Project: 40k

[Mantan]

REFER TO THIS POST FOR UPDATES & INFO

THE WEBSITE IS UP!!!
http://40k-eternalwar.em1.net/

I updated the colour scheme.

Ok... I have no idea where I should put this.....
I have a plan.... a dark... sinister plan...
To make a warhammer 40k FPS!!!!!

If you want to help make , PM me
or
If you have a really long thing to say (eg. Ideas, complaints, random musings) e-mail me at poul.public@bfsmedia.com

Ok... now many of you are going: "WTF is this nutcase talking about!?!?! This clearly belong in the wastes!", but before you condemn me, listen.

I wish to make a warhammer 40,000 first person shooter. I don't want to make a mod, I want a completely separate system/engine/whackdoodle.

Things included I want are:

-Races: Eldar, Space Marines, Chaos Marines (and LatD as weak troops, don't get why you'd choose to be a weak trooper? See the next thing.), 'Nids, Imperial Guard.

-Most of the weapons included (no special ammo in most cases, no special pattern lasguns, no custom close combat weapons, etc... every thing not ridiculous should be included)

-TITANS!!!!!1101 I like titans alot, and on large scale maps (the really big ones) you should be able to get thems (mmmmmnnn, warhounds.... ouch....).

-Custom armour. Basically, you just get to choose some designs on your armour and if you're in power armour, you can pick the armour mark/design.

-3 single player campaigns (the good, the bad, and the xenos)

-A limitation/bonus on weapons/skills/class/stuff. Each kill you get gives you points based on what you killed (a carnifex will get you tonnes of points, a ripper (AI controlled) will get you one), these points can be used to spend on wargear and the type of trooper you are (nothing to be a scout, some to be a marine, quite a bit more to be a terminator, and tonnes to be a librarian).

-Be able to modify your tanks. You want a heavy bolter mounted on the chimera? Spend points at the spawn point and get what you want on it.

-Close combat system similar to the Elder scrolls series (click and slash/punch/splay/munch/) You attack with the moves you selected with the F keys for your mouse (changable anytime, even during a move). Blocking will be with the Q and E keys (one for each side). Close combat stance will be toggled on and off with the F key.

-the ability to pick up enemy weapons (And use them if you can. Obviously an eldar guardian isn't going to be able/willing to use a heavy bolter)

-Corpses don't magically fade away. Ever see your buddy's body just "Vanish"? Well, I don't want that in my game.

-destructable terrain. Nothing overly fancy (eg. not much pipes etc sticking out of stuff after destruction (maybe added later or if someone wants to have some fun...)), just the ability to destroy buildings and stuff with a tank/dreadnought CCW/melta (Who hasn't played BF1942 and wished that just once, just once you could use that artillery battery to get rid of those damn bunkers/buildings on the hill permanently?)

other stuff will be edited in later (when I have a solid list of all the things I want)
FACTS/INFO:

-The program used for animation will be blender 3d http://www.blender.org
-Mantan is the only person actively working on this
-Red Drake (he's on the forums here) may be helping
-The website is up (see above)

TO DO LIST:

-Get people to help
-Figure out what I'm coding in.
-Collect pictures and descriptions of various stuff
-get a good start on the project

[x-esiv-4c]

Quite ambitious.

For a name, how about "Eternal war"

too tired to think.

[Jet]

A good place to start is probably FPS creator, part of the DarkBasic range of software.

Creating your own engine for an FPS from scratch will take you years unless you write code in your sleep.

[WLBjork]

Hope you have a shedload of resources, you will need them.

Do you have any idea of the complexity of making an engine for any game? Doing the modeling?

Many people make mods to start with as a way to get noticed and hired by commercial companies. Even then, engine components are liscensed because ultimately it is cheaper/more efficient.

Destructible buildings/terrain are going to become more popular anyway thanks to Ageia and PhysX.

I predict that either this project will be abandoned, never get off the ground or will be seen in ten years.

[Cheesejoff]

You could maybe join a team that's already working on a 40k mod already, like battlefield 40k.

http://www.battlefield40k.com/forums...php?page=about

Sorry to say it but the chances of you succesfully making a mod on your own are slim.

[Typheron]

*cough www.rivalspecies.com cough*
*cough www.40ksource.com cough*

on a side note some of the things you cant to do there is fairly advanced stuff, making distroyable terrain for instance needs a engine that can handel it. Close combat is a pain also, a decent CC system needs a 3rd person view.

Choose your game engine wisely and i would suggest NOT building your own, unless you have 3 years and a crack team at your disposal.

[Mantan]

For a name, how about "Eternal war"

Ok.... Works for me! Congrats, you've named my project.

Hope you have a shedload of resources, you will need them.

I will be using blender 3d for my animation http://www.blender.org.I'm buying a new computer in september (having a 90-110 dollar per month income only gets you so far). I need to figure out what I'm going to code in as of yet.

Do you have any idea of the complexity of making an engine for any game? Doing the modeling?

Well.... I do have some 3d modelling experience. Also, my friend is in a new media course, his experience could prove invaluable. While I do have limited experience in both of these areas, I do know how difficult it is. I know it is possible to do though, I know a group that made a video game in 3 years and there were only 3 people. The game was pretty high quality for it's time (2001), it didn't get released though. Why? Because the coder became a stoner and didn't debug it so it tended to freeze.

