s.c.u.R.F. :: Script Creation Utility for Reality Factory

[federico]

s.c.u.R.F. :: Script Creation Utility for Reality Factory

Well, this was hard but, unusual for me, I'm quite satisfied.

I'm proud to introduce you s.c.u.R.F., Script Creation Utility for Reality Factory, a name that surely reminds you SCUMM (scr... for Maniac Mansion). This isn't a game, it's a creation suite for 3d adventures game in lucasarts style (Monkey Island, Full Throtlle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis), designed around diffenrent scripts and design conventions to define the game behaviour.
It features a scripted inventory with four verbs Pick (hands on), Look at (eyes on), Talk with (lips on) + combine something with something else, that can be used to interact with inventory objects and world objects. Defining the object properties (not programming, just defining) you can set the player actions, the speech, the animations and several other aspects of the objects and character behaviour.
Another interesting feature is the cinematic engine that can be used to define the in-game cinematic scene: camera movements and targets, texts, effects, triggers and attributes, character's animations and movements...
It's hard to enumerate all the features I've implemented: the book reader (multipage with sounds), head turning to face objects (ala Grim Fandango), multiple speech line with different animations, alternative speech options...
Take a look at the videos and the screenshots (look at the end of this post).

I'm asking for help by the other developpers to add some features modifying the source. Currently I'm using a modified version of RF with new script commands. The conversation engine of RF is pratically perfect for an adventure games but must be reworked in some parts. Mainly the conversation system must be modified to let the game running and animate the pawns, adding some new commands to define cinemematic camera movements and character animations.
When the conversation system will be ok, I just need to add some basic script to manage two or three different NPC behaviour (static, walking, acting) and a scripting system to take care of the in-game music and audio (iMuse style). Then the work will be finished, ready to be used to develop a complete Adventure game in the new Sam&Max style.

I'm currently working on a modification of the verbs depending on the object type. This will make the verbs change to accord themselves to the objects: talk with the man, drink the water, smoke a cigarette, kiss your fiancée, all using the third verb (lips on).
The design "verbs + inventory" can be modified to create a verb-coin interface (Full Throttle, Curse of the Monkey Island), because the graphical design and the logical design are separated.

I hope you will enjoy this new possibilities for the game design with RF. I'm interested in support a serious team that wants to develop a game usign s.c.u.R.F., so I will reserve myself the right to decide about the release of the scripts until the system is completed. When finished all will be public released, no fear (still I don't want that you use the s.c.u.R.F. scripts outside the system without asking the permission). A closed alpha is ready for few programmers and friends to help and speed up the development, but I hope to release a first demo soon.

I'm writing some basic documentation about the new scripting reference and design conventions to make the features work correctly.

Videos:

Early Stages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVbGkHkpPGs

Basic Action + Book Reader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APe6XK37EfU

Complex Action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLeVUzuyaw

Cinematic + ChangeLevel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8BFV-PbJT4

Head Turning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP24Dqa_J8U


Screenshots:

Gallery: http://profile.imageshack.us/user/uomoa ... le/images/

[Juutis]

Wow!
That's great! So it's basically a modification for RF that lets you create adventure games just as easy as FPS games ?

I'm not the biggest fan of adventure games, but this is awesome news to those who want to create one of their own!!

Well done, very well done! And keep it up.

[psYco]

This is amazing! There are lots of engiens out there to easily make 2D text based adventure games, but none that i know of that allow it to be 3D like using RF and still be pretty simple! This is a major achievment, and might greatly boost the base of people who want to use RF!

[federico]

Added a new video link in the main post, showing the application of the SetRelBoneRatation command by Nout. It's interesting in a adventure game, because it let the player face the objects when selected (for example, Gim Fandango):

Head Turning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP24Dqa_J8U

So it's basically a modification for RF that lets you create adventure games just as easy as FPS games ?

Well. It isn'tt modification of the entire framework, although many changes were performed (mainly new script commands to simplify the scripts). It features a set of scripts that, setting up the things using the proper conventions (mainly entity names and file names), take care of the game.
So, for example, in one of the videos you have seen the popcan "spawing" from the vending machine. By convention, if an "intro" animation is present is played when spawing an entity, and a EntityName#"_intro.wav" is played.
All the logic of the game is stored in arrays. The scripts extract the data and tell the game how to behave. For example of you ive the command "Pick the popcan" the command corresponding will be [77410the_PopCan], that means:

Code: Select all

7 - do action and  remove item1 if attribute specified in string < 0 or string exists 
7 - walktospot and faceplayer
4 - array member of Action_Animation that defines the action animation
1 - array member of Talk_Animation that defines the talk animation
0 - standard behaviour: seteventstate true for the time of the action a 
trigger named 
the_PopCan - the Attribute string 

