Creating an open world game in unity

Hi everyone !

I have been thinking about starting a new project with unity 3D and i was thinking about doing an open world game with a fairly big map/terrain something like GTA but different with its on twist . I think that this could be a a successful project but i am fairly new to unity 3D and I think that enable for me to pull of this off i will need a small team at least .

please get back to me if interested........

Pie_Face

 

Oh God...please show him mercy.

 

hahhaha what do you mean by that Stormbreaker

 

You'll most likely find out before too long. We often see threads such as this one appear and they don't usually end well. A project focused on creating a large open world game is very complex and not recommended for anyone who is just starting to pick up game development.

 

These post belong in the collaboration forum section. Why don't you join the hundreds of other open world projects you find there...

Stating you are new and are starting off with huge open world game which you need a team for means you are begging to be forum bashed. What is role in the project? idea guy or project management?

 

yeah i assumed the same thing and read loads of threads of this same thing where people give up but i think with the right team time and effort i could pull this off

 

The joke is that the amount of work and expertise required for this kind of game is tremendous. But there are tons of people who come in and think they can make one themselves with no programming or game experience... it happens all the time.

Let's say that you were in a movie forum, and you just said, "hey I've never made a movie or written a script or directed anything.. I just saw mad max, and I want to make a movie like that! I don't have a budget or anything, but I have a great idea. I really think this could be successful, although maybe I need a team"

You would think the poster was a retard right? Mad Max cost $150 million dollars to make and has a crew of hundreds. Everyone knows that you can't make a movie like that on your own, you need huge experience and a giant team. But, if you replace "mad max" with "gta" - that pretty much describes your post (only GTA cost $250+ million).


and the next post is "I don't really know how to code, but I did a tutorial"

 

Lool thanks for the feedback and i know I'm a noob but i also no what i am trying to get into is very difficult but i still believe that it could be pulled of with the right people and right mentality, who knows ............ you guys could be missing out on a great opportunity, i understand that everyone here has their own life a probably their own projects they are working in but is anyone interested

 

If you can't find the correct forum to post your collaboration request, I don't have much hope for the success of your project.

 

There's a reason the guys who write these "I'm gonna make an MMO or open world rpg" are never programmers... programmers have learned, painfully, what "a lot of work" and "very difficult" means.

 

S
Sorry i'm knew to Unity and don't really know where do you suggest i post this ?

 

Or modelers or writers or anyone who has had experience in game development.

 

Question is do you have the funds to hire that team? Most of the people who have the skills to do this are not going to work for free and if they are willing to they will most likely be working on their own projects.

 

Frosted i really do understand what your saying but what is the harm in trying and i know what i want to do and this is it and i think it (Could) not definitely but could be a success

 

Also, every other newb that starts a thread like this thinks that he's somehow different and this time(!) can actually pull it of. Also he thinks that his idea this time(!) is actually better than all the other open world ideas.
Start with somethings much much smaller and simpler. This way you'll get to participate in more stages of game development, you'll get more useful experience and you'll learn how much work there is in even a super simple game.

 

Really? You missed the huge title that says "Collaboration" on the forum's main page?

 

Ryiah you seem reasonable is there anything else i could chat to you on or could you inbox me so i could speak to you separately ........... I value other peoples opinions

 

It looks like you really want to make an open world game.

If you really want to get peoples attention then you should make a prototype of the game. Make a rough draft of the project. Program in some of the core game play elements.

 

www.onegameamonth.com

Make and finish two or more small games that you like then do whatever you want. Until you pay that penance you should consider yourself incapable of doing anything with gamedev. Its for your own good, trust me.

 

I suggest you start with http://www.burgzergarcade.com/hack-slash-rpg-unity3d-game-engine-tutorial

Hundreds of tutorials that will teach you how to make the basics of an openish world RPG. When you finish them THEN come back and ask for help and show us what you did by following those tutorials. Until then, you're just another person with unreasonable expectations and a dream. We see lots of them here.

 

Thanks for everybody's help and opinions...................... i still think this is possible but i don't it would be possible to do it on my own and on funds it depends what people are willing to work for

 

Dude start small man, the only way you can establish a team that might even be willing to help a tiny bit is if you are established and proven your self to make anything.

As one said, us programmers know and learnt the hard way. Single player games are one thing, multiplayer games are another and MMO are a whole other league I can't even describe. I won't even attempt it, if I have 500 million dollars sure I would, I'd just pay everyone who really knows how to make it. But me personally, nope.

I'd rather hire 500 people, hire a proven management team, hire a few lead developers and 20 members on each of the lead developers teams, etc.

Point is, don't even try it, move to something small, I mean lets face it, none of us would be making small little games if we could make MMO's without a problem, after all, people love MMO or Open world games, but the fact of life is, a Lamborghini isn't cheap, it's expensive, so don't get a loan to get one if you can't afford 20 grand a month, so stick to a cheap Honda, it will get you from point A to B, then if you work hard, maybe one day you can get the Lambo you always dreamed of? (Your MMO/Open World).

