Whats Next?

[Dead-eye]

So now that TNM is out and all the world is safe from World Corp. What is next for Off Topic Productions? What existing new adventure will the team seek? Exploration on mars? A Hawaiian get away? Fighting off Evil Nazi Ninjas?

Or maybe a new game? After the last 7 years of work I'm sure you just can't wait to put another 7 in. Only this time your going to need to learn a completely new software package, you'll need 10 time more coffee, and some money most likely.

So what are the plans? ...other then relaxing for a while now that TNM shipped.

[Jonas]

We're definitely not ready to talk about that yet, but suffice to say we'd like to start making some money.

[Dead-eye]

Would this be a good time to pitch the fact that blender has recently taken on a huge overhaul in it's core game engine and with some work could easy be made into a effective and easy game development platform for any game imaginable.

Also there coming out with version 2.5 which is supposed to change blender from "an open source alternative 3d app" to "the open source alternative 3d app"?

On top of that any work you do to make your own game inside of blender will not only make it easier for you in the future but if you so choice you can make it easier for everyone else to make games in the future as well. You would be helping other indie company's as well and supporting the open source revolution.

Not to mention that there is already a starting place for you: http://www.yofrankie.org/
And the development in this area is starting to grow rapidly because of the huge advancement in the core engine.

Still there would need to be a lot of things that you guys would need to code on your own. For example blender is not the best world editor I have come to find this could be solved with a plug in but that still means work for some poor porgramer. Also Blender is not the most secure program yet so that needs some work. On top of that learning a completely new system is a pain in the ass.

However compared to the alternative, that being a looking for funding from EA, Serra, etc. or using another open source engine... well I think blender should be given some consideration. Take a look after 2.5 comes out.

[Magnas]

Hm, interesting way to make my first post here. A subject after my very heart.

But as a user of Blender for the last five years, I can definitely say the game engine has made some jumps. But I'm really not sure it would be suitable for a full-on project. It's good for prototyping, but you'd have to really look into it before considering it for a project.

For example, everything is implemented via either logic bricks (making it easier for non-programmers to put together something together) or Python. Granted, I've heard Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines was done entirely in Python, but I doubt the veracity of the claim.

Being able to take your mesh and rig right into the game engine IS pretty nifty, though. Not having to deal with exporters to see if your shoulders deform properly in-engine. Being able to work procedurally with a couple of stand-in textures also makes it pretty simple.

But over all, any project would probably need more than just an extensive re-learning of the tools. Blender isn't the most efficient program in the world. The lack of Ngons alone is enough to make me tear out my hear when trying to rework loops. And having to learn a new program from scratch? Not fun. At all. I'm learning Maya and 3DS right now on my own. Not fun AT ALL.

The system itself would probably be good if someone just wanted to get an idea out to demonstrate what they have in mind, but I'm not even sure how one would implement an intuitive way of tracking conversations, etc. There hasn't even been a solid way of implementing ragdolls real-time, from what I can tell.

Over all, I think the team may be better off dealing with something from scratch or, at the very least, building up on OGRE, Irrlicht, etc.

[Dead-eye]

...Vampire:Bloodlines was made completely in python? That might explains the bugs.

Making a game engine from scratch is next to insane... although they already know a guy who made a engine that is sort of up to the task. Still I do see your point because I am a blender user too and have from time to time been in a situation where pulling my hair out of my skull was on the table of options next to redoing everything in 3ds Max.

OGRE could work the only problem is that it is as hard core as building a game engine from scratch.

I do hope that whatever they do it brings them a good game that they can sell in the future.

TNM 2? The Nameless Game?

Edit: Here are some guys who seem to know how to make a game with only open source software: http://liquidrockgames.blogspot.com/

[chris the cynic]

An Untitled Project
The Game Without a Name
Broken Fourth Wall
Steal The Runestone: An OTP heist
Exodus: The Journey to OTP Forum City
Monkeys
Bathing in Yogurt
PogoTron2000
Not as Meta as You Think
Buy This Game
This Is Just A Working Title
One Tough Penguin

-

Hey, have I done this before?

[Magnas]

...Vampire:Bloodlines was made completely in python? That might explains the bugs.

Making a game engine from scratch is next to insane... although they already know a guy who made a engine that is sort of up to the task. Still I do see your point because I am a blender user too and have from time to time been in a situation where pulling my hair out of my skull was on the table of options next to redoing everything in 3ds Max.

