Random Mission Pack:Road Update
by Richard_H · 03/13/2007 (7:10 pm) · 13 comments
Hi,
as some of you may remember, a while pack I posted a blog (www.garagegames.com/blogs/63816/12405) about a add-on pack for TGE which allows random mission creation. There have been a lot of things going on and it took me a while, but I have finally implemented a demo road system.
The system is very basic and is just included for demo purposes. At the top and right edges of the mission 3-way intersections are randomly generated. Before a road piece is placed it examines it's surroundings to determine what it will become. Due to the simplicity of this system, all roads run straight from one side to the other.
Below are some pics I took with my programmer art.
You may not be able to tell, but it also randomly selects a sky & sun pair each time a level is generated.
So, what do you think? Would this be useful? How much should I charge?
Edit:Problem with first pic, will re-upload later. (Problem fixed)
as some of you may remember, a while pack I posted a blog (www.garagegames.com/blogs/63816/12405) about a add-on pack for TGE which allows random mission creation. There have been a lot of things going on and it took me a while, but I have finally implemented a demo road system.
The system is very basic and is just included for demo purposes. At the top and right edges of the mission 3-way intersections are randomly generated. Before a road piece is placed it examines it's surroundings to determine what it will become. Due to the simplicity of this system, all roads run straight from one side to the other.
Below are some pics I took with my programmer art.
You may not be able to tell, but it also randomly selects a sky & sun pair each time a level is generated.
So, what do you think? Would this be useful? How much should I charge?
Edit:Problem with first pic, will re-upload later. (Problem fixed)
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#2
03/13/2007 (11:30 pm)
The lighting on the roads is wrong.. or is that the texture you use for now?
#3
03/14/2007 (1:30 am)
Yeah, I would definately fix the texturing/lighting on the roads. Also, maybe customize a few of those buildings. But I must say the setup is pretty nice, with the random sky/sun thing and all
#4
Not sure it would sell much though if it is above $20.
Even with that price it would need to have serious art included (I mean fixed buildings and roads ;-)).
03/14/2007 (1:44 am)
The idea is good.Not sure it would sell much though if it is above $20.
Even with that price it would need to have serious art included (I mean fixed buildings and roads ;-)).
#5
03/14/2007 (3:56 am)
Could be very cool mixed with zones that were manually placed and building objects that could be randomly seeded. 'Exclusion zones' from the random generation would make it possible to generate a large city scene with designed / built levels without having to build the rest of the city.
#6
btw, maybe u can add something that u get blocks of buildings that arent seperated from each other
also it would be cool if you could add a sort of system that the buildings in the middle of your city are mostly skyscrapers and the buildings at the end of your city are smaller or something
also it would be a sweet fuction if it is posible to build a city from a BMP bitmap or something that on your map, a grey pixel means road, red pixel means nothing, light blue pixel means 1 story building from a certain category for example sloppy buildings, blue 2 story and dark blue means 3 story building of the same catergory and light green means 1 story of another category etc..
anyway something like that would be sweet and would allow pretty easy building of complex and pretty cities :D
anyway, with the lightning fixed and maybe this fuction added this could prove a very usefull tool
03/14/2007 (8:56 am)
looks pretty neat but the shadows are a killer :(btw, maybe u can add something that u get blocks of buildings that arent seperated from each other
also it would be cool if you could add a sort of system that the buildings in the middle of your city are mostly skyscrapers and the buildings at the end of your city are smaller or something
also it would be a sweet fuction if it is posible to build a city from a BMP bitmap or something that on your map, a grey pixel means road, red pixel means nothing, light blue pixel means 1 story building from a certain category for example sloppy buildings, blue 2 story and dark blue means 3 story building of the same catergory and light green means 1 story of another category etc..
anyway something like that would be sweet and would allow pretty easy building of complex and pretty cities :D
anyway, with the lightning fixed and maybe this fuction added this could prove a very usefull tool
#7
"Below are some pics I took with my programmer art."
I think this is a good idea I like the mixed zone idea...
This has potential.
03/14/2007 (9:43 am)
I we all look at his comments he said "Below are some pics I took with my programmer art."
I think this is a good idea I like the mixed zone idea...
This has potential.
