My RPG work in progress, first ever pics - [Strategic combat progress update]

Two pics from my WIP RPG




Imagine them with AA, blur in the back, SSAO, more shadows, glow and god rays and of course 1.5-2 years of extra polishing , since the game is far from the finish line

Also added effects and contrast with color grading etc

This is very early to show pics, but i though i should share a little something after 2 years of development

I will post some artwork too later

The combat is real time, with a 4 members party and strategic combat, fixed camera angle with a 1st person "in place" look for extra 3d ness (when hero does not move, can look around in front of him)

Would you like to have 1st person while the hero moves as option ? This would not work in combat though since the strategic part would be impossible in 1st person.

Also the hero can not look back (or at least transition to a back look), because i use a lot of 2D and pre-rendered to get the graphics in many stages. Or he could look back if he did not go through all angles between and be an instant or very fast change so the 2D dont seem strange, i will look into that if there is a demand

The pics show 2 of the 6 major different themes in the game and are from areas where you get two of your party members, also these are corridors to the main point of interest in each of these two maps (a lake and the home of your 3rd follower deep in the woods)

The game will make use of all my assets in the store as well (and assets will be updated based on what i create extra for the game needs). The particles and Gi Proxy are already in and working great and the new INfiniDy system will be integraded after the first version is done locally (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/wi...ral-design-and-manipulation-framework.269891/), starting with InfiniTree (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/in...tithreaded-dynamics-prefab-use-coming.287512/ & http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/in...multithreaded-optimized-demo-released.285554/). The sky, clouds, seasons and weather will be handled by Sky Master (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/sk...ycle-light-beams-unity-free-pro.277618/page-3).

 

Here is some artwork from an enemy, i will post artworks in this second post to keep it clear

 

I really like it. As I said in your Reddit thread, it indeed needs polishing but that's what making a game is, right? You're building in big blocks now, but those blocks will get smaller and smaller as you're adding and refining details. I hope you continue, I will be watching your thread!

 

Thanks , i will try to post some of the more detailed pics, i just want to prepare them perfectly to be close to the final version.

I guess i will start working FXLab for the cool blur etc effects

 

Some pics from the particle systems i use as base for the game creatures (of course the art is completly different)






Megabook and particles projection, to bring pages to life



Some updates:

Combat:
I am currently working on the combat and the various effects, like freeze and burn of enemies and adding more skills to distinguish the various party members to casters, brawlers etc

The freeze effects are now really cool and have optimized the scripts as much as possible and will release them as part of Particle Dynamic Magic v1.3 too.

Spell book:
Since the game is based on cool spells and strategic combat, the spellbook is integral part of the experience and is now powered by Megabook, it is also getting very cool and has opened a world of new possibilities to showcase spells

Enemy variety:
The particle systems i use for the spell effects, will also be used to make variants of enemies, like flame, ice,ect giants as an example. These creatures wont be affected by their relevant element of course, which makes sense effect and script wise as well.

Bosses:
While playtesting the combat, i got some very cool new ideas of new bosses and ways to kill them. I will probably have different settings in jump heights for the various party members, so that each can target best a specific huge boss body part. Hopefully i will have time this week to impement a first such very big boss and have it killed properly.

Level design:
While levels in the game vary in shapes (rectangular, linear front-back, linear left - right), i have generally impelmented the left-right as small rectangular ones than the classic more confined style. Now i am experimenting with some more linear levels that will offer slightly different exeprience, with more focused and pre-defined combats. For example now a giant is holding a main bridge and there is no way around it. I think will add another layer of strategy different than the main one, which combines tower defence and real time combat.

The party members may have a less important role in these levels, and maybe only one of them will be the key to passing certain points, than their combined abilities which are crucial in the main rectangular level combats.

Traps:
After the last ORK update i can fully implement traps that will do various effects to both allies and enemies. The first few are already setup and work great. I use particle swarms to trigger bee swarming and attacking around the target and various new effects.

Enemies:
The new Protofactor crab has been changed and particle treated to create 3 new variations. This asset is really with limitless possibilities, i am only starting with it

I will add more later

 

Looks good ,Keep it up.

 

Thanks

 

Really like the environment screenshot.