So if the attribute "the_PopCan" is higher than 1 (the item is in the inventory) the action fails, and the player will tell you: "I just have one of those". Otherwise the action will be performed succesfully: the player will walk to a scriptPoint named EntityName#"_point" and will perform the animation identified by the defined by array member corresponding, facing the object and then the camera, and then the player will talk to the camera (using the defined animation) telling: "This drink isn't cold and it seems really old" and eventually another phrases specified in a code at the end of array(and then eventually another...).

s.c.u.R.F. is a composed by a set of data conventions and design conventions to speed up all the development process. Theorically you only have to place the scripts in you level then use the proper name conventions, fill the array corresponding to the entity in the DATA entity script, fill the data for the in-game cinematic, and then (finally) let the game roll!

[Juutis]

Allright, sounds cool.

Arrays indeed are powerful. I've used a lot of them too and man, they really rock.

[Jay]

I just found your project frederico and well it's really really cool!
I like the idea of the s.c.u.R.F..

very good!

[federico]

thanks. I hope to release it soon. Currently I'm redesigning the conversation system by script, extending the cinematic engine, because I can't figure out how to solve some things I don't like of the current system. In this way I can have a cinematic style also in conversation with moving cameras and actors animations. Let's see...

[federico]

a quick update about s.c.u.R.F.
The italian Adventure's Planet community is appreciating very much my work. I got even an homepage news! http://www.adventuresplanet.it

The conversation system is growing up fast. I should finish it until this week-end.
A new video shows you the camera "cut" while two characters are conversating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4I5Nam6xw

[freeworld]

Amazing !!!!!! I'm a fanatic of LucasArts games ...
Simple question: What 's happen with your new's page?

Bye bye

s.c.u.R.F. :: Script Creation Utility for Reality Factory

Well, this was hard but, unusual for me, I'm quite satisfied.

I'm proud to introduce you s.c.u.R.F., Script Creation Utility for Reality Factory, a name that surely reminds you SCUMM (scr... for Maniac Mansion). This isn't a game, it's a creation suite for 3d adventures game in lucasarts style (Monkey Island, Full Throtlle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis), designed around diffenrent scripts and design conventions to define the game behaviour.
It features a scripted inventory with four verbs Pick (hands on), Look at (eyes on), Talk with (lips on) + combine something with something else, that can be used to interact with inventory objects and world objects. Defining the object properties (not programming, just defining) you can set the player actions, the speech, the animations and several other aspects of the objects and character behaviour.
Another interesting feature is the cinematic engine that can be used to define the in-game cinematic scene: camera movements and targets, texts, effects, triggers and attributes, character's animations and movements...
It's hard to enumerate all the features I've implemented: the book reader (multipage with sounds), head turning to face objects (ala Grim Fandango), multiple speech line with different animations, alternative speech options...
Take a look at the videos and the screenshots (look at the end of this post).

I'm asking for help by the other developpers to add some features modifying the source. Currently I'm using a modified version of RF with new script commands. The conversation engine of RF is pratically perfect for an adventure games but must be reworked in some parts. Mainly the conversation system must be modified to let the game running and animate the pawns, adding some new commands to define cinemematic camera movements and character animations.
When the conversation system will be ok, I just need to add some basic script to manage two or three different NPC behaviour (static, walking, acting) and a scripting system to take care of the in-game music and audio (iMuse style). Then the work will be finished, ready to be used to develop a complete Adventure game in the new Sam&Max style.

I'm currently working on a modification of the verbs depending on the object type. This will make the verbs change to accord themselves to the objects: talk with the man, drink the water, smoke a cigarette, kiss your fiancée, all using the third verb (lips on).
The design "verbs + inventory" can be modified to create a verb-coin interface (Full Throttle, Curse of the Monkey Island), because the graphical design and the logical design are separated.

I hope you will enjoy this new possibilities for the game design with RF. I'm interested in support a serious team that wants to develop a game usign s.c.u.R.F., so I will reserve myself the right to decide about the release of the scripts until the system is completed. When finished all will be public released, no fear (still I don't want that you use the s.c.u.R.F. scripts outside the system without asking the permission). A closed alpha is ready for few programmers and friends to help and speed up the development, but I hope to release a first demo soon.

I'm writing some basic documentation about the new scripting reference and design conventions to make the features work correctly.

Videos:

Early Stages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVbGkHkpPGs

Basic Action + Book Reader:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APe6XK37EfU

Complex Action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfLeVUzuyaw

Cinematic + ChangeLevel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8BFV-PbJT4

Head Turning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP24Dqa_J8U


Screenshots:

Gallery: http://profile.imageshack.us/user/uomoa ... le/images/

[mugginsmajik]

This looks fantastic!