Hello there

I'm not sure to post into the right topic so please redirect me if needed

My art school gave us 4 month to build a project, and it's been a while I was interested to be part of video game project.

I was wondering if you can help me to analyse a video game that have already been created?

This game is called Chaos Rings. It's developed by media vision for the IOS plateform, and is edited by Square Enix. Here some videos to give you an idea:

Basically, we have a 3D character who can walk into a 2D painting. When he reach the edge of the screen, A new one is downloading and the character is appearing at the opposite of the preview edge. For now, I'm not interested about the concept of Random Battle. Right now, I'm wondering about how and with what make it work. I mean, what the programmer will be tasked for? Will he have to create a whole programme to put the character, the mapping and the code? Or is it possible to make the whole thing work with a 3D software as Maya and just put the code with it? What is the difference between a game develloped for computers and an other for phones / android ?

I really don't know how to proceed. It's all new for me. I'll be glad if someone can direct me a little

I'm already into the production. Here a few early concepts:

[attachment=25392:concept021.jpg]

[attachment=25393:concept5.jpg]

Great artwork!

If you really are just looking for a way to stitch your concept art into a static point and click adventure game, you might be able to get away without a programmer. Can you tell us if this is going to be a 2D game or 3D? Will the camera move?

Basically if it is really 2D, you can try an adventure builder or GameMaker. These tools will come ready to handle "triggers", touch zones - so you can react to player input and stitch together screens or levels.

If you want to do anything special like pick up items, show an inventory, have dialogue or character or camera movement, then it is likely you will need a programmer. These are staples of most adventure games, so you should decide now before you get too invested into a game engine or set of tools. Enlisting a programmer is easier if you are serious about your project and can show progress like this. If you decide to go this route, I might suggest using Unity, put together your levels, and then use their forums / marketplace to team up with someone who will help you get your game finished.

If you want REALLY high fidelity and you understand 3D modeling, animation and shaders at a AAA level, you could also try using the Unreal Engine. It is $19/month to use it commercially. You can make complete games using their system called Blueprint without any programming. (See their Flappy Bird and related demos).

Come back with some details and I can help you further.

Best of Luck!

I planned to make this game a 2D one. Only the characters will be in 3D. In fact yes I would like to have events during the game, make the camera moves to follow the character, having the possibilitie to pick up items and such, and even have a battle interface. But I had no idea what kind of work it would take and what kind of issue the programmer will have to deal with. 4 month is not that much after all. Also I don't know if I start to learn the modeling or if I let this task to someone else. This project is all fresh and I'm still debating about a lot of thing.

It's not the first time I hear about Game Maker, but I'm very interested to team up with one, or a few people. I would want to work in the video game industry and I have to learn to work with a group.

I think you're right Unity seems very interesting for my project! I will definetly create an account and go see this closer. But what if I want to develop the game for Android?

I didn't even know the Unreal Engine was accessible to the public! But It's way too early and I'm not pro enough. But good to know about it.

Hey thank you for all those informations It's geting more clear

I should mention that it's not a "3D character who can walk into a 2D painting" - in the videos while you can see some nice 2d textures the environment is obviously composed of 3d geometry(even if it's not that complex or detailed). Since you mentioned that you have only 4 months and I suppose you're not really into programming, I'd advise using the simplest toolkit available that would get the job done. Also you should decide whether your game will be 2d or 3d. Because even if only your character is 3d, that means setting up things differently - and you'll still probably use some kind of textured geometry for your environment.

Lighxbulb where did you spotted 3D in the environnement? Can you post a screen shoot of it? But of course I'm conscious that the background is situaded into a 3D software. I mean I saw that the character sometimes become more close to the camera because he just climb an inclined path. So yes you right not only the character will have to be modeled. You just make me realise it.

But what will make the creation easier is the predefined camera. The point of view will only change from a "painting" to another. I will choose what to show to the player. That why I will not have to recover the 3D objects with textures but only hide the 3D. I think that how they had proceeded. Tell me if I'm wrong.

About the 4 months, thats not exactly a dead line. I mean it is because I decide it. But my school isn't connected with the global project. It is possible that I decide to make it a complete game and not a test like I planned. But I could be to ambitious

You think it's a big task to programme a game like the one in the video? without speaking about the battle system.

...Yeah I will definetly need someone to make the 3D character and background basis.

This would take a very long time to implement even using tools such as Unity or GameMaker..

One project that is kind of similar (in the sense that it uses 2d background painted images) is a project launched in a kickstarter campaign which aims to create another "infinity engine" style game. The link is here:

http://eternity.obsidian.net/

This project, which perhaps is a bit larger in scope than what your thinking, has taken a lot of very good programmers, artists, tools developers, etc over a couple years to build. They are using Unity with 2D graphic backgrounds for all of their game areas.

I'm not trying to discourage, just try to get yourself some well defined realistic bounds. For example, write a plan of creating one small dungeon with this art style etc.. If you keep your goals smaller then you can always expand on them if all goes well. But when developing games, there are always these random things that make stuff take a long time compared to what you though it would take.

Good luck!

I'm not trying to discourage, just try to get yourself some well defined realistic bounds. For example, write a plan of creating one small dungeon with this art style etc.. If you keep your goals smaller then you can always expand on them if all goes well. But when developing games, there are always these random things that make stuff take a long time compared to what you though it would take.

+1 to that. Happened to me over christmas, thought I could use the holidays to put in another rather complex object, and start the year fresh with new tasks.

Turns out I had to fight technical issues and incompatibilities for the 2 weeks of my christmas holidays. Now I know why Blender didn't work well with meshes created in 3D Coat, finally made the switch to Maya LT as my general 3D package of choice, and generally learned something new about 3D rendering.

But I am now again 1-2 weeks behind plans thanks to that, and just finishing the object that I thought was easy to put in before my plan made its "contact with the enemy".

That is Murphys Law for you. So, if you think your project should be finishable in a month, in reality it will take 2 months, and because of the inevitable problems it will take 4 months. Plan accordingly.

Lighxbulb where did you spotted 3D in the environnement?

In the first video in pretty much all of the fight scenes (ex 1:35) you can see that from the rotation of the camera. After you enter a crystal (ex 3:15), and I would say even in the rest of the cases(not obvious though) you have some simplistic but textured 3d geometry (I just assume it would be easier than to mix in a 2d background with 3d objects (monsters, character, crystals) in the front). 3d is an extension to 2d, so what you can make in 2d you can make in 3d too and more(you could just use a textured quad to represent a 2d image in 3d for example).