Battlestar Galactica Viper Simulator

#1 I've started work on the Viper starfighter. This image is a work in progress, and there's still a long way to go with this model. The cockpit needs to be modified, alot of optimization needs to happen, as well as to triangulate the polys. I'm aiming for about 5000 triangles in total when it's done. It is a tad high, yes, but I figure that if in a common fps you can get away with a 3000 tri character, a 1000 tri weapon AND evironments etc, it's not too unreasonable. Let me know what you think.


Andy

#2 That's pretty sweet

#3 @andrew

Have you looked at the VegaStrike engine ? It's a GPL free engine ( i think it's made in Pyton ) that was created to remake Wing Commander Privateer. So all you have to do is put in your own models and write your missions in very easy scripts.

#4 Although I like your enthusiasm, I do believe this would be illegal, as I do not believe that you own the BSG trademark; you may run into legal issues, the same ones that the Stargate game ran into.

#5 Thanks Sam M.

I have looked at the Vega Strike engine, and I don't mean to offend, but I haven't seen anything to suggest it would be capable of what I want. I'm not really interested in missions as such. I was thinking more along the lines of something quick and fun, simple. Like conterstrike... only... in space.

As far as legality is concerned, I believe this would fall under "fair use". While selling, purchasing or distributing a Battlestar Galactica game would most definitely be illegal, creating a game for my own personal use is no more illegal than drawing doodles of vipers in my sketchbook.

#6 You know,
it's a lot more fun when you can redistribute the hard work you and some programmer(s) put into a project.
especially for the programmers. - who wants to work on something which has a legal audience of two ?

- your model is gorgeous,
so maybe you could come up with a universe that isn't BSG but has enough of the feel of it to be what you're after ?

or heck, with models like that, just come up with a whole new universe of your own!

#7 I totally agree, and I'd be open to developing it into something new and original for free distribution on the internet after it's done, but let's be honest, alot of the fun is getting to fly a viper and shoot up some toasters. The point of the project would be to just have fun and make something cool. I think the incentive here would be getting free torque tools (shader engine, lighting kit, whatever you'd need, I'm not the expert) for the programmer, rather than working on a project with a huge audience. As I said though, I'd likely turn it into something original for distribution when it's done, but that's more of an art issue rather than a programming issue.

#8 You could also Mod or create a variation of a game using the FreeSpace 2 engine that was released out to the community a few years back. You would probably have more success using that engine than you would Torque or anything else that people have previously listed here.

#9 There is a Freespace SCP project on BSG:
www.game-warden.com/bsg/ingamecgi.htm

SCP home:
scp.indiegames.us/news.php

#10 Andrew, that model looks great. I will say that IMHO, 5000 polys isn't just a "tad" high, but very high for a game model. :) Normally, the player is too busy with the game to notice whether or not something is indented or drawn to appear indented. I think you could do something a lot simpler, add the details in the texture, and it would look sweet.

Or you could work with normal maps, which can take a high (or medium) -poly model and apply it to a low-poly model to make it look like it has more polygons than it really does.

#11 Looks great!!

#12 Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate it.

I considered the Freespace thing, but as Andrew Kerr pointed out, there's already a BSG project on the go in that vein, as well as the engine's age among other factors. From what I've seen, I feel like torque would provide the best result for this project.

Yeah 5000 is very high. Normal players may not notice this level of detail, but being an artist myself, I'm not a normal player. My initial idea is to have the fighters actually consist of 3 or 4 different models which can each take and show visual damage when dogfighting, and when thought of in this light each model would only be about 1500 tris, not uncommon for todays computer games. But when all is said and done I would ideally want to have a choice for detail level of the models from low to high, the above model being the high end.

#13 Andrew,

I don't know if anyone has e-mailed you about helping out, but if this is just for your personal enjoyment, I could probably whip you up a quick prototype (no terrain, zero-g flight, etc.). I already have a license, so I don't need that kind of compensation.

Of course, other commercial TGE licensees could provide the same service. The price for such a prototype would depend on the engine modifications required, but it probably wouldn't cost much. I'm not trying to spam you or anything, just offering some alternatives.

By the way, I still don't know why my account lists me as 'member' rather than 'commercial'. One of these days I'll e-mail Rick O. or Stephen Z. about it.

:)

#14 Aaron, your profile notes say, "Torque SDK Owner". I don't believe it'll have "Commercial" under your name unless you've actually purchased the commercial version of the license (and not the Indie). Well, unless you do have the commercial version. :)

#15 Hey Aaron, shoot me an e-mail. I'd be open to talking about that.

#16 @Eric,

That's the weird part. I was a TGE Indie licencee for over a year before finally upgrading to TGE commercial. For some reason the system still sees me as an Indie.

@Andrew,

I'll drop you a line and see what we can come up with.