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[rodent]

hello everyone!

i recently decided to get into weapon modeling for games as a precursor to actually designing the real things. a couple months ago after some lengthy discussions with some like-minded individuals, i was asked to take on the weapon responsibilities for a small group of people new to 3D modeling and game design (like myself) and assist in the creation of a FPS.

to overcome the impression that i've gotten into this without being aware of the amount of work it takes, i want to assure people, that, yes, i completely understand how difficult game design (much like every other artist/creative endeavor) can be. but i am also aware that a handful of people can create something that, while not revolutionary, is something that will be enjoyable.

unfortunately, almost everyone backed out when the concept became more than a pipe dream, as people are wont to do. so that left me with another individual (who has some experience, but no specialty or real area of interest just yet concerning where he fits in) to start building up our concept work while i decided to take on the additional role of Project Manager and Conceptual Artist and make our engine/software selections and find more people to round out the production team, such as some experienced, dedicated graphic artists and coders so everyone can work on one element as to not become overwhelmed. my aim is to have a crew put together where everyone has a specific area to develop. we've established a small Proof of Concept scale version that we'll build onto in bigger and bigger steps.

as you can probably guess, this is where i've run into a bit of trouble, haha.

here's the thing though, i've been producing electronic music for over the last 10 years, so new, unfamiliar technologies with high learning curves don't intimidate me and i'm comfortable with computers and their ever extensive list of issues. it's just that now i'm in a field that's pretty alien to me and even after researching software for the last several weeks, i feel like i'm only vaguely better off than i was before i started.

yeah, i know it's a very common question 'which engine should i use', but after we've made some decisions on what we want out of this project, i'd've thought some of what we had agreed on would help narrow our potential list down. unfortunately, very few of the engines available have the features we're looking for listed in their 'feature list'. and that's where i turn to those more educated than myself, you, the members of this forum=)

basically, would i'm looking for is an engine that will allow 2 co-op players, have destructible environments, solid networking code, PC + cross platform and console compatibility and as much flexibility as we can get up front and for after launch to allow for updates and new game elements. our game is going to be predominately online multiplayer with the occasional offline training courses. after seeing how popular games like Counter Strike have become with minimal graphics, we've decided that something next gen or ultra realistic isn't necessary as our primary focus is on the gameplay and game mechanics. however, it would be nice to have the option to refine our graphic content and give our game a unique look since i personally believe that MW3 and BF3 will be too impressive with their realistic visuals to even think about attempting to compete with that style.

so... can anyone think of some engines that will fit the bill for all that? honestly, i'm ok with having to use multiple applications to get the job done once i have a better understanding, so if there are specific combinations that'd work as well, i'm open to suggestion. we don't really have as much time to devote to this as we'd like, so engines with the least amount of coding necessary to get the highest amount of results are of great interest to us, unless we're able to find more programmers along the way.

right now we don't have much to work with as far as budget goes, but since we're all military personnel, we'll eventually be able to have some coin to drop on worthwhile investments. i already know those of us still involved will need computer upgrades as well as eventual dedicated servers, etc., so we're not opposed to having to pay for our software, we'd just rather not, if you know where we're coming from=)

we love modern military FPS games but we just feel like if guys/girls actually in uniform were able to put in all the cool things games like COD and BF neglect, we'd have something pretty unique and interesting. actually, i kind of have to admit that i was a very casual gamer until this last year or so when i got really into FPS and Survival Horror games.

but i've posted considerably more than i set out to, and for that, i apologize=) thanks for your time and i look forward to hearing advice and suggestions from people who understand this better than i currently do.

[baconman]

Unity3D is going to be the choice to go with in your case. Either that, or if you can find a Duke3D Atomic Edition, it comes with a "Build" editor for creating stages and so forth, and you can even regraphicize stuff like characters and weapons. That may be feasible for your purposes. Although it's capable of building destructible and non-destructible terrain, there's nothing saying you MUST use the non-destructible kind (although for level perimeters, I'd highly suggest doing so!).

Half-Life 2 modding could also be another popular modern-day alternative as well.

[Acid]

If you've never made games before, trying to tackle a 3d-project that will have both online multiplayer and cross-platform console support is not going to happen. My best advice is to just either find a programmer, which is also probably not going to happen because most decent programmers like to focus on their own projects, or just start from the basics. It's going to take months, if not years, to be able to learn the basics of any programming language and produce a game of even mediocre quality.

[Richard Kain]

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid what you are describing doesn't really exist. There are precious few cross-platform PC engines, let alone engines that are simultaneously compatible with major consoles. And of those, pretty much none of them have low-cost options.

Your best standard commercial option for this is going to be the Unreal Engine, via the UDK. The cross-platform support for PCs is weak, but the Unreal Engine is optimized to work on most consoles. Also, it is one of the premier packages for developing FPS titles.

A better option for smaller scale indie development would be Unity. This package has great PC cross-platform support, and has been ported to some consoles. (mainly the Wii) It is not nearly as feature-rich as the UDK, but has much more indie-friendly licencing. It wasn't built specifically for FPS titles, so you will have to build a lot of the functionality for that genre yourself. On the plus side, Unity is good for prototyping gameplay quickly.

Another possible candidate would be Sauerbraten. This is a 3D game engine with multiplayer support in the vein of Quake. It is much simpler, but also much more focused. It is an open-source project, and can be used for commercial projects at no cost. There is also an "expansion" of sorts for this engine called the Platinum Arts Sandbox. This version of the engine adds a few game-centric features that might prove useful. Both of these have great cross-platform support for PC, but no console support that I know of.