Anyone have UDK starter kits?

[marscaleb]

Are there any starter kits available for the UDK?

I'm sure there are many people like myself who would like to develop a project, but just don't have the real programming skills to be able to build everything.
Are there starter kits available that folks can use to build their projects from?

[Wormbo]

No.


Try looking for a team.

[Blade[UG]]

Are there any starter kits available for the UDK?

I'm sure there are many people like myself who would like to develop a project, but just don't have the real programming skills to be able to build everything.
Are there starter kits available that folks can use to build their projects from?

If you don't have the ability to build everything, you don't have the ability to build anything. (this goes for your entire group, not for a specific person - if you're trying to one-man a project of any size larger than a video game of the 80's, it will take you months to years, likely.)

[geodav]

to get anywhere you need a good coder, but to make a start you can try my basic udk tutorials

[marscaleb]

When all you have are "good ideas" it can be hard to rally a team to work on something with with you. Adding a bunch of disconnected art and a portion of story doesn't really improve the odds.
If we had the basics of something running, then we have something to show that we're actually serious. If we had an actual level constructed that could actually run pretty close to what we need, and were just pointing out things like "We need (thing) programmed here, so player can X with Y..."
THEN we're showing an actual something. Then we actually stand a few paces apart from the hundreds of dopes out there who just stand around muttering "oh wouldn't be great if we (blank)!" Only then does a team actually have a chance of expanding to obtain the talent that they need.
Especially when one is talking about the most basic and foundational talent of a programmer.
(And personally, I don't like the idea of being so utterly dependent upon a stranger to make so much of my game for me. One small disagreement and I've lost everything. And I've already seen people who would come in demanding changes to the formula so they can make what they want.)

Programming takes real skill and talent, not just knowledge.
Sure anyone can make a few tweaks and a few extensions, but to create the layers upon layers of code needed to actually run the core mechanics of a game, to actually see how those layers interact, to be able to create code that reaches beyond itself, this takes a wider range of talent. This isn't something that can be done by anyone "who is determined enough." And there are always some who can do a better job of it than others.
I'm honestly surprised that no one is trying to sell some starter kits. Seriously, I mean, have all the basic foundations already made for an action shooter or platformer, (for example,) have it so a player can walk around and jump, have a simple weapon class created, and let people tweak the variables and fill in the blanks. Then charge people twenty or fifty bucks or whatever for your code, if not share it for free.

I'm not saying that I am currently prepared for someone to sell me such code, but I am a little surprised that no one is catering to the market of people with little programming talent.

[ambershee]

The problem is that UDK kind of is a 'starter kit' - most of the non-game specific hard graft has been done for you already, and there is an included FPS example derived from UT3.

Seriously, I mean, have all the basic foundations already made for an action shooter or platformer, (for example,) have it so a player can walk around and jump, have a simple weapon class created, and let people tweak the variables and fill in the blanks.

UDK already pretty much is this; the foundations for an RTS or platformer are already there, and it does only take a few variable switches to get simple derivations working from there.

[marscaleb]

Is it then?

...Sorry, I didn't know.
I was asking about it elsewhere and no one would tell me squat. I assumed that the UDK came pretty bare-bones.

Right now I'm just trying to figure out what I can do. I might try building something with UDK, I might go for something else. I wasn't too interested in spending several hours installing it and then poking at it and following a few dirt-simple tutorials just to ultimately be stopped by a programming barrier that I could see two miles away. So I hope you can understand why I'm asking questions instead of jumping into this myself.

Besides, until I have the money to get a new hard drive (read as: never *cry*) I don't have the space to install the UDK unless I remove UT3 first. And if I'm going to build levels that no other human being will ever care to play, I at least want them to work.
(...By the way, if I install the UDK onto my D drive, will it actually flippin' stay on the D drive? UT3 (and others) like to completely invade my C drive and force all the custom content to be installed in My Documents.)

[ambershee]

UDK stays happily in the directory you install it to - none of the Vista workarounds needed by UT3 that ends up dumping **** in My Documents.

[marscaleb]

Oh joy!

Then perhaps I will start installing it, so that I might see what I have to work with.
Thank you for your counsel.

[Blade[UG]]

UDK stays happily in the directory you install it to - none of the Vista workarounds needed by UT3 that ends up dumping **** in My Documents.

.. of course a minor downside to that, is that on Vista/7 you can't install it to \Program Files\

but no one actually does that anyway right? heh