System and Options

Hello, Nice to meet you guys.

I am trying to design my first game with my friend.
Learning on the go sort of project.

Right now i am trying to make my first shareware game, it'll be in 3rd person action rpg game like some
recent JRPGs and MMORPGs system with some wallrunning system and manual targetting etcs.

But just when i am designing the basic movement, suddenly we came to the question:
Since we will be releasing it on PC, if by chance player wants to set the graphic, options weather renders etc,
difficulty and gameplay setup system, sound setting, plus the action buttons and some automated snippets adjustments....

Should we design the 3d environment first and the characters, or should we do these UI (including in game inventory UIs?
And if we do this 3d environment, should we worry on how to implement the customization UI?


Please help (ASAP?) and you are welcome to be critical and elaborate, since we're also designing the GDD to
keep us on track and be clear on what we're going to make in a limited time frame.

 

Hi, is this your first First game or have you done others & this is just the first with this friend? I ask because it sounds pretty ambitious.

 

Hey Ted, it's our first game because so far we've only tried our hands in making tiny things like balls moving around and doing a particular animation.... HP and MP UI.
But nothing integrated...

Right now my friends just affirmed that we'll be making separate chunks of programs and mechanics and we'll combine them once we get everything right on their own...

Currently we're trying to control a box to walk, run, dash , and wallrun, and some basic 3rd person camera and movement system relative to it...

Is there any particular tutorial for wallrun? We haven't been able to find any...
And its probably our main interest for this particular demo game of ours.

 

I haven't seen a tutorial but that's not to say one doesn't exist, YouTube seems to have everything. I'd probably try using tags or layers to identify walls & have the player react that way.

 

Core gameplay first. UI later.

You need to 'find the fun' first. Make sure you have a viable game that people want to play.

Pretties come later.

 

I can see where you are coming from. The game itself is not entirely original. It's based from popular MMOS and some famous standalones like Dissidia final fantasy or dark souls. The thought of owning similar codes and toying it motivates me and my friend.
The pretties will come along too. The friend is more of an artist.

As of now, we'll be working on those suggestions from Ted.

But suddenly the thought of hiring someone to build the code for us occured...Or buying it.
Do you think there is anyone?
I've tried asset store and can't find something exactly similar, since the puppet physics are so prevalent in western design.

 

You can always post in the collaboration thread. There's one for paid & unpaid

 

There are plenty if devs on the forum that do free lance coding. Be sure to do due diligence before hiring one. Contract enforcement across international borders can be rough.

There is also likely to be a local game dev group near you. That's a good place to find hires. Many 'indies' actually pay the bills with contract work while they are workin on the next big thing.

 

Hey Ted, Mormon! Great inputs! I totally didn't thought about collaboration thread nor international border's obstacle.

I think we'll visit the collaboration forum first, see if we can get a solid lead.
Thank you very much! Hope to see you both around soon!

 

Seems like a really ambitious project, but i guess if you got the stamina to keep working on it why not. I notice you say you want to make the game in a " limited time frame", there is a wall run code in the asset store which might save you some time.

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18202

 

What's your basic gameplay? Until you've 'found the fun', it's too early to worry about options and settings. You may consider listening to this, this, and this.

Gigi

 

3rd person action adventure. End note. wallrunning like crazy. and doing cool acrobatic schemes.
But after seeing some of activision code in their older games of similar genre....
Currently the "fun" is to be able to make something that cool with simpler design and physics calculation...Nothing too fancy.
For my friend, to present his art in a way he enjoy.
For me, after all this? is to add more system, and write stories to our heart's content.
Just think of a very fresh, 3rd person action rpg...with wallrunning.

I'll be rude to say that i won't be reading those inspirational link, since i've found a way to set those options...
but it's probably much ruder to ignore your comment after the interest.

Thank you.

if you are interested or have any solution to offer me, just drop me a DM, and let's talk!

 

Those links are for podcasts about game design elements & how to use them/ balance them to improve your overall game design. Well worth the time, you will learn a lot & hopefully identify problems with your design that you weren't able to see before.

 

By, "find the fun" @Gigiwoo means make sure the base mechanics of the game are fun for players. Not making sure you have fun making it, as you seemed to interpret it. It's very important to make sure the core mechanics of the game are enjoyable before you invest too much in art or polish. But it sounds like you might be on that track already since you're working on getting a cube to wall run.

If this is your first game I really wouldn't recommend paying anyone to code parts of it. You won't learn anything, you'll be wasting money since your first game likely won't sell, and you will probably waste time because (unless you are a software developer, producer, or product manager already) you don't have the experience to manage a developer and it will be hard to communicate requirements, you'll change your mind a lot, etc. Assets from the store are your friend though!

I highly recommend you and your friend work in the same project and use some kind of version control system like subversion or git to integrate your changes with each other. It will be annoying at first, but if you "make separate chunks then combine them when everything is working right on its own", you'll face a huge nightmare trying to integrate everything together and it might be insurmountable since you're inexperienced. It is much better to try to integrate your work together as you go and learn this process in bite-size pieces.

Also, everyone else is right, don't bother with settings or options, or even UI at all at first. Good luck!