New Guy Says Hello

[ChainedFlight]

Hello Everyone!

Wow, that was a bit more excited than I meant it to be. Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and say hello to whoever may still be lurking around. I'm ChainedFlight, I also go by M., and I just recently stumbled onto Reality Factory after I was struck by a game idea, but had absolutely no experience programming. I've planned out a simple survival horror game called Ascending the Pit, that will probably vastly under utilize the RF engine in terms of level design, but to which I plan on building close to a dozen endings as long as I can figure out how to actually make things work. Again I have no programming experience so it should be interesting to see if I can make it work.

Once I'm able to make the cut brush work in the test game, instead of just the editor, then I can upload the basic level design w/ lighting for people to see (if anyone is interested). It shouldn't take long since I only plan on having 4 basic rooms [One which will be filled with various models as the levels, one which is the stairwell up to the next floor, One starting room and one ending room] and the stairwell has all the functional brushes implemented.

Anyway, I'm still going through the official tutorials on the site, so I won't bother anyone with asking about why a cut brush will show up in editor, but not when I preview the game. I just wanted to say hello and I hope everyone is doing well.

[steven8]

Hello M,

To explain a cut brush not 'showing up' in game, it's because the use of a cut brush is to literally cut a hole through another brush. As for a window or a door. They are not visible in game.

I wish you the best of luck with your game. When you get it ready, just post a link and I'll give it a go.

Steve

[realgaming135]

Hi M.

And welcome to the Reality Factory forums
I'm glad that you want to try reality factory, and you want to join the community. And it's nice that you want to share your game ideas with us, and good luck with the game. If you need any help, just ask This community is not the biggest one, but the active members are great people, so I'm sure that you will get help, if you get a problem. Your game idea sounds good, and I'm sure that you will end up with a good game I'm looking forward to hear more about how your developing is going And once again, good luck with the game

Realgaming135

[ChainedFlight]

Hello Steven and Realgaming it's nice to meet you both.

@Steven: Ah yes, I understand what the cut brush does and I've used it a couple of times within the level, the problem is that I recently tried something new (I took the stairwell I created, put all the objects into a group so they were all highlighted (since I didn't know how to select multiple items at the time) I then copy pasted that group, moved the selected room across to the other side of floor two, Rotated it 180 degrees horizontally so the cut brushes would be inserting into the hollow rectangle brushes for the second and third level.) and now it will show in the editor, but not when I load the game. I'm uploading an image for you to see, it's the stairwell on the right between 2-3. When I view it in the 3d view i see it, but in the preview the doorway just isn't there.

Any thoughts on what might be wrong?

@Realgaming: Thanks for the warm welcome!

[steven8]

Hello Steven and Realgaming it's nice to meet you both.

@Steven: Ah yes, I understand what the cut brush does and I've used it a couple of times within the level, the problem is that I recently tried something new (I took the stairwell I created, put all the objects into a group so they were all highlighted (since I didn't know how to select multiple items at the time) I then copy pasted that group, moved the selected room across to the other side of floor two, Rotated it 180 degrees horizontally so the cut brushes would be inserting into the hollow rectangle brushes for the second and third level.) and now it will show in the editor, but not when I load the game. I'm uploading an image for you to see, it's the stairwell on the right between 2-3. When I view it in the 3d view i see it, but in the preview the doorway just isn't there.

Any thoughts on what might be wrong?

@Realgaming: Thanks for the warm welcome!

Two thoughts:

1) delete and re-add the cut brush. (I'd do that anyway)

2) Only make your cut brushes about a texel thicker than what you want to cut through. Also, when cutting out a door, I leave them one texel off the ground, as I have had them create a texture issue with the floor.

While I have had good success with cut brushes, you will find a prevailing attitude that they be avoided at all cost, to keep from taxing the engine. There are many users who will tell you to just plan your geometry with brushes so as to leave the desired openings. There is some merit to that idea, and you may want to think about it. It takes a lot of thinking and extra work, but in the end you have a very clean level.

Keep us posted!!

[ChainedFlight]

Two thoughts:

1) delete and re-add the cut brush. (I'd do that anyway)

2) Only make your cut brushes about a texel thicker than what you want to cut through. Also, when cutting out a door, I leave them one texel off the ground, as I have had them create a texture issue with the floor.

While I have had good success with cut brushes, you will find a prevailing attitude that they be avoided at all cost, to keep from taxing the engine. There are many users who will tell you to just plan your geometry with brushes so as to leave the desired openings. There is some merit to that idea, and you may want to think about it. It takes a lot of thinking and extra work, but in the end you have a very clean level.

Keep us posted!!

Thanks for the advice, I'll need to try those things out when I get back home. (At the library right now checking e-mail.)

As to eliminating the cut brushes all together, I may consider that as well. The base outline for most of the game is what you see copy/pasted one over the other for about 40-50 floors, so once I create a stairwell and a basic floor level, it shouldn't be very difficult to build the rest. I'm not opposed to doing some hard work in the beginning if it makes it easier later on, not to mention that if it keeps the game from taxing the engine, then all the better since it will allow for more levels and allow me more time to slowly build the atmosphere.

Just as a question, what is the best way to share the game for testing? is there a special file format that the game needs to be saved as and then I just find an upload site or would it be better to figure out how to apply a download link directly from my website? (Not that I know anything about website programming either, but I did recently purchase www.chainedflight.com so it, in theory, would be easy enough for me to add a section for the game and provide a download link...hopefully.)

Anyway, thanks again for your help so far.

[PhaNtom]

I can help you with the download link, if you'd like...

[ChainedFlight]

Hello PhaNtom nice to meet you.

Thanks for the offer, I'll keep that in mind for when I'm done with the level building. It may be a bit since I think I want to figure out how and where to add in all the sounds for the music and effects as well as get the lighting set up, but with those three I think that might be a good place for a test run to see what people think of the atmosphere.

[bernie]

Welcome to the forum ChainedFlight. Sounds like you have some good ideas there. Have you downloaded the free e-book at http://www.realityfactory.info/cms/inde ... umentation yet? It is a very good starting point for learning RF.

[ChainedFlight]

Welcome to the forum ChainedFlight. Sounds like you have some good ideas there. Have you downloaded the free e-book at http://www.realityfactory.info/cms/inde ... umentation yet? It is a very good starting point for learning RF.

Thanks for the reply, it's nice to meet you Bernie.

I've downloaded it and, before, I was just using the level design tips to get me as far as I wanted to go at the time. (EX I've used the level design tutorial section to give me the knowledge to build the brush parts of the levels, which I've just finished. However, now that I have all the rooms set up I think I'll probably read the rest of it before I start on the next section. It was easy to rationalize ignoring the rest of the tutorial before since I can't put anything (lights, models, actors, sounds, etc.) in a game without having the physical rooms to place them in. Now that I'm at this point, however, I could branch out into any of the different features (I've said lights in a different forum, but I could just as easily insert the sounds and be just as well off in terms of the timetable).

[Veleran]

Hello,Welcome.I could nt say this earlier because for one more time the internet providers wifi hotspot of the area broke and i could nt connect.
Few quick tips:
Better make from the start a little of everything the game level needs even if you miss content and need to use idle animated pawns and placeholder objects as a start.
Some times be prepared to start a level all over again and again so,do not rush to say 'hey this s the final-let me put some detail stuff in it".
The more tests you do the better it ll get,even if it gets boring some times.The randomness in game level design is good if you got a plan-at least a tiny plan ,like saying that the level top view will look like a cross with one dot at each corner and you can only go by teleport to the corners and so on.