Many people make mods to start with as a way to get noticed and hired by commercial companies. Even then, engine components are liscensed because ultimately it is cheaper/more efficient.

1. don't want to make mod.
2. getting a job like that is at least 5 years from now for me.

Choose your game engine wisely and i would suggest NOT building your own, unless you have 3 years and a crack team at your disposal.

Pehaps the reason I'm posting this is to see if anyone is interested in it/helping. Anyways.... Depending on what I decide to code in, I may justHEAVILY MODIFY a engine till it becomes something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

[WLBjork]

OI know it is possible to do though, I know a group that made a video game in 3 years and there were only 3 people. The game was pretty high quality for it's time (2001), it didn't get released though. Why? Because the coder became a stoner and didn't debug it so it tended to freeze.

Something to watch for. That game never made it past beta stage in essence.

Indies can do good games, Uplink and Darwinia are great examples, but Uplink is menu driven whilst Darwinia isn't overly complex.

The original Half-Life was coded, then junked and recoded in a year, so it's possible; however they were running off one of the Quake engines.

[Typheron]

i shoul also point out at this juncture that your using somone elses IP, more specifically GWs IP and their legal department rivals that of microsoft.

They are most vicious when it comes to their IP so make sure you have a mefty disclaimer and know what you can and cannot do, both rival species and 40ksource have full page disclaimers cos we have to have them. We also have to be very carefull what we do with the things we create for the mod as if you show them in the wrong way then you can be sut down.

The other issue is if your modifying a existing engine you will need to get permission from whoever owns said engine unless you call it a mod. Their are several free engines out there but the quality is questionable.

You will never be able to make any money off this project, GW will sue you till you have nothing if you do.

There nice like that.

I know what im saying a lot of negative, but you have to know what your letting yourself in for here. Rival Species took 2-3 years to produce the first public version and that was a modified half life engine and 2 teams.

For 40ksource we have spent the last 7 months just modeling the basic classes and equipment as well as starting to code in the source engine. the mod leader estimates that it will take 5-8 years to make it from scratch depending on the team and the level of skill.

Most of our team are vets at this having worked on rival species and it still takes forever, being the PR man for both mods means i talk to a lot of other 40k based mod teams and of them only 2 others has been released and 3 have died and 2 others are moving about the same speed as us.

I know this is a lot of bad news but you need to know what your letting yourself in for. If you want advice come talk to us at www.40ksource.com in the forum and we can tell you what we know about making this kind of thing. I wish you luck with it, but your gonna have to be dedicated to see it through.

My honest advice would be to try joining one of the 40k mods out their and helping with them. Everyone needs animators, everyone needs modelers so if you have skills in those fields im sure you would have little problem jpoining a mod team.

[Mantan]

THE WEBSITE IS t3h open!!!!!!!!!!! (see above)
lolz nevermind the in about a week thing. It will prolly be finished (the website) 100% in about a week and a half.

[Typheron]

*reads "about" section on website*

good luck with coding all of that.

[Mantan]

*reads "about" section on website*

good luck with coding all of that.

Bite me. It's what I had in mind/planned. Like the thing said:

Not everything is set in stone yet, so there may be some changes to the plan. Stuff will definately be added for more detail though.

Stuff that's just plain impossible will be scratched.

Anyways...
oops.... I need to change some stuff I wrote, there won't be any buyable skills, I also need to explain that class is just the type of trooper.... Oh well... Remember that I am trying to get more than one person working on this.

[Typheron]

do not take offence, that was a sincere wish of luck, ive seen the difficulties of coding a mod and a full game will only be heavyer and harder.

So i do wish you and your team the best of luck with this project.

*edit i should also note that "eternal War" has been used by a 40k mod already:
http://www.planethalflife.com/bg40k/

[Mantan]

Great.... Now I seem less.... creative..... I guess I can change the domain name.... maybe..... oh well... I'll get it fixed.... soonish

BTW. I changed the colour scheme to something that doesn't burn t3h yu0r eyez out.

[Typheron]

how about:

Warhammer 40,000: Exaro Nex (means till deathin latin, apparently)
Warhammer 40,000: The Eternal Crusade
Warhammer 40,000: Eternus Bellum (Eternal war in latin)
Warhammer 40,000: The [your name here] War (the name refering to the system the fight is set in)

[Mantan]

You know what I've decided? I'll keep the name till someone complains, their name is different enough from mine that I should be ok.

[nurgleman]

Have you asked GW for permission to make a game? Imagine working on it for two years only to have the project pulled by GW because of copyright infrigments.

[Mantan]

Read their can can't do thing on the website. As long as I have the disclaimer, don't diss their products, and am not making money, I'm not doing anything wrong under their set of rules.

[Typheron]

Mantan is correct, just go with the disclaimer and follow it to the letter and you will be fine.

on a side note i would recomend removing the 40k imagery in your banner on your website, as thats origional GW IP material re-mixed to a banner and is still considered copywrite infringement. Just to be safe.

[Outlaw289]

To be brutally honest it looks like you're bitting off more than you can chew as well as wanting to impliment some either hard or unwieldy gameplay functions.

Good luck but I don't see this going anywhere