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Post by Xaa on Oct 16, 2005 20:12:47 GMT -5
I am downloading the Torque SDK at this moment. Estimated download time is about two hours.
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Post by cypherwulfe on Oct 16, 2005 22:40:28 GMT -5
this may be a bit early to ask, but have you gotten an idea on what the game will be? Or is it still early planning stage ala Saga of My littel Pony?
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Post by Xaa on Oct 16, 2005 22:51:53 GMT -5
this may be a bit early to ask, but have you gotten an idea on what the game will be? Or is it still early planning stage ala Saga of My littel Pony? Hmmm... Well, here's my list of priorities: 1) I want really cool swordplay. 2) I want really beautiful landscape. I'd say we're at a pretty early stage in the planning, yes.
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Post by Xaa on Oct 17, 2005 5:53:40 GMT -5
Hmmm... Ran into a problem already.
The game engine needs to be compiled to work. I have the Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 download, but I've no clue how to use it.
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Post by Xaa on Oct 17, 2005 10:30:05 GMT -5
Working on downloading a freeware IDE for Torque. It's 117 meg, an 8-hour download
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Post by Diablo on Oct 17, 2005 11:16:26 GMT -5
Might want to unplug your phone while your DLing...
edit: and uhh... I still have no clue what Torque is >.>
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Post by Kilarin on Oct 17, 2005 11:46:22 GMT -5
>1) I want really cool swordplay. OK, a muse game could have really cool swordplay! Liz has a sword! >2) I want really beautiful landscape. darnit. Nothing pretty about downtown megaopolis. <sigh> (at least not to this boy) Looking forward to WHATEVER you create! Donald
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Post by Xaa on Oct 17, 2005 16:03:01 GMT -5
Heh. Imagine, if you will, having the entire source code of a game engine graphically about equal to DS at your fingertips, ready to be altered as you will and compiled. Cool Factor = 10. Now, imagine that you pretty much have to build everything from the ground up. Armor, clothing, weapons, buildings, terrain, the spell system... Even Character Generation. And I mean from the ground up - even the pre-game character generation screen and the idea of swapping out textures for face/hair choices is something you're going to have to code yourself. Cool Factor = 0. Another thing that Torque has in common with the DS engine is that the learning curve looks suspiciously like a cliff.
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Post by DaeMuon on May 3, 2006 18:21:25 GMT -5
I don't know if you are still working on this. Or thinking about working on it, even.
But what about another mod and not a "from the ground up" game? (personaly i'd rather see you working on more mage and oerth books, but that's a tad selfish of me...i just finished reading the 4 books of mage for the second, or third?, time through. just finished the last god and am getting ready to order the others in the series.)
I've been toying with the toolbox for "Elderscrolls: Oblivion" and you can do a lot of cool stuff with it. And you don't need to create everything, but you can if you want. The learning curve isn't a cliff... but not a plain either. They have a great wiki that helps a lot.
Didn't know if you played that series at all. The sward play only has block, basic attack, power attack, and directional power attacks with different modifiers like stun, disarm, etc... Don't know one could build upon this.
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Post by Xaa on May 3, 2006 18:30:01 GMT -5
I no longer wish to help other people get rich. =P
LoH and Mageworld have been downloaded a combined total of 500,000 times. Even after you toss out a reasonable margin for people who got the game illegally and people who already had the game, a good estimate is that I am personally responsible for GPG selling at least 75,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 copies of the game. Even assuming that GPG's profit is only $10 each, that means I am personally responsible for them making at least three quarters of a million dollars, perhaps as much as a million dollars.
And you know, I could do with a cut of that cash, myself.
So no, I am not interested in helping other people make money anymore - particularly when my contributions to their bankbook are completely unacknowledged.
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Post by DaeMuon on May 3, 2006 20:39:02 GMT -5
Fair response. I was not aware of the number of times your mods were downloaded. But, if it was downloaded 500,000 times and you toss out the 100,000 dolts, ninyhammers, and fools that did not read the readme you are left with 400,000 people whoms lives you touched. Lets assume that they each took 3 months per game to complete single player and another 9 months puttering arount in MP. That's 2 years of entertainment you provided each individual. Or 800,000 years of engrosing story and exilerating experiences!! And that is nothing to be taken lightly. The people at GPG may not appreciate your efforts, but I have. Thank you for the countless hours tinkering, sneaking, tailoring foraging, casting, scratching my head bald and posting to the forums when i've gotten stuck trying to figure out what the man brought back from the woods with him!
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Post by Xaa on May 3, 2006 20:47:35 GMT -5
That's 2 years of entertainment you provided each individual. Or 800,000 years of engrosing story and exilerating experiences!! Okay, yes, point. Still, if I do another game, I'd like it to be one I make money off of. Torque looked like it might be the one, but unfortunately, it was $100 down the drain - I can't get characters into the game, and the amount of documentation, despite what Torque fanatics want to claim, is actually VERY sparse. Most of the docs are written from the POV that you already know how to get objects into the game and re-program the whole thing from scratch. If you don't, well, you're just SOL.
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Post by DaeMuon on May 4, 2006 6:08:03 GMT -5
To get a game engine like you would want to design i'm guessing you would need a team of programs to make the engine have the physics and content that you want. And as you are a writer at heart, not a lead programer, that would probably frustrate you more than it is worth. Especially since this is your hoby.
What keeps me playing your games is that they are an extension of the worlds you create in your books. You're a d@&n good storyteller! Making the mods allowed you to tell your story without needing to do all of the heavy lifting.
It was awesome playing a game with substance. It reminded me of the "good old days" of playing games in dos on my 486. When it wasn't just "follow the path through the woods/dungeon and kill everything in your way untill you get to the big boss at the end."
Maybe there is another avenue to expand your storytelling into???
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Post by Xaa on May 4, 2006 10:24:08 GMT -5
Maybe there is another avenue to expand your storytelling into??? I agree - but not with the Torque engine. We'll just have to wait and see what comes down the pike in the next few years.
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Post by Kilarin on May 4, 2006 12:52:53 GMT -5
I think we need a new approach in RPG design. It needs to be separated into sections.
Graphics: 1: The graphics engine 2: Graphics content
World: 3: The world rules (abilities, combat, magic, etc) 4: Non Graphic content (maps, items, characters, conversations, etc)
Right now, these four things are often tied together very firmly. You can't entirely separate out the world rules from the graphics engine (Although DS probably gave better power to do that than many other systems, but not enough) And when computers get better, good games fall by the wayside because their graphics are out of date, and often they won't even RUN on new computers.
The new approach should separate these. Graphics are tied to hardware and will always be in flux and changing. But there is no reason that the world (its rules, maps, etc) should be tied to the graphics in such an inseparable manner.
What we need, is a standardized programming language for developing 3 (the world rules), and a simplified, but still standardized system for developing 4 (maps, items, etc).
We want a system that can be used on many levels. An amateur should be able to build a map, create and place npc's and items, etc, without needing any programming skills. And yet, anyone who wants and needs to should be able to crack open the black box and write code that will make the system behave exactly as they wish.
Then, when graphics engines update, the ONLY requirement to keep playing your old game in the new engine should be to update the graphics content, then recompile your world rules and maps with the new engine. There is really NOT any reason that a brand spanking shiny new graphics engine should require ANY change in the world rules, or even the map. make it prettier, certainly, but how many poly's a character has doesn't have anything to DO with the world rules or the map.
Basically, we need a Generic Game Compiler that any graphics engine could support.
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