Messages

196

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 14, 2017, 05:45:59 PM »

Since this project is gaining momentum, I posted a new topic for it in the games section: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=311591.0

197

Games / Re: Blockland-Inspired Project

« on: July 14, 2017, 05:45:11 PM »

Update Log:

• [July 16, 2017] Rendering issue / visual glitch resolved: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=311591.msg9593778#msg9593778
• [July 15, 2017] Build-modifying and physics object interaction: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=311591.msg9592511#msg9592511
• [July 14, 2017] Brick group recoloring: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9591065#msg9591065
• [July 11, 2017] Color selection and transparent colors added: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9588395#msg9588395
• [July 10, 2017] Vertex coloring and brick painting using any color: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9587131#msg9587131
• [July 08, 2017] Optimization test: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9585666#msg9585666
• [July 08, 2017] Switched to brick system: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9584934#msg9584934
• [July 01, 2017] Progress made with building mechanics: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9576738#msg9576738
• [June 28, 2017] Project unveiled: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=244851.msg9573015#msg9573015

198

Games / Block Party (Terrain Ex. Pg.124 - 2Million Blocks)

« on: July 14, 2017, 05:43:41 PM »

Block Party
Development Stage: Alpha

Note: Check out the new Discord here: https://discord.gg/9cHAmeE

This topic is dedicated to a building game I'm working on in the Unity engine, inspired by Blockland and a couple other games. Ideas and feedback are welcome.


Public Demo Builds By The Community:



Recent Progress Screenshots:




Old Prototype Screenshots:
These screenshots are a few years old, but show what's possible with the engine:




Videos:



Community Avatar Concepts:

199

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 14, 2017, 12:12:03 PM »

Yea

You could put it in the graphical settings of the game, turning it off will just make the bricks disappear / look like they were hit with the hammer when a car hits them. Turning it on will make the bricks tumble and fake-kill when a car hits it.

I would like to also make brick physics client-sided like Blockland handles them.

What do you think about adding some kind of default gravity system so we can do some good space stuff, Ghost?

This sounds like a good idea, but it would probably be kinda difficult to get enclosed areas of regular gravity, so good space stuff would probably be out of the question unless you're going for realistic.

Well right now gravity is relative to players, so it wouldn't be difficult to allow server creators / scripts to modify gravity per player or globally. You could even set up zones with different gravity values. That may change later on however, but I'll still try to incorporate it.


Depending on how bricks are set up, you can now recolor them based on groups / elements, such as the frame and glass panes for windows (btw, I'll fix the window offset in the image):

200

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 13, 2017, 07:47:48 PM »

Oh I also got another suggestion for vehicles

Remember the rampaging vehicles addon where in BL of you drive a vehicle into bricks, it causes them to fakekill? Imo if you add something like this into your game by default (a better optimized version, where the car has to be going pretty fast for it to work and it'd deal damage to the car itself, and the bricks would respawn back after like 30 seconds) That would be awesome

A default option for rampaging vehicles would be very cool.

I've been messing around in Unity and made an almost familiar land

All it needs is a snow texture and it would be quite reminiscent of the Slopes lol; did you import the heightmap?

GSF, you're a bloody legend. Can't wait to see the final project - if you decide to get it on Steam Early Access (if that's the route you want to go), I'd gladly buy it in a heartbeat.

That's an option I'll definitely look into. Still working on some technical features right now, but hopefully will show off more progress soon.

201

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 12, 2017, 02:04:07 PM »

Thanks guys; I'll be working on brick errors and the placement grid / system today, as well as add functionality for modifying planted bricks (such as destroying or repainting them).

Very cool! Also, I misinterpreted your statement earlier. I thought you meant that earning geometry would be a global thing for server creators, not a mechanic within servers. My bad. Now that I see what you meant, that could be a totally cool mechanic!

One thing I would appreciate is a much more robust event system, or even a full in-game scripting engine. Perhaps something like LittleBigPlanet or WireMod logic for beginners, and Ruby (or Lua or Python) scripts for more advanced users? Scripts could also be applied to far more than just bricks.

Also, will there be mobile objects other than vehicles? For instance, rotating bars for an obstacle course.

I definitely want to improve on the event system or add in-game scripting somehow. I was talking with someone a few days ago about possibly implementing a visual editor (like a node-based editor). There could even be logic-based bricks for minor projects, and full-fledged scripting for major projects (you'll still be able to apply events to any brick as well). Maybe you could even apply events to things like vehicles and items, and have access to the in-game scene as well (like triggering weather effects for a certain areas of the server). I'm not sure how to implement Ruby / Lua / Python, but I'm sure it's possible.

