A 4D video game?

Started by Legend, Feb 27, 2018, 04:58 AM

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Legend

I think I've figured it out. Remove unguided exploration and replace it with guided exploration. Instead of the player traveling the world and expecting to find interesting things wherever they go, the player has a specific list of things and a specific way to find them.

One method will probably be pictures like the ones taken by Zelda in botw. The player sees these 3D screenshots from the menu and then tries to find where they were taken in the world. Another method will probably be geometry based. Have a statue that points to a treasure, have a sphere of rocks with a treasure at the center, etc. The player knows from the menu exactly where the clue is and exactly what the clue means, but they have to demonstrate an understanding of the fourth dimension in order to find the reward.

These methods should be far better since the world can stay fairly sparse while still pushing players to visit more places than just the beast locations.

Legend

The biggest question now is modeling. Using 3D textures for the terrain will work great. That still leaves me needing to model rocks, trees, and beasts.

Legend

@the-Pi-guy

Do you have any experience making game engines? I'm starting to think it might be wise for me to make my own engine instead of using Unity. Currently I'm only using Unity for the most basic things since obviously the engine isn't designed for 4D.

If I make my own engine the only extra work is additional memory management, input/output, supporting consoles directly, and the general requirements of making a seperate application that runs as the editor (but I have to make my own editor either way). Overall this could potentially save time since I wouldn't have to fight Unity to make it do what I want. It also could give the game a huge performance boost and give me valuable experience.


I'm tepid though since I don't know C++ yet and I don't have experience creating programs.

the-pi-guy

@the-Pi-guy

Do you have any experience making game engines? I'm starting to think it might be wise for me to make my own engine instead of using Unity. Currently I'm only using Unity for the most basic things since obviously the engine isn't designed for 4D.

If I make my own engine the only extra work is additional memory management, input/output, supporting consoles directly, and the general requirements of making a seperate application that runs as the editor (but I have to make my own editor either way). Overall this could potentially save time since I wouldn't have to fight Unity to make it do what I want. It also could give the game a huge performance boost and give me valuable experience.


I'm tepid though since I don't know C++ yet and I don't have experience creating programs.
I haven't yet.  

I've got the book on it though.  

If you have specific questions, I'm sure I can find the answer somewhere in there.  

I'm hoping to make some kind of engine for the experience after I'm done with school.

Legend

I haven't yet.  

I've got the book on it though.  

If you have specific questions, I'm sure I can find the answer somewhere in there.  

I'm hoping to make some kind of engine for the experience after I'm done with school.

I have a lot of programing experience but mostly it has all been inside of Unity. What do I need to do to get started?

the-pi-guy

I have a lot of programing experience but mostly it has all been inside of Unity. What do I need to do to get started?
Get started with what, exactly?  

Legend

Get started with what, exactly?  
Exactly.

I guess I should just hit the ground running and try out a lot of different things.

the-pi-guy

This is basically the main order for start up:

Memorymanager
Filesystem manager
Video manager
Texture manager
Render manager
Animation manager
Physics manager

In the generic order the text has.

Legend

This is basically the main order for start up:

Memorymanager
Filesystem manager
Video manager
Texture manager
Render manager
Animation manager
Physics manager

In the generic order the text has.
I'm prepared to make those things. It's more of a question of how custom do I go (and I don't know enough yet to know how to phrase the question).

There is a range to how custom I go. On the simple end is Unity and I just make it work. On the extreme end, I'd make my own programing language like Jonathan Blow is doing and then make an engine. Where do I go in between the two?

Is it necessary to make my own compiler? Do I need an SDK like SFML It's probably a really basic thing but none of the "build a game engine" results online seem to lay out the options for how the first step should be taken.

the-pi-guy

Jan 22, 2019, 12:15 AM Last Edit: Jan 22, 2019, 12:20 AM by the-pi-guy
Edit: ignore.

the-pi-guy

Jan 22, 2019, 12:19 AM Last Edit: Jan 22, 2019, 12:39 AM by the-pi-guy
Never mind, I get your question. 

I don't see there being an immense amount of benefit to making a compiler like that.  It might be fun and good to know exactly what your engine would be doing. 

But simply going with C++, there's going to be a lot of resources already available to you.

Whereas if you are starting with a compiler, you might find that there are simple instructions that you didn't include. 

It's also another layer youd have to do bug checking for. 
Sometimes bug checking can be tricky even with tools.  Especially at that level where you might find out that your grammar just doesn't work.  You could have a case that doesn't parse the way you intend, or something that should be parseable isn't even parseable at all. 

I think the middle ground makes the most sense with the costs/benefits. 

But if you really wanted to make a compiler, I could give advice! 

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