(WARNING!!! ANOTHER LONG POST :p sorry guys, I can't help it...like I said before, my mind is crazy...it's like every thought is a person in tokyo during peak times...so my mind is like tokyo on hypo pills...and thats pretty darn hectic!)
Well, I've followed STALKER for a very long time and am a long term member of the oblivion-lost forum, but I am having some severe doubts about the SDK being released any time soon...sure that gives me more time to get the content for my mod done in time for the SDK's release, but one thing I need to do first is have a base, meaning I need some levels to use my content in, all I need for now is a box room to test stuff in, but I'm not how GSC are going to do the whole modding thing, because so far all I've heard is that they are only releasing the SDK for mp which is a HUGE shame, if that is the case, I will contact GSC and pretty much show them a portfolio of what I have done so far as proof that i'm serious about getting it done.
Did you try and figure out the name, it's not exactly hard to figure out :p
As for Notrium 3d and helping out. As much as I would love to work on a project such as this, I believe that I won't be as much help as you can get from other more experienced people.
I will suggest some places where people would/could help you out. Firstly you would already know about <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.moddb.com">http://www.moddb.com</a><!-- w --> which is mod database. There are plenty of people in the forums looking for people to join, The site would also be great for advertising Notrium, and Notrium 3d, and having the games be much MUCH more recognized. I've seen some pretty crappy stuff on there aswell, and I don't mean to be an A-hole, but most people would look at the screens for Notrium and have a whinge that it's graphics arent all pretty, but thats ok...they miss out :p I think the graphics are fine, the screenshots look like crap though
Another place which would be EXCELLENT for the guys working on 3d modelling is <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.3dbuzz.com">http://www.3dbuzz.com</a><!-- w --> this is a fantastic site, the forums are very friendly, the people on the forums are incredibly helpful, and you're guarunteed to find some enthusiastic 3d modellers on there who are willing to join your team.
I can't think of anywhere else, but google is your friend, just search things like "3d modelling forum" or "3d modelling learning" etc etc
It shouldnt be very hard to find people who are good at 3d modelling, animation, texturing etc.
I love texturing aswell, it's great, I love drawing, it's also great...I'm planning on being an all rounder, but unfortunately, I can't help you with Notrium 3d, not even with music. I may be able to help with music, but it just depends on what you're after. I reckon if you gave me a task, like telling me that you want a long end of the world style dramatic environment soundtrack that includes such and such sounds and instruments, at such and such pace with such and such noise, etc I would be able to do it, or even just telling me "I want something that makes a person feel alone and cold" will do.
I am learning music with the program Reason 3.0 and it's great, although, music is a very VERY tiring process, and unless you have alot of patience....and headache pills, you're going to have alot of difficulty creating music, because it is so time consuming, it is repetative, it takes a great deal of concentration and emotional understanding (you have to feel the emotions created by your own music in order to make it good) to get into the songs you create. Even songs that are quiet and cold ( kinda like the music on STALKER), are extremely hard to make. But before you even get onto making the music, you have to understand how to use the program aswell, I mainly do all my things self taught, except the 3d modelling and stuff, and it is extremely difficult, but at least being self taught, you don't get confused when reading tutorials that tell you to do things that you can't actually do with your program :p.
(I have rambled on ALOT here..only read if you want some details written with bad grammar :p )
Like I said, i'm only learning, I am good with Maya, but I'm not great or excellent, All I know how to do right now in terms of the 3d stuff is modelling. I don't know much about animation (although it's one part I am most looking forward to doing, as I am a martial artist, and I do alot of demonstrations in our Demo Team, so I do alot of choreography, and also, since I do martial arts, but different from the usual traditional stuff, we tend to get right into it, we get rough, we get real, none of this letting people grab our wrist before we do a move, it's pro-active pre emptive strikes before they get to grab our wrist, it's getting that knife the person is holding, out of the way, and digging our fingers into their eye sockets, turning that knife against them and sticking it into their stomach with them still holding it, etc. Words won't explain realism of fighting. But anyway, I'm blabbering on.. The point of me saying all that is that with my mod, I don't plan for it to be light hearted, it is going to be gritty (not blood everywhere) it is going to be realistic (yea yeah, how many times have you heard that....but how many times have you heard it from someone who means it?) I'm aiming for the basic gameplay of say for example...the uh...the zombies from half life 2 just swing their arms at you...as with every other zombie game....now imagine if those zombies did what enemies do in games like Condemned, or The dark messiah of might and magic, they grab you, they get in your face, there is nothing scary about a monster in a game swinging their arms at you, I'd be more scared if this thing charges at your screaming it's head off and physically jumping on your character knocking him to the ground and beating the living daylights out of your player...thats what i'm aiming for, yes it sounds far fetched, but I have planned it all, and it's most certainly possible, if the SDK for the dark messiah of might and magic came out, I would have demonstrations done on it to show people what I mean...unfortunately, I can't because it's not out yet.
