joint effort

[leefy008]

hey i'm a computer animator, so i can make some pretty sick 3d models and environments (and dumb them down for the zune). but i'm at a lost when it comes to programing of any kind. i was wondering if any programmers wanted to go in with me on making the best zune game to date. let me know if anyone is interested. (i'm not just some kid that started 3d modeling last week, i have a collage degree in computer animation)

just got the specs on the zune (thanks to aceofspades1005), processor speed= 532 mhz ram= 64 sdram 133 mhz

ok here's a example i threw together really fast. i have a idea for how to put this all together into a game on the zune but i REALLY need a programmer to tell me if my idea would work but i'm 99% sure it will. so the end product would look something like this video below environment wise (except with textures and proper light of course). but i still have plenty of ideas for other parts of the game.

i'm thinking either doom or counter strike

i'm almost sure that when i'm done with this we'll have a game that may not be true 3d but you wont' be able to tell the difference and that's all that matters!

+ YouTube Video

update!
here's a basic grid just to show how the pictures would be set up, each number represents a picture and each letter represents a group of pictures. so this is how the pictures will be organized, clearly a real level will be much more complex but i just wanted to show visual representation of how this will work. (just cuz it's top view in the grid map doesn't mean it's not gonna be first person point of view it'll look something like the video above, but with textures and what not of course) oh and i know the movement on the grid has some problems but don't worry i'll work out all the movement bugs before any playable version comes out



please voice your help or support on this!

[Trap757]

not trying to be a jerk or nothin but this isnt a game request and it isnt even in the request template

[leefy008]

well i may not be requesting a game, but i'm requesting people to make a game. so i felt this is the best place to post it. and i don't see how i could have put it in the template seeing as how i'm not requesting a game itself.

[cobo81]

trap757 chill out he had a good idea to do this. it could help us get some good games cus right now they all pretty much suck

[gohstface]

Originally Posted by cobo81

trap757 chill out he had a good idea to do this. it could help us get some good games cus right now they all pretty much suck

Agreed we need some games with an actual plot. So far the best game we have is a Pacman remake (not to put down our amazing version of Pacman or anything)

[leefy008]

i'm really glad you guys posted cuz for a little while i thought i was just gonna be completely ignored. i can even give some examples of what we're looking at graphics and what not wise, i just need to know what the specs of the zune are meaning ram processor that kind of thing (well actually those 2 would about cut it). but as soon as i find those out i'll through together something to show you guys just how fare we can take these zune games. cuz these games already on here are just the beginning of zune gaming.

anyone interested in helping out PLEASE POST YOUR SUPPORT!

[Jzune]

I cant give you info or help you with technical stuff but i appreciate what you and everyone here is doing. I think thats what makes the zune experience so great. That so many of you put so much effort into what you do and you ask for no monetary compensation.

[leefy008]

Originally Posted by Jzune

I cant give you info or help you with technical stuff but i appreciate what you and everyone here is doing. I think thats what makes the zune experience so great. That so many of you put so much effort into what you do and you ask for no monetary compensation.

thank you for the support, that's all i could ever ask of people that just love games and want to see more

[BurlySkink]

yea this is possible, i dont think I quite have the skil to use raycasting however.

[leefy008]

Originally Posted by The Undead

yea this is possible, i dont think I quite have the skil to use raycasting however.

this isn't raycasting... i rendered that out of maya 2008 as a image sequence. i believe in old games like dome that's how they did it. like depending which way you go a different image is loaded, such as if you go forward a image is loaded of the wall in front of you smaller, in theory. or if you turn right or left a different image is loaded. this may take up a lot of space, but if you think about it if you use real basic textures on the walls then you could reuse a lot of the frames, thus cutting down on the size of the game tremendously.

and for the other players there could just be different characters rendered out from different sides, so depending on which way you look at them a different image is displayed.

so the final product would be a game that looks and feels 3d and is complety made from a true 3d environment but doesn't have the processing weight of a 3d game.

anyone get that?

[BurlySkink]

Originally Posted by leefy008

this isn't raycasting... i rendered that out of maya 2008 as a image sequence. i believe in old games like dome that's how they did it. like depending which way you go a different image is loaded, such as if you go forward a image is loaded of the wall in front of you smaller, in theory. or if you turn right or left a different image is loaded. this may take up a lot of space, but if you think about it if you use real basic textures on the walls then you could reuse a lot of the frames, thus cutting down on the size of the game tremendously.

and for the other players there could just be different characters rendered out from different sides, so depending on which way you look at them a different image is displayed.

so the final product would be a game that looks and feels 3d and is complety made from a true 3d environment but doesn't have the processing weight of a 3d game.

anyone get that?

