[WIP] Play God! - A New Standard for Sandbox Games

Hello everyone. Have you ever wanted to create a world of your own inside of a game ? Have you ever played a Sandbox game and still felt restricted ? Well i have also. So i started to develop my own sandbox game and i decided to share it with you and see where it goes! It is called...

Play God! *Previously known as "Create!"
"A Game where YOU are the Developer"
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In Play God, you will be able to create maps, Place down animals to breath life into the environment, create rocks and trees, and even create towns. In Play God, YOU, The Player, will be the developer. In the Final Product you will be able to upload your creation to the world and have others play in it. You will also be able to develop your world WITH other people. But enough of me talking. Have a look at some screenshots, and try the game out for yourself !






Play God has the following Features:

• Fully Dynamic Navmesh
• Ability to Create and Delete any objects
• Ability to create full, breathing worlds
• Everything is fully operational as soon as it is placed
• The ability to walk around inside of the world you created by switching
• A full Day and Night Cycle that comes with Weather Systems
• AI That will form Packs and groups

And Many more features to come!

Like how it sounds ? Try it out !
**THIS IS IN A TESTING LEVEL**
Download Create for Windows
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Download Create for Mac


**MOST RECENT BUILD BELOW**
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PlayGod! Pre Alpha v2 for Windows

PlayGod! Pre Alpha v2 for Mac​

Controls:
Press [E] To enter "Create" Mode.
Press [T] to enter "Delete Mode"
Press [Q] to enter "idle" Mode.
Press [C] to open the Creative Menu
(You can still create in first person)
Press [ESC] to open the Pause Menu
Press [F12] To take a screenshot
(These are saved in your myPictures Folder)
Move around with [WASD]
Look around with the Mouse

**Known Issues for v1**

• Animals will Destroy when you wanted to destroy something else
• Camera and FP Controller spawn high in the area
• Framerate drops when going close to tree's leaves

**Known Issues for v2**

Soon to be updated


Please upload any screenshots you take inside of it, i'd love to see your creations ! More items and fixes will be applied to the game based on the feedback it gets. Im aiming for a sort of Pre-Alpha version so lets make it happen !

Please give any feedback, or criticism you have for the game. Anything and everything is helpful! ​

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i would give it a try but i'm on osx... could you do a quick osx build?

 

I wouldn't suggest the name "create", because there is a game made by ea with this name

 

Uploading a Mac build right now

*edited* Mac build is now up. Download it Here

Very true just looked it up. The next version of the game will contain a name change. Thank you for letting me know.

 

I'm on my phone but I will check it out when I get home.

Very cool idea, sir!

What kind of stuff animals do?

 

Thank you!

Well currently the animals form packs. One becomes the Alpha and the others will follow. The animals know whats infront of them and react accordingly. Example. You place an tree infront of it while its walking and it will move around the tree.

Soon the animals will hunt and kill eachother, simulating a real enviorment and breathing more life into the game. That will be included in the next version of the game.

 

That sounds very good so far.

While complex, it must be fun to code those behaviors and then see animals behave like they are alive, making decisions and such.

Keep it up!

 

Haha, its actually all thanks to Emerald AI. The AI system is incredible.

 

You can now Create Grass !

 

doesn't seem to work on macbook.
i don't have a keypad. also i set it to create mode and brought up the create menu, but clicking the buttons in there didn't result in anything.

 

Hmm I don't believe the game uses a keypad right now. Just the simple 1-9 keys above the letters of the keyboard.

After pressing E to enter create mode, and bringing up the create menu then clicking an item to create, it should register the item that you wanted to create. So then clicking on the floor should create the item selected.

Are you sure your doing it correctly? You might have not selected any item at all.

