Creating a block based game ?

Hey all! I'm new to Unity and fairly experienced with programming . My friends and I had this ides forever about a block based game sort of like minecraft's style. However it's completely different and it will involve lots of destruction and chaos. I've always had an idea of what I want to do . For instance , I dream of having the whole server represent a universe , and the individual maps/areas a world , and I hope to make the client smoothly render in between them simulating a very very large playing area(many kilometers large), with the players being connected to one of the many worlds inside of the universe , inside of the server . In theory this should allow a server with thousands of players. Phew! Well I hope you understand the hierarchy I am trying to explain .

MY MAIN QUESTIONS ARE:
1. Do you think Unity will work well with block based gameplay and massive destruction ? Will it be able to handle it ? Or should we just spend years writing our own engine with OpenGL or something ?

2. Do you think what I was talking about , the smooth transitions in between worlds once you leave the grid boundaries of another , will be able to work ? And do you think unity is the right engine and approach over all?

 

Please read this:
threads/184797-The-answer-to-every-Can-it-be-done-and-I-ve-lost-my-way-post

 

That didn't help me at all. This is more of a general question on unity's abilities .

 

Unity can do anything you want it to do. It's the skill of the developer that makes the difference.

Though, creating a minecraft-like game is extremely complex with the environments.

 

So then would you reccomend anything else?

 

There is no easy-mode button for a MineCraft-like game, if that's what you're asking. I'm pretty sure there's no Unity Voxel-environment starter kits, either. You'll have to roll your own.

 

Cubiquity.

 

http://unitycoder.com/blog/2012/10/18/voxel-resources-engines-for-unity/
There's more then enough there to get you started.

 

Hey bro I found this awesome dude on YouTube who created a mine craft like world generator. He released all the source code for free. Its an awesome generator. You can choose how much water, ice, land, desert etc. I forgot who it was but when I find it, I will post it up

 

This can help you get started.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/192954-CoreDev-Creating-Voxelised-Worlds-(Like-Minecraft!)

 

Problem is with this , if I use someone else's work our game really won't be ours.

 

That's like saying if you go to college, it won't really be you doing the brain surgery.

Gamedev is hard enough without refusing to use the tools available to you.

 

Unity is someone else's work. So is windows. And your computer hardware. And the electricity you use. You don't seem to have a problem with any of those.

 

In other words as hard as it might seem, once you get some programming under your belt you will have an idea of what it is you are asking and the amount of dedicated work it will take. We have all been there, and some of us still are coming to grips with the steep curve of complexity involved in expansive constructs if that's what you wish to create.

Simple is best...and know for every little thing added, quadruple the complexity. We all have a grand scope of what we'd like to see as far as games in our minds, getting there using ANY tool is a dedicated march. Unity is a damned good tool to learn. There's no shortcut I know of.

I would beg you to start small...sandbox, say a football field in size with a few features. then after you master, it publish it etc, then say ok, how can i start adding size and features and keep the quality i want constant. May god have mercy on your soul hehe. If you get this far welcome to the club.

 

But you're using unity, likely programming and making art in other programs, on an operating system, from a computer, on a desk, in a building. None of which you built, all of which is making building your game a hell of a lot faster. Why reinvent the wheel. Now if you write it yourself (even line for line) you'll understand what is going behind the scenes, and how to change/add stuff when you need to. Figure out if it is worth your time or not.

Unity is more than capable of handling voxel worlds.
http://procworld.blogspot.be/2013/04/the-unity-plugin-is-looking-good.html

Is an extreme example : That same technology is behind Everquest Next (and supposibly a lot of other in-design projects)

But I would think unity isn't perfect for voxels - there's a lot of stuff that unity does by itself you don't have much control over (Can we disable/modify unity's garbage collection? ). In special cases you may need every ounce of performance, and a custom engine designed around that will outperform unity in that 1 case.

 

I can understand what he is saying, not wanting to copy someone elses work. Perhaps at a higher level, this isn't necessary, but at a lower level, I think it's important to try and write your own code. Not so you get a feeling for it, but so that you know what everything is, and does, and how you go about creating something. For my current project I am using Singletons and playerPrefs, two things I have never used before, and if it were a simple matter of re-using someone else's work, I wouldn't quite understand these bits of code, or how they work, and not be able to utilise them in the future. Now, having used them, I have no problem with re-using them if some else supplies them. I understand that for that unique problem, I know a solution.

 

I don't think creating a block based game would be to difficult. All you really need is the block textures and you can then use the Unity cube and box colliders with the OnTriggerEnter of the breaking device. This is simple dear friends

 

Um lol. If minecraft did this you would need quad 980s to run. Unless your only going to make a hundred or so cubes then you need a more advanced approach.

 

Read this thread: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/63149-After-playing-minecraft
It is invaluable in terms of content. Start at the beginning and read the whole hutching thing.
After/during that, track down a copy of GPU Gems 3 by nVidia (it's free online from nVidia) and take a look at the procedural terrain section.

Minecraftian/Voxel engines are no mean feat.