I just have newbie game development questions.

[lunatorra]

Greetings!

First, I'm well-aware that this information is available elsewhere, but I'm asking here on the forums for personal insight and convenience. If you know the answer any of my questions, please respond! Much appreciated.

1) Is Unrealscript capable of GTA 4-quality Artificial Intelligence?

2) If you import all custom meshes, sounds, music, and particles, does EPIC allow creators to sell their game? (Just curious, really)

3) Can you use the UDK vehicle & hoverboard mechanics with your own custom vehicles?

4) I want to implement grappling attacks into my game, but I need to figure out how to get the grappling animation to line up when the characters are varying heights. Any ideas? I've concluded that I just have to make a thousand different animations

5) Can you remove the UDK loading screen from your game?

6) I'm in need of character creation tutorials for zbrush/3dsmax. Ones that also teach you how to prepare your character for import to UDK and other engines, preferably. I've tried 3Dbuzz, 3Dtotal, Eat3d, but I'm looking for "specializing" tutorials... Or maybe "game development-specific" is the term lol?

7) How should I go about learning to create NPC artificial intelligence in UDK? I hear "no one" teaches AI.

8) Where should I start learning UnrealScript overall?

That's all the questions I've been wanting to ask. I'd really appreciation some straight forward assistance. The answer to even one of these questions is plenty. Thanks

[Whitenorthstar]

most the information you have asked for is fairly easily available using google or the forum search function, but to quickly answer some of your questions:

1 yes
2 yes
3 yes
4
5 kind of
6
7
8

[kn00tcn]

4-i saw a couple people a year ago doing grappling hooks, one of them refused to make it public due to... i forgot what the reason was

6-high poly models/sculptures->create normal maps for use on a low poly model->the game uses a low poly model with the normal/bump maps so that it looks almost as good as the high poly model, without the performance hit

i'm pretty sure both the modelling apps & udk have 1 click type features to reduce polygons

[lunatorra]

most the information you have asked for is fairly easily available using google or the forum search function, but to quickly answer some of your questions:

1 yes
2 yes
3 yes
4
5 kind of
6
7
8

Wow, two of those are the opposite of what I expected. I figured Epic wouldn't allow you to sell under any circumstances, and that the loading screen would be removable for sure lol.... Glad I asked! Thanks.

4-i saw a couple people a year ago doing grappling hooks, one of them refused to make it public due to... i forgot what the reason was

6-high poly models/sculptures->create normal maps for use on a low poly model->the game uses a low poly model with the normal/bump maps so that it looks almost as good as the high poly model, without the performance hit

i'm pretty sure both the modelling apps & udk have 1 click type features to reduce polygons

Sorry, I should've been more specific! Grappling in regards to... like wrestling. Not hooks. "Grabs". I need the animations to line up during a number of in-game circumstances.

I understand what you mean by optimizing my models, but I'm not at that stage yet! I'm really new I'm going to be learning from the ground up, and I was hoping there were tutorials that would actually explain how to shape a human character (thoroughly) and set the character up for animating. Etc! That kind of thing. Thanks man.

[kn00tcn]

i assume character stuff is the same whether it's a 3d game or hollywood movie or an animation like what toki tori uses (a 2d platformer that seems to animate the character with pre rendered frames of a 3d model, complete with shadows)

just check out whatever character rigging/modeling tutorials are out there, but make it a really simple character full of cubes or spheres to get it working in the game, then later add detail & ask questions when you get tuck

for the selling part, it's all in the udk license that you can read & it's not free

that's what udk is for, to get people to make games & know the engine, some udk games/demos already have releases like sanctum & the ball

[lunatorra]

i assume character stuff is the same whether it's a 3d game or hollywood movie or an animation like what toki tori uses (a 2d platformer that seems to animate the character with pre rendered frames of a 3d model, complete with shadows)

just check out whatever character rigging/modeling tutorials are out there, but make it a really simple character full of cubes or spheres to get it working in the game, then later add detail & ask questions when you get tuck

for the selling part, it's all in the udk license that you can read & it's not free

that's what udk is for, to get people to make games & know the engine, some udk games/demos already have releases like sanctum & the ball

Ok yeah, I'll just work through the tutorials. There's definitely a lot of them.

So you can buy a license to sell your UDK games? Instead of paying thousands for the full unreal engine?

[kn00tcn]

http://udk.com/licensing

[lunatorra]

http://udk.com/licensing

Cool. So you can get a license for 99 USD and sell your game, and wouldn't owe Epic any more money unless you made over 50,000 USD in revenue. VERY NICE.

[Miguel Petersen]

GTA is using Euphoria from Natural Motion

http://www.naturalmotion.com/euphoria

[lunatorra]

GTA is using Euphoria from Natural Motion

http://www.naturalmotion.com/euphoria

I was under the impression that Euphoria only generated random animations as reactions. Didn't know it was an actual AI system. I wonder if there's a cheaper or free product with similar content, because Euphoria is serious bidnus.

I could do without the random animations. I just want my NPCs to judge circumstances and make seemingly "smart" decisions.

Gonna look into Euphoria-type products for a bit I guess lol. Thanks.

[Nadin]

To clarify--are these grappling animations in first or third person?
And by different heights, are you talking about uneven terrain, or a midget clinging onto Frankenstein's shin?

[lunatorra]

To clarify--are these grappling animations in first or third person?
And by different heights, are you talking about uneven terrain, or a midget clinging onto Frankenstein's shin?

Third person and the midget/Frankenstein thing!

[Nadin]

I don't know a great deal about animation, but I'd guess that, yes, that means making separate grappling animations. However, you can try to find ways to make somebody look taller than they are, and...well....you can always put the midget on a pedestal....
Don't take it as a foregone conclusion, though, because--like I said--I don't know a great deal about animations.

[kaleden]

You could try using Skeletal Controllers to programatically change how your characters move or swing, but I'm not sure this route would be better than manual animation because characters would likely fight differently depending on their target.

It may be worth a shot though. I'd be interested in knowing if you end up using Skeletal Controllers.