Introducing NovaWolf (RtCW MP on UDK)

(Dashiva) #1

So for the past 6 months or so I’ve been learning how to make games with various programs, and now that I’ve finished my master’s degree dissertation I have some time to devote substantial time to getting this project off the ground. I have been fooling with game engines for the last couple of months, and had a serious question about whether I was going to use Cryengine or UDK or even Torque3d. One of my big stumbling blocks with a lot of these engines was that they didn’t support Linux. As a long time Linux user who played RtCW/ET/QW on Linux (a lot) I didn’t feel right not having a Linux port, so I held off with actually starting to make this game because I was also waiting for some of the Doom 3 engine based projects to mature and maybe offer me an option. With the Humble Bundle 7 coming out today Dungeon Defenders is the first game made using UDK and UE3 to have a Linux port, and this was instrumental in making my choice. There are some definite downsides to using UDK over Cryengine, for example, however I feel that having multiple platforms is more important than lighting, for example.

Anyhow, what I’m trying to do now is recreate RtCW MP-Test / Beach demo in its entirety and move on from there to create a more modern Wolfenstein style experience. I already have a fully written game design document and concept art for a completely new game that takes after RtCW. At the moment I have the entire basic geometry of Beach done, and am working on the interior props. I should be done with a basic version of Beach in about a week. From there I will move on into getting weapons and animations into the game, and then work on the gameplay itself. I anticipate that animating the weapons and everything will take me a month or two (I already have the models) and I should be able to finish programming in about 6 months from now. Fortunately there are quite a few resources for UDK so I can’t foresee hitting any roadblocks that lack documentation.

Anyhow, I thought I’d share this to see if anyone wanted to help me. I’m going to do it myself if I have to (I’m pretty damn committed at this point) however I can always use some help. At this point I’m welcoming anyone who wants to put some time into this project out of…you know…the love of the game.

If you want to get involved you can PM me here, or send me an email at dashiva at gmail dot com. Thanks.


(ronboy) #2

Sounds good, but what about sp?

(Dashiva) #3

For SP I would look to Sturm’s mod: http://www.moddb.com/mods/wolfenstein-the-dark-sense-of-war - I thought the SP was fun but I never played it as much as I did MP (I had something like 1000 hours in MP). Just working on the MP is a ton of work as it is. However…I do have a design document for an SP game based on some of the same themes as the original RtCW, with different IP, of course, so hopefully that sees the light of day at some point.

(KeMoN) #4

I’m glad to see you working on this project. Sounds really planned down to the last detail!
I hope you have all the endurance you’ll need!

Anyhow, I stumbled over a line:

I’m a little confused by this, since in your introduction post you stated you wanted a WWII theme.
What exactly do you mean with modern style?

//Suggestion:
I always considered the standard beach map as quite hard for the allied team. However there is a map called D-Day Assault by Nightwulf.

>>Download

It basically is the same map, except for a rear area. It is like the back-door area in battery which also provides at least a slight balance to the map.
I urge you to test this version, since the gameplay is much better!!
Although the source isn’t released it shouldn’t be that hard to recreate the area.

Regards

(ETJump-Zero) #5

Sounds really interesting. Good luck with your project. Hopefully you’ll find someone to help you with it :slight_smile:

(Mateos) #6

Good luck with your projects. I have in a mind a comparable project for the far future, not about ET but an other game; Since you got that far, I know it’s feasible :slight_smile: I just need advanced programming and analysis skills.

I touched a bit the UDK mapping-wise, unfortunately I can’t propose my help as I already struggle to finish a mapping project for ET with college and exams :confused:

Gl & wd :slight_smile:

(Dashiva) #7

[QUOTE=KeMoN;416526]I’m glad to see you working on this project. Sounds really planned down to the last detail!
I hope you have all the endurance you’ll need!

Anyhow, I stumbled over a line:

I’m a little confused by this, since in your introduction post you stated you wanted a WWII theme.
What exactly do you mean with modern style?

//Suggestion:
I always considered the standard beach map as quite hard for the allied team. However there is a map called D-Day Assault by Nightwulf.

>>Download

It basically is the same map, except for a rear area. It is like the back-door area in battery which also provides at least a slight balance to the map.
I urge you to test this version, since the gameplay is much better!!
Although the source isn’t released it shouldn’t be that hard to recreate the area.

Regards[/QUOTE]

By modern style I mean on a modern engine. There are things that UDK (which isn’t even that modern of an engine any more) does that are light years ahead of idTech3. Things like physics and LOD. I’ve got really killer plans for two maps that would just not be possible on idTech3.

Also, I am going to change beach up a bit to make it a bit more playable for the allies. I don’t want to change the war room configuration, because it would destroy the sort of RtCW formula that works so well. If you look at a good RtCW map such as Ice or Frostbite, for instance, you’ll notice that there are only 2 or 3 carefully controlled choke points around any main objective. Ice, for instance, has only 2 ladders to reach the docs. Beach has 2.5 (counting the vent) ways to get there, so I don’t think the war-room part is broken. The problem is the allied spawn, I think, so I’ve done a couple of things to fix that and also use up some of the unused parts of the map. First, I’ve cut a new entrance into the front bunker. Instead of just going straight out of the trench you can now go the other way (behind you if you’re heading towards the trench) towards a pathway that goes under the hill on the left side of the map (looking left if you’re facing the beach wall on the beach) and exits into that room with the big block in it and the hallways that lead to the stairs by the murderhole. Secondly, I’ve routed a tunnel from the trench room that has nothing in it under the bunker that comes out by the Axis spawn / murder hole. This way I hope I’ve alleviated some of the spawn camp advantage that the Axis have and used some of the parts that were almost never used before. Of course, I will need to heavily test these changes but I think they will be positive.

(Dashiva) #8

[QUOTE=Mateos;416636]Good luck with your projects. I have in a mind a comparable project for the far future, not about ET but an other game; Since you got that far, I know it’s feasible :slight_smile: I just need advanced programming and analysis skills.

I touched a bit the UDK mapping-wise, unfortunately I can’t propose my help as I already struggle to finish a mapping project for ET with college and exams :confused:

Gl & wd :)[/QUOTE]

Fortunately programming for UDK is pretty easy. There’s a good book on the subject and a bunch of examples. I just made a list of the features I needed and googled them to see how hard it would be, and I found that pretty much everything was covered by various tutorials and forum threads.

Modding idTech3 or ET, however, is way harder. Everything is hard coded in C, so you have to really know what you’re doing as a programmer. UDK you can just extend UTGame, which has all of the major bases for a FPS covered.