Hello.
I am completely new to unity, and about to start learning to use unity completely, and start a project.
However, I need to know if it can handle what I am proposing first…
I am proposing a system in which (in a space game) a player can transfer to as many scenes as they like, and a planet will be randomly generated (size, color, tree amount, rock amount, certain stats). The seed info will then be saved, including any changes the user makes (scripted, like certain damage destroys object).
These planets would be full scale, and you would be able to seamlessly travel from space to ground.
However, not from planet to planet. Each planet would be its own scene. You change planet through a jumpdrive (basically teleportation).
I know this sounds incredibly “nooby”, but I do know how to model (+UV, texture ect…), I have limited programming experience, and I’m VERY willing to learn.
My questions are:
- Can Unity be used to (relatively easily) create such a system?
- Could such a system be first created for singleplayer, then to multiplayer, or would I have to design it from the ground up for multiplayer? (saving planet info to SQL server ect…)
- Has anyone ever attempted this before? Are there any basic concept tutorials?
I’ll probably have more questions later.
Thank you for listening.
Can you do it, yes. Can you do it easily, no. Nothing to do with Unity, it’s just that the concept is a lot of work.
–Eric
No, but it wouldn’t be “relatively easy” in any engine. For me, Unity would be the easiest, but I am fairly experienced with the Unity workflow.
As with any game, it is possible to change it from singleplayer to multiplayer, but if its going to be multiplayer, its usually a good idea to start it with multiplayer.
Its a very, very difficult task (you shouldn’t attempt it without plenty of programming experience AKA a few games under your belt as the scripter). I doubt many have even attempted it, let alone created a working prototype/tutorial.
Just to add to previous replies, things you will have difficulty with:
I have always wanted to create a game like you’re describing as well, (Elite Frontier! <3 <3 <3 ) but I could never figure out a valid way to generate global geometry. First of all you’d need a healthy LOD system to make the planet acceptable at various distances. Auto-tessellation, or a terrain-like system would be really necessary, but I have no idea how you would go about assembling systems like those into a spherical space. I suppose you could do it by hand, using chunks modular components, but… yeesh. I do believe some heightmap generators today allow for spherical coordinates/meshes, but I do not know which ones.
Additionally, you will be pushing the limit on your floating point calculations if you intend for these planets to be any real scale. Things could get extremely jittery and you’d most likely end up “jumping” to the next scene/system just outside the atmosphere. Someone more experienced than I might have suggestions on avoiding that though.
People are currently working on several projects that are in this vein, though not in Unity. Here are a couple that may interest you:
like spore.
YOUR DOOMED
good luck though
best regards:)
