Project Ideas - Brainstorming

[Talidan]

We really need to settle on whether we are going to try to go complex or simple.

Currently, I opt for simple. As lovely as the engine is, and I mean no offense to the devs, it's still in alpha. If we try to too much with it right now, we're going to be in for a tough time trying to make sure everything works as needed. Once we are better acquainted to both the engine and each other, moving on to more complicated work is the next the step. Even with a familiar, more complete engine, things can be difficult.

I'll contribute as needed in whatever manner I can, no matter the project we take on, but I really think we should dip our toes in before diving head first.

[SolarPortal]

@Talidan: Simple is always better and easier to start with. But it never hurts to think larger.
Surely we can build smaller games, but use similar mechanics that the larger game would use.
"A Big picture comprises of many small components."
This ultimately would save time generating a larger game, but also generating more content for each game made.

@Muman: it would be great to incorporate all the ideas, it's a shame there is never enough time. lol.
Although, it reminds me of "Spore", and how they handled the evolutionary process.
Would be cool to have some procedural generation to create unique creatures as they evolve lol. Although that would be a while off with skyline

[Talidan]

My worry is that we'll be looking too far ahead to see what we'll be tripping over in front of us, you know? From what I've seen, too much ambition at the start of any project, whether it's in games, writing, film, whatever, results in a lot more stumbles and ultimately more failed projects than those that begin small and expand from there. Taking any small project, you can grow it out in any direction, but it's far more difficult to start on something large and scale it back down without getting frustrated and sacrificing seemingly crucial components, and possibly eventually scrapping the entire thing due to a myriad of internal problems.

Overly-enthusiastic ideas might be great for things the engine should aim to accommodate upon completion, but for making a game with Skyline being so young, it could start us down on a bumpy road.

My own personal ideas for games are so large in scope, I won't even bother suggesting any of them here, but when trying to put together pieces for them on my own, I really have to be careful not to get too ahead of myself, otherwise it just becomes a hugely depressing experience. It's easier to take a breath, and refocus on the smaller portions to build it up on your own, but as part of a team, I've seen the mindset really just destroy a lot of great ideas.

I just want to be sure we'll be taking the right steps towards our goals and not trying to leap too far.

[StarFire]

[StarFire]

@Muman: just seen your extra bit on the evo idea. What could be good with this idea is to create a simple poc using basic shapes and lua to see the feasibility of such a project even if it not for this current community project

We have looked at how magic and effects could be procedurally evolved based on a simple set of rules, it would be cool to combine this with the evolving character.

[Muman]

Cheers NightHawk, but I am stuck on Skyline not working for me ATM .
Can do in another format but thats not right for this proj imho.

Mage stuff can be done with old style alpha textures if needed rather than Particle/shaders systems and for the tech expressed in the scenario, it would be limited in scope to controlling NPC's with basic stun, kinetics and kill shots, all dependent on the charge-up rates.
Support has offered to see me thru to a working istallation as my GC is AMD on all my machines (7) which would be good but may not resolve in time to meet your Dev timelines.

Another concept is a Shade char, 1st person, who needs to reacquire its body but first must find where it is stored?/held.
The char can only be visible to the player in shadowed areas and can 'possess' any creatures body and utilize it in any manner but must not risk death as that would equate to a true death.
Being a shade it can heal and enhance the possessed, cloak and such stuff.
This could display scenes in all areas e.g. City, dungeon, forest, beach etc...
Shade does not need a body to travel, only to interact with the world.

Cheers...

[StarFire]

Sorry to hear that you have no Skyline ouch! You are missing out lol

If you work with support I am sure you will get a working copy as we do need to resolve this for other users.

Like the shade idea

Once you get Skyline up and running we should hook up on skype and have a creative chat as I am always interested in breaking new ground

[iamcheeseontoast]

Ok so here's my rough idea for what its worth.

Bearing in mind the game should have the following critieria
Learning Tool
Show of Skyline Capabilities
Be of interest to multiple people/team

1 Multiple Scenes
We have people with different interests, we have more than one level designer. We need more than one scene to show of skyline.
Each Scene should be different to suit the above.

I suggest a central scene that is used to move to the other scenes. This central scene should be very simple. Basic FPS, basic vehicle for moving about. Maybe some basic AI etc etc.

[Shando]

[iamcheeseontoast]

With the above in mind this was the beginings of a level originally designed in cry3.
Its a fairly rocky island 5k map using a 1024 heightmap. As you can see roads are already laid out and I've shown some potential locations for portals or travel spots.



You can download the scene here..
http://www.bigkidcreations.com/bkc_skyl ... kc_hub.zip

[StarFire]

Ok sounds like a start. We can start with Cheese's map and we could start with a fps to the 1st location by completing a few tasks to unlock next section, then drive to the next area and complete some time based quests. Each section off the island can as Shando mentions be used to add more the player experience.

Note: not all sections need to be a new scene as it can be place outside of the islands clipping plane and in doing so will have no performance impact also will make for instant player teleport.

As for making each area away from the island a different game type, personally I would not do this, leave other styles for the next game.

