Questions for for anyone building games

#1 @Bobby: This is my wish list :)

- Destroyed concrete (one that does not suggest what type of building was destroyed, ie. Fallout 3)
- Concrete roadblocks, walls, turret mounters, bunkers
- Sci-fi forcefield fences
- Sci-fi bunkers
- Barbed wire traps, vehicle traps / blockers
- Modern vehicles (ie. non-existing, but not too modern / sci-fi looking, ie. Dexsoft's Viper)

#2 Here's my wish list (which is completely different than Konrads list :p) :

- medieval buildings like taverns, castles, houses, churches,
- ancient Egypt buildings like pyramids, sphynx or temples,
- some kind of dungeon construction kit,
- props like books, food, candles in medieval/fantasy style.

And to get a little bit off topic:
- sound fx and in-game music (fantasy, medieval and/or ancient egypt style).

#3 I will begins with the Dungeon Construction kit, as this was already on 'my' list, however @Konrad: I would be happy to design some stuff on you list too, and will add those. So basically i should be able to do both. What I had been working on beside mid-evil type archways, rooms, and Dungeon halls was Spaceship halls, or a ship interior design kit, so these should not be a problem.
@both of you: Any type of specifics you can provide that would help, such as Specific types of colors that you might like, or certain types of particular objects that you feel NEED to be a part of those type of kits, and any type of pictures you can fins that will illustrate exactly what you need. Thank you both for your help, I will now be hard at work, and post some progress soon:O) ( I hope this makes sense I ramble a bit)
Bobby

side thought @ Konrad: I have been working on a vehicle design that I think might suit your needs, but its far from complete, are you thinking more SUV size, or something smaller...hmm Ill look up the Dex-soft vehicle if that is the style you want. Also I would be happy to work out a private contract work with whom ever wishes something they want not to be sold in mass quantities...

#4 Also i should ask how do you folks like collision to be handled, would you like separate collision mesh, or will you be using the poly-soup, or should i included collision meshes too but in a separate identical model? i am sure this to be preference but being my first pack i want to make sure I cover my bases in what the people want:O)

#5 @Bobby: Sounds great!

Regarding the Dungeon Construction Kit: You could go two ways with this. Either create corners, walls etc... basic tiles that can be used to build a room (much like Maxim Lyulyukin's Dungeon construction Kit) or you could create complete corridors, rooms, entrances, etc.. - just like Alan James did with his Sci-Fi corridors and conduits pack.

Either way you choose, you might want to support procedural dungeon generation to make your kit very appealing. If you create tiles, make sure they all are the same base size. That way it would be more or less compatible with Maxim's editor too. If you go Alan's way, use only a few exit sizes (he used 3) and additionally, add named nodes (with names containing the size of the actual exit) looking outwards, so it would be possible to procedurally fit two models to each other.

It is a good idea to create a setup that you can sell as several packs - with multiple texture kits - to better monetize your efforts. It will be an important factor in motivating you to support your existing packs and create new ones.

Don't forget LODs! Create at least 3 LODs for every piece of your dungeon. Without LODs it will be killing the framerate and there won't be much use for it. It is more important that you make your LODs count. Don't make 4k, 3.5k and 3k LODs, since that does not matter much. 4k, 2k and 500 polys sound a lot better. Also be careful when setting pixel sizes for LODs. Dont make it work only far in the distance. All I'm saying is that you should keep performance in mind at all times.

One very important thing is to get your pack be expected in time. Start blogging about your efforts, and update us weekly. Create some hype for your pack, so on one hand you get feedback from the community continuously and on the other hand more people will be expecting your pack. Set a publish date early, and keep yourself to that the best you can. This way more people can plan with your kit.

Regarding vehicles - I will take anything - small or big - as long as its a modern, armored and wheeled vehicle that looks badass. Oh, and it doesn't hurt if I can mount a turret on it - but that's not a must. :)

Definitely use collision meshes. Still, it's a good idea to also plan the model for visible mesh collision, because other engines (would you choose to make your pack compatible with one) will probably not support Torque's collision meshes.