OGRE could work the only problem is that it is as hard core as building a game engine from scratch.

I do hope that whatever they do it brings them a good game that they can sell in the future.

TNM 2? The Nameless Game?

Edit: Here are some guys who seem to know how to make a game with only open source software: http://liquidrockgames.blogspot.com/

I couldn't agree more. Creating an engine from scratch would be a bigger hassle than it's really worth. I just made the comparison as emphasis to Blender's current capabilities.

Blender is definitely improving and there are a lot of advantages in the set-up. Being able to view everything instantly, having every tool at your disposal in the same program, etc. And it's only getting better, especially with 2.5. But it's a long way off from comparing to, say, Source, Unreal, or IDTech. And they're really going to need something of that caliber to make a bigger splash, I think. Granted, you can't expect an open-source engine to be on par with something that has had over 10 years of development put into it by various professionals who get PAID to do it.

But I think the game engine is great for some things. Yo Frankie! is looking good, as are quite a few of the games in the BlenderArtists forums. It's going to be instrumental in getting designers/artists to show their ideas without needing a small legion of programmers. And the templates people have released are awesome.

[justanotherfan]

They should do TNM for the Source Engine, but with different voiceacting.

[r00tb33r]

I don't know what went on behind the backdrops of the project, whether the development team got along, etc., but I'd hate to see OTP get gobbled up by some large company and their work diluted by mainstream, shallow and banal crap.
Making money is good, but don't sell out.

[DaveW]

Would this be a good time to pitch the fact that blender has recently taken on a huge overhaul in it's core game engine and with some work could easy be made into a effective and easy game development platform for any game imaginable.

Blender isn't really suitable for full scale commercial production. You want an established 3d rendering engine with a decent physics library.

[yns88]

If we're going with currently established engines, some things that come to mind are:

Source - should get you an easy ticket to steam press and distribution, but I've yet to see one source game/mod other than HL2 and the episodes that wasn't horribly bugged in the way of physics objects. I still think it's probably the best option because the HL2 modding scene is very active and you can start development off as a standard mod and still go commercial a la GMOD. Not to mention that valve is notorious for hiring / supporting its mod base.

id tech 3 - outdated by now (though not as much as certain 1998 Epic engines ) but the source is open and development should be pretty well documented among quake communities

id tech 4 - should enter GNU in the next couple years, but that's irrelevant for commercial games. Apart from model/texture detail, DOOM 3 still looks quite nice and the lighting engine is great apart from a lack of smooth shadows.

id tech 5 - probably very expensive and won't be available for license until whenever, but it seems to be the best one on the horizon.

UT3 - the most common proprietary engine for games these days. It's designed for consoles, though, and its games tend to have issues with objects popping in and out of the renderer and the fact that everything looks like it's made of plastic. Also very expensive

There's also the Unity engine, which brings pretty decent 3D rendering and physics simulation over to browser-based gaming. Blurst have done some really impressive stuff with it.

[Mr_Cyberpunk]

IdTech4 all the way IMO. That's what I'm going to be using for my games I think, just need to learn how to use it as I haven't really dabbled in Doom3- I have dabbled with Quake3 but I've heard IdTech4 is completely different.

And blender has a Physics Library Dave, its called Bullet and I have read up on it, it works surprisingly well, just as good as the one that comes with Maya. I'm starting to learn blender too because every other 3D modeling program is too expensive for a commercial license.

[r00tb33r]

IdTech4 all the way IMO. That's what I'm going to be using for my games I think, just need to learn how to use it as I haven't really dabbled in Doom3- I have dabbled with Quake3 but I've heard IdTech4 is completely different.

And blender has a Physics Library Dave, its called Bullet and I have read up on it, it works surprisingly well, just as good as the one that comes with Maya. I'm starting to learn blender too because every other 3D modeling program is too expensive for a commercial license.

I recently played F.E.A.R. again, and I was pleased that I was able to max out the visual stuff, which is quite nice, and I believe the performance was slightly better than what I can get out of Quake 4. Not sure how good LithTech is for modding, but I'd consider it if I was doing this sort of thing.

[chris the cynic]

I know. It it just came to me as I was falling asleep last night, their next project will be

*dramatic pause*

The Cheese Has Eyes.

*eerie music*

It's all in the swiss, man. It's all there. It's a conspiracy, man! THE CAMERAS! IN THE SWISS, MAN!

[Jetsetlemming]

Source has the benefit of a license price somewhere around "The change in your pocket".