Wanna Make A Game?

[Renzatic Gear]

Cuz of gas prices and me being generally more poor than I was just a few months ago, I'm home alot now. Because of this, I think it's high time I fire up a much loved old hobby: game design.

Even after I left the Darkmod due to lack of time (which is still going strong without me, BTW), I've still played around with stuff a bit. Never anything too serious, just a few little somethings to occupy me when I had some free time. Now I wanna get back into it again.

My idea is to take a few people, come up with some potentially neat ideas, then make it into a whole learning experience. I don't want to go into this with the intent of making something huge. Just get a solid foundation for a cool game idea, hang out, do some stuff, and get better. Nothing might ever come of it, but we'll learn something, and it'll be fun just to try.

Right now, I'm thinking about aping Ultima Underworld. I've been looking at the open source Quake 3 engines out right now, and Xreal seems to be the most interesting. My first idea is to make a hallway, and program being able to click on a door to open it.

Also, some quick shots of stuff I've done in the past:

Darkmod Hallway (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/dm_hallway.jpg)
I did the textures and geometry. Oddity gets credit for the character model. I also designed the TDM logo, though I didn't get any damn credit for it! :mad:

Arched Doorway in Lightwave (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/arched_door.jpg)
In which I learns subpatches is neato.

A Neat Door (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/curved_door.jpg)
I did this just the other day, to see if I still had it in me. The Lightwave model in the background is the source I made for the normalmap. The pic in the middle is the actual textures, complete with parallax map, normalmap, specular map, and ambient occlusion map. Kinda neat to think the thing is actually perfectly flat.

Windmill (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/windmill.jpg)
I did this about a year ago.

NWN2 Swamp (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/nwn2_forest_swamp.jpg)
Did this before the game came out, when everyone was playing with the editor.

BUG! (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/bug.jpg)
The most awesome thing ever.

So what do you all say? Wanna help? Like I said, I'm not intending on doing anything too serious, this is just something cool to do to...and to see how far we get.

[Aku]

Dude, I would like nothing more than to design the next great game from scratch. I know my background in various things lends itself to desigining games, I just need to team up with people who can program my ideas, lol.

Also, I want to develop a massive ego and drive around in my Mercedes wearing lots of jewelry and suing my publisher like Derek Smart.

[Renzatic Gear]

Dude, I would like nothing more than to design the next great game from scratch. I know my background in various things lends itself to desigining games, I just need to team up with people who can program my ideas, lol.

Alright. If we can get a few more people involved, we'll start tossing some ideas around. On top of that, it'll be a good time to read up and learn how to program all these ideas yourself.

I've dabbled a bit in programming myself. Not much, mostly scripting, shader tweaking...stuff like that One thing I've learned from my little experiences is that once you get used to the crazy ass moon language looking syntax, you start seeing the rhyme and reason of it all.

Try it out, you might take to it even better than I did.

Also, I want to develop a massive ego and drive around in my Mercedes wearing lots of jewelry and suing my publisher like Derek Smart.

The dream is on, son. THE DREAM IS ON!

[Aku]

I'd like to do a space mmorpg where you do the roleplaying with your ship. Design and build your own custom ship. By upgrades for it. Can be any class of ship, depending on what you want to do - be a fighter, a trader, whatever.

[Renzatic Gear]

Whoa...maybe in 5 years or so. Right now I wanna keep it simple. We're all amateurs here, so we need to keep it on the easy one-step-at-a-time side of things.

Like if we did a dungeon crawler. We wouldn't worry about the AI or anything like that, at least not right away. Just getting it set up to interact with your environment (opening chests, climbing ladders, opening doors) would teach us tons without being so overwhelming it'd burn us out.

[Aku]

Come on, if we're like Smart, we have 14 years of coding ahead of us followed by the well-publicized lawsuit.

[Mochan]

I'll help you with concepts and ideas but don't expect me to do any coding, LOL! Too lazy to do that these days and I don't really have the time for it.

The good thing is since I do have coding experience I have a good idea of how concepts/ideas get translated into a program so I probably won't be coming up with weird ideas that aren't feasible.

[PapaSmurf]

Renz I would be very much down to lend my time for this little sub project. I took a programming class last semester in Java. I don't know how much that is going to help with game design, but it something i've always wanted to get into. I'm all for learning and trying to get this stuff down.

