Mencara Revelle 2- FPS, Survival Horror

[MRevelle83]

I've been making this game since 2004, but I have not had the time to become an expert at RPGM2. And yes, this is the same game that I made my other topic about, asking how to move the camera. This here will be a log of my progress in the game, as well as the place where I will bring all my questions.

So far, I have just one: do you all think it is possible to simulate the look of a weapon (more like a gun, but no graphic unfortunately) on screen, like most FPS's?

Anyway, planned features include RPG elements where defeating enemies increase stats, earn points to be used to buy minigames/pictures/etc., free-roaming city, and more.

[Rodak]

Why can't you have a gun?

If you have a file transfer thingy check out Hippy Hunt 2 by Bigfoot. It has lots of guns, I hear... It's still on my Must Play list.

But Bigfoot offers a "VFX Service" in which he will provide the VFX if you send him your game.

There are many ways to mimic guns with VFX, but I do not know what "most FPSs" look like. In fact, the only one I ever played is Star Poop: Voyager. I'm a sucker for Star Poop when I find it cheap...

Is that the look you mean?

I am sure that would be easy to accomplish. Or easy plus a little work anyhow.

Peace.

[Jamos' Old Account]

I managed to make a handgun graphic, but I'm not too sure if it would look convincing in first person. All I can suggest is putting different weapon graphics together. You do it just right, it can look somewhat believable. Sorry, if that doesn't help any... I'll goof around with the VFX and see what I can get. If I find anything out that can help, I will try to describe how to do it.

[MRevelle83]

Thanks VoJ. And Rodak, in most FPSs you see the character's hands and the weapon s/he's using, in full view, at the bottom of the screen.

[Rodak]

Hands would be really rough, if not impossible, but the weapon always showed in the Star Poop game and such a thing would be easy to set up as a controllable on screen display.

Are you having trouble making the gun or showing it on screen or controlling it once it is on screen or all of the above (or even just two of the above I suppose...)?

I can help with all of it except the last bit. I never tried controlling such a thing, but it should be possible.

Peace.

[MRevelle83]

Yeah, that is what I want to do, just show the gun. But there is no graphic for that in the VFX, like there are for swords, arrows, etc. That is why I was unsure if it could be done.

In other words, I'm only having trouble making it.

[Rodak]

I'll be sure to include a section on guns in the VFX Editor Guide.

Some ideas:

Start with the Weight object.

Stretch and squish it about until it is roughly gunbarrell shaped.

Get a dagger or something like the projectile for a handle and stuff it inside.

Basically, you'll need to mash things together to create new things.

Have you seen the Starship Enterprise and Doomsday Machine I made for a Star Poop mini game?

It's in the Videogamedrome screenshots thread.

That just shows how far you can push these elements.

If I get any really good gun ideas I'll post 'em here.

What style gun do you like? Western? Army? "Street"? Sci - Fi?

I have ideas for all, but have to test them before I blab useless nonsense (again...).

Peace.

[MRevelle83]

I was looking to make street weapons. Mainly a handgun, shotgun, rifle, and... that's about it. Maybe some melee weapon too, but I can figure that out if I can get the firearms to work.

Thanks for the suggestions, I thought about doing that but didn't know if it would look that good or not.

[thetruecoolness]

When I made my sniper rifle I used auras for the barrel and sight, and boomerangs for the stock and the trigger. Don't know how well it work in a first person mode, but it should look pretty decent.

Here's a pick of it

http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg445h/images/MapTechnicalDemo/SniperRifle.jpg
I could have used auras to connect the sight to the gun, but I didn't think it useful for my purposes, since I am making an RPG.

And a revolver Final Rune made in his map techinical demo, which I used for inspiration.
http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg445h/images/MapTechnicalDemo/Revolver.jpg

So it should be possible to do the weapon, though it won't be anywhere near new FPSs you should get it to be about Doom level graphics.

[MRevelle83]

That looks good. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to send my game over the Net, so I can't show progress, get help from Bigfoot, etc. But that gives me hope for my game, thanks.

[thetruecoolness]

Basically just mess with stretching things, and if you lock some of the coordinates when you resize and such it really helps to make things look just right. For guns auras (set to normal blending), and boomerangs seem to work well, other stuff you'll have to get more creative with, but a chainsaw and bazooka have been made by BigFoot. It takes a bit to get used to, and some outside the box thinking, but after a while it becomes pretty natural.

