Watch Us Make A Game Using "Unreal Engine 3"

[videogamestashbox.com]

liljboy10: first of all,do u reside in europe..

No, I'm in the U.S black belt region

liljboy10: ..and how much did it take you to acquire such resources....

Time: Years(decades) because I had to find it on my own there are no real "classes" you take to learn this kinda stuff. I've been playing video games since I was 2-3 years old...which is important to note because you have to be exposed / able to break down and isolate the ideas used in the games you play in order to build your own games using those isolated ideas acquired as building blocks. One of the worst things you can do is play a game and merely think "this is fun" because you stand the chance of missing out on why the game plays the way it does (I.E it's gameplay mechanics). If you can't play a game and isolate it's gameplay mechanics all the programing and art classes in the world won't help you.

I started formally programming the summer before starting high school using a book(Microsoft Qbasic) my brother brought home from his University. I learned Uscript by sheer luck from a random person online. He made a game in unreal engine 1 that he didn't want to work on any longer and gave away his source code to the public. I tweaked his code using the fundamental programing/game design knowledge I had and in the process learned how to make games in unreal engine. (That's the short story **small steps that added up later in life**)

Money: Not much actually, Unreal engine 3 is free to download online. I did have to buy a new computer at the time to run the game but that didn't run me much. I knew I only need the computer to program games so I bought a "bare bones PC" for about $300-400. I had an extra HDD, computer monitor, keyboard, etc. sitting around my apt.

liljboy10: and how is it possible to make a. game with just software programming cos I know it also has to do with motion capture, image editing etc....

Unreal engine 3 doesn't come with many art assets when you download it online. A better choice for me was to buy a game made on unreal engine 3; in this case "Unreal tournament 3" and program my own games using the assets provided. Which means that as a programmer I can skip over the "motion capture,image editing etc...."

liljboy10: I am also interested in making video games but its very impossible right now as I am in nigeria Where it is nearly impossible to find someone with your level of knowledge.the thing is I have d capital but I don't know how to go about it

I feel like Nigeria gives you a great edge given that the cost of living is probably orders of magnitude cheaper then the U.S. As a Software dev all you need is electricity and net access. After that you can work from almost anywhere. You could probably spend way more time devoted to private game dev then someone in the U.S or Europe who are constantly worried about "keeping the lights on"

Hopefully by the time I upload the last video I will have successfully imparted the useful knowledge you and others want/need

liljboy10: ...or can join your team?

Hey, sounds good to me though I'm not actively working on anything at this point. With that said I have some ideas in the pipeline. My main issue right now is the types of games I want to make/play have changed. I'm not really interested in the overly violent western style games. I've been looking at a lot of Nollywood village movies, traditional African games, Folk stories, African art styles, reading anthropological books, etc to get inspiration for something different and uniquely African.

Basically I'm in research mode not development mode. That said I'd love to take on some partners from the continent

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

That's it for today next update 1/17/2016
Maybe I should pick a better update time .....like around 5-6pm when people are just getting home

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

If you started today you probably wouldve rolled with unity. C# and MonoDevelop are

Within 3 weeks of learning it I felt like I couldnt be faded

Ill keep up with this thread breh

Actually at the time it was a toss up between UE3 and Unity. The browser based game functionality and quality shot unity waaaaaay up there.
UE3 won out basically for the reasons stated earlier along with the fact that I've been using unreal engine since UE1. I.E. I could hit the ground immediately without much of a learning curve. I had to oversee/administrate the whole thing and couldn't afford to burn time becoming acquainted with a new environment when I knew ahead of time I would also be "teaching" them the ropes of how to use it and basics of game dev.

One of the big issues to be solved was that University does a great job teaching general design & development computing knowledge but how that's applied can swing wildly depending on the industry you work in. The crew were all good at there craft and loved games but some of them didn't know how to "make the rubber meet the road" in terms of how class material is applied to game design & dev. I was doing game development before I took any classes so it was easier for me to explain some things. A familiar environment "UE3" provided that further leverage.
If I were familiar with unity ahead of time, yes I would have chosen that ....well if I had assets. Assets on deck & familiarity? Hands down unity
As a platform I love it but if you don't have a crew that does everything(code, art2D/3D, music, etc) ...or money to buy assets, your back to the chefs with no food/ingredients scenario.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

The Idea pitch sessions:

After we came together we had three Idea pitch sessions. At these sessions people threw around whatever ideas they had in mind for a game. Now given the resources at our disposal we probably wouldn't be able to do any of them but the point of these sessions were to get a broad idea of what types of projects people were interested in working on. This is opposite to the idea of finding out specific projects people want to work on.

