Theory into Practice - What do you think?

Theory into Practice · Fri Nov 23, 2007 9:45 am

Hi all,

My name is Jack McDonald and I am in Year 9 at my high school.
We are currently doing a project which involves creating a company and producing a product to sell for Business Studies.

We created "Theory into Practice Productions", a gaming company with the aim of producing a game that allows the user to have as much input into the fictional world as possible.

I was hoping somebody could help us with the concepts of a game we could produce. The only information we have come up with, is that we want to make a Tactical Stealth Shooting game that allows the player to interact with the world in every possible way to avoid detection and get the job done.

When we say interaction with the world, we mean the ability to turn on television sets as a distraction, turn radio volume up to allow you to make noise without being heard, switch off or shoot out lights, overturn objects to force enemies to take alternate routes or slow them down and more. What do you guys think?

We realize this might take a while and have been given until the end of the Business Studies elective (Year 11) to complete the whole project.

Thanks.

Post by **Jay** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:40 pm

Let me get this straigt. You want to make a game? The full product? Or a concept of the product which you will present then? Or are you interested in the process of game making? What exactly do you have to do for this school project?

vrageprogrammer · Post by **vrageprogrammer** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:41 pm

try SCURF, I think it has all u need
I'm not really sure what you want though....

Agentarrow · Post by **Agentarrow** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 6:12 am

Lots, and I mean LOTS of long, boring scripting, not to mention the modeling and entities you'll need to be placing. Have a time frame for how long you guys have to make the project? I could help, let my team handle Terra Trooper for a little while. I have a few models you might like, I could e-mail them to you, they are all in .act format, which you'll need for model entities. Plus I have one .ms3d file of a Dodge Charger Datona '06 if you'd like it, but you'd need Milkshape 3D to see it. Yes or No?

ZenBudha · Post by **ZenBudha** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 9:18 am

I think I know what your looking for. You might want to play some "Metal Gear Solid" games because thats the image that comes to mind reading your concept.

You seem to have a decent time frame for game development however I do not know how skilled your team is. Scripting will be your easiest task. However textures, level design, modeling, and animation are not easily picked up skills. 2 years of professional training in just 1 aspect of that puts one at an entry level.

However it does not make it impossible but it's going to be like climbing up a muddy mountain in a plastic suit. A very slippery struggle.

The interaction scripts won't be a problem when it comes to turning on/off lights, TV's, etc. Those are very basic style scripts although the use of dynamic lighting I warn you now can really put a load on RF and needs fine tuning, and good light planning.

AI will be a hurdle as it needs to react to all of these variables as well. Also don't forget sound requirements one of the #1 aspects of a game, and the most overlooked. Good sound increases the enjoyment and quality of a game by 100%.

In short welcome to RF but if you really want to pull this off you, and your teammates need to hit it hard, and fast and don't stop for the next 2 years.

Post by **Jay** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:10 am

The biggest problem will be that the whole team has to go through the good AND the bad times in these 2 years. Once you've started you must go on and go on and go on, which is most of the time more difficult than modelling, scripting, etc...
Yes you must even go on when you've lost interest on the whole project...

A few helping questions for the concept:

-What makes the game unique?
-What graphics are you aiming for?
-Tactical shooter: Will you control only one character, or many at a time, or switch between them?
-What kind of view do you want? A top down view which gives good overview (good when you have more than one character that have to act as a team) or a third person view (also a good overview, but person-dependent, a good mix) or first person (which gives the least overview but the best 'i-am-in-the-game' experience)?
-What are the missions?
-Who/What is your enemy?
-What is the plan to defeat this enemy? Will it change throughout the game?
-Open world where you can go everywhere or gaming from one level to the next? - Influences level design greatly

I may give you even more if i find this excellent book 'Game Design', which features many of the industries' greats, like Shigeru Miyamoto (made Mario, Zelda, and many more) or also some level designers of Quake I/II or Half-Life...

Post by **bernie** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:27 pm

@AA You don't need milkshape to SEE .ms3d models Lithunwrap (comes free with rf) will load and display .ms3d files and you can save 'em as .obj or .3ds if you so wish. Just thought I'd mention it.

Snake (like in MGS) · Post by **Snake (like in MGS)** » Sat Nov 24, 2007 8:49 pm

This almost sounds like a cross between Syphon Filter and Socom: US Navy Seals. You should play both. They are good games and may serve as insparation. Good Luck!

Agentarrow · Post by **Agentarrow** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:05 am

bernie wrote:@AA You don't need milkshape to SEE .ms3d models Lithunwrap (comes free with rf) will load and display .ms3d files and you can save 'em as .obj or .3ds if you so wish. Just thought I'd mention it.

oops, Should have known since I use it to help convert my ms3d to act files. I can be such an idiot sometimes

Agentarrow · Post by **Agentarrow** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:22 am

anyway, my offer still stands theory into practice, I can help if you want.