To Juvenile: Thanks Juvenile! $15 is a steal! I'm gonna check that out!
To Walaber: just a note, you probably shouldn't planning on using ALL of those features you mentioned (esp. realtime shadows, patricles) because you would need a computer faster than Jesus to actually play the game. of course there are workarounds you can do to imitate most of those features... but don't think you can just 'turn on' shadows, multiple lights, particles, bump mapping, etc. and your game will look great. because it will run at about 1 frame/minute on the average computer.
not to discourage you, just want to make sure you know that it's much more complicated than that even with the features of DBPro.
That's an excellent point walaber. I thought about it some possible issues that may occur in celebration scenes where weather would aslo be present and I figured that I would have to find a way to tone that down. I'm thinking that if I can program the weather to happen randomly, I can use sprites as a substitution for using some of the more power draining effects.
Right now, after someone gives me a tip or an idea I go and add it to the game storyboard I have here in my home office. So far, the ideas are all coming together and know that I know the things I want to do are indeed possible, I feel even better going in.
OKAY, CHECK OUT SOME OF THE TEXT TO MY STORYBOARD
both 2D and 3D player models will be experimented with. The reasoning behind this is to find out which type will work best for my project when I can see an actual visual of it on-screen.
1. This game will resemble the legendary and sometimes fabled Tecmo Bowl series. I'll be using the marker system for passing, punting and kicking. The contact penalties are going to be hard to do in the passing game using a marker system, but the challenge is still welcome.
2. During the play, I'm going to be playing various musical selections from NFL Films Super Bowl editions. I've already picked out the exact selections that will be in the game and they are detailed on my storyboard as to when and how they will play and to what capacity.
3. The two man booth team is out. The Stadium PA Announcer stays in. It's going to work a lot better for the way this game is going to be. The PA announcer will announce down and distance, Touchdowns, Fumbles, Interceptions, Flags on plays, timeouts, type of play called by team and yards gained. I'm going to have to work harder on figuring out how to program it to announce the players name after the play is made as well...
4. Camera angles are out. This type of game makes camera changes at odds with the theme of the game. However, I am pondering the possibility of creating something called "cinema mode" where the end user can play the entire game in a cut-scene-like fashion. To produce a good result with this though, I will need to make a little indicator system and tinkerwith the collision a lot once it's complete. Should be fun though.
5. FMV footage will still be in for at least the game intro and other critical parts of the game.
6. In-game cutscenes will be added to capture the passion of the game. Dives over the goaline will cut to a cinematic sequence. Big throws where the Quarterback launches a deep pass downfield will be captured in a cinematic sequence. So will touchdowns of all kinds, interceptions and sacks.
7. Attributes will stay in the game, but speed, intelligence and weight will trump height as a major gameplay factor.
8. Create-a-team function will stay in the game.
9. Create-a-player will also be in the game, and so will editing
10. The game will rival the current generation in the sense that it will have many of the features found in these games, except it's approach will be more passionate and intuitve to the struggle that takes place in the course of a real Pro Football game. Therefore, unlike the last Tecmo version for the playstation 1 (which was nothing like Tecmo Bowl at all) this game will feature graphics that duplicated from real piece materials that make up real football fields. I don't want to give away exactly how I am going to do it, but all I can say is that not only can it be done, but it has been done before, but not in football games! This should be a first.
11. The game will be fast-paced just like the old Tecmo Bowls and easy to play with a simple, straight-forward interface. Quick playing calling, quick snaps, etc.
12. The ability to break tackles will be placed on the end-user rapidly pressing the required buttons.
13. Full regular season is in, as well as playoffs and a Championship.
14. Player trading will be in with the ability to turn it on or off. And I'll be exploring the possibility of a franchise mode as well.
If you're from America and know anything about the history of Football video games, then the Tecmo Bowl series is something that needs no explanation. The things that will be added in my game will encompass what every Tecmo Bowl and NFL Films SB edition fan has always wanted but never got.
THOUGHTS ON THE FIELD VIEW
I want the field to appear on a Three-Dimensional level, however, I'm not 100% sure that this approach is going to work best so I'll be experimenting with it in conjunction with the player models. Still, it WOULD appear more like it does on TV with this approach.
Take a look at this picture at the Tecmo Bowl fansite =========>
http://www.knobbe.org
The picture there is of Tecmo Super Bowl for the 8-Bit Nintendo (NES). Instead of using that view I want my view to have a 3D slant view.
The field view will be going from sideline to sideline, 3D-styled with the ability to see all of the action with great visibility just like the old tecmo bowl games that were in all 2-D.
As you can see, I am attempting to maximize my results by focusing on the game play and its atmosphere and shying away from using a ton of unnecessary features that add nothing to the game.
I'll share more parts to my storyboard as time goes on!
