BloodBowl 3d

[Dukdalf]

Hi guys,

Bloodbowl is probably the best game that Games Workshop ever created and has ever since been updated with rule changes since its launch in 1987(around). Based on this game I want to create an invironment to play this game on a computer in a 3d world.

The game is very complicated, with lots of rules that change every now and then, so I decided I will not implement those rules. You have to buy the boardgame yourself in order to play it. But I want to make an easy to use environment with some tools to play this game fast on the computer. I will not implement all rules etc. It just replaces the boardgame.
Because I do not know jack about making games and 3d environments, just some moderate programming skills, and newby 3d modelling and texturing skills, I try to keep it as simple as possible. Here is a list of features that I would like to implement for this BloodBowl3d environment.

• - Hotseat game, camera turns to other side if there is a turnover!
  - A playing field with the squares to put the pieces in.
  - Players of both teams with easy to recognize stances (Usable, Used, Lying on the Ground, Stunned)
  - Loading customized players-statistics
  - Easy reference for ingame player statistics
  - Score board
  - Easy selecting characters
  - Moving characters
  - Changing stances

I surely missed something at this moment. But these are more or less the basic function that this game needs. It should be the same as the boardgame, just a 3d environment, nothing fancy.

I can probably do this at ease with irrlicht. But I have to make some decisions right at the start that probably have a major impact later on. So I prefer to talk about this subject before I start around.

Some Questions

1. Because I am really bad at modelling 3d objects I hoped to make use of my own miniatures and create from pictures the 3d models. I can make pictures from all sides, or a movie, or make pictures of the miniatures shadow or something. Did anybody tackle this problem already?

2. The environment is very static. Should I model this in Blender? Or is it probably best to do it in irrlicht by hand.


I will probably use dummy models of the players first. Because changing them with more sophisticated models should be trivial. But non the less I like to get an answer on question 1, because if there is a nice solution, people could load their own 3d models of their own team and play with it.

Anyway thanks for reading, and feel free to post about anything that could help me get started or something. I am open for anything.

Dukdalf
Gamemaker NEWBY

[CuteAlien]

A static environment could be done in Blender. But from the few pictures I found on google about Bloodbowl it seems like a solution using tiles might be better suited for this game.

Good luck with the project :)

[Dukdalf]

Hi guys,

It takes time to get used to C++, IrrLicht, Blender, The Gimp and Inkscape, but I get better every time I work on my project. Here is an update.

The following things went succesful:

• - Data classes for the 2 teams, and its players: It is also possible to load this data from an XML file. I used the very easy to use irrXML to accomplish this.
  - Show the playing field. I did this by creating a black height map, to get a level playing field and gave it a texture of the original look.
  - Created a playercube: I used Blender for the cube. And the gimp and inkscape for texturing. A cube with a number on it, and it is possible to change stances through turning the cube.

.

Sadly, It did not go all that well:

• - The playercube is inverted! Check some screenies at my webalbum.

Hopefully I get this fixed soon. I can make an iteration for placing the cubes on the field, while keeping track where they are. Then I have to find a way to select a cube to move it to another location.

So here is my to do list (unsorted):

• - create bounding box for camera
  - create nicer models
  - create a stadium
  - select objects
  - move objects
  - animate cube to change stances
  - create scoreboard animation mesh
  - display selected player statistics in GUI
  - a way to keep of turns (2x8 + overtime)
  - switch sides
  - more to come!

Still alot to do!
Dukdalf[/list]

[IainC]

awesome! but you're wasting a lot of tris with that flat heightfield.

suggest a simple textured quad instead!

[Dukdalf]

quick update

I decided to change IDE from Code::Blocks to Eclipse, which took me a while. I tackled the problem of the inverted cube, and i iteratively added a few cubes! and found the right positions on the map with a corresponding vector location.

Really weird but by scaling one vector value negatively I got the cube right. Dunno why this is needed, because in DirectXViewer and Blender all looks right, but in Irrlicht it does not.

I attached an RTSCamera to the game, and enabled the mouse cursor. Now I have some new stuff to do:

• - dynamically create cubes with different numbers. I have a number texture that could be used with UV stuff to select diff poss on the texture for diff numbers on the cube.
  - Select cubes. (dunno how though, but i saw a tutorial with calculating vector(look direction) with meshes.
  - keep track of cubes positions and show them on the right spot.!

And ofcourse all previous to do stuff!

Check my webalbum here!

Dukdalf

[Washi]

I was going to do something similar eventually, Game world comes first, then major city buildings, then an Arena(For fights and a Special Wrestling style combat ring, Cant give full details), Blood Bowl style arena, and another that has never been done before (Cant go into details), However Im aiming at First Person/3rd Person.

To see someone else with Bloodbowl type outlooks is a great thing

Are you looking at using all the rules like ball scatter, fumbles etc.

Its a pity they canned the game, otherwise it would probably still be one of the biggest board games around

[budwaa]

Hi, Ive just started work on the exact same project. Ive been doing some proof of concept work, just checking out the engine making sure I can do what I need. I'm looking for other programmers to help out so maybe we could team up. If you like give me an email or add me to MSN and we can have a chat.

tombarker1804 at hotmail dot com


Heres a pic of what i have so far. The model will run from square to square with a mouse click and the white and black (supposed to be transparent) marker follows the square the pointer is over. As i say this is just some proof of concept atm.





I hope to achieve something very similar to what you have described, Primarily i would like the game to feature an online league system to allow players to easily find games and to develop their team fighting other players.