[GSoC 2012] A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Threads related to Google Summer of Code
Post Reply
bagur
Gnoblar
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:06 pm

[GSoC 2012] A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Post by bagur »

Project Proposal:
I’ve heard many complain about the lack of tools to demonstrate what ogre is really capable of. This proposal is in that direction. There are a number of gui libraries and mesh viewers floating around In ogre. I’d love to bring them together under a framework and also build an UI designer tool over it. I am not proposing to add one more gui library. Instead, I want to make a tool that would help users browse through the contents of each and select different components of different libraries and put them together. The tool will also encompass necessary functionalities to add and customize 3d models. It will be made of designer view and code view. Mainly, this tool will help design the complete game UI and save it without the extensive knowledge of ogre.
[again, one will be able to design most of the gui through the designer. be it, opening up a model, zooming in on some part/ applying different textures. one would barely have to script. you can picture something like 'dreamweaver']
It is split into the following parts.

Model Customization and display:
It is often necessary in games to customize your models. Be it changing the color of your car or the sock of your football player. Maybe you would want to add bump mapping or cel shading. The tool can be used to
• Open up your model and customize each part. Add your own textures or write custom shaders. E.g. Customizing the hood of the car [planning to use mesh viewers already available to implement the same and some code on top of that]
• Specify which customization should appear on click of what button in the game. Link objects together and specify events.
• Enhance your model using ogre.
• Specify if animations should be displayed in the game menu.

Studio builder:
• Create showcases to display your model.[drag and drop textures and models onto the builder]
E.g. emulate a garage with a few models and textures
• Use ogre lighting to enhance it.


2d game menu:
• Browse through the collection of ogre game UI libraries and use any part of them.
• Drag and drop buttons.
• Custom shader for any selected object in the menu.[select the button/ background image/any other object-> properties->custom shader. Write your own shader in the editor that opens or select one of the effects already available in ogre ]
• Link pages and specify events. For e.g. the pages have to be linked to know which page to open on click of what button.
• Choose from available templates.
• Define framework for easy add-on of new libraries
• Add one or two already existing ones to demonstrate the process.


Storyboarding:
Also give the option of designing storyboards and the interface to plug them at any part of their game.
• Choose background theme based on the game
• Move character images around
• Select from template images available and write conversations

Code generation:
Generate the code for the designed UI with comments and a documentation to help the user.

Add-ons:[if time permits]
• upload your designed UI so that it can be used by others.
• Add music to your game menu.

Demo:
Use the ogre sindbad character[animation category] and give the user the ability to slash open boxes. Some boxes will be empty, some will have options like ‘new game’, ‘exit ’ etc… also make a tutorial on how such a game ui can be made using the aforementioned tool.


How is this going to help ogre users:

• Other than helping users to design their gui, I feel it’ll be a great way of showing what ogre is really capable of. Hopefully it’ll help get the attention of new users.
• Defines the framework for UI libraries to be written later. People will be able to add them directly to the tool by providing the required interface.
• Help share designs.
• Save model customizations and use them in games.

Schedule:
• May 21. - May 27.: design the framework and decide on interfaces required. Also, design the look and feel of the tool
• May 28. - June 03.: work on storyboarding
• June 04. - June 10.: finish storyboarding and code generation for the same.
• June 11. - June 17.: work on 2d gui engine
• June 18. - June 24.: work on 2d gui engine
• June 25. - July 01.: finish 2d gui engine and code generation
• July 02. - July 08.: finalize the 2d part
• July 09. - July 15.: work on studio builder
• July 16. - July 22.: work on studio builder
• July 23. - July 29.: finish studio builder and code generator
• July 30. - August 05.: Work on model customizer
• August 06. - August 12.: Work on model customizer
• August 13. - August 19.: finish model customizer and code generator
• August 20. - August 26.: demo, tutorial and documentation
• August 27. - August 31.: demo, tutorial and documentation

Why You're The Person For This Project?
I have had experience with directx and xna. here's a small game I made sometime ago…

Also I have had a good deal of experience with c++.


Previous experience with open source/free softwares:
Helped in porting of flite to Hindi. flite is a small run-time speech synthesis engine used by Festival and is distributed under an X11-type license allowing unrestricted commercial and non-commercial use.
http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/

Why ogre?
Well, to be honest, ogre is a really good 3d graphics engine and is open source. People of the community are working hard to make it even better. I would love to contribute in any way possible.
Last edited by bagur on Mon Apr 09, 2012 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
jacmoe
OGRE Retired Moderator
OGRE Retired Moderator
Posts: 20570
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:13 am
Location: Denmark
x 179
Contact:

Re: A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Post by jacmoe »

Would be a good GSoC project - for next year. :)

Unfortunately, the student application deadline has been reached by several days.

It wouldn't have been accepted by us, though. As Ogre is a 3D rendering engine, not a game engine.
/* Less noise. More signal. */
Ogitor Scenebuilder - powered by Ogre, presented by Qt, fueled by Passion.
OgreAddons - the Ogre code suppository.
User avatar
spacegaier
OGRE Team Member
OGRE Team Member
Posts: 4304
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:02 pm
Location: Germany
x 135
Contact:

Re: A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Post by spacegaier »

jacmoe wrote:Would be a good GSoC project - for next year. :)

Unfortunately, the student application deadline has been reached by several days.

It wouldn't have been accepted by us, though. As Ogre is a 3D rendering engine, not a game engine.
He submitted a valid proposal on the Google Melange platform in time, so no issues from that angle.
Ogre Admin [Admin, Dev, PR, Finance, Wiki, etc.] | BasicOgreFramework | AdvancedOgreFramework
Don't know what to do in your spare time? Help the Ogre wiki grow! Or squash a bug...
User avatar
jacmoe
OGRE Retired Moderator
OGRE Retired Moderator
Posts: 20570
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 10:13 am
Location: Denmark
x 179
Contact:

Re: A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Post by jacmoe »

:D
My mistake.
/* Less noise. More signal. */
Ogitor Scenebuilder - powered by Ogre, presented by Qt, fueled by Passion.
OgreAddons - the Ogre code suppository.
bagur
Gnoblar
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:06 pm

Re: [gsoc-2012]A 2D and 3D Game menu designer tool

Post by bagur »

I apologize for not having discussed the proposal earlier. By the time I learnt of GSoC, it was rather too late for it. Would love to get new ideas on the proposal though..

I picked this up from the ‘[GSoC 2012] Ideas from community’ page:
by saejox
I love all the ideas. However they all seem to be on the "tech" side of things. What Ogre really needs is tools. It is very off-putting for artists to work with Ogre. "intuitive tools" is where all effort should go.
I wanted to build my proposal on this. I know my proposal doesn't deal with ogre core, but I really think we should do a game[has made into the list of project ideas.cool!] or make some tools to show what ogre can do...
Post Reply