My LEGO Nexus Organization

No, not the kitchen device; the program. =P

Discuss the popular 3D model creation program here!

Anyone know much about how the motion actuator types work, for the Game Engine?

Simple Motion just changes the coordinates of an object depending on the properties you enter. It's easy to use, but can cause collision problems since it doesn't actually use the physics engine. For example, an object moving at a high velocity may just pass right through walls.

Servo Control applies a force to the object, which makes the collisions much more realistic. I never learned how to use Servos, I just followed a tutorial somewhere.

Hmm, I see. What I was wondering, was how to calculate precisely how much force(Or use other options, but I think the main thing is the linear force/velocity) is needed to equate something like 10/20 units for the Simple motion, to what's needed for ?/? in Servos.

Basically, to translate 10 units(and 20 units for running) into the equivalent for Servo actuators.

Also, what about the force stuff for dynamic objects in simple actuators, is that relatively the same as Linear Velocity in servos? That'd make translating my jumping module to servos easy.

Servos do seem quite similar to linear velocity. However, servos allow you to set limits to the force on each axis individually. For example, if you have a linear velocity acting on an object while a key is pressed and the object goes over the edge of a cliff, it won't fall until the key is no longer pressed. Servos you can have it fall right away (or not, if you don't want to).

Well, a simple motion pushes x units per logic tic, and a servo makes the object go at a velocity (units per second). You can convert like that, or just experiment to get an approximate match. I have a servo at 5.00 and a simple motion at .085 doing the same thing.

The main difficulty in using servos is that even after the actuator is deactivated the object keeps moving because it has momentum.


Edit: I found a tutorial/demo blender file that may help.
http://www.tutorialsforblender3d.com/GameDoc/Movement/Movement_Script_4.html

Hmm, I see. Which have you found to be the most realistic, for movement? I might just like 10 units for movement, since I have a huge area for the test workshop's ground. I can't tell exactly what it is, but I think it's a cube scaled out a couple times... The scale's about 68, according to the object data. Obviously that will work better later on, but...

Yeah, I've been looking at that site(And that script), but I don't think it works with 2.63, since I tried and utterly failed to get it to work the other day. D=

/EDIT: Yeah, I think it needs some major upgrades, as it's likely broken in many places... It was designed for 2.49, and after the 2.5 upgrade, they updated Python, and things likely broke between the two versions badly... The other day, it recognized 'has_key' as an invalid call, so that's probably one problem. =P

I just switched over to the script I posted because it's the most realistic movement I've used so far. If you want it to work for 2.63, download the "finished blend 2.6" and copy the script from there; it's updated for version 2.6. To be honest, I didn't read the tutorial at all, I just downloaded that file and modified my current game's moving system.

Oh? Huh. Well, that's odd; they updated the Blend file for 2.6, but they didn't bother to update the script they posted? *Sighs* I guess everyone does things differently. I'll check it tomorrow or so, hopefully, then. =D

Right now I'm trying to make overlay scenes work with scaling. It doesn't exactly work as you'd think when you do that. =P

Hmm, moving up ramps has ceased working...

You mean you're making one scene stretched or something?

1. That's odd...

2. Well, I'm working with two cameras, as I mentioned... And in Camera View in the Game Engine, it letterboxes everything, which I don't exactly want. So, I enabled scaling for it, instead of letterbox. Problem is, if I'm zoomed out on a camera to help position and edit stuff, it shows it in the wrong spot on the main scene. xD

1. Fixed. I had misplaced a decimal.

2. Aha. I've never worked with multiple cameras. The only overlaying I do is for a HUD. Can you not just make all the cameras have the same size and aspect ratio?

3. My 2nd attempt at modelling a tree has met with limited success - it is possible to tell it apart from a lamppost.

1. Decimals are always getting in the way, aren't they? =P

2. I'm not sure, considering that's what I'm doing. xD It's the overlaying for the HUD that is the problem. When I go into camera view, if the camera in the Main scene is zoomed in more than the one in the HUD scene, then things go slightly wrong. However, I can't really change it, considering the scaling is for the game window size, more or less. =/

3. Hah, sounds like something I'd do. xD Lamp posts are cool too. =P

Just some models I recently made.

