Content Packs

#1 @Joe: I've been thinking about this from a possible purchaser's perspective, and I think one thing that may aid in both the development and the marketability of content packs is some sort of community standard that is put together.

It might range from very simple things like "all building models should have a 2 unit "base" or "foundation" for attractive placement on flat terrain, to a more technical list of core animations, node naming conventions and the like.

I know that all of this type of information is available to experienced artists in some form or another, but it would be a measure of confidence for us programmer types when a pack is marketed as "GG Content Pack Standards Compliant!"

#2 If GG is publishing the pack, then a purchaser can rest assured that it will be standards compliant to a large extent in that it will be fully working and have been tested with Torque.

#3 Contents packs are a must have commodity as it makes things a hell of
a lot easier to either just place them ingame as is,or modify textures to
your liking.
hopefully by the weekend ill have enough to buy the pack with environment stuff
cause i need fishes and birds for my game,the time saved by not having to make
them is tenfold.
added reasons are the coding of such items,as having made your own fish,how
on earth do you place them ingame?
the packs come ready to place and are well worth the 25 bucks.
also the tree pack ill get around to buying as i can replace textures and just place
away to my hearts content.
in a way the packs are like surrogate team members,instantly providing the support
to the individual game dev.

what i would like to see is an advanced character pack with more
weapons and animations included like
crouch,walk run at levels of degree 45% L&R forward and back,prone,crawl,
reload,kneel,lean L&R
pistols grenades rifles punch kick and would glady pay $200+ even if simply textured
and a basic model as long as it works from the box just for the sheer time saving.

AI packs as well is something we need
mega object packs,filled with bushes,trees,grass,flowers the list goes on and on.

#4 Just to note, if anyone is interested in doing content packs, please feel free to email me... joshw at garagegames dot com. I have been a bit slow to reply lately as I'm in crunch-mode on multiple projects, but part of my job is to try to help people do stuff like content packs, so I'm always up to hear ideas and help figure out whether something would make sense as a project to focus on. :)

#5 I know this is off topic but I was wondering why I see more and more people spelling out there email address? like joshw at garagegames dot com

#6 @Charlie: so spambots can't extract your email address ;)

Quote:ask away and I will do my best to answer questions about our experiences with making and selling content packs.

Well you did ask :) can you have a look at this thread Joe and provide any ideas :oD

#7 Read the thread, and I think where you are going is good. Here are some things to keep in mind. Our experience is that many people are buying the packs not to use them directly, but to use them to learn how to make shapes for their own project. So, the documentation of what you did and how you did it is an important as the shapes themsleves.

I like the facia idea.. having it so you can just have people make their own interiors and kind of assemble them in a 'kit'

I would actually expand on the component idea and make it a key feature of the pack.. sort of like an example where you take

Part A, Part D, and Part Y with texture set L gives you this: (shot of model)

Part A, PArt Q, and Part X with texture set K gives you this: (shot of model)

so that people can see how this can speed them up and save them money.

I would also make the texture style and set specific to a genre when marketing.

It sounds like your stuff could be used in an RPG.. but also in a WW2 game (bombed out french village) and that calling a set the 'fantasy
set or the 'war set' would be more effective than being specific to the style of architechture.

I would also make the PSDs with all the shading/highlights on layers (so they can be turned off for shaders) and with any dirt and grime in layer so they can be turned on/off for different looks.. I would also add adjustment layers in the source texture files for easy color/value manipulation, and advertise the pack as having this funtionality (and demonstrate it)

The key feedback on content packs in general is that it is too generic and will look the same in all games.. if you can demonstrate that you designed it so it can be customized very easily, I think that people would respond well to it.

Note also that people seem to respond well to having simple scripted items. Our enviroment pack does well, so having waving flags, fireplaces.. smoke.. animating 'stuff' that includes the scripts seems to increase the perception of the inhernet value of the pack, and it extends the market betond artists to mod makers and programmers (as there is something for them to 'play' with.)

Hope these comment help.

#8 Excellent comments Joe. From our POV, content packs are always more attractive when they have docs, some scripted items, and highly customizable art. Modularizing the 3d assets, and intelligently layering the textures are very important too, and the better job you do with that stuff, the broader appeal your pack will have.

#9 Part of the reason I was thinking about a set of community standards is that there is a bit of a dichotomy now as to how to make "buildings". In the past, for the very large majority of projects, .dif (interiors) were the de facto standard due to the various advantages of that format.

However, especially with the release of the RTS Starter Kit, .dts constructed buildings are become more important to projects--run time placement and manipulation of buildings/structures is most easily handled by representing them with .dts shapes, and that is the direction the RTS SK (as well as my project) went.

I know that we would buy any of these amazing building based content kits simply for prototyping purposes (even if they weren't in our theme, although fantasy/medieval would be ideal) in a heartbeat if they contained .dts buildings instead of .dif.

For what it's worth, right now the RTS SK community is still getting used to the features and structure, but there is going to be a large demand I would expect for a set of .dts structures that can be used within the kit.