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Underground > Creation >

anyone edit video games?

19:01 / 26.08.01

I'm wondering how many, uhhh, Barbelites, have used the tools packaged with many games to invent their own levels. I've been editing game levels for years now, currently with the Unreal-engine. I'm in the process of building a dystopian adventure with the Deus Ex game; I've also noticed "Virtual Temple" and "Electronic Meeting" threats all around here, and it seems the first place to start either would be in a 3d environment.

anybody else do any video game editing? any thoughts on how the tools can be used outside their current paradigm (it being to collect people worldwide to blow each other up)?

Molly Shortcake

22:36 / 26.08.01

I've had the same thoughts...

I plan on making my own Quake 3 skins pretty soon (need some texture work in my portfolio). Only prob is I can't open the downloaded pk3 files, I don't own Quake 3, yet.

Watching all those pop culture icons blowing each other to pieces is speaks volumes if ya ask me.

03:05 / 27.08.01

i've read about Neverwinter nights, which has amazing sounding level editors... you can set up creatures and characters with ai decision trees, essentially DMing an entire 3d world. anyone seen this?

02:27 / 28.08.01

oh yeah. personally, I can't stand all the roleplaying games out there. too much "you're in a bar, and some orcs walk in...." and none of the social experiments that made actual roleplaying fun for me. that being said, i really want to see a proper RPG-editor, so i'm looking forward to Neverwinter... providing they don;t drop the ball. damn money grubbing RPGer's realize they'd kill off some cash cows if we had software we could use to make functional RPGworlds.

coming close to that: a mutator for Unreal Tourney called UGod (i think) which makes one player the GM, with the ability to drop items and monsters during play. and Deus Ex, which is an amazing engine for making an RPGstyle immersive environment with scripted social interaction. anyone got either of these games? (hey Ice Honkey, make the jump to UT. it's not as visceral as Q3, nor as pretty, but their level design rocks and the engine is loaded)

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

19:25 / 28.08.01

Holy God, someone actually figuered out the Deus Ex editor, that thing drove me friggin insane

ENG

Molly Shortcake

05:41 / 29.08.01

Hmmn. Netbanshee told me the same thing about Unreal. I'd like to get them both. Gonna pick up Quake 3 just to do skins, polygon counts up to twice the number as Unreal, better portfolio material.

Visceral and pretty? Sounds good to me. Besides, I'm currently obsessed with the cultural implications of professional level, homemade, virtual, pop icon warfare. Snoopy vs. Penthouse Pet vs. Bender vs. Team Rocket?!?! Fuckin A. Ever see Demolition Man? Taco Bell was the only restaraunt that survived the Fast Food Wars....

Deus Ex sounds awesome. The Neverwinter Nights editor is sussposed to be amazing.

Been thinkin the same things you have, a Quake like 3D environment is the future of chat rooms or whatever. There's the potential for some serious subversive stuff.

02:58 / 30.08.01

does anyone know how this stuff works legally wise? for example, could i pay unreal money to build a mod and use it as my own video game (ie post it or sell it packaged)? is that something that there's a precedent in place for?

Molly Shortcake

04:18 / 30.08.01

You'd have to pay a (presumably hefty) liscence fee. Usually it works the other way around, the company buys the mod for chicken scratch. Counterstrike for $200,000 dollars? Yeah right.

19:47 / 01.09.01

M. Gypt: well, once you buy the game, you can use the tools (either provided with-game, or on the net) to make whatever your little heart desires. caveat: upon installation of the game, you agree to the dreaded EULA (End-User License Agreement), which pretty much states that you can do whatever you like with it, so long as you don't play with anyone's copyright and/or attempt to make any money off what you make.

There's a guy by the name of BadKarma (yep, he's askin for it) who creates BEAUTIFUL Star-Wars themed levels, in his spare time, and releases them for free. IMHO, his stuff is better than anything LucasArts has put out over the last 4 years; as such, they're serving him cease and desists. he is attempting to fight them with reason and his fanbase. his URL : http://www.planetunreal.com/utbuilder/

if you want to sell your stuff, look to Mr. Honkey's previous post. Counter-strike seems the exception and not the rule.

06:40 / 02.09.01

Mr. Honkey: I'd like to make an iconic chat room; I built my apartment in Deus Ex (unreal engine) and populated it with me and my cat (so far).... next I have to give us conversation options. oh, and hey, do you know how the Q3 skins are extracted/edited? my brain's too full of unreal to search thru q3 tutorials.

It would be nice to have bots with adaptive conversation, instead of full scripts. A while back, I found some site where a Uni student coded "social bots" into Unreal; They would assign certain actions positive or negative degrees, and treat characters accordingly thereafter. when the massively multiplayer market builds that idea into spontaneous conversation generators, lots more people will be getting married online ... to other people's computers.

anybody want to test "my apartment" when i finish it? (Deus Ex required)

Molly Shortcake

13:24 / 02.09.01

I still don't own Quake 3 and it'll probably be a month or two before I do. That when I'll be able to get serious about a project.

I'm an artist, not a tech guy. I have very strong conceptual/character design/general visual skills and can tech when I have to. Having said, I'd rather not. There're plenty of tech heads on the net to coax over to the dark side.

I can imagine all sorts of applications for 3D chatrooms. Hidden buildings, underground substructures, 'living' environments. Imagine having to prove yourself somehow (presumably through some real-world action) before being allowed in someones building. Depending on the engine, a chat room could merge with a role playing game. It's all very Neuromancer. Now just where are my razor blade implants?

Taking poularity, engine diversity and ease of development into account, which game would you recommend?

[ 02-09-2001: Message edited by: Ice Honkey/Grim Rapper ]

10:20 / 11.09.01

whoops, it took me a while.

engine popularity seems to be a tied up between Q3 and UT. Q3's prettier, but i find UT easier to work with. and the guys that made UT are a real class act, releasing free bonus packs and continual engine advancement over the iD software model of "patch, patch, patch, and look busy, goddamnit". Epic (UT's publishers) has the best community support, IMHO. I just don't want to support iD's money-grubbing tactics. (selling an add-on for Q3 that was really just a glorified patch is plain wrong).

Blank Faced Avatar

12:34 / 13.09.01

I use the WildTangents tools given away free at WildTangent Home to make games.

You get a universal level editor, a driver which piggybacks IE or NN to go live on the web, and you can use any 3DSMAX actor for a skin or object ( also maya etc ). The engine is from Unreal, multiplayer over the web is supported. The code is simple to anyone with a decent knowledge of Commodore 64 BASIC. ( or JavaScript, C++, Java, VB ). PS2 forward compatibility is ( allegedly ) supported. All the WT creative tools are given away free, you can distribute the product free for non profit, but pay $1000+ to licence it for business use.

I rate the tools as very good. The engine has never interfered with anything else, always works, & goes like the clappers. It dumps its product as a web page; you go to that URL and the explorer window shows the unreal tournament rooms - cool. With multiplayer - wow. The graphics are from MAX, the level ed is very intuitive. And so obviously my game will be better than your game. WT!

[ 13-09-2001: Message edited by: the Humble Crab ]

14:37 / 13.09.01

wow. thanks, THCrab.... a new toy! just in time, too... the Wild Tangent stuff is DLing as I type.

my game is going to suck on purpose. so there.