Single Player

[Hellclown]

One of the bigger issues that I've seen people run into while using UDK is the complete lack of easy/intuitive single player systems. I love the UT engine, don't get me wrong, but it seems to be only capable of easily doing multiplayer style games. this is really unfortunate, because most teams seem more interested in making single player adventures. Adding all of the required items to make UDK work both ways doesn't seem like it would be all that hard, Gears already has all of the things need for a successful single player game using UE3 technology. I'm not really sure why this hasn't been suggested sooner.

Thanks,
-J

[TheAgent]

All the required things are there to make a single-player game. Maybe you haven't studied the code long enough.

[Hellclown]

To me it just seems that the ball got dropped along the way.

You could be right though, I definitely haven't spent much time studying the deeper parts of the engine.

[Graylord]

I don't see how making a single player game is a problem.

All you need to do is simply not make the multiplayer functionality. Done. Really, that's it.
If you do not want your game to have multiplayer, don't make it multiplayer, it's really that simple.

[Hellclown]

I guess what I'm saying boils down to this: why not include the single player specific actors/tools? Epic has them, they are fully functional, and it can't be a huge hassle to add them to the engine given that said tools already exist.

It's almost like Epic has the Gears an UT versions of the engine written down in separate languages and finding any kind of translations is an impossibility, god forbid that the peas touch the mashed potatoes because that would be a disaster.

[Graylord]

What do you mean by "Single player specific actors/tools"?
A weapon is a weapon, a controller is a controller, a pawn is a pawn, a mesh is a mesh, etc, wether it's used in multiplayer or singleplayer.
It's all made and used the same way. The tools and actors are the same. The only difference is that you have to code in replication for the multiplayer part.

[TheWarlord25]

In my humble opinion, and I just got UDK a little while ago, you can strip down those multiplayer parts. You can build your game starting from the multiplayer UT game, or you can go down another level and build your game from the UDKGame, which is something that is mostly something called SimpleGame. Kind of a barebones starting point. That strips away the multiplayer parts of UT. You can start by extending from UTGame.uc or a lower level like SimpleGame.uc with your own game. And you can build from there.

But your point still stands, why aren't some things included. I've been thinking about that lately, and what people need and want are more "modules" (technically, UnrealScript files) that gives you, single player game, different camera, MMORPG modules, RPG modules, racing game modules, side scroller, etc. Then find a way in the Editor to tie all those files in an easy to understand and visually understand way.

[Graylord]

Those are not included because UDK is not a simple gamemaker program, it's a game engine, the only reason the FPS base is there in the first place is because UDK was originally based on the UT3 version of Unreal Engine.
They aren't "missing" from UDK, they aren't a part of the engine first place.

There aren't multiple editions of the Unreal Engine for various types of games, the creators of those games made those modifications themselves.

[darthviper107]

From what I see it's almost entirely a singleplayer setup by default.

[ironbelly]

Those are not included because UDK is not a simple gamemaker program, it's a game engine, the only reason the FPS base is there in the first base is because UDK was originally based on the UT3 version of Unreal Engine.
They aren't "missing" from UDK, they aren't a part of the engine first place.

There aren't multiple editions of the Unreal Engine for various types of games, the creators of those games made those modifications themselves.

Good points.. The same can be said to explain a lot of things being 'missing'. This is an engine and that's that, anything and everything else we get is a bonus on top of that and it's up to us to create what we dont have.

[Hellclown]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like Epic would have included all the tools that they have. They've very clearly left out large groups of tools that they have at their disposal, I just can't figure out why they made that call. It seems like at the very least they would have included a single player demo level that provided examples of the more complex scripting sequences, not just multi player levels which are supplied in abundance.

[ambershee]

Epic haven't left anything out. There are no mystery "single-player tools" that are missing from the editor.

[Graylord]

They've very clearly left out large groups of tools that they have at their disposal, I just can't figure out why they made that call.

They didn't.

[Dn2]

Sounds like you are having work-flow problems with the tools and what you are trying to achieve for a single player game. How about posting an example of what you're having problems with or what 'tools' you feel the udk package is lacking?

[FlapJack]

I've been a follower of UDK for a while but not a user for very long. As someone who loves telling a story I can sort of sympathize with the OP. I'm a story teller, primarily in film. However, games have always been a love of mine and I'd love to tell a story in a single player game. To me, the biggest thing "lacking" from UDK is any sort of single player AI systems. Not like a bot in multiplayer (I'm not even sure if that's included) but a way to have AI enemies that will use tactics like in, for instance, a Gears campaign.

I wouldn't say though that I demand these features or that UDK should have these because then where do you draw the line? Well, let's add some tactical enemy AI. Cool, but then another group of people is going to want dedicated features for their game. My biggest issue is that I'm a creative type, not a programmer. So, for me to do anything worthwhile with something like UDK is extremely difficult. A group of people working together is required most often if you want to do any sort of game like a shooter. It's definitely not meant for the hobbyist that just wants to throw together some levels.