This is my second attempt at creating a human face. I made it today, and there is no texture, just a material.
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/KnightsFan/Blender/head.png)

This is my second attempt at building a tree. It's the first that got farther than simply being a forked cylinder. The leaves are textured; the bark is just a material.
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/KnightsFan/Blender/tree.png)

I need to actually work on making models again; get out of the Game Engine for once. =P Half my Blend files are game tests. xD

Same here. But I've had to use Blender's modelling and VSE recently for CGI in some films. I was also thinking of making an animated short film in Blender in the next few months.

That'd be pretty cool. CGI movies are always fun. =D Haven't made any yet, but I'm definitely intrigued. I probably need a better computer for full rendering, though...

Speaking of rendering, I can't seem to get textures to show up correctly, in Blender. =/

Hmm. The textures aren't showing up at all, or they just look strange? Are you in GLSL mode?

The grass texture I used isn't showing up at all. I might not have set it up properly, but I don't exactly know how to set textures up properly, still. >>'

Yes, I am in GLSL mode.

For GLSL you have to add a material to the object, and then add a texture to that material. Set the texture to Image or movie, and then there are options for UV mapping or generating coordinates.

If you already knew/did that, then perhaps the texture is mapped to only a tiny portion of the image, or the image file was moved after loading it into Blender.

Hmm. My mapping may just be fail; and it DID give an error about where the image was when I loaded my blend file up last night.(Knew about the rest, though)

I've only really gotten into actual UV-mapping recently, though; I probably haven't gotten that right yet.

It's not totally my computer, since it at least attempted to properly render the brick texture from that test movement file. Maybe not perfectly, but good enough that the brick could SLIGHTLY be seen among the black. Not quite so for my test workshop ground object, however. =P

Wait, it's not just blackness, is it? Because that's usually due to not having any lighting set up (I did that a few times)
If the texture shows up in Multitexture setting, then you know your mapping is fine.

But yeah, mapping is really hard to do properly. Do you know a decent method for making seamless textures in GIMP, btw?

There's some blackness in the Textured mode of the non-engine part; but when I play the game, it's fine(I do have one lamp, since nothing else likes to work. =P), however, the texture just doesn't show, it's simply the material I used for the ground. =/

Not yet; I haven't gotten that far into texturing. The one time I did try, I was pixel spriting by hand. Haven't tried for higher res textures just yet. My advice would be to try and match everything up on each side, though; even if you need to manually pixel sprite some spots.

Is your material set to use the ground texture perhaps?

Does anyone happen to know how to convert Blender models to .t3d? I'm trying to make a Deus Ex mod using the Unreal Editor.

I'm going to suggest that, if either of you decide to try to do a short film, you create a visual to go along with this (http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/podcasts/podcast012.html). :P

I was planning to do a film noir next. I just attempted to imagine Humphrey Bogart or Marlon Brando saying those lines...

KF: I think there's a Python mod to do that, if it's not a default option. =)

Also, I'm not sure of the texture settings, I'll check it when I have a chance. That might be part of the problem. =)

I decided to make a point-and-click adventure game in Blender. Probably not the best engine to do this with, but whatever.

That sounds like it'd be intriguing. Something like Myst or Mist or however you say it, then?

Though I'm ashamed to admit it, I have never played any of the Myst games. The only adventure game I've played (other than online arcade games) is Syberia. I'm not really sure where I'll take it, but I'd like to integrate a mystery-type story with good cinematic presentation. So far, the character moves where the mouse clicks and goes to different scenes when exiting the current one.

King's Quest.  Watch Let's Plays.  That is all.  ;D

*Looks around shiftily* I still need to play Myst myself... =( Though, I'd imagine it'd be kinda similar to MNOLG, if you've played that?

Have I played MNOLG? Are you kidding? I played both religiously for way too long. I should still have them somewhere on my computer, come to think of it.
Mine is more like the second, because it's 3rd person. Actually, I'm drawing inspiration from a steampunk Mata Nui.

Edit: Also, I intend to make conversations a little more interesting by going to a close-up of the people and having lots of different options.

