Dungeon Defense

[Niosop]

Just thought this was pretty cool, especially since it was developed in 4 weeks. Full source code is available (UnrealScript), so it could be useful to get some ideas.

 

http://udk.com/showcase-dungeon-defense.html

 

It would be cool to develop a clone in LE to see where improvements could be made and what roadblocks to rapid development could be removed.

[VicToMeyeZR]

that's pretty impressive

[Pixel Perfect]

Very impressive, thanks for the link Niosop ... downloading the source code now!

[Gandi]

doesnt work on my pc..

get:

Fatal error!

 

System.Runtime.InteropServices.SEHException error in UDK:

 

Eine externe Komponente hat eine Ausnahme ausgelöst.

 

bei GuardedMain(Char* , HINSTANCE__* , HINSTANCE__* , Int32 )

bei ManagedGuardedMain(Char* CmdLine, HINSTANCE__* hInInstance, HINSTANCE__* hPrevInstance, Int32 nCmdShow)Address = 0x2e6e6ea (filename not found)

Address = 0x2e6146d (filename not found)

Address = 0x2e637c9 (filename not found)

[Marcus]

I remember a certain someone saying UDK was a waste because you could only make a FPS with it.

[Niosop]

Naaa, it's just set up by default for FPS, you have to create your own UTGame, UTPlayer and UTPawn classes and make your own implementation of the camera viewpoint calculation code to get it to be otherwise, or move the camera via kismet, but the kismet way is a little more limited. But there's examples out there for doing that.

[Josh]

I think a sci-fi version would be even cooler. You could have laser beams that appear between two points you set, turrets, mines, blast doors, etc:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B4-nCVwMbA

[Niosop]

Yeah, that would be cooler. I may try it myself. I want to try and keep the complexity at about the same level as Dungeon Defense, only a couple enemy units, a couple defensive systems and yourself in a small arena. Then we could record the whole process and compare the results and the code w/ Dungeon Defense to see where LE is behind, ahead, what could be improved, etc. Would be an excellent tutorial for others as well if we documented the whole process well enough.

 

I figure a team of about 5 would be needed to do it in 4 weeks (longer if doing part time).

 

• Character modeler/animator - Only 4-5 character models needed, another 4-5 defensive system models.
  
• Particle effects, explosions
  
• Programmer
  
• Level designer/modeler
  
• Extra person to help out where needed. Should have a decent grasp of modeling/programming/etc.
  

 

So if I do it all myself I could expect to have it finished in only 2-3 years. Anybody have some free time and want to team up?

[Rick]

I figure a team of about 5 would be needed to do it in 4 weeks (longer if doing part time).

 

Did they do it in 4 weeks worth of 8 hours a day times x people or a generic 4 weeks (which could mean anything from part time to working 16 hours a day).

[Niosop]

No idea. You could check out their blog and see if it mentions it, I didn't notice in the couple of posts I skimmed through.

[Gandi]

Yeah, that would be cooler. I may try it myself. I want to try and keep the complexity at about the same level as Dungeon Defense, only a couple enemy units, a couple defensive systems and yourself in a small arena. Then we could record the whole process and compare the results and the code w/ Dungeon Defense to see where LE is behind, ahead, what could be improved, etc. Would be an excellent tutorial for others as well if we documented the whole process well enough.

 

I figure a team of about 5 would be needed to do it in 4 weeks (longer if doing part time).

 

• Character modeler/animator - Only 4-5 character models needed, another 4-5 defensive system models.
  
• Particle effects, explosions
  
• Programmer
  
• Level designer/modeler
  
• Extra person to help out where needed. Should have a decent grasp of modeling/programming/etc.
  

 

So if I do it all myself I could expect to have it finished in only 2-3 years. Anybody have some free time and want to team up?

 

if you need some help.. i would like to

i preffer doin graphical things like particles etc.

[flachdrache]

Stop kidding me already, will you - i work on a "tower defense" e.g. MakeItToMorning minigame atm. - since its the logical first step in terms of FPS games OR a online-FPS deathmatch game imo.Plus, a sci-fi version is online for years -> www.tremulous.net/. The bummer for me atm is the lowpoly conversion, the UVW horror ( solved - if i can use xnormal ) and game logic/mechanic. However, iam sure not to use turrets but maybe glowsticks, laser fences and the stinky stuff which attracts my monsters. Iam just not going public right now.

[Rick]

I think this needs to be turned into a contest. Make a tower defense game in 2 months.

[Josh]

That game is fun but extremely annoying. They don't give you enough money or time to build anything effective.

[VicToMeyeZR]

that's the idea isn't it?

[Rick]

This is a game that could be fun but is horrible as it stands.

 

 

- The camera controls was just bad. Not being able to rotate with the mouse just made moving around a pain.

- Not even close to enough time to build anything. You need time to see your level before you know where to build anything and that means you need time.

- Lack of feeling any sort of connection with the character.

- I didn't know what 1/2 the stuff I was building was because I needed to just build so fast because there wasn't enough time.

[flachdrache]

If a gamedemo is coming out for LE (soon?), than it might be wise to wait to archive some sort of quality consistence. Community has the power - no need for competition imho, it is already hard enough to compete in terms of visual quality.

 

PS: tbh, i never played tremulous just knowing the gamemode

PPS : i try to compete with 6 year old games - hyper-realism not just takes the skills but also needs resources - like good photo textures, which costs extra-extra €.

[Rick]

I think what we would find out is that the competition would be less about visual and more about gameplay, because that's what makes a game come to life. Like I enjoy the visual of this game because I like that style, but the gameplay is horrible and I'll never play it again. The gameplay aspect would be more of the competition in my view, but visual would also be a part of it.

 

Also, I'm guessing the game demo won't be much and would still require a huge amount of work to make anything that isn't the game demo in the art of gameplay.

[Niosop]

Don't really want to do it for competition, just figure it's a small enough project that it would make a good comparison to help us see where we stand as far as graphics quality, framerates, development speed, roadblocks we encounter, etc.

 

I figure I'll probably do the same game in Unity to get the same comparisons. I know right away that a big thing I miss in LE is Prefab support and a way to de-instance an animated model, but hopefully those will be added soon.

 

One thing that helps a lot in Unity is the combine children script, can help reduce draw calls and increase framerate a lot. Not sure if it would be as helpful in LE as the architecture is different, but I'll try it out and see if it helps any.

[Rick]

How do you suppose they did the movement for the monsters? I'm not going to read that mess that is unreal script , just curious on what you guys think of a way to do that movement? Simple pivots and have them move point to point or what?

[Niosop]

The UDK has automatic nav mesh generation built in. I haven't looked through the code but I'd assume they basically just said "Go here", where here was changed depending on whether the player was in attack range.

[Rick]

That would be one difference between LE and UDK right out of the gate then. LE users would have to make their own NavMesh code. That could be a chore right there.

[Josh]

For that particular scene, a nav mesh might be overkill. I do want to integrate the recast library into the engine, but it's definitely not necessary for something like this.

[flachdrache]

I "updated" the actors Lua to LE2.3, if it helps i could make a testmap and post a zip.

[Rick]

For that particular scene, a nav mesh might be overkill. I do want to integrate the recast library into the engine, but it's definitely not necessary for something like this.

 

 

When it comes default with the library it's easier to use it because it's already built in than to make your own waypoints.

 

I've actually just found the recast library last night and will be taking a look at it over time.