 

Thanks , this is only a small teaser too

Cant wait to show more and the more detailed areas (points of interest like villages, cities, creature dwellings in forests etc), though these might be spoilers and will keep them for later, when i also add the Pro effects to give the extra next gen look (like light shafts, color grading, blur etc)

 

Some new artwork for the game. Usually i do many more iterations after that draft before coloring and adding to the in game compedium. Scan and redo parts i dont like etc (like the legs of the frost giant )

The sword will probably be on the asset store too when i finish with it, in the Dragon Swords pack (when i manage to put them together anyway )

 

I hope you continue, I will be watching your thread!
Good luck

 

Thanks, this is a project i am doing in parallel with my other work(s), so will keep it on until it is finished, hopefully in this lifetime

After i started with Unity, i have managed to craft the world, have setup a good RPG and combat system with ORK and have all creatures i need to complete it, so it is defintly in a much better state than 2 years back when i was rather sceptical about the whole project. Now i feel it is doable.

The biggest concern i would say is the way i will give breath and character to the heroes, this is not something i have mastered yet and while some of the dialogs / cutscenes feel right, there is a lot of ground to cover in that. Maybe when i am done with combat and RPG/quests side, i can focus better on that aspect and then it may seem easier

 

More new art for the game, shroom necklace

I plan to make this in game with a combination of 3D mushrooms, particle splines from my pack and 2D for the wood detail.

The art will be used in game and appear in the big in game compedium too (like Ni no Kuni book)

 

Small creature art


Update:

I am finished with one of the most unique features of the game, which i cant name , but is so very cool i just have to mention its existence

Another thing i can mention is the new water i have put in, which i made for Particle Dynamic Magic v1.5 (coming this week, already submitted) and tested with ShaderForge (since i dont have Pro yet).

I can safely say that Unity can create some of the most amazing real time graphics this world has seen, i am at the stage where i just want to drink from this water .

 

The game will probably not be free, since it is a very big project and targets platforms where traditionally the single player games are not suited to the free to play model.

But i do plan to start a Kickstarter if i manage to find help from US (since i am in Greece and Kickstarter does not apply here), so will have a cheap price if all goes well, plus extra bonuses for Kickstarter supporters. Until that happens i plan to keep making the game as complete as possible so the campaign can show a lot of the work in near final stages.

The plan B is to send a demo to MS and Sony and see if i can get funding and support there, in this case though the price would be out of my hands, probably the IP too

The game will ideally support PS4, xbox one and PC, without a specific order.

I also want to have friends join in the battle as one of the 5 companions, the how and in which platforms this will come is TBD.

 

Thanks a lot for the interest, every bit will help with this project. Especially high morale

I just finished with intitial creature state handling in ORK, so monsters may appear gradually from the ground before enter combat or make a roar or an initial fast rush etc

The small details like this give a more cinematic look

Also added two more spells in the spell book (in full 3D, using megabook asset and dynamic effects from my particle pack) and refined the lightning in the latest map i am working on for late evening state. I hand create the lightning in each stage for 3-4 day times and try to assign these moments in the day cycle so i get the look i want at each time of day, than what a generic day cycle would give.

Today i will implement some ideas on bosses that you will need the special power i talked about above to beat (which is also used in some environmental puzzles as of yesterday )

 

Quick question

What would you think would be the importance of having a very detailed log book ? I have a huge ammount of artwork that i can use to make each log entry more than simple text and give an extra feeling of the world and in each quest

I have implemented this for the first few quests and looks very nice and unique

So, the question is how important would you find this to be in the game ? Would it make a low, medium or big difference in the immersion in the world or would be something you would barely use/notice ?
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Spell transition from shape changing ball, to explosion and then with turbulence to target - animated with mesh on target reach.


Some updates:

I have been working on using the new batching in Particle Dynamic Magic for my instantiated objects and going very well, i will also add this standalone dynamic batching mode in the asset store pack when it is finalized.

Also some of the spells will be using the new Transitions module features (coming in v1.6.1 as well) to make live and smooth particle changes for start and end particle effects, using swithcing between 2-3 particle systems and live targets like a procedural sphere for the start of energy accumulation with some bounce force for cool exploding feeling and then a turbulence force step with transition to target, changing to the next particle type for the final effect.

The particle to particle collision effect is already integraded in the game, so that one is ready to be used in spells as well

I plan to post a small demo for the transition spell here soon

 

Ice to energy spell (will be energy to ice in the final form , just have to swithc particles)


Demo is ready for the spell progress, i have added some extras in the transition module (v1.7) to better handle the motion and reach of target. This is for spells that will be cast and start following the target until burn or freeze it gradually.

The other spell type i have is based on the PDM spray system and is for closer encounters. I use the dual shader for turning creatures to ice after the spell has hit for enough time.

