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New game, old (well, not really) engine


eezergoode

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The other night, I was playing around with the GECK at work (yeah, I was playing with a computer at my job in the pizza shop :) ) and one of the guys i work with brought up an interesting thought.... I could use the GECK to make the game idea I've been tossing around for YEARS come to life. SO.... as usual, I've bitten off far more than I can chew, at least by myself, and have just BARELY started working on this idea. I still have a lot to learn about the GECK, and I do expect to do a LOT of learning, since I am basically building a complete game from the ground up. It will mostly use the same game-play mechanics, and many of the original items (although most will be modified to some degree), and it is going to have a LOT of quest scripting and follower scripting.

 

The biggest problem i have is... this game is not set in a post-nuclear-war world. I need help, and in a big way. What I need is someone or someones who can re-texture most of the architecture in game to look contemporary. Well, I don't really need it ALL re-textured, but I would need a lot of it. The Vault set isn't going to be touched (much), but several of the other sets need "cleaned" to fit into the current time period.

 

I'll also be sending out a lot of PMs and e-mails soon, since i have found MANY mods already on here that could save us time and effort that already do exactly what I want to do. We don't plan on using anything without permission, and nothing gets done without due credit. But I would need several complete texture sets for those buildings and such and TBH, I suck at anything art related. My skills stop at adding a lightsaber to a photo in Photoshop. I don't think I will need much, if any, 3D modeling done, and most of the rest of it, could be done in-house (look at me sounding all company-like) but the art is beyond us. Yeah, we suck.

 

If anyone is interested, PM me or reply here and I'll PM you, or send an e-mail to [email protected]

 

I can give you more details on the game, and what we need. We are also accepting new team members as well, if you are interested.

 

I've actually attempted to make this game about 5 times now, with 5 different approaches, but this is the first time I've had something at my disposal that is actually versatile and flexible enough to make something even remotely approaching what I have in mind.

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So, what you say in general is the same, like many others before:

 

- I dont know about GECK

- I dont know about Texturing/Modelling

 

But I have some crazy unrealistic Idea and I need a Team to waste their skills for my Idea.

I can't offer any skills for my team, but I am the leader and you must follow my ideas.

 

Sorry... I don't want sound harsh.

 

I suggest to make some small Mod first. A single Quest, a Single Location.

Something doable and realistic.

After that, think about something bigger.

 

The Way you wanna do it, will FAIL. Start to learn gecking and texturing, start slow,

or your bigger Ideas will never become reality.

 

Sorry for the hard facts.

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Okay, yeah, I can see that. I guess I should have been more specific in some of my details. I HAVE made several mods. I've written several quests, and made several followers, changed stats on armor and weapons, and applied new textures that were made by someone else to in-game items. I've made new buildings, including the "hello world" of Fallout 3, the personal vault. Haven't released any of it because I am simply doing all of this to learn the GECK, and I am simply using these mods to learn about new aspects of the GECK.

 

I'm not totally new to mods and games, just to these particular tools. I've made mods for games before, and since I am going to school for Game and Simulation Programming, I have had to make several full (small) games for school, and have made a few of my own on the side, for personal enjoyment for friends and my kids. I've actually been making games and game mods since the '80s and the heydey of the Commodore 64, starting with text adventures, made several complete games with the FRUA in the 90s, messed around with Starcraft and Warcraft 3 campaign editors, and the Neverwinter Nights editor, mostly just converting GENCON competition modules like 'Into the Forgotten Realms'. I do not consider myself an expert modder, but one thing I will say, is that when I start a project, I finish it. It may take me a while, but it gets done.

 

As for learning texturing, I know how to do it, I just suck at it. It isn't knowledge I lack, it is an artistic sense and talent. I COULD in theory re-texture every wall, floor, ceiling, pillar, and most of the items in game.... if I wanted it to look like Fallout 3 - the sims edition.

 

BUT... if most people share your opinion of the fail factor, I'll just keep plugging along and wait until I have more of this finished, release a crappy alpha, and ask for help again after I have something more concrete to show.

