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Alright, this is really a strange question. A friend introduced me to x10 of the fpsc series when he got sick of it. Why? I don't know or care. He gave me the software after being ready to chuck it out but hey, his loss my gain. Anyway, my question though is this.

From what I see, x10 is a basic platform for FPS style games (Well done from the back of the class right?). The weapons are entities that can be picked up but are ultimately seperate from the main entity, (IE the player). Would it be possible then to make a SEMI- 3rd person game by making the weapon appear to be a person standing infront of (the player). then the movement of the weapon bobbing when the player walks forward changing it to the person(weapon) entity walking forward? Firing the weapon then becoming the person(weapon) attacking with fists or if the entity its self has one, firing a gun?

I only ask because it seems possible that with some work it could be done. Is it possible?

I've had the same idea for a while... In theory, I think it should work, you could probably make an over-the-shoulder Gears of War or RE4 style shooter. I don't know of anyone who has tried this, at least not with X10. There's a mod for X9 that has support for 3rd person shooters, but I'm not sure which. If the character/weapon is too far in the front he wouldn't rotate correctly but, it should work in theory.

The problem though would be that you wouldn't be able to see the whole character-- If you aim up the whole weapon/character would follow the screen so it'd look like you were holding a person. But the arms, shoulder and head seem plausible...

Hmm, this is worth discussing some more. I will try to do some research and experiments, see what turns up...

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

Don't waste your time. It's called FPSC for a reason. "First Person."

You can model a weapon to look like a character, but it would have no natural movement. You couldn't animate standard moves such as crouch, jump, or strafe. Not to mention that enemies wouldn't be targeting you. They'd be shooting past you. I could go on and on of problems you'd have to overcome.

It's not a waste of time because it is worth investigating. It could work if you did it a certain way. Put the character/weapon right in front of the camera and to the side, like in Resident Evil 4 but even closer. Not much more than the head, arms and maybe shoulders would be visible, but that at least could work. GTA4 is the perfect example of how it could work, when you squeeze the trigger half way and it goes into a semi FPS mode. Something like that is definitely possible (whether it actually can be done or not remains to be seen); I don't see too many problems with getting it to work that way. You'd just need the models and animations and everything elseything else, but I don't see anything to suggest that it's theoretically not possible.

That is cool idea but instead of a half pulled trigger, you go from a sloppy 'fire from the hip' type shot where you still see the character to a standard FPS veiw it could be when you zoom using the right mouse button. I think I will actually join Jingle Fett in the investigating.
As for your comment UThink, they are appreciated and the issues you have brought forward are of help. I think your first comment about don't waste your time seems a bit defeatist however. Experimenting with new ideas is truely the only way to progress forward. If someone never said 'is it possible to do THIS instead of THAT' I doubt we'd have some of the games we have out now. And it'd be a shame really to still be playing on the old NES or (God forbid) Vic20 systems. Wouldn't it?

I'm not trying to be negative. I know it comes across that way at times. But keep in mind that this is not the first discussion on the matter. There have also been similar discussions regarding RPG, and Vehicles. I contend that "as is" you cannot make FPSC X10 into a Third-Person shooter with believable action and animation.

If you had the source code, you could probably develop something. But it would require enough coding that you mine as well use the Renderware engine.

As for limitations, I don't think it defeatist to say that you use a screwdriver to put screws in, not a hammer. Can you use a hammer? Sure, but when you're done you won't have a usable product.

Don't confuse my pragmatic approach with a fatalist view. While I feel you won't be successful, I actually hope that you are. But you have to acknowledge that you'll have to drop a lot of features such as showing the character picking up items, reacting to being shot etc etc.

Tell you what, to show my support for X10 innovation. I'm willing to put up cash, provided there is a working model within a specified amount of time and the method be shared publicly.

Hey, don't bash the Vic20! LOL A good analogy would be that we're still gaming on the Vic20 because no one said, "We really need a 64 or an Amiga to do the job." Just as hardware advances, so must software. But everything can't be done well with scripting. Sometimes you've got to re-architect the system to ensure stability and supportability when you add new functions. That's why X10 is not X9 release x.x

I might just take you up on that! Already I have a theory on how it could work...I'll put it in a written form later today.

It probably wouldn't be possible to make picking up aimations (or would it? [If pick up item then play animation] or something like that?), but so many games don't have it either that it's not really an issue, a detail we can afford to go without.

But you've gotta admit Uthink, you do come off as a bit negative You don't necessarily have to re-architect the system to get certain features, you just work around the limits and find/exploit the loopholes. As I recall you said almost the exact same thing about it being impossible to get zero gravity like in Crysis, but I managed to pull off anyways. It may not necessarily be true 0g just as it might not be true 3rdPS, but if it works the same, who cares? My 0g method was done with X10 as is too, no coding and no custom content.

I've no doubt that if you set your own standards, you will meet them.
You're already talking about details you can afford to go without.
Those are the very things I said would be a problem. But drop me an email and maybe we can agree on definitions.

Look, the only thing that's being discussed here is if a 3rdPS is possible in X10. That doesn't mean a perfect 3rdPS, it doesn't mean instantly or even ever. It doesn't mean that we will get everything right or that it won't be flawed. I'm not interested in a wager, I'm interested in pushing the limits, or at least finding out what the limits are. And yes, you said those things would be a problem. But those aren't problems that make a 3rdPS impossible, merely if not overcome, they would make the 3rdPS a bit crude, but it doesn't decide if it would work or not. You don't need those animations for it to work or not. Neither does the 3rdPS technique necessarily have to be fun to be considered a success. We might pull it off. It might be crappy, it might be glitchy or not fun, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

Besides if we fail, someone else might figure something out from what we did and build upon it.

Like it says in the Adidas commercial: "Impossible is nothing"

Anyways...

I had a theory that seems like it would work. I'm gonna try it when I have the time..
Make a model with the gun held in the right place, skin it and make the animations. Position it so that the camera/HUD is to the back upper right or left of the character. This way it would be as though you were looking over the character's shoulder from behind. Make sure the character is at the right distance so that you can see only the head, arms and maybe shoulders. For the walking animations, make the character bobble up and down (there's no need to model the legs because they won't be visible). Shooting and reloading would be done like any other weapon. Then save it like any other weapon. To make the character interchangeable, have the character and the gun be separate models with separate textures (the stock commando gun comes with a scope that has it's own separate model and texture).

Don't see how that wouldn't work, but I guess time will tell...

Best of luck to you.
I really mean it.