Here is a small demo of the Spell system progress for the game, based on Particle Dynamic Magic transitions.

Webplayer - spell progress:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/MY_RPG_SPELLS/PDM_MY_RPG_SPELL1.html

 

The graphics and art are major parts of the title, i essentially made my absolute dream graphics come true in this one, so the target is medium to high end PC and PS4 for now. Maybe xbox one if i find good funding and get a team to work on further optimizations than the ones already in (or cut back a bit in graphics i guess).

The game is 2.5D, with fixed camera, thus it could get a port to any device if optimized for it, given i already mix 2D for extra speed.

But the priority is to give my dream art and world in full detail first.

 

Here is the new transitions demo for multi freeze spell effect (or multi burn or anything else if adjusted).

It is still heavy work in progress and misses:

1. the control of animation and auto disable of skinned mesh to complete the illusion of breaking to pieces,the next demo will have these in as well

2. A delay in initialization based on settle time for particles (that is why one of the characters appears frozen at first)

The effect i use in the game is using the Dual Shader asset, i will provide a simple color change if the asset is not available and support for that shader as well in PDM version.

Multi spell targeting & freeze effect, WIP demo:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/MY_RPG_SPELLS/PDM_MY_RPG_SPELL2.html
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I plan to finilize this and release the complete demo tomorrow

EDIT: Just realized that while the demo works on my end, it has some issues in the texturing in the exported webplayer, I will check it out and fix tomorrow . Probably wont load or assign the dual shader right for some reason.

 

The Multi Freeze and Break effect is almost done , i will now integrate with the game and apply the final art and details. I need to play a bit with particle size, scaling speed and timings to get it 100% perfect. Also must apply slow down to the enemy motion, which does not happen in the demo (besides the animation).

Webplayer with the final effect:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/MY_RPG_SPELLS/PDM_MY_RPG_SPELL3.html

Also i will work with the implementation of a new extra type of the super secret game element , that will make use of the new Dynamic Batching script i made for PDM v1.7.

 

I love your creature concepts! They are so imaginative and whimsical! Good luck with this.

 

Pretty cool how the target can suffer cold effects

 

Glad you like it, the effect is just the base too, will take some extra work to get to the perfected one

For example if i increase the density and size of ice a bit, the character breaking willl look a lot better

Thanks

Most of the 2D art will also go in the hero journal, so will be in game as well, there is tons of art to put there for both areas, items and characters.

 

UPDATE:

I have added some watermarks in the art, apologies for that

Also solved the initial delay in the transitions demo above, the issue was a loading i did for the ice texture every time the script was injected in the target. Now i simply pass the texture from the main script to the injection scripts and the delay went to zero

I will post a demo with the super smooth new effect soon.

Other than the technical staff, i also finished a new map for the deep woods in the "red area" (code name).

And added some new behaviors in two enemies, now they are aware of my super special unique gameplay element (TM) and they will do some cool moves based on mine.

 

Finally i got all the needed transition features to get the effect as initially planned

Here is the final freeze effects (webplayer)

One cycle freeze and break target spell
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/MY_RPG_SPELLS/PDM_MY_RPG_SPELL4_ONCE.html

Multi freeze and return, cycle between two targets (any target, return number and combination/order is possible)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/MY_RPG_SPELLS/PDM_MY_RPG_SPELL4_CYCLE.html

The main idea of the system is to make particles stick to the targeted meshes, like ice stick and freeze a moving enemy. This way a break effect can also be emulated, since it will begin exactly at the hero current position at the break time.

The effect can cycle among any number of different particle systems, to any animated/procedural mesh, with full scheduler (define any number of targets, timings, emission texture masks etc) and can also use gameobjects that will follow the particles as a complementary effect.

From an artistic point of view i am only scratching the surface for now, i will implement in the game and start adding cool side particles and subparticles to complete it.

 

A question

If i use Unity Pro trial to showcase the game with the Pro effects, will i be able to later use this work when i finally buy Unity Pro and release the game with it ?

Also can the Pro trial be used to even showcase your game with the Pro effects ?
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New artwork to celebrate the 999th Twitter follower

 

You can use the stuff you make in the trial after you buy pro without problems but I don't think you are supposed to release anything with the trial. I think it might even display a watermark if you try to actually build it. You certainly aren't allowed to release anything made with the trial. I'm not sure if a showcase counts as that though.