Just let me know whats up.

[Cuddly Knife]

3-D games, eh? Bummer. I'd like to create a 2-D style crawler with fighting moves. Kind of like a mix between The Syndicate, The immortal, Out of this World and Flying Warriors. I guess the style wouldn't exactly be 2-D. I can't think of what the angle is called though right now. But when you run into an enemy, you go to a new screen where you do combat. ALmost like a FF game.

Syndicate - for the 2-D-ish gamplay style
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-7w5darAVWw&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-7w5darAVWw&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

The Immortal - same as above and the puzzle element
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jg87mRi4Axo&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jg87mRi4Axo&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Out of this World - for the puzzle element and uniqueness of the graphics.
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gGn4FwZfWnU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gGn4FwZfWnU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Flying Warriors - for the combat style-ish
This vid is posted to show the type of system for fighting in this game. After the lame intro, that is.
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z9O9LWp8Kmw&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z9O9LWp8Kmw&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

I don't know what the hell I'm thinking. I'll let you guys be.

[Renzatic Gear]

Alright, so far we've got:

Aku for ideas, potential coder, suing people.
Mochan as a programming consultant, ideas
Papasmurf as a potential coder.

And Cuddly, we could do 2D. It's actually a bit easier. Only problem with that is I can't draw by hand, but I can model fairly well. That's why I lean more towards 3D.

Also, if anyone wants, I can teach them a few things about Photoshop & Lightwave. Even if we're doing a 2D game, those are handy programs.

Tonight, when I get back home, I'll see about starting an IRC chat channel somewhere. We can start tossing around ideas there.

[BaneNWN]

uhh unless you want nudity in your little project u might want to forget about aku hes a freakin pervert.anyways if u were thinking of making something with the nwn 2 toolset i could probably be of some help i know that prety well otherwize i cant be of much help and not sure id have the time to learn coding.

[Lemonio]

well i make mods for Oblivion, and i can use stuff like Flash, but i'm too lazy lol.

[Aku]

3-D games, eh? Bummer. I'd like to create a 2-D style crawler with fighting moves. Kind of like a mix between The Syndicate, The immortal, Out of this World and Flying Warriors.

Out of this World, awesome game for its time. :)

[Mochan]

Alright, so far we've got:

Aku for ideas, potential coder, suing people.
Mochan as a programming consultant, ideas
Papasmurf as a potential coder.

And Cuddly, we could do 2D. It's actually a bit easier. Only problem with that is I can't draw by hand, but I can model fairly well. That's why I lean more towards 3D.

Also, if anyone wants, I can teach them a few things about Photoshop & Lightwave. Even if we're doing a 2D game, those are handy programs.

Tonight, when I get back home, I'll see about starting an IRC chat channel somewhere. We can start tossing around ideas there.

Coudl always just do a 2D-style game except using 3D. It's basically the same thing anyway. Think Contra the on the PS2.

[Lemonio]

i'm wondering, what program are you planning to use to make this game?
I've used flash, and something like Ezidia, but they aren't very good for a high quality game i suppose.

[T.Tashi]

I thought that was Blender at first.

Tentatively sign me up for sound. I've got several projects on my plate at the moment, but I could probably do it after I get some other stuff out the way.

I actually work with photoshop everyday (for photos, not graphics perse) but I'm comfortable enough with it to do some texture work. I use Cubase and Sony Acid for audio. I can't do surround though. I think today's 5.1 sound cards might overload my PSU.

For project management I'd recommend Accomplice. http://www.accomplice.com/
I like it better than Microsoft Project and it's free with tons of options. It needs .net Framework 1.1 and I believe it only works with 1.1, not 2.0.

[Renzatic Gear]

This is still going on, folks. It's stalled a bit because I've had to bust my ass a little extra hard at work these last couple, but I'm still making plans.

Anyway, Tashi...it'd be a pleasure to have you. Remember back when we were talking about making that Shadowrun style game?

i'm wondering, what program are you planning to use to make this game?

Considering I'm not planning on rewriting any source codes just yet, any regular text editor will work for scripting/changing things around inside of Xreal...which is basically Quake 3 rewritten to be a souped up Doom 3 engine with soft shadows and a ton of extra features.

