Noob question. Can cut scenes be played in Unity basic? I assume they can be triggered like any other scripted action. Are all common video codecs supported? I notice that Unity Pro allows streaming video. I understand that this means you can put video onto objects in a scene, but is there other functionality as well?
Oh, wow. That’s a fairly major drawback. Makes the initial buy-in pretty high just to get simple video playback. I would have preferred to start with the basic software package and upgrade later. Hmm. Have to rethink Unity for my projects. :roll:
Video textures are in fact a Pro-only feature, if you want to explore the differences between our various licenses then have a look at the License Comparison page on our site.
And also, what’s stopping you from starting with our student/hobbyist license (Unity Indie) and upgrading later? Video-based cut-scenes are certainly not such a hard core deal breaker are they? You can do all sorts of development in Indie, then save things like video-based cut-scenes for later when you upgrade.
Hadn’t thought of the real time cut scene concept. I suppose by scripting the camera and character movement one could simulate a video sequence. I’m new to game design(I’m a screenwriter, thus my interest in scripted cut scenes and story)so I appreciate the help and suggestions on the design and coding side.
I may go for the pro license anyway. It’s expensive, but if Unity is the right package for the next couple of years, it’s pretty reasonable.
To be honest, my quandary is whether to go for Unity or Torque 3D, which is now in beta. Each has its fans and detractors and it’s hard to get a clear evaluation on the blogs. So far I like the Unity interface and, quite frankly, the friendly people and good documentation. Torque forums are a bit snooty and getting basic info is a pain, but the graphics seem very good and things like road and river building tools seem quite helpful.
If anyone can convince me, I’d appreciate it because so far there seem so be no clear winner.
Well it all depend on how deep into programming you want to get. If you don’t mind digging into the core engine source code, than torque is ok (and if you choose torque, there is nearly a 100% chance you are going to have to digging in the engine source code).
If you don’t want to deal with the engine source code but still have maximum flexibility in what you can create, the I think Unity is the best option.
Good graphics come from good artists as much as the game engine. Eye candy wise, there isn’t anything Unity can’t do that torque does, and vice versa. That is, except Unity being able to run on low end machine or on a streaming web player.
I understand that blogs and various sites can make it hard for you to get unbiased information. However one thing that you can count on is that there are a large number of Torque refugees here. Those individuals are here for a reason. I doubt you will find anyone that bought Unity Pro, only to jump ship and go with TGEA.
I myself own a licensee for TGE and TGEA. I could give you a lengthy rundown of my experiences, but it would take up a lot of space. Here’s the tl/dr version: After my two+ years of experience with the shady company and their shoddy products, I wouldn’t touch T3D with a ten foot pole. I learned my lesson.
I read over the Torque 3D beginning tutorials and couldn’t make head or tail of them, so I’m pretty much on board with Unity, which has such great documentation and support (and friendly forums). Also, the interface seems way, way easier to use.
And no, I don’t want to delve into source code. As I said, I’m a screenwriter. I’m going to need help just to do basic scripting!
Regarding the real time cut scenes – is there an example I can view? I’d like to see how that looks and operates compared to video playback. Thanks.
This :roll: the only way to get in the lifeboat while the Titanic sunk was to hand over $500.
Btw…the waters cold.
Unity has a great intuitive interface,agreed,essential components cost more,but meh…all game engine proprietors are doing it.
Apart form the neoAxis engine that is or ogre3D,but as someone who was asked what language i was going to make my game in and promptly replied “English” i’ll hang around here for a bit longer
they look more clean and they take a lot less of hard disk space, usually video cut scenes need to be compressed a lot so the size make sense… then when you see them at high resolutions they look horrible(some games come to my mind)… and a real time cutscene can be rendered very clean at any resolution without having gigs and gigs of video in it
video cutscenes made sense when the technology was not mature enough to make them real time … like the diablo 2 video cutscenes,in that time was better to have a huge very pixelated video instead to tell the stories…but not anymore
Do you guys know of any games that use real time cut scenes that I can play? I’d like to see how that looks.
Does it work the same way as video cut scenes? In other words, is the gameplay suspended while the scene is played out?
Also, can you cut from character to character as you might in animation or is the camera keyframed and swung from place to place? I guess I’m not quite picturing it. Sorry for the noob questions. I’m coming from PS3 games so I don’t have a clear vision of how this technique works.
“Save The Farley Mowatt” is my most recent one, but I did kinda rush the setup of the opening sequence waypoints. theres a cutscene halfway through activated by the same code.
The Oasis is the first game I made and it has about 2 minutes of unskippable cutscene at the start. its a bit of a lol game in lots of ways. Theres a cutscene if you make it into the pyramid at the end. alt+f4 to quit on pc, cmd+q on a mac.
Subz again has the same technique at the start.
You have to program in your own pause for everything, and when I made Subz and the Oasis, I kinda struggled with all of that, but I could probably handle that better if I needed to address the problem these days.
Two last question. Does Unity have any of the camera actions built in for this specific purpose or does it need to be coded from scratch each time?
Also, can you cut from one level or scene to another in real time. For example, could you cut from the abandoned warehouse where the player character might be fighting NPCs to the underground lair of Dr.Evil who is plotting to kill him and play out a cut scene there, then move back to the warehouse and resume play (assuming these levels are built). I guess what I’m wondering is whether the load time for levels might prohibit having a cut scene that is not specifically at the location where the player character is at that moment. In other words, is there ever a case where a video cut scene works better than a real time cut scene or have you guys been able to accomplish everything you want with real time scenes?
And on that note, do you guys know the best site or books to get a crash primer on C# for Unity? Looks like I’m going to need it! (or else I’ll have to hire one of you when the time comes)
#1 I just copy and paste the same scripts each time, although Im trying to make a javascript version at the moment, but yea just drop two scripts into any pproject and presto.
#2 you would just use multiple cameras, and enable disable them approproiately.
It doesnt take long to master this stuff and you fell like you have a superhuman film crew on set at your disposal…