 

I see, nice, so if i could use the Pro trial stuff for promo would be great to actually do some cool levels to show and then have them ready when Pro is bought.

If promo pics cant be shown from the trial though, i would probably not bother and do everything when Pro is bought.

The plan is to 100% buy Pro at some point and start working on the image effects side, so the game will be released with Pro license.

Maybe i send an email to Unity to clarify the small detail. I guess would only be a benefit to them to show cool graphics from a game, so hopefully they allow it

 

WIP art for the decoration of various walls.

Also some great news, i can use Pro Trial to create some pics that will show the final look of the game, but will have a watermark.

So, expect some final look pics sooner than later

 

I was walking in the near woods lately and noticed that there is something about the natural scenery that i have not yet managed to grab well and pass to the game nature.

The lighting epsecially is very hard to emulate, there is a subtle variance between saturated/contast areas and the ambience that is really hard to get.

Are there any tutorials/reflections on the subject or grabing that extra something actual world has to pass in a game ?
Does not have to be Unity only of course.

In the game it seems like i can either have too much contrast everywhere to emulate for example light falling between tree leaves, or more ambient less contrasted look and dull sun spots, but not a mix of the two.

I know i am probably asking about hte impossible , since even games like Witcher 3 have that super contrasted everywhere look, but it would be interested if there was someone that has tried to handle that, even with tricks (afterall computer graphics is a big trick themselves).

 

Well in traditional cg rendering you normally solve this issue by using linear workflow with tonemapping. For example you use reinhard tonemapper and lower the burn value of white. This way you can have detail on the dark areas of the screen while not burning the bright areas (sky for example). In unity free i dont think that you are able to perform tonemapping since its a screen effect. In unity pro though there is allready a variety of tonemapping effects (including reinhard iirc) and you can use it in addition to the hdr option in the camera.
In addition to that you use a bit of color grading. One of the best plugins i have seen for unity is AmplifyColor, since it also supports volumes and transitions, so as to change color grading gradually between different presets (for example walking from inside a building to the outside world)

 

Thanks for the great info, i will start looking at the tonemapping direction. I plan to activate the Pro trial soon, so i should be ready to get as amazing results as possible in the 30day period .

I have already got Amplify Color so i am half way there i guess.

EDIT: Found some info on tonemapping, seems very cool, i will leave it here in case someone finds it useful as well

http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/script-Tonemapping.html

"Tonemapping is usually understood as the process of mapping color values from HDR (high dynamic range) to LDR (low dynamic range). In Unity, this means for most platforms that arbitrary 16-bit floating point color values will be mapped to traditional 8-bit values in the [0,1] range.

Note that Tonemapping will only properly work if the used camera is HDR enabled. It is also recommended to give light sources higher than normal intensity values to make use of the bigger range. Just as in real life there is huger differences in Luminance and our eyes or any capturing medium is only able to sample a certain range of that.

Tonemapping works well in conjunction with the HDR-enabled Bloom image effect. Make sure that Bloom should be applied before Tonemapping as otherwise all high ranges will be lost. Generally, any effect that can benefit from higher luminances should be scheduled before the Tonemapper (one more example being the Depth of Field image effect).

There are different ways on how to map intensities to LDR (as selected by Mode). This effect provides several techniques, two of them being adaptive (AdaptiveReinhard and AdaptiveReinhardAutoWhite), which means that color changes are carried out delayed as the change in intensities is fully registered. Cameras and the human eye have this effect. This enables interesting dynamic effects such as a simulation of the natural adaption happening when entering or leaving a dark tunnel into bright sunlight."

EDIT 2: One more link with more advanced info
http://mynameismjp.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/a-closer-look-at-tone-mapping/

I am also using Skyshop, so i will have to look as well into how this would affect the possible result.

EDIT 3: And some more cool links with shader code as well

http://filmicgames.com/archives/75

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/trouble-with-adaptive-tonemapping-possible-to-limit-it.124729/
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Some of my artwork for the in game artbook.

I decided to post some of my hand crafted rings collection to the store as well (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/my...radable-versions-included-coming-soon.272115/)



So you can get a small piece of my artbook work today (or in a few days that i will post the pack anyway ).

 

- Dynamic Spline Targeting of enemies, dynamic duel with enemy spells. (Progress - 80%, the spline grow to target and motion script is WIP)



The goal is to grow splines towards the target and have them follow. The target could also be another effect ending, so the resulting duel dynamics in the pic should be possible.

