My long term goal is to make a pro wrestling video game. I know it'll be quite a while before I'm at the level to produce the game in the manner I want. I'm saying this to point out that it's not intended to be a "How do I make this now/as my first game?" topic.

It doesn't appear to be a genre that gets talked about much around here so I'd like to gather as much info as possible.

At present, I simply talk to other wrestling fans (including people who like different styles), and jot down ideas on paper or in some word document.

I'm also a student studying Game Design in college and learning programming on the side.

Beyond that I haven't done much else, but would like to know what other things I could do to improve/prepare.

It would entail a lot of art. It would entail detailed three dimensional models (assuming 3D) with full rigs. It would entail good animation skills and potentially full motion capture.

If you need to secure IP rights for your game then your not going very far without being an established studio... You better have some deep pockets (I am thinking millions of dollars).

It would entail a lot of art. It would entail detailed three dimensional models (assuming 3D) with full rigs. It would entail good animation skills and potentially full motion capture.

If you need to secure IP rights for your game then your not going very far without being an established studio... You better have some deep pockets (I am thinking millions of dollars).

By securing IP rights, do you refer to using a license like WWE or something? If so, I had no intention of going that route..

I think some mild details are needed.

I just pictured SNES-era style gameplay.

A 3D Wrestling game. There are many such games on the market, but they've all had various problems. As a fan of the games and wrestling itself, I believe they can be better.

Step one: Learn to program games.
Step two: Learn a 3D engine. ( or or or or or)
Step three: Learn one or more of these.
Step four: Create your game.
Step five: Profit ???
Step six: Realize wrestling sucks and make a hockey game instead.


For the record, steps 1 through 4 will easily take 3 or more years...

So in the long-term, a pre-existing engine is preferred?

So in the long-term, a pre-existing engine is preferred?

There is no easy or conclusive black and white answer or preference. When people ask this in this forum usually they are starting from scratch now with nothing and the advice to not 'roll your own' is very good in that regard. In your case if you are to begin this several years down the line, you may have amassed quite a bit of knowledge to the point where that same advice might not be so good, or at least you might have the knowledge by that time to better determine the answer more personally.

To some extent you see, the answer is often personal - depending on where you are at and what you want to achieve.

In your case, I wouldn't worry too much about what is right for the long term. For right now, I would still focus on using a pre-existing engine. You don't need to be distracted by the 'so many other things' to learn, but also you may find an engine lets you focus on areas that are important to your goal, such as animation (explanation coming)...

Beyond that I haven't done much else, but would like to know what other things I could do to improve/prepare.

Wrestling games often have a very strong pipeline for animation. What I mean by pipeline is really everything from authoring the characters themselves in addition to how they move, to the playback and control of the same data in game. Wrestling characters are often modeled with quite complex rigs that define an incredible amount of metadata to the run-time and so the animations involved are very rarely just simple replays of what was authored, as they often can be in other games.

A simple example of this would be the definition of 'grip points' on one wrestler - basically positions the other wrestler is trying to grab. The wrestler doing the grabbing will more than likely be animating via several blended animations and supplemented with dynamic animation via inverse kinematics in order to do that - no simple 'replay' going on there.

So in answer to your question as to how best to prepare this is something I'd try to cover learning about such things, including animation (authoring and run time), animation blending and inverse kinematics at the very least. The latter is definitely not a beginners topic though do beware.

Incidentally, the ability of an engine to do this sort of thing will likely influence the choice of engine for a wrestling game. There are many engines with quite powerful authoring pipelines and run-time engines as far as animation is concerned. For Wrestling, I would wager however that even if you do use an off the shelf solution that for the complexity of wrestling you'll have to enhance both the authoring pipeline and the run-time.

One of the nice things about animation systems though is that they are mathematical, which in itself offers a standard. Often for an off the shelf solution - if it is not up to the task of animating to the level you need will often expose that standard math. It is common to find that animation is one of the easier areas of an engine to add to, enhance or even replace as a result. Not always true, but common enough.

[quote name='Slateboard' timestamp='1338833394' post='4946179']So in the long-term, a pre-existing engine is preferred?

There is no easy or conclusive black and white answer or preference. When people ask this in this forum usually they are starting from scratch now with nothing and the advice to not 'roll your own' is very good in that regard. In your case if you are to begin this several years down the line, you may have amassed quite a bit of knowledge to the point where that same advice might not be so good, or at least you might have the knowledge by that time to better determine the answer more personally.

To some extent you see, the answer is often personal - depending on where you are at and what you want to achieve.

In your case, I wouldn't worry too much about what is right for the long term. For right now, I would still focus on using a pre-existing engine. You don't need to be distracted by the 'so many other things' to learn, but also you may find an engine lets you focus on areas that are important to your goal, such as animation (explanation coming)...

Beyond that I haven't done much else, but would like to know what other things I could do to improve/prepare.

Wrestling games often have a very strong pipeline for animation. What I mean by pipeline is really everything from authoring the characters themselves in addition to how they move, to the playback and control of the same data in game. Wrestling characters are often modeled with quite complex rigs that define an incredible amount of metadata to the run-time and so the animations involved are very rarely just simple replays of what was authored, as they often can be in other games.

A simple example of this would be the definition of 'grip points' on one wrestler - basically positions the other wrestler is trying to grab. The wrestler doing the grabbing will more than likely be animating via several blended animations and supplemented with dynamic animation via inverse kinematics in order to do that - no simple 'replay' going on there.

So in answer to your question as to how best to prepare this is something I'd try to cover learning about such things, including animation (authoring and run time), animation blending and inverse kinematics at the very least. The latter is definitely not a beginners topic though do beware.

Incidentally, the ability of an engine to do this sort of thing will likely influence the choice of engine for a wrestling game. There are many engines with quite powerful authoring pipelines and run-time engines as far as animation is concerned. For Wrestling, I would wager however that even if you do use an off the shelf solution that for the complexity of wrestling you'll have to enhance both the authoring pipeline and the run-time.

One of the nice things about animation systems though is that they are mathematical, which in itself offers a standard. Often for an off the shelf solution - if it is not up to the task of animating to the level you need will often expose that standard math. It is common to find that animation is one of the easier areas of an engine to add to, enhance or even replace as a result. Not always true, but common enough.
[/quote]

A lot of this is stuff I never knew about wrestling games. Thanks.

A simple example of this would be the definition of 'grip points' on one wrestler - basically positions the other wrestler is trying to grab. The wrestler doing the grabbing will more than likely be animating via several blended animations and supplemented with dynamic animation via inverse kinematics in order to do that - no simple 'replay' going on there.

Nice man! I am in a position where I get to see the animations for one of the best wrestling series getting shaped and tuned everyday. You are spot on with that information there. And yes, the amount of custom tools "just" to have the animations looks great and work in all situations (eg. tall char with a short one or vice versa, fat and thin chars too and a lot of other situations) is astounding.

So yes, wrestling and most close contact sports are DEFINITELY not projects to pick up at the start. Pick something simpler like bowling, Slateboard.