DrewMelton's Forum Posts

  • thanks it's going well! I had a bit of a hiatus the last year, but I'm back to it. I haven't updated anything on the forums in a bit.. I probably will after the summer.

    hey those shadows look awesome.. are those rendered in real-time? love the look of this game...

    Cool, I look forward to seeing more when you get it done.

    The shadows are real time. I'm using one directional light as a main light, and a second directional light (with shadows turned off) from another angle to help light up the characters.

    I loved the way the lighting looked from this particular angle, but problem was that it put everything in shadow. However, with a bit of ambient light and secondary light to help brighten up the characters and props, I was able to get the best out of both worlds.

  • >

    > I just created a few more units, and added some other things. After I get a bit more done, I'll put up a new video. Probably in a few days.

    >

    looks awesome Drew! you should really team up with a coder... clearly your expertise is in modeling and animating, it's all very pro looking... not to say that you can't code.. I'm just saying add another person to help out will only make your game even better. There has be C# people in your area...

    good luck! I'm trying to keep a eye on your progress.. but I'm not on any of the unity forums! I'll try to follow your YT channel!

    Thanks! I've often considered teaming up with a dedicated programmer, but it's such a hard choice to make. I've gotten a decent handle on C#, at least to an intermediate level. Another programmer would free up some more time for me to do more modeling and animations, but it would also mean I would have to split profits. It's just such a hard decision.

    I really haven't posted much on the Unity forums yet. Once I get a bit more done, I'll be more willing to show it off. Don't want anybody stealing my ideas! I'll start a dedicated thread over there soon.

    But anyway, here is a recent screenshot showing off some new landscape features plus some new units. I have also implemented a more advanced combat system that takes into account the type of weapon being used and what kind of armor or shield the enemy has.

    Also, I hope your space game is going well. I've haven't been as active on these forums, so I haven't heard anything for a while.

  • Great, reminds a bit the game age of empires, but with well improved graphics, It was worth your commitment to carry out your project, persistence is always fundamental, congratulations I see that your progress is great do not give up, I see that you have talent and acumen

    Thanks!

    I just created a few more units, and added some other things. After I get a bit more done, I'll put up a new video. Probably in a few days.

  • The project is amazing, congratulations.

    Is there a test version?

    At the moment no, but I'm getting more and more gameplay done as time goes, so eventually I would like to release something playable.

    I'd like to have some basic sound effects, maybe some music, and get the game to a more polished state before I release anything. So, probably within a few months.

    Feel free to follow my youtube channel for updates since I will not be posting here very often. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvDojR ... kmQw98IsFw

  • Hello my dear friend, how is your work? It's over?

    Well, the game still has a long way to go. However, I am making great progress.

    Like I said a while back, I am using Unity and C# now. The game has shifted to be more of an RTS than an RPG. I wanted more open ended gameplay so I could focus more on gameplay than story/length. I want it to be replayable.

    Here is a recent screenshot. It has volumetric grass that sways in the wind, and the water has small waves. If you want to see it in motion, follow my youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThreeBlade ... =0&sort=dd

    My next video will show off the new units, new animations, and some other stuff that you see in that screenshot. Also, since I am using Unity, I will no longer be updating this thread. However, I will still respond to questions or comments.

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  • I see I am not the only one who found isometric tedious in C2. I too switched to 3d for the full 3d benefits.

    I am using Unity though. I tried Q3d and did not like it. Working in 3d without a 3d viewport was no fun.

    Well, my target will be pc for now. I may do a mobile port later, but that would involve redoing a lot of things. If the time ever comes that I want to start doing mobile games (or mobile ports), hopefully they will have it sorted.

    I upgraded my project to 5, so I probably won't be going back. Also, two of my books use Unity version 5 as well (Unity in Action, and Unity A.I. Game programming), so I'll be sticking with 5. I'll be starting the A.I. book in a day or two.

    One of my gripes is that projectors don't work. For the top-down game I'm working on, it would have been useful to project a selection circle around characters or bases (like Company of Heroes), but it isn't reliable enough. In fact, I think it's completely broken at the moment.

    I forget what else I don't like, but I'm a bit tired at the moment.

    One thing I did notice with 5.4 is that selecting objects in the viewport seems more responsive. I've had issues before with selecting specific objects, but it seems to be better now (so far at least).

    I don't think they've fixed mixed lighting not casting shadows on dynamic objects, but I'm just using one real-time directional light at the moment since I've my game outdoors. So, this doesn't really affect me.

    I hope they continue to iron bugs out. I don't want to have to go back to Unreal, even if I think it had a better engine. Unity is just so much easier for me now that I know how it works.

