The Blueprint node system they use in Unreal is a bit like a C++ wrapper, the logic is the same, only difference with Blueprints, you don't have to type in those nasty brackets. you just plugin alot of these nodes instead.
Yeah I also thought that too that you just needed to turn off off the LIT mode and just build your geometry all up in the UNLIT mode instead and then when you ready, just rebuild all the lightmaps again and that solves the problem. But it didn't. when I tried to build geometry in the unlit mode, the lightmaps stilll kept on crashing.
They got patent bricks out there too, got to be careful not to get hit by any of those.
That's exactly what I'm getting at Unreal 3 is a workhorse, There are two things I don't agree with of Epic' Games engine set up methods. )THIS was UDK ENGINE I had these gripes.
1. Making you manually fetch the script files to edit manually through a third party program to manually hunt for all the scripts to edit instead of writing in all the new script changes to your game project directory.
2. Placing Lighmaps objects in at the start, intead of letting us place all the lightmap objects after we have first built up all of our geometry. This causes lightmaps to have to always be rebuilt all the time, slowing down the buld development time down to a snails crawl.
Not heard of Vector Operations or Projections but I did with a help of another guy did put a random array in my first batch game for teleporting me to any location in the gameworld. But I thought vectors was to do with 3d meshes or graphics.
But unreal 4 suppporting terrain map up to TEN TIMES the size of Skyrim, how can our machins support a terrain that size?
Imagine how long it would take to build that map with lightmaps
Ah Yes, unfortunately you need to script code to add in all the menu systems, the screens options, the separate screens from the game engine itself for the galaxy systems. Hmm .
Ok so the machine script is the glue to all the bricks. Well the batch to exe converter they have I don't think will work on my 52000 line batch script because its too long so it will crash, but if it did, then you have your 2d turn based massive game that the other guy was screaming out for because he loves those orion turn-based 2 board games. And I do admit turn based does have an element of addiction about it, (especially loot rewards) but when I tried to turn my 52000 line batch script to exe the program just crashed, saying something like file is too long error can't process batch file too many lines ect, and then found it, it can only compile short length batch files, not large ones. So I don't have a compiler than can do large batch files to exe...
But For the 3d version the 3d is the harder way, Why don't I just gather in all the bricks anyway and then I can start glueing things in last if I can't glue them up all now.then at least I will have all the game components all done and just need to glue the whole thing all together.
Unreal, Is what I call a workhorse engine, so a workhorse engine expects you to do all the heavy manual lifting. I hate that...Apart from its frequently lighting crashes, making you do everything all manually is the thing that I don't like about it. You have to do alot of extra work.
The game engines are not yet at the point where they have got all the tools avaliable to allow users to quickly construct the big interactive scenes in the games like the one I'm trying to do. EXCEPT if you string together a bunch of powerful programs to help you do it like Worldmachine to build distant hills and landscapes with. So I might give Unreal another chance. Since it looks like it can import big scale landscape in from worldmachine. I will take a look at worldmachine to see what it can offer, it might be just like Terragen in making the landscapes. and for doing all the game props you would need 3ds max or Blender, and zbrush. I'm not sure what Zbrush is, I think is for smoothing the models to make them look more better and polished in the game but it probably creates the 3d models as well, and for trees and grass you would need a program like speedtree. I haven't looked at these programs yet. Because I have not started work on the 3d interactive landscapes of my planets.
And for the space skymaps I would need a 2d art generator program to draw the nebulas and stars and planets. for the skyboxes. and if in space itself, you would need th space skyboes as well as the 3d cloud nebulas to beable to fly into the actual nebula which would I think have to be generated either inside the engine as a 3d cloud or place in as a big static 3d mesh.
So let's start adding it up
Worldmachine will cost $99 to use it if not using the pro license.
Zbrush over $700 dollars the commercial license will cost to use for a single user.
Speedtree Subscription based service $19 a month
3ds Max or Maya - Over $5,000 for these 3d modeling programs. I love to see how they can keep this price up with the world already in a global recession. I think they need to rethink their strategy because people are not going to have the money when times are hard..
Alternative - BLENDER - FREE.
