The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => Cancelled and old projects => LBT Projects => LBT Multiplayer RPG Project Discussion => Topic started by: action9000 on February 09, 2009, 07:01:26 PM
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**NOTE**
Just letting everyone know, I will be attempting to keep this first post updated with the latest status and needs of the project. You don't have to read through all the posts here all the time. This first post will have the latest news. :)
Hi all! I apologize for the lack of organization with regards to what needs to be worked on and who is working on what. :oops :oops In order to fix this, I decided to set up this topic for everyone, including myself, to understand what we actually need to work on and who is doing what. :p
First things first, who is currently working on the game?
Project Lead: Action9000
Programming: Action9000
2D Maps: Malte279
2D Graphics: Mumbling, Sky, Action9000 (mainly temporary graphics)
Conversion of 2D maps to 3D maps: Action9000
3D Modelling: Razzie, Littlefoot1616, raga, Darkwolf91
It looks like this is one our problems: I don't really know exactly who else is very involved in the project, since we have posts scattered all over the place. I know we have many ideas for tasks, gameplay, etc. by many people, as well as many people playtesting the releases that I post up.
Anyway, I'd like to get rid of any confusion here. :)
Where are we in development?
We're still at the point where most of the work, and the slowest progress, is the programming. Also, we will be at this point for a long time. It's the nature of making a video game. :p I'm not looking to add more programmers to the team because I don't expect anyone to learn to read my code, as that would be a painful experience. :p
We have Immediate use for anyone who wishes to do the following:
You will have the best idea of what all this means if you run the game and play around with it for a bit. :)
Please note the colour code:
Green: Anything that currently needs to be worked on and doesn't have anyone really working on it yet.
Yellow: Somebody is currently working on it with unknown progress or we could possibly add more people to this assignment.
Red: This is progressing well and no further help is needed at the moment.
2D Graphics:
1) Health/Energy bars and any associated graphics. See the top-left corner of the screen. [EDIT] Mumbling is working on these now. :)
2) The "Character stats" window when you press the C key.
3) Any cursor/mouse pointer graphics for the following conditions:
- Basic cursor when nothing special is happening
- graphic when the cursor is over an NPC [EDIT] Lillefot and DarkWolf have both mentioned that they wanted to work on these. :)
4) When you left-click an NPC or other creature, I was planning on having a graphic appear in the top-middle of the screen or so. I will draw a mockup of this in photoshop real quick, of what I mean (ignore the arrow on the left :p) :
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h141/action9000/Targeted-Character-mockup-1.jpg)
It doesn't have to be that ugly or in that layout, this is just an example. :p
5) A "Dialog" window that pops up when a player talks to an NPC. This window will show all of the spoken text. Preferrably includes "previous page" and "next page" buttons, as well as an "Accept" button, all of which can appear as either greyed out or clickable, depending on what is being said (I'll handle that coding but I need those graphics.) [EDIT] Mumbling is working on this window now. :)
6) 2D Maps:
Malte is working on this as soon as he can.
3D Modelling:
3D Objects: Trees and rocks, mainly. DarkWolf will be working on these
Littlefoot: Model complete, animation incomplete - Razzie
Ruby: In progress - Razzie
Ducky: Work in Progress - DarkWolf91
Model complete, animation incomplete - Razzie
Cera: Model complete, animation incomplete - Razzie
Petrie: Model in progress - Razzie
Spike: Model complete, animation incomplete - Razzie
Mr. Threehorn - Razzie
Mr. Clubtail - Razzie
Still need people to model:
Grandma/Grandpa longneck
Ducky's Mom
Petrie's Mom
*NOTE* Please understand that I am still not entirely clear how we will be applying textures to the 3D models in the game yet. What we intend to do eventually is to use these "Gang member" models as a base for our playable characters as well as the NPCs. The problem comes in with customization: allowing the player to choose a colour, etc. As far as I can tell, I can only apply one texture to each object, but I am still playing around with this.
If it is the case that I can only apply one texture to each object, like it looks like, that means eventually I will need the three different-coloured pieces of each dino separate so I can switch all three of the colours appropriately in the code. Another possibility is to model every possible combination but that's both a lot of work and a waste of memory while reducing customization options.
This basically means that a model of Ducky with all of the colours put together as a single model will not let us use that model for any character other than Ducky. We won't be able to adapt it for other characters because I will have no way to change out multiple textures on a single object from within the code.
I'm happy to explain this in more detail if anyone has questions. :)
Scripts, Tasks and Text:
This involves the dialog and descriptions of tasks. When a player interacts with an NPC, what is said?
What do we need right now?
