Concept: The sinking sea platform
by Kyrah Abattoir · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 01/24/2010 (4:33 pm) · 7 replies
One idea i was having is to make a short game that is set on an oil rig (or another man made platform) over the ocean which is slowly collapsing.
The idea would be that the player has to find some way to escape the platform (insert a plot location that would allow him to do so) before the platform sink, aka in one hour or so.
Most games in a collapsing environment i have seen where using heavily scripted sequences and triggers so in essence there wasn't a REAL urgency...
What I'm asking is if any of you have ideas how could be implemented a map that basically crumble down in real time in one hour and/or if torque is even able to do something like that...
I'm not even sure how to make it break apart but usually, games can only handle a handful of moving/dynamic/physical objects.
What is you guy's opinion?
(My inspiration comes from an old 2D game of the titanic sinking, where the whole boat would slowly turn upside down as the time goes before completely sinking)
The idea would be that the player has to find some way to escape the platform (insert a plot location that would allow him to do so) before the platform sink, aka in one hour or so.
Most games in a collapsing environment i have seen where using heavily scripted sequences and triggers so in essence there wasn't a REAL urgency...
What I'm asking is if any of you have ideas how could be implemented a map that basically crumble down in real time in one hour and/or if torque is even able to do something like that...
I'm not even sure how to make it break apart but usually, games can only handle a handful of moving/dynamic/physical objects.
What is you guy's opinion?
(My inspiration comes from an old 2D game of the titanic sinking, where the whole boat would slowly turn upside down as the time goes before completely sinking)
About the author
3D artist, programmer, game designer, jack of all trades, master of none.
#2
I know that on source it can be tricky if the player bounding box gets "twisted" by an object, in this case usually either the object is prevented to move, or your character simply die...
That, and i think the source engine is a bad quandidate simply because it hasn't exactly been built for this level of flexibility, there are many attempts by mappers to make rooms that rotate and the like, and it's glitchy at best.
01/25/2010 (9:12 am)
Well for now i'm trying to wrap my head around the idea, i mean it's trivial to make a large construction progressively collapse in 3ds Max for example but i'm trying to think how, it would be possible in torque3D or the source engine, wich both have specific formats for different kind of ingame objects, like i am not sure if a DTS shape in torque can be moved in such a way all the physical objects/players on/inside it follow properly without being simply killed :)I know that on source it can be tricky if the player bounding box gets "twisted" by an object, in this case usually either the object is prevented to move, or your character simply die...
That, and i think the source engine is a bad quandidate simply because it hasn't exactly been built for this level of flexibility, there are many attempts by mappers to make rooms that rotate and the like, and it's glitchy at best.
#3
01/25/2010 (9:25 am)
I see what you mean. I think you'd be better off not using real physics for this. I'd probably separate different parts of the construction (ie. a pillar, a whole platform, etc..), and make them run their own "crash" animations when the time is right. That way you can control smaller parts of the collapse in 3ds max, and assemble them in game to make a whole.
#4
But if i go solely with animated objects, aproaching the problem like a 3D movie, where the game elements successively "play" there crash scene, how do i make the physic (not just objects but also the player clipping) bear it?
I may be typing a lot or focusing on things that aren't problems it's just game engines tend to assume 90% of what is seen as static and immuable, that's when you try to make it look like it isn't the case that it gets tricky...
01/25/2010 (11:09 am)
Yes but that's also a problem, i mean if you change the position of an object in torque so that, for example a piece of road crack in half and starts tilting, how do you keep the physics (there has to be some truly dynamic elements) from simply falling through, in my experience changing an object's position when a physical object is sitting on it tend to make the physical object clip through it...But if i go solely with animated objects, aproaching the problem like a 3D movie, where the game elements successively "play" there crash scene, how do i make the physic (not just objects but also the player clipping) bear it?
I may be typing a lot or focusing on things that aren't problems it's just game engines tend to assume 90% of what is seen as static and immuable, that's when you try to make it look like it isn't the case that it gets tricky...
#5
Alas, I'm no expert when it comes to using 3rd party physics libraries, but if I understand well, your 3d assets will also need special care. The Torque 3D docs detail this pretty well here.
I'd say wait a little for the official Torque 3D 1.1 Beta release and do some tests using Bullet, or jump right in and see how PhysX works for you. Either way, you probably would save some time using a library instead of having to code or time and animate the behavior yourself.
01/25/2010 (1:18 pm)
Oh, so something like in 2012. True, you might want to use PhysX or Bullet (soon to be a part of T3D 1.1 beta thanks to Tom Spilman). Problems like the clipping should be taken care of by the engine then.Alas, I'm no expert when it comes to using 3rd party physics libraries, but if I understand well, your 3d assets will also need special care. The Torque 3D docs detail this pretty well here.
I'd say wait a little for the official Torque 3D 1.1 Beta release and do some tests using Bullet, or jump right in and see how PhysX works for you. Either way, you probably would save some time using a library instead of having to code or time and animate the behavior yourself.
#6
What do you mean about 2012?
01/25/2010 (2:32 pm)
I have the time anyway, i don't know if it would really go as far as a full blown game or just a pretty tech demo :DWhat do you mean about 2012?
#7
I meant the movie "2012".
01/25/2010 (4:33 pm)
Go for it. It sounds really cool. I don't like timed games, but this I'd definitely want to play. Good luck!I meant the movie "2012".
Associate Konrad Kiss
Bitgap Games
What you might want to pay attention to is when the player pauses the game.
With good optimization of your content, you can have a really huge amount of content moving around on your screen. It's not the movement that counts, since it all boils down to a series of still images built from scratch.. But the number of polygons, the collision checks, the size of the textures - stuff like that.
Good luck with your game! Which engine are you going to use to prototype your idea?