The Disadvantage, UNREAL likes Importing in from 3DS MAX or from MAYA can import from Blender, but dosen't always like Blender.
So we can either buy these programs, and bankrupt ourselves in the process, or we can wait until the tools for the game are made as plugins for the engines like with Unity with the Dialog text package, (Unity don't have cinema cutscenes in their Dialog package yet or UMA to procedurally create 3d game models inside the unity engine which is a break through for Fernando. Or maybe they will create a realistic looking 3d ocean shader package as well.
Depends on what type of game you want. Since mine has storyline dialog in it, I don't have to think too long about writing alot of code because I'm busy writing out all the storylines.
NOW I'm going to talk about Unity.
UMA-2. I watched a video on this to see what it was, and found that This unity program script reminds me alot of Make Human or FUSE. Create your own 3d human models type of script for the Unity Engine. Looks rather interesting...
And then I looked at the other link to do with creating Interactive Dialog in Unity
CUTSCENES
MY LIST OF IMPOSSIBLE DEMMANDS Well the truth is I want my close-up scenes (where you walk up to people in the game to talk to or trigger off a turn-based cutscene) to be in Wide Screen Cinematics with the Subtitles on or just audio if they are turned off. There is to be no other clutter at all or any game characters popping in and out like Mary Pop-ins with their small little speech dialog boxes.
You get enough of that pop up stuff with the unwanted websites.. Instead the game characters are to remain on the screen where they are at all times as they talking out their dialog and nobody is to dismiss themelves or pop out or in unless they are forced to leave the scene or to enter the scene as part of the game storyline.
For game intermission sequences (scenes) over radio transmisions with characters that are in another location, Tiny Pop up Pic with audio that turns on and of when they talking their audio to you and at the same time you answer and talk back audio to them (be even better if face pic is lip synching the audio). THIS IS NOT TURN-BASED dialog. because you can still run around on the planet while still talking to them while on the move just like in real life. So I want the interaction dialog in the game to be realistic fully interactive in these transmission intermission scenes.
And if a party member is mumbling at random saying silly things every now and again like everyday people do when they talk loud to themselves, or speaking idle chat to you audio only.or show subtitles if its turned on.
So do I want to make a game like Orion 2 Universe which is all seems to be a turn-based game played on these boards? No, I don't want everything in my game (in the 3d version) to be all just turn-based. I want full 3d interaction in parts of the game as well especially for the ground and inside the ship) and just let the main storyline dialog be turn based with cinematics cutscenes (which can be also bypassed if you don't want to watch through them)...
A visual Novel? with a 2d battlesystem, instead of a 3d engine? I'll have to look on you tube to see what you mean. Well Had a look as master of Orion 2, looks like a turn based game to me with still screens a little bit of animation. like a sim city type of game. In my game you don't build the assets, you buy them from other people in the game but maybe i might think of adding in the option to build a new asset if you want by inputting an asset builder vendor in the game in the systems, I'll think about it., and if you buy an asset, like a mining ore facility, or something that produces some goods, it will earn some credits for you which is deposited in your bank which can be accessed from any system that has a bank that supports Alliance Credits but some systems won't have alliance credits or accept alliance currency so you would have to go to a system that has a bank that is friendly with the Allance unless of course some rogue faction sends in some raiders in to destroy your asset.
If it gets destroyed, it will pop up in the daily interstellar news telling you all the bad news of it being bombed. of either losing mining stock you invested in if the stock market you invested in on a particular system has a turn or when you lose an asset.
So the first thing you learn is not to invest in anything from Vinus when shady little cheeky aliens come to you with tempting offers because that planet's economy is unstable... But there will be other systems that will be unstable as well with their economies so it will be a mxed bag. So trading will have some risks that could pay off, but if you do it too much and with the wrong type of systems with the wrong type of traders who work more like the Ferengi do in trying to sell nothing but interstellar junk, might not pay off and sell you all short and lose alot of credits instead.. So it can work for you or against you if you pick the wrong traders.
This is what I wanted for my close-up cutscenes..