 

didn't click the floor stupid me
for some reason the number key never work in games for me, always thought it was because the games used numpad... :-s
maybe put in the option to set your own keys?
I'll go ahead and do it with some floor clicking ;-)

 

ok, just tried it.
some things are (considered this is a pre alpha):
- your scales are off, tiny animals huge tree's
- the menu is too layered imo. too much opening and closing before you can place.
- there should be an indication of where and what your are about to instantiate, once an object is loaded.
- use the input manager so that the changes people make to the input at start up actually work. (azerty/qwerty)

not to be blunt but for now it just looks like instantiating prefabs from a list...

 

I'll definitely take a look at the scaling. I'm currently brainstorming a system where it will show like a "hologram"ish type of object before placing the actual object so that the players know what they're creating and where it will be.

I'm also thinking of adding a rotation and scale system, allowing players to create giant deer or tiny bears. I want the player to have complete freedom over their creations.

As for the input manager, I'll definitely look into that.

All of that is great feedback man. I really appreciate it.

 

What about a rotating model (maybe even animated) of the thing you want to place in one of the corners (preferably lower left). Some games do that, and it really helps.

BTW: you forgot to change the name inside the actual post

 

OK, I just played the game (finally), so my suggestions:
- I would suggest using the built in mouselook script for debugging, because it's quite messy with this one.
- The sensitivity is way too high (adjstable one maybe?)
- You can open multiple GUI's at once (make the ESC close the window please)
- Stop mouse movement when a window is open
- When a button is pressed, close that window
- I don't think, trees are oversized, I think it's pretty normal.
- I like, how some trees are animated, some are not, especially when you can rotate them and the windblow starts to get weird.
- Make the walls invisible
- The "paused" text inside the menu lies
- Anywhere else you can put that huge amount of text?
These are the ones I can think of right now. Good luck on your game

 

maybe the animals are just tiny seeing that the grass is even bigger than them.

 

Those are great suggestion. I'll definitely look into that. The new version will have the mouse look turn off when a menu is open. I'm most likely gonna rework the UI to make it a bit more streamlined. Thank you for your feedback.

 

Yeah I'm probably just gonna increase the scale on the animals and on the first person player.

 

A new build with various updates for Play God (aka create) will be released soon. Not giving out an immediate release date yet.

In the mean time please keep giving me feedback on the current build.

 

-- Play God Update 1 --
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Numerous updates have been fixed, improved, and a few new features have been added.

• Players can now see where their creations will be placed. (Green Highlight will be over the In-Organic Objects such as Rocks and Buildings)
• The UI has been completely redone. It is now more streamlined and attractive.
• The texture of the testing terrain has been changed
• A DOF (Depth of Field) has been added whenever the Creation Menu opens
• The camera no longer moves when the Creation Menu is open

Below i will include images of the updates. And a new version of the build will be uploaded shortly!

And just a little map I made with the added features.


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An official pre alpha will be coming some time next week ! This will include a weather system, and improved animal AI. And you will also be able to save your maps and go back to them at any time !

 

**New Objects**

Added in a log cabin, and torches. Also a Day and Night System!






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Would be interesting to have additional players assume the role as man and create the buildings themselves. Maybe God and man will co-exist. Maybe God will destroy man, maybe man will destroy God?

 

That's an interesting idea haha. I never thought of that. Right now currently it's just a creation game, when you can build maps and let other people play on them.

I plan on adding a redefined first person mode that will allow players to burn houses and trees, kill animals, etc etc.

So you will be able to create and destroy.

 

I'm glad you liked the idea. The possibilities are there for several cool scenarios. I'll be sure to follow along and see what you make.

Edit: Just wanted to throw out there that God creating packs of animals to hunt the human players would be hilarious. This would all require an Online Multiplayer hub, which is fairly complicated understandably. But perhaps you'll consider this for a local multiplayer game?

 

I plan for it to have an online similar to Minecraft. A few players per room. (10 - 15)

 

Can you remake the rotation system? I really don't like to turn around just to turn something. I would like a scroll-wheel or button themed solution maybe.

