3d chat game

[gamedev101]

this might belong in the beginner's section. i'm not sure...
i want to make a 3d "game" where you control a character in a small room and chat with others. would this be possible to do using torque script?




thx ahead of time for any replies! :D


btw, i just want to make this portion first, then I'll start adding more features to it.

EDIT: Also, if you could let me know if this could be done in Blitz 3d, I'd really appreciate it!

[DrWilloughby]

Yes, that's possible with the features right out of the box. Further help on the question should be posted on the GarageGames forums for more informed responses.

The REALLY interesting bit is if you use the Open AIM stuff... that's something I've wanted to do for a long time - give that crappy IMVU some competition.

[gamedev101]

i'm starting to create a very small mog test but first i need to make a small room where people could walk around with their characters and talk to others

here is a link to somebody's game in its early stages and it is kind of along the lines of what I am looking to make.
Click me! (http://www.blitzbasic.com/gallery/view_pic.php?id=1250&gallery=mr&page=3)

Here's another that is more than what I expect because this is actually an mmorpg (WAY TOO ADVANCED TOPIC THERE!!!)

Awww... Why don't you click me too?! (http://www.blitzbasic.com/gallery/view_pic.php?id=1146&gallery=mr&page=8)

[DanMarshall]

Thing is, I'd probably get bored just chatting to people in a small room. It's not the 'small room rather than a wide open expanse' thing -- I like that sense of confinement. I hate thinking I might be missing out on stuff.

This is probably a tad advanced for you now, but what I'd like to see is a 3D chatroom with objects in. Things to lark about with. Set it up so you can play Tag. Or Baseball. Or Paintball. Or paint the walls. Or dig a hole in the floor and put twigs over it. That sort of thing.

Make it a sandbox -- "Here's a room filled with Physics objects. Make of it what you will."

Just my two cents...

[gamedev101]

i thought about doing that (i first thought about it after playing a game where you do all of those things, i don't think it's Second Life but it is a game where you can paintball and do other things), but instead i'm building off of it into like a couple of rpg-like quests and going into dungeons and stuff.that's why it's an mog and not a mmorpg because, as i said before, that is way to advanced and at least i can do this. just getting foundation mechanics in first.:D

[varmint]

gamedev101: You can do it with stock torque, even the free demo that you can download. Alls you need to do is host a game on one computer and join on the other. You will beable to see each player and chat. Torque demo even comes with a couple of characters to play with and some buildings.

[gamedev101]

yea i know. i just wanted to make a complete chat interface all by myself and the character models too (almost everything from scratch). i already made everything that i'll need, all i need to do now is program it.

[wizzlefish]

DanMarshall - that's a great idea. There could be so many possibilities...anything you could think of, and if you put certain things together, you made more things - sort of like the Eyezmaze "GROW" series of games, but RPG-like. Now that would be a cool game...you'd spend hours trying to figure out what else you could do, and winning the game was creating something that would get you out of the room, because you're trapped in there or something.

I've got to look into this. ;)

[DanMarshall]

Thanks. My mind's brimming with great ideas. I just find myself hampered by a lack of coding/ art talent...

It's a sweet idea; I love the idea of joining physics objects together to build stuff if the right shape doesn't exist already -- sort of like Garry's Mod. Or having an ATM-esque machine (SiN stylee) that lets you buy a green 'cone' shape, should you need one for a Christmas Tree for the corner of the room...

Thing is, it should always be fun. You need to think of a way of there being no malice -- eg you can't dig a hole in the ground too deep to be climbed out of. You can't 'ruin' other peoples' projects etc... complex stuff. I'll stick to 2D men shooting each other, for now...!

d

[Edtharan]

If you also had "Block" which could act as a section of script that could control the object, thois could lead to a simple method (much like lego) that can be used for "programming" by casual players. If you actually had these "Blocks" represented as machine parts (pistons, cogs, etc) then you could create a real Steam Punk look (or if you went for flashing lights a 60s sci-fi feel, or whatever you liked).

You could represent variables as dials and valves or leavers and switches. If you gave an environment that operated by physics (simple physics) and had an inbuilt scripting system that they could be attached to various object (and were objects in their own right), then you could have a very interesting "world" in which you could consturct a game (puzzle, rpg, rts, etc).