Just checking; I figured you had. =P But yeah, I've heard Myst is kinda like MNOLG 1, so yeah. And that sounds pretty cool, actually. So, it'd be like controlling Hahli?

Yes, except it's humans instead of Bionicle. Also, I plan to make it hand-drawn with digital coloring, so it's at least pseudo-artistic. :P

That would be pretty interesting. Using the motion capture stuff?

I've never looked at Blender's motion capture functions. Don't you need a MoCap suit to do that?

No; they've got features to just attach 'spots' and such; it's not motion capture for models; it's importing a real-world scene for stuff; might be useful for importing your drawing.

About the textures; just got a chance to test out my texture in Multitextured mode; it works. But it just doesn't show in GLSL.

I see. Did you set the texture coordinates to UV?

I believe so; I just did a basic unmapping, though; since it is just a grass texture. And it shows up perfectly in-game on Multitextured, but since GLSL is supposed to be the best, I'd prefer to have that... =/

Have you gotten any other textures to work in GLSL?

Earlier you said,
Are you sure your texture is linked to the material? When in the Textures editor, you should see something like "object name" -> "material name" -> "texture name"

Not personally; though the texture in the test file from that movement thing worked.

I need to check that; lemme look quickly... Yes, it is; though... Should I look into the 'world textures' tab? Even if it's there in the material textures tab?

Have you tried a side-by-side comparison of the textured object that works and the one that doesn't?

Not really, sicne they're in two separate files... =P

I really don't know what to tell you. I would try creating a test file just to see if you can get textures working at all. If you can, then do the exact same thing with whatever it is that's not working. If it still doesn't work, you know it's some lighting or world setting, and not the object itself.

By the way, I've started using Blender's motion tracking features to put CGI on live action footage. Also, version 2.64 has a new masking tool, which is super helpful (since I forgot a greenscreen on my last shoot).

I really need to download the new version too... If only it didn't need to effectively replace the old version. =P

But yeah, I'll hopefully try to test it eventually; it's just odd that it won't work. Maybe I'll compare, see if the brick texture on the movement test thing has any different settings or so.

What version do you have? If it's 2.5 or 2.6, I think everything should work the same.

2.63

Hence why I'm not upgrading until I get further into working with lightning. Because I want shadow-granting lightning, but I don't want to deal with the hassle of reinstalling Blender just for an updated version yet. =P

Oh. I just went 2.62 to 2.64 to get the new masking and character physics. The character physics don't actually work very well, actually. However, polygonal faces are nice, especially for making buildings, and sun lamps casting shadows is a huge plus.

Well, my first version was 2.63, so that's why I have that. =P

That said; is there a way to have an object act more like a projectile, and go in a straight line through the air? Trying to make energy bullets ala Megaman, but it keeps curving into the ground. Which is great for rebound weapons, but I want plasma bullets. =P

You could just add a constant upward force of 9.8*mass to the bullet. There are probably other ways, but that's what I used in the past.

Technically, projectiles (maybe not plasma...) do curve down, of course. You can lower the mass of the bullet in the physics tab.

*nerdrant*

plasma weapons are not really that feasible, and if they did exist, they would be more pistol-like than any other type of weapon. a sci-fi style plasma bolt would not do much damage, but leave a large burn and maybe a bit of a dent. keep in mind, plasma is ionized and (typically) superheated gas.

plasma weapons DO exist today, in the form of flamethrowers and weaponized tesla coils (yes, people have made them - not very effective, but still, they do exist)

yes, fire and lightning are both forms of plasma.

keeping that in mind, what would happen if you fired a sci-fi-style bolt of plasma? well, it wouldn't curve down to the ground, that's for sure. as it travels through the air, it looses heat/ionization and dissipates into gas. most gases that are easily transmuted into plasma would actually float away.

the exception to this, of course, is if you have some SOURCE for the plasma - EG gas in a flamethrower, or electrical current from a tesla coil.

TLDR: plasma does not work like it works in the movies, kids. neither do lasers, but that's a topic for another day.

