[GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

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Shaun
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[GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by Shaun »

Personal Details
Name - Shaan Repswal
Age - 20 years
Email Address - shaun.reapswaal@gmail.com
Skype - shaun.reapswaal
Facebook - Shaun Reapswaal


Project Proposal
The aim here is to create a gameworld through OGRE which gives a "very" easy and enjoyable modding experience to people who would like to check out game development, simulator development & in engine movie creation etc and eventually learn OGRE to do the job, but have not much or "any" technical and artistic know-how. So what we are talking about here, is a virtual world with respectable physics and AI. Which is included in the OGRE bundle like those programs in the "demo" directory (which I think I had to download separately the last time) . This is a small map with living and non living entities, one of which is controllable by you in the third person once the application runs. Everything will be explained in a guide from how to tweak the code inside here and there to make changes to the game world to a firm understanding of the basics of the OGRE. This won't be what generally passes for "documentation" but rather a full fledged detailed guide with all sort of diagrams and whatever else is necessary.

Once the basic gameplay mechanics and assets are done to make the real game. I'll put in a story, non-linear gameplay through choices made in the same fashion as the game Dead frontier Outbreak at http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511685 works. I plan on making an interesting game with a twisted plot. The undead will be there... but the real fun in the game will not be to mow them all down with a big guns (there will be hardly any), but to find ways to survive... unarmed. It does get scary when you are unarmed :P xD

So what good is this?
Most people who want to learn how to create movies, games and simulators (physics, social etc) end up scouring up the internet for all sorts of "tutorials", "guides", "game engines", "videos", "ebooks" etc and don't get anywhere with any of that because they get frustrated, overburdened or were simply going to fast among a myriad of reasons ( been there, done that). I am sure that OGRE loses a lot of such people... who want a resource which is simple to understand and eventually learn from and is rewarding to work on. Like for instance I may be an newbie who is as impatient as most and if changing a few lines of code allows me to change certain properties of a live project, it should be more rewarding than learning to add an ogrehead in coordinate [100, 0, 0] (which was rewarding enough for me btw, just saying that it's not the same for others.) Besides that, the fact that one is working on a proper game is in itself enough to make a difference, since it "carries" you.

What is cool about this project is that... when I complete this project and put it up in all undead fan forums (I know quite a few), and This post is suspected as SPAM! If you feel otherwise contact a moderator. game stores. A lot of people will download this game and a few of them may want to tweak the game and some others will go further into the depths of it, to become decent OGRE users.

So basically this is not a game to showcase what OGRE can do. Rather, it is a game that eventually gets people (who are interested) involved in using OGRE. This is a bootstrap. Like how the folks developing World Forge have their own bootstrapped projects. This would be ours. However this serves only those chaps who want to eventually get into the programming side of things (be it exclusively or not). People play a game and word spreads, people post their mods of games online and word spreads, people create their own TCs and more word spreads about the project they used as a base. All of these are applicable to this project. I believe I can make these events take place.

Why I am the person for this project
I think my passion for this kind of a project should be the first thing that answers why. I'm a crazy zombie apocalypse fan. Apart from that I have always wanted to be a game developer... but I still can't call myself this, I've never made a project as cool as this mostly on my own. (Mostly because I will be receiving help on this project from a lot of friends, as long as that's in compliance with GSoC rules, which I gather from supergaier's reply to Gupta's post, it is so). This is something I want to do. This is something I have wanted to do since I was in 9th grade and saw my first George A. Romero movie. So no shit I got a lotta passion stuck under the belt... however I "am" pretty rusty I admit... it may have been more than 7 months since I used OGRE the last time. And as a cherry on top my social life seems to be on the thick line between non-existant and non-existant (slightly exaggerated here), I have no exams once the summers are over, so that's another plus for leaving me tons of time to actually sit on the computer and make a good game.

Why OGRE
Well this is real. After a million posts of "what makes OGRE better than commercial ware game engines" (majorly exaggerated here) I've come to be realistic and unbiased enough to admit that my reasons for using OGRE aren't much different from a small town dude who gets an insanely well paying job to work in a megacity and decides to chuck it and stay in his "small town" with a well paying job. Apart from that OGRE's free. And I like free (as in free beer and "freedom")

There are other things that I intend to post. I'm kinda sleepy right now and want to see the community's replies tomorrow morning, which is why I'm entering this application incomplete right now, to complete it later. Apart from the fact that my schedule looks more like my autistic 8 year old cousin has made it, I will edit the rest of the application within 24 hours.

The Map

The first map I want to model is after a friend's colony actually. There is a huge gate at first and then follows a spacious two lane road with houses on both sides. Each house is a medium sized duplex and is white in colour. Surrounding each house is a small lawn, a wall dividing the houses and also a small 4 foot gate leading through to each house's area.

Now the reason I gave the map was so that you would know what relevance my schedule has, since you know the basic 3D assests required for a simple map.

The Schedule

This is not a hardcrafted schedule as such, I have taken the activities that I need to do and placed them in the order, I will do them in. I have also provided the amount of time that I will take to do each task.

