Sacman
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Posts posted by Sacman
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A top down or Isometric RPG would be relatively easy to do using MMF. I don't really know what you mean by characters shrinking in the distance unless you are speaking of a First Person view. My 2 week experience with MMF so far has led me to the conclusion that it is great for a 2D sprite engine but would be weak for 3D first person games. You can do them but they will not have the look of one created in Torque, Ogre, A6 or one of the other 3D engines.
For my purposes the ISO view is great. I am a classic RTS gamer. I like ISO and I do not particularly care for the new wave of 3D ISO games. The only advantage that 3D provides in this type of game (also in the Diablo hack and slash genre) is that you can have more dynamic terrain. You can also zoom in to look at how incredibly crappy the units look at extreme close range and you can rotate the view. I have played MANY RTS games and I have NEVER rotated the view. The only time I think I used the zoom function is to look at each new Hero in Battle for Middle Earth (arguably one of the best RTS games every if you do not include the soon to be released Age of Empires III)
So if you are looking at making a top down or ISO view RPG like Baldour's Gate, Icewind Dale, even Ultima Online sort of (not truly ISO they had their own viewpoint also not truly an RPG but MAN I LOVED THAT GAME) Then MMF will certainly do it for you. One of the added advantages to using true 2D in this format is the level of graphic detail that you can acomplish using sprites versus using 3D models. In 3D you will always have to be concious of how many poly's are rendered at any given time. You will also be somewhat limited on textures and the overall look of the background/terrain.
In a sprite based game, if I want to have 100 of a particular type of unit, you only have to load that unit once into memory, every replication of the unit itself is merely a redrawing of the unit. The only additional data that has to be stored would be variables associated with that particular unit. This makes for a lot more control over LOD.
I can ramble for a long time about this. I hate that 2D is considered dated but I recognize that it is. I have MMF (THANK YOU WILL SUTTON) and the learning curve is very easy. I am working on game mechanics for an RTS style game and am currently using generic sprites available on This Web Site. They are not great but serve the purpose admirably for 'proxies'.
I actually replaced one of the units with the A:M Knight last night and he looked great (AGAIN THANK YOU WILL).
See I am rambling. If you have specific questions about MMF, I am rapidly becoming proficient at it to the exclusion of all else right now, so I may be able to help. I would love to see more people looking at this as a game engine and a possible collaborative effort in the future.
Also Will has a pretty nice Chor setup that produces great ISO view renderings. I stole it from him last night but I am sure he would be willing to explain it to anyone interested.
Wade
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Has a great anime look to it in the toon render shot. I like it a lot.
Wade
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That blown up shot looks great, but please, please, please color the mirrors and roof the same color. Standard Cooper color scheme is body color all the way around or all white roof and mirrors or all black roof and mirrors. I hate to be stuck on this point but it is killing me.
Wade
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Is it possible to import the Gala model complete and just hide the portion you don't want. then the lip sync would still work right???
Wade
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I can't answer your question. I just wanted to comment on how great that model looks.
Wade
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Holy crap!!!
I watched all of the animations on your site. They are great.
I think my favorite is the sneaking one. Forl not using facial expressions, the way you use body motion to express emotion is fantastic.
I am so far away from anything even remotely close to that level of skill.
I am very impressed,
Wade
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Hey Melissa,
I don't know if you caught my post in the New User's forum.
To paraphrase, we just had a meeting on Saturday in Atlanta and ironically Will Sutton himself was there. Check out the User Groups forum and Go here for a little more detail.
But what you are asking for is a link to Will's UV Editor Tutorial
Have fun and great job for a first,
Wade
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Here is another. This is a site that reviews game engines. The site is a bit slow and I am not fond of the main page layout but the Engine review and info is pretty nice.
http://www.devmaster.net/engines/
Wade
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This is a much needed topic here I think. I have found a couple of great sites and they get lost in the shuffle. So here is a new one.
I have only briefly read through some of the features of this software. It is basically a tile creator. It is also freeware (there is a more powerful version available for purchase). I think that it might be a useful tool for learning how to create tiles and this knowledge could probably translate to A:M.
Just a thought.
Wade
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Will, i will call you tomorrow. I have quite a few PDF books that I got from a programmer friend. Even if you are not making your own game engine, some of the info is great from a design standpoint. I will pick out the best and most appropriate and burn them for you. Makes for some good brain ache reading while the wife is watching Desperate Housewives or whatever.
Man am I glad my wife doesn't watch that show.