Hence the un-charged MegaBuster(Which technically is solar powered, but plasma shots sound cooler) doing only one unit of damage. Though that's still somehow enough to kill some things in one hit. =P

But yeah, this isn't exactly a realistic test thing I'm going with here. Though it's too bad, those could be cool. Ah well.

KF: I figured out a rough hack to fix it. Just hit the 'lock z movement' button on the physics tab for the sphere. =P I'll now likely have to add an empty to adjust the position of where the sphere appears, but for testing purposes, I now have a rough jump and shoot prototype that could actually play just like a normal Megaman game. =P

mtm: Hence science "fiction" :P

Blade: That works too. It's always a good idea to use empties or invisible cubes for where stuff spawns. Have you thought about how you'll get between different levels at all?

You know, it'd be really awesome to see a 3D version of Earthbound... and it'd be considerably easier to program than a platformer, since physics would hardly be involved at all...

KF: I plan on using empties eventually, yes. I was just thinking last night about whether or not that's what I did for my FPS test(Which I plan to use ideas from both. =P

As for switching levels; I'm not sure. I kinda want it to be a menu at least for the testing, but I don't know how to put up new levels or so. =/

Flipz: That would be cool, though, then you have the problem of coding in the battles. Which isn't exactly as easy as one might think, thanks to the whole 'you don't die until the counter reaches zero' thing. Mother 1, maybe; but not 2 and 3, since the counter's dynamic. It might be possible, but would have to take longer.

I might try it if I ever get a chance to play Earthbound, though. =)

Flipz: I've never played earthbound, but if you want me to try to make it 3D I will. Not saying I'll get anywhere, but it wouldn't be the first hopeless project I've undertaken with Blender.

Blade: I'd advise you to think about level switching early. It's a pain to try to completely rework characters after realizing you need multiple levels (I'm currently doing that...). Also, it's probably easiest on your computer to make each map/level in a different scene.

Ah, so just switch scenes, then? That would likely work. Though, I know from the start that I need multiple levels(Though I only have a test character right now, so completely reworking characters wouldn't be that huge a problem. =P). Because, well, it's a test Megaman Fangame, I'll definitely need at least 8 levels. =P (Though it might not get quite so far; but it'll give me experience I can put toward other stuff.)

Yeah. You may need the character to be a group, though, because you can add a group instance to each scene easily.

Well that'd okay, because I may need multiple instances of the same character.(Since it'd be a fangame, then I need to have multiple weapons. Therefore, I'd need multiple 'skins' for Megaman, and a way to quickly change them up to reference the weapon in particular.)

Also, it is admittedly a case of 'what if Megaman 2 had the Charge and Slide' right now(Or rather, will be, once I figure out how to get a charged shot working. Sliding's kinda easier. =P). It'll probably evolve from that, but the main reason for it...

METAL BLADE ALL DAY EVERY DAY ALL THE TIME.

You can't just change out which weapon Megaman is holding?

Charging shouldn't be terribly difficult, since you can get the positive or negative pulses of a key in python.

He doesn't have different weapons he holds; he absorbs the data into his Buster, which changes his colour, and he then uses that arm to use the weapon that he copied. For example, his buster would fire the Triple Blade from Blade Man(Yes, I get the humour there. =P), or his hand would throw the Metal Blade from Metal Man. Which is the problem here; since there's nothing to reflect in terms of weapons, I could definitely just maybe do a change state to update Megaman to the new weapon, but unless I could just switch textures on the fly, then it'd just fire the weapon, with no visual cue for the player as to what weapon they're using. I know it's possible, since Capcom's pulled it off a few times... However, that's using a whole specific engine for it, so yeah.

So, it would allow two 'forms' of charging, then? Normal shots, slightly charged, and fully charged? I'm willing to sacrifice a level of charging until I figure it out perfectly, of course. =P

I see. If you need to merely change textures, I know that's possible (I've done it before). It has to do with the VideoTexture module.

If you need to change out Megaman's geometry, that's more difficult. One option would be to have have each model always there, but only one visible. When you change weapons, or whatever it's called, make the current one invisible and the new one visible. Or something like that.
I believe there's also a function for changing out meshes, but I don't know how to use it.

