RPGDX > Forums > Design and programming > Using Unity3d

hamster · Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:12 pm Post subject: Using Unity3d

Has anybody tried to use the Unity 3d engine to make an RPG? I have used it a few times to make more action oriented games. It seems very robust; especially since most of the world editing can be done without programming knowledge. When programming is required it can be encapsulated in prefab files that can be placed in the world to run stuff.

Most of what I see around RPGDX has the retro 2d look (which is awesome), but has the 3d approach been tried? What are the pitfalls that should be avoided?

If I were to make a bunch of RPG scripts on top of the Unity engine (no promises) would anyone here be interested in building an RPG out of it?

Building means making models and animations for the characters, enemies, and props. It would also involve defining the skill tree, attack/defense properties, enemy spawns, and quest structure within an XML script.

Right now I am trying to gauge the interest in an RPG interface for Unity.

Terry · Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject:

SophieH uses Unity quite a bit, and used it for the Alternate History game she was working on. I haven't tried out the other Alternate History games yet, but I saw a few other people using it too.

Unity's awesome. I've done some messing about with it over the last couple of months, and I really like it.

The big problem for me is its GUI stuff, which is absolutely horrendous - it's a struggle to do even basic things with it like text colouring and correct resolution independent resizing. Which is pretty much the big problem with using it to do something like an RPG - it's not that it's not possible, it's just that it's a total pain in the arse.

I probably wouldn't use the scripts you're describing myself, but I'm sure there'd be at least a few people interested.
_________________
http://www.distractionware.com

RampantCoyote · Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:42 pm Post subject:

I just downloaded it a couple of weeks ago, but I'm STILL too busy to really check it out. Too busy trying to finish my 3D RPG in Torque. Maybe Unity will be what I use next.

Anyway - an RPG library of some kind on top of Unity could be cool. One issue I keep running into is that for many "RPG Toolsets" out there, they are looking at games based around the classic jRPG template. For someone doing something a little different (like I am), those are kinda useless.

BUT - on the other hand (where I have five more fingers...)... I'm not sure what kinds of scripts / tools really WOULD be helpful for a Western-style RPG. They are so different...
_________________
Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

codeugly · Monkey-Butler Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 50

http://www.codeugly.com/bard-to-death/

Here is a link to where I have an embedded unity game. It's an early in development rogue-like with random dungeon creation. I enjoyed the time I spent using unity, and if I ever start making money with games I might come back to it. But my curiosities have led me to try my own engine, a task I have failed at three times.

My suggestion if you do Unity is to stick with C#, as you will find more flexibility with it. I really wanted to do boo, but I also had iPhone in mind, and boo isn't supported there. Also, pay attention to the scripts in the wiki, because some of them are really good. And for modeling, I found Cheetah to be both affordable, and seemless with Unity.
_________________
As seen on TV
http://www.codeugly.com

Codexus · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 12:24 pm Post subject:

I used Unity for my Alternate History challenge game (and by game I mean demo without any gameplay ;) .

Unity is really great, and it's game genre agnostic when a lot of other engines are really based on some FPS and require work to get away from that.

As for your RPG scripts idea, personally I have no interest in using premade scripts for my gameplay as I'm primarily a programmer. However, there seem to be a market for those: a lot of people are coming to Unity with a Flash/Graphic artist background and may sometimes struggle a little bit with the more complex programming tasks.

hamster · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject:

Thank you for your feed back and links to example projects. SophieH's looks mighty impressive. I gather most people would rather define their own combat scripting than use a pre-made one. Being mostly a programmer myself I wouldn't have it any other way. I may still make this frame work and leave it open source, but I will do so with my own RPG ideas in mind.