Is UDK fast to work with?

[God Of Gaming]

Hello, I'm new here and new to UDK, in fact I've just downloaded it yesterday and installed it, I haven't even read the documentation yet. I want to use it to create a PC game before September this year as a university project. The game would be most likely a multiplayer FPS similar to Counter-Strike, but I don't know if I can make it in time. I heard it is easy to work with UDK and fast too, what do you think? Would I make it in time? If not, what kind of game would you suggest me to try?

[lorbid]

Have you made any game before?
What game development experience do you have?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tegleg]

totaly depends on you.
udk is fast to work with once you know what you are doing.
but it takes time to know what you are doing.
an fps shouldnt be too hard because udk comes with unreal tournament 3 stuff, just a matter of tuning it to what you want really.

[God Of Gaming]

I've made quite a few mods for different games, but that would be my first game made from ground zero

[eridan]

Depends on the scope of your project which should depend on the people you are working with. If this is a solo project then that will limit your scope. I am going to suggest you do not make a multiplayer game like counter strike as your first attempt at UDK - especially the multiplayer part.

A single player game allows you to be 100% in control at all times, you can ignore networking, and the randomness that multiplayer brings to the table.

[MonsOlympus]

Well lets be fair CounterStrike isnt exactly complex in the scheme of things, trace weapons are easy enough and you could mock up a weapon system in a short amount of time, kit selection is easy enough as well depending on how much you need your UI to do, what else is there? Do you plan on having complex custom animations?

[God Of Gaming]

Well I'm not gonna be doing trace weapons though, I'm thinking of going full sim with the weapons and having them shoot projectile bullets that deviate according to gravity and wind, just like Delta Force, and also aiming down the sights and maybe a bit bigger recoil than Counter-Strike to give the weapons more individuality since I intend to put quite a few. Also modifications for them like scopes, silencers, bigger mags, different ammo types, underbarrel attachments, camo paint and so on. I don't think all that would be too hard though, except for the aim down the sights thing I've done everything else for a counter-strike 1.6 mod that allowed me to add about ~100 new weapons to the game and give it some variety, I couldn't make aiming down the sights because of engine limitation. Also I want to make the players able to prone and sprint and lean left/right (roll left right while proning) in adition to normal crouching.

The game modes would be separated in 2 classes - team war (pretty much counter-strike style round based gameplay with a task to do) and fun mode (stuff like deatmatch, team deathmatch, CTF and so on).
I have a pretty original idea for making the maps work in variable size depending on the number of players currently in the server, but that shouldn't be too hard.
Finally I'm thinking of connecting the game to a MySQL database to store there player accounts, have them win experience and game money from played games, reach new ranks, unlock new weapons and equipment, and buying new weapons and equipment would be done before entering a room instead of during play like counter-strike.

That's pretty much everything I intend to do, at least the major points. Making a single player game I think would take too long and I won't be able to finish it in time, after all I'll have to create a good, long story, find people for voice acting, and make a lot of single player levels and script battles and bots and so on, as for the multiplayer I can just throw in 2-3 maps and a few guns just enough to be able to demonstrate it in September, and after that I can continue adding new content to the game like more maps and weapons. Ah and yes, I'll be probably working alone, none of my friends have the necessary skills to help me with things other than game testing

P.S. I also want to make variable weather and time of day, but that can wait for last if it's too hard.

[ambershee]

You're describing the type of project that takes a reasonably large and competant team of developers months, if not years of work. Think smaller.

[online|offworld]

As a general rule, my opinion is that the art side of UDK is like digging through sand and the coding side of UDK is like digging through rock.

As a wise man once said here, there is a huge difference between making a level in an editor and making a full game.

[F4ll_ouT]

Yes I started like this.
"Wanna do a nice little game" I thought.
"It will be done this year for sure" I thought.
That was two years ago. And I'm still working. And I just heard that there won't be uscript in ue4 anymore. What the hell am I doing this for?! Geeeses kryst

[Spoof]

What the hell am I doing this for?! Geeeses kryst

Because when it's finished it'll still be in UDK(3) and written in UnrealScript, and that will be just dandy.

I'm going to buy shares in the wet-fish market and start slapping anyone who mentions UE4

[F4ll_ouT]

Yeah you're right UDK is unbelievable awesome my life would have no meaning if there wasn't this ultimate sandbox playground of darkness or something like that.
I hope it will stay this way as long as possible because I'm very tweedy

[God Of Gaming]

So, how simple do I have to think here in order to be able to get it in a finished enough state before September? I'm not too picky about graphics, they can be pretty clean.

[Henrik]

So, how simple do I have to think here in order to be able to get it in a finished enough state before September? I'm not too picky about graphics, they can be pretty clean.

Somewhere between your old idea and pong, but closer to pong.

[tegleg]

even pong might be a struggle if you are completely new to udk.