For the charging: sensors fire a positive pulse when they're activated, and a negative pulse when deactivated. So if you press the mouse button, it'll send a positive pulse, and when you lift your finger back off it, it'll send a negative pulse. So you start a timer when the button is pressed, and do something when the timer reaches a certain number, or cancel it if a negative pulse occurs.

Ah, okay then. That's probably all I'll need to do, since nothing changes. X's the one with all the fancy armours, and even then, they're chosen before the start of the level. =P And since I'm going for Megaman, and not X, that's fine still.

Luckily, no. The only time would be if I were replacing his helmet with his no helmet version, but I'm not confident in that yet. Technically I still just have a test model too, but...

Hmm, that might work, then. So, a kinda 'if timer is under 2 seconds, normal shot, if timer is between 2 seconds and 4 seconds, medium shot, and if timer is over 4 seconds, large shot' type of script? That might work. That's the more complex of the removed features from 9 and 10, after all.

Do you know how to pin soft bodies in the BGE?     Edit: Never mind, I got it working

About the timer: That's the idea. While you can do "if sensor.positive" in python, I don't think you can do "if sensor.negative." But since the pulse is either positive or negative, you should be able to use an else statement.

That's actually a question I've been wanting to know, for stuff like Link's hat. Since the cloth stuff doesn't seem to work as well as it should. =/

I suppose I will impart my newfound knowledge, then. :P Cloth in the BGE is slightly more complicated than cloth in the render engine.

1. Make your cloth object, and remember the cloth only bends on vertices (so a single plane won't do much)
2. Set the Physics to "Soft Body", deselect "Shape Match", and set the "Collision Bounds" to "Triangle Mesh"
    You now have a bit of cloth. To make it pinned to something, you need a rigid body joint
3. Add an object or empty. The cloth vertex closest to this object will get pinned in place.
4. Add a "Rigid Body Joint" constraint to the object, and set the "Target" to whatever your cloth is named. Voila!

You can add multiple joints if you want. You can also offset the rotation center of the joint using the X, Y and Z fields (click "Display Pivot" to see where the cloth will hang from)

Ah, I see. *Nods* So, this would work for stuff like shirts or so, too(For limited movement)? Or is there another way to handle that?

Also, how is a good way to handle hair, aside from particles, since they, IIRC, still aren't handled in the BGE?

I assume so. I haven't done anything besides a few tests myself.

I've never worked with particles or hair. Actually, I need to learn so I can make grass.

Alright then. Once I figure out how to make a less blocky than would be realistic body, then I'll try to make clothes for the character.

Okay; I hope it'll be possible...

/EDIT: Update on the game: I've now got a test boss room, along with the ability to kill off the shot objects if they touch another object with the property 'object'. I can't shoot through walls with this, which is kinda a shame; but since I haven't figured out how to make going off the screen kill the object yet, I can't have tons of bullet objects eating up my resources. xD

//EDIT: OOOH. I think I just accidentally fixed my texture problem. =P Lemme go test...

///EDIT: Okay, maybe not, but I'm getting close I think.

////EDIT: Server ate my edit. =P Anyway, what I was saying was that I can't run GLSL on OpenGL 1.4(Which my outdated laptop's graphics card uses), that I'll quickly manually check my mapping(Even though it works in multi-textured mode), and that I'm perplexed that the other texture even possibly worked on this.

Are you making a 2D game? If so, you could just set the bullet lifetime to be the maximum amount of time it takes to get across the screen.

Pretty much; it's more a 2.5d game, like the PSP Megaman games, but it's a 2D platformer, in genres. The main problem I have right now(Which'll be fixed when I import that movement script), is some of the movement stuff is pushing me off the platform, which I obviously can't have. Then I'll have to work on other stuff, and likely move my test workshop over to my desktop, as it should be able to handle MORE than my laptop can. Maybe not that much, OpenGL wise, but... =P

I see. Yeah, I would set the bullet lifetime to the max time it takes to get across the screen, then they wouldn't eat your resources. Alternatively, you could build a wall just off screen and parent it to the character, and kill any bullets that hit it.

What do you mean, you're pushed off the platform? Sideways, or through?

