How to build it? Modular character creation + base conquest. plus engine.

Hey Guys and Girls..

I am trying to decide whether i should go UE4 or Unity
So here's the setup, i want to create a small 2.5d platformer much like Probotector on the NES.
Probably at first not with the best intensity and planning rating but as a starter up project. That will evolve later in the bigger plan of a strategic 3rdPS.. but start small.. a 2.5 simple platformer would not be that hard i think to start with.

I want to build 3d models that fit together like a robot but during the game the powerups or bought extensions could be places onto the character in the character creation screen of the player. Each places extension subtracts to a value of energy, which subtracts to other attributes, this is a script i know how to make if the underlaying structure is made.
I know this is a huge undertaking for a coding noob. I can reverse engineer anything but a blank screen is a no go yet.
Are there assets that have something i could extract from it that do that?
A Game that visually does something simular would be Black Art 2, which i came accross. But is another game entirely, just something like that creation screen is what i need.

And for the bigger picture, 3rd person shooter mechanics ofcourse, but i need one element.
Be able to capture an object with a radius around it.
Example
If player Interacts with object
Get player "team" variable
If "Team"variable == 1 Set object "Shpere"value 1.

If the player from team 2 enters the Sphere around the object after a player from team 1 captured it.
Reduce weapon damage 50%
If Object is resetted to value 0 ( no team) Kill players within the sphere.

This will mount up to Spheres that have overlapping opbjects. like i place an array of towers and team 2 capyures an object, the spheres overlap.

And to play around with that mechanic.
Much like the Operations in BF1 or Conquest mode in Unreal, if you reach a stage you go forward depending on the objective.

I Am looking for scripts or templated i can use and reverse engineer to do this for me.
I have no clue on how to start coding this from scratch.
I can learn sure, and i am learning, but just curious if there is a time saver out there.

 

Honestly the best way to decide is to try both of them. Both of them are viable for any project but they have very distinct ways of approaching tasks and it's very common for people to prefer the feeling of one over the other. Go through a few of the tutorials for each and you should quickly get an idea for which one you want to use.

 

I know c++ and I know c#., however I find Unity more intuitive than Unreal now mostly from starting there in the beginning. The workflow is very defined for me now (wasn't in the beginning) and I can locate what I need very easily now.

At the end of the day though they will get you to the same result. Like painting a house, the difference is one brush is 4.5 inches and the other is 5.25 inches. Which do you use is which ever one makes it easier for you.

 

Modular 3d characters may be easier for you to setup in Unreal, although maybe no difference if you are competent with writing shaders. For an artist, Unreal offers a lot of convenience as I can easily setup modular materials and do a lot of look-development type of tweaking in engine, whereas in Unity I often have to go outside the engine to make the same adjsutments, then reimport... gets tiresome. And since I don't write shaders, much of what I can do in Unreal is a no-go in Unity.

For general knowledge about modular character systems, http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/SkankerzeroModularCharacterSystem, check that out.

I've got a thread on polycount for my in-progress modular character system, though I mostly just post screenshots, not too much technical talk. However, if you have any questions, you can ask me there and I'll share what I've learned. http://polycount.com/discussion/200952/game-blood-sweat-gold-modular-character-system#latest

my modular character system is within Unity*

 

Man, that game you're working on looks sick!

 

Well that's...really, really weird.

Did you just out your own alt account?

 

There's only one BIGTIMEMASTER.

 

That's exactly what a rebel collaborator would say.

 

Lol. Are you aware of the game frosted has been working on for years?

 

I damn well hope so, since he's on the team now

 

Game? I thought it was a movie.


(OP, sorry for major derailment. Really, I've learned a lot about modular character systems and if you have any more specific questions I can point you in the right direction, at least for 3d characters and a Maya based approach.)

 

My apologies for derailing as well.

Hadn't considered that possibility. Genuinely thought it was some enormous coincidence. Nice to get a stealth release date