Mod Idea for UT2007

[HarvesterUT]

Hey all,

This isn't a thread looking for help on the mod, or even an official announcement. I am simply posting an idea with a few WIP shots of something I have been working on.

The basic idea is a Mech Themed Mod. I have always enjoyed these games and there have been no good Mech games in quite a while. Think Mechwarrior, but no IP infringement

I am torn between a Mech only simulation mod and one that has classes with different vehicles and combat on foot.

Anyways I'll keep this short and sweet, as I am simply getting community reaction and ideas.

Attatched is the Design Document as it stands and is a WIP.

Thanks

Harv

 

[HarvesterUT]

Here is a quick pic of a concept Mech.....sorry there is no fancy rendering nonsense

 

[DingBat]

I dunno. Looks pretty close to a Vulture to me.

Nice model. How many poly's is that?

As for your mod, nice idea. I've always had a weakness for mechs. You know what would be a crazy idea? Doing it 3rd person, a la MechCommander. You'd see more of the models that way. Plus, you could probably do more objects, like buildings and such, on screen since they'd be further away from the player. Oops, sorry, getting carried away. It's your mod, man.

I'd suggest starting with mechs only. Tanks and aircraft can always be added later should you want them.

Edit: Read your doc. Nicely laid out, and not over ambitious, which is a pretty radical departure from typical mod startups. You rebel, you.
My only suggestion, from a planning perspective, is not to get too hung up on the types of mechs and/or weapons. As you say, get that first mech working and then it's easy to play with different weapons to get a nice balance. Basically, I'm just saying you don't need to make those decisions atm. Keep us posted, please.

 

[HarvesterUT]

The model is 4100 tris and 4400 tris with the cockpit open. Of course the cockpit is only for cut scenes and not for in-game models. It could stand to be optimized a bit more. Im not sure how many tri's to shoot for with the UT2007 engine, but since they will have to be animated differently than say, a tank, i want to keep the poly count low so it wont be a system hog with many Mechs being rendered.

As for the Vulture comparison? You know your Mechwarrior Universe rather well. Actually the original concept didnt look like this does now. After totally changing the upper torso I realized it was starting to look like a vulture. I tried to stay away from that, but the lines and body shape kinda came out like that. As you can tell I made the cockpit totally different, where the Vulture has it's cockpit way up on the tip-top.

Another thing, my Mechs (or MERCs as I call them), aren't nearly as big as Mechwarriors. I just dont see that as being necessary for the game. In fact I find the huge 100 ton Mechs a little retarded since they are SOOOO big.

It would also allow for foot soldiers and other vehicles if so desires without messing up the overall scale of the models.

You are right, I am trying to keep it simple for a while. Just getting one good, working MERC with a weapon system is the primary goal. I think animating the thing will be the hardest part, since most weapons can be modified UT2007 weapons.

All I can really do is model and map and plan. I dont code and my skinning is rather weak. I will work on a few models, polish the plan, and wait until UT2007 comes out hopefully next summer/fall.

UT2004 would have been a good engine to mod, but it's getting dated the mod community is small. Might as well get as much done now, and try and work with a cutting edge engine upon release. Besides, a one-man team works very slow!!!

Harv

 

[Blaaguuu]

Hey Harv

If you need a coder for the mod, i might be interested in helping out... Ive had interest in doing a "mech" type mod for some time, and the Unreal Engine would likely make things go much smoother. have you seen the upcoming Xbox 360 game Chromehounds? the mechs in that seem really cool, and a bit more plausible in reality (bipedal mechs are pretty unrealistic).

 

[devilShadow]

Id definitely be down to do some content creation if you ever get it off the ground. I can do modeling, animation, shading, and particles, PM me if you'd like to see some of my work

 

[HarvesterUT]

hey Blaag! long time no see, buddy! Hope things are going well with you.

Also, hello to BloodStorm!

I have never heard of ChromeHounds, but I googled it and saw some of the screen shots. They have some very cool models/ideas. They are sort of glorified tanks. I think part of the allure of "mechs" is the fact they are bipedal and so unrealistic. I know its not very plausible, but neither is a chromehound tank thats 50ft tall with 5 cannons on it

I predict UT2007 will drop around summer/fall 2006. That is alot of time between now and then. I appreciate any help, i just dont know what can be done right now, other than models and ideas.

I invite you guys to offer ideas about gameplay, look, models, etc. Red the design document and critique it, tell me what you think wont work or what could work better. Im open to ideas.