[Jamos' Old Account]

I didn't realize you can stretch things. That explains why I'm having some difficulty making my guns. How do you stretch the VFX? I'm doing something similar to what he is doing. Rhen2002, sorry if it seems like I'm hijacking, I just needed to figure out how to do that.

[thetruecoolness]

Just use the Size command after you add an object and then define a point for it on the frame list. So add an object, set up all the parameters, then goto the white bar next to it and select edit then new. Then you'll enter the editor screen, and you can stretch by moving to the size button, then just hold x and move the control pad to make it bigger and smaller. You can hold the R2 button to make it stretch faster, and if you click on the X Y or Z buttons they darken, and you can't move turn or size it on that axis. So for the aura, to turn it into a pipe, first click on Z to darken it, and make it smaller so it's about the size of a small ring. Then click X and Y to darken them, and click on Z to light it up again, and then size again and stretch it on the Z axis. This will make a vertical pipe. Then you can turn this to be horizontal and move it. Rember Square changes view modes so you can look from the side, top, front, and perspective (this helps to make exact changes on one axis).

Note most objects have a maximum volume, eg the aura can be made longer if it's thinner, but is shorter if it is thicker.

[MRevelle83]

Thanks for the advice. And don't worry about that, VoJ. :lol

And, another question: I want to do it to where you are walking around and an enemy is coming for you (like any other FPS). However, to be accurate, you need to have the angle turned toward the direction of the enemy (you know, facing it). I also want accuracy to play a role (the closer you are, the better your chances). What is the easiest way to do these?

Bah, FPS is gonna hard- but worth it!

[thetruecoolness]

Yeah those are going to be quite complicated.

For the direction you could try turning it to the opposite of the enemies.

So if the enemy is facing west, you need to be facing east. I believe you can check this using Game: Load Info, which should put it in Party Direction variable, or something like that.

For the checking distance just use the standard distance formula (xp - xe)^2 + (yp - ye)^2, where xe, ye are the enemies x,y, and xp yp are the parties x and y. Just leave it squared, but remember accuracy will drop off exponentially if you do, since to get actual distance you have to take the square root, but if you just want to see if something is further away than somewhere else you can leave it as is. You will have to calculate this in the enemy's action script so you can do Event: Info Load on the enemy, which will load their position, and then load in the players info using Game Info Load.

One way would be to make the enemies action script an infinite loop which inside will check a flag called Player Attacked, which will then do direction and position checking, and then apply the attack formula. Player Attacked will be set outside of the action script in the button script you use for attacking. You will just have to be careful of race conditions if there are multiple enemies on the screen (since all action scripts execute at the same time temp variables and such will be ovewritten if they are used in more than one action script). So solving the race conditions will be the hardest part, one enemy per are would make it easier, since you have no race conditions, but it would also make your game less like traditional FPSs.

So that should get you started, if you have any questions about that feel free to ask away, but try it out first.

[Crimson Knight]

Eh, I haven't been able to make a gun manageable in my FPS. I mean, you can make one, but any of you have an idea as how to keep it with the camera while moving well?

[Rodak]

I was thinking of simply using the Viewpoint display.

This is similar to those on screen doo dads people use for health meters and compasses and such. There's an acronym for it, but since I never learned what the three letters stand for I can never recall it.

I think it starts with an H.

Anyway...

Combining the on screen stuff with the control system I used in videogamedrome for looping VFX should make an aimable, and firing on command gun that shows up on screen the whole time. The invisible character would just be walking in front of it instead of being the effect.

Either an auto event or an indirect effect could handle the button controls.

I think.

I'm still weak on indirect effects.

I hope that helps.

Peace.

[RUBICN64]

I was thinking of simply using the Viewpoint display.

This is similar to those on screen doo dads people use for health meters and compasses and such. There's an acronym for it, but since I never learned what the three letters stand for I can never recall it.

I think it starts with an H.

Anyway...

Combining the on screen stuff with the control system I used in videogamedrome for looping VFX should make an aimable, and firing on command gun that shows up on screen the whole time. The invisible character would just be walking in front of it instead of being the effect.

Either an auto event or an indirect effect could handle the button controls.

I think.

I'm still weak on indirect effects.

I hope that helps.

Peace.

I think you might be referring to a HUD (Heads Up Display) :D

[Rodak]

HUD!

HUD???

I HATE The Department of Housing and Urban Development!! They sold me a house that was not legally habitable, then claimed Soverign Immunity!!!

