2.5D platformer in Leadwerks = Overkill?

[Tom J]

It's in the title really. I've had my fair share of 3D physicsy flashy game attempts. But after playing Super Mario Bros Wii I have to say that I fancy making a platformer (of the 2.5D variety most likely, that being 2D gameplay with 3D graphics). Would you say that Leadwerks is too overkill for this, as in too many unnecessary resources used, and that something more basic should really be used. I can't really face going back to BASIC oriented languages because I have forgotten a lot about them, but I don't know if Leadwerks is the most efficient thing for the job in this case.

 

Thanks.

[Josh]

It depends on the quality of graphics you want. It would be pretty interesting to see a 2.5D game with nice lighting. You could make some new gameplay mechanics with it, like giving the player a flashlight (torch) to light their way.

[Pixel Perfect]

I suspect you could do a very nice job using Leadwerks. Plenty of other people have expressed interest in doing exactly this! Just bare in mind the graphics card requirements for the engine, however this is becoming less of a problem as time goes on and SM3 cards become more of a standard low end component.

[Marcus]

I think you would need to do a little research.

 

How many people that play 2D games in general are going to meet the LE hardware requirements?

 

I'm not sure LE is the engine for this at this point.

[Tom J]

Thanks for all the replies

 

It depends on the quality of graphics you want. It would be pretty interesting to see a 2.5D game with nice lighting. You could make some new gameplay mechanics with it, like giving the player a flashlight (torch) to light their way.

 

True, such a game could play off of a lot of LE's strengths. As well as the lighting, if physics were used well for the gameplay, or indeed shaders were used cleverly, then the game could have a lot of unique aspects to it. The flashlight isn't a bad idea at all.

 

I suspect you could do a very nice job using Leadwerks. Plenty of other people have expressed interest in doing exactly this! Just bare in mind the graphics card requirements for the engine, however this is becoming less of a problem as time goes on and SM3 cards become more of a standard low end component.

 

I think you would need to do a little research.

How many people that play 2D games in general are going to meet the LE hardware requirements?

I'm not sure LE is the engine for this at this point.

 

The hardware requirement is obviously of key importantance if a game like this were to get released, especially if it were capable of being run by an engine of lesser power or hardware needs. I suppose a survey would have to be considered at some point if this project intended to be released, whether for free or otherwise. It all depends really on whether more hardcore gamers would consider playing, if the game showed impressive graphics and other features etc. which are also commonly seen in 3D games, and also whether a number of casual 2D players also tend to have good computers as well. It's all a complicated question, quite a lot of things I need to consider. LE may be a worthy engine, but it depends on certain factors and how the game ends up.

 

But then, as Pixel said, I could spend so long on this in theory that by the time it is finished there will be many more players with the needed hardware, hehe

[Josh]

How many people that play 2D games in general are going to meet the LE hardware requirements?

The other side of that is how many people would be interested in another 2.5D platformer that looks like all the rest? How can you make your game stand out from the ocean of games already out there?

 

It's also worth noting that 5 out of 6 Steam users can run Leadwerks Engine:

http://leadwerks.com/werkspace/index.php?/blog/1/entry-108-five-out-of-six-steam-users-can-run-leadwerks-engine

[Tom J]

5 out of 6 eh? That's a very interesting statistic LE is more accesible than I imagined then, which is a promising sign.

[Tom J]

I'll ask this here to save space, but how would you go about making a controller move with / stick to a moving platform. At the moment it stands on top of it, but doesn't go with it (and so just falls off). Is there a specific command, or would I have to do a check to see if the collided object is moving and then make controller move with it in the code?

[Rick]

hmm, I kind of did this same thing and the controller moved with the moving platform. The way I moved the platform was by making 2 bodies. 1 body was the platform itself, and the other body was just a small body under the first that was just a body and had no mesh to it. I then fixed pointed the 2 and would call SetPosition() on the bottom body. Now when the bottom body moves the platform body would also move with it, but the difference is that the platform body now can be collided with. If you call SetPosition() on a body it kills the physics on it and other bodies will fall through it. But by using the fixed joint I was able to get this working. I founds this easier than working with forces and torque and such. It also game me the ability to make a platform move to an exact location. I think some have found the force movement isn't as exact. Anyway, when I did this, the controller moved with the platform. It did however cause other effects like, when the platform changed direction the controller had momentum and would kind of jump on it's own. Or when going from up to down the controller would jump up slightly because of the platform moving direction. This is what you would expect in real life but not generally in a platform game. I didn't figure out how to stop that.

[Leo]

It depends on the quality of graphics you want. It would be pretty interesting to see a 2.5D game with nice lighting.

Modern platform games are using advanced graphics already, such as Bionic Commando Rearmed and Shadow Complex, which usually involve advanced lighting, FOV and physics... so technically he would be on par with commercial titles, which is neat.

 

How many people that play 2D games in general are going to meet the LE hardware requirements?

Well, these games are often aimed at old-school players, not the casual market, as the two ones I mentioned just above.

If you're going to do a challenging platform game, chances are you are going to market it to "veteran" players. But even for the more casual players, Trine was a commercial success.

 

I think it's actually easier to sell a technically advanced platform game than, let's say, a FPS, since the former genre is not oversatured and people still love these gameplay mechanics (expecially with the addition of physics).

 

Also, if you're going the casual game market route, there are many genres which easily outsell platform games.

[Josh]

I'll ask this here to save space, but how would you go about making a controller move with / stick to a moving platform. At the moment it stands on top of it, but doesn't go with it (and so just falls off). Is there a specific command, or would I have to do a check to see if the collided object is moving and then make controller move with it in the code?

If you move the platform with proper physics forces the controller will automatically move with it. If you use manual repositioning to move the platform, the platform will have no velocity, and no way to transfer inertia to the controller. So use physics forces.

[Rick]

If you move the platform with proper physics forces the controller will automatically move with it. If you use manual repositioning to move the platform, the platform will have no velocity, and no way to transfer inertia to the controller. So use physics forces.

 

 

He wouldn't have to use physics forces. He could do what I posted above which doesn't directly use physics forces and it allows for more accurate movement of the physics object.

[knocks]

Give me Geneforge with leadwerks graphics, id be in heaven

[Tom J]

Thanks for the advice on the platform issue guys, your workaround of the physics commands is quite a nice idea Rick However I do platforms though, I see now how I need to involve the physics (whether that be the force or joint commands), which wasn't how it was before. I don't understand how in my program the non-physics commands didn't cut off the physics for the object, but I'm removing those now anyway so oh well

 

Modern platform games are using advanced graphics already, such as Bionic Commando Rearmed and Shadow Complex, which usually involve advanced lighting, FOV and physics... so technically he would be on par with commercial titles, which is neat.

 

That is very neat indeed. I'm not really certain where the platformer is going yet in terms of the gameplay and everything like that, because at the moment it is simply me making the basic engine. The point of Casual vs. Hardcore/Veteran games is one I need to think about though, and those are some interesting points you make about that which I will probably consider at some point.

 

Give me Geneforge with leadwerks graphics, id be in heaven

 

Or any retro game for that matter, hehe