=This is probably cancelled, I’ve learned a lot from doing it but I’m collaborating with another person on a game.=
Changelog/Previous Builds
Build 0.1
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/118028820/Unity/Demos/Build%200.1/WebPlayer.html
Space - Elevate
W/S - Forward/Backwards
Use the mouse to roll and pitch.
-Basic Sceptre flight model added.
-Added engine particle effects (replaced in 0.3)
Build 0.2
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/118028820/Unity/Demos/Build%200.2/WebPlayer.html
Controls
Space - Elevate
W/S - Speed up/slow down
A/D - Yaw left/right
Roll - Mouse left/right
Pitch - Mouse up/down
Fire Chaingun - Left Mouse Button
Fire Rockets - Right Mouse Button
First person view - 1
Third person view - 2
Updated to build 0.2, added a few new features.
-Chaingun on the front is now functional with sounds
-Added one rocket pod on the left side with sounds
-Adjusted flight handling to be more responsive
-Added contrails to the edges of the tail
-Added optional first person view and adjusted third person view
Build 0.3
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/118028820/Un...WebPlayer.html
-Main engine effects w/sound
-Speed of your aircraft affects the pitch of the engine
-Vertical thruster effects (still WIP, need to have them activate only with a button pressed), will have a unique audio file later
-Changed volume of the chaingun and rockets to allow the engine to be heard more easily
-Added right wing rocket pod
And just one more, since I don’t know how long one post can be 
Well, there is an “Edit Post” button available.
Some of those models definitely need some poly reduction. And textures.
Sounds like Planetside and the Galaxy drop ship is the same name it had in Planetside 
Why do they need poly reduction? I don’t know how to texture, but I’m looking at tutorials and trying to brush up on it… I know I suck at Blender but as I said I’m new, so an explanation would be helpful. I’m learning stuff as I go along.
Well, especially if you see that last model, those guns and other cylindrical elements have waay too many polygons.
And I guarantee you, unless you are going for a non-photorealistic look, untextured isn’t going to look right.
I said that these were just basic models with no textures added in yet. What’s the problem with that many polygons? Lag?
If you have very high polygon models, and a lot of those models in the scene, and especially if they have complex shaders, of course that can be a strain on the graphics card.
My intention here is to help you, not discourage you.
Even for someone who has the skills, this would be an enormous undertaking. I’d recommend picking something to get good at and letting the other stuff slide…perhaps outsource it. The thing I’d pick is the programming because the art assets aren’t going to be what makes the game worth playing. For the art, why not buy some stuff from turbosquid.com or 3drt.com or even the unity asset store.
Then, for the project itself…cut it up into smaller projects. For example make an FPS game with simplified weapon systems (not like the ones you want to eventually make), but implemented the cool base capturing system on a large open terrain (or whatever) map. Work on it till it’s fun.
Then make another project that is a simple level, but has the sophisticated weapon and damage system. Work on that till it’s fun.
Etc.
Etc.
If any of those aren’t fun, your final project probably shouldn’t include that feature.
By this time you will have learned all the gotchas from having made those other smaller, but still significant projects. So you might be ready to make the proper structure to hold all of it together.
And you will have figured out how the art assets really need to be setup to work with your engineering, should you have decided that the outsourced stuff doesn’t measure up.
Hear, hear for duncanx.
I’d also recommend, if art isn’t your strong suit, just focus on the programming and use purchased assets or even box art.
Once you have a demo that’s at least mostly functional, you can then show off your progress and [hopefully] entice some other developers (such as artists, GUI designers, composers, etc) onto the project. It’s hard to convince people that a massive game with no screenshots/demos is going to take off, but it’s much easier when you have fun gameplay videos to show.
I hear what both of you are saying and I understand it, but I’m not doing this for other people at the moment, I just felt that I’d make a thread to organize my progress and perhaps make a few people interested in it.
Basically; my goal right now isn’t really to make a great game, it’s to advance my skills along the way. Eventually, I can make something good. This is just an idea.
I know this is a massive undertaking, and I don’t expect it to be great. I am, however, learning many useful skills along the way… my programming and modeling are already much improved since I started. Buying models/art feels like cheating for me, I’d rather make everything on my own. You don’t get better by taking shortcuts. I like your suggestion about breaking up certain parts, and I’ll probably do that.
I just finished another model. I’m going to work on texturing them (redoing the bomber and dropship, perhaps scrapping them) and making them work in-game within a few weeks. Might even make a video?
picked up on this…
Ridiculous!
Its not cheating. If you dont have modelling skills, you dont have modelling skills. Thing is, this game is going to take you a long (long long) time. You will be better to concentrate on getting good at one thing, rather than being average at everything. Even if you just buy all your vehicle models, you are still going to need a truck load of other models, which if you so desire you can make yourself.
Ive brought a bunch of my models, and spent the better part of the last two years (part time) working on my own game which is not dissimilar to yours (the main difference being not open world), and im still miles away from finishing, and when you realise the majority of my time has been spent in coding, you realise you have undertaken a huge task!
www.3drt.com has excellent game ready models that aint too expensive. Its where ive sourced mine
It’s not cheating, but I can understand where he’s coming from. He wants to learn the end-to-end of things. It’s a worthwhile thing. With this in mind my suggestion would change. Maybe I’d significantly reduce the scope of the project.
When you’re fighting a monster in an RPG, you usually get your XP after the monster dies…not during the battle.
Similarly in games development, you get the biggest experience gains and insights as you finish things. So if you want to get better, you need to go through the cycle of making something more often. Building 10 small things will get you infinitely more wisdom than building 1 super huge thing.
bonus nag point: If you buy some assets you’ll be affording yourself the experience to work with someone elses assets, which is an actual skill (and one you’d use often in a realistic game dev scenario).
Made a quick dropbox demo of the flight script I made, can I get some feedback on it?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/118028820/Unity/Demos/WebPlayer.html
Space - Elevate
W/S - Forward/Backwards (I need to figure out how to slow down the backwards thrust)
A/D - Turn Left/Right
Use the mouse to roll and pitch.
Had a few questions too if anyone is able to help;
How would I go about linking the speed of the aircraft and the lifetime of the particles together?
I have an audio file for the vehicle, is there a way to make the sound quieter and stopped/slower speeds and louder as you get faster?
I suppose you could say I’m making this in smaller chunks, i.e air vehicles first, then ground vehicles, on to modeling/scripting the footsoldier, architecture, etc… I agree with what you’re saying. I haven’t really thought this through in depth and I’m kind of winging it as I go along.
A few notes about roll and pitch, roll has no purpose as A/D turns left and right, and pitch doesn’t work very well, the aircraft has a tendency to pitch downwards and doesn’t pitch upwards very easily. In general a bit hard to control.
As for linking the speed of the aircraft and the lifetime of the particles, you can have a reference to the particle component and just set the lifetime property (requires a bit of tweaking and fiddling)
And the audio, I’d suggest putting that on an audio source (set to Loop), and if you have a reference to the audio source component you can set Volume and Pitch properties. Note that higher pitch = higher sampling rate, so the audio clip will actually play faster/slower.
On a side note, you should probably come up with some kind of plan for how you’re going to break it down.
I’ve embarked on too many projects with just “winging it”, none of which have ever been finished. Only when I know exactly what I want to accomplish and, in some ways, how to accomplish it, do I ever come even close to completion.
I hear ya… I’ll reduce yaw speed to make roll necessary for tight turns…increasing speed as well… and I’ll probably give it a bit of heft.
I’ll try the audio/particle bit and probably try to make the chaingun functional.