 

No dude. It can't. It's not like "oh this is a long shot! it's 1 in 100!" - the chances here are zero. Zero. You succeeding at this project are so far fetched that you might trigger some fundamental failure in space time that results in the collapse of reality as we know it. Suddenly we could divide things by zero. Pigs would fly and breath fire. Cars would turn on the W axis. It'd be the end of the world as we know it.

 

It can be done and has been done by one person with a lot of experience and time and budget. But you have yet to tell us what you bring other than an idea for a really cool game. Do you want people to help you or do you want people to make it for you?

 

Of course i don't want it made for me or handed on a plate to me but i really do think that it could work. YEAH sure right now its just an idea but i think that i need a good enough small team nothing big to help and everyone can contribute . and yeah sure we could fail but then we get back up together and try again and i think im not looking at this as i am the boss and just let everyone do the work while i do nothing i see this a a partnership if everything where everyone contributes and pitches in

 

If all you have is an idea and no skills to help, it means you want others to make your idea. Get some skills, any skills THEN ask.

 

*50 years goes by* - Sweet game is finally ready for release!
*Oh wait, MMO's Died out 20 years ago, DARN!*

 

I do really appreciate everyones comments but i don't think that some of you guys understand.......but i can assure you that im not asking people to do the work for me. drewradley if you could give me a chance to speak to you separately if possible if not then i understand why you wanted want to give me the time of day, it really does make sense im unkown not very experienced but i know the basics and i can learn loads more just give me a chance to speak to you privately

 

Run drew! Run!

 

No need for that bro ....... it wouldn't kill to try and your not exactly loosing out you never know in a couple years with the right team this project could be pulled of and you could see it as a missed opportunity

 

What drewradley is trying to say is that everyone has ideas, everyone thinks their idea is the best. You won't be able to find people to work with you because you're not bringing anything to the table at the moment. You're just bringing ideas, and everyone who has at least a bit of skill in one area or another can already work on their own ideas.
You need to show them that you've already accomplished something if you want to get anyone interested.

 

I understand i really do thin that this could work but its not meant to happen yet and maybe not with people on this thread

 

your honestly better off going to a modding forum for modding skyrim and stuff, or whatever RPG games there are that allow modding. At least then you know you got people that are interested in that sorta thing, and not to mention most of everything is already there to play with that you need.

 

Here's a real suggestion... forget about game development with unity entirely.

Take an existing open world game (like skyrim let's say) and learn to mod a little. Try to get into the mod community and maybe try to gather up a team there for a small mod.

The mod universe is generally collaboration driven, and modding a game (even a total conversion) is often way, way easier than building one from scratch. If your mod idea is modest and not a crazy total conversion or something - you might actually succeed at this. Along the way you'll learn a lot of valuable skills.

The "everyone can pitch in" thing can also be much more successful, because you will be working on a mature, proven game platform.

 

Everyone gives their advice in different ways, some harsh some not, but you need to listen to it. Here are the problems I see:

1. You still haven't told anyone what you would be doing. Are you a programmer? Are you an artist?
2. No one works for free, and thus you haven't given anyone any incentive to want to team up. Not only do you need to have the finances, you need to be able to paint a clear picture of what you're doing and what the expectations are. You haven't even demonstrated that you know at all what you need. "A team" means nothing. Do you need programmers? Designers? Sound engineers? How many? What budget do you have for outsource work for any assets you cannot create in house? What types of subsystems are you going to need?
3. Saying over and over "I think / am sure this will work" does not instill confidence.

The biggest point here is that you have a whole lot of people with a whole lot of experience that are giving you advice. Soak it up! You said you can learn quickly... well this is the first test of that... learn from people who have been there. Take their advice... start small.

Not to mention that you could start by building small games, or even parts of games. Not only will you learn, if you learn to architect properly you will have components from those small games that you can use to construct your larger game. Not only that, you will have an understanding of scope and how long individual components take to build.

Right now you couldn't even begin to say how long it would take to build your project, how many resources you need, and what timeline impacts those resources would have. If you start by building small games you'll start to get a better idea of that and it will make you better at the business side as well... and trust me if you're going to work with a team you want that knowledge if nothing more than to protect yourself.

 

Outside of a very tight circle of gaming friends I don't use alternative methods of chatting. At one point I was frequently using email and instant messengers but I found that it simply ate up too much of my time. The forums are bad enough as it is but I find myself learning as much as I am assisting others learn using them so it justifies itself.

 

I understand what you are saying and thanks for your feedback but i wanted to know if people were interested before i go into depth about the project if you understand where i'm coming from.....................If know one wishes to be invloved then it makes total sense but still if anyone would give this a chance we never know what could happen

 

Any body at all ? just a quick chat on what could be achieved and how far this go and what is possible ?

 

You surely won't find anyone interested for a game that has nothing concrete as concept. We all dreamed of "a game like [...]", believe me, we all did. However, before going that far, you might start by building small parts of a game that could THEN evolve into something bigger, But you can't expect of making a derivative of projects that needed multiple years of work and million of dollars in finance.

However, I find arrogant the comments of some people, we all had our wanna-be moments. There is no reason to have a lack of respect to people. Unskilled people wants to learn ton of things, just push them into the right way, not out.

