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Monday, January 23, 2017 - 01:22

But What are the limits of these other engines?  Can they handle tens of thousands of lines of dialog, can they do array lists also that swaps text from a dialog table?   A storyboard flowchart system is no good to use and only sutiable for games with small amount of dialog because you can crash the engine if you have too many storyboards or flowcharts in the list.  So the only thing I can think of that can handle it would be the same type of engine that games like Kotor used. 

Unreal Engine can handle tens of thousands of lines of dialog too but only if you know how to write the binding function code to get the string array to pipe the text into the widget from a dialog data struct tables for the npc's and party members, its not that simple to do, requires advanced blueprint knowledge to set up all the nodes.  If you don't do text subtitles, then you can also just do audio instead for dialog but you still need to set up the triggers with the array lists if you want the npc's to give different answers or just use static text dialog that never changes.

I chose Unreal because of its graphics and shading abilities.. 

What I can do is set up the concept of the game all up in website form.   I'm also very fast at touch typing on the keyboard so that's no problem for me to write out thousands of lines of text.  so I don't need a typing pool of people.

But what I don't like with Unreal Engine is all the wiring up of these blueprint nodes that you have to do to get simple things done in it. .  To get a simple space simulator working in Unreal Engine 4., I had to spend FOUR hours wiring up all the nodes all the macros, and the many functions.  

Then there's all the problems of also not always having the right pins connections for the nodes.  Because you have to go by just the text names of the node because there's no preview picture window in the nodelist to show what the node looks like at a glance, so its like hunting around for a needle in a haystack all in the dark, so the engine is backwards and still using old outdated methods, and that's why it takes YEARS to make a game in it.. 

And that's not all, the engine also comes along with a mountain of technical issues to try to sort out as well which you can find all these issues that both inexperienced and also experienced users are having in the unreal user forums.  Its not just me having problems understanding how to set up the engine for my own game, its a whole load of other users also having issues as well.

 

Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 23:43

I was using Unreal Engine 4.12.  I know how to do simple random arrays in the batch code, to get the game characters to give me different responses back to allow them to think, but not able to do the same thing in Unreal Blueprints with those nodes because with their sequence node they have got no random checkbox on it to allow me to just switch the inputs. So I don't know how to set up the array to swap text round in the widget for NPC's that give different responses back when you step into the on overlap trigger when you get close up to them, or get it to pipe the text in from a data struct text table for those npc's that use only static standard dialog instead of using array lists to allow the NPC's to form their own responses because what i wanted to do was to give my NPC's AI in their dialog and that requires advanced programming knowledge of the node system and what I want to do is beyond my basic knowledge of the engine. 

So I can't do it in Unreal Engine yet it only takes just only a few lines of batch code to do it in batch script using a random interger with strings of text for slots for the npc to use.. 

Because I don't have alot of knowledge on their node system for what I wanted to do But to use the unreal engine you need to have a good strong programming background.  With this engine you had to have a wide range of skills to beable to use it well.  This is why people work as teams on it because this engine was designed more for working with groups of people to pool together all their skills..

And that's the problem, the engine was designed only for working with a group of experienced programmers or a group of seasoned professionals.  So it was designed more for company work structures or professional studios.  instead of for individual home user or layman or single user. Yet the engine says its sutiable also for the home user and released the engine out to the public community to use. 

That engine gets also extremely technical and it has alot of issues going on with it so its not an easy engine to try to program in if you don't have all the years of experience of working with it and you are spending more time in trouble shooting the engine than in developing the game If you don't have a good working knowledge of the engine and its blueprint node system. 

Unreal allowed you to either work in C++ classes which I don't know anything about or use the blueprint script node system.

The scripting nodes for this engine are also separated all away from the 3d viewport window which makes it more a hassel and more uncessary clicking between the windows.  Am I an experienced programmer of this engine?, no. That's why I used the batch interpreter to plan the game out because it was much easier at least to create a text blueprint of my game plan.

The engine editor is also prone to crashing at times because it relies on caching everything each time you add in a new asset or new variable to it.  So there are things I like about the engine as well as things that I don't.... I certaily did not like it that you had to define all the layers for textures with the material nodes first before you can do any painting on landscapes, instead of just picking the textures out from the content browser for easy instant access to the layers, instead you had to wire up shader nodes first before you could use the textures for layers for landscape painting with which is ridiculous for the laymen user but understadable for the advanced users who want everything customized in the material editor...  But They should've supported both methods for both types of users not just support only the advanced programmer methods.

