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something big

Started by bearded, September 27, 2011, 01:56:17 PM

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Cyber Burn

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.

bearded

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.


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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
here is a model that is in the tutorial i am working from:


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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.

Amazo Version 2.2

i'd say make bytes a microwave sidekick.
For anyone, and everyone, who has ever done anything to improve the FF/FFvs3R gaming experience, I want to say thank you. Life is so short, and you have all brought me so much joy. I hope that one day, I am somehow able to return the kindness and generosity that all of you have shown.

Cyber Burn

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.

lugaru

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.

bearded

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!

bearded



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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.

Xenolith

Are you planning on having a "watch" mode at all?

BentonGrey

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.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

area34


bearded

BentonGrey is playtesting for me. you want a copy, area34?
BG, it's not much of a change, some small tweaks.

BentonGrey

#71
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?
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

area34

I'm in skinning mode but I still can play test. I still play around with the original exe.

bearded

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.

bearded

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:


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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.

Cyber Burn

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?

Figure Fan

This is all really awesome Bearded. Thanks for doing all of this. I'm excited to see your progress :)

area34

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.

BentonGrey

#78
Hey hey!  That is so awesome, it's hard to believe just how awesome it is. :D  New terrain AND a new hero.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Randomdays

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.

bearded

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.

Xenolith

That sounds great.  I like to make AI and watch the hereos fight more than anything else.  Thanks!

area34

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.

Amazo Version 2.2

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:


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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.
For anyone, and everyone, who has ever done anything to improve the FF/FFvs3R gaming experience, I want to say thank you. Life is so short, and you have all brought me so much joy. I hope that one day, I am somehow able to return the kindness and generosity that all of you have shown.

lugaru

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

bearded

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?

area34

Sounds good to me. I can't wait to play test it.

cmdrkoenig67

I not exactly sure what is going on, but it looks pretty neat.

Dana

Xenolith

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.     

lugaru

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.