    It is a bit disappointing how many bugs Unity has, but it's still my favorite editor for 3d games, so I'm going to stick with it. Hopefully, the bugs will be ironed out eventually. If not, oh well. It's the only 3d engine that I'm competent in.

  • I wonder if it's possible to learn something like java script and making something in Unity after becoming more fluent in logic and math after mastering C2? I know I've read others say you can. I'm an artist, 2d and 3d. No programming skill at all but a lot of companies prefer you having programming knowledge. I guess it all a depends on the person.

    I am primarily an artist, but I'm learning programming. I'm currently learning c# and working in Unity. It is going well. It takes a lot of study, but I consider it to be worth it so far. I left C2 because I wanted to work in 3d.

    I think C2 did help me learn the logic of programming, but of course it still looked like a foreign language when I first started looking at scripts. Now, I consider myself capable, though still beginner/intermediate skill level. But hey, I've only been learning programming for a few months. I can do what I need to do as long as I keep the game scope realistic.

  • DrewMelton Thank you for the detailed answer. It did contain some useful information. As soon as I'll have some free time, I'll do a few tests and see how it works out.

    Your Unity port looks promising as well, I wish you good luck for it. If you don't mind my asking, I'd have some questions about that as well:

    - Are you coding it in C# or are you using some visual programming plugin?

    - I read that you tried UE4 as well (If I remember right). Why did you ended up using Unity instead of UE4?

    I'm coding in C#. I have Playmaker, but decided that I wanted to finally learn to code. I feel like it gives a bit more control, not to mention that if I ever join a team, saying I can program vs saying I only know how to use Playmaker or UE4 Blueprints or whatever, is a big selling point. Also, there are a lot of books and tutorials that are in C# (but not Playmaker). The next book I am going to read is strictly about A.I. programming.

    I liked UE4, in fact I still say it has a better graphics engine, but the ease of use with everything that comes with it gets in the way. When you want a customized game with specific features, all the nice features of UE4 tend to not help much, and may even make it more confusing. The visual blueprint nodes can look like mush after a while, and you have to bounce around a lot between sections.

    Unity in C# is very straight forward once you learn how it works. Everything is done from a centralized location. Every object has components that can be attached plus enabled/disabled at will all from the same screen. This makes it easy to accomplish certain tasks. For example, let's say you have a c# script that highlights the object on mouse over, well just grab it and attach it to the new object. That's it.

    I also feel like Unity is a bit easier to work with in general due to smaller file sizes for easier backup, and access to the asset store with plenty of examples and cool stuff made by professionals who specialize in one particular area. For example, the animated shaders in the Diablo style health and stamina globes you see above were assets that I bought because I do not have much experience in creating animated shaders. They look great in motion. The rest of the HUD I made myself, of course.

    Well, anyway, let me know if you have anymore questions. I need to head out for a while.

  • Thanks!

    It's been a long time since I've even opened C2, so my memory of how I did everything is a bit hazy, but I can help as best I can.

    I used multiple layers and built separate objects to act as the obstacles. As you can see in the screenshot below, the "red" objects are the obstacles for pathfinding. They are basically just a small square image that I enlarged and rotated until it fit under the walls. Place these at the base of objects or walls. Make sure there is enough room for the player to get through.

    Now, I can't remember what I did for the doors. I know that they block the player until opened. I probably regen the obstacle map (only around the object, not the whole map) or something when they open.

    The player is pinned to a small square sprite. This allows for rotations while keeping the player sprite upright. Also, I use the rotation of this object in the even sheet to set the appropriate player animation (walk upwards-left, walk down-right, whatever).

    Looking at the player, the cell size of his pathfinding sprite is 32. For faster rotation when taking off to walk, I manually set the angle of the pathfinding sprite, but that's optional.

    Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say, but let me know if you have any questions.

    P.S. Here is a screenshot from my Unity port. Note that this is merely a graphics test to see if I could make it look as good in 3d as my C2 2d pre-rendered game. This is not finished by any means, so things will definitely change. It's not even a complete level. It's just a test area. I am building a modular set to quickly build large levels. This screen is just to show how it is coming along.

  • Maybe my old video on level construction in my isometric game will give you some ideas on how I built everything and some of the challenges. And yes, everything has to be broken into small pieces with the origin point at the base of the object for sorting.

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  • I don't know if I have any specific tips at the moment, but feel free to watch any videos I posted in my game thread in my sig.

  • Also, if you are using "linear" sampling, try using "point" sampling. Point sampling retains hard edges in pixels and should not get blurry like that.