Desperate Times - WIP Thread (ULU game team)

[Archie_Vision]

Hello,

Well, the game has started, and I will be posting updates, and keeping you guys informed about the total development process as promised.

Game Design Document Part 1

• Name - Desperate Times

• Medium - PC Download/Steam

• Setting - Alien/Human - Set across time and space

• Short story
• You are one of the few surviving members(Your COOP Team) of a town that is caught in a phase warp of dimensions. With you townsman, you try your best to defend against the onslaught of the relentless hordes of enemies trying to kill you. Using whatever the Phase shift gives you, you defend the outpost until you last dying breath.

• Genre - Survival FPS/TPS/Tower defence TPS = Thrird Person Shooter

• Object - You and your friends to survive the relentless waves of unknown enemies

• Levels - 3 main levels with 5 sub levels on each of the 3 main levels.

• Medieval Level This will be set in Medieval England , with a PPE similar to the 300 Movie.

• Game-play

• COOP Multiplayer

• This level will be a hybrid of a third person shooter and tower defense game.

• Driven aspects of gameplay.

• Teamwork - The players must coordinate and work together to survive the oncoming onslaught of enemies
• Defend The objective
• Repair and built defensive towers IE - The heavy artillery/WMD's
• Will be defesless when repairing or building towers, and can take damage.
• As levels are taken by the enemy, the player will be respawned in the new objective location.

• Characters

• Spartan
• Female Roman Archer
• English knight
• Female Gypsy thief

• Architecture

• Tudors style AKA per Marvin. http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch...uses/tudor.htm He said that he is working on some art that will help with the modular designs.

• Weapons List

• Main Weapons

• Great Sword

• One Handed Sword

• Bastard Sword

• Pole Arm

• Long Bow

• Dual Daggers

• Dual Short Swords

• Crossbow

• Secondary Weapons

• Single Dagger

• Knife

• Dirk

• BlackJack

• Heavy Weapons

• Two Handed Hammer

• Blow Gun

• Trident

• WMD's

• Trabershea

• More to come

• Enemies

• Stil to be determined

• Camera Angle

• Third person - Over the sholder

• Environment - Waist-land -torn apart from uncontrollable dimensional/time phases/shifts. Medieval England setting with a large city and castle. Allot of damage and carnage strewn throughout the level.

[Archie_Vision]

• Present Day Level

• Game-play

• COOP Multiplayer

• This level will be a hybrid of a First person shooter and tower defense game.

• Driven aspects of gameplay.

• Teamwork - The players must coordinate and work together to survive the oncoming onslaught of enemies
• Defend The objective
• Repair and built defensive towers IE - The heavy artillery/WMD's
• Will be defesless when repairing or building towers, and can take damage.
• As levels are taken by the enemy, the player will be respawned int he new objective location.

• Characters

• Male Assault

• Female Sniper

• Male Heavy weapons Specialist

• Female Support class

• Architecture

• To still be determined

• Weapons List

• Main Weapons

• AK-47

• M16

• SIG 552

• G36C

• MP5

• M249 SAW

• M249 SAW

• M40

• M95

• Secondary Weapons

• USP .45

• Beretta M9

• 870MCS

• .44 Magnum

• Heavy Weapons

• RPG-7

• M320

• AT4

• WMD's/Heavy Artillery

• M198 Howitzer

• Bofors 40mm

• M61 Vulcan

• Enemies

• Stil to be determined

• Camera Angle

• First Person View

• Environment - Waist-land -torn apart from uncontrollable dimensional/time phases/shifts. Modern Day American setting with a large city and castle. Allot of damage and carnage strewn throughout the level.

[Archie_Vision]

• Future Level
  

• Game-play

• COOP Multiplayer

• This level will be a hybrid of a First person shooter and tower defense game.

• Driven aspects of gameplay.