Mechanics:
FPS: Player with some type of weapon/magic/biotic/implant etc
Vehicles: Timed driving sections with may be hostile AI to avoid
AI: character based AI using nav mesh and waypoints.
AI: Turrets and other non character hostiles
AI: wildlife - birds, deer,horses or other random animals.
Environment: Needs to be populated with vegetation - what type?
Environment: Needs structures and props again what type?
Quest interface to display current objectives.
In game communications interface for player objectives updates and npc chatting

also does anyone know how to use CEGUI for 2D interfaces?

Player and AI will be ready when the new character controller is fixed, which I hope won't be too long.

............

[SolarPortal]

[SolarPortal]

I have just been playing with the terrain and level.
I do believe that the terrain will be too large to populate as i have just been driving and placing vegetation,
but we can go ahead and see if it is possible, but it will be challenging lol.

we will need many assets to make the world feel diverse.
we also will need to have new vegetation made for the level, what sort of environment/ecosystem should we follow.

At this size, it would be good to have fast racing tracks and dense FPS areas.
Plus this all has too run inside skyline on a 5k map

should be fun

[Shando]

[StarFire]

Hey Shando that would be great. I will add the newest cegui editor to the resources so you can have a play.

[Shando]

[iamcheeseontoast]

there was roads already carved out. I believe we only really need to populate the areas that are gonna be used as special locations. I already have a variety of statics that might do the job.

Log Cabins, Trailers and others.

Before you do anything else I do have another map which is only 2k and is set in area surrounded by mountains. It has a main road going through it with some small roads/tracks leading to areas.

[iamcheeseontoast]

I think this would be more suited to the needs. It was designed with driving around in mind. There is a main road through it and some tracks etc to other locals. I also have a lot of the assets required such as bridges and buildings etc.

While its only a 2k map it feels bigger due to the roads being windy.




Grab a copy here. I've included the actual heightmap used in PNG format incase it needs changed. (2048)

http://www.bigkidcreations.com/bkc_skyl ... c_cars.zip

[StarFire]

@Shando: There is a copy of the cegui editor here: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=507

[Ryzon]

I am going to also look into that editor later today, seems pretty interesting indeed. I also had a unique idea. Can me make the fps game have monsters, mutated beasts as the player instead of your typical humans/cyborgs/etc. I just think that would be cool as hell!

[StarFire]

@Ryzon: Beasts sound cool, would make it different

[iamcheeseontoast]

What about turning into a creature at one of the locations. Check out the Sabre Tooth creature here.

http://3dfoin.com/

[SolarPortal]

@iamcheeseontoast : that new terrain you have posted doesn't leave alot of room for the quest locations, FPS areas, but does use the roads alot.
I have been playing around with the previous terrain some more and drove the porsche across the map fast which only took 3min from point 1 to point 5.
this also was at 160+mph.

this map would be great for a racing game, FPS area, etc...
the areas of location still have enough room to make a proper level and also the world does still allow you to roam and exlore, now with plenty of occluders, so things can be turned off.

The terrains will always end up worked further, so it doesn't matter too much where we start. Although that first terrain you made had nice roads. As you can see the terrain i worked still has the same road sections.

ill play a bit more and post a more advanced level, with a timer to get from one destination to the other.

@General : turning into a beast would be cool and leave the human/cyborg, or like bill said to change into a beast at certain locations.

This is similar to the game : Kameo - elements of power for Xbox360, where you played as many different creatures, plus they didn't have a humanoid form.

So i guess, if we turned beast it would be great to not be in a humanoid form, and be quite outrageous - 4 arms, no arms, wings, tails, big forms, little forms, but how would we represent any of this as an FPS.

[Ryzon]

This game can play on a Planet of the Apes type atmosphere where the creatures were genetically mutated and became smart. Sadly the human race was overtaken and had to leave Earth, but some of the early creatures liked the humans and became friends with them, that small group must now fight for their own survival against the hordes of enemies that rather use their new found knowledge and mutations to take over whats left of Earth.

This could also play to a 2 faction type game as well later down the road if we want.

It makes sense as when you further enhance an animal it becomes stronger and smarter, and evolves to survive its environment. So them growing thumbs, or hands to wield such "human" weapons makes sense. Plus since they have mutated using genetics, I would also imagine there instincts have evolved.

Imagine playing as a cheetah that has been enhanced, you would have a huge speed boost to the player.

Smaller creatures like bugs that when enhanced never really increased much in anything but size are now like the annoying grunts in Halo.

This game allows for fantasy elements, science fiction, modern day fps, rpg, and more.

If this sounds like a winner please help me to build up a decent concept for the game, like how the mutation spread, why was it made in the first place, and a little more bio's on the main players that have to fight to survive this new world.

[iamcheeseontoast]

I played a game called Game of thrones, wasn't much of a game but one of the characters you play as could take control of his dog, that was fun.

I think for my own game "Ifrinn" one of his Warlock powers will be the ability to "borrow" creatures (as Granny Weatherwax would call it). Think that would be fun.