FULL SCREEN close up Cutscenes that you walk up to the person on to have small but not too tiny crisp clear looking font and look cinematic with a modern look, blur the background if necessary so the text dialog can be read more easily on the screen or just stick the text on the top and bottom borders of the screen out of the cutscene movie altogether which i did in batch, but in Unreal, the text is put directly in the cutscene. What I don't want is a 1991 Japanese Aime style cartoony speech bubble interface, I need the futuristic modern 2015 wide cinematic paranoma look in my close up cutscenes when talking directly to people in the room with me.
WHAT I WANT FOR THE GROUND SIMULATOR
A mini small little 2d animated portrait of the game character speaking to you from a certain far location away while you are still walking or running around on a planet's surface or like talking to your ship pilot Skinar from time to time over communications but when a party member wants to speak to you you then you will have an automated audio only dialog conversation back and forth with them while you're on the move if you have subtitles text turned off you won't see the dialog. (no need for text subtitles or animated pic showing) for these type of scenes.
And when you are in idle mode with them when you walk up close to then you get the full blown cutscenes of them to talk to and just speaking audio to you if subtitles are tuned off or they have their subttles text turned on so you can see all their text. This is for the more important stuff of the game.
FOR THE SPACE SIMULATOR
This 2d mini portrait pic with no text would be necessry if you do the game in a 3d space simulator when communicating to other ships or aliens in the area when they are far away from you while you are still flying round the systems in your ship... You hear their audio and see just a tiny moving 2d animated pic of them talking. Might be hard to make in 2d to make them lip synch the audio dialog.
So I know what I want in my game for the 3d version. but its alot of work involved
Well think of it this way, with Unreal 3 UDK, you are already spending many hours waiting for lighting to be all rebuilt and doing nothing else, So yes I welcome spending many hours of actually doing something in an engine instead of putting up with many many hours of re-building crashed lightmaps all the time with swarm everytime Unreal 3 decides to crash and burn on me.
I think you would need a program to render the planets, the nebulas and so on, if doing 2D system charts for the smaller systems, and for the larger important systems, need to find 3d models for the planets as well as the textures for the ship, render also the gas for the cloud nebulas. You would need quite a few resources. For I don't know what program will rende Gas Nebulas Yet that you canfly your ship into.
The Blueprint node system they use in Unreal is a bit like a C++ wrapper, the logic is the same, only difference with Blueprints, you don't have to type in those nasty brackets. you just plugin alot of these nodes instead.
Yeah I also thought that too that you just needed to turn off off the LIT mode and just build your geometry all up in the UNLIT mode instead and then when you ready, just rebuild all the lightmaps again and that solves the problem. But it didn't. when I tried to build geometry in the unlit mode, the lightmaps stilll kept on crashing.
They got patent bricks out there too, got to be careful not to get hit by any of those.
That's exactly what I'm getting at Unreal 3 is a workhorse, There are two things I don't agree with of Epic' Games engine set up methods. )THIS was UDK ENGINE I had these gripes.
1. Making you manually fetch the script files to edit manually through a third party program to manually hunt for all the scripts to edit instead of writing in all the new script changes to your game project directory.
2. Placing Lighmaps objects in at the start, intead of letting us place all the lightmap objects after we have first built up all of our geometry. This causes lightmaps to have to always be rebuilt all the time, slowing down the buld development time down to a snails crawl.
Not heard of Vector Operations or Projections but I did with a help of another guy did put a random array in my first batch game for teleporting me to any location in the gameworld. But I thought vectors was to do with 3d meshes or graphics.
But unreal 4 suppporting terrain map up to TEN TIMES the size of Skyrim, how can our machins support a terrain that size?
Imagine how long it would take to build that map with lightmaps
Ah Yes, unfortunately you need to script code to add in all the menu systems, the screens options, the separate screens from the game engine itself for the galaxy systems. Hmm .
Ok so the machine script is the glue to all the bricks. Well the batch to exe converter they have I don't think will work on my 52000 line batch script because its too long so it will crash, but if it did, then you have your 2d turn based massive game that the other guy was screaming out for because he loves those orion turn-based 2 board games. And I do admit turn based does have an element of addiction about it, (especially loot rewards) but when I tried to turn my 52000 line batch script to exe the program just crashed, saying something like file is too long error can't process batch file too many lines ect, and then found it, it can only compile short length batch files, not large ones. So I don't have a compiler than can do large batch files to exe...
