Where to start. first thanks so much for all the advice TechLord, I think I will do as you suggested an build the game in a modular way (which I was doing but each feature relied on another and they all started blending in my head and I lost track of what should be the focus). Unfortunately not having a job and not having any sort of income I can’t afford even the simplest of things from the market place though a few like your room generator would be nice. So this means everything in the game will be hand coded (mainly blueprints as I suck at coding but understand the logic behind it), modeled, Textured, and Animated by me. If when I get to the point that I feel the game is nearing complete but I’m not happy with my art work I may runs a crowed funding campaign just for getting the funds to make the game look better but I hope not to do that. I really don’t want to promise people something I can’t guarantee I can deliver.
On to the modular design. I have a hard time finding where to start and could use some more of your awesome advice TechLord or anyone reading this. What I have done right now is a main menu system that you can launch a LAN game from, Join a LAN game from and Adjust some options(hardly any options work yet except changing the # of players that can connect to your LAN game, Max 10). I have a billboard picture of Kirrito from sword art online as a temp player model, with basic movement (Forward, Back, Left, Right and jump). I have tested and multiplayer works fine atm. What I need advice on as a none game developer making a game for the first time is what area to focus on. The following list are core things I need to make the game playable so I can start adding modular features that if taken away the game would still work.
- Terrain = Place to play on and with out it there is no point to anything.
- Player Character - Getting it modeled, rigged, animated and controlled in game the way it should be = With out this there is no game.
- RPG system = Power’s everything the player does in the game world and will be needed for every action besides basic walking this is mainly just code with some HUD elements.
- Or should I stop the coding all together and start focusing over the next several months on making/ gathering all the art assets I know I will need from 3d models to music and sound effects.
Honestly I have no clue how I should focus my time. My first thought is the terrain since that is were all the game play will take place and allows me to have a place to test all my other systems. But then I think were I can’t do anything with out a player character and though Kirrito is nice to look at it was really just a visual aid so I can see where the player is and make sure multiplayer was working so far. Then I think well the RPG system drives everything else so I need to do it before the character so I don’t have to go back in and add code to movement so that it drains the character energy. Then I start thinking of all the trees plants, items, and other things I would need to test systems like cutting down a tree (need tree, need item that drops from tree, Need axe to cut tree, need player model to hold axe, need animation to swing axe, need terrain to place tree on. . . )
Sorry to ramble I’ve had less then 3 hours of sleep as I was dealing with some stuff. If things don’t make sense let me know I normally triple check posts to make sure I haven’t miss typed anything or combined two thoughts into one like I normally do but so tired I will have to check later.
EDIT:
So I decided, Player Character comes first since it ties so closely with the rpg system that will be build along side the character integration into the game. I figure I can test my gathering resource code on a flat plain, so terrain isn’t as high of priority, and I shouldn’t make models unless I ready to implement them into the game. So now that my menu is done (only basics no character creation or anything) I feel the next step is the character since this is a player driven game. I’ll miss you Kirrito (need a PS vita emu so i can play the new sao game but doubt one exists)