Z remake in Spring RTS

[caston]

Hello,

I was looking into moding the Zod engine (http://zod.sourceforge.net/)
to make a new game but with the same theme of gameplay e.g. capture the flag style where units are built in game (in Z's case from factories) but the engine seems very hard coded, dated and unpolished making me wonder if I should use an entirely different engine to produce this project.

Could Spring RTS make a game that plays like Z but is more modular, customisable and has better graphics?

[smoth]

Given the focused and meticulous nature of your questions, the detail with which you pose them, I will give you an equally detailed and in depth answer.

Sure.

[Silentwings]

I have no idea what Z is and no real idea what kind of game you are trying to make but

capture the flag style

units are built ... from factories

are both possible. Spring is pretty flexible.

[Karl]

shouldn't be too impossible I guess

for Z styled destructible terrain you would need to place them as fake-units/features I think (you couldn't anyway put a unit on top of that so it doesn't matter) so basically making a model of those sprite tiles

uh and for flags/capturable buildings I think you might need to check
Zero-K,Spring 1944 (has flags), Micron-Wars (it has capturable buildings)
but afaik the flag radius is spherical shaped and not cubical so it might be issue



but you need aswell set up config file how stuff should be spawned for each map,

I have no idea what Z is and no real idea what kind of game you are trying to make but.

It is an 2D RTS game from Bitmap Brothers made around in the 1990'ies

[PicassoCT]

Actually there was a 3D Z- which he is trying to remake.

And yes, if you fullfill the necessary conditions its possible, depending on your love for detail, actually pretty fast:

But you need CAT

-Coding (Can you write your own code, debug it)
- Artist ( Modelling, Texturing, Animating)
- Testing (Testgames, nerfing, balancing)

[Silentwings]

There is a "capture the flag" map made for BA somewhere out there!

[Google_Frog]

The closest I have played is Z:Steel Soldiers but from what I can tell Spring would be well suited to making a Z type game. Spring sounds perfect for what you want to do.

If you are looking at an engine you should try some of the things that use the engine to get an idea of what is possible/'easy' to do. Spring Tanks is a game with CTF as a core concept. Zero-K has a CTF mode.

[caston]

Thanks guys. I have feel better about the ZOD engine now that I have been modifying and playing with it more but I will definitely look at Spring if it becomes to hard to modernise the game using the existing engine.

So it may be the the first game is made in Zod but the sequel is made in Spring. I will keep this thread updated.

[klapmongool]

Thanks guys. I have feel better about the ZOD engine now that I have been modifying and playing with it more but I will definitely look at Spring if it becomes to hard to modernise the game using the existing engine.

So it may be the the first game is made in Zod but the sequel is made in Spring. I will keep this thread updated.

Since yesterday?

Good luck with the game!

[CarRepairer]

I looked at the zod videos on the provided link and it looks like Spring is 100% suited to what you want. I highly recommend you switch to Spring.

[PicassoCT]

Do you need help modelling or texturing?

[AF]

Caston, can I ask if you have actually downloaded and launched a spring engine game?

My impression is that you posted here because you couldn't be arsed doing the spec work and wanted free consultation as to whether your project was feasible or if the engine was appropriate.

Even the banner for the websites header shows a factory building:



Even googling would have been easier than writing that post:

[Pxtl]

Yes, you absolutely could implement Z in Spring.

To be fair: making games in Spring is not easy - this isn't a GameMaker. It's got a lot of idiosyncracies and a bit of an odd toolchain in spots. But it works and it's sufficiently versatile for Z.

The only traditional Z feature I can think of that would be hard is the way the pathfinder interacts with mutable terrain: that is, the way tanks and grenade-equipped infantry smash through destructible walls with their weapons as a short-cut.

Also, the piloting thing - I don't remember how, exactly, Z units would pop their heads out of tanks and occasionally get sniped, converting the vehicle into a neutral/claimable unit... I never figured out the exact logic of that. But that kind of feature might be a bit trickier in Spring. Not impossible by any stretch (lots of games have very fancy damage models) but a little fiddly to get right.

If you mean modular as in modular units? Modular units in spring are Hard. doable, but Hard.

[Forboding Angel]

I would submit that once you have your workflow for spring set up that it's pretty easy, especially in 96+. But yeah, certain parts are a bit odd.