wow, so many questions lol
Tattie has done a great job explaining what you can do on skyline. If i can, i will add a few extra points
1) Skyline does have the ability to load one scene from inside another. As Tattie mentioned this cannot be done on the fly without resource loading at the moment. But if we added the ability to preload another scene in the background, then it would be sort of doable. This is quite a bit of work though.
2) Is it possible to create the transition from a map to a yet uncreated map (maybe with a closed door), and then open it when the next map is created? Maybe add a flag (outside the map) to say unavailable/downloadable/open/closed(for whatever reason, eg. event, recalled because of bugs, servercrash for that zone, ...)
I suppose if you know all the locations and environments you could write a json file to disk that specifies what Levels exist.
Based on read values, you could determine whether to open or close the door until the map is created. i believe Q4 is a second part to this answer.
4) How about adding content by adding a new .pak or .ark or whatever without the need to apply a patch? Maybe just update an index file that this content can now be downloaded (even as a background task). With a dependency list? Seperate models from the rest to deploy low-res for old systems, low- and high-res for modern systems and LoD? Reuse a model-pack along different maps?
If the levels are not made, but the game is released, then theoretically you could add them as a .pak to your end game that would be loaded into resources. If the game levels have the triggers or code to move to the new levels found based on that read file from before, then you could add dlc parts.
If the main level loading this new area does not have the code for loading, then you will need to update the levels files in order to move into the new area.
3) Is Skyline (easily) capable of 2D Scenes for minigames. Or 2.5D for a digital replication of a Board-Game or a Card-Game. Brainstorming: 3D Lobby where you go to a table and play the game.
Skyline is capable of making both 3D and 2.5D games at the moment. We do have planned support for 2D though.
5) Is there any assistance/"framwork" to skill-tree and character leveling? Is it advisable to create these before creating levels? How can I build a combat system?
There is no framework per say, but we do have templates which are meant to be good starting points to different genre styles although some are out of date and can be buggy. Still a WIP lol
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Combat systems can be created using actions, scripts and visual modules. Skyline is a game engine and certain features or systems will need to be programmed or plugged together.
For instance, the current fps system is created using actions and scripts which communicate together to pass information that changes stats and causes damage. Skyline is created to have easy components that do what you want them to do without doing more work or reinventing the wheel.
On the FPS, the new version which will be released soon, has been rewritten completely in modules.
Skill trees and Character leveling - These would need to be made by the techniques mentioned before
The plan at the moment is to create many game mechanics so skyline has all these bits built in.
If you wanted to create a visual representation of skill trees and character leveling, then you can use the Custom Editor Plugins which our forum user Shando has become experienced with. Make any form of graph editing system you want using Qt and lua inside skyline
Heres a starter link but there is more on the forum:
http://www.forum.aurasoft-skyline.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=1461&p=7624#p76246) When a map shall be a complete cave, will I build the ground as Terrain, the sides and ceiling with rocks/... or can I build the whole as a terrain?
If you built the cave out of models and didn't use terrain, it would be even faster. But you could use the terrain for this sort of thing. Cannot currently cut holes in the terrain either.
7) How do I represent this structure with multiple maps and multiple resource files in Skyline? One project with many scenes? Are there customisable build-scripts for the resource files?
Tatties response was spot on here so not much to say except skyline can also be run in a project specific mode where you copy all the files you wish to use into 1 folder. We find it much easier to use one large library across many scenes.
8) If I create maps where you can enter houses (and for that model the interior), will that have a large impact on performance? If I remember correctly this is called OcclusionCulling and not yet implemented in Skyline?
This will all be possible with occlusionculling and no it isn't in the engine yet. This is a feature we are planning for the new renderer though to maximise performance with large open worlds.
A simple zone could be created from a trigger that turns everthing on / off, or do like old school games. As you open the door, fade to black, unload outside or put simple outside for windows and turn all interior on. If load is too much, then use a loading screen.
Many things mentioned here may need to be upgraded or added into skyline, but i believe most of this is possible with exceptions of course with the engine being in Beta lol
Hope this helps