[Nephilim]

I had some free time over the weekend (for once), and I felt like doing a little 3D stuff, so I got started on a 3D RPG engine. Using a rudimentary 3D modeller I found for free and Macromedia Flash for textures, I put together a working tech demo in Macromedia Director.

This is all leading up to a game I hope to release by Halloween this year. Below are some screenshots from the tech demo. It should be obvious from them that the theme will be general spookiness.




Currently, I have the environment built out of predefined 'brushes' which paint in various pieces of geometry. I also have a rather simple boned animation system (complete with pose editor) that allows the character avatar to have a walk cycle as she moves through the place. I've also somewhat abstracted the idea of a 3D "actor" which is an object in the environment that knows how to handle itself. The chandeleirs you see in the background are the first example of them - they sway eerily, pushed by a ghostly wind, until the player draws near, when they stop swaying and go still until the player moves away again. I'm really pleased with how they came out.

I'm also trying an experimental "Creep-O-Vision", which is basically a slight departure from the way most 3D games are rendered. Most third-person games look over the character's shoulder, or do a bird's-eye or fly-on-the-wall-eye shot of them. To enhance the creep factor, my camera glides close to the ground a good ways behind the player, and I kicked up the field of view so the perspective on the walls gets exaggerated. The screenshots don't really do it justice, but the portraits get really creepy when the camera is close to the walls. Heh.

In the final game, there will be several different environments, but all built pretty much the same way - brushes and actors. I'm planning a graveyard, a forest/swamp, caves, and a carnival.

Anyway, what do you think so far?

[Adam]

nnnnnnniiiiiccccceeee
wish i could do that in a weekend :P
_________________
https://numbatlogic.com

[Ninkazu]

How the hell did you get so much talent?

[Nephilim]

[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

     Very nice. Please make sure to have in-game gamma correction; some people (like me) foolishly have their monitors near windows and get vicious glare on dark screens, and it's annoying to have to reset the monitor each time you want to play a certain game.

[BigManJones]

Very nice indeed.... Now is than an animated character or do you only have the one pose? Good art work.

[Nephilim]

[janus_lazy]

That's some top-notch work. I'm impressed.

[Suchiiben]

You rule :( :( :( :(

[Modanung]

[Nephilim]

[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

     Here's an idea for how you can make combat a little more in keeping with the feel of your game.
     If it's possible, have it so that enemies try to sneak up on the player, giving them a dangerous advantage when combat begins. The idea is to keep the player looking over his shoulder. Also, certain enemies could have sniping positions of some sort; again, the intention is to make the player pay careful attention to his environment.
     Also, let the player, upon discovering an enemy, flee, and be chased, not in the combat stage, but in the walking-around stage.
     I think the key is to integrate the combat element with the normal walking-around element; I think that's the only way you'll manage to get a really scary game. It adds a sense of danger to it, and suspense.

[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

     Oh, here're more ideas.
     Instead of, like most RPGs, having the characters get stronger with time, have them get weaker. Or at least, have some specific way in which they deteriorate over the course of the game. Possibly HP (by poison, or something; the adventure into the mansion could be an attempt to remove the poison. That has sort of a mythic feel to it, doesn't it?). The goal is a sense of slipping away, of victory-in-defeat.
     Music, sound effects, and graphics are more important to a game of this sort than dialogue, I think, so concentrate on them as much as possible.

[Modanung]

[Nephilim]