The first deals with what destination you want to finish at while the second deals with what heading/direction you want to start at. The sessions are used to determine a common starting place and direction for our ideas to take place.

The video for Group Meeting 2 is actually Idea pitch session 3. I only have video of session 3 While I only have notes for session 1. Below you will find the notes from Idea pitch session 1.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 1: Game pitch 1 of 4

Water game:
The basic concept of the game is to take the feel of an old platformer, such as Mario, Sonic, Megaman, or Kirby, and to update the gameplay with several new, innovative, and challenging features that all draw an inspiration from water.

What a general level would look like:
The average level in the game might look quite a bit like a Super Mario World level, with emphasis on reaching and end goal, or like Sonic with an emphasis on beating a stage boss. However, many levels will be very different from either of these series.

(a few) Level concept ideas: 

.....Raindrops, like falling and rising ramps in Mario games, must be navigated across to avoid a death by pitfall. 

.....A steam-powered plane must collect fuel in the form of water as it shoots its way to a boss, otherwise it crash and burn. (a later level should include the guns malfunctioning, and be a very Alladin escaping the Cave of Wonders-esque level, or in other words avoiding the heck out of everything while trying to escape an area) 

.....The waters around a ship must be controlled to make whirlpools to overtake certain enemies, while you must use the water beneath your boat at certain spots to launch your boat over jagged rocks. Also perhaps aerial critters should be destroyed by waterspouts. 

.....In a barren wasteland, devoid of water, the only source of precious liquid is from the baddies that you fell, so in order to complete a level you must fight while keeping up your speed. 

.....Ice bridges must be kept stable as you escort some sort of innocents through a level, rescuing them as you go along (with a higher score resulting from more rescued). 

.....A sliding down a mountain level, where you avoid oncoming obstacles, but going bottom to top instead of left to right, as in the plane escape level(s). 

.....Molten lava which must be cooled by water to make a path you can jump across, but won't stay cooled for long. 

.....Running down a water-pipe with Sonic-like control (with the ability to run on the ceiling where needed).


Some ideas borrowed from the last talk: 

.....Perhaps, as the protagonist progresses, the powers of the other elements could be unlocked (presumably from fighting big, or perhaps completely optional bosses). These powers should probably be limited to using a meter, but be allowed at any time. 

.....Other liquids, such as mercury, molten wax, or even glass could make for interesting level mechanics or abilities.


Reasons I like this pitch: 

.....I believe this is something we could get done within a reasonable time frame. 

.....The type of game has proved extremely popular, although it has been mostly lost in recent years. 

.....We can come up with some very unique element-based gameplay.

.....Depending on our artists we can make this very detailed, complex, and badass, or give it the relatively cutesy feel of a Kirby game. 

.....I can make the storyline several times more epic than it should be, which will make me smile--a big, twisted, but well meaning smile.


Games to reference:

Mario brothers *2d series* (starting point)
Pixel junk shooter (environmental navigation through element manipulation)

Ideas tossed around:
Instead of or in addition to manipulating the environment to move around, make the character an element that is state alterable. Depending on the characters’ state it interacts with the level in different ways.
.....a. The play between environmental states could cause a lull in development while figuring out how to get the interactions and transformations to work.
.....b. Given an emphasis on character vs. environment there is an uncertain possibility that numerous amounts of small assets would be needed.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 1: Game pitch 2 of 4

Speed game - “Bring sonic into 3D the right way”

The object is to move through an environment with the speed and feel similar to that of a racing game. While navigating the level the player is still free to choose there own path through a level. The level idea tossed around was a big abstract cityscape to move through with an emphasis on speed and unconventional angles to arrive at an event. (Assumption: boss fight, story segment, etc.)

Games to reference:
Sonic series of games *2D version* (idea starting point)
Marble blast (freedom of movement & unconventional angles )
Wipeout series of games (speed & unconventional angles)
Extreme G racing (speed & unconventional angles)
Shadow of colossi (something was mentioned about the tower in the middle of the main field)

Ideas tossed around:
Make one huge world (level) where all game events happen. Set the game in motion and allow the player to navigate there way back and forth through the environment to the events that are happening in the world. Between events set “leading events” in place that lead the player through the environment with the immediate goal of dealing with the leading event but has the side effect of moving the character from one event to the other event. This is done mainly to keep the player from getting lost or confused about where to go next.

a. Straight forward for me to code and for me to explain how to code a game about moving around an environment. I have plenty of experience doing this kind of game.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 1: Game pitch 3 of 4

Arena - “3rd person game with serious hand 2 hand and gun play all in one package”

The game takes place in a mining colony controlled by an oppressive corporation. Story wise there were two or three firm plot points mentioned. The circumstances surrounding events cause the miners to at some point attempt to reach the core of the planet and at another point they attempt to find away off the planet. The game is meant to consist of both hand to hand and gun combat. The themes of all weapons were to be mining equipment or conventional weapons miners would have access to. In order to make the hand 2 hand relevant/useful ammo is limited.