You could also have manipulators (like motors, etc) that will allow a script to interact with the other objects and sensors that can dertermin what values certain variables the object has. Manipulators would be subject to the physics as well (it might take energy to move something or the manipulator might only be able to apply a certain amount of torque, which would allow you to put some limits what people can do.

As an MMO this could be interesting as people worked together to create machines. It might have a very unique visual style too as the code pieces can be seen and would contrubute to the object's appearance.

[DanMarshall]

Issue 'challenges' for cash prizes. "Today's challenge is to make a motorised vehicle that will get you from one end of the screen to the other".

THis stuff just writes itself, it really does. Who's good enough a programmer to write this, then? Hands up...

[gamedev101]

it WOULD be awesome to make a game where your stuck in a room and have to figure out a way to get out. the problem is, it would be hard to think of something that will puzzle gamers and really mess with their minds :p

[gamedev101]

does anybody here use Blitz 3d? i need to know how to get the character in my room that i created. i loaded the room up but it just shows the character in front of what looks like a big wall. i'll post a screenshot in a sec.

EDIT: crap need to make a geocities site real quick to upload pics

EDIT2: k got it!

http://www.geocities.com/gaming_assassin/ahhh.JPG

[Edtharan]

Issue 'challenges' for cash prizes.
...or access to new objects (this would be similar to giveing a player access to a new weapon in anyother MMOG). So players can team up and use objects that they have won in previous puzzles and competitions to aid one another (so you could have teams).

I have heard of (but never seen) a TV gameshow where several teams of contestants are placed in a "Junk Yard" and must gather together parts to complete a machine.

You could have the players scouring several rooms/locations for these parts and in each section they have to overcome mini puzzles (ie build a bridge over a stream of lava) to get more advanced parts for the final machine (say a motorized vehical).


Who's good enough a programmer to write this, then? Hands up...
Due to an inkury I would not be able to be a programmer on this kind of project, but I would be interested in helping on the designs. So, my hand is up.

[gamedev101]

just wanted to say nvm i fixed the problrm and have continued development :) got the room to work and now i have to either make the room bigger or make the character smaller. also, i need to add collisions in so you can't leave the room. when i do these things, then i can start focusing a little more on gameplay

[BarrySlisk]

I have heard of (but never seen) a TV gameshow where several teams of contestants are placed in a "Junk Yard" and must gather together parts to complete a machine.
Sounds like "Scrapheap Challenge" (Discovery).

[DanMarshall]

Scrapheap Challenge is the original, UK version by RDF media. Junkyard is the US version of the IP.

You can tell I work in telly, can't you?

[gamedev101]

wow this thread is way of topic lol :D

[Edtharan]

wow this thread is way of topic lol
lol.

I think a game like this could become a MMOCasualGame. It might get more of the casual gamers into Massivly Multiplayer Games.

We could start another thread about the Junk Yard game as a theoretical exersize, or just keep it here?

[gamedev101]

just keep it here

[Edtharan]

For the code blocks, you would only need a few. They would be the common code structures in any language.

They would be:
If/Then decission statement
Get a value from a variable or sensor
Set a value on a variable
Create a Variable (The value could be stored on the Create Variable code block as a property of the code block and any reference to it would reference the block's properties)
Activate an actuator (like a motor or a light, etc)

Each block could be linked to the next block (or in the case of the If/Then multiple blocks) by draging a line (could be called a "wire") from the first block to the next or their target (this would be an actual obejct for the Actuators and sensors).

The main problem with a game like this (or one that uses physics) as an MMO is that it would requier a lot of processing power to do all the physics calculations and running the scripts.

[DanMarshall]

In my imagination it's quite 'stylised' in terms of looks, though. Bold, stark colour. More Tron than HL2. Could the saving you make on graphical prowess be used for complex physics instead? Just a thought. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

d

[Edtharan]

Well most of the graphics could be handled by the client computer, where as to make sure that all the physics work as intended you might need to have them all calculated on the server. This would make the quality of graphics independant of the physics.

One other method could be to use a distributed processing system for the physics, by having each client do some of the physics processing and sending it to the server for re-distrabution. You would probably need to have multiple copies of the physics simulation for any one object, so as to counter cheats, and also to handle lag spikes and line dropouts (hmm, I wonder if you could have a server work the same way - that way the more people play the game the bigger the world that can be supported).