Wade
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To answer Feline Witch, A:M has an exporter for .x models which are Direct X models.
It really depends on what you are looking for. Will is currently using Multimedia Fusion and I think he can back me up in that it is great for side scrollers and iso games but probably would not do for a FPS.
There is an engine called Torque which sounds really nice but I do not use it nor have I tried a demo. They have recently added a mod for it specifically for RTS games which is intriguing for me.
I actually own a copy of 3d Game Studio A4. This is a great software for just about any type of game but the learning curve at the time was too steep for me so I stopped using it. If I dusted it off now I would probably pick it up pretty quickly but I am now so many versions behind that it would cost me a bit to get back up to current.
Using something like MMF does not really tie you down to any particular modeller since it uses mostly (if not all???) 2D sprite models. These can be done in literally any good animator of which A:M is one of the best. Just take your screenshots at 30 degrees from the horizon. Snap 8 frames. Rotate 45 degrees and do it again. fairly simple to explain until you have to do 8 directions for every single action for every single creature. Makes 2D sprites kind of scary. If MMF uses 3D (Will???) then it is even easier. Create your models and export them as .x models.
If you haven't already. go to Gamedev.net and Sourceforge.net. These are two of the best indie game developer sites going IMO.
You can also follow Starwarsguy and get a good moddable game for the learning aspect. From my experience, Morrowind and Never Winter Nights were two of the best moddable games ever made. There is a new Morrowind s coming out soon, so the tool set there would probably be fantastic if they upgraded at all what they had before.
Ramble, ramble. ramble.
Wade
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See, like Zaryin, I use the mouse right handed. But, if I have to drive with the arrow keys I have to do it left handed. I can actually use the mouse left handed just as good as right handed without changing the buttons. If I have to use a clip board, I turn it upside down and clip the bottom of the paper to the clip. That statement, of course, has absolutely no relevance just though t I would mention it.
The WSAD keys in place of the arrows work great for keyboard driven movement.
Using QWEASDZXC even gives you 8 directions of movement.
With regards to playing the guitar. I actually think a left handed person has an advantage here. If you are playing a standard right handed guitar, you are fretting with your more dextrous hand. This has got to be an advanage cause the right hand does so much less than the left. That is assuming you suck like I do and cannot actually pick out anything but stick to chords.
Wade
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I am left handed and the worst part of using the keyboard for games is that you want to use your left hand for the arrows but all the hot keys are on the left so you end up all crossed up.
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I'm in!
Will, I believe I have your phone number in an email somewhere, I will give you a call this weekend or early next week. We should ride together. If my car is not in the shop getting my road gator damage fixed, we can cruise in the Mini. If it is in the shop my other option is a piece of crap 95' Ford Ranger (this is ultimately my son's car if he would ever make a decent grade, he turns 17 today, my wife will not let me have her Sorento). So if that is the case, you can drive.
Wade
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With regards to Game Controllers. I get together with a bunch of friends (6-8) for Halo 2 parties about once a month down in Fort O. They all complain about the controls and wish that they could use keyboard controls instead. I think in this case a lot of it goes back to playing Unreal Tournament for many years before something better (HALO/HALO 2) came along. I personally think that controllers have their place (ie. FPS, racing, sports), but for certain games like RPG, RTS, RTT, SIMS (Simulations not necessarily THE SIMS) I think the point and click works better.
For example, I hear you talking about a single player char, but what if you decided to use multiple characters. One of the annoying habits of characters in Auto Defend or Auto Attack mode is to go after the closest enemy or the one that is attacking them. So if you have a bunch of high HP mobs and each of your PC's are trying to take down one each, you are going to take a beating. I like being able to group them and attack one at a time to take them down faster and avoid some of the bruising.
I like the 'Seer' idea. Being able to get a glimpse of what is to come might also allow you to make the right purchases if you do in fact include shops.
With regards to houses...I have played the original SIMS and the focus was split between how cool can I make my house and can I keep my peeps from peeing on the floor all in a 3.5 minute day. Although player owned housing is a risky option, In a long term game like an MMORPG, it really locked you into the game. It was a healthy break from camping mobs (thankfully not really an issue in UO) or hacking away at a rock wall for 3 hours for some ore to make iron to make armor etc..... Because of the limited graphics set in UO it was a challenge in itself to figure out ways to make things look cool. It was a true 2D game for most of its life before they added in a 3D client. You would have to stack 2 chairs, 3 fishsteaks, a round shields, a lantern, 3 more fish steaks, and another round shield and once everything decayed, it would make a nice wall sconce. As silly as this sounds I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying this kind of crap out.