- Mesh emitter on procedural page, with mask mased emission. Local attachement of sprayed particles on procedural meshes. This will be used heavilly for the in game spell book (Progress - 90%, the system works and need polish)


- Chain Lighting spell, using the PDM system, this should also be easy to setup. (Pic from Angry Bots Chain lighting implementation)


- Target Freeze Spell using the Transition Manager of PDM, this is finished (posted pics in previous posts) and just need to create the final spell and a few lines of code to provide the targets.

UPDATE:
These are some of the new effects i have been working on for the game.

 

Some of the near final artwork for one of my rings, that will also come in an asset store pack

 

With border and variant background added, this is closer to how they will look in the game menu.

 

Some more artwork for the RPG (and the rings pack)

 

The entire thread is turning to some "buy my asset store items" instead of some RPG real motivation.

 

All my assets are used in my game and i create and update them as i progress and update them in the game. These are linked together in that way, i could hide the fact that these are also asset store tools, but would serve no real reason.

I wish i could show exactly how i use them in my game, but is to early to make such a reveal. The fact is that these are first created and used in my game, so the only right thing is to show them in this thread than the asset thread first, because this is how they are created and used initially.
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Trust me, these system will make for some of the most unique and spectacular in game dynamics you have seen in any game to date. I am working very hard on that.

Same goes for my new INfiniDy pack, all my castles and randomized items in the game will be based on this tool, that will also come to the Asset Store.
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Also all the uses you see posted above, the spell book, spell clash etc are directly work for the game. Same for the icons and all my art of course.

 

No problem, it's just this remember me when we watch some movie or talk about some interesting subject than it turns to advertisment for products to buy at some moments.
At least your game will be the demonstration of the quality of your asset store plugins.

 

It just feels this way because i am in the period where i implement and create all these system for the game and put them on the store at the same time.

Though i am sure that these will be some of the most interesting things in my game, than the most dull ones . These are some of the most interesting parts of the movie, than the ads .

Of course until i reveal the exact use, with all the related art and the finilized systems, this may indeed not be apparent by all the above, but as i said is early to show such detail from the game, i will try to do that as soon as possible though, I promise

That said, i am also working heavilly on the AI and strategic parts of the game and have a small write up almost done, so i will be posting more gameplay related stuff very soon.

 

UPDATE:

On strategic gameplay

Since most of the effect side of the combat is now on a good path and the one to one spells are mostly realized (but not yet fully polished), i have started working heavilly in expanding the initial strategic ideas, which will be the core of the major addiction in combat.

This write up will feel a bit cryptic in places, since this will be the signature system of the game, but i will try to provide all the exciting feeling without revealing the most unique specifics

The system i currently work on allows for all kind of dynamics and reactions in combat, plus complete control of your allies. The party has been finilized (and many of the effects for each hero have been decided and partly implemented), so this was the next logical step.

The new GUI allows the control of all heroes en mass, or individually with an easy to use scheme (at least i hope so ). The whole idea is to refine the current strategy in full real time, while controlling a hero at the same time. The commands available are starting to form and is trully epic to see allies do all kinds of cool moves and orient themselves around the map.

The goal is to have as much control as needed without a pause or slow down to combat. This is not guaranteed to work without any pause yet, though from tests so far it works very well and is not disruptive. But this could change if there are many powers and commnads to choose from as i implement more and more of them. So will be WIP for quite some time.

One of the challenges was to integrate this system with ORK Framework, that is used for the combat events and damage handling. Thankfully ORK has added some invaluable functionality in the combat system that made possible to implement some very cool dynamic scenarios, that will also adapt to the map structures and my unique in game system which i cant reveal yet .

Now since the main method to implement these advanced directed behaviors is working, i am expanding the system with all the detail i can put and I will try to have as much variability in every situation based on many factors, for both enemies & allies. Also i am integrating a chance system, that will give a feeling that none of the AI behaviors are scripted, even in a branching way.

Of course all the above are just part of the work going on for the game, which also includes map making and design, 2D art for the manual and quest log and much much more.

Hopefully i will have the time to expand upon the above systems with further details and developments later in November.

 

hey man just wondering, can you add me up on skype i would like to ask you something!
skype: samir.aledros1

 

I rarely use Skype, but we can talk in facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Artengame-middleware-and-game-development/1508541989367435

I am not sure this is the proper link though

 

how the heck do i add you xD i cant find it.. just search my name, samir aledros you should find me

 

i added you up, found the correct you lol xD

 

Ok, i added back You can start a conversation when you want.