Games to reference:
Red faction (Theme)
Red faction: liberation (Theme)
Oni (Hand 2 hand & gunplay)
Cy girls(gunplay)
Jedi outcast 2(melee arena combat)
Mad world(arena based single player, melee)
Unreal tournament *series*(arena based single player, gunplay)

Ideas tossed around:
Hold off on traditional linear levels with set piece events that trigger as you move through the level. Instead make arena levels with the theme of that level set to identify with the premise of the current place in the story. Within the level set goals that must be completed in order to continue to the next level (arena).

.....a. Straight forward for me to code and for me to explain how to code a game about shooting at stuff. I have plenty of experience doing this kind of game.
.....b. Everyone’s familiar with 3rd person gunplay games.
.....c. Doesn’t require lots of assets and the arenas and enemies can be reused.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 1: Game pitch 4 of 4

Castlevainia game – “multiplayer castlvainia, control all characters with one person”

How would a multiplayer castlevainia game look? That was the question spawned from the announcement of castlvainia: “harmony of despair” a genuine multiplayer castlevainia game! In order to grasp how that kind of set up would play out a series of observations were made…

1. If the game is multiplayer either one person must not be able to take down a monster alone or they can’t take down a group of monsters alone.

Resulting scenario – if you have a huge monster come out one player could simply grapple with it to keep it from moving. While held in place the second player could come in for the kill.

2. If the same player is used over and over to hold any & all enemies in place while the same other player was used to kill said enemy that would become blatantly obvious and by extension monotonous.

Resulting scenario – The player that holds the huge enemy in place gets swarmed if he tries that tactic against a group of small quick enemies. So use the second player to fight through the group and cripple there movement so the first player can come through and attack without being swarmed. This causes the game to turn into a treat management puzzle game where the player is tasked with determining what order should enemies be attacked and with who.

3. If two players are busy wrestling with a huge were-bull, axe wielding minotaur, or armor knight in the middle of the screen what do they do about the other monsters moving in for the attack from the left, right, or even from above them?

Resulting scenario – (we’re obviously going to need more characters in the party than two) So I started mining characters from the series of games to use. Mr. whip himself Belmont could be used to deal with characters that attack from one side of the above wrestling match. Alucard could be used to attack enemies coming from the opposite side.

4. If two players are wrestling a huge enemy while two others handle single targets on the peripheral you can never have more than two co-op required enemies on screen at once. And if you had two co-op enemies you can’t put any more enemies on screen cause there are no players left to fight them since they are already busy fighting enemies.

Resulting scenario – (mine more characters from the series to allow for more scenarios) I remembered a werewolf from castlvaina 64 and a little girl from one of the GBA / DS games. This allows for multiple large co-op required enemies on the screen at once along with lesser enemies to fight on the peripheral which allows for the epic scale associated with needing a party to fight a battle instead of one person.

5. If you have 6 people running around on screen along with enemies shifting around everywhere the screen may get cluttered.

Resulting scenario – Leave the party at six players and allow the girl the power to somehow disperse a large group of enemies.


Given this set of observations the game is defined as one where…

1. A player either can’t take down an enemy alone or a group of enemies alone.
2. Different people are good at fighting different types of enemies.
3. Party members are used to cover each other while another is busy taking down an enemy.
4. Crowds of enemies on screen must be managed by the player.

Finally, what are the breath and depth of possible scenarios in a game such as this?


Story – A string of events that detail how each character joins the party and how there journey affects the game world.

a. Introductory segments for each character that shows the circumstances by which they meet and join the main party.
b. Segments that dictate the action that is currently depicted on screen.
c. Changing segments that will introduce new scenarios and recycle old scenarios in interesting new ways by varying the patterns & durations of occurrence given the story laid out.


