Wouldn't it be an idea to open a pinned thread in which users could suggest things/ topics they would like to learn more about? There propably would be a huge variety of ideas and a course takes some time but it might be helpful for instructors to see if a large amount of users want to learn more about a specific topic. I for example would love to learn more about creating game assets (similar to the weapon course) or how to build an atual scene full of assets. Also a course on how to create an interior visualization and use textures and lighting to make it look as photorealistic as possible (similar to the architectual visualization course) would be awesome.
Just an idea on how the website could be improved.
pprocyonlotor Any particular type of game you'd like to replicate?
jgonzalez I want to make games that play themselves, with all players as computers. I want the computer to get better at the game over time as it learns from its mistakes.
jgonzalez I was just thinking of classic 3d platforming like any of the Mario titles, banjo kazooie, etc, but wouldn’t be opposed to something more quirky like snake pass.
While we are talking about gameplay, I would like to know how to make a game like XCOM (the newest ones), but with a little twist, when there's no enemies you can move freely, like Diablo or Torchlight. I think that Mario x Rabbids game is like this, isn't it? Maybe a too specific request :P
Also how to deal with equipment, interchangeable clothes and accessories. How do they separate meshes so they don't end clipping through different type of clothes? How do they tell the game to hide unseen meshes? Like in Dark Souls if you unequip everything you have a depraved zombie. But the game somehow hides parts of that model as needed, or does some other trick, because some armors are thinner than your character's model.
My biggest weakness is clipping.
A few days ago I was talking with some friends that are studying game dev, they told me they were learning about how to make scripts (dialogue and story), and I was wondering if there are other important subjects we usually don't realize we are ignoring in our pursue of making entertainment...
Thanks for the input everyone. A few topics discussed here are things we've talked about creating as well so it's good to see those topics appear.
To comment on a few things that have come up. For machine learning there's actually a really great GDC talk on Designing AI for Killer Instinct which goes into how they created AI characters that could learn from players and become better and better. They even beat competitive players.
For the 3D platform, my all time favorite is probably the Crash Bandicoot series, so I'd probably create something along those lines. Running, jumping, special moves, interactions, deaths. Could be fun to tackle, just need find a suitable character to use.
I haven't played XCOM but I believe it's like an RPG type game where you take turns and defeat aliens from what I know. RPGs are not an area I'm really knowledgeable on but it could be a great topic to cover in the future. That would be a much bigger project to undertake.
As far as the clipping issue goes, sometimes cloth elements use some sort of physics to detect other objects. A simpler way is to have different parts of the body separated and you'd disable them (the mesh) when it's covered. I know software like MakeHuman does this where the torso is hidden if clothes is covering it.
jgonzalez awesome! If you want someone to make a suitable character, I’d be happy to take on that challenge. You’d probably have to send it back for corrections a few times, but I would love to make a game character for a crash style game. It would be a good exercise for me.
jgonzalez A Crash Bandicoot type of game would be really cool! I know there's a lot of courses to cover this, but it would be nice to have one that takes you from designing a character all the way to using it in game. Maybe a class?
About XCOM, yes it's kind of an RPG, but it's the mechanics what I find interesting: It's turn based combat in a tiled map, each character can do up to 2 actions per turn, you can move them to get cover, go to a different floor, you can use your environment to gain advantage over your enemies. It's really cool and the maps are fairly small, so it could be possible to do those mechanics as a little demo, I believe.
Regarding clothing, is it easy to have a body separated in say three meshes (Head, torso, legs) and set it up so those stay together when animating it? So it doesn't end with gaps where those meshes connect?
williamatics check this out.....his latest show how to mix domains and particles systems for an awesome apocalyptic explosion..as well as a city
jack07 The Crash Bandicoot type character would be fun, something I'd like to team up with on with Kent or Lampel possibly even Wayne for animations.
Regarding the clothing, you could probably hide a lot of stuff using shaders. I don't have experience with creating custom shaders specifically for something like that, but you can create shaders that can hide anything behind it from being rendered. It's something I would have to look into further.
jgonzalez It would be a really cool cross discipline flow! I hope something like it happens :)
Shaders, the black magic of game development! I always forget about them :| Looks like I'll have to look into the shader course later!
jack07 Shaders were definitely magic to me at first. The current course covers the writing of it, which can seem a bit daunting as it's unlike anything you've seen with traditional programming. Thankfully Unity 2018 finally comes with a Shader graph system (think nodes) that makes the process way easier. I have yet to try it, but have heard great things so far.
As others started to talk about XCOM game type I would really love to see such course or class! Not about how to make such game but how to make that turn based mechanic (there is some youtube videos on that topic).
I have played a bit with turn based mechanics in UE4 using blue prints but used the system form asset store. The system is good but if you want to change something you have to dig deep and understand that system good.
And now I've got all my 3d assets from UE4 transfered to Unity (thanks to nice team who makes assets for both engines) so I'm ready to try and play with Unity a bit :)
jgonzalez Saw some demos for Unity 2018, it can make Unreal run for its money 😱 If the process gets easier, can we expect more shaders added to the course? :D
svetimas Yes! Pretty much this, how to get this system working!
After we get a few more suggestions, can we do a poll to see which has the most demand? :O
Their list on Basecamp might nave been YUGE before, but it's getter even YUGER! (I can't believe no one else noticed that spelling error from yesterday's live stream!)
REQUEST: I would like a concept art course for beginners that takes me through the process of completing an entire painting without any timelapses.
REQUEST: A course or tutorial about the different (photoshop) blending modes would also be appreciated.
jack07 Yes, I plan on covering more shaders. Similar to the Blender course "Shader Forge". More than likely I'll keep it all within the same shader school course, and possibly provide shaders as separate resources as well. I forsee the shader graph being far more popular for shader development so I'll probably focus on creating shaders with that alone.
NEW FLOW(?): Blender Cloud (the learning subscription website for the Blender Foundation) has made a video course on how to make Game Assets and Export them into various games(ex: they made a helmet and ported it into TF2). Although we have a game asset flow here (Blender+Unity integration), it would be nice to have a flow (or add to existing) on how to make game assets (how to model, texture, render, UV unwrap ) and how to implement and port in existing games as add-ons, like the steam workshop. It would be a great idea for students to learn how to make and use their own models in their favorite video game.
speedkillerr That seems like a fun topic to discuss. I've never actually uploaded anything to the Steam Workshop but I have used some Vive controller skins from there before.
Game asset creation is definitely something I'd want to cover more. Jonathan Lampel has been converting some of our popular course assets into game ready assets, least from the 3d side. I'm planning on using those in the near future in small projects.
Right now I have a VR revolver I'd like to use into a fully functional VR weapon complete with muzzle flash creation, scripting, and animations if needed. There's also the Scifi Gyrocopter, which will be a fun short course in making it a flyable vehicle. We've never done any kind of vehicles so this will be the first.
We actually have a number of assets created that need to be retopologized and cleaned up for game use, but when they're done we'll have a nice library of game assets. Our content crew is quite small as you all saw from the recent live stream so getting these assets cleaned up could take a while with some of the other content we're creating as well.