I know its not raycasting..im not an idiot. To do it on the zune you would have to use raycasting or some other trick.

[Suicufnoc]

Originally Posted by leefy008

this isn't raycasting... i rendered that out of maya 2008 as a image sequence. i believe in old games like dome that's how they did it. like depending which way you go a different image is loaded, such as if you go forward a image is loaded of the wall in front of you smaller, in theory. or if you turn right or left a different image is loaded. this may take up a lot of space, but if you think about it if you use real basic textures on the walls then you could reuse a lot of the frames, thus cutting down on the size of the game tremendously.

and for the other players there could just be different characters rendered out from different sides, so depending on which way you look at them a different image is displayed.

so the final product would be a game that looks and feels 3d and is complety made from a true 3d environment but doesn't have the processing weight of a 3d game.

anyone get that?

The amount of images it would take to do that would be incredible. My estimation comes out to about 900 Billion for a fairly small map(if you want 360 degree movement, which you need for a shooter). And thats not taking enemies into consideration. The only games that are made with this method are generally simple 3d mazes.

[sir justin]

I can supply a story line, conversations, descriptions, or anything like that to help make the game. I might even be able to produce a thumbnail for the picture. I'd like to help out!

[leefy008]

like i said before, frames could be reused and there's other tricks to make this work. i had a ti-83 game back in middle school that used this method (it was doom). given it was very simple. but with the power of the zune much more is possible. it won't be perfect but it will be much nicer then anything we have so far.

and it sounds like i finally have someone that's willing to help, sir justin welcome to the team!

[BurlySkink]

Originally Posted by leefy008

like i said before, frames could be reused and there's other tricks to make this work. i had a ti-83 game back in middle school that used this method (it was doom). given it was very simple. but with the power of the zune much more is possible. it won't be perfect but it will be much nicer then anything we have so far.

and it sounds like i finally have someone that's willing to help, sir justin welcome to the team!

I thought doom used raycasting, correct me if im wrong.

[leefy008]

Originally Posted by The Undead

I thought doom used raycasting, correct me if im wrong.

i really wouldn't know. in the original post i said i think the original doom was made that way. but it seems like you know your stuff so i'm not gonna argue with you about something i know nothing about, haha. but in the post you quoted i was talking about the ti-83 version of the game doom. which did use the technique i explain. and if a ti-83 game can use it then i'm sure the zune which is much much more powerful in every way could use it much much better.

i'll be honest i know nothing about raycasting cuz it's extremely out of date in terms of main stream gaming which is what i learned about in college. i use what i know which is maya 7.0-2008 and other programs that are used in gaming now a days.

i've just adapted what i know and what i can do to the limits of the capabilitys of the zune.

the video at the top of the screen was made by me in maya 2008 as a example, and rendered as a image sequence that is only 5mb rendered at the highest quality (not to be confused with biggest size which isn't to big cuz the zune screen is small), that sequence could be a quarter of a small multilayer level 5x4=20mb not to bad for a level. i could prob get all the renders under 200mb i don't think that's too big for a first person shooter on a device that holds 30-80gb.

need more convincing i'll be glad to answer any questons or talk about any concerns you have with this not working.

[BurlySkink]

see though the only problem, is that if it gets to big it wont fit, currently the zune has a reserved space of(I think, im not sure) 2gigs for games.

[leefy008]

Originally Posted by The Undead

see though the only problem, is that if it gets to big it wont fit, currently the zune has a reserved space of(I think, im not sure) 2gigs for games.

hmm, i did not know that. i'm really glad you brought that up. well zune games right now are very small. so 2gb is a lot considering most of it is free. not saying i'm gonna start trying to hog up everyones games space with my game. but 200mb out of 2gs isn't bad. the only thing i can really do is start rendering and see what happens. it shouldn't take to long i'm really fast with these kinds of things. and before i start work on characters made just for this game i'll render out characters i've made in the past for other things, just to see how big it is.

but really the environments are gonna be the biggest thing compared to guns people and other what nots. the other good thing about the way i plan on doing this is that i can make the environments as detailed as i want and they'll render out to the same size no matter how much is in each one, the only thing is it'll take longer to render, and i got a access to a render farm .

you can't tell me that even if i only get one level up and running and it takes up 1gb you won't want to see a multilayer first person shooter on your zune. you wouldn't download it and play it till you need that space for something else?

[AceofSpades1005]

Sounds good, hope this game goes far cuz it looks great!

Best of luck to ya!

[blinkingangels]

alot of good games can come from this...