So is anyone using this seriously?

[Steely Dane]

I would however like to address a couple of other points...

@The Honorary Member of the Sociopath Hermit Spelling Police (a.k.a Steely Dane  ):

You are as passionate as always (and even took the time to review what you wrote to clarify some points  ).

I'm certainly with you when it comes to people who obviously haven't spent much (or any) time thinking things through or have no clue as to what they are doing  ("How do you make a AAA-FPS with this engine", "How do you make a 3D model" etc.).

I also firmly believe that (even with all kinds of templates) one can't get around programming / scripting in one fashion or another - UDK Kismet is a very good approach, but whether I write assembly code, LUA, Python or click and connect nodes in Kismet, I still need to understand logic, programm flow and a few basic programming concepts (resource management, for example ... because even UDK would get into trouble if you just keep throwing thousands of objects at it with unique hi-res (8096x8096) textures).

Honestly though, I think that the marketing efforts of the 3D-Engine companies do have something to do with this ... most of them imply that ANYONE can produce the next AAA-blockbuster, with little or no effort.  If Black & Decker would market their electric drills the same way, everyone would think they could produce professional architectural work with a pencil and some graphpaper (but without any training).

Nevertheless, while I agree that just whining about missing features is pointless, it is reasonable to expect decent up-to-date documentation - especially when one has paid for the license.  I also have the UDK and downloaded free training material and purchased a couple of very comprehensive books ... UDK cost me zilch, the books cost me $90.

I've spent the money on the Vibe2K course (and will most likely attend the next one as well) ... and I would be willing to spend money on books etc., but a resonably complete set of online documentation is NOT too much to ask for.  But I don't think we have a different view on this.

I do get inspiration out of watching you (plural) create and show your stuff.  It certainly keeps my dream alive  .

Oops .... this post got a lot longer than I had planned  .

Cheers,
Andreas

red: Thank you.
dark green: Awesome!
blue: Absolutely...
maroon: Well, really...who's gonna buy an engine that sells itself as :"This is really easy if you are a frigging genius!!!!"
......even geniuses like us would be intimidated.....marketing, sheesh!
light green: I agree 100%.
pink: 4uck!ng A, brother...

[Steely Dane]

Well, Pix, you could always use the older version with that stuff still active, unless you deleted it, right?
Why bother using the newer version if the old one worked for you?
I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm just saying...
I know how my straight forward language often looks aggressive....

[Steely Dane]

By the way, passion is the only thing that counts.
If you're doing it for the money, then you don't care about art.
If you don't care about art, you are incapable of passion.
If you have no passion you can't create.
And if you can't create, you can't be an artist.
If you're not an artist, then don't let my foot hit your ass on the way out....

And yes, I wrote that.
And yes, my shoe of choice are Dickies Vibram 2K steel toe safety boots, size 9....

[pixel_legolas]

dane, you straight forward and aggressive approach is never negative to me. I just see it as constructive. I know I have in more than one post probably "whined" about missing features and lost tempaltes etc. And I cannot blame anyone else but me, mother time and work.

I am sitting at the office and just wishing I could be home and get a prototype together. I also know that when I actually do get home I have tons of other things to do before I can actually start GC and play around.

I know this story applies to almost everyone except someone who is rich and gets money spoonfed and have alot of time.

Yes, the old template worked quite ok, and yes I could probably use it again. but I am trying to get the new template to jump instead. Why would a basic thing like that dissapear? It actually works in the vibe template in the new engine so someting is strange there.

As said before, the vibe course is good, informative and really have gotten me to open up gamecore and modeling packages more than ever.

I am going to put up the project I have thought about for a long time on this forum and hope people like the idea, have some input and perhaps want to help. But I will do it no matter what to show that I am not only a middle man who search for help but also do things actively also.

2010 will be good, that is all I want to say

[acocq]

@Pix,
can we now change your forum name to "Template Wh*re" ?   
Just kidding !!!!

@Steely,
and I thought those boots were made for walking ... 

@Binesi:
Reading your post, I'd have to say that you are apparently in a different league than most of us - and have different needs / requirements. So ... point well taken.

Cheers,
Andreas

[Steely Dane]

That being said, Rockafella is bang on...beware of mission creep.
The project I'm working on turned into something more because I got attached.
It was supposed to be a 6 month learning/test project that has now become a 14 month project.
Not so much because I strayed off course, but because I underestimated how long it was going to take me to create all of the assets.
If they were on hand, or free turbosquid jetsam, it would indeed, be a six month project.
But, since I am trying to test not only the engines ball's, but mine as well...
It has, let's say, expanded in scope.
A realistic scope, since through new experience, my previous scope was unrealistic.
I learned from it.
There is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am confident my game, although a simple test, will expand the user base, therefore expanding profits for Helios, therefore expanding development of this engine, and expanding the worth of my investment of time, effort, and money.
Or maybe I had too many beer's tonight and completely full of sh1t........

