I am now in the planning stages for my second major game project for Spring- a fantasy battle game.
I am not talking about the details of this game design at this time, except to say that it will be satisfying to people who want a traditional RTS experience- this is not an experimental design piece like NanoBlobs.
I need experienced modelers, scriptors and painters. Anybody may apply, so long as you have a skillset required. As with all my projects, I aim for very high production values, and would like the best help I can get. If you are a fellow modder whose project is stalling because you lack one of the skillsets required to complete a working S3O mod for Spring, I will help you learn, in exchange for your labor.
Project Two: Now Recruiting
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SwiftSpear
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Drone_Fragger
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
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Hmmm, Argh, did I ever talk to you about my design idea for a fantasy environment? I don't mean to hijack your idea, or derail your thread, but I thought I might throw it your way to see if it interests you.
In the interests of not derailing the thread, I'll be brief:
Basically, the idea is that you have a war, but instead of having it on an enormous galactic scale, you have it on a tiny scale.
You have insects battling it out, the two sides being the House Bugs, and the Garden Bugs. All insects partake in this battle, with the grunt infantry (and the most intelligent of the insects) being the ants, running through spiders, beetles, etc.
House bugs are the more ingenious side, using modern contraptions as a regular part of their arsenal, such as catapults made from spoons, insect spray biological warfare, etc. However, being house bound means that they are less hardy then outdoor insects, and have to rely on their intelligence instead of their brawn. You could parallel this side with a sort of steampunk 19th century side, going as far as equipping them with dirt shooter muskets, etc.
Garden bugs are far more 'old world', with parallels to Japanese samurai, and perhaps European Knights/Celtic Warriors, etc. They use conventional weaponry, (And as Dopefishhh suggested when I brought this up a little while ago, perhaps some magic), such as ants mounted on the back of a spider, as a sort of 'war elephant' type unit, etc. This side is more hardy, but lacks the higher tier technology of the other side.
The way to deliver this would be completely dead-pan. It is obviously humorous in nature, but you wouldn't make it funny, but deadly serious (wherein lies it's greatest joke
). I even had an epic tale planned about the rift between the outside realm and that of the inside once the "titans" (humans) had been driven out.
Anyway, I won't at all be offended if you are already intending to go elsewhere with this project. I just thought I'd throw the idea your way and see if it piques your interest.
In the interests of not derailing the thread, I'll be brief:
Basically, the idea is that you have a war, but instead of having it on an enormous galactic scale, you have it on a tiny scale.
You have insects battling it out, the two sides being the House Bugs, and the Garden Bugs. All insects partake in this battle, with the grunt infantry (and the most intelligent of the insects) being the ants, running through spiders, beetles, etc.
House bugs are the more ingenious side, using modern contraptions as a regular part of their arsenal, such as catapults made from spoons, insect spray biological warfare, etc. However, being house bound means that they are less hardy then outdoor insects, and have to rely on their intelligence instead of their brawn. You could parallel this side with a sort of steampunk 19th century side, going as far as equipping them with dirt shooter muskets, etc.
Garden bugs are far more 'old world', with parallels to Japanese samurai, and perhaps European Knights/Celtic Warriors, etc. They use conventional weaponry, (And as Dopefishhh suggested when I brought this up a little while ago, perhaps some magic), such as ants mounted on the back of a spider, as a sort of 'war elephant' type unit, etc. This side is more hardy, but lacks the higher tier technology of the other side.
The way to deliver this would be completely dead-pan. It is obviously humorous in nature, but you wouldn't make it funny, but deadly serious (wherein lies it's greatest joke
). I even had an epic tale planned about the rift between the outside realm and that of the inside once the "titans" (humans) had been driven out.Anyway, I won't at all be offended if you are already intending to go elsewhere with this project. I just thought I'd throw the idea your way and see if it piques your interest.
That's a cute idea, Warlord, but I'm planning something a lot more traditional in terms of art and design.
And, um... I'll see if I can't find the unfinished TA:K port, although I'll be the first to say that I have zero intention of recreating that game design.
What I will say about the design at this time, subject to a lot've thought and revision, is that it will be an epic struggle between various fantasy races- and each one will have three Houses, which are (in game terms) technology trees. For example, the Human Houses:
House Barbaricum: this House fields hardy, cheap warriors with hand-to-hand weapons, who do a lot of damage but aren't well armored. Magicians from this House specialise in summoning spells, and this House builds very poor, but cheap fortfications, and can build "cattle" which can be slaughtered to recover Gold (indirectly, one presumes). The first level of House Barbaricum will be quite tempting, because it gives players a quick way to go raiding, but in the longer term, going soley with Barbaricum will probably not be economical. However, Barbaricum is balanced between Gold and Mana, so you will be able to keep your economy afloat by building some of the economic buffs from the other two Houses and keep a Barbarian army alive.
House Civitas: this House fields the best ranged units, and builds the best fortifications and economy. In short, Civitas is the porcer's House. However, this House's infantry, while well-armored, are slow and not terribly effective without defenses to back them up. Their only effective offensive units will be their heavy armored calvary. This House is almost entirely dependent on Gold production, so players who go heavy on its tech tree will want to build a lot of Mines, and defend them well. However, to attack, you really need the support of one or both of the other Houses.
House Magica: this House specialises in wizardry. Players will rarely want to start with this House, as it will not be able to defend itself very efficiently in early game, but if you can develop it to the end of the tech tree, you will be able to summon awesome creatures, such as Golems, Dragon Riders, and other things. However, this House is almost entirely dependent on Mana production, so it might be helpful to build some units/buildings from the other two Houses to keep your economy and armies in good shape.