Bastards.

Anyway... Yeah, HUD sounds right. Heads Up Display sounds more like those tribes who used to arrange enemies heads on pikes. You know... putting Heads Up on Diplay.

Anyway, there's no reason you can't make a controllable HUD that is a gun and can fire.

I have not yet experimented with these displays, but am sure they use the Viewpoint display option.

Thanks for reminding me of the acronym.

Peace.

[MRevelle83]

Thanks for the suggestions, although I have not had the chance to read it yet. I don't care if it is complicated, just as long as it is possible.

More questions to come, eventually. :lol

EDIT: Is there a way to have stuff happen in a script when you UNequip something?

[Rodak]

EDIT: Is there a way to have stuff happen in a script when you UNequip something?
It is very responsible of you to respect the double posting rule so much, but after a week or two it is OK to post again if you are adding a new question or point to the discussion.

Just start off by saying you know you're double posting, but it's been a week or two and you have something new to say.

There is a place to apply a script when you equip an item but there is no place to apply a script for unequipping items.

Check Dungeon Warden's FAQ for a variable that tracks the equipped item's database number.

I don't know it exists, but it should. And I recall seeing such a thing, but do not trust my foggy old memory.

The next step would be an indirect effect to check for it and do something (or one of several things) if it changes.

Indirect effects are my weak point still. Them and game balance.

But others can help on that point. The only problem I forsee is that Indirect Effects only take place after each step, so if you unequip something nothing will happen until the player moves. If they repeatedly equip and unequip while standing still, you may miss an effect you wanted to happen.

Good Luck with it.

Peace.

[Jamos' Old Account]

I too have been having problems with this. The only solution I could think of is just by using flags and equipting another weapon. Like equipt shotgun, have ShotgunFlag on and HandgunFag turn off, through the use of the equipt item script. I couldn't find a way to unequipt. I'll try later tonight to see if I can find out a way to, but I've tried before and failed.

[Rodak]

OK, I've got an answer.

But you are going to want to shoot me.

You need to scrap the entire user menu and make a complete custom menu system.

Then you can do whatever you Dang well please with each command.

*Hides*

Peace.

[Jamos' Old Account]

BANG!!!

[Rodak]

Ouch.

Good thing that hit my head.

Otherwise I might have gotten hurt!

OK then, howzabowt dis:

Make every piece of equipment (of the type which you wish a script applied when unequipped) unable to be removed.

Then make an item the player cannot discard which controls their equipment.

You could call it a Wardrobe Cabinet or something.

That would work and be much simpler than a Custom Menu System.

Give it a try.

Peace.

[MRevelle83]

That last suggestion is what I decided to do. All weapons are cursed (I love how you can change those messages so it doesn't say that). And, I made it to where the weapon does not appear all the time, just when you shoot. When you press SQUARE, the gun raises and fires. This is because you suggested use the Viewpoint option, but it only works in battles.

[Rodak]

This is because you suggested use the Viewpoint option, but it only works in battles.
Oops...

Making this guide is really making these commands blur together...

It's OK though, I do the tutorial things as I write to make sure there are no such errors in the guide.

Glad you liked the Item idea.

There's usually a way around these things if you can't do them directly.

Peace.

[MRevelle83]

Well, I also tried the script to make it where the player controls the camera via the controller, but it doesn't work (I might be doing it wrong).

Since this game is First Person, I want there to be 2 modes. In one mode, the player moves, turns, shoots the gun, etc. The other mode is Examine, where pressing Up on the D-pad or Analog make the camera pan upwards. No zooming in of the camera, just looking the direction that is pressed, and snapping back in the original place when let go.

[MRevelle83]

Sorry for the double post, but it has been awhile since I last posted here.

Anyway, I want to say thanks for helping me out, but MR2 is probably going to be made with a different engine. However, I have not yet used it so it may not be all that it is cracked up to be, so there is a chance I may come back to RPGM2 to make it.

Of course, there is another game I am still making on RPGM2, so I may incorporate the gameplay to that.

[Crimson Knight]

Well, I think you'll only be able to do one FPS mode(this is how mine works) - The one where the camera buttons work like normal(you'd press them to rotate it), but you'd turn with it, and you could only move(well, basically strafe) with left and right and shoot with X.

You could have an examine thing, but that'd require events to surround when you press the button and then you'd use move the camera up and down based on how long you run into the events.