We have six adult NPCs on the map right now:
Grandpa Longneck
Mr. Threehorn
Ducky's Mom
Petrie's Mom
Mr. Clubtail
Buzz Conedrin :p
Anyone who wants to work on basic tasks for our player to do, possibly relating to these NPCs (preferrably not Buzz Conedrin :p), please feel free!
If anyone who wants to create some task dialog for any of the dino types except the Flyer (I haven't coded in flying at all yet and I'm not ready to deal with flying tasks at this point), I could put that into the game right away.
Malte, are you still interested in doing this at some point? :)
I hope this helps clear things up a little bit. If anyone has any questions, please let me know! :D
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I'd like to try to model Ducky, if that's alright :)
That will take some time and some doing, but I think from a more immediate standpoint I could currently do some background elements. What kind of background elements would you prefer me to work on modeling first? (Trees, rocks, seaweed, etc.)
Also: This is great organization! It makes everything a lot clearer, awesome work.
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If I have time, I'll work on tasks dialog and text. I have no programming experience so all I can do is provide the writing.
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I'd like to try to model Ducky, if that's alright
That would be awesome! :)
Please read the latest changes to the 3d modelling section of the first post. I added in a bunch of important details.
Thanks!
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I can offer screenshots, if I had a way to get them to others, though I doubt that would help any.
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Let's see... I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do some 3D characters seeing on how quickly I read through that user manual help thing :p If ever, I might be able to work on small details but I fear doing whole characters is nothing good for me. Maybe later.
As for the graphics, I'd love to work on a menu. :)
And this organisation is pretty good actually. :D
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Alrighty!
I'll pull your name off the 3D stuff and I really look forward to what ya come up with for the menu, your buttons have been awesome so far. :angel :D
Ah, I'm sure it'll be great. :)
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I'll pull your name off the 3D stuff and I really look forward to what ya come up with for the menu, your buttons have been awesome so far. :angel :D
:smile
I'll try using thesame font and stuff, and also editing the back button to have the look like it's being pressed down(like the start one)
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I wish i could help you, but unfortunately, i'm almost unfamiliar with 3D modelling. :(
Say, maybe i'll be able to help you with coding?
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Please read the latest changes to the 3d modelling section of the first post. I added in a bunch of important details.
Alright, read 'em. That makes a lot of sense... I suppose the models should be left unpainted until we figure this thing out?
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Hey guys!
Action: I checked out that program my brother mentioned about applying textures to 3D models; ZBrush. I found a few pros and cons with it. Good news is, firstly it DOES exist. My brother wasn't talking non's (for a change) :DD And it's perfectly viable to apply some pretty impressive skins, textures and material effects to a model. It's an industry standard package so that's a good sign...
But, in that lies the problem. It's industry standard so therefore it's not freeware. And their asking price for a single license has a rather scary tag of $595 (and an additional $595 for every other user if bought in bulk) :blink: In short, I think this is a no-goer purely because it's too sodding well expensive <_< Sorry mate :( They do offer a 30-day trial package so maybe that could be used to our advantage once we get the block models done. But as of yet it doesn't seem to be much of a sound move right now.
On the modelling side of things, I'll take up attempting to model Ruby (-esque characters). I'm still flicking through the tutorials for Blender but the knowledge banks are filling. Hopefully I can produce something soon!
Will keep the forum posted ;)
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Have those who are working on the graphics decided to use 1 certain program, or one that they are most familiar with? That does sound like a rather expensive price, though they may be use to having companies as their usual customers.
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Please read the latest changes to the 3d modelling section of the first post. I added in a bunch of important details.
Ok, I'm a long while from a textured spike anyway so hopefully some solution will show up by then.
And their asking price for a single license has a rather scary tag of $595
yikes, thats pretty much all I have to say to that
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i've mentioned that i might do 3D modeling and/or level design (for lack of a better word) when needed. I've gone through a bit of the blender tutorial, but i haven't done very much lately because of college. Once i get further trough the tutorial and better at modeling i might have a better idea if i want to do it but right now im not sure.
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Hey guys!
I've just learned a few tricks and tips on how to model birds and avian creatures. To which I thought I'd trade my initial proposal for taking on Ruby to picking up Petrie instead.
Action: Gonna do a little research into Blender to see if a little mechanics application can be added to models. I'll discuss it with you the next time we bump into each other online Action. I'll let you in on what I'm scheming... ;)
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Made some more adjustments to the organization of the first post. Does the colour coding make sense? :)
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I love the color coding! It's very clear and informative, nice addition.
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Awesome, thank ya! :)
I'll do my best to keep up with updating that first post so everyone knows what's going on.