Good luck! Can't wait to see something! :)

#6 Thank you for your reply! That information is invaluable to me right now thank you! I will post something soon, probably by the end of the week i think, depending on my finals schedule, but by the end of next week i can guarantee some progress for all to see, and i think a Blog is a good idea:O)

#7 @Bobby:
For the collision I will use polysoup or visible mesh for my interiors (dungeons and so), so I don't really need collision meshes. LOD's are always good to have, but it might be an idea to make seperate files of them. This has an advantage that when you combine certain parts of a dungeon construction kit, it might be a little bit easier to join the different parts together.

For a dungeon construction kit I am looking for corridors with some kind of standard length, so I can extend them to my wishes, corners with different angles (say 15, 45 and 90 degrees turns), entrance, exits and wals to build up greater halls or so. About the look of it, I am looking for man made dungeons with brick walls and for natural caves carved out of the solid rocks or earth.

I am not an artist, but if you like to have some examples I might be able to send you some pictures of buildings or environments I have found here and there.

I am really lookig forward to see some of your work.

#8 Whatever you make, having a mobile-friendly version is also good. Ready to use, rather than requiring 3D software to extract only the lowest LOD levels. LODs for desktops can be separate or one file, but I agree with Richard that separate files are best. Or both a multi-LOD model and separate versions of the most relevant ones.

Have a look at other stuff being sold for Torque and others, like 3DRT, Arteria and Dexsoft. Make stuff they haven't done, or try to make better :)

#9 OK, here is my plan so far:
I have started with making the models as low a ploy as can be possibly gotten away with, last night I started with just a simple pillar so I could get a handle on one of the styles I want to include, and by the way I plan on including up to three possible 4 different styles on architecture, so you should be able to make quite a bit when I am done, and I am looking at possibly a 2-3 month time frame depending on how things go. If things are going to slow because of life and what ever comes up, them I will break the pack into smaller one. However as I show them It may become necessary to break them up anyway.

about LOD:

The plan is to make the models with and without both LOD, and collision mesh, but none of you will have to wonder which to use, because i will break them up between TGE, TGEA, and T3D as I own them all i think I should pay some homage to those that came before, and in their spirit(not that they are dead or anything)include sets for all three engine, give whomever buy these a bit of choice, and me less of a nightmare trying to keep everything together. Also i am hope to count on one or tow people that will plan on buy, after they see the product of course, to become a sort of early adopter/tester for me.

@everyone
How does this sound so far? Any additions or changes, or things I forgot to mention?

#10 Sounds good Bobby. Maybe you can start a blog in where we can follow your progress.

#11 yes I will be starting a blog next week that will outline my plan for all of this, but before then i really wanted to peck all your brains for things about style, color, and now that i got what type of pieces Im closer, but i really wanted to see what style is preferred, such as WOW style buildings and objects, or Oblivion's style that sort of things.

#12 Alrighty, so as I have had time to work I began with a simple bridge, and figured i would expand from there. The bridge came out OK, it has 2724 Polys, but this will be at its highest detail level, LOD will follow as I get some more objects completed, but it does have its own collision mesh so you characters on things like stairs will be going up a ramp, perhaps some screens as i finish more I will include a render on just the collision mesh, but here it is anyway.


Also in my spare time when not trying to find work across the country I had thought on character model packs too, this will probably mean a longer timeline over all on all model packs but I would like to have more than one product released at a time if I can, and here is one such object, this is a high-poly render and not game ready, but I am re-doing the topology and creating a lower-poly version set, this way I can bake the normal maps.


I would love to hear question, and/or comments. perhaps there is something I might have missed in detailing something, but do understand they are NOT finished but a work in progress, but constructive criticism is very welcome and appreciated:O)

Bobby

#13 @ Bobby, Looking Great so far, I have some ideas for different packs you may be interested in. From character packs to Environment Packs, if interested I can dig up everything and start posting ideas. Again great start and keep up the good work!

#14 I would love to have some more concept art to work with:O)

#15 Looking great Bobby.