12 Animated, textured and chlothed human models.---------------------->3 days
Model a house, create materials, edit their attributes and add relevant textures.------------------>10 days
Add doodads or props for items in the game--------------------->7 days
Create the terrain. map loader and map save game programs--------------->3 days
Implement basic living and non living entity physics in demo world--------------->13 days
Add AI to characters--------------> 14 days
Create foliage placement system and apply it to surround the map so as to cover up the unpathable areas, also use it for the sake of foliage.-------->1 day
Implement controls for the character-----------> 1 day
Write up a complete guide of how to mod this game easily, starting with simple code tweaks leading to a firm understanding of OGRE's basics. (I was thinking of making it more "comic" styled)--------->6 days


I have omitted some seemingly obvious things from this schedule like, adding sounds, setting up lights (I want to make the game in a night setting), creating a skydome, among a few things... assuming that doesn't need mention... Everything amounts to 58 days... Looks good to "me" :P

What after this?
I plan on making this a "far" more robust game than any other zombie game ever... this bootstrap app can use an awesome crafting system, and realistic machine physics, unbelievably godlike AI in more than one respects... Suffice to say, I'll be sticking to this project for quite a while, once it starts (if not, forever). I want this to be an experience no one has ever had before, there are a lot of ideas that I have, which I haven't mentioned here... (I'd have to write a book for that). But yeah you get the point.

Anything Else
There are certain issues here, like for example I have the most basic experience with using a physics library. I know a thing or two about Bullet, but that's all, a thing or two... I will need to spend a dozen hours to learn whatever else is required to make the physics engine.

Another con would be that this is my first full fledged programming project. This is going to be "a lotta work" with respect to the things that I have done till now in life.

Apart from that everything should be more than dandy, specially since I have a surprise for everyone once the project is an astounding success :P
Last edited by Shaun on Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:39 am, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Demoworld

Post by jacmoe »

I like this idea. :)
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Demoworld

Post by Shaun »

Jacky! Your replies are always welcome to my nooby posts man xD

Anyway one of the reasons why I was proposing a bootstrap game project for OGRE was that not a lot of people join the OGRE community because of the demos of the capabilities of the engine. But this game could really bring a lot of people to join the community. When people see a game which is fun to play and comes with a comprehensive "how-to-modify" guide and maybe even a few RAD modding tools here and there, people-with a passion for gamedev etc-"will" come to the community add their own contributions. The guide will not only educate newbies to respectable users but also bring even more people to the community when these people show what it is that they have made on youtube, their school project etc. I mean who wants to make a Library management system for their Summer Project huh? :D
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by jacmoe »

This project needs a totally detailed proposal if it's going to be accepted.
It's shaping up, but the nature of this GSoC project demands details!

I really like the idea of a solid demo/starter project - so carry on dude. :)
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by duststorm »

It's a likeable idea, however since Ogre is primarily a render engine and not a game engine I wonder how relevant the core team will find it.
Does someone know the position of Google on whether artwork can be part of a GSoC project too, or is only code acceptable as deliverables? The new Ogre mascot was created in a previous GSoC project, for example, but I think it was just something on the side, an extra, and not part of the GSoC work.

Depending on whether art is allowed or not you should decide whether it is justifyable to dedicate a lot of time to artwork in your schedule I think.

Since you're applying for both coding and doing artwork you should maybe show that you are competent in both areas. For art this would, for example, be a portfolio of some of your earlier work or concept art for this project. For coding this is as simple as mentioning previous experiences and project which you participated in ;)
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by Zonder »

I would also suggest looking for open licensed levels and models for this instead of them been created.

There is discussions going on about updating ogre resources and making a rendering sample some models were found also check these threads

http://ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=67840
http://ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=68413
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by Shaun »

duststorm wrote:It's a likeable idea, however since Ogre is primarily a render engine and not a game engine I wonder how relevant the core team will find it.
Does someone know the position of Google on whether artwork can be part of a GSoC project too, or is only code acceptable as deliverables? The new Ogre mascot was created in a previous GSoC project, for example, but I think it was just something on the side, an extra, and not part of the GSoC work.

Depending on whether art is allowed or not you should decide whether it is justifyable to dedicate a lot of time to artwork in your schedule I think.

Since you're applying for both coding and doing artwork you should maybe show that you are competent in both areas. For art this would, for example, be a portfolio of some of your earlier work or concept art for this project. For coding this is as simple as mentioning previous experiences and project which you participated in ;)

I think that the whole idea of a bootstrap game project is more beneficial for the community as a whole, than the core team (except for the part that it gives them more 3D assets to work with), because of certain things that I have said in my reply to jacmoe and listed in my application.

And thanks for letting me know about the possibility of art not being a part of a GSoC project, I should have thought about that earlier. But maybe I didn't think about it since in the beginning, I didn't think that art would be a major part of this project. I check if I need to re-evaluate, if coding has as much time alloted as should be. Thanks dust.
Zonder wrote:I would also suggest looking for open licensed levels and models for this instead of them been created.

There is discussions going on about updating ogre resources and making a rendering sample some models were found also check these threads

http://ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=67840
http://ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=68413
Yeah Zonder I was wondering about the same thing. And I checked out sometime ago on the internet if there are open-licensed models available online. There were certain ones relevant to this project which I could have downloaded... But I don't remember the lisence and I couldn't find a lot that I required. I checked out your links though... I'm thinking something more 21st century styled.
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by Assaf Raman »

Add your project to here before student application deadline.‬
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Re: [GSoC 2012] Easily moddable Zombie Game Demo

Post by Shaun »

*phew* Did that just now. I've been quiet for quite a while because I'd gotten Diarrhoea... nasty.
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