
If you can make a model as smooth looking as that,that means you can make some faithfully models for characters from the DC Animated Universe!!!(which is something i ve been sorta thinking of  requesting for a while now btw)                                                                                                                                                                                                             




PS:Anxious to see where your project's going.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on December 28, 2014, 12:59:16 AM
I dont know what Im doing wrong I have downloaded the rr on top of that I downloaded the Unity Player but Im having issues playing...
The Unity Player downloads and thats the extent of it..
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on December 28, 2014, 04:42:55 AM
That's the fourth problem report I have gotten. In about a week I should be able to stream it from the website. That should fix the problem.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on January 22, 2015, 03:01:52 PM
Hey bearded anything?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on January 23, 2015, 04:52:08 PM
I've been down with the sickness. Something in my abdomen that hurt worse than a kidney stone, I have no idea what.
As of yesterday I am back coding. I have an idea. Picture, if you will, a gateway to another dimension, a dimension ... no wait that is the pain meds. Ok, I am working in a superhero simcity type, that you can go down to the sims level, a sort of Majesty game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty:_The_Fantasy_Kingdom_Sim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesty:_The_Fantasy_Kingdom_Sim)
This will be the superreal estate you are playing for. Imagine a grid of 3 by 3 with your color in the middle. Each supercity block will hold up to 4 buildings of your choice. Each player will get the 3 by 3, each player making the map bigger. You start in the middle grid with your color and all the others are greyed out. You play a minigame of your choice to color in the grey, getting you 4 more buildings. The points you earned playing the minigame are your currency for buying buildings and upgrades.
Ruthless players can try and take your colors by beating your highest score on any particular block. Opposition in minigames will be based on what buildings are in.
You can also spend your supercurrency on "tags" for your territories. Some of the tags will be superficial themes, like western, or mutant. Any combination. Some of the tags will be to make your territories harder to access, like "aquatic", requiring the invader to be a water traveler, or "space" etc. I am going to allow players to submit tags by either creating the art for them, or paying a small fee for me to create it for them.
When someone takes a block, they can simply keep it as is, spend points on adding to it, or demolishing buildings or tags by spending the points that had previously been spent to create them, i.e. recreating in the invaders image.
That is the supersim aspect to the game I am working on now. I am about 10 percent in, I have a block creator coded, with the ability to add unique buildings based on supercurrency.
If that doesn't float your simboat, your focus might be on the particular minigame of your choice. Your "character" is your team of heroes you collect, your rpg level will be the team level, and you will get new heroes based on your territories, to play the minis with. So, if you have a custom speedster, you can play the rooftop runner with the custom. I have several minis ready, I fixed some bugs in rooftop, it runs too fast on some systems. I have a jetpack sim. Started on a stealth sim. There will be a fighting sim. A clue finding puzzle game. Trophies for a trophy room.
All I can think of for now.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on February 01, 2015, 01:47:58 AM
First and foremost, I hope you're back in shape. Take good care of your health, Bearded. :)

With that said, the concepts you outlined certainly sound very interesting! I'm looking forward to see more of them.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 15, 2016, 02:02:34 AM
Bearded hope your feeling well these days...Hey did anything ever come of this?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on November 15, 2016, 05:19:35 AM
Thanks for asking. I had my gall bladder removed. It was throwing stones. Much better now. And, something smaller. I'm working on the sim, but thinking android release. I appreciate your interest.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: daglob on November 15, 2016, 06:00:23 AM
 :blink:MY GOD, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL SOMEBODY!

Anyway, I hope you are feeling better.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 15, 2016, 06:15:12 PM
Quote from: bearded on November 15, 2016, 05:19:35 AM
Thanks for asking. I had my gall bladder removed. It was throwing stones. Much better now. And, something smaller. I'm working on the sim, but thinking android release. I appreciate your interest.
Oh Wow glad your ok...
what do you mean by this...
(I'm working on the sim, but thinking android release.)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on November 15, 2016, 06:17:05 PM
Quote from: daglob on November 15, 2016, 06:00:23 AM
:blink:MY GOD, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL SOMEBODY!

Anyway, I hope you are feeling better.
Daglob
Didnt I see on here somewhere that you had somthing going on as well?
Are you ok have you been sick?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Panther_Gunn on November 16, 2016, 01:51:12 AM
Quote from: bearded on November 15, 2016, 05:19:35 AM
I had my gall bladder removed. It was throwing stones.

I guess it's a good thing you're not made of glass, BiL.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: spydermann93 on November 16, 2016, 02:19:06 AM
Well, I for one can say that I'm glad you survived and I'm really happy to see you back in action!

It really sucks about the stone throwing contest your gallbladder decided to throw. Can't get much more painful than that.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on November 25, 2016, 02:43:58 AM
Ouch! That must have been quite painful, B. Hoping you're back to full health.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on March 01, 2018, 05:28:49 PM
Hey have there been any Updates on This??!!
Has anyone Heard anything???
Breaded Buddy Hope all is Well. :)
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on April 06, 2018, 02:19:23 AM
Thanks for checking in. I'm better. Still working on making things, but no focus on particulars.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on May 31, 2018, 04:23:50 PM
I've actually made some progress in the last month. Nothing 3d yet, but I've set up the database. I'm working toward a dwarf fortress sort of backstory, so each individual game will be different. I will have to release it as freeware, because the Markov Chain that generates NPC's sometimes makes name choices that could potentially offend people. Nothing too bad, to the point I wouldn't release the game.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: BentonGrey on May 31, 2018, 04:28:10 PM
Coo!  Great to see you still at work, Bearded!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: Epimethee on May 31, 2018, 10:47:59 PM
Great that you're still working on this, Bearded!
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on July 11, 2018, 12:14:08 PM
So...fellers...I've got something that is almost releasable. It's basically a character generator, not 3d. It makes a fully developed character, with a portrait type based on micro hero templates. (I'm not sure about the fair usage of that, anybody know?) Including customized theme music that is different for every character it makes. It makes a personality you can chat with based on the a.i. "reading" different texts. You can feed it books, blogs, anything text based. At this point it is a very highly developed chat bot. If anyone wants to see that, I'll put a link here. Next stage is to make a day planner type of game. You get your character, then plan his daily activities. After that, I'm going to internalize the day planner so that all npc's have activities. I'm calling this game MicroManagement. After that is perfected, I'm going to set the machine to generate a lot of NPC's, all unique, and the player is a manager type, in game, a sort of "Editor", managing a team of heroes. The game for the Editor is to go out and explore the world with his team, tweaking the world to his liking, his editor power growing over time, changing names, powers, etc. At some point, I will go 3d with it, I'm thinking of FF Tactics style combat. Aren't we really playing FF that way, with the pause button?
Title: Re: something big
Post by: doctorchallenger on July 13, 2018, 01:55:45 PM
So freakin' cool. Very much a tool I am interested in.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: bearded on July 18, 2018, 03:29:09 AM
All the code is fully functional. My roadblock is having a good menu ui. Right now it is a bunch of buttons sitting around your screen. I just need a basic design for where the images should go, should I use buttons, or tabs, or drop downs for different things, and color schemes. I could create something based on a good example, got any good examples? With an example of design, it would take me about a day to make it releasable.

And the microhero templates. I'm thinking about simply hand inking some templates and scanning them in, but this will take a long time.
Title: Re: something big
Post by: john_patches on July 27, 2018, 08:47:39 PM
 :thumbup: hey buddy i have a crap load of micros, pm me when you get a chance :cool:
Title: Re: something big
Post by: hmarrs on March 21, 2019, 06:36:41 PM
Hey anything new developments??? : ^_^