So how to go about it? What are the options...?
I could go Tile based, but that's been done to death, it's a lot easier than other methods, but i want to get away from it's limitations.
What about a 3d mesh, with overlaying sprites? Is this possible?
The other alternative is to go 3d, which is tempting but requires a lot more work...I guess i could limit the camera to keep it top down, that would reduce the work needed...
Any thoughts? Please feel free to discuss some of your opinions.
XNA rpg - Ponderings
Well, where are your strengths and weaknesses?
Are you an artist? Where are you art-wise?
That's going to be one of your biggest limiting factors.
Are you an artist? Where are you art-wise?
That's going to be one of your biggest limiting factors.
Author
Im not great art-wise, but i could pump out lots of basic placeholder stuff, which from my point of view is fine, it means i could just work on the fundamentals and leave the real art to last.
So in many ways 3D may be the way to go.
But i am surprised to look at mount and blade for example. It really is a very simple system, campaign map, and then 'scenes' that are pre-made, and for the wilderness, generated.
To my mind this is do-able for 1 person, perhaps i am gravely mistaken! Lol, but perhaps not so much when im using xna and don't have to go too low level.
So in many ways 3D may be the way to go.
But i am surprised to look at mount and blade for example. It really is a very simple system, campaign map, and then 'scenes' that are pre-made, and for the wilderness, generated.
To my mind this is do-able for 1 person, perhaps i am gravely mistaken! Lol, but perhaps not so much when im using xna and don't have to go too low level.
But i am surprised to look at mount and blade for example. It really is a very simple system, campaign map, and then 'scenes' that are pre-made, and for the wilderness, generated.
To my mind this is do-able for 1 person, perhaps i am gravely mistaken!
It depends on what you mean by do-able for one person. What kind of time frame are we talking here? Almost any game is do-able for one person given a lifetime of work.
Mount & Blade looks like somewhere in the neighborhood of one person-year of art and level design, all told. Maybe $40k.
I don't know how much programming work went into it, as I don't know what was made specifically for the game, but I do recall something about the combat system being rather novel.
A two person team might be able to do that in a year of hard work. I suppose, hypothetically, one person might be able to do it in two years if said person really knew what he or she was doing.
Author
given a lifetime of work.
[/quote]
Too much im afraid
Otherwise 1-2 years doesn't sound so bad. Yeah the combat system is good, it always puzzles me why big budget games end up falling so short in so many areas. Look at the elder scrolls combat system, it's unbelievably bad. But there you go, i guess when you make a game as a business, to make profit, it's amazing what happens to quality...
I strongly believe indy developers have an advantage here. You can't mass produce pizza's and expect them to be any good, same dynamics with games and anything for that matter.
I've been struggling to decide whether to go 2d or 3d, and im starting to lean towards 3d (again :|)
Anyways rambling, appreciate the feedback, it's always good to get it 'from the horses mouth' rather than second hand googling.
While more complicated, you can do 2d and not use tiles. The mobile game series Zenonia takes this approach.
So how to go about it? What are the options...?
I could go Tile based, but that's been done to death, it's a lot easier than other methods, but i want to get away from it's limitations.
What about a 3d mesh, with overlaying sprites? Is this possible?
Anything is possible, the XNA framework supports 2d and 3d so any combination is doable.
The other alternative is to go 3d, which is tempting but requires a lot more work...I guess i could limit the camera to keep it top down, that would reduce the work needed...
[/quote]
Top-down would only limit your work in that you could get away with really shoddy work on the "underside." Usually with 3d vs sprites, you're trading the time spent in skeletal animation and keyframing for the time spent re-drawing all frames of sprite animation. Depending on your artist or skillset, the difference can be almost nil. Oh, and you might deal with different memory footprints.
Author
Yeah you make a good point. There is a certain beauty to 3d 
In that once you get over the initial workload a lot of things fall naturally into place. I've decided full 3d is where i want to go with it, now i just need a solid understanding, and a great book
Thanks for your feedback people, appreciate it.
Anything is possible, the XNA framework supports 2d and 3d so any combination is doable.
In that once you get over the initial workload a lot of things fall naturally into place. I've decided full 3d is where i want to go with it, now i just need a solid understanding, and a great book Thanks for your feedback people, appreciate it.
[quote name='EgoDeath' timestamp='1317796694' post='4869279']
So how to go about it? What are the options...?
I could go Tile based, but that's been done to death, it's a lot easier than other methods, but i want to get away from it's limitations.
What about a 3d mesh, with overlaying sprites? Is this possible?
Anything is possible, the XNA framework supports 2d and 3d so any combination is doable.
The other alternative is to go 3d, which is tempting but requires a lot more work...I guess i could limit the camera to keep it top down, that would reduce the work needed...
[/quote]
Top-down would only limit your work in that you could get away with really shoddy work on the "underside." Usually with 3d vs sprites, you're trading the time spent in skeletal animation and keyframing for the time spent re-drawing all frames of sprite animation. Depending on your artist or skillset, the difference can be almost nil. Oh, and you might deal with different memory footprints.
[/quote]
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