Small Project- Hover Tanx

Well I am starting a new project, its my attempt to finish a complete project (small one) in a reletively short amount of time (3weeks-2months).

Basis-
You are in a tournament were hovering vehicles try to destroy eachother, you have option between 5 types of tanks, starting from very fast tanks, and ending in very powerful but slow tanks, on each of these you can mount 4 types of powerups, extra boost tanks (nos), radar recievers, shields, and a second weapon. Depending on how what tank you have will depend on how many slots there are on it to work with.

Graphics-

They wont be incredible, but wont be horrible either. Models are around 2k poly, semi-high res textures etc, I plan to have 3 options for shading: vertex, pixel, and normal mapping. I have copies of the latter two shaders, this should be easy to implement.

AI- The ai will be simple, if the enemy has a radar scanner, it will use pathfinding (via larrylaffers intense pathfinding maybe) and when close, it will charge the player, or circle strafe the player, (random personality) and shoot.

Levels-

The levels will mostly be terrains, with maybe a few trees, and crumbled buildings, most can be blown up easily. I plan to figure out a way t implement shadowmapping on the terrain, but im not sure this will go thru due to time reasons.

Menu-

Lost of metal looking panels, with drill sounds for movement and on clicks.

Help-

Right now I'm not making an official call for help, as it's not completely needed right now, and its only a few models at the moment. If you feel you would like to contribute, I do have connections with a couple of the smaller publishers that you sometimes see on the forums. I plan to publish it thru them and you of course would get a share. As of now the few things I think I'll actually need help with might be gui design, level design, and setting up the little boring things like the menu, hud etc. Like I said, right now it's not really in a credible stage, nor to the point were I need help, but if you still want to contact me at lostclimategames(at)yahoo.com

Screens-

Since I don't have much accomplished on it (3 models, only one fully finished, other 2 are skinned, but not textured) I can only show you screens of the heaviest and lightest tanks:

Heavy Tank:



Obviously the biggest and most powerful of the tanks, has 4 slots, 2 ontop one on back and one on right side. I know the pic makes it look flat, but remember there will be several attatchments to it. Goes very slow.

Light Tank:



The pic makes it look a lot bigger than it is, its not colored in yet nor decals added, but the fastest of the machines, only one mount, on the very top.


Thanks,
John
Lost Climate Games

Edit I wanted to add that the light tank has 524 polys and the heavy has 922

heres the light version textured, i didnt add the dirt texture to this one yet, but here it is with out it:

sounds good, looks quite nice.

This looks really good. A small game, which is just something which won't take up too much of your time (hopefully). This reminds me of a very good looking shockwave game (only its multiplayer)... It involved tanks too, with terrain and treees... can't remember the name now

If I look at all those features, this should turn out as a nice game
Well the game is in its prill beginning so the only thing I can comment on is that the tank you maded was a good start but I think you could improve the texture a little bit more. Succes finishing your project btw

Cheers

Frazzle

Well heres the basics of the first arena, i have yet to decide how many arenas are needed, if people want they can comment on what they think it should be, i plan on selling the game for between $5-$10;







also, i forgot to add, 2 of the textures will be switched out for better, and less limiting licensed pictures (rock and rough sand)

This sounds like it'll be a fun game!
for 10 euros, i think I'd want at least 10 levels, cause there probably won't be any storyline to play through, so there should be many levels. if you can make more than 10, that would make it even better, as long as you keep the quality up and make each level unique. i think for 5-10 bucks, 7 levels would be the minimum I'd want to see...
Keep it up!

I would make the terrain where the hover tanx can actually move a bit more flat, less hills, otherwise it may complicate programming later on. (e.g. AI wanting to shoot through mountains and things like that, eventhough you probably can handle those 'problems'.)

Cheers

Aeeee... How did you make the terrain?
How can it be, that it can bend so much?????
Or is this a model?

its a model, i found using a model is not as bad as it'd seem to be on the frame rate, and you can do soooo much with it, i probably made the model itself, and the shadow map in about 10 minutes.

Ok, thought you could manipulate terrain in that way.
And how is the skin realized of the model?
Do you use a shader?

yep, i made a custom multitexture shader, but it would probably work with the typical one anyways, the only thing that makes it hard is that its not mapped completely square so deciding were to paint r g and b values is a little difficult but all i did is select the verticies in the modeller and take a screenshot, and use that pic as a reference. its a pretty easy setup, mapping the textures is the hardest.

well, I may be looking for someone to help me with tank design after a bit (im going to get some more levels done, and some scripting). I figure after i get a substantial start i might attract some of the better artists, I am having such a hard time figuring out creative ways to make the hovertanks, so what i will probably be asking for is concept art at least, I can model and texture if I absolutely have to.

I will probably be uploading a video of some of the most basic movement physics, it shows the tank sliding and acceleration.

don't think you've mentioned that yet... is this going to be multiplayer?
if yes, careful calling it "small"...^^
I'm doing pretty much the same game, except in space, and it's taken me months to get as far as I am now...
off course, you've got more experience though...

good luck with this!
really wanna play it

ehh, im not going to make it multiplayer(as you said, it'd be a lot of hassle), but in the future if im still interested in the project when i get the first version finished, I might make/sell a multiplayer version, at least it would make ai less of a problem

ok, i know i promised it before, but i wanted to get a more complete prototype of the movement before i uploaded it, now i have shooting and movement prototyped, and will upload the video tonight

well heres the link, a youtube version will be up within the hour: HERE

edit, heres the youtube video, sorry it shows a bunch of lag because of the screen capture program im using :

HERE

I like the sky cube, it fits the atmosphere like a charm

The shooting could be more realistic, let smoke come out of the barrel, let the bullets explode on impact, the tank its movement is abit to brute,... but I think you're capable of doing all of that
Nice work !!