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Ok, this sounds already better. But you know how many TC were released and playable in 7 years Bethesda Games Modding? I can't remember one. I belive you have skills to create some nice Mods for F3, but dont waste your time with a TC. Its really not worth it. You will spend a few years of your lifetime to do something, that in time of release will be recognized or played by only a few people, if you dont loose interest on the way or get different priorities in your life. Belive me, I only mean it good with you.
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"If you build it, they will come" and all that field of dreams crap. Actually, it applies here.

Divide your mod in do-able pieces, do-able pieces that add something interesting by themselves. And start working.

Once you have a clear headstart, recruit help, before that, don't even try, you'll be ignored alongside the other 3x day TC projects that die the very same day.

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@TgBlank - Thank you, that is good advice, and is kinda what we are doing already, although probably not exactly as you are suggesting. I plan on doing the first area, and maybe the next stage, first, and seeing how that pans out. It will involve probably the easiest stuff. If I/we can't handle that, I know to give it up right there. Mainly just a few small, short quests and one follower. At the end of that section, you will fight some bad guys, recruit a second follower, and have a small town/village to explore, and that will pretty much be my first goal. I plan on doing this in small stages, to make it more manageable.

 

 

@Yossarian22 - IMO this really isn't a "Total Conversion", since most of the ruleset/skillset is going to remain untouched. The game mechanics are going to stay mostly untouched. The BIGGEST changes will be the world textures and the maps. The quest scripting, although it can get pretty complicated, seems easy enough, and I can actually use a bit of this for projects in some of my upcoming classes at school. And to be honest, I don't care, myself, if NOBODY plays it when I'm done, I am doing it because I feel compelled to do it, or I will never get this idea out of my head. It might be disappointing for other members of the team (all two of them so far :) ) but they are mostly helping me out because it sounds fun to them. They have both been playing with the GECK as well, and they look on this as an opportunity to hone their skills. As do I. And who knows, I may be able to pull something off that leads to a good mod idea for the real game.

 

As i said, I'm not offended in the least, and if people shy away from the project because of the failure factor of TCs, so be it. I can totally understand. But I am hoping to find someone willing to give the textures a shot before i get TOO far into it, because it would really suck to build everything, then find someone will to do the textures, only to find out that half of my maps need to be redone due to textures not matching up on mix-n-match maps.

 

Oh and TGBlank.. I love your "magic hand" mod..... one of the things i love most about Star Wars Galaxies was decorating your house with all the loot you got.... Now I can do that in my Fallout house.... ok, houses.

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Ok here is my Idea:

 

Instead of making a TC, make it as a Time Travel or Virtual Reality Mod.

 

This would give you all Freedom you need to create whatever you want, but you dont have to bother about everything but building the world and quests. People can keep their savegames and everything will be more easy.

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hmmm...

 

Okay, I utterly refuse to do anything involving time travel, but a VR mod on the other hand.... that actually COULD work, if I jiggle and juggle a little..... I could play it off as a "What If" training scenario I think.

 

The only drawback I see is that the player is not starting out fresh, even if i can strip them of gear, they retain levels, perks, TAG and SPECIAL..... and with he new DLC, that level could be up to level 30 (reported). I kinda want the character to actually grow and evolve as they progress. I don't know if it is possible to make a "dummy" PC for the purpose of a particular scenario, although.. it might be... just maybe.. although I'm guessing it would be a ton of work to do it, if it is even possible. Of course, drawback to THAT is not being able to gain any XP on the REAL character... gah... brain hurting... had my math final tonight... need to clear my brain out and sleep on it...

 

Eh, I'll look into it though, that does make a lot of sense.... I'll weigh out the pro's and con's over the next couple days and figure out how I'm going to approach it. And of course, even then, if I learn something new (which happens all the time) it is subject to change...

 

Dangit, not my head is full of ideas on how to make this into a VR mod.. l

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