#8
What are the limitations as far as how it builds the levels ... does it require a series of DIF's and some sort of a 'DIF A and DIF C can not touch, but DIF C and DIF B are always Paired together with DIF B being offset from DIF A by X Amount" type thing ... ie; can we get more technical details about the system, as far as how it determines what to draw, and what it's limitations to drawing are ... ?
This really does look useful, and depending on what you put into it -- I could see $20-60 being reasonable -- the higher the price, the better the artwork should be, if you go above $40, I would provide a really good artwork base (lots of stuff) or perhaps some more functionality (like the 'generate from bitmap' feature, hehe)
03/14/2007 (11:18 am)
I think this is a great idea -- is it designed to build random levels and then save them, or is it optimized enough to build the levels "on the fly" ...What are the limitations as far as how it builds the levels ... does it require a series of DIF's and some sort of a 'DIF A and DIF C can not touch, but DIF C and DIF B are always Paired together with DIF B being offset from DIF A by X Amount" type thing ... ie; can we get more technical details about the system, as far as how it determines what to draw, and what it's limitations to drawing are ... ?
This really does look useful, and depending on what you put into it -- I could see $20-60 being reasonable -- the higher the price, the better the artwork should be, if you go above $40, I would provide a really good artwork base (lots of stuff) or perhaps some more functionality (like the 'generate from bitmap' feature, hehe)
#9
There are different ways it places things, right now either a simple iteratio through x for each value of y, or a spiraling inwards pattern. The script can write whatever it wants to the mission file you you could add a dif, randomly place a seperate lamp .dts on it, then add a light.
The most useful part of the C++ is to tell the script which objects have already been placed around it.
Right now I'm working on allowing muliple stages of mission generation so once it goes through and places all the roads, then, already knowing where the roads are, it places buildings inbetween.
The generation script it comes with will be rather basic and not practical for most people, it's more of a demo thing.
Also, any help with the shadows would be nice, all my objects are exactly 24 x 24 (though you can adjust it), and placed 24 apart. I think it has to do with the fact that everything is a .dts and is relying on sunlight.
03/14/2007 (1:34 pm)
Well, the backbone is in C++, but it fires off a bunch of scripted functions, making it easier to change. The time it took to generate my levels was hardly noticable 2-3 seconds a most.There are different ways it places things, right now either a simple iteratio through x for each value of y, or a spiraling inwards pattern. The script can write whatever it wants to the mission file you you could add a dif, randomly place a seperate lamp .dts on it, then add a light.
The most useful part of the C++ is to tell the script which objects have already been placed around it.
Right now I'm working on allowing muliple stages of mission generation so once it goes through and places all the roads, then, already knowing where the roads are, it places buildings inbetween.
The generation script it comes with will be rather basic and not practical for most people, it's more of a demo thing.
Also, any help with the shadows would be nice, all my objects are exactly 24 x 24 (though you can adjust it), and placed 24 apart. I think it has to do with the fact that everything is a .dts and is relying on sunlight.
#10
03/14/2007 (2:13 pm)
I'd like to see the kit _without_ any art, other than perhaps the simplistic stuff you're testing with. Sell the code pack for a very reasonable fee, and you may see quite a few more sales. Adding art, even if it's great, will limit your sales to those who consider this pack more important than others (budgeted folk), and may completely turn off sales to those who can't justify the price for the art that simply doesn't work in their game.
#11
This seems to be what I will go with.
03/14/2007 (2:29 pm)
How much might a code pack with some very simple programmer art go for?This seems to be what I will go with.
#12
03/14/2007 (3:41 pm)
Sweet. Just add some cool art and shadows and all those little awesome details and specifications I don't know about yet and this will be a huge seller
#13
03/14/2007 (7:01 pm)
As a code pack, depending on how detailed it is, I'd think $20-40 would be suffecient ... but for me, personally, to buy a code pack, it'd really have to make me go "WOW" ... just because, well, I'm a coder ... I'd be more interested in seeing it integrated with artwork ... and then extend the code to work with other things (different size art, new pattern management, etc, etc) ... but thats just me ... maybe I'm biased? I want to see art ... others want to see code ... ;)
Torque Owner Ed Johnson
Making it extensible and expandable would go a long way, too.
I really like how it 'feels' around before it places the object.