Prototype within 8-10 month

[darkwolf]

Hey everyone.
Maybe you can provide me with some usefull information.

Ok, at first: We're a team of 6 people and we have to create a game prototype within 8-10 month.
We already came up with a project idea, a more detailed design document will follow.

I was doing hours of research today to find a decent engine that might be cabable of doing the job. Creating our own engine is not an option because we don't have the time for that.

The question now just is, is is possible to create a decent prototype within 8-10 month time with a team of 6 people using irrlicht? (should include at least 1-2 levels, complete sound engine, some AI techniques, some physics, collision detection, etc. the usuall stuff...)

We have at least 2 designers in our team, everyone has some programming skills (from undergrad studies or previous working experience, so some of us have not been working with c++ the last years but with other languages) but more or less we're all quite new to the field of direcx & ai programming and stuff (just startet to work with directx few weeks ago).

There r some other engines we might consider (like Nebula2), we're still researching, may be someone can help us with some informations?

as you might guess, yepp, we're gamestech students and r right on our way to start our main project.

so, thx alot for any information,

greetings,

darkwolf

[Millers Drillers]

Irrlicht is one of the easiest engines to pick up and learn. Never tried Nebula but I heard it takes a big team and a while to learn because of a poor community or such. Anyway, depending on your art/programming abilities and depending on the style of the game, it should definately be possible. Good luck bro.

[Joe_Oliveri]

Yes, Go for it and good luck. I would say 6 to 8 months would be a good prototype milestone. So 8 to 10 months would be more then you would need.

[pfo]

I think Irrlicht would be a good choice for you guys. A few months back I decided to get into game programming again myself, and looked around and tried nealy every engine (including Nebula, which I found confusing and support was very hard to find). In the end it was a toss up between Ogre and Irrlicht. I think Ogre looks maybe a tad nicer and offers a tad more functionality, but it's a hundred times more confusing. Irrlicht is pretty easy to pick up, I was amazed that most things worked on my first try after understanding the engine better.

[Guest]

Is it possible to get a decent "up to date" look using the irrlicht engine?
(our project might have more of a comic look)

What I've seen from the ogre engine looks really nice, but i haven't really seen something comparable using the irrlicht engine. may be i just didn't find it...

[Millers Drillers]

You cant tell how good an engine is based on screenshots due to the fact that often the quality of a screenshot is heavily based on the graphics that were made available to the programmer at the time. A screenshot is only as good as its graphics so thats why you actually have to play the demo if it is available. whatever.

[darkwolf]

I know, thats why I was askin'

I was just wondering what is possible with both engines because every engine has its specific abilities.

[Millers Drillers]

The great thing about irrlicht is if you need to add something, you can because it is open source.

[Midnight]

start now and don't give anyone money that only seems to make the work days seem longer

[piot]

I am working on a 2 man project and we have a similar goal - the prototype. Since you didn't say anything about your project it's hard to judge, BUT: working with Irrlicht is easy and fast. Our prototype is finished after 2-3 month (this means, only the coding, no art and stuff). But you should always keep in mind that Irrlicht is just a rendering library, no "real" engine. This means you have to create your own sound manager, level format, network code, and so on... like I said, depends on what you understand of a prototype. I am in game programming for about 3 years, I dont know your experience but the "usual" stuff is done within some days (since I did them before in other projects).

To sum it up: 6 people, 8 month - go for it (we are 2 and it took about 3 month, working only a few days the week, same goals as you, basic game logic, level-loading, deathmatch mode, client/server communication and stuff). If you have problems with "engine" components like sound, network and stuff (or need for "modern" modelformats without writing them on your own) you should maybe pick another open source library (-> nebula, its great by the way) - so while you spend time because of the easy use, you loose time because you have to implent all other game components than rendering by yourself .

[MrPotatoes]

Hey everyone.
Maybe you can provide me with some usefull information.

Ok, at first: We're a team of 6 people and we have to create a game prototype within 8-10 month.
We already came up with a project idea, a more detailed design document will follow.

darkwolf

don't take this peraonlly but 8-10 months you should be halfway done or almost done with your project by then.

i had a ful 1 level *abeit buggy* game in 2 months.
a 3 level 2D game with 3 people done in 1 month. that was a sucky month

do you plan to make an MMO or something? otherwise i really don't understand why it would take so long. or are you new? cuz that would make alot of sence then. but still, shouldn't take you that long.

make sure you have a really sturdy design doc. ours was 200 pages for a 1 level 3D racing game. make sure that yours is up to par. otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

if you want any hints or help with anything generic PM me. i can give you advice or look anything over. well, jists, i know how things are with publishers and such

[darkwolf]

Well, as mentioned before, we're 6 msc gamestech students. We all have different backgrounds. I was, for example, working as an it professional developing application software for the last 3 years.

All in all everyone of us has some experience but this definitely is the first game project.

Even if we have 8 month time, time is somewhat limited becaue of plenty of other projects we have to finish during our studies.

To the project itself:
It is supposed to include at least 5-10 minutes of gameplay to show how the game will work when its finished. The "first level of the game" is what we need to do.

The game itself, without giving away too much of the whole idea, is a 2 1/2D Jump&Run (at least the first level) in a kinda Comic Look.

Sounds simple but the story, the character and the setting is what makes the game unique.

- For Sound/Music we're probably going to use the Audiere Sound System. (I have never used audiere before, so i dont know if audiere or fmod is better)
- For the prototype itself there is no need of an AI, because the "threats" in that first level don't need any AI.
- Collision Detection, shouldn't be a problem, there r some good tutorials so we should be fine with that, hopefully...
- Physics System. We're not sure if we will need one for the prototype, that sill has to be evaluated.

Well, thats it.
At least 1 or 2 of us will do the modells. We have someone who will create some nice soundtracks for us.
And right now we're on our way to finish the whole idea, finish the design document and include all the extra stuff we need into the engine.
after that, we'll start coding the game itself.

//edit:

otherwise i really don't understand why it would take so long.

I'm an it prof. and i was developing app. software for 3 years now. I've not done games so far, but how can u say that a whole project should be done within 8 month? If ur not just recycling parts from other games u already did this is a lot of work.
Sure, i've not done games so far, but from developing app. software, what was quite complex as well, i know what has to be done to develop at least a decent prototype.
I mean, u have to do a lot of planning, u have to come up with a decent architecture, all the modules have to be developed properly. I dont know why that should be different in a game.
All that stuff consumes a lot of time. I've seen that before when we where developing new prototypes for our software when i was working. The architecture was even already present, but still, its a lot of work.
This is no offense, I'm just wondering how you can say that it is possible to complete a more or less complex project in such a short time.

[Maize]

Your original post made it sound like the design was done and you would need 8 months for just coding it. As for the better sound system...FMod is clearly a better system but cant be for commercial abuse. In that respect, go for Audiere unless you have extra $2000.

[darkwolf]

unless you have extra $2000

ahh, well. anytime, sure...
just got the audiere engine running and I think it'll perfectly do the job.

Your original post made it sound like the design was done

Ah, no. K, maybe I expressed myself a bit unclear.
Basicly, nothing is done yet. The 8 month are for the whole project.
Design, coding, everything.

right now we're working on the designdocument, but the contents are clear already. the same time we're including everything we need into the irrlicht engine, like the sound engine. architecture will be the next important step.

we're still in the preparation phase of our project.