Fighting – Dealing with the list of threats in the game world using up to 6 characters simultaneously to fight through the scenarios of a level. Each fight offers different mixes of enemies being thrown at the player where the player has to threat manage the enemies on the screen and decide in what order do the enemies get attacked and by whom.

a. Fights are tied directly to the current place in the story line.
b. Fights involving varying number of party members. Current party may have 1, 5, 3, 6, etc. members.
c. Fights along side guest party members where more guest can be picked up as others fall.
d. Fights against current party members.
e. Large field skirmishes where lots of enemies are fought by the party along side allied parties to mimic army on army battles.
f. Fights with back to the wall or closed entrance while some group member(s) leave party to open an entrance.
g. Feint fights where the party is fleeing the enemy, sealing the path behind them, and attempting to open the path in front of them.
h. Fights where some player(s) are positioned elsewhere on screen to activate something that helps damage or open up the possibility of the group damaging an enemy.
i. Boss fights.


Group platforming – Navigating through an area by making way over gaps and obstacles.

a. Simple timed gap and obstacle jumps one player followed by the other.
b. One player hand springs other players to higher points and the group pulls the last player up by rope.
c. One or two players defend the group as the rest navigate some obstacle.
d. Sneaking into an area to open the way for the group by platforming a wall instead of going through the entrance.


Running – Running from one side of the area to the other.

a. Platforming on the run through a level not stopping or slowing down.
b. Fighting on the run through a level not stopping or slowing down.
c. Fleeing from a flood of enemies too numerous to fight as a group.
d. Breaking through a line of enemies while on the run shoving them aside or running them over.
e. Running from cover to cover from a barrage of enemy projectiles.


Exploration – Searching an area in hopes of finding a given person, place, or thing.

a. field exploration
b. town exploration
c. structure exploration


Talking – Extracting information from people in an effort to further the story and flesh out the world.

To be continued below:

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

continued from above...(may add more detail later)

Games to reference:
Castlevainia *series* (Theme)
Vampire Hunter D *anime series* (alt-Theme)
Ghost n goblins*series*(Theme)
Castlvainia: “harmony of despair”(multiplayer castlevainia)
Valkyrie profile*ps1 game* (using a group to fight)
Patapon(using a group to fight)
Serious sam (threat management)
Generic tower defense game (threat management )

Ideas tossed around:
Give the player the need to buy consumables arrows, special items, food, weapons, and armor so in addition to combat there is a hint of resource management to occupy the player. There needs to be an archer in the mix along with a class that does status effects to vary up the gameplay and keep things fresh. The characters need to level up and acquire new abilities or the gameplay will become stale vs. Giving the player all the abilities upfront then use the story to feed them various new and adjusted old scenarios in which the player has to remember or find out which ability to use in a variety of thrown scenarios.
.....1. Requires many assets and animations for different enemies.
.....2. The party based fighting could cause a lull in development while figuring out how to get the interactions and transitions to work.




Note: I couldn't pull the details with images and diagrams from the PDF notes in a timely fashion so I've made the PDF available...

Click hereDropbox - pitches.pdf

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

That's it for today next update 1/18/2016

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

At first I didn't intend on showing group notes just the videos. I decided it might be useful to see a bit more of the organizing effort that went on behind everything.

------------------------------------------------------
Contents
1. The development schedule:
2. Software used:
3. Next round of idea pitches:
4. Industrial/graphics design presentation:
5. Team contact info:
------------------------------------------------------------------
1. The development schedule:
Fall till day 1 of spring
a. Decide on software used to make games. *Done*
b. Gather a group of students familiar with generating (code, art, sound, and writing) to collaborate on development. *Done: working on more*
c. Get software in peoples hand and allow them time/support in getting familiar with the software without the pressure of a deadline hovering over there head.*in progress, see below to download packages*
d. Pitch game ideas with the goal of figuring out the range of ideas people hold and working on clearly communicating those ideas without the pressure of having to decide on an idea yet. *In progress, see attachment for past pitches*
Spring till last day of spring
a. Spend the first 2-3 weeks nailing down the game we'll work on and begin design.
b. Devote the rest of spring to finishing the chosen game.
c. Finish by last day of spring.
d. You're one step closer to getting a career in the industry as your resume will show that you've completed your first serious game with a decent size team spring 2011.
That's the game plan ladies and gents. Afterwards we'll take a step back, scrutinize what we’ve done, see where everyone stands, and then we'll start pitching new ideas. Side note: I plan to make it my business to constantly be on the lookout to grow the team with more people.