True. I'm also trying to figure out how to have the camera pan only when 'Megaman' is in the center of the screen, but that's not an issue right now, since I'm not using the camera at this moment anyway.

Off the x axis. =P Basically, I have my character traversing the stage going up on the Z axis, and left/right on the Y axis. However, in some instances(Formerly running into a wall with the old 'simple' motion actuator), I get push OFF the platform, on the X axis. Setting the bounding box to something like a cube had that effect too, so I'm actually flying off into space to what would be the right in an actual 3D game. =P The other problem I'd had, was that when I fell to the ground, I had to jump to move to the right, especially with one of the bounding boxes. Obviously it's not supposed to do that, and in some views, I'm also hovering. xD I'll be the first to admit this isn't exactly the most bug-free game I've seen. Still not the buggiest, though. =P

Also, the first boss for this test? Will be Airman. Or rather, a testing model to destroy to represent Airman, that'll not be able to fight back and all. =P(Hey, I've gotta defeat Airman somehow.)

For the camera panning, you could get the positions of both the camera and Megaman, and only move the camera if the Y-position is the same.

That sounds strange. Have you tried invisible barriers, so your character can't move along the X-axis at all?

*Does not know who Airman is* I've never played Megaman, see... :P

You mean Z axis. =P But yeah, that might be an idea, but would take some python coding... What about 'moving' screens like on certain platformers? Where the 'screen' changes as you go down or up? Or is it just better to have the camera do that?(Though for both of this, I'd need to figure out a different setting for the bosses, since there's a couple points where the camera needs to stay in ONE spot, like, again, the boss rooms)

Not yet, but that was my next plan. I just have to figure that out. =P

Basically, he's an infamous boss that apparently no-one can beat, because the pattern of his tornadoes is impossible to dodge. He's actually easier to beat than everyone says, if you can afford to take a few hits and spam the Mega Buster. =P I'd say Quick Man or Wood Man is harder(All are Megaman 2 Robot Masters).

Now, that's actually making me curious about something; how would I go about 'unlocking' weapons after beating a boss, do you think?

Yes, well, you'll have to get your hands dirty with Python sooner or later :p
You could just have different states for the camera. If the camera is in state 1, have it follow the character. If it's in state 2, put it in a specific place - it's not too terribly difficult, it'll just take a bit of planning.

For weapon unlocks: You'll probably need some sort of profile system, with stats being saved to files. I would just make a list of unlocked weapons that is loaded when the game starts, and write a new weapon into the list when it's unlocked. I can show you some of my code, if you want.

Yeah, that's true. =P I really do need to learn Python soon, since it gives so much more freedom. But I want to personally see how much I can do physics wise, with just the logic bricks. =P

Hmm, that's true. Maybe have an 'empty' or something for switching the camera states(Which would otherwise be centered on the thing). If I REALLY needed an out, just have something switch the camera object the scene's using to the next camera, though a scrolling downward feature(Like in, again, the Megaman games, and similar to what it does for scene transitions in The Legend of Zelda's 2D games) would be kinda cool.

That might work, and would help with future stuff, if I can mess around with profile things already. And that would be appreciated, though I'd likely try to eventually use it just as a base reference, so that I don't use your coding outright. ^^'

There are things you can't really do with just logic bricks - AI, for example.

A basic profile would be something like this. Say you've got a txt document that looks like:
And you want to assign his unlocked weapons to "TheAwesomeSwordofDoom" and "UselssPocketKnife." You could do this:

Well, you could have basic AI. Like what's present in Megaman 2(Except for the bosses). If you get close, have something happen. =P

Hmm, that sounds really interesting. So you could track more advanced stuff too, like deaths and kills and such? That would be very cool to have handy.

Is it possible to print that into a screen if needed, too? Like a 'stats' screen?

Yeah, you can do tons of stuff. I load weapon stats (ammo, tags, mods) and even animation frames for various actions from text files. I also load mission scripts, including AI objectives, from map profiles. It should be pretty simple to do deaths and kills.

A stat screen shouldn't be too hard, once you have the variables for kills and deaths and such set up. My menu script could do it without any modifications, except an added function for placing the text. You could even make the stat screen pop up when you press a button, and pause the game while it's up.