And, um... I'll see if I can't find the unfinished TA:K port, although I'll be the first to say that I have zero intention of recreating that game design.
What I will say about the design at this time, subject to a lot've thought and revision, is that it will be an epic struggle between various fantasy races- and each one will have three Houses, which are (in game terms) technology trees. For example, the Human Houses:
House Barbaricum: this House fields hardy, cheap warriors with hand-to-hand weapons, who do a lot of damage but aren't well armored. Magicians from this House specialise in summoning spells, and this House builds very poor, but cheap fortfications, and can build "cattle" which can be slaughtered to recover Gold (indirectly, one presumes). The first level of House Barbaricum will be quite tempting, because it gives players a quick way to go raiding, but in the longer term, going soley with Barbaricum will probably not be economical. However, Barbaricum is balanced between Gold and Mana, so you will be able to keep your economy afloat by building some of the economic buffs from the other two Houses and keep a Barbarian army alive.
House Civitas: this House fields the best ranged units, and builds the best fortifications and economy. In short, Civitas is the porcer's House. However, this House's infantry, while well-armored, are slow and not terribly effective without defenses to back them up. Their only effective offensive units will be their heavy armored calvary. This House is almost entirely dependent on Gold production, so players who go heavy on its tech tree will want to build a lot of Mines, and defend them well. However, to attack, you really need the support of one or both of the other Houses.
House Magica: this House specialises in wizardry. Players will rarely want to start with this House, as it will not be able to defend itself very efficiently in early game, but if you can develop it to the end of the tech tree, you will be able to summon awesome creatures, such as Golems, Dragon Riders, and other things. However, this House is almost entirely dependent on Mana production, so it might be helpful to build some units/buildings from the other two Houses to keep your economy and armies in good shape.
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Warlord Zsinj
- Imperial Winter Developer
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- Joined: 24 Aug 2004, 08:59
Ah well, I'll just have to keep the idea on the backburner. I wasn't really going for a "cutesy" sort of feel, but anyway...
I think you should try and avoid hand-to-hand weaponry. It'll save you a hell of a lot of grief, on all levels of implementation. TA:K showed that the TA engine (and therefore spring) just isn't built for melee combat. I realise we could get various fixes for Spring, but, from my experience with Jedi, it is an enormous task to script, animate, balance and generally get working.
Just some friendly advice.
If you're going to go for the latin feel, perhaps you should angle it from a "what-if" scenario regarding the Roman empire. Perhaps, "what if the Roman empire discovered how to use magic at its outset", etc.
I think you should try and avoid hand-to-hand weaponry. It'll save you a hell of a lot of grief, on all levels of implementation. TA:K showed that the TA engine (and therefore spring) just isn't built for melee combat. I realise we could get various fixes for Spring, but, from my experience with Jedi, it is an enormous task to script, animate, balance and generally get working.
Just some friendly advice.
If you're going to go for the latin feel, perhaps you should angle it from a "what-if" scenario regarding the Roman empire. Perhaps, "what if the Roman empire discovered how to use magic at its outset", etc.
I've done some HTH stuff, and I think it can work. The key is that it requires some very strong animations.
I'm kind've starting this project with the idea that it will help push the content-creation side of Spring's development along, by giving the developers a project that will actually be ready to use some of the proposed features/tools as they are developed. I do not know how long it will be before I have the first technical demo ready, but I'll start working on it this week.
As for everybody who's volunteering... I think that it would be best to build one House of two Factions first, so that we have an early playable mod, and can look at specific issues. I will get a tech-tree done for Barbaricum and the Orc House (yes, I'm doing Humans vs. Orcs as the first two races, fancy that) soonish, and we can go from there.
I'm kind've starting this project with the idea that it will help push the content-creation side of Spring's development along, by giving the developers a project that will actually be ready to use some of the proposed features/tools as they are developed. I do not know how long it will be before I have the first technical demo ready, but I'll start working on it this week.
As for everybody who's volunteering... I think that it would be best to build one House of two Factions first, so that we have an early playable mod, and can look at specific issues. I will get a tech-tree done for Barbaricum and the Orc House (yes, I'm doing Humans vs. Orcs as the first two races, fancy that) soonish, and we can go from there.
Make it so the cattle are built as calf, suckling piglet, and lamb, and run a clock script. After time, make them grow bigger (simply with some hide pieces;show pieces;). Maybe three different size for each kind of cattle, more if you have time. Make it so the more aged the cattle the lower the corpsetype the Killed script return. That way, you have to let the cattle graze for a while before slaughtering them for ressource. Note that you don't have to bug any engine developper for that, it can all be done script wise with the curret spring version. Ok, the footprint won't grow, but it's no big deal imo. (Tis funny, tis the idea I used for my TI92/89 RTS)Argh wrote:can build "cattle" which can be slaughtered to recover Gold (indirectly, one presumes)
And good luck scripting organic unit animation!
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SwiftSpear
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Spring is a bit of an unfortuneate engine to realize such a vision... Organic models are very difficult to animate effectively in spring and you won't be able to include much in the way of fun details if you want large scale battles to work well.
I'd offer to do concept art if you need it but other then that I'll have to wish you best of luck and leave it at that.
I'd offer to do concept art if you need it but other then that I'll have to wish you best of luck and leave it at that.