My idea for my first game

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hi, my name is , i don’t know where this particular topic best belongs so i thought i would post it here. I have this idea for a game and i would like to know what you think.
P.S. Keep in mind, this is just an idea, whether it will become a reality or not remains to be seen.

Name:World War 3
Written In: C++
Price: $50 USD
Engine:Unreal Engine 4
Goal of this game: To provide gamers with a unique experience both in Single and Multiplayer Modes.
If this game experiences a explosion of popularity upon release, what will you do: I will more than likely be surprised that a game I made has gotten popular really fast, and will no doubt the funds I make will make me faint due to the fact that I can’t believe it.
Genre/s: First Person Shooter/Role Playing Game
Targeted Audience: Gamers 15 Years and over
Steam or Non-Steam Game: Steam
Distribution Method: Physical Distribution And Digital Distribution
Theme of Game: Modern War Game
Has Singleplayer:Yes
Has Multiplayer: Yes
Will this game have a sequel: No, I will be focusing on creating and releasing more DLC’s for this game. Once all the games DLC has been done, I will then consider making another game.
DLC:
Russian Weapon Pack(Available for free when Pre-Ordered, once game is released it will be Available for $4 USD)
American Weapon Pack(Comes With Purchase of the game)
Australian Weapon Pack(Comes With Purchase of the game)
French Weapon Pack(Available for free when Pre-Ordered, once game is released it will be Available for $4 USD)
Chinese Weapon Pack($4 USD DLC)
Japanese Weapon Pack($4 USD DLC)
Swedish Weapon Pack($4USD DLC)
Inglewood Map($4 USD DLC)
Goondiwindi Map($4 USD DLC)
Yelarbon Map($4 USD DLC)
Space Map($4 USD DLC)
World War 3 Zombies Mode($8 USD DLC)
Kino Der Toten Zombies Map($8 USD DLC)
Nuketown Map Pack($8 USD DLC)(This DLC Adds Nuketown, Nuketown Zombies, Nuketown 2025, Nuk3town maps)
Personalisation Kits for every Country in the world
External Tools:
World War 3 Toolkit($150 USD)(This Toolkit provides tools to making amazing custom content for World War 3, this toolkit includes:
World War 3 Map Builder($25 USD)(This tool allows users to create, test, export and distribute custom maps made buy the community, this tool will work with the World War 3 Script Maker,World War 3 Audio Maker, World War 3 Texture Maker and World War 3 Model Maker in order to allow users to create impressive Steam workshop content)
World War 3 Model Maker($25 USD)(This tool allows users to create, test, export and distribute custom models, this tool will work with the World War 3 Audio Maker and World War 3 Texture Maker in order to allow users to create impressive Steam workshop content)
World War 3 Texture Maker($25 USD)(This tool allows users to create, test, export and distribute custom textures, this tool will work with the World War 3 Audio Maker and World War 3 Model Maker in order to allow users to create impressive Steam workshop content)
World War 3 Script Maker($25 USD)(This tool allows users to create, test, export and distribute custom maps made buy the community, this tool will work with the World War 3 Texture Maker, World War 3 Model Maker and World War 3 Map Builder in order to allow users to create impressive Steam workshop content)
World War 3 Animation Maker($25 USD)(This tool works similar to Source Filmmaker in the way that it allows users to make animations while playing games, this tool will work with the World War 3 Texture Maker, World War 3 Model Maker and World War 3 Map Builder in order to allow users to create impressive animations)
World War 3 Audio Maker($25 USD)(This tool works similar to Audacity in the way that it allows users to edit audio as well as adding an ability to create custom music and sounds, this tool will work with the World War 3 Texture Maker, World War 3 Animation Maker, World War 3 Model Maker and World War 3 Map Builder in order to allow users to create impressive content))
ESRB Rating: MA15+
Detailed Story: The year is 2050, and World War 3 has begun after France invades America in an attempt to become a dominant country on Earth, taken by surprise the American military fell quickly, out of the 2,220,412 soldiers that went and fought in defense of their country, only 222 soldiers remained, America asks for help from Russia and Australia, Russia comes in to aid and gets eliminated, France sends 2 UP500(Uranium-Plutonium 500)Missiles(Missiles powerful enough to level a whole country) to Russia, effectively wiping off the Russians from Earth, Australia responds by sending their best man/woman(The player) to America to help the Americans get their land back.
Main Character/s: Johnathan Peters(If Male), Angelica Fredricks(If Female)
Side Character/s: Kennedy Jakobs, Flint Taggart, Miranda Romero, Nathan Carmack, Louise Maron.