 

Already remade . You rotate the object with the right mouse button before placing it down

 

After a long absense im happy to say that Play God Pre-Alpha Build 2.0 is now here ! I will be uploading the build early tomorrow. As for now, enjoy this nice screenshot!

 

This looks pretty cool, I dont have time atm but I will give it a try later. These games are always interesting.

From your screenshots though the game seems to not have that much content, one thing to do to increase this would be to make a selections of building parts that could be used to create tons of various buildings. Things like walls, floors, roofs, doors, windows, ect. On top of that it would make your life easier if you still wanted some premade buildings, you could just combine some parts and make a prefab for a premade buildings tab. Other than that it looks really cool!

Keep it up!

 

Yeah I was actually thinking of adding in modular pieces soon. But right now I'm focused on getting a save and load system done, and having everything work on a grid.

 

- PlayGod! Pre Alpha v2 -
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Hello everyone, i am now ready to release Version 2.0 of the Pre Alpha of PlayGod! The First post will have the old links AND the new link so if you want, you can go back and see the progression of PlayGod!

PlayGod! Pre Alpha v2 for Windows

PlayGod! Pre Alpha v2 for Mac​

Here are some beautiful screenshots taken inside of the build!



I have given you guys the ability to create as big as you'd like. Note that there IS NO SAVE AND LOAD feature yet. And the Animal AI is still the same as it was before.

Right Now, i cannot find any issues other than the Conifer Tree having graphical issues and it not showing up the in Pre-Create Form. Other than that, please let me know of any issues! Also, please take pictures with F12 and upload them. I'd love to see what you create!

 

Anyone try the new build ?

 

I will try to take a look at it this weekend.

 

thank you!

 

just downloaded and tried... the Mac version runs at less than 1 fps from start, so without even making 1 thing (actually making something is impossible at that frame rate)... :-(

 

Less than 1FPS ?! wow that's insane. Maybe it's the image effects and such that I have applied. I will include some options to turn the effects off or on. Wow that's crazy. Thank you for letting me know.

 

no problem,
ah yes and my specs are:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)
2,7 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

 

I just had a go with the v2, my problems:
-use Input.GetAxis("Mouse_X") in the camera rotation script, because checking the change in the mouse position can cause problems (camera moves after closing UI, you can't rotate after you reached the side of the screen, etc.)
-sensitivity setting is very very useful
-yaaaay, movement blur, now I can't see anything
-Did you ever see a night this dark? For a good day-night cycle you need 2 lights, 1 representing the sun (bright, yellowish) and 1 the moon (not so bright blueish)
-Can we get a switch for day-night cycle system. I just waited 10 mins till I could see anything
-The fps ount is really bad, I suggest using the depp profiler someday
-The first tree out of the two doesn't seem to exist
-the creative menu pops up whenever you pasue the game
if you aren't looking at the ground, the "ghost prefab", that shows you where you'll place the object goes to (0,0)
-One of my favourite thing to do is lighting up houses from the inside... with torches...inside the building
-You fly waaaay too slow
-I know a lot of game has this "you can't place objects if you're looking at the ground too far away, but could you please make that distance longer?

That's it for now, thank you for reading

EDIT:
GetAxis("Mouse X") instead of Mouse_X

 

Looks good, except that I don't fully understand what you try to achieve. Unless this tool can be used with any game for which the publishers didn't provide any (free) editing tool or to mod box games?

 

If I'm right, he wants a game where you create the world, you populate it and then you just look at it until every single animal dies. It could be a great god sim if he adds some godlike powers to it

 

So it's the National Geographic channel.

 

I don't know about the others play on it part of the whole thing. If it's about creation, then what's the fun in downloading others projects and just looking at it. This is not like minecraft where you interact with things, play on the map and etc. an adveture element or configurable minigames would be fun to do, like hunt all the deer down or hunt all the bears down or don't give food poisoning to the said bears whilst they're eating you