Everything else I use, since I'm more on the modeling side of things: Lightwave 8.5 (used to make Shadow of the Colossus and Doom 3 btw) and Photoshop. I'm also poking and prodding Zbrush at the moment. If I can get good with that, it'll speed up my texture work tenfold.

I've used flash, and something like Ezidia, but they aren't very good for a high quality game i suppose.

You can do lots of cool stuff with Flash (and Ezidia I assume, never heard of it), I just don't want to head down that way. Think of it this way, though. This is more for fun than anything, so even if you don't think you can contribute, you can still hop on, learn something cool, and maybe contribute later if you find something that tickles your fancy. You never know, you could be ten times the modeller I am.

[ilnadmy]

I'd love to help, but seeing as I start interning in a few days I'm going to have minimal free time. I don't know how I'd be able to help either, since all I know is some Java and VBA. In any case, I'll keep my eye on this thread and see if I can pitch in at any point.

[T.Tashi]

This is still going on, folks. It's stalled a bit because I've had to bust my ass a little extra hard at work these last couple, but I'm still making plans.

Anyway, Tashi...it'd be a pleasure to have you. Remember back when we were talking about making that Shadowrun style game?

I do! It makes me wanna cry. Poor Shadowrun. One of the best games that never a sequel or remake. Not a real one anyway. I don't count the FPS. Fasa reincarnated into Smith and Tinker and freed themselves from the grips of MS so there's still some hope.

3-D games, eh? Bummer. I'd like to create a 2-D style crawler with fighting moves. Kind of like a mix between The Syndicate, The immortal, Out of this World and Flying Warriors.

Syndicate and The Immortal were great games. That wizard bobbing and weaving like a boxer was awesome.

[Mochan]

Damn, another goddamn ****ing spammer.

[ilnadmy]

So what's going on with this project? My internship is winding down and all of a sudden I've gotten interested in working on a project like this. Did you guys do anything? Or was it much ado about nothing?

[Renzatic Gear]

Well, it's still going on my end. I've been making textures here and there and doing tutorials...mostly Zbrush related stuff. As far as the project is concerned, I flaked out a bit, but I'm still up for it. I just need to get off my ass and start up a chatroom.

Anyone still interested?

[PapaSmurf]

We're still interested I believe, we just need a leader and some direction!

[Renzatic Gear]

I guess since I got the ball rolling on this, it should be me giving the directions.

Right now I'm leaning heavily towards making a dungeon crawler in the same vein as Ultima Underworld. Something with the same level of interaction and heavy bent towards exploration. Since it's all interiors, we could go absolutely crazy with the environments and details without worrying about performance issues.

Right now I'm not gonna fret over who wants to do what specifically. I'll just narrow it down to who wants to do art, and who wants to do programming. From there, we'll get our learn on and have some fun.

I have a chatroom set up on irc.starchat.net, server VGRGame. Anyone that wants to jump on, feel free. :)

Edit: I'm considering using the Doom3 Engine. Why? Because:

A. I know it backwards and forwards.
B. Though no longer cutting edge, it can still put out some wonderful imagery.
C. It'll be going open source soon.

This is, of course, up for discussion.

Alternatively, if everyone wanted to do something a little easier, we could always do an NWN2 mod. This isn't the route I'd prefer to take, but I'm not totally opposed to the idea, either.

[ilnadmy]

Like I said I have limited programming experience: I did Java for a few months and some VBA. I might be able to pick up a language if its not too complicated.

[Renzatic Gear]

You've got a nice foundation. The D3 Engine uses one of the C languages, which, considering your past experience, might not be too very difficult to pick up.

Think you'd be up for it?

[DBS]

personally-I think a mod would be a great way tostart out. We could all work on something using some one else tools and good way to get your feet wet. Just my 2 cents. I have been out of programming too long to be muchhelp. Forgive the mistypes but I am in Phili right now on a cheap laptop and not use to it at all. Phili is cool though and I enjoyed being Rocky !!!!

[Renzatic Gear]

I have been out of programming too long to be muchhelp

But you've done it in the past at least. Remember, I'm doing this mostly to learn and have fun. Even if you've been out of the loop for awhile, you're still welcome to come join in. You might end up picking up everything you've forgotten, and learn some more in the process.

[PapaSmurf]

so now we need to come up with some meeting times. I'm pretty much free until september when school starts or until I can find a job.

[Renzatic Gear]

so now we need to come up with some meeting times. I'm pretty much free until september when school starts or until I can find a job.