2. Software used:
a. Unreal engine 3 - An engine we can use to get a game off the ground quickly. I should easily be able to explain anything that confuses us about development in this environment. Allows us access to boat loads of example assets that the art team can use as a gauge on how detailed models need to be. Flexibility as the UDK allows us the ability to distribute our own games online, sale them, or switch to unreal tournament 3 UDK to make games in the same general environment and distribute them for PS3 ourselves... for free. Intel/Epic also regularly holds a million dollar contest called "Make something unreal contest". In this contest the pot is split between best (level design, character model, story sequence, overall game, etc.) the grand prize is a full development license and a one game publishing deal through epic. That way we can focus on the game instead of how are we going to make the game visible for others to play.
Download location
Unreal Engine 3 is a complete game development framework that operates across 10 platforms. Provides a vast array of core technologies to creating high-quality games and applications.
UDK | VideoTutorials
UDK | WebHome
UDK
Examples games

Showcase bounty arms:
Bounty Arms Demo
(7 people. Projected 2 year project: 27-35 levels 5-6hours)

Showcase- Dungeon-defense:
Dungeon Defense
(5 people. Finished in 4 weeks)


Showcase- Angels fall first: planetstorm
Angels Fall First: Planetstorm
(46 people. started on UT3 moved to UDK)

Showcase-antichamber
Antichamber
(1 person. 6-12 months 8 hour game)

Contest winners
Grand Prize Winners in the $1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest! (7 man team won the whole shabang...even beat the 46 man team above)
The Haunted was developed by a international team and is currently on it's way to become a full standalone download title.

Michael 'Hegi' Hegemann: Game Director, Artist, Programmer and Jack of all trades
Gerhard 'Schlauchi' Weihrauch: Game and Level Designer
Tomas 'Drevlin' Lidström: Environment and Lighting Artist
Jack Menhorn: Music Composer
Josh 'Vertigo' Stoker: Assistant Animator
Viktor 'CDS' Lidäng: Assistant Environment Artist
b. Autodesk(3Dstudio max / maya / mudbuilder / sketchbook pro/ softimage / motion builder) -
Art and sound wise we're pretty good. Given all assets are the same once imported it doesn't matter what package we use prior. With that said I've found a 13 month educational trail and if you have the money a six package deal including all 6 programs for 344.95 with a professional tool upgrade option for a fraction of the real price. BTW, buying these separately would be ridiculous (couple thousand actually).
Note: You have to create an account using an .edu email address to access the deals.
Download location
Autodesk Student Community | Free Software & Resources for Education
Mudbox Free Download | Free Student Version for Academics
Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate
UDK | VideoTutorials
c . Fruiti loops - Again all assets are the same once imported so it doesn't matter much what package we use prior. All sound assets can be passed along to Bryan where they'll be adjusted for conformity (not too loud, soft, grainy, etc.) in relation to each other.
Download location
Download FL Studio 12 – Full installer / Unlimited free trial
FL Studio 12
Image-Line Shop


3. Next round of idea pitches:
Pitch some idea with the main themes being...
a. Running and platforming through an environment at high speeds.
b. 3rd person Hand 2 hand fighting alongside gunplay.
I chose a combination of pitches everyone attending was comfortable with and that I’m sure we could easily get done within a reasonable amount of time. Please pitch ideas surrounding something other then the above also. I'm looking to narrow down on something tangible but not at the expense of new ideas. Ideally you would pitch the above notion followed by a fresh idea or two. I'd like to get at least two more pitch sessions in before falls end.


4. Industrial/graphics design presentation:
I have a firm date on a time to give the presentation in the industrial design department. Professor Smith allowed this Tues. November 30th 9:30am 5-10 min at the start of class for a presentation to mine the class for more artists. It would go along way if as many of you as possible could show up.
Sidenote: I’ve been contacted by a post doctorate student from industrial / graphics design named Jose Valenzuela with a background in architecture looking for information. He did a standout job drafting a 2D mockup of raiden from metal gear solid 5. So we might have another artist, hopefully level design. Either way I’ll try and reel him in.


5. Team contact info:
Art team
Sam - *****@auburn.edu
Tyler - *****@auburn.edu
Programing team
Jamal - *****@auburn.edu
Matt(M@) - *****@auburn.edu
Lee - *****@gmail.com
Ced - *****@msn
Thomas - *****@auburn.edu
Jamie - *****@auburn.edu
Writing team
kevin - *****@gmail.com (You should probably text me though –###-###-####)
Sound team
Bryan – *****@auburn.edu[/quote]

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 2:

There was a second "Idea pitch session" but it wasn't recorded. While I have the assets(videos & pictures) used that night I'd have to piece it all together and type out explanations for everyone here on the spot. I might do it later but not right now.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

That's it for today next update 1/19/2016

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Idea pitch session 3:

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

That's it for today next update 1/20/2016