Another thing that I really REALLY would love to do and is planned as "topping" on the base cake, is having a really interactive melee system. For example, you have a pistol, you have an enemy that has just run around the corner and grabbed onto you, the animation shows one arm holding the enemy back away from you while you are both in a struggle, and your gun in one hand, then if you press the "special" key (i'll call it that for now), that weapon in your hand gets shoved inside the mouth of the enemy, or under the enemies chin, and BOOM!, you get blood sprayed in your eyes, you can't see anything but red, your player makes painful noises as his eyes burn from the enemies blood, he is blinded, leaving him vunerable to attack from something/someone else. Another example, an even better one. What do we all hate about melee weapons in games? It's never done right, it's like developers and modders have never bothered to go outside, get a huge water melon and attack it with a knife. Why do I say a watermelon? because it's cheap, and it's good for simulation of someones head, rockmelons are ok, but watermelons are better. Now on that note, you probably think i'm a little screwed up in the head and a tad sadistic, but thats ok, I don't care much the problem with games that use melee weapons is this.
Here is the example. A watermelon is shoved onto a pole, a person swings at the watermelon, but doesnt hit it, whats the point in that, well, thats what games feel like, it feels like when I swing and stab that knife/sword, I'm not hitting anything, and I'd say the only game that does the melee thing the best is the dark messiah of might and magic, it gets right in there. SO, back to that horrible monster watermelon that is trying to kill me, bite me, rip off my head and kick it around for fun... Say I have a fishing gaff, which is like a pole with a hook on the end...or say I just have a big giant hook in my hand as a weapon, if I was playing in a game with that hook, you'd see that weapon swing across the screen with a ridiculous amount of blood and the enemy still standing yeah? I don't like this one bit, it's stupid, it's boring and uninteresting, we all want to hit that watermelon, not swing infront of it (we also want to eat that watermelon too, ...but we'll ignore that for now)
So in the game, when I swing that hook, and I hit that enemy in the head with that hook, that hook aint gonna rip the enemies head off...this is solid skull bone you're talking about, joined by a spine, muscles, tendents and ligaments in the neck to hold it in place...so what happens now...we just hit the enemy in the head with a hook...what I want to happen is that hook does something it would do in reality....get stuck. That hook will get stuck in the enemies head, and the player has the choice to leave the hook in there and run like crazy from the other enemies, or try and get the thing back out of there to use it again. The result in trying to get it out of there is messy....depending on what player you play as. If you play as a stronger character, (this steers away from realism and goes into grittyness here) that hook will tear out of the enemies head through the eye socket, breaking the bone on the side of the eye socket that goes around to our temple...there isn't much bone in that little area, so that is going to get ripped through....what happens there...the player gets a bloody mess on his face again, and he can't see crap...again. the enemy is dead of course, but...his friends arent..so it's best to jsut leave that hook, avoid the other enemies and come back later to grab that hook if you so choose.
Thats the kinda thing I want. It sounds hard to do, but I'll learn...however long it takes me to learn, I don't care...but I want to get it done, and I will get it done.
There are many other things aswell, such as if your player doesnt sleep, you start suffering....initially day will be brighter, night will be darker, then you'll get a little bit of blurry vision, followed by slower movement, less energy etc...eventually, after a week without sleep, your player will collapse at some stage in the last 24 hours, and be out for another 24 hours...so if you collapse in the middle of nowhere, you're a gonner, if you collapse inside of a building that is safe...you might live, if you collapse in a safe haven, you'll be fine, and if you collapse with other people around, I might make it so that they bring you to safety.
I have said waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much already, and yet so little. But thats just some things I wish to add to the mod. But I am not going in bullet a gate, I am getting the ingredients for the cake, then I'm going to learn how to make the cake, then I will make the cake...the cake will be a standard fps where you can run around and all the basic things are there. Once I have that all done, I will be trying to make a nice tasty topping that everyone will love, and the topping are those things I have spoken about here.
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