But For the 3d version the 3d is the harder way, Why don't I just gather in all the bricks anyway and then I can start glueing things in last if I can't glue them up all now.then at least I will have all the game components all done and just need to glue the whole thing all together.
Unreal, Is what I call a workhorse engine, so a workhorse engine expects you to do all the heavy manual lifting. I hate that...Apart from its frequently lighting crashes, making you do everything all manually is the thing that I don't like about it. You have to do alot of extra work.
The game engines are not yet at the point where they have got all the tools avaliable to allow users to quickly construct the big interactive scenes in the games like the one I'm trying to do. EXCEPT if you string together a bunch of powerful programs to help you do it like Worldmachine to build distant hills and landscapes with. So I might give Unreal another chance. Since it looks like it can import big scale landscape in from worldmachine. I will take a look at worldmachine to see what it can offer, it might be just like Terragen in making the landscapes. and for doing all the game props you would need 3ds max or Blender, and zbrush. I'm not sure what Zbrush is, I think is for smoothing the models to make them look more better and polished in the game but it probably creates the 3d models as well, and for trees and grass you would need a program like speedtree. I haven't looked at these programs yet. Because I have not started work on the 3d interactive landscapes of my planets.
And for the space skymaps I would need a 2d art generator program to draw the nebulas and stars and planets. for the skyboxes. and if in space itself, you would need th space skyboes as well as the 3d cloud nebulas to beable to fly into the actual nebula which would I think have to be generated either inside the engine as a 3d cloud or place in as a big static 3d mesh.
So let's start adding it up
Worldmachine will cost $99 to use it if not using the pro license.
Zbrush over $700 dollars the commercial license will cost to use for a single user.
Speedtree Subscription based service $19 a month
3ds Max or Maya - Over $5,000 for these 3d modeling programs. I love to see how they can keep this price up with the world already in a global recession. I think they need to rethink their strategy because people are not going to have the money when times are hard..
Alternative - BLENDER - FREE.
The Disadvantage, UNREAL likes Importing in from 3DS MAX or from MAYA can import from Blender, but dosen't always like Blender.
So we can either buy these programs, and bankrupt ourselves in the process, or we can wait until the tools for the game are made as plugins for the engines like with Unity with the Dialog text package, (Unity don't have cinema cutscenes in their Dialog package yet or UMA to procedurally create 3d game models inside the unity engine which is a break through for Fernando. Or maybe they will create a realistic looking 3d ocean shader package as well.
Depends on what type of game you want. Since mine has storyline dialog in it, I don't have to think too long about writing alot of code because I'm busy writing out all the storylines.
NOW I'm going to talk about Unity.
UMA-2. I watched a video on this to see what it was, and found that This unity program script reminds me alot of Make Human or FUSE. Create your own 3d human models type of script for the Unity Engine. Looks rather interesting...
And then I looked at the other link to do with creating Interactive Dialog in Unity
CUTSCENES
MY LIST OF IMPOSSIBLE DEMMANDS Well the truth is I want my close-up scenes (where you walk up to people in the game to talk to or trigger off a turn-based cutscene) to be in Wide Screen Cinematics with the Subtitles on or just audio if they are turned off. There is to be no other clutter at all or any game characters popping in and out like Mary Pop-ins with their small little speech dialog boxes.
You get enough of that pop up stuff with the unwanted websites.. Instead the game characters are to remain on the screen where they are at all times as they talking out their dialog and nobody is to dismiss themelves or pop out or in unless they are forced to leave the scene or to enter the scene as part of the game storyline.
For game intermission sequences (scenes) over radio transmisions with characters that are in another location, Tiny Pop up Pic with audio that turns on and of when they talking their audio to you and at the same time you answer and talk back audio to them (be even better if face pic is lip synching the audio). THIS IS NOT TURN-BASED dialog. because you can still run around on the planet while still talking to them while on the move just like in real life. So I want the interaction dialog in the game to be realistic fully interactive in these transmission intermission scenes.
And if a party member is mumbling at random saying silly things every now and again like everyday people do when they talk loud to themselves, or speaking idle chat to you audio only.or show subtitles if its turned on.