I only have 16 gigs of ram to work with.  But Unreal is RAM resource hungry and really needs 32 or higher to work with but found out that the HP All in one desktop home pc's can only be upgraded to just 16 gigs and no higher.. And yet windows can support ram upgrades up to 1tb, but computer manufacturers are producing home pc's with very little ram to upgrade to and I'm wondering just what's the hell is going on here.

The Red Editor was the easiest engine for me to use but that was only licensed for moddling the Red Faction game to make your own maps with....so It was designed to work more for the end user who didn't need lots of experiened programming knowledge or didn't need to be a professional and who was only interested in modding the game to add their own levels to the game.  You only had to have some skills to put maps together in it.  To do the scripting, you only had to link up the nodes within the 3d editor viewport window itself.  So the event sytem was integrated within the 3d viewport as editor objects for easy instant access. So I found the Red Brush Editor alot more user friendly and easier to use it was fast to script in it and build levels because the event nodes was integrated in the 3d viewport window itself with the 3d models.

Now As for Unity.  I think Unity was more into relying on knowledge of scripting classes instead of having a visual node system to work with.... 

As For UDK, yes I still have UDK (unreal development kit) but I didn't like it because it crashed alot because it had a few bugs in their BSD Editor.   I didn't like the way it calculated lighting in UDK, but its been improved in unreal engine 4.  You don't have to wait anymore for lighting to rebuild before you can use the editor, but in unreal engine 4 you can continue on working in the editor while waiting for the lighting to rebuild.

Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 04:25

I see. Well I'm using the cmd interpreter to write all the script ideas out in text form for the game's development.   The game has to be developed first all in TEXT form before I can put it inside a 3d game engine environment.   The handy thing about writing the game out in text form is that I can display pictures as well as play all the sound effects and music from the game to set the mood I want for the scenes and display dialog in the console to see how the storylines play out and make any changes if I need to in this stage of the game's developement.  So the script has to be detailed that's why its got thousands of lines.... For its easy to make all the changes when the game is all in a readable text form. 

The engine I chose to develop the game for doing all the graphics is the Unreal Engine But I must have a text copy of all of the game ideas and concepts all laid out before me, So that's where the Batch Script Interpreter comes into it.    The batch interpreter Is not the main engine for the game, its just part of the stage of the game's development. 

 

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2016 - 12:32

The Old beaten trail?  Well, I got alot of weird bizzare stuff going on in my game, For example the Noobs who live on Planet Noobus can't put everything quite all together in their lives because they lack experience.  So you have to do mini quests to try to help then.  A new concept I came up with.  You also have to avoid the trolls called Ignorant Experienced users too on this world if you are not high enough in experience points the trolls will decide whether they will give you a clubbing or not.  Each time you do a quest you gain experience points, but you have to do the quests on Noobus.  I haven't set it up to gain level up experience points by kill progressions yet.  That's a little more complicated to set up as you have to set thresholds for that.

Here's the Besai Script I have online so far. not all areas of this planet are online yet. 

http://tozan35.weebly.com/besai-tier-1.html

 I just put the Noobs script online as well. (its a new storyline I'm developing).

http://tozan35.weebly.com/noobus.html

 

Because the Noobs need a ton of help because they dont' know much, there will be alot of quests to do on this world so you can get access into Indius (their neighbouring planet), but to get into Indius, you must acquire 30000 noob experience points because you have to prove to them that you're not just a noob.  otherwise they won't let you dock on their planet.

 

Tuesday, December 27, 2016 - 14:44

I am hoping to put alot of different elements in it but I don't have a big team of developers for making a game like this.  But I am very fast at the keyboard typing so I have an advantage.   I put the game dialog scripts online so you can read them like a book.  But I also wanted the game to have some presentable graphics.   That is what the site was for to present the idea and concept to try to get people's feedback on what they do think about the concept and about the game scripts and storylines but nobody has entered any feedback in my comments widget yet unless the widget is not working !!.   

IT IS A REALLY STRANGE GAME.  I've also added the Noobs now to the game.

If people think this game is worth developing for the Unreal Engine I've already done a test map in Unreal Engine.  But first I have to get used to the blueprint system of Unreal and that's not so easy as there are issues I have to work out with that engine....

Yes you may make some music for my game if you want.  I need some music for Besai, tha's the planet stinky that looks beautiful above the clouds with the sky cities, but underneath its all slimy stinky smelling goo swamps and a very miserable place with Gronks and Sloops.  Besai is online in in the scripts if you want to get a feel of this place.  This place deserves an opening cutscene with birds singing and flying along and some birds sitting on the perchs of the Besai Sky Tower until the rising wafting green fumes coming up from the clouds below hit their nostrils and they keel over and fall off their perches.  but I'm not reached that far yet with Unreal Engine.

Yes It is a rather big game....