I forgot to note, i’m terrible at being 100% original, so if the story, characters or anything sounds bad or too familiar, blame my lack of Creativity.

2

I feel like I have played this game recently… :slight_smile:

I would recommend using google docs to create a design document(s) so you can house and organize all your thoughts in a coherent manner.

I don’t think you need to worry about pricing before you even have your simulated guy firing simulated bullets though…

Good luck!

3

it does sound like another COD sort of game in a way i admit

i would do that, but i don’t know what a “Design Document” is, however i will take that into consideration right away

I agree with your statement, the only reason i chose $50 USD for a price was to give me a little spark of hope so to speak, i will revise the price once the idea is a reality of course.

thank you, i’m gonna need it :slight_smile:

4

Nah, I was thinking Fallout 4. If you haven’t played that, then it is as important to your design research as Civilization is to mine… :slight_smile:

Though to be fair, Fallout takes place after the war, so maybe you can beat Bethesda to the punch and make a game about the actual war.

5

I have played Fallout 4, awesome game, and my first ever Fallout game aswell.

My game set in the Fallout universe, gosh if i do that Bethesda won’t be too happy with me, my idea involves staying in the universe we live in today, also i only just realised, i’m starting from World War 3, and i bet someone is going to ask me “Why don’t you start from World War 1, and make your way to World War 3?” In fact i’m doing up my design documents for World War 1 and World War 2, needless to say i may have to split World War 1 into 4 parts, each part covers one year of World War 1, with World War 2 i would have to split into 6 parts, though as you noted earlier, gotta get the main game built first, once the main game(or base game as i like to call it) is done, i can then add all the finer details like story, setting, etc.

6

It does sometimes seem that we see a lot of posts about creating a game, with details about the story, the world it is set in, (and you have even included the prices of the DLC which is new :slight_smile: ). There’s very little about the actual gameplay.

Play around with the Unreal Engine first. Just create small levels and see which parts of programming you enjoy doing. Remember, what started out as a game about Nazis and slugs on an island, became BioShock. The things you have listed will be the first things to change. (E.g. Different names for the main character? Just give them the same surname, have everyone call them that and you have saved a load of fuss and bother with the voice-acting).

Good luck!

7

Have to agree there. So many ideas but very little else, as of the moment. I think we need some kind of sticky post / guide that includes a very brief overview on the game development process, along with a list of industry standard software (and free alternatives). I’m sure that’d help. Might look into putting something together when I have a moment to spare.

@IDGam3r, if you would like to research into that a bit further, there’s two posts similar to this here and here. They might make for an interesting read. That is, if you are actively considering attempting to develop this into a fully-fledged game.

I do find it odd that you’ve delved into the whole downloadable content situation immediately off the bat. I don’t think anyone worries about that so early on in the process. That comes much later, to be honest - from my experience. Similarly, I would say the same with the ESRB rating, which in reality, you have very little control over.

8

No, I mean that since you are roughly competing in the genre you have room to work in the space that Bethesda hasn’t yet filled. If you tried to compete with them directly in their territory you would find it much harder to get eyeballs because you will always just be seen as second rate to the Fallout.

I actually have a large list of potential DLC in my design document. I find it a good mind exercise to think of where your game could go and how you can expand upon your genre using DLC.

For instance, in my case with the Civilization genre, some of the more interesting DLC ideas are along the lines of Robot Uprising, Zombie Apocalypse, Prehistoric Era, Extreme Disaster Pack, Alien Invasion, Moon Colonization, etc. Things that can come to mind on the drive to work and don’t take more than a few minutes of thought to flesh out a really interesting idea. Also things that help keep the dream alive, through the years… :slight_smile:

9

I like the DLC concept!
Some sort of creative freedom!
Some sort of goldammo in there too, to pay a bit to hunt down silly freeplayers more easy?
I would like to pay a monthly fee too!

10

You are being sarcastic are you? All the DLC and preorder BS in modern games makes my blood boil.

Your idea sounds cool and seems like you have everything already thought about for when your game is finished. But without wanting to offend, the opening post reads like a detailed wish-list a kid would write to santa.
You are aware of the incredible amount of work and money it’ll take to get there?
Whats your experience with computer graphics or project management so far?
Do you have a team assembled? Are you planning on doing so?
Have you broken down your dev process and planned stages and budgets?
When do you plan on releasing this? (realistically speaking)
Etc. etc. etc?

I probably sound like I want to discourage you, but thats really not the case, I just want you to give us more info on your actual plans for dev processes so we can give some proper useful input.

11

Maybe so, but like i said “It’s just an Idea at this point”

I’m fully aware of the cost, and i’m even more aware of the amount of work needed to be done.