Cheers

Frazzle

"the tank its movement is abit to brute"
Seconed...
first thing I thought (after thinking "hey, cool"^^)... when you turn, the tank "rolls", which is cool for a hovertank, but maybe it should do so more smoothly. also, why not make the turret rotate 360 degrees? Do you know the steering of the tank in UT 2004, or games similar to it? I think those are cool controls, but that's just my personal fav. Just an idea. Your controls look good as well, just make it all smoother. Maybe it's just the video as well, as you said.
I'm missing some cool particle effects... dust rising from the ground after the tank hovered over it, and smoke. Also, a better shader for the tank might be nice.
All in all: good start, keep it up! ... looks nice,
Micha

thanks for the comments and crits, I know it looks a bit unsmooth, but thats just because i was trying to get a basic idea down, im going to blend the rolling a bit so it will gradually roll when turning, and the reason i dont make the tank turn 360 degrees, is because it make the controls really hard to do while going fast paced.

as far as particles and effects and such, i havent really added any yet, i plan to add, as germanunkol said, dust from the hovertank, and like when you go over water i plan to add splatter and ripples, also the cannon will shoot actually cannon ball type things (not just mini versions of the turret) and of course you will be able to purchase upgrades to missle launchers, chainguns etc.

the tank does look sad for the moment because, 1. i dont know if im going to keep that particular model 2. I dont have any shader applied to it.
once i get a detail shader and normal mapping shader on a better model i should be good.

Im to the point now were i could use some help with this, I will be making an official thread in the help wanted thread soon, but I'd like to mention it here too that im looking for some modellers, you'd need to be able to texture and skin tank models, im looking for someone creative that can come up with ideas for the tanks for each of the 5 classes, as im having a hard time doing so.If your interested just send me a pm.

today i finished the ai, its basic, it only goes 2 nodes into a pathfinding search, but it is adequate for my needs, i decided against intense pathfinding because i didnt need all the features, and it wasnt worth the hassle of trying to integrate into my project.

well, now i am starting to have a particle system come together, the enemy tanks at the beginning of a round chase a random target, and i almost have there shooting down. I have implemented some small sound into it. I also completely reworked the controls and camera, now the camera is like the kingdom hearts tutorials camera, the hover tank rotates to the relative cardinal direction of the key your pressing which is also relevative to the camera pan. the turret can turn a full 360 degrees, and some sliding has been reimplemented but still needs work, i also added it so when an enemy tank blows up the screen shakes. Its really starting to pull together nicely, after i finish the ai some more (which the hard part is done, now comes the tedious part), add particles, sound and a menu. all ill need is someone to fill the dummy models and its off to find a publisher!

sounds interesting

just finished a new video of the enemies fighting, and me killing the last standing, ill upload it right now, should be up withing 15-20min.

ok, its finished heres what you'll see, i show a little of the movement, dodge some shots by hiding behind a wall and come out an blow up that tank, then i let 2 tanks fight eachother, and one blows up,then i manually set myself as the remaining tanks target, and i dual it. it blows up and then i show off the movement a little bit more and what the normal mapping material looks like on the light tank, well here you go:

HoverTanx Teaser 2- On YouTube

ok, some small points:
- camera needs some work (apperantly you can see through your terrain sometimes)
- explosions need some work (looks like it's only a sprite)
- terrain could use some detail
The gameplay looks fun though and if you could pose a challenging game I would buy it I think

same critique here.
one the video the movement of the ship looks a bit jerky, but that might just be the video... when you move up a slope, for example. maybe it should align to the ground then, instead of suddenly moving up, it looks a bit to "hard"... hard to explain what I mean, sorry...

good work though, keep it up!
The controls look very cool...

thanks for the c&c's as for the camera, still havent added collision detection, mostly cuz im trying to get the hard things out of the way first, and camera collision is pretty simple. the explosions are very temporary, those are actually all particle based tho. the terrain is lacking in that particular level but i plan on adding several of the visual components later since thats when i plan to start getting help. As far as trying to make it challenging, the biggest problem now is that its too challanging, half the time i have to manually set the other tanks target to something other than me or i die right away. As far as it looking jerky im not sure what your seeing, im still undecided as to whether i want to make it align to the ground because that adds a whole new level to the problems with the rotating turrets on the top (accidently shooting yourself etc.) im still working on it tho. and the ai is coming close. probably after that ill start working on the power up attatchments.

I am now accepting applications for closed pre-alpha tests, send an email to lostclimategames@yahoo.com. Include your-

Name
Email
Forum Name(s)
Previous Projects
Related Skills
All other information you deem necessary


The test will probably not be very selective, but is set to be more of a first come first serve system. Note that just because you enter first, it still doesnt necessarily make you a tester.

I will review emails starting immediately and ending on Monday the 14th of May.
Please know this test is just for functionality of ai, and playablity, and is by no means feature complete.

After you are chosen I will send you a link to download it, as well as some information as to what bugs are already known, and the type of things to look for.

No takers yet?

Sent you a PM bro.. GS out.

sent a mail. PM, good idea but too late

Hey, your email doesnt work. I have got the mail sent back. I will send you a pm then.

all right i got your pm, ill be uploading it sometime today, and as soon as its up ill send you the link

alright, two updates to mention,
-at 12:00PM EST applications are closed.
-to the pre-Alpha testers: The reason you havent gotten your demos yet is because there was an error in the ai i decided to fix, which was successful, but it broke some of my other code, so im patching up the seams, so there will be a small delay. I also had to add collision detection to the camera which is done also.

okay. Looks like the Ai is complex. looking forward to test it.

the ai isnt really complex, but the problem is to make the ai not just follow and kill but to strafe and dodge a bit, its a little hard to do.