Hi, I thought up today "how cool would it be to do a top down shooter with RPG elements" Anyway, I would just like to ask how long would this take coding wise, if I were to use DirectX. I have about 3 months available (part time) to do this. Would I be able to get project complete by this time? Big Al he who commands

Well, I know I could never get something that complex done in 3 months... But I''m still learning...

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Jonathan Little
invader@hushmail.com
http://www.crosswinds.net/~uselessknowledge

Well, I don't like to discourage anyone, but that's going to be very difficult. Just developing a FPS in that time frame would be pushing it, but then you have to concider the added character interaction with the RPG style...

You'll need to find an engine that has some rather high level support. Also, try to get as many free sounds and graphics as you can, since creating your own will be very time consuming.

You might just try doing the project as a demo. This will cut down the amount of level design and media content you'll need. Also, you may wnat to skip out on sleep for a while.

Edited by - I-Shaolin on 1/28/00 6:15:01 PM

I don''t mean to discourage you either, but unless you''re a really experience programmer, it''ll be hard for you to even get a small version of the game out there in 3 months. If you''re even new to programming, you can forget it. If you''re new to DirectX, then you''d better be a really good programmer and can learn Windows and DirectX APIS very quick.

ColdfireV

quote: Original post by Big Al

Hi, I thought up today "how cool would it be to do a top down shooter with RPG elements" Anyway, I would just like to ask how long would this take coding wise, if I were to use DirectX. I have about 3 months available (part time) to do this. Would I be able to get project complete by this time?

Big Al


he who commands

I say go for it, I made my first top-down shooter/rpg (Vagrant... never heard of it, have you?) in two weeks, and I''m just a wimpy high-school sophomore, just think what a big man like yourself could do.

Here''s a hint -- the more you do in 3D, the longer the engine will take, but the less time you''ll blow on post-engine stuff like graphics.

I''d like to know how you got a game done is two weeks. Either it must have sucked, or you didn''t write all the code...
How?
(no offense meant)

I think it''s very possible. Note that he''s talking about creating a *top-down* shooter, NOT a first person shooter as some of you seem to think. It all depends on how long and deep your game is. Trying to create something along the lines of FF7 wouldn''t be reasonable, but some simpler plots are doable.

Basically, keep your aim reasonable and you should do OK

--TheGoop

I''m an experienced game programmer and I could probably do a simple top-down sprite-based shooter in three months. You should definitly give it a try and even if you don''t finish, it will be a great experience.

Ofcoarse you can do it. Just decide how you want to implement the top down design. If you already know how to program. Once I wrote and rewrote the core engine of a simple 3D Star Fox 3D shooter 3 times in 2 weeks. Just design it. The final version was pretty good, the only reason it didn''t go is because the artist and designers I use to work with did not want to learn the level creation tools or the script language that I had developed.

Domini

I like starfox, could you send me a copy of your engine?
Oh ya, there is already a 3d shooter/rpg. It is back in the Doom days and called Strife. I don''t know if there is shareware, but it is worth looking for.

about that engine...
manilathrilla@juno.com