Designing a Game

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Akuryou13
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Designing a Game

Post by Akuryou13 » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:24 pm

So for the past few months I've been busily concepting up a storm for my second year film at CalArts, which will double as a video game pitch that I want to present to the fancy companies in the area. Failing that, it's a game that I might go to Kickstarter to fund, because it's something I think should be available to the wild.

First step of that process is getting the artwork done, and so far I've designed the 4 characters I'm going to need, and now I'm attempting to model them and figure out the style I want them to have in 3D. This is currently kicking my inexperienced ass.....

Anyway, just wanted to share with you guys and see what you think of what I've got so far.

Image

For the record, the game is going to be an online multiplayer FPS with weapons akin to Ratchet and Clank, as well as spells that you use aside from the guns. The spells will let you create walls to block a path, prevent damage done to yourself, push or pull an opponent around the map, etc.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by SupSuper » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:50 pm

Everything's a kickstarter these days, whatever happened to indies just making games for free out of the goodness of their hearts? :P

Your concept looks cool, though starting with an "online multiplayer FPS" right off the bat sounds like a perilous adventure, I hope you know what you're doing. Are you gonna use Unity that's all the rage now?
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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Squirminator2k » Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:40 am

Looks good!
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Akuryou13
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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Akuryou13 » Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:41 am

SupSuper wrote:Everything's a kickstarter these days, whatever happened to indies just making games for free out of the goodness of their hearts? :P

Your concept looks cool, though starting with an "online multiplayer FPS" right off the bat sounds like a perilous adventure, I hope you know what you're doing. Are you gonna use Unity that's all the rage now?
Lol, I'm fully aware of the treacherous nature of what I'm attempting, and I'm taking counselling from every source available to do it right. Honestly, I'm hoping to pitch it and get it taken on by a company who has more of an idea of what they're doing than I do, but failing that I've got industry contacts, and I'll just ask every question I can think of and get every scrap of advice I can.

As to Unity, yes that is the plan. It's just SO EASY! It's frightening how simple Unity is to work with, and I'm going to be taking classes to further my knowledge.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by worMatty » Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:05 pm

Excellent job, Nathan. I love the artwork above. Great character design that is simple and very easy to identify. You hit the nail right on the head where loads of people fail.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Plasma » Wed Jul 03, 2013 8:13 pm

Akuryou13 wrote:As to Unity, yes that is the plan. It's just SO EASY! It's frightening how simple Unity is to work with, and I'm going to be taking classes to further my knowledge.
What's Unity like from the programming side? Particularly network programming? I'm wondering if it already has a system for things like online FPSes, or whether you have to program it yourself.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Akuryou13 » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:06 pm

Plasma wrote:
Akuryou13 wrote:As to Unity, yes that is the plan. It's just SO EASY! It's frightening how simple Unity is to work with, and I'm going to be taking classes to further my knowledge.
What's Unity like from the programming side? Particularly network programming? I'm wondering if it already has a system for things like online FPSes, or whether you have to program it yourself.
The networking side of Unity is something I know little about right now. It's something I intend to find out during my classes with the program.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by SupSuper » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:09 am

Unity comes with a networking framework which does some of the low-level work for you, but it's still very much a can of worms you're jumping into. ;) I've had classmates spend their whole semester just getting multiplayer to work reliably.

Another suggestion would be UDK. It's not as easy as Unity but it's pretty much tailor-made for "online multiplayer FPS".
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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Akuryou13 » Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:05 am

SupSuper wrote:Unity comes with a networking framework which does some of the low-level work for you, but it's still very much a can of worms you're jumping into. ;) I've had classmates spend their whole semester just getting multiplayer to work reliably.

Another suggestion would be UDK. It's not as easy as Unity but it's pretty much tailor-made for "online multiplayer FPS".
Considering both.

And regardless of the final outcome, this is more proof of concept than anything else. I'm compartmentalizing every part of the process, with actually making this into a game as the last part once I have a ton of research put into it. Right now I'm making a film. A short 2 minute trailer that shows off what the game will be about. While I'm making that I'll be learning the processes behind making a game and gaining experience with some friends by making smaller, simpler games, as well as talking with some people we know from the industry to get advice on how to approach everything. Once I have the film completed, I'm going to attempt to pitch this rather than produce it myself. If I can't pitch it or if no one bites, only THEN will I be attempting to make it myself, and by the time that happens, I'll have spent a fair bit of time working with Unity to make small bits and pieces of this game in manageable chunks.

And at no point during any of this will I be investing money or unwarranted time into the project. I'm making it my second year film so that I can spend the time I need to bring it to a visual level that I find acceptable, as well as to get a lot of the animation cycles and such created for use in the film, and all without costing me effort I wouldn't have to put forward anyway.

The worst case scenario is that it simply doesn't get made, but at least if that happens I'll have the experience and knowledge gained from creating a game from concept into production, even if not all the way through.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by worMatty » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:22 pm

We can help you. I could do some voice work for you perhaps :D

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by Akuryou13 » Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:20 pm

worMatty wrote:We can help you. I could do some voice work for you perhaps :D
Won't be needing any voice work. I'm not much one for putting speech into my films unless I absolutely can't do without. Besides, I'm in a college surrounded by professional actors :P

Thanks for the offer, though, I'll keep you guys in mind for when I DO need some work done.

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Re: Designing a Game

Post by worMatty » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:58 pm

Of course ;-)

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