Mike Brinker

IGDA = YAY!

Wow! IGDA was a great time, and I would like to encourage fellow IM members and game enthusiasts to come join the fun at the meetings. It was not only a good networking time, but also a good time for feedback, idea exchange and socializing. Special thanks to Jeff Lander for heading up the meeting (pizza is always a good thing!)

So, the mod pitch went rather well, and I am excited to announce that the mod was chosen for the contest prize! I was anxious to see and hear about other ideas, some of which were not talked about and others that actually had already had a good start. The core of my creative idea seemed to spark with a few, and gave a few others some odd looks. This seemed normal, but as a whole, most were excited and eager to see a basic level/map implemented for testing purposes. I agree whole heartedly! A very basic map with just a few 3D assets involved to play with (sandbox type) that affect the gravity and physics of the players is much needed. After a basic website, I will be mapping like a madman to get that started.

Please click below for more info about the feedback from the IGDA group and links to some of my work and future stuff.

A few other important notes for the design that were brought up in the meeting:

Unreal Tournament 2004 seems to also be another possible route instead of the Far Cry engine. This seems much more plausible on a more realistic level for the networking and multiplayer side of things. It also seems to be a bit more permeated throughout the net (more people playing multiplayer). With a bit of the physics engine already in place, it might work. However, I am still not familiar enough with it to make any decisions. As there is ragdoll physics system, I am wondering if the rest of the physics system is dynamic enough to handle what I want to do with the game. UT would also be a better route to go if I want to be able to keep the sheer scale of the game that I want to implement. Any more input with this versus the Far Cry Sandbox editor and such, please feel free to drop me a note. UT 04 also has a decent editor and much more documentation online to support it.

Testing will make a big difference on level design so that should be the first thing to happen. Like the above mentioned, a test bed (simple map) will need to incorporate a variety of physics bending toys to test. One suggestion made by Jeff was the inclusion of a teeter-totter. Excellent idea! This does add a very simple device that can be used for all sorts of mayhem. I am very anxious to get started!

Bounding boxes for collision of both players, levels and objects will need to be tweaked some in order to obtain some of the ideas I am after. Halo effectively allows you to stack warthogs and players, maybe the inclusion of a bigger bounding box around the head at certain moments of the game might add for more surface area to stand on, or the inclusion of a grab surface. Something that allows for more collision detection with less of the bug of "I'm stuck and can't move, it's clown suicide time!" Yikes that's depressing.

A very big technical hurdle was mentioned at the end of my pitch, one that has me sweating bullets to some degree. It's very possible with 24 players on a map and so many physics things happening that the engine, game, computer, processor just can't keep up. This is very true and a very realistic technical hurdle. I think the first approach to handling this problem is to realize that the scale of everything, including particle effects, lighting, cloth dynamics and high poly count models are the first thing to go. This allows us to focus on what's crucial, and that is the gameplay. I would even be willing to drop a lot of the hand held items in favor of goals rather than merc like warfare. Maximize fun and minimize programmer headaches. Only play testing will dermine if this will be a good idea or not.

Here is a link to the Indie Game Jam stuff that I feel is very fun and worthwhile. These games are free and crack me up! I am most inspired by Indie Game Jam 2 for obvious reasons, but all of them are fantastic. Download and play!

Another good game to play is Katamari Damacy. Thank the lord it's being ported over to the states for PS2! An amazing game that also uses physics as a gameplay mode rather than for pretty effect. Definitely need to get your hands on a copy of that, either Japanese or USA.