So do I want to make a game like Orion 2 Universe which is all seems to be a turn-based game played on these boards? No, I don't want everything in my game (in the 3d version) to be all just turn-based. I want full 3d interaction in parts of the game as well especially for the ground and inside the ship) and just let the main storyline dialog be turn based with cinematics cutscenes (which can be also bypassed if you don't want to watch through them)...
And Does having high typing speeds help with the development time?
A visual Novel? with a 2d battlesystem, instead of a 3d engine? I'll have to look on you tube to see what you mean. Well Had a look as master of Orion 2, looks like a turn based game to me with still screens a little bit of animation. like a sim city type of game. In my game you don't build the assets, you buy them from other people in the game but maybe i might think of adding in the option to build a new asset if you want by inputting an asset builder vendor in the game in the systems, I'll think about it., and if you buy an asset, like a mining ore facility, or something that produces some goods, it will earn some credits for you which is deposited in your bank which can be accessed from any system that has a bank that supports Alliance Credits but some systems won't have alliance credits or accept alliance currency so you would have to go to a system that has a bank that is friendly with the Allance unless of course some rogue faction sends in some raiders in to destroy your asset.
If it gets destroyed, it will pop up in the daily interstellar news telling you all the bad news of it being bombed. of either losing mining stock you invested in if the stock market you invested in on a particular system has a turn or when you lose an asset.
So the first thing you learn is not to invest in anything from Vinus when shady little cheeky aliens come to you with tempting offers because that planet's economy is unstable... But there will be other systems that will be unstable as well with their economies so it will be a mxed bag. So trading will have some risks that could pay off, but if you do it too much and with the wrong type of systems with the wrong type of traders who work more like the Ferengi do in trying to sell nothing but interstellar junk, might not pay off and sell you all short and lose alot of credits instead.. So it can work for you or against you if you pick the wrong traders.
This is what I wanted for my close-up cutscenes..
FULL SCREEN close up Cutscenes that you walk up to the person on to have small but not too tiny crisp clear looking font and look cinematic with a modern look, blur the background if necessary so the text dialog can be read more easily on the screen or just stick the text on the top and bottom borders of the screen out of the cutscene movie altogether which i did in batch, but in Unreal, the text is put directly in the cutscene. What I don't want is a 1991 Japanese Aime style cartoony speech bubble interface, I need the futuristic modern 2015 wide cinematic paranoma look in my close up cutscenes when talking directly to people in the room with me.
WHAT I WANT FOR THE GROUND SIMULATOR
A mini small little 2d animated portrait of the game character speaking to you from a certain far location away while you are still walking or running around on a planet's surface or like talking to your ship pilot Skinar from time to time over communications but when a party member wants to speak to you you then you will have an automated audio only dialog conversation back and forth with them while you're on the move if you have subtitles text turned off you won't see the dialog. (no need for text subtitles or animated pic showing) for these type of scenes.
And when you are in idle mode with them when you walk up close to then you get the full blown cutscenes of them to talk to and just speaking audio to you if subtitles are tuned off or they have their subttles text turned on so you can see all their text. This is for the more important stuff of the game.
FOR THE SPACE SIMULATOR
This 2d mini portrait pic with no text would be necessry if you do the game in a 3d space simulator when communicating to other ships or aliens in the area when they are far away from you while you are still flying round the systems in your ship... You hear their audio and see just a tiny moving 2d animated pic of them talking. Might be hard to make in 2d to make them lip synch the audio dialog.
So I know what I want in my game for the 3d version. but its alot of work involved
Well think of it this way, with Unreal 3 UDK, you are already spending many hours waiting for lighting to be all rebuilt and doing nothing else, So yes I welcome spending many hours of actually doing something in an engine instead of putting up with many many hours of re-building crashed lightmaps all the time with swarm everytime Unreal 3 decides to crash and burn on me.
I think you would need a program to render the planets, the nebulas and so on, if doing 2D system charts for the smaller systems, and for the larger important systems, need to find 3d models for the planets as well as the textures for the ship, render also the gas for the cloud nebulas. You would need quite a few resources. For I don't know what program will rende Gas Nebulas Yet that you canfly your ship into.
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