[Spoof]

class PongGame extends GameInfo;

event InitGame( string options, out string errorMessage )
{
    `log("Phhwoooar, what's that smell?!!");

    ConsoleCommand("quit");
}

[raymondlee306]

I would watch the 3dBuzz videos to get the editor, level making, and Kismet basics and go from there.

[God Of Gaming]

So you say something 2D like a top-down shooter for example, let's say a Touhou fan-game? Though that may be a bit too simple for the airheaded professors at the university, they said they want me to make something original and complex... I think I will give a try to the multiplayer FPS and hope for good luck If I use the UT3 Demo files that come with UDK I would probably be able to do something I already made a sketch for the first level and am ready to start learning how to build it. I've made maps for Serious Sam and Half-Life so I hope this would not be too much harder That reminds me that Counter-Strike was made by only 2 guys and the first playable beta was ready in less than a year, if they can do it I can too

[Surrealness]

Reading your previous posts, however, it sounds like you want alot more than what comes with the UT3 demo files. You are talking about game modes that aren't included with UDK that you will be required to code yourself in Unrealscript. Countersource is good for mods and small changes, like adding weapons. UDK is a different kind of monster. It's more oriented towards the coding aspect rather than the art sometimes.( Just from what I have seen.) Try starting with a single level. Than, watch tutorials on unrealscript and learning the coding. Hopefully, you can get it done and I wish you the best of luck! (:

[seenooh]

I think regardless of the scope, the UE has somewhat long learning curve. But once you do, your production will be really fast. Faster than any other engine out there, in my opinion. This is something affordable, because you will learn only once and develop many.

Now whether you can make it on time or not, it depends on your dedication and probably your money too. If you have some good cash, you could buy all the DVDs out there for UDK that range from level design to lighting to scripting. This will save you alot of time reading and digging up stuff on your own.

[seenooh]

So, how simple do I have to think here in order to be able to get it in a finished enough state before September? I'm not too picky about graphics, they can be pretty clean.

If you mean THIS september, I'd say impossible even you're going to make a board game. You have to consider that you need to do alot of self-study prior to doing anything which will take few months (or more depending on the complexity of what you are going after).

[ambershee]

If you cut out the major features, I'd expect you could have a couple of weapons (possibly reloading; there is demo code on the web) and alternative player models and a level to play in by september.

[God Of Gaming]

I guess I'll try that then, I'll start working it at the most basic level with one map and one weapon and one player model and then see how far I can improve upon it until September. Just now I familiarized myself with the map editor and I think I would be able to make a playable CSG map (that I'm used to) most likely in less than a week, and later upgrade it with static brushes after I do the basic programing to get the game working. I do have some player and weapon models lying around too. So I guess I should focus on the programing aspect. Right now I'm going in circles trying to figure out how to set up and compile an empty project that I can start from, weak start

[ambershee]

It takes a fair bit of time to get over the first hurdles, which is why you need to aim particularly small. Once you've got the basics down, then it's time to start making improvements, one step at a time

[tegleg]

try not to use too many brushes to build your level, eventually it crashes udk, they are only for prototyping really.
you can use the static meshes provided with udk, use those untill you have your own.

Geodav has some good tutorials on getting your own weapons and characters in udk, check those out.

you will be overwhelmed on several occasions during your first adventures in udk, if you get completely stuck with something ask on this forum and/or leave it for a while and go onto something else.
the very best of luck and have fun

[Spoof]

Might be worth knowing what your tutors are expecting from this project. It sounds a bit vague.

[God Of Gaming]

^I want to know that too But it seems I won't find out until it's too late

Anyways, thanks for all the help guys, I managed to get the project set up and working and I can finally start building it one step at a time. I guess I'll make a thread in the WIP forum when I get some progress.

[ambershee]

try not to use too many brushes to build your level, eventually it crashes udk

No they don't. I have a level with over 2000 brushes in it and it works fine. Games like Antichamber are also constructed almost entirely of brushes.

[tegleg]

No they don't. I have a level with over 2000 brushes in it and it works fine. Games like Antichamber are also constructed almost entirely of brushes.

ah ok
they must have fixed it since i last tried (couple of years prob)

[ambershee]

My level is in UT3

[God Of Gaming]

If you cut out the major features, I'd expect you could have a couple of weapons (possibly reloading; there is demo code on the web) and alternative player models and a level to play in by september.

Sadly you were right, I only managed to make one fairly pretty arabian-style map with the default ut3 assets and a very pretty AK-74M that I have trouble getting its animations into UDK for some reason. And I have about 10 days left... I hope that should be enough to let me pass, but I don't know what my stupid tutors expect of me...

[reinrag]

ambershee's always right, even on epic forum

[Avisingh]

Hi

Did u complete the game???? can u tell me how to set up multiplayer in UDK coz the default multi player is not at all running