[Project] Merc 3021

UberGeoff

Initial prototype

Merc 3021 Game

Push TAB to gain mouse lock - and ESC to drop mouse lock.

Note: Takes a while to download. :(

dislekcia

Could you outline what the game is about in a little more detail please? Maybe post a screenshot or a video to entice people to play...

UberGeoff

Hi there @dislekcia

I have been looking for some "concept" idea's here: makegamessa.com/discussion/3675/3d-game-idea-where-to-from-here#latest

Also: I am trying to build up a plot (at the same time) maybe something similar to this:

Based (roughly) on the Battle Tech universe - Date 3021 - near the end of the Third Succession War.

Compared to the previous Succession Wars, the Third was marked with almost constant, but low-intensity, warfare as the Successor States fought over increasingly dwindling resources and technology. The tail-end of the Third Succession War was the initial starting point of the BattleTech game.

Thats where this small mercenary team/man - traveling between random planets - comes into play.

In the beginning the main objective would be to drop into different planets - and steal some resources - and jump out before attracting to much attention. But as the game progresses - the fighting will lead onto a more "illusive" plot.

That's all I have for now - but making things up as I go along. The game is still very far from completion. So was kinda looking at makegamesa for motivation and useful advise.

Question: Is there anyone here who I should talk to when i comes to sourcing good 3D animated models?

Other than that I will update - as work progresses.

TODO: add some awesome fire power to my Mech. :)

UberGeoff

Here is some game play video:

Merc 3021 Video

UberGeoff

Updates include:

1) Weapon systems - Vulcan Cannon
2) HUD interface - static
3) Enemy's on Nav Mesh (RAIN)

TODO:

1) Add more weapons
2) Make HUD more dynamic
3) Add Enemy detection and attack (RAIN)

pieter

I can see that it's still VERY early days in the development of this project. I get a very strong Mechwarrior vibe from this, which was one of my favourite shooters. I spent hours just building different mechs and optimizing them to get the most of a specific chassis.

Before you add more weapons, make the enemies destructible with a nice explosion and debris, and have some sort of spawner that endlessly spawns them. I'm guessing this is going to be a game about mechs blowing stuff up, well give us something to blow up with our mechs :D

Good luck with the rest of you project!

Also, please, please, please give us the option of downloading your game to our computers. I don't want to sit and wait for 10 minutes in front of Unity Player every time I want to blow stuff up ;)

UberGeoff

OK.. NP. Will try get those destructible enemies for you...

+ Will get a downloadable game for you ASAP. (Windows)

In the mean time - I made another video. Just a small HUD update. But came out really nice:

HUD update

I'm also thinking I need to make this a multiplayer game... think a story line game is gonna take me way too long to complete. What you think?

Nandrew

Definitely go with what's easiest. A project like this is big and will take a long time to complete. Having a careful look at all of your planned features -- and chopping out everything that doesn't feel *absolutely* vital -- would be a very positive move, and it's one of the things that lets talented individuals make playable prototypes quickly.

Multiplayer feels intimidating to me in terms of development effort: what about a really simple (but fun) single-player experience with one level plus the absolute minimum of enemies/weapons/mechanics to make a fully playable (and rewarding) experience?

You could give yourself a time limit to achieve something like that (a month, or X many hours if you don't have much spare dev time). Then aggressively scope your game experience based on what you feel you'll *realistically* complete in that time.

At the end of it, instead of having a massive half-complete project that you may get bored with / throw away (because I can guarantee that you'll have a hundred other cool game ideas while developing this, and you'll WANT to work on those ideas instead), you'll have a neat, tight gaming experience that can slide into your portfolio and genuinely entertain people with for bite-sized experiences. ;)

UberGeoff

@Nandrew - thank you for your advice. I will take it to heart.

Also: This it he only game I want to build - I cant think of any other game (genre) I would like to build right now. Not sure why that is. :)

I am hoping to get a downloadable game ready by EOW.

Still very early days.

roguecode

Looks cool, nice progress.

What are you recording the videos with? Looks like it is killing your PC. If you're on Windows 10, press [Windows Key] + [G] and it will open up a recorder. Or if you're on other Windows checkout http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/shadowplay which shouldn't effect your FPS too much.

UberGeoff

OK. So I want to make the game available to the forum members. When I build the game (and then zip it) it comes out to 160MB.

Not sure if anyone would want to download such a big game?

BUT - is there a way to publish the game in such a way that it is smaller? Or could i exclude some files?

Zaphire

@UberGeoff all depends on the game engine you are using. Most of them should have ways of compressing textures etc and then you can also manually make the textures smaller etc. Most of the guys here I am sure will be able to download 160mb if you have it somewhere easy to download :)

dislekcia

I just downloaded the Witness' 3.5GB, so I'm pretty sure 160MB isn't going to destroy my line...

UberGeoff

LOL... ok. Will upload it "as is"

:)

UberGeoff

Game can be found HERE. Warning: this is just "nice" prototype. Getting all the mechanics out of the way.

Updates includes the following:

1) Step climbing - wasted (learnt) many hours on this. Hence this upload being so late.
2) Better weapon directions. i.e. Always fire to center of screen.
2) Many weapons/particles added - all of them were sourced from here: Forge3D

Sorry - no destructible enemies just yet. I spent many hours on collision and step climbing logic. :( But was a good learning process.

Pierre

Hi Geoff.
As discussed, Go ahead and PM me and we can chat more about the project !

UberGeoff

Early cockpit designs.

Cockpit here

Thanks to @Pierre

We are looking at a render to texture - look.

i.e. The pilot will use a set of monitors to view the outside world. :)

UberGeoff

After a lot of work: Got me some walking up stairs. :)

EvanGreenwood

That looks pretty rad!

It looks though like the mech releases shell casings when it walks? Does that mean that it uses the explosions of bullets to propel itself!

This would be pretty fucking sweet... that everything in this world uses bullets to operate.

UberGeoff

YES..! when in doubt - just add more bullets..!!

UberGeoff

Top down maybe..?

UberGeoff

Cockpit run - late afternoon

BenJets

Very stoked to see this @UberGeoff! Such a fan of mech games, and it's awesome to see one if being locally made! Really looking forward to seeing where you take this!