Creating a game using HPL2

[Kein]

Would it be possible to create a game with the HPL2 engine that would be free?

The way you constructed the question implies that all the existing mods are paid. But they aren't, in fact, it is exactly opposite - you can't make a paid mod/game based on HPL unless you work on/with FG as The Chinese Room does.

Also, yeah, you don't have source code to tinker with.

[Ghieri]

I think the top engines being used right now are Source, UDK, and Cryengine.

Source is the engine behind L4d2, Portal, and half-life. I'd say it's the most tedious to learn, but possibly worth it.

UDK is basically the student edition of Unreal Engine 3. However, there is a license available that allows you to sell your titles. This was used in Bioshock, Gears of War, etc. It is also consistently being updated. This is what I currently use.

Cryengine 3 is the most recently available, and it was behind Crysis 2. It is possibly the most advanced, but I am unaware of it's learning curve as I have not used it.


Anyways, UDK and Cryengine 3 both have commercial licenses that allow you to sell your game for profit. Though, keep in mind that a full scale project would likely require a team.

[MaZiCUT]

Yeah i've read a lot about that stuff.

Still wondering where i can find a good start in modeling and creating a game. Perhaps a full conversion with my own models and story etc, is the best solution so far to get started.

[WesleyTack]

I like how people want to make "games" as if it's all doable by yourself. In some rare occasions it is possible. But for a game like Amnesia you need:

modeling/texturing artists
lighting artists
environment artists
animators
character modelers
voice over actors
sound designers
composers
producer
programmers
etc...

Mastering one of these will set you back quite some time already. So you pick what you want to do and then you stick with it and perhaps learn as you go to do more tasks. That's my advice to you. When you did decide, find a community that does what you want to learn and get support there to get better at it as you go along.

[spukrian]

Making a game by yourself is possible, just incredibly difficult. You would need a lifetime of dedication and of course, if you're alone it means you need to leave out several of the aspects that Wesley mentions.

[MaZiCUT]

I never said i'm going to make a game all by myself :].

So what would be the best start, game engine etc if i now had a team. Wich i guess i can fix.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Well I'd say it really depends on exactly what features you want to implement in your game. Take UDK for example (which I've made two projects with - not alone of course): With UDK what you basically do, is you're creating a game based on whats already there and that is for example a UT Deathmatch. So you write new classes or change existing ones, until you've turned that Deathmatch into whatever game you want to have. In theory it's even possible (and it has been done) to turn it into a 2D - sidescroller, but the further you go away from the already implemented First-person-shooter mechanic, the harder it gets in the coding department. Some things can be done with Kismet and Matinee (node-based scripting), others require you to code in unreal script.
(For example replacing the standard UT bots with your own meshes and animations requires a change in the classes if I remember correctly)

Some things might be almost impossible or unnessecarily complicated to do, because, well, UDK is not the same thing as the actual licensed Unreal Engine - you don't have access to the engine source code. (please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm an artist, not a coder )
The art pipeline is pretty straightforward in UDK, you can import meshes as fbx, ase or obj and animations are imported using the ActorX plugin for 3ds max and Maya. The Node based Material Editor is a pretty powerful tool
too, as is the Particle Editor.

It also depends on what YOU want to learn. Because "making a game" is...um...like saying you want to learn how to build a skyscraper from scratch. It's theoretically not impossible, but there are so many different skills involved that it would take you a lifetime to learn them all. Not to mention the sheer workload thats waiting for you (There's a reason Minecrafts default textures and animations are very simple ^^) So if youre mostly interested in creating 3D assets and animations, you should obviously use an engine/ modkit that just let's you replace existing models without you having to change much code. Doing an Amnesia custom story with your own art content might be a good idea (I've never worked with the editor though.)

On the other hand if you're more interested in coding you might want to use an engine like Ogre that let's you code your entire game logic from scratch.

If you have a team, I'd say let your coder choose the engine, because he/she is probably going to be the one facing the hardest problems and should be able to write in the language he feels the most comfortable with.

I hope I was able to help somewhat

Edit: Whoah something was wrong with the formatting of my post there...sry.

[MaZiCUT]

Thanks for the reply

[Slanderous]

I think it is possible but it's really hard to do; if you want weapons you have to do a lot of changes but you can try to convert combat sistem from penumbra overtue (i don't think so you can do it ). Also it requires a lot of time to make scripts/models/sounds/etc.

[Statyk]

From what I read, it looks like the discussion is over, there is no need to bump it.