By the way, I'd be happy to make the scripts for you, if you want. It's either that or I work on my own, which are pretty similar anyway :P

Hmm, that sounds pretty cool, then. I didn't actually realize you could do all that. =O Specifically the animation frames stuff. =P

Hmm, you have a menu screen? I was actually going to work on having something like that next; both for a 'main menu', and for a 'selecting weapons'/inventory type of thing.

That might be a cool idea. =) The beginning stuff may be just basic, like figuring out how to get a pattern working right(And technically a health system, but I think the script I found for that may work well), but I may just keep that in mind if I do even more complex stuff, if only to compare notes and such...

There are several ways to set the start and end frames of animations. I use the armature.playAction() method for all my animations.

Yeah, you can see it in the video I made. This is pretty old, but my menu is still the same.
http://youtu.be/jjYXVDQiCos

Ah, I see; that's pretty cool, then. I'll have to look into that.

Very nice; that seems pretty complete. Is it possible to have the menus differ in ways, or have a hover effect, or the like? I'd assume so, but again, haven't messed around with menus much at all. =P

Also, very nice game; seems to work very well, especially considering that was an older build. =D

Hover effect? *Leaves*
*Comes back* Done. :P I used the mouse over sensor to scale the button object up a bit
My menu scene is basically a background, and then a ton of button objects. When a button is clicked, it moves other buttons into place. The placement is based on a property of the button.

Thanks!

Hmm; that definitely sounds like it's very cool. *Is impressed* Can this be done with a text key object thing? If so, I'll definitely have to look into this more when I go to work on the menus. =)

It's not too difficult, I just hadn't thought of it 'till you mentioned hovering.
Yes, I am using the Text objects, the ones where you can type in Edit mode. In game, you just set the object's ['Text'] property to make it change.
Unfortunately scaling doesn't work very well with Text objects.

I figured it would show the selection you're choosing easier to see.

Ah, I see, thought so. Just wasn't entirely certain. Seems like a cool idea, and it could get a lot of usage. Now, would a similar thing be done for text boxes and such for story stuff in-game?

Oh yeah? Does it cut it off or something?

Yeah, you could use Texts to write anything, I think. I doubt they automatically wrap, but that's not a big issue.

Instead of scaling, it cuts the Text down smaller, so if it's scaled small enough it'll look like a bit of smudge. It's pretty annoying.

Yeah, that's true. I was more meaning a scrollable box that you could advance, like in an RPG, but that probably is relatively easy to pull off.

Hmm. Wouldn't that technically be how it's supposed to work? I haven't really messed with text scaling much before, to be honest. Unless you mean it's like if you shrink an HD image to fit a smaller screen...

My new menu has scrolling, though I do it with the keyboard instead of a scroll bar.

No, if you scale the Text object to 10%, it'll have 10% of the resolution. So it tries to pack your letters into 10 pixels instead of 100, no matter how close to the camera the Text is. Basically, you can't read it.

No, no, I don't mean that kinda of scrolling, so much as the 'press A to advance the story' type of textbox scrolling. ^^;

Ah, I see. That makes sense, and isn't a good thing. =/

I recently downloaded Unity, and am using that for games. It's actually a ton easier, and it can directly import Blender models, materials and animations.

Hmm, that's interesting. What's Unity like, in terms of new programmer friendliness? I might try that when I get back to my main computer and remember to re-download Blender again finally. >>'

Unity is more user friendly than Blender, imo. It comes with some great, pre-built assets to get you started, like first or third person controller, tree creator and it has a terrain editor. Building maps is MUCH easier than in Blender, although you do have to build models in other software and import them. It's about 1000x easier to make a HUD also :P

It's quite different from Blender for handling variables and scripts (which can be in JavaScript, C# or Boo). It took me maybe a week to get used to. I haven't tackled AI yet, but I believe that Blender may have a slight edge since it comes with NavMesh functions--but I'm not sure.

Also, it's supposed to have more efficient physics and graphics, but my games aren't complex enough to notice :P

Ooh; that sounds rather awesome. =D So you basically have a MouseLook script built into the game engine itself? What type of controls are there for the third person perspective; can you basically assign the camera to the mouse?

