Babylon project (provisional name)

[Chosker]

^^ While I mostly agree with what you suggest...

Make the core of your game around one idea, and you already have one - arena combat.

I'd say there's more to this

Take DOTA for example, where you have a really powerful core and never needed a very expansive set of features. It works because the game was built around that core, and the core is powerful.

But. If as opposed to thinking of the core first and the complementary features later, when the core of a game comes from the reduced scope of the (quite larger) experience, it's hard to imagine it would be as interesting.
If you take TES: Oblivion and only leave the Imperial City's Arena fights, well just that alone is kinda lackluster because the game wasn't built around it - because one could say that Oblivion/Skyrim has a lot of features that are not that great by themselves but contribute to give shape to a greater experience

And that's why I was mentioning the feature creep before: it happened to me when I downscaled because while [for me] the core was good enough, just the core alone is not enough to make a game unless it's a really powerful and fun core.
In my case the core (challenging skill-based swordfighting with a responsive AI) needed some complementary features, so I had to introduce some stuff around it [with goals still matching the reduced scope], to at least complete the experience so the player wouldn't get bored after 2 hours and never touch it again. And this brought random dungeons, stealth mechanics, companion AIs, and a some physics-based gameplay

[Chosker]

wait-- you did all this yourself ?

To me it looked like everything was done using Mixamo, shows how good it is. If you really painstaking did all this with 3Dsmax then you should seriously finish this UDK project, sell it , then immediately move to UE4 and just smash out what you have in the marketplace

well, no. in the end the player will perceive the final quality of the game. just stating that the assets were done by a single person will not earn you extra forgiveness from reviews and criticism.

also just "seriously finish this UDK project, sell it , then immediately move to UE4 and just smash out what you have in the marketplace" really sounds like years of work for one person

[ClavosTech]

Having a one-man core team means that you will have to specialize into something or you end up with a project that can easily be estimated to take about 10 years to complete for just that one person.

also just "seriously finish this UDK project, sell it , then immediately move to UE4 and just smash out what you have in the marketplace" really sounds like years of work for one person

And yet one person from here recently did it.
Not typical maybe but not impossible either...

[Chosker]

I'm not saying it's impossible (I wouldn't be doing my project alone if I wouldn't believe in it)
I'm just saying it takes months and years of work to "just finish a project"

btw I'd also be weary about early access games made by one man teams or really small teams. I've seen games that become abandoned way before leaving early access for this very reason. first the players get bored and don't have a lot to look forward to (since updates are very slow), and eventually even the developers abandon it

[O_and_N]

If it was me(hope to make it there,im not planning on giving to the players any early acces or even a demo.Ive seen that a good ammount of games that did that and it was enough for the gamers to have enough of it and when the final game is out no one wants it.We are solo devs.As much as i dont like to admit it,when the time comes out to show the final product
- trailer shoud be litle on the hype side
-have showed the project in forums that unite people to the current type of genre months before the release
-youtube hypes

Optional and sad to do...
-...............devs do make many emails before the release.Register many accounts in youtbe and give the innitial 40-50 and even more thums up to his project.People are becoming strange these days.I know that a good number of them,when they see many thumbs up they tend to contribute without thinking much.Even if its not that good.Same with multiple reviews in steam created by the dev.


And i think we are starting to spam Cobalts thread here

[Keltar]

This is beautiful...Love!

[CobaltUDK]

No, I'm not working alone in the project. I did the base human models, armors, landscape, animations (the hand made ones) and the code. Other persons have contributed with weapons models, houses, and now there are only one modeler doing houses and map assets. Also some assets were purchased from online stores.

I think that Steam early access is a good option, but I don't see how publish a game with a main quest. Games like the Coldscooter one are perfect to early access, because the players can play while the game is updated regulary. There isn't a main quest, only survive.

[ClavosTech]

I think that Steam early access is a good option, but I don't see how publish a game with a main quest. Games like the Coldscooter one are perfect to early access, because the players can play while the game is updated regulary. There isn't a main quest, only survive.

The Stargate clips above look less quest based and more like survival imo, but hey..
You're still faced with a tricky decision so here's a few pros / cons as a way to help:

Switch to UE4:
Pros: To move forward as a game dev you'll have to learn UE4 eventually anyway.
Cons: You risk actually making the same game twice, only for half the benefit etc...

Stick with UDK:
Pros: You've invested a huge amount of time and the game still looks great in UDK.
Cons: You're learning more UDK internals, but will have to start over again in UE4.

Make Arena game:
Pros: Get something to market soon, learn marketing / distrib ahead of main game.
Cons: Your perfectionism risks creating a new headache that's also never finished...

Overall, you should probably find a mentor that can help steer you in crucial areas.
A pro who has launched several games before and knows the Steam process well.
Someone to say stop, time to move on, stop focusing on tiny details & frame rates.
Try to start a closed Alpha too, make sure the code you feel is done is really done!

[O_and_N]

Stick with UDK:
Pros: You've invested a huge amount of time and the game still looks great in UDK.
Cons: You're learning more UDK internals, but will have to start over again in UE4.

Not realy as if i was him and started to make money out of the project,dedicated time will go for updates/patches/speaking to the community and promoting for more sales.If the project keeps feeding you,you can start a second game the moment you see people stop playing it or in spare time to keep up to date with tech.

[NIDAL NIJM GAMES]

My thoughts:

1- This project, in my opinion, is the most advanced project I have ever seen done in UDK.

2- If you want to develop/release this game as a hobbist, like me, so fine go on, it will inspire many aspiring game developers.

3- If you want to release it commercially, be sure that you will suceed anyways, because this game has a great potential

4- If you want to be like "santa clauss" for the community, so please, share with us, mere mortals all these nice features you have created, share with us the scripts and animations, like a kind of models pack so we can use on our projects, off course if you want.

Anyway brother, again, your game Babylon is, on my opinion, the most advanced UDK Game ever created, and I need to say you congratulations

[CobaltUDK]

Thanks, this is a hobbist for me, but like all of you, I think, I would to work in this, instead my bored current job.

I want to share the models and animations, but after the game will be published. A lot of animations are from Mixamo, for free use, you can try it. There are some packs and a lot of individual mocaps. Also you have good quality human models in Mixamo, and in MakeHuman. Probably if I were to make the models again, I will choose one of these as start.

[NIDAL NIJM GAMES]

Thanks, this is a hobbist for me, but like all of you, I think, I would to work in this, instead my bored current job.

I want to share the models and animations, but after the game will be published. A lot of animations are from Mixamo, for free use, you can try it. There are some packs and a lot of individual mocaps. Also you have good quality human models in Mixamo, and in MakeHuman. Probably if I were to make the models again, I will choose one of these as start.

WOW!!! THANKS!!!!!!! I forgot to ask aswell, could you share the classes (scripts)? I loved mainly the meelee action and general NPC`s Behaviours.

[TKBS]

A lot of animations are from Mixamo

I Knew it.

I Can no longer look at a product and not know exactly where it came from or how it was made ...

[CobaltUDK]

Projectiles

This is another test using part of the code from the bow in the fusil (the projectiles are the arrows from the bow for this test). The result is like a automatic crossbow.

In the second half of the video, the arrows are incendiaries.

This is only a test, the soldier is not finished yet (no textures), the XM8 is only for testing while the modelers make the definitive weapons for the game. Music is provisional too, voices aren't edited yet, etc.

For the next weekend we hope to have a video, a battle with 100 bots, showing the soldier finished, also with new music and voices.

[Keehoon Ahn]

It looks fun.^^