Scenarios & behavior modeling engine

[madaf]

Hi, I am currently looking for the best engine for modeling scenes (some scenarios player can play).

 

What most important for me is (in that order/priority):

1) creating dialogues (flow of interactions)

2) creating game characters (NPC) with behavior (mimic, moves, etc.)

3) possibly easy to use

 

I do not have knowledge about nowadays games. However, I saw that The Elder Scroll series offers open game world + some tools for mods. Maybe you could give me a tip where to look..? Currently TES:IV is the most advanced engine I found, but I want to know if there is something even better (before I get deep into it).

 

My goal is to use some platform/engine to create custom scenarios with social/educational impact. So 1) is a must, 2) is extremely useful, 3) is nice to have so others - non technical persons such as psychologists, sociologists, pedagogues - can use it as well.

 

Thank You

[RitualBlack]

The unigine engine is supposed to be a really top notch engine from what I have seen and read about it. You could check it out and look more in-depth to see if its good for what you want. The source engine is readily available to use also, and should be very good at creating dialogue and would also probably be one of the easier to use engines. I believe the cry engine also has a free sdk for non commercial use, but I am not sure if it would be what you are looking for. Good luck :happy: .

[Vagrant0]

If #1 is really your goal, some of the programs used to make visual novels might be your best bet.

 

They're fairly easy to use and provided that you don't need your player to move through a 3d environment, makes the extremely challenging part of art resources far more obtainable for those who don't have a design house on standby. It doesn't have the edge of immersive 3d environments, but allows you to write and establish a far more compelling scenario since you'll be spending less time/money on all the graphics and environment.

 

 

For social and education stuff however, you can never do better than a real person. Games, even with the best AI are at best horribly inadequate with how they behave compared to a real person, especially once your player decides to leave the rails.

[madaf]

Thank you for clues!

I have not know Visual Novel genre before. I think it will be very easy starting point for me.

Ultimately I was thinking about 3D-based engine (like mentioned cry engine), however it seems far too difficult for non-technical person...

 

I will stick with 2D for a while and search for animation tools... maybe some layer over flash (I mean providing some templates out of the box for VN alike game).