Having said all of that, I know it is beyond the scope of what you want to do. Just want to keep the idea alive.
Wade
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Looks fantastic!!!
Yes it counts.
Would the 'blade' cast a shadow?
Wade
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Nobody actually played animal crossing
Anyway, what you are talking about is a hack and slash. Diablo and Dungeon Seige were hack and slash games. There is no real point other than killing stuff.
Where I get stuck with RPG's is the desire to make them all First Person shooter type games. Take Morrowind for example. Unbelieveably complex game. I have it at home and have tried to play it twice. I make it to about the second 'stage' and then get tired of it. It is very dark and in FPS view.
I cannot say enough how much I personally prefer the isometric view. I think I may be in the minority though. Take the MMORPGS for example. I have played in order:
Ultima Online - 1.5 years
WWII Online - 2 weeks (Worst release of any game ever in the history of games)
Everquest - 6 months
Dark Ages of Camelot - 6 months
Everquest again - 2 months
Shadowbane - 2 months (This had the potenetial to be one of the best but they screwed it up)
Star Wars Galaxies - 3 months (quit before Jump to Light Speed. Probably would have kept playing for a bit longer if I had waited for this.)
Note that I played UO the longest. This is the only ISO of the bunch and I actually went back and played for a couple of months at the end of the list.
For me personally I like the RPG aspects. I.E. the shops the buying and selling etc...it just has to be done right. I agree that it shouldn't be cumbersome but this kind of action breaks up the monotony of just killing stuff for 8 hours straight. It allows you to go smoke or use the bathroom every once in a while. One of the drawbacks in a lot of these games is that you have limited inventory space, and rightly so, but you can pickup EVERYTHING!. So you wanna pick up everything because you don't know if you need it but then you have to start shuffling inventory when you get to something you know you need but you are full of crap that you later find is only worth 1gp when you finally get to a store an hour later or worse the one item you decide to drop turns out to be worth 10K. (severe run-on sentence)
So like I said it has to be done right. I like the concept of skills outside of fighting skills that allow you to do other things. This is probably a throwback to my MMORPG days but I liked to be able to do other stuff.
Just had a new thought. What if you had your own house that is the basis for all of the adventures in the game. Let me go on a tangent...UO, Shadowbane, and Galaxies all had player owned housing. This is one of the greatest aspects to MMO's in my opinion. Shadowbane screwed it up and UO had a limited graphics set but it was still great. It gave you a sense of ownership. Ok back to the thought...If you stay away from consoles, if you had your own house that you could fill up with all the junk collected on the way it would add an interesting element.
Of course you are trying to go more simple. This is 180 degrees out of phase with that. Just a thought for the future. Ok...so if your game is set in a magic realm, who's to say you can't call your house to you in towns. I don't think you would want to 'port' back to your house each time cause it interupts the story flow. But... what if you kept a miniature of your house in your inventory (that you want to do away with) and in certain areas you could bring your house to you. Fun!
MAN I LOVE VIDEO GAMES. I think it is a sickness. I believe I may need to be medicated.
I have got to stop.
Wade
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It looks awesome!
But I agree that hte spline count looks WAY heavy. If you model the rest of him with that kind of splining I think you are gonna be in a bit of trouble.
Wade
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One More:
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David, can I send mine to you and let you texture it for me? Those are sweet!
Or should I send them to Wegg
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That's fun. I was just posting on my sword thread how I probably should have bumped the handle of the hilt and then I look at your and it is almost identical.
Good work! I like it.
Wade
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One more wire. This is an extreme close up of the actual handle of the hilt. I probably should have bumped this instead of modeling. But...
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The grid pattern on the hilt is a little too fine. The skeleton left over would be too weak to support itself but I had such a time learning transparencies for that that I finally quit.
wow! how did you make that? veeery curious, as I would like to make a sword myself. A short guide?Go to the link in my first post and it will take you to the original thread. There is a pic of the rotoscope there. I had to do some research on the actual length in order to keep it in scale. But it is as close as you can get to actual scale.
I haver never posted a wireframe so I guess I should find one real quick:
Ok here is one with another to follow: The rest of the blade is only 3 more extrusions.
South Georgia
in A:M Users Groups
Posted
I will be very close to you guys but in Cartersville for my brother's wedding.
maybe next time.
Wade