[Steely Dane]

They are multi- pupose, which goes hand in hand with my philosophy of flexible morality and situational ethics....

edit to add:
Aww..you guys like me......
I promise I will never be anything less than straight-forward and aggressive...
Not sure I could anyway...

[pixel_legolas]

I probably am quite a template wh*re but in all honesty, I think I have been a really big supporter when it comes to new people wanting help with some codes and errors. I just need to use this to my own advantage and make something unique.

For now I will adding sky textures and perhaps some other things but I also would like to add snippets for you all. Steely, did you try my ragman demo? I saw that the filefront link was dead so I might re-uload it. It's drop in the ocean but at least it was a start of a game

[Steely Dane]

I just have to point this out since it stuck in my craw right from the second I seen it....

I develop serious (as in not for entertainment) games.....

What kind of quote-unquote serious game is not for entertainment?
Are you talking about government military/industrial complex sponsored sims?
Are you C.I.A.?

And if you are, what really happened at Roswell?

[Steely Dane]

No, I wanted to, but the link was dead...get on it sister..
Also, you want cool textures you can use for free.....http://www.cgtextures.com/

All of the sky vista's I have, I got from here....I modified them somewhat in photoshop, like adding a real moon texture , rather than just a bright spot over bloomed, and huge planet in the sky behind the clouds...but the base is there...

Ok, I just did....I'll try it our sometime this week...along with City Escape, the new Interactive Framework with the flight templates....too much, Magic bus.....

[ross.rockafellow]

About the screenshots. Nice model work but the lighting/shading and textures are pretty flat. I assume this is early stages? A fair example of model work but not of engine technology. I am very interested to see the end result.

Very pre beta still. Gonna have to wait for a vid to see the engine show-off a bit, or better yet play it. Hopefully we can hit a full range spectrum of gameplay. I would love to see it usable for everything from your standard FPS fragfest to a training and recourse material for military bomb disposal with relatively little modification between the two "extreme" modes

[pixel_legolas]

christian_ger has made the absolute best presentation of gamecore so far. He is a great artist and really has shown the visual potential of gamecore

[xnasorcerer]

well, I don't post here for a long time, but I still donwload and try every update. I still wish that this engine could be great, but so far, fps only wen't down here for every update.
So, I will still be using UDk( Unreal engine ) and probably the free CrysisEngine that is going to come out pretty soon.

EDITED: Let me just add that I will also take a look at the PhyreEngine  for Sony that finnaly will come out completely free as well.

The game world is going crazy!!!

[gekido]

I fully agree with the 'FPS prototype' comment, which is exactly why Ross & I have been working for the past week or so on a revamped FPS template that is much more along the lines of what BV used to have.

Just posted some screens onto the CSO site that showcase some of the gameplay & environment that we've been working on that have a bit better lighting etc than what Ross posted earlier.

http://www.combatspecops.com/media/

I've basically mimicked the way that most FPS games handle first person view - ie with a separate 'v_' view model for the first person stuff, so you don't need to know anything about animation to get a basic weapon appearing in the view - simply position your weapon properly in the first person model and it will appear in the right spot etc.  Of course it will support the standard 'draw, idle, shoot, reload etc' animations as well.

Should greatly simplify the process for anyone looking to implement first person style games.

Our objective internally is to get a few of these templates implemented that bring GameCore more into the realm of what UDK etc provide - ie a complete, moddable game framework that you can simply jump in and start customizing for your own game.

The first pass FPS template will include basic singleplayer gameplay for starters so we can get something out and released for everyone sooner than later but next on our list is to get a full multiplayer version out that showcases the new multiplayer system that we have in GameCore, with full physics syncing, dedicated servers etc...

On the comment about all of the games being done in GameCore to date being 'hobbyist / solo-style' projects, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

While they might not have had multi-million dollar budgets, they were definitely serious projects.  Even a game like Truck Off, while a small, simple game (which was the very intention) provides everything that a larger-scale racing game does - and in many cases more (roaming user profiles, facebook integration, global leaderboards, cross-platform multiplayer support, etc).  Not only this but it was developed in a period of roughly 2 weeks.

Compare that to something like Farmville (original development time, roughly 5 weeks) - which has made Zynga who knows how much money - in today's market, making a successful game in today's market requires neither a huge budget or a significant amount of development time.