Well I think udk is kind of overkill for that. A project of that scale is better suited for a game framework like xna.. not a full blown 3d fps engine. If you're doing this yourself.. my advice would be to learn to program

Personally, i am more of an Art director and designer. Its just i dont always have people at my beck and call to get working on the things. I cant rely on people very easilly, most people will get bored and either quit, or put it off for a really long while.

This is very true and I would imagine one of the main reasons that team-based non-payed projects rarely succeed.

Either way, im The writer and Artist for the production of course, And i only used the listed games as an example to demonstrate the kind of of style of play i was looking for. I have alot of ideas for innovative gameplay, but that is way way to complex and into the thick of the whole thing to think about just yet.

Innovations within a given style of play are rare. It is not likely your project will succeed as an indie title because it contains a few innovative elements. Look at the recent indie successes, research what has worked. In general, the entire concept of a successful low-budget title is original, not just elements within a previously conquered genre.

It's extremely important that both gameplay, and story, and highly engaging, and i dont see alot of epic rpg single player addictive indy games out there. That it's self is an engaging thought.

That is probably because to be epic, RPGs require a lot of content. Producing content is far, far harder for an indie than programming, having ideas or writing stories.

im out there to make classics, and i have big dreams. And by no means do i think im incapable of producing this kind of a thing, ive observed and loved classics all my life, and have always wanted to make one that could be consider as such as well. in the same spiritual success of the greats.

I'm afraid none of the qualities you list are in any way relevant to your ability to achieve your goal.

Heck i would even consider 3d models and what not for a FF7 style game, even attempt to get the same charmingly awful graphics.

I'd imagine that they weren't considered charmingly awful at the time of release, just that the world has moved on in terms of graphics quality and user-expectation.

But currently i want to start small, and simple with some base projects, the bigger one being the rpg Epic.

This is good. You are aware that your current vision requires some groundwork first.

some philosophy and form of thinking within the realm of programming and coding would be really useful... I have concepts and ideas and all the things i need probably. but is codeing in itself creative enough for someone to handle that and i handle the other things? Obviously i could use a good assistant programer. But its not really out of selfishness that i do it myself, rather the fact i need the experience and the skill, to work for myself and help my assistant if i had one with the problems that come up.

You are not looking for an assistant. You are looking for someone with greater ability than you currently have. This is called a mentor, not an assistant. It is highly unlikely that anyone will do this for free as, in the main, such people will be occupied with their own projects or busy being paid to work on other people's.

You need to have a great deal to offer to attract other people to work reliably on a project for free. Don't be afraid of people stealing your ideas - this doesn't happen in reality, ideas are not worth stealing - and communicate the innovations you have invented. Communicate the story that you are envisage. As Art Director, show some concept work. Hard to be an Art Director who vaguely describes things to artists then either confirms or refutes whether the results are as desired.

Here's a good question, Can i pump out a pixel based non 3d, and totally flat RPG adventure within the confines of the unreal Engine? Another thing is, i couldn't sell it either. if i used UDK.

Probably, but as the above poster said it would be a gross misuse of the wrong tool for a job.

but imagine pushing UDK to do something like that. interesting.

"Crippling" would be a better term than "pushing" in this context.

I apologise if any of the above seems harsh. But if you choose the recruiting others route, have a flick through the Help Wanted section of this site to see how hard it is to engage other people with just ideas, concepts and stories.

If you decide to go down the route of programming yourself, you either need to accept the limitations of the available GameMaker-style applications or learn to program in a less restrictive language. If the latter, most of us need to start with something like Pong, work up through Tetris and Asteroids and go from there.

[quote name='ageshero' timestamp='1308824662' post='4826709']
Personally, i am more of an Art director and designer. Its just i dont always have people at my beck and call to get working on the things. I cant rely on people very easilly, most people will get bored and either quit, or put it off for a really long while.

This is very true and I would imagine one of the main reasons that team-based non-payed projects rarely succeed.

Either way, im The writer and Artist for the production of course, And i only used the listed games as an example to demonstrate the kind of of style of play i was looking for. I have alot of ideas for innovative gameplay, but that is way way to complex and into the thick of the whole thing to think about just yet.

Innovations within a given style of play are rare. It is not likely your project will succeed as an indie title because it contains a few innovative elements. Look at the recent indie successes, research what has worked. In general, the entire concept of a successful low-budget title is original, not just elements within a previously conquered genre.

It's extremely important that both gameplay, and story, and highly engaging, and i dont see alot of epic rpg single player addictive indy games out there. That it's self is an engaging thought.

That is probably because to be epic, RPGs require a lot of content. Producing content is far, far harder for an indie than programming, having ideas or writing stories.

im out there to make classics, and i have big dreams. And by no means do i think im incapable of producing this kind of a thing, ive observed and loved classics all my life, and have always wanted to make one that could be consider as such as well. in the same spiritual success of the greats.

