• Register

The game (no name yet, "Babylon Project" is provisional) is a RPG ambiented in the ancient mesopotamian cultures. It is a fantasy, not historical, game. Is inspired by the stories of the Anunnakis in the ancient Sumer. The scenery is a map of 100 square kilometers including water. It's a multimision single player game, made with the Epic Games engine, UDK (Unreal Development Kit). And it's being developed in Spain. More info soon.

  • View media
  • View media
  • View media
  • View media
  • View media
  • View media
Post article RSS Articles

Missions system

Feature

I am working now on the new missions system. A long time ago I made one, but with time and changes in the code it no longer works correctly.

The old system had a fixed configuration for each step, with the necessary variables and references for each action it could take.
The new system does not have these variables, but uses an array of commands that are then interpreted as a simple scripting language. In this way it is much more flexible and it is easier to add new actions as needed.

The things you can do are the typical ones, go somewhere, look for an object, talk to someone, destroy someone, etc.
There is also a system by which you have to follow someone, who will travel a pre-established route, that NPC being able to do things like talking to the player along the way, stopping to talk to other NPCs, using objects, levers, chairs, etc. The mission can alternate between these modes (follow the NPC, the NPC follows you, etc).

A mission is typically a sequence of actions and conversations, and in this game there are no cinematics, so all those scenes are governed by code, which moves the characters, makes them speak, etc.

The result is a bit robotic and I am not very happy with it. I'm thinking of doing "jumps" that put the characters in the desired position and automate things like dialogues. It would be a kind of cinematic, but equally governed by code using the repertoire of animations available and not entire sequences of animations achieved with mocap, as in the big AAA games.

I have also done a "teleportation" to different places on the map available in each step of the mission. For example, if from one step to another you need to go to the other end of the island, you do not need to spend 20 minutes traveling to get there.

Remaining Issues: The NPC's obstacle avoidance system is still not working well. For example, when they follow a route, sometimes when they dodge another NPC that was passing by, they get into places where they cannot leave or find their way. That makes you unable to continue the mission.
When they move inside buildings it is even worse. So I have to find a solution to this.

There are also things where I don't know how to proceed. For example a typical mission, go to a fort and kill the boss.
What if before activating that mission I go to that fort and kill the boss? Shouldn't the boss appear until the mission is activated? Or if I kill him first, when the mission arrives could that step be skipped?

This is a problem that is going to happen a lot, missing NPCs that will not let the mission advance, and I do not know very well how they are solved in other games.

So here you have two images that have nothing to do with what I have written, but that are required to publish the article.

flyingbike 3

lightenviroment4

State of the game

State of the game

News 3 comments

State of the game. this is a text that I put in the youtube account of the game. I reproduce it here:I will try to answer those who are asking about the...

To do:

To do:

Feature 2 comments

Next: - Armor functionality - Camera lag - Finish clothes - Sail ship model

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 405)
GXD456
GXD456

What you have achieved seems already outstanding, expecially with the given circumstances you described. However, perfectionism often does more harm than good, so releasing an "alpha" version would be a great idea i think. No warranties, just a Proof of Concept for people to play around with.

From technical perspective, You could put that project on a github repo and make a new release whenever you feel like something new worth seeing has been added and people can decide whether they want to check out the changes or not by downloading the latest (Beta!) release. You can easily set up the infrastructure yourself, especially with chatGPT widely available:

- Github repository: for storing the source code and version control
- Github actions: (continuous integration and deployment) to automate bundling your committed code into a ready to play executable
- Guthub readme: to tell people about your project and motivate them to contribute to your code. There are tons of open source projects which have more than 100 preople contributing (for free) to these to make the world a better place
- Github sponsor: activate the sponsor button on github, so anyone who wants to contribute financially can do so with a couple simple clicks, creating the funds you may need.
- Github issues: to keep track of your todo's, bugs, enhancements and what users report (if you care about that)

Feel free to reply here, if you need help.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
cobaltUDK Creator
cobaltUDK

Thank you, the idea is to publish a free beta to request funding. But things are more complicated than it seems, due to the type of game it is, I have to finish many things and have certain parts of the map quite finished, which implies being quite close to 100% of the game finished.

You are right that constantly seeking to improve something makes you enter an endless loop, but you have to find a middle position, a point where you can say "this is acceptable," and later, once published, improve it.

Now my work rate is slow, I am working in the game in my free time and without any help. That's why it's taking me so long and I don't venture to give any publication date yet.

Reply Good karma+2 votes
Guest
Guest

The creator has no intentions of ever releasing this. It was a project they developed to showcase their skills as a developer and probably get hired by another company. This was never designed to be a released game.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
cobaltUDK Creator
cobaltUDK

If it were true that I was looking for a job, I wouldn't be developing a game in UDK, I would be doing it in UE5 or any other modern engine. No one in today's industry would hire a UDK programmer.

I'm not looking for a job in any company, I already have a good job. I simply make a game because it is something I have always wanted to do and dedicate myself exclusively to doing this.

Reply Good karma+2 votes
Guest
Guest

About UDK? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
Polopy
Polopy

Youtube.com
There is a video called [Coliseum one], so are you planning to post videos called [Coliseum two] and [Coliseum three] as well?
I always look forward to your videos.

Reply Good karma Bad karma+1 vote
cobaltUDK Creator
cobaltUDK

That was the idea, I had planned to make more videos of combats in groups, or against animals. But I'm busy now with other things in the game.

Reply Good karma+2 votes
Polopy
Polopy

The battle scenes in this game are simple, but this makes the actions of individual characters feel even more realistic.
This is why I fell in love with this game.
We support game development.
thank you.
(This is a Google translation, so I apologize if there are any incorrect sentences or descriptions.)

Reply Good karma Bad karma+3 votes
Guest
Guest

post more videos on youtube

Reply Good karma Bad karma+2 votes
Guest
Guest

Well, you can expect to never see this game release ever. Thanks to unity and their stupid move, this one man developer isn't going to be releasing this to the public and be forced to pay the unity company. Bye bye to any ambitions you ever had to play this. Truthfully at this point, I never expected to anyway. By the time this game releases, this game will have faded into the past along with most previous gen games. I can already see the graphic deteriorating in comparison to what's being released nowadays.

Reply Good karma Bad karma0 votes
cobaltUDK Creator
cobaltUDK

It's UDK, not Unity. But you're right, it's very difficult for me to finish and publish the game. I try, though.

Reply Good karma+2 votes
Post a comment

Your comment will be anonymous unless you join the community. Or sign in with your social account:

X