• Teamwork - The players must coordinate and work together to survive the oncoming onslaught of enemies
• Defend The objective
• Repair and built defensive towers IE - The heavy artillery/WMD's
• Will be defesless when repairing or building towers, and can take damage.
• As levels are taken by the enemy, the player will be respawned int he new objective location.

• Characters

• Male Beserker

• Female Spyder

• Male Killamenjaro

• Female Technoid

• Architecture

• Anime style city structures. With a hint of Blade Runner.

• Weapons List

• Main Weapons

• Akin-76

• Mutt - H-82 Standard

• G-22 longbolt Kinetic Assault

• Kraster Incision

• AU-55 Muddog

• M-549 Buzzsaw

• Augger Plasma gun

• TR-104 Zeronator

• k-34c The WidowMaker Kinetic Sniper rifle

• Secondary Weapons

• USP .45z

• Beretta M92-KD

• 870MCS Advanced

• Colt 449 Rapier

• Heavy Weapons

• H-334 Heavy Ion Cannon

• B-67y Plasma Cannon/mini gun

• Mini Mate

• WMD's/Heavy Artillery

• Vulcan Dual Plasma Mini Guns

• Howitzer 55 HFS 105 MM HFS - High Frequency Shell

• The Light Wave

• Enemies

• Humans, that have been possessed by the "Hysterian Faction"

• Camera Angle

• First Person View

• Environment - Waist-land -torn apart from uncontrollable dimensional/time phases/shifts. Future Japanese Anime setting with a large city and castle. Allot of damage and carnage strewn throughout the level. Has a Blade Runner feel to it.

This is the game Document we are currently working with. As I update it on the forums at ULU, I will update it here as well. I will post Concept art, Model renders, and Uscript Code here as we get it so the whole process is documented. I hope this helps others that are struggling with the steep learning curve of UDK.

Thanks,


Lee

[Archie_Vision]

Basic Back Story.

Hi all,

I will say this before I get started. I am no writer, and my grammar sucks ************. With the back story, I will do my best. I just hope it is clear enough for all of you to get.




Gallos, is a planet torn by war for centuries. The 2 main faction on the planet are the Gallens, and the Curtzmans. They have been fighting so long that they forgot what they were fighting for. The war had become about hate and winning nothing else. Both side had developed Time Jumpers. These machines would let them send up to 2 people back in time 24 to 48 hours. Both sides used the jumpers to change history of battles lost, complete assassinations, and spying.


Gallens
These people are a more freedom loving sect, that strive to knowledge and the arts. Their tech is very advanced. They remind me more of the Roman Empire that never died.


Curtzman
They are more of a Socialistic race that have extreme views on control and government. Their government is very large, and dominates their internet with control and also they doctor the news to suit their agenda. Overall they are not a bad people, they just do not know the truth behind what is going on in the world.


Their Tech is mostly either stolen from the Gallens, or copied from what they could learn from reverse engineering of the Gallens tech.




The War
Noone knows or remembers how the war started, or why it is still being fought. Just that their side has to win, by any means necessary. The Time Jumpers were a last resort weapon for years, but grew into more popular use as the war raged on. With history changing and time lines sprouting up all the time, allot of the people on the planet had become very weak minded or crazy.


During the last years of the war, time rifts started to form all over the world, and people started to turn on their governments, destroying all they could. Like pack hunters, they would search for each other, then hide and gather their strength. Then when they were ready, they would lash out and systematically decimate an entire area.


It was 6 months later that the factions on Gallos figured out what was going on. Desperate to fix things, they called a truce and started to use the Jumpers to fix the problems, but what they didn't realize is that the Jumpers were the problem. With every Jump, the holes in time would get bigger. And more people would become what was now termed "The Taken".


The Taken
Are mostly average citizens of the reigning factions that have been slowly loosing their minds from all the time shifts caused be the Jumpers. When the process 1st starts the Taken seem to be going insane. The lash out at anything and become homicidal. This could last from 5 minutes to several hours.