 

Thanks for everyone's comments and criticism i feel it did help. Its obvious that no ones interested but if any changes in mind or any one caan see the potential please get back to me

 

It really doesn't sound like you understand the advice being given. You have to show that you have something to contribute to a team beyond "ideas guy". Everyone has an idea, everyone. You have to show that you bring other skills to the table beyond that.

As far as cost of work? I'll give you a quick idea: as a part-time intern I made $15 an hour programming. As a professional dev, my salary is quite a bit more than that (go to glassdoor or somesuch, not gonna divulge my pay here), and if you can't afford even the intern pay, you're not gonna get any full-time devs to work on it. Profit sharing doesn't make the mortgage payment

 

The issue is there's a lot of people starting out ask the same thing, generally if you're competent enough to build a game like this then you're not going to help a starter make his project. It'd slow the more experienced developer down and there'd be an issue with vision (generally)..

If I make it myself I don't have to share profits and I'm free to do my own thing.

So there's nothing in it for us really, not to say that you can't develop your own skills and move it forward. An openworld game is just a game that's larger, sure there are some technical issues (dependant on the actual size of it) but a lot of the core concepts are the same as any other game.

So start off small and expand, you can always put a bigger chunked up terrain in later.

 

Open World sandbox games can be extremely easy to make... it all depends on what type of mechanics you want, and how detailed the world is going to be. However, a quality Open World game will be very difficult for an indie to produce. Also consider that Open World games are extremely hard to prototype because a lot of the drive is in the immersion and environment, neither of which you can produce without quality art.

Why do you thing so many indies are pumping out these S***ty survival games with asset store mechanics?

However, a GTA clone requires a lot more than an "Open World". That is probably the least of your worries.

 

Hi sylder,

I understand what your getting at. if you are interested could you please give me the time and chance to explain this project to you and lay down my ideas because i feel if i have another person to talk to and plan this project it could really expand the potential of this project

 

When you have one of the following I will discuss any game project you want:

• A functioning prototype that shows the basic mechanics (follow the tutorials I link above - use primitives if you want)
• A 10-20 page game design document ( if you don't have this you are not even close to start pushing your idea anyway)
  
• a collection of models you have made for your game-enough to build a prototype
• a million dollars

Until then, we don't think you are serious enough to follow through and no one wants to ride the Titanic when they know it's going to sink.

 

Here's the thing. There is a big difference between making a mostly functional set of features and making a fun game. The gap there ... it's just incredibly huge.

Let's take a pong game for example. Pretty much anyone can put together a pong like game in unity given some time. But would anyone ever want to actually play that game? Figuring out how to make a pong clone that someone will actually want to play is really not easy. When I suggest to people that they make a pong, I'm not talking about bouncing a ball around, I'm talking about making it juicy, adding new mechanics, really integrating all the different aspects together. Giving the player an experience thats fun.

Can you make an 'open world rpg' - sure, just throw down a plane, a third person controller and have an int called xp that goes up every frame, you die if you fall off the plane.

Making 'game' isn't that hard, taking a set of features and turning them into the kind of experience a player wants to have again and again ... that's really an entirely different beast.

 

Give up while you still can. Don't go down this road, you can't just wake up one day and say "I'm making GTA/Skyrim/some other fantastic title". It doesn't work like that. This is the real world, your rose tinted glasses are getting in the way of reality.

 

I would suggest you start building mechanics in isolation, not for the purpose of making your dream open world game, but for the purpose of exposing yourself to different pieces of Unity. People download Unity (or any other game engine) and don't account for the learning curve.

Do you want AI? You will probably need to build your own EditorWindow, AI System, or examine your options on the Asset store.

Do you want an Inventory? You will need to learn Unity UI.

What is your programming experience like?

How will you chunk and handle your world streaming?

Will there be Multiplayer? If so...everything above is now more difficult.

The list goes on...and this isn't even accounting for the potential mountain of art work you might need.

 

Okay, what I'm going to write now will help you. Not "help" you, by persuading you to not do this (for your "own good", no less! </sarcasm>), but genuinely help you achieving this.

First of all, we all can agree that making such game is hard, even with 100% of asset store graphics and music. Therefore, first of all, I'd suggest you to learn about making AI (I'm using RAIN AI, which is free for both commercial and non-commercial use), which is an important part of such game.

Then, after you get your AI to the point you want it to be, simply start scaling up and see what will happen. You'll quickly find out that Unity has performance problems with bigger scenes (how big is too big depends on many factors, including hardware you're developing on and quality of models used), because Unity lacks continuous scene streaming for big scenes.

Such thing is easy to develop though, either with prefabs or LoadLevelAdditiveAsync (don't remember exactly name of the function, sorry) and there are several packages on the AssetStore that do it for you.

Then, once technical aspects are taken care of, you can start working on the world itself and give player the reason to inhabit it. Here other things, such as battle system, construction (if you want it in your game) and other things come into place.

You need to profile your game carefully, so you won't make Arkham Knight by accident , but overall, it is doable, especially if you use stylized, lowpoly graphics or use what's on the asset store.

 

Thanks everyone , some really helpful stuff some that I didn't think of and some that I'm working on but it definitely gave me a better insight