Oh, so no Python? Darn. Javascript, though? That's... surprising. I might have to look into that...

Hmm, I might have to experiment with that eventually. =P If it allows easier double jumping, that'd be perfect. =P

No, it just comes with a MouseLook script already written. You can edit it just like any script that you write yourself. It basically just rotates whatever object you assign it to--you can put the MouseLook on any object and it'll rotate with the mouse.

Yeah, getting used to putting semicolons in was a pain. I was lucky because I've used js before.

Ah; I see. *Nods* That makes sense, and could be rather cool.

Yeah, that'll probably be one good thing for me; though I'll probably need to refresh my knowledge on it. >>'

So, I'm jumping into Unity now that I'm back at my awesome desktop; Only problem is, it's totally different from Blender, so I'm having a little trouble figuring everything out. =P I'm sure that'll pass in a few days, and it sounds like it'll be amazing for making games. ^_^

Unity's learning curve was shallower than Blender's for me. But yes, it's pretty different. Anything specific I can help with?

Well, not really anything with terrain, I picked that up pretty quickly. =P

How can you allow players to set settings easily? I don't want to have players be forced to use my mouse settings; yet my mouse requires a lot lower setting for sensitivity, and it WOULD be nice to test cameras. =P

Also, speaking of cameras, how can you get a camera that follows a character in third-person mode, yet can be manually turned? I tried to experiment with the Third Person Camera thingy, but I think I did something wrong. ._.

There are sensitivity variables in the pre-made MouseLook script.

You a camera that you can sometimes turn without turning the character? Add a MouseLook to the third-person camera and set it to function in both the X and Y axes. (Disclaimer: I haven't worked with 3rd person at all... I could be wrong.)

Is it possible to edit that in an in-game menu, though? Like in most all FPS games these days? Because what is a horrible setting to me might be needed for others. =P

That sounds about right, yeah; I don't know how I didn't think of that. I don't know about the Y axis, but the X one would be perfect. How do you parent it to a prefab, though?

I haven't looked into menus very much. Have you looked into the OnGUI functions? There might be a better way than using those, but you can do menu stuff using those.

What do you mean? A prefab can be a group of objects. You should be able to parent the camera to any one of them. There's a button in the Inspector that lets you apply settings to a prefab, which would save the camera into the prefab also. Not sure if that's what you wanted...

No, I haven't. =P

Hmm... Because I tried to parent a camera to the Third Person Controller prefab test model that comes with one of the example things, and it just gave me a 'by doing this, you'll cancel the prefab' warning thing. I dunno; I've only experimented with this a bit so far. xD

I just tried doing that, and it didn't display the message. But I HAVE seen that message before, so now I'm confused :P
You could make a character from scratch. All a character needs is a CharacterMotor and FPSInput script to run around. Then you can parent a camera and add MouseLook stuff. There's a also mini-tutorial in the MouseLook script (it's for first person, but it may still help).

If you build something, you can right click in your Resources and Create -> Prefab, then drag whatever you put together into that prefab for reuse.

I would; but this character's mostly just for testing out the features of Unity, since I don't have a 'true' test character yet; hence why I wanted to try this out. But I'll definitely keep that in mind. =)

Alright, that will definitely be helpful. You'd need the player character prefab to be in each 'level' scene, after all, right?

I haven't done more than one scene, and I've never tried compiling into a standalone game, so I don't know. But I would assume so.

Have you ever worked with Cycles Render in Blender?

Alright then, will keep in mind.

Not yet, unfortunately. I really need to stop stalling and start installing things. =P

I started using Cycles the other day. It's pretty awesome, though hard to learn, and takes an uber-long time to render anything.

On another note, I started making a zombie game with Unity. (And accidentally downscaled the Zombies by .5 and ended up fighting an undead midget army :P)

Hmm, interesting, that sounds like it's pretty cool; I'll have to give it a shot. =D

Hahaha; baby Zombies; the horror of EVERYONE. Fast, strong, and always in hordes. =P

I've been building a scene over the past week or so.

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?298634-Writer-s-World

*Whistles* Very nice! Looks pretty cool, I have to admit. =D