After the mind wipe is complete, they become vegetables, they cannot do anything. This stage will last for about a day. Once they are reprogrammed with the new consciousness, they immediately start to hide and seek out others like them. Never revealing their true purpose, unless exposed for what they truly are.


Once they linked up with the main group, they joined in on the plotting and planning for their coordinated attack on their objective. Patiently waiting until the time and opportunity was right. When it was, they would attack with precision and brutality that was unmeasured. Wiping out any and all life that is not like them.


The Hysterian's

[lorbid]

Bump. Here's a link to the visual document.

http://mind42.com/pub/mindmap?mid=77...d94536&rel=url

[Archie_Vision]

HEllo, here is an Update on what is going on with the game.

We have a few weapon models, and the code team is really pushing to get weapons True Fps to work correctly. And Our new Concept artist has already done a rough draft of the Characters for the Present day level.

Here are a few Pics for you to see. I have post some of these in the ULU WIP thread. Bu they coincide with the game.























There will be Code Footage, and Video of the Models ingame soon.

[ironbelly]

Thanks for sharing all this.. That mindmap is brilliant, going to think about incorporating that into our development

[Archie_Vision]

No Problem. WE are trying to not only teach UDK and related programs, but document the whole game making process from a team perspective.


BTW, we have our 1st WIP Concept art for our main Characters on the Present Day Map.

Take a Look.

characters finished.jpg



Also we now have a FaceBook page. Please help us get to 25 Likes???

Thanks,

Lee

[lorbid]

Thanks for sharing all this.. That mindmap is brilliant, going to think about incorporating that into our development

Glad it could help. I personally think all indie game dev startups should use a visual tool for their game design doc. MindMap rocks and its works!
Mind42.com allows live collaboration which is even better.

[lorbid]

Updated our mindmap to include our planned milestones.

[lorbid]

Updated mindmap to reflect most recent game design doc updates.

[Archie_Vision]

Hello,

WHICKED Finished the Switchable camera view this week. Here is a preview of the operation of the uscript. Thanks WHICKED!!

[W1lliam]

awesome work... please help us sharing your switchable cammera please

[Archie_Vision]

It all will be in the open source once the game comes out. But, it is best if you learn how to make it, instead of copying it from others.

[Archie_Vision]

Update with Back story in #3 post. Also we are advancing on the game. Please come by ULU and support us.

[Archie_Vision]

More updates on the game coming soon. Be on the lookout.

[Archie_Vision]

Hello,

It has been a long time since I updated this thread. The ULU has been taking up all our time. Now, that it is finally launched we are now focusing on the game. Our Devs have been going nuts creating concepts and models for the game so we can have a media blitz after the New Year. Please check us out on FB, TW, and on YT. We appreciate all the support we have gotten from the community.

Coming from a bunch of noobs learning together to a fully functional game dev team is a real feat in itself. I want to also thank everyone that has helped with UDK Learning and the ULU from the start. Even if you are no longer with us, we would not be where we are without your help.

Thanks,

Lee

[White Paper Games]

Pretty cool way to go about developing your ideas in the mindmaps like that. Definitely something to learn from. Its touch when you have other projects on the side but looking forward to seeing some more of this game! Will be following!

[Archie_Vision]

Hello all,

WE are back in full swing on the production of Desperate Times. We took a break from the game through the holidays to spend them with family. So please keep an eye out for media coming your way here soon. It you have not been to our Facebook page, the link is in my signature below. There you will find all information about Desperate Times.

Here are some Picks of some props that were built last week. These are being textured as we speak. Also, we should have a big announcement coming later this month. Stay tuned...


429006_10150551681776527_594256526_9199029_977487963_n.jpg
402423_10150551681186527_594256526_9199027_1724589667_n.jpg
407847_10150551680666527_594256526_9199026_1245349085_n.jpg
402003_10150551674466527_594256526_9199016_2054690191_n.jpg
398504_10150551672911527_594256526_9199012_1801624432_n.jpg
Diffuse only
Diffuse only.