I could add other animated objects, sure - like animated bricks or the ability to move bricks via scripts. It's already possible to add things like elevators or vehicles you can walk on.

I do wonder what Badspot thinks about Blockland spiritual successors being made.
Especially this one, since it does seem to get some traction, logically, since the one creating it has quite some knowledge of programming and games.

Even though right now this project is very similar to Blockland, I do hope to make it unique as well and give it its own theme / style. Also, as long as it's not a carbon copy of this game or doesn't use his assets, I don't think he would mind.

202

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 11, 2017, 09:57:17 PM »

Sure, I'll look into that once I get to vehicles; I haven't explored the audio functionality of Unity, but I'm sure it's possible. Maybe you can select different types of engine bricks to plant within the vehicle itself (for buildable vehicles), and the engine brick used would determine it's power and the sound effects used.

203

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 11, 2017, 07:53:10 PM »

Ghost I never enabled notifications for a thread before but I swear I'll follow your project to the day you release it as a full game

I'll admit, I'm quite excited for this project. =) I'll be posting a new topic in the Games section soon so I don't keep hogging the Game Design thread lol.

Just like BL, you should have a "brick fx" row with a bunch of presets, and you could make it edit-able by being able to change the values, add more, remove some and etc.

It'd be cool to have a "color set" like how BL does it, but you'd be able to edit it in game using different color selectors like HSV and RGB, and be able to save the preset, like with BL to share with friends and the community

You'll be able to use any color you want for painting bricks, but having custom presets you can save (for colors you prefer) is a great idea.


Color selection for bricks is now working! I also figured out how to get transparent colors to work:

204

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 11, 2017, 02:24:06 PM »

Yes, you'll be able to build and drive vehicles you've made in-game, as well as import vehicles made in external programs like Blender. I would like to eventually add different vehicle classes, like: wheeled vehicles, helicopters, planes, physics objects, boats and a class similar to the magic carpet.

I'm not too familiar with how Roblox handles them, but I'm hoping to give bricks certain properties (similar to Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) - i.e. you can add thrusters for flying, objects to make the vehicles float (like for a seaplane or seacopter), etc.

205

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 11, 2017, 12:54:28 AM »

Alright cool!

Also if you do implement vehicle damage, you should do it in the way the older GTA games did it, where it has a single car model but when a part of the car gets "damaged" by a collision or something, it replaces that specific part of the car (like a door or hood or something) with a dented and damaged version. I believe this would be a very simple and easy-to-run type of car damage, that would also seem "blocky" in a way, instead of soft-body physics or procedually damaged like how GTA 4 and 5 does it

That would be cool. It might be slightly difficult to implement, but certainly possible.

I think you might benefit from making a discord for it, so people can put all the suggestions there and be notified of anything that happens with the game.

I'll look into making a discord. For now, I'll probably post a new topic in the Games section, and post updates there.

so far it looks pretty neat. one thing i notice is that the brick textures seem really similar to the default or something released on these forums. for legal reasons, just keep in mind that anything made in and or released on blockland either as default or an add-on is probably intellectual property of badspot. you might run into legal troubles if you recycle some of those assets so just be careful

Thanks for the advice - everything for the game is being custom made, so I won't be using any Blockland assets.

206

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 10, 2017, 07:52:13 PM »

btw ghost i made a huge suggestions post giving every idea I have to make this game imo like bl but much better

I read it lol - I'm taking all feedback and suggestions on what to include into account.

207

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 10, 2017, 07:40:19 PM »

I haven't been keeping up with this project you're working on GSF, but in regards engine or function wise, how does it differ from blockland currently?

I mean, blockland's primary gameplay feature is building, and it already nailed that pretty well. there's not much balancing/tweaking one can do on that aspect. If you were to make a spiritual successor, it would either be a carbon copy of blockland and it's features, a downgrade from that, or heavily inflated with useless content

The only conceivable improvement would be engine changes to help improve modibility or something like that. Otherwise, it's not really worth the time besides a little test project

I've noticed that most people seem to want a spiritual successor, and there are indeed certain aspects of this game which I've really enjoyed and want to build on. But, at the same time I want to give it its own unique theme and functionality; it's still in the experimentation phase right now, so I haven't competently figured out how to do that yet. The last thing I would want to do would be to make a clone of this game.

I want to also recreate the experience Blockland used to have, where you were a small minifig in a large world in various human-size maps; there was a sense of wonder that no other game could recreate. With this engine, I will be able to make maps even more interactive and add an adventure / exploration element to them. I'll also be adding new features like a procedurally generated world, tools for easily building large structures, rpg elements possibly, buildable items / vehicles, etc. As mentioned before, I do want to make it unique and not just a clone of Blockland. I'll be deciding on the final theme and concept later on, but feedback and constructive criticism would really help in deciding what direction to take.

