YoFrankie Level Design Competition (QA+sign up)

[ideasman42]

Hey there,
A few days ago I announced the competition to make a new YoFrankie level (for the next YoFrankie release) with 500 euro prize money divided between 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
http://www.yofrankie.org/yo-frankie-...r-game-engine/

A big advantage this has over other BGE competitions is that anyone who knows how to move objects about should be able to enter. (can use existing assets platforms, tree's etc And no logic bricks or scripting needed)

If your going to enter Id appreciate if you could post here, summarizing the kind of level your interested in making.
To start off you could open levels/level_selector.blend and modify the terrain, linking in more platforms and assets, I'll help out with more spesific questions on making levels (listen to blengine too!)

Since your not making your own game from scratch, this might not appeal to some....
On the other hand, a lot of the works alredy done, and I assure you testing a level with family/friends IS fun!

[dyf]

this interests me, but i've never designed anything for games..

can you maybe provide some little guidelines on this.. what is roughly considered an appropriate poly count? what do we need to put into consideration in terms