I wanted to put some pitch bend also in my music, but I don't have the digital studio for doing sound effects, so the next best thing is to use CC0 free samples from freesound.org for putting together  samples with my midi tunes to give them some effects. .  I had put some of the game music I made online under the music section and did what I could do with Anvil Studio which is very limited with the sound effects.

 

Tuesday, December 27, 2016 - 03:58

Some of the tunes sound a bit commercial.  The Mind one is a good relaxing tune for the droids facility, just right for the type of atmosphere, or for a droid homeworld city like hercai it might suit.  but I haven't made the hercai homeworld in Unreal Engine yet.

Thanks, My game project is here. 

http://www.tozan35.weebly.com

 

Monday, December 26, 2016 - 16:08

You're actually pretty good, I make music as well but lack the beats.   I like "The Mind instrumental" loop that was done,  that would sound good in my game with the Droids Facility.  You have some good stuff up on there.

 

 

Wednesday, December 14, 2016 - 19:23

The Game is Called Tesseract Prime: The Unknown Universe.  This is a crazy game and the script can be read up on my website now like a book, its been put up online because its a non-commercial project, its non-commerical because the voice actors that were responsbile for voicing some of my game characters wanted the game to remain under a non-commercial license. The main game script code (its actually a runnable batch text file) with a couple of thousand of arrays in it which manage everything that's going on in the game. All the arrays is what glues the whole entire game together and acts a bit like a manager.   Those arrays are also responsbile for balancing everything out in the game and controlling all the loot drops, and stuff.  I do want this game to have level progerssions as well but its not been added in yet.

The game has around 100+ systems and worlds so far in it. But its not like No Man's Sky with billions of procedural created worlds.  Although it would be nice if I could have a self-procedural 3d universe engine.  As long as it dosen't keep crashing.

The Script file is now over 176 thousand lines long.  But I don't know if the game can retain its values still in the memory if I tell it to load up another batch file, in case I decide to split the main file up.  Problem is if I call up another batch file, when I want to jump back, I want it to jump back into the batch file to a certain goto label, not just jump back and start the batch file all from the beginning.

i have created one unreal area map of it already for Unreal Engine but the map has not fully been all debugged yet.  Plus it was only just a test map anyway....  I now have some of the models for the main party members, but not all. 

 

Monday, November 14, 2016 - 19:20

I'm doing a non commercial game, but I don't know how to set up the string array up in Unreal Engine Blueprints.  As I can't use the text string node as that's for debugging purposes only so It wont show up in the game.    I don't yet know how to draw text randomly in the widget so I'm interested in learning how that's set up, then once I know how to do that, then i can assign the sound file.

Moving over from simple windows script over to Unreal Blueprints was a big change to make.  

I also have to find out how to get the Trace Weapon I got working in the unreal weapons level map I made to actually do Damage to the droids and record the number of droids that are still remaining.  I haven't figured this part of the code yet.  So there are still some things in the blueprints I haven't figured out as I'm new to this blueprint scripting stuff.

I use the arrays in windows script for doing random greets, determining what's inside the chests when you get to the chests areas, use them for setting specific conditions or events in the game, determing the value of credits what loot enemies should drop when you kill them, determining the branches of dialog for npc's to take, which dialog to pop up if the party member exists and so on, so for me the array is useful for a huge range of tasks.   I also need to find someone to rig loana up for me for unreal engine as well.  I have got the blender model but I need to get her rigged.

Here's the game project i'm working on: http://www.tozan35.weebly.com

 

But Any help in getting a basic array up and working in blueprints would be much appreciated.   My game uses a basic slots system with random intergers to determine the outcome of the choice.  That makes  it kinna self-procedural in a way alowing the computer to now make the choices for the NPC's behavior and responses. (giving them Artificial Intelligence).

I created the game script text as a foundation so i would have a plan to go by when it came to actually building up all the 3d worlds of the game in the Unreal Engine.

Here's how I set the array up in windows script for doing NPC dialog responses.

set /a spin=%random% %%3+1 

if %spin% EQU 1 echo. Storm: Drat, my plan didn't work.  I was hoping to bribe him. 

if %spin% EQU 2 echo. Storm: Curses, I thought it would work on him.  

if %spin% EQU 3 echo. Storm: I'll have to try something else. 

 Now I just need to know how to convert this little piece of script code into blueprint code because the  game dialog is nested up inside all of these arrays.   

Monday, November 14, 2016 - 17:26

I use unreal engine too, do you happen to know how to set up an array using Widget blueprints?  I want my npc to pop up a different widget whenever I step into the on overlap trigger area so your npc gives you random greetings.

 

 

 

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