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I like the ideas of the colored text. I could help in screen shots, if needed, and maybe some tasks and task dialog. Not much I know.
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Oooh, I just had a neat idea for the cursor graphics! I think I could take those on if they're still open.
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i don't see any change of state in the first post so I think it's open! :)
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Today I watched LBT 4(on VHS) and I noticed they used a different font in the dutch LBT. At least I think so, I haven't watched any LBT for quite a while.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll44/gofmumbling/IMG_0801.jpg)
If we ever need another font than one we're using now I guess we could start looking at this one.
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Interesting :)
Can zijn be abbreviated to Z'n?
Does the Dutch title translate to "The unforgettable journey"?
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Interesting :)
Can zijn be abbreviated to Z'n?
Does the Dutch title translate to "The unforgettable journey"?
Aye, zijn can be abbreviated to z'n, but only when it's not used as a verb, but as a possesion thingy(like 'his' friends).
And it indeed translates to that.
I'm wondering if I could get any other VHS tapes to see if they did that with every movie(use dutch text, rather than the english).
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I do have both the German and the English video tape version of LBT 4, but since I moved out from my parents I have no more access to a video player anymore :wacko:
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I do have both the German and the English video tape version of LBT 4, but since I moved out from my parents I have no more access to a video player anymore :wacko:
I see... That's too bad. I still have LBT 2 on VHS too but I'm not able to find the others for a reasonable price :p
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Using a different font may make things interesting. One idea is to look at the different fonts and see which ones maybe most prefer, find the most readable, ect.
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DarkWolf, do you still want to do the rock and tree modelling? :)
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Yes, I'd love to!
There'll be a bit of a wait, since I'm in the middle of a huge final class project :blink:
But that would definitely be fun, and very good pactice. Just tell me what you need, and I'll get to it.
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I'm not exactly sure what we'll need but if you can imagine what sorts of rocks and trees would be in the Great Valley, feel free to have a go at it! :)
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Fantastic! After next week I'm on spring break. My... slightly odd dream of re-watching land before time films and analyzing the different types of foliage in them can finally come to fruition :lol
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:lol :lol
Awesome, I look forward to seeing some fancy foliage in action!
...actually, that sounds painful *looks at his username*. :p
Catch ya later! :D
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Aww...that was a terrible joke, action.
Good luck DarkWolf, in making those bits of foliage
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Aww...that was a terrible joke, action.
I know, I'm sorry. :p
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Hahaha, I agree, awful joke :p
Thanks, guys! I shall do my best.
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Hey, unfortunatly the realitivley open and free time filled months I thought I was going to have sorta disseapeared. I have a crazy amount of work that I never saw coming and I'm finding hard to find time for things I want to do, as the time gets eaten up by wat I have to do. I'm afraid I just don't have the time to learn how to make a high quality 3D model and I'm going to have to drop that.... I'm sorry and I hope to countinue helping with this project anyway I can.
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I would help you guys out but sadly I'm not good at 3D modeling and probably never will be :(
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I would help you guys out but sadly I'm not good at 3D modeling and probably never will be :(
Don't worry. You can also help by giving ideas for the game itself! :)
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Hey Action, do ya still need that foliage?
I know it's been waaaaaaaay longer than it should, but I finally sorted out my computer issues!
And, gosh darnit, I'm just determined to work this out now!
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Hey, I'm really sorry for the delay in my response! I've been sleeping all day and working all night (literally!) and just have barely been keeping up with anything, including the GoF. :oops
Anywho, we do have plans for how we want to produce foliage for the game. I have already purchased a nice bit of software which will create trees and I'm looking into a program that will produce smaller natural objects as well (rocks, plants, mushrooms, grass, etc).
Because of this, I don't see a need for us to manually model very much in the way of foliage at this point. I'm positive there will be many cases where the 3d objects I can create with these programs won't be exactly what we need for a specific task in the game though, and that sounds like an idea time to come knocking at your door, if I may! :lol
As for 3d stuff to make right now, nothing is coming to mind, to be honest. I'm having a lot of techincal problems with trees at the moment (well, one technical problem that I have no idea how to fix! :p ) and until I get past it, I'm not exactly sure what we'll be needing in the near future.
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Oh, wow! Jeeze, try not to work yourself into the ground :blink:
Ah, alright! I'm glad I asked, then!
Sounds fantastic! Contnuing to enhance my Blender capabilities is on my agenda one way or another, so if anything comes up, let me know!
And best of luck with that bug. I'm sure the darn thing'll get cracked in time :yes
...
Though of course that's easy for me to say, seeing as I'm not the one programming :rolleyes
But still!
:goodluck