Well, would you rather people sell their hard earned creations to have some guy make a place full of them along with stolen scripts and gain money from it?

I wouldn't mind allowing players to sell complex, high quality mods. But I agree, most of the content should be free - that's what the game thrives on.

208

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 10, 2017, 03:42:17 PM »

I'm not super on board with this idea. Any game about creativity should allow you to, well, be creative. I've never liked games that try to limit that - as much as I loved LittleBigPlanet, I hated that you didn't have the full set of tools at the start. "Earning" geometry seems like a contrived way to pad out gameplay in a game that you seem to be making creativity-oriented.

But, hey, you do you.

it can make be interesting in some situations, but a 'creative mode' type situation is probs gonna be pretty necessary

regardless, a game like that isn't going to be able to be like blockland unless they're just optional features to turn on

If I do end up including that feature, it will be toggleable; I may also end up including a baseplate rules option (in which players would have to build on baseplates) and a scavenge mode option (where you have to take bricks from existing builds), both of which can also be toggled. I'm hoping to include various options so you can set up a server to your liking. You won't be forced to use them though, they are just more options for your server. A creative mode is also a given.

I'd rather he go the roblox way and "sell" the creations. Or he could make it so you can only sell decals, music, memberships for your server, vip for your server, etc

I'd much rather that than a generic minecraft clone. I trust Ghost as the creator to make a fun game that does what blockland can't. Blockland gets boring for most users after 5 or so hours because the only thing you can do is join the average freebuild or go to a boring jailbreak server, or worse, go to a family rp. In the game Ghost has made, you would be able to join a demo server for a server which showcased the vips in it, maybe the builds or something so you would be more inclined to buy it. Maybe it would have game modes like gmod, maybe ragdoll combat or something like that, where you have to use your custom characters and the stuff the server gives you and stuff you can buy to make a fighter to compete with the best, to try to knock them off while also trying not to be swarmed by the lower ones, would be a tun game. Maybe a game where you have to run to shoot snipers? It would create interesting situations like people meeting up in running groups and raiding buildings while running and people going putside and spinning in circles to try to disorient people?  You can also buy temporary upgrades to run faster or slower or something like that. Things like that would keep new users hooked.

I'm open to that idea, but am also slightly skeptical of having users charge for content like that. It all depends though.

I have some really great ideas for the game that I want to incorporate, especially involving maps; map-making can be taken to a whole 'nother level with this engine, especially with remastered versions of maps like GSF Paradise. I'm hoping to have greater incentive for building as well: such as sharing finished builds with the community (via an in-game network) where users can comment, rate and download them to try themselves (credits will be maintained of course); you'll be able to build interactive objects which you can turn into a physical entity (like the soccer ball included in Blockland, except if would be made out of bricks); build-able vehicles; etc.



Made more progress; I have most of the building system figured out. I'm trying to make importing custom bricks as easy as possible - instead of converting a model to the .blb format, setting up a brick grid, setting the brick bounds and collision, etc., so far all you would have to do is model the brick / collision mesh and save the .blend file in the game's bricks folder; the game takes care of the rest. I have brick positioning mostly working, along with super-shifting.

Also, I finally figured out how to color bricks while having a material applied. Right now, vertex colors are random, but you'll be able to color bricks uniformly using any opaque or transparent color you want - you're no longer limited to colorsets consisting of 64 colors:

209

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 09, 2017, 05:14:54 PM »

i'll give him a kitkat mini unwrapped

I would definitely take a KitKat lol.

210

Creativity / Re: Game Design Megathread

« on: July 09, 2017, 12:47:37 PM »

it could also be the insanely soft shadows and very precise lighting as well causing the fps to be somewhat low

Also I have a suggestion for the game, would it be possible to build in player-mode, like how BL is set up?

I think it was because I was running at a 1600 x 730 resolution. Also the floor grid textures have a Parallax Specular shader applied, which can be somewhat resource intensive. You'll be able to toggle those options though; it's still not bad to have 800 bricks on screen and have the fps only drop by 1.

Yes, you'll definitely be able to build in player-mode; for now, you can switch between free-camera movement / building, and normal player movement. I also want to eventually make building large-scale projects much easier.

Will the beta test have a multiplayer setup?

The first demo I'll release probably won't have multiplayer. But, I hope to add it later on in a future beta, I just need to figure out how Unity handles multiplayer. I may also made need help with setting up a master server in the near future, but for the mean time you'll be able to do a direct connect.