You have asked a great question, and i intend to answer the great question with a great answer, and an honest one at that, i have no experience in computer graphics, but i’m hoping to develop that over time, and do i have project management skills, no, but like i said with time i hope to develop that aswell

I don’t have a team just yet, and yes i do plan to do so once i have refined my skills in Animating, Coding, Modeling, etc

I don’t quite understand what you mean by dev process, and my main stages include make the base code for the game, then work on the gameplay, then story, then more finer details, then DLC

ah good question , a really good question, and my answer is there is no plan atm on a release date

I understand,

I have always wanted to make a game, by nature i wanted to follow in ID Software’s footsteps of the 90’s and make like a homemade engine which would make other engines seem primitive, but i realise to do that would require ALOT and ALOT of hours poured into coding just for making an revolutionary engine. plus in all honesty i have no knowledge in coding, BUT i do intend to learn coding in Java AND C++, i’m also trying to learn how to model in Blender, and when i can get it MAYA, i also(being an already aspiring singer)intend to learn how to make music, and even though i got no interest in art, i intend to learn art anyways.

12

A few things:

-You need to come up with an actual game concept, because none of that is a game, that’s stuff you figure out after you’ve been in development for a while.
-if you try to learn all of those things you will never get anything done, it would be better for you to become really good at one of those things and then recruit other people to help you with the things you don’t have much experience with.

13

Following up on what darthviper107 mentioned,

Dont do that. Whatever you like doing most, thats what you should focus on learning. If you arent interested in art, you wont become a good artist. You can familiarize yourself with many of the aspects of game production, but you wont ever be able to become a master of all. Remember, jack of all trades etc.

So its important for you to know, what part of this do you want to be.

14

Hi all

thought I’d share my GDD and TDD documents with you all.

There not 100% done but if you no HTML you can finish it yourself. When I get it done I’ll post the new one.

Fill free to use it or any part of it.

All you need to do is hit the download button

15

If that is you’re idea for you’re first game to release on steam,
then my idea is that you will never release a game at all.

16

Bioshock started as Nazis and slugs on a island? didn’t know that, but back on topic, a design document is essentially a plan which allows you to write down everything you want to make then further develop it, for instance the space map, will you have sound (unrealistic yet more entertaining) or no sound (more realistic potentially less entertaining) you could then make the map and give it to a small group of players and see which one is more accepted then you can write that down as well as any possible improvement with the map testers said, rinse and repeat. for other content etc.

ps, if u are already planning DLC then people will get very annoyed at you as it essentially content that was already done, yet they didnt get it, there have been multiple instances of this happening to Triple A studios EA being the worse(?)

Also if you need help with developing your story, or even making it all you gotta do is ask, I wouldn’t be surprised that if you came up with something really innovative then Epic might offer there help too, not in a Triple A way but might put a couple of people to help you with it. As well as the thousands of community member looking for something to work on.

17

Concept??

I agree, but if i were to learn how to code, model, animate and make sounds and music then i can easily make a game, the only thing i would have to worry about is the art side.

18

Thanks for the game idea, I’ll get started working on it tonight!

Jokes aside, it’s not always the best idea to post detailed ideas.

19

All you have is a WWIII first person shooter–which means nothing, what is the game like? What makes it unique? Why should people be interested in your game?

You don’t have enough time to learn how to do all of those things well, no one does, people spend years trying to be good at one of those things. While sometimes people think they are willing to spend the years learning and working on the game to get it done eventually, the reality is that it’s always harder than you think. It’s likely that in that time you’ll change your mind about the project or get interested in something else, or you’ll realize how much work there is and that it would take too long to do.

20

‘If’ is the key word here… people spend half their lives learning just one of theses disciplines to be good enough to work along with dozens if not hundreds of other professionals on a game that might or might not be successful.
What makes you think you’ll be able learn all that and throw a game just like that? A CoD or a Battlefield is not an indie game made by some post graduation students in their moms garage you know.
Besides, ‘the art side’ isnt just a little tiny insignificant bit you might be slightly worried about, its almost the whole friggin game! Its concept art, its modeling, its texturing, its animation, its lighting, its environment, its story design, its music, hell even some aspects of programming might be considered art!
If you cant do art, you wont make a game like the one you are planning to do - at least not on your own.

I mean its good to dream and its good to reach for the stars… but man you gotta build a rocket first, and a space station, and hire scientists and people to develop and monitor everything, and do the astronaut training thing etc. Then you gotta aim that rocket scientifically and launch it! … and In the end, dont forget to be inside the rocket and go the long journey, or youll watch from the ground how someone else reaches the stars.