I'm afraid none of the qualities you list are in any way relevant to your ability to achieve your goal.

Heck i would even consider 3d models and what not for a FF7 style game, even attempt to get the same charmingly awful graphics.

I'd imagine that they weren't considered charmingly awful at the time of release, just that the world has moved on in terms of graphics quality and user-expectation.

But currently i want to start small, and simple with some base projects, the bigger one being the rpg Epic.

This is good. You are aware that your current vision requires some groundwork first.

some philosophy and form of thinking within the realm of programming and coding would be really useful... I have concepts and ideas and all the things i need probably. but is codeing in itself creative enough for someone to handle that and i handle the other things? Obviously i could use a good assistant programer. But its not really out of selfishness that i do it myself, rather the fact i need the experience and the skill, to work for myself and help my assistant if i had one with the problems that come up.

You are not looking for an assistant. You are looking for someone with greater ability than you currently have. This is called a mentor, not an assistant. It is highly unlikely that anyone will do this for free as, in the main, such people will be occupied with their own projects or busy being paid to work on other people's.

You need to have a great deal to offer to attract other people to work reliably on a project for free. Don't be afraid of people stealing your ideas - this doesn't happen in reality, ideas are not worth stealing - and communicate the innovations you have invented. Communicate the story that you are envisage. As Art Director, show some concept work. Hard to be an Art Director who vaguely describes things to artists then either confirms or refutes whether the results are as desired.

Here's a good question, Can i pump out a pixel based non 3d, and totally flat RPG adventure within the confines of the unreal Engine? Another thing is, i couldn't sell it either. if i used UDK.

Probably, but as the above poster said it would be a gross misuse of the wrong tool for a job.

but imagine pushing UDK to do something like that. interesting.

"Crippling" would be a better term than "pushing" in this context.

I apologise if any of the above seems harsh. But if you choose the recruiting others route, have a flick through the Help Wanted section of this site to see how hard it is to engage other people with just ideas, concepts and stories.

If you decide to go down the route of programming yourself, you either need to accept the limitations of the available GameMaker-style applications or learn to program in a less restrictive language. If the latter, most of us need to start with something like Pong, work up through Tetris and Asteroids and go from there.
[/quote]

Listen to this man, he speaks the truth.

Ugggghhh, i was typing something really big, but i clicked a button and everything got messed up.

The gist of it was. UDK, think outside the box, use for a 2d? amazing, that's kind of innovative if you ask me.

And Dont tell me tell me my game wont sell, or that it isnt innovative, because noone has seen or even played the non existing game that cant really be anything unless i have a programer and some programming experience. and that im not out to be an ass, Just making it clear, i dont want thousands of subdividing topics. if UDK cant work than just say No, that will not work. and a reason why maybe.

So sorry if im being mean.

So onwards, Im a newbie, no budget, I want to learn some basic programming and maybe find some guy to help on this vision of mine. Im writing the story, and the music. and all the visual and ideas that really go into the game to make it a whole. and honestly i dont know anything about the programming which is why im here, asking questions

Personally if UDK could run on my pc (which i cant, lol) I think it would be something really different to use for that kind of a game,

I dont think you are understanding. There is NOTHING innovative about using UDK for a old style 2d rpg. You will get no advantage by using UDK over a better suited 2d engine. Nobody will care to be quite honest. It will take you longer and there will be absolutely no benefit. Unreal Engine is a 3D engine best suited for first person shooters. You can definitely make a non first person shooter with it.. but to use it to make a 2d rpg in the style of something like Chrono Trigger.. thats totally pointless.

Short answer, since you just want yes or no.. Will UDK work? Yes of course. Should you use it? No.

Anyway, you want to learn to program.. pick a language, pick a book, read, and practice. My recommendation would be either Python, Java, or C#... mainly because they are pretty friendly and have decent game frameworks you can add on.

ageshero, here is my advice for you, I am not going to sugar coat anything

1) Do not use UDK, if YOU use UDK at this point, you're project will fail. period.

2) Do not bother learning programming. The reason is because this thread isn't about making your dream game, it's about how many shortcuts you can take to get to your end goal. Beginners with this attitude frankly do not have the patience to learn programming well enough to make a full fledged video game. An exact analogy to this would be you asking how to make a skyscraper when you don't even know what a hammer is.

3) Use GameMaker. You are worrying about a splash screen appearing on your game, not the fidelity of the tool, which is effecting how serious everyone can take you here.

Making video games is not easy, but if you want to make it happen, you already have answered your own questions and deep down you know you already have the knowledge of what needs to be done. Good luck.