Hi Dark, I see your points, all of them valid, but as I said the turn around time really isn't that great. Your concern of how big a delay this will be is largely due in part to a misunderstanding of how my engine is developed and how easy it is for me to swop out 2d functionality for 3d functionality here.
The answer is its not that big a deal. I have most of the 3d functions already written, in fact have, a 3d game template or wizard I can use to rapidly get the basics in place. I mentioned the idea early Sunday morning and guess what? Well, over Sunday I ran my 3d wizard created a basic 3d game with the ability to jump, run, swim,climb, and otherwise move around in a 3d environment. I created a simple 2x200x100 empty room and am running around shooting up enemies and climbing on things to test the engine out. Point being depending on how complex I want this game to be I can have a couple of solid game levels done within the next month or two. I can borrow most of the existing code from the side-scroller such as menus, status commands, whatever because that stuff isn't side-scroller or 3d FPS specific. Its just common code that can be copied and pasted as is right into a new game. This is unfortunately the biggest concern I can't seem to lay to rest. When I mentioned rewriting or updating the game a lot of people jumped to the conclusion this would mean six, months, a year, maybe two years, delay. Its nothing so drastic as that because I have months of work already in existing code. Anything that isn't specifically 3d can be quickly and easily modified. For example. The SpeakPlayerLocation() function in MOTA only speaks your x and y location. Ok, no big deal. All I need to do is get the player's z location and speak that too. That's like a five minute procedure. Its a delay, but nothing that would prevent me from getting it done in a reasonable amount of time for the effort involved. Lastly, as for the side-scroller business I understand where you are coming from on that issue, but I can't help feel like we are beating a dead horse here. Yeah, I know I'm probably the only developer who truly understands what is possible in that particular format, but its a personal decision on my part to make or not make a game of that type. I think what we have here is simply a difference of opinion in preference. I know you seem to be heavy into the NES, Super NES, and other classic side-scrollers. You often talk about Megaman, Castlvania, or some other console game. Some I've played and some I haven't. As a result you really like that type of game, and have a dream that some game developer will come along and create the next Megaman, Mario, or Castlevania side-scroller in audio. Nothing wrong with that dream as far as it goes. However, my own history is a bit different. I of course grew up in the 80's playing the Atari, the Colleco, moved onto the NES, and played some games for the Super NES. I went from there straight to the PC market which was taking off in the 90's. By the mid 90's I was playing Doom, Quake, Star Wars Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight, Tomb Raider, Soldier of Fortune, Mech Warrior, and so on. What happened is that I became adicted to the 3d game environments and pretty much began playing FPS and third-person games exclusively. Then, I lost my sight. Well, when I saw GMA come out with Shades of Doom, saw how I might be able to create my own FPS games, that's what I wanted to do. So you could say it became my personal dream, my desire, my goal to begin writing games like I was playing in the 90's. Of course, back in 2004 when I got started I didn't really know how to write games period, but I was willing to wait and write a few practice games like Final conflict and Montezuma's Revenge. At this point I have both the tools and the skills and am eager to get on with it. So that's where you and I differ. You saw MOTA, thought it was the game you were hoping for and wanted, but unfortunately it isn't exactly the game I wanted to write. At least not as far as this particular game goes. I'd be happy to write a side-scroller in the future, maybe one designed specifically for that format, but not this game. The reason is simply that the Tomb Raider games are all full 3d third-person adventures, at least most of them anyway, and I'm really hoping to produce this game with the same format and features. Otherwise I don't see much point in writing MOTA period. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