I hope to have a lot more than this very soon. Please check back from time to time.

[Archie_Vision]

Here is a sneak peak at our ingame AK with only diffuse and basic Spec map.

[fragfest2012]

the specs are way too big, try throwing a single constant of like 10-20ish, adjusted as needed, onto the spec power node in the mat editor, it will make it much more sharp. By specs, I mean specular map.

[Archie_Vision]

Yeah, we are changing that. That was just a basic flat spec thrown on for the video.

OK, we have a treat for all of you.

One of our Lead 3d artists has been churning out models like a machine. here is a sneak peak at his test level in UDK.

(You will see several models we will be using in game on this level.)

buildings.jpg

[White Paper Games]

AK-47...When you absolutely have to kill every.. You get the idea. Can never go wrong with one of those Sweet development guys, enjoying this thread!

[Archie_Vision]

Update.




Spec is fixed for the AK, and now the animation of it starts, Also, we have 2 new concept artists for the Characters and Enemies. They are diligently working to get the general style of each laid out, and then the T-Poses come in. Here is a little speak peak at our artists ideas for the characters and styles. char_sktch_01_jesse.jpgchar_sktch_02_jesse.jpgchar_sktch_03_jesse.jpgchar_sktch_04_jesse.jpgchar_sktch_05_jesse.jpg

[juguefre]

Update.
Spec is fixed for the AK, and now the animation of it starts.

Come on........ sometimes I feel sad by looking the info in some of this posts, you and I had our differences before but I just want to advice you at this very moment before you loose time and work, your AK model is 26.000+ tris model (can't see the number clear in the video but I see 5 digits and the 26 at the beginning) while UDK can handle that model is a waste of resources, you'll reach the same level of detail with no more than 3.500 tris, you could find your game in performance problems later by the amount of draw calls, optimize your model dude is a fairly easy work and will pay in the long run.........oh most disturbing....are all your models in the same average number of extra tris? anyway is up to you but is a really bad idea to leave that amount of extra polys. Cheers.

Also there is an issue with your model it seems like the fire selector is not where is supposed to be,
this is your actual model


and here is a reference

[fragfest2012]

Looks a lot better now. Keep it up guys!!

[lorbid]

Will be updating this thread again shortly with revised game design document and updated MindMap / flow chart. Will include everything so that others can learn.

[lorbid]

Thank you for your feedback about the tris. We'll be sure to reduce all the tris down before importing them in to any UPK.

As for the mode selector switch, now you're just being picky. You have to give the artist a little creative freedom to.

[Archie_Vision]

On the Selector, there are several variations of AK-47's, that includes locations of the fire selector, and also to shape as well.

Thanks for the feedback on the tri's You were looking at the High Poly only, not the baked low poly. From what I understand it should be int he 5000 to 7500 range.

[juguefre]

On the Selector, there are several variations of AK-47's.

From what I understand it should be int he 5000 to 7500 range.

I guess what you meant to say was " there are several variations of the AK model" for example the Ak 76U but not the Ak 47 as is always the same model and also the very same "fire selector" just watch the shape the green arrow points, the fire selector always fits there it also protect the interior of the rifle from getting too much dirt and therefore jam.

About the artist creative freedom... well is fine, he can even put a flower on the sight if it fits the purpose of your game so everything comes to what you want to achieve, is realism? fantasy? comedy? that is what give the artistic freedom.
From 5000 to 7500 tris is fine but you can reach the same result with less than that, check it out (but that AK47 is still unfinished)

So have fun optimizing.

[lorbid]

Have started a new WIP thread due to a transition of leadership.
http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/...emo?p=30378652

Will only be updating that thread. Mods, feel free to lock this thread. If you need approval for thread lock, PM Archie.