I'm currently toying with the thought of finally going ahead to make a 4x turnbased spacegame, right now i'm at the stage of how i can actually do it.
I'm going to try and prototype it in GameMaker first - I'm not exactly a programmer, though i do want to learn, so i need to be able to see the core mechanics at work before i commit to anything more graphically intensive.
My first thought was to use Unity, since Endless Space seems to have gotten some things right (Unity seems to be able to do procedural textures pretty nicely). However, from what i have learned i'd need several software suites and addons to make it work the way i want, let alone a pro license, something for which i just don't have the money for. Even with that in hand i don't know whether my plans would be possible in Unity (zooming from a colony view all the way up to multiple galaxies for example, not necessarily seamless of course, though Mass Effect managed something similar).
So i started thinking of UDK again, which is also more capable of doing certain other graphics i'd like, though the downside is getting UDK to work when making anything but a shooter-type game (which is reputedly much more difficult to do than with Unity). I'm also not sure whether the turn-based calculations are doable in UDK, thinking of end-game situations where you're controlling multiple galaxies and opponent moves have to be calculated. "Simple" things like research trees or similar also seem more difficult in UDK. Still, it'd seem cool to try and make such a game with an engine "which isn't mean for such things". I do have experience with the UT editor itself, though that's rather outdated (some ut99 levels and ut2k4 fooling around).
I have very limited experience with Java and C++ (not much further than hello word and basic if/then stuff), so i think of myself as a beginner as far as programming/scripting is concerned. This is something i'd have to learn during the project. Currently i'm alone, so i'd mostly be busy with laying the groundwork and using only rudimentary graphics/sounds (if applicable).
What would be the difficulties in getting a 4x spacegame to work in UDK, aside from the above concerns? I already found an older thread (2+ years old, see here) about a similar subject, though it's rather out of date and doesn't touch upon some of the other issues i mentioned. I was thinking of "solving" the floating point accuracy problem with a grid-on-grid approach (zooming simply switches to a different scale grid rather than trying to use 1 grid for all zoomstages, not talking about the UDK editor grid!).
I do need to somehow make a Spore-size galaxy work - Possibly smaller though, incrementing game mechanics from planet -> system -> constellation -> region rahter than persisting on planet size all game long, possibly expanding to galaxy with multiple available galaxies. This is mainly a graphics issue though i believe, if i can get the incremental mechanics to work correctly, though this raises the question whether something like that is even doable in UDK.
Are there any UDK projects like this released, regardless of scale (or any turn-based strategy games at all)? Would i be better off trying this in Unity after all? Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I'm going to try and prototype it in GameMaker first - I'm not exactly a programmer, though i do want to learn, so i need to be able to see the core mechanics at work before i commit to anything more graphically intensive.
My first thought was to use Unity, since Endless Space seems to have gotten some things right (Unity seems to be able to do procedural textures pretty nicely). However, from what i have learned i'd need several software suites and addons to make it work the way i want, let alone a pro license, something for which i just don't have the money for. Even with that in hand i don't know whether my plans would be possible in Unity (zooming from a colony view all the way up to multiple galaxies for example, not necessarily seamless of course, though Mass Effect managed something similar).
So i started thinking of UDK again, which is also more capable of doing certain other graphics i'd like, though the downside is getting UDK to work when making anything but a shooter-type game (which is reputedly much more difficult to do than with Unity). I'm also not sure whether the turn-based calculations are doable in UDK, thinking of end-game situations where you're controlling multiple galaxies and opponent moves have to be calculated. "Simple" things like research trees or similar also seem more difficult in UDK. Still, it'd seem cool to try and make such a game with an engine "which isn't mean for such things". I do have experience with the UT editor itself, though that's rather outdated (some ut99 levels and ut2k4 fooling around).
I have very limited experience with Java and C++ (not much further than hello word and basic if/then stuff), so i think of myself as a beginner as far as programming/scripting is concerned. This is something i'd have to learn during the project. Currently i'm alone, so i'd mostly be busy with laying the groundwork and using only rudimentary graphics/sounds (if applicable).
What would be the difficulties in getting a 4x spacegame to work in UDK, aside from the above concerns? I already found an older thread (2+ years old, see here) about a similar subject, though it's rather out of date and doesn't touch upon some of the other issues i mentioned. I was thinking of "solving" the floating point accuracy problem with a grid-on-grid approach (zooming simply switches to a different scale grid rather than trying to use 1 grid for all zoomstages, not talking about the UDK editor grid!).
I do need to somehow make a Spore-size galaxy work - Possibly smaller though, incrementing game mechanics from planet -> system -> constellation -> region rahter than persisting on planet size all game long, possibly expanding to galaxy with multiple available galaxies. This is mainly a graphics issue though i believe, if i can get the incremental mechanics to work correctly, though this raises the question whether something like that is even doable in UDK.
Are there any UDK projects like this released, regardless of scale (or any turn-based strategy games at all)? Would i be better off trying this in Unity after all? Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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