How does tomorrow at 9PM EST sound?

[ilnadmy]

personally-I think a mod would be a great way tostart out. We could all work on something using some one else tools and good way to get your feet wet. Just my 2 cents. I have been out of programming too long to be muchhelp. Forgive the mistypes but I am in Phili right now on a cheap laptop and not use to it at all. Phili is cool though and I enjoyed being Rocky !!!!

Yeaahhh Philly!! Where in Philly did you go? You need to check out some of the kick-ass restaurants downtown, I suggest Cuba Libre for some great Cuban food. You could also go to Alma de Cuba, which has better food, but Cuba Libre turns into a salsa dance floor at around 11 on weekends, so that rocks. Also you have to go to Tangerine, one of the best restaurants I've ever been to, it's a fusion of Morrocan and modern cuisine and the setting and atmosphere are just off the chain.

How does tomorrow at 9PM EST sound?

And that's where the issues might come in. I'm not in the US over the summer, so 9PM EST is 5AM where I'm at, and considering I'm interning (at least for the next two weeks) that probably won't work out too well for me.

[Renzatic Gear]

And that's where the issues might come in. I'm not in the US over the summer, so 9PM EST is 5AM where I'm at, and considering I'm interning (at least for the next two weeks) that probably won't work out too well for me.

You'll probably have to miss out on this meeting, considering it's the weekend and I'm rarely ever home before 9 unless I have specific plans to be home. But for the rest of them, I could try for an earlier hour.

Like...maybe...Tuesday. I think I could do 2 PM then.

[ilnadmy]

Tuesday at 2PM should be around...10 PM here. Yeah I should be able to do that. What exactly will we be covering at these "meetings"?

[Renzatic Gear]

Right now I'm thinking we'll just BS and shoot ideas around, then build from there.

[DBS]

We stayed at the Windsor and only had one day to see as much as we could. It was mostly for the mutter museum for my gf who loves that stuff. We went to the Pirate treasure in the Franklin museum and the art museum as well. It was a day of that kind of stuff , drinking and eating in town. I did get to hit Rocky's steps and take a picture with the statue of him.

All in all it was a good time...a long drive but worth it. I love Phili and will go back soon when we have more time.

[Renzatic Gear]

Got the chatroom up for anyone that wants to join. Get an IRC proggie (Chatzilla for Firefox is good), and join /server irc.starchat.net then /join #VGRGame

I'll be waiting for you all, and in the meantime, I'll write a basic texture tutorial and post it here.

[Renzatic Gear]

Still waiting, people. Anyone coming to chat?

[ilnadmy]

So how did the meeting go, did people show up?

And DBS, if you're going to come to Philly again in the future let me know and we could hang out. I'm not in the country right now though, I'll be back for the start of the academic year in a month or so.

[Renzatic Gear]

So how did the meeting go, did people show up?

Hell no. :mad:

I'm gonna have another try tomorrow afternoon around 2 EST. If people don't show up then, I'll just start writing some texture and modelling tutorials. If I can't get folks to come, I'll start showing them how to do stuff, so then they'll want to do it themselves. Then they'll come, by God.

[PapaSmurf]

It's 2:30Pm right now

[PapaSmurf]

err, my bad. it's 12:30 PST I can't count. Well I'll just hang around with my PC on idle in the chatroom if you show up later.

[Renzatic Gear]

Tuesday is the official meeting, PS. Not today. Though I'm on right now, and I'll probably be on for awhile (barring power outages), since it's storming like hell here and I'm stuck inside.

[Renzatic Gear]

Well, I saw Papasmurf on for awhile. He didn't say much. We've still got Tuesday going on, and everyone is welcome.

Anyway, tried my hand at high poly modeling tonight. Made a lamp (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/lamp.jpg)

[PapaSmurf]

eh I went to sleep early lol. Otherwise I would've caught you. I think I got your call but I couldn't be bothered to check it. I'll be on tommorow at 11:00 PST though which I suppose it 2:00 EST.

[Renzatic Gear]

Hey Ilna, got Papasmurf on here. We're waiting on you!

[ilnadmy]

Oh crap I thought the meeting was going to be next Tuesday! Sorry for not showing up.

BTW I don't know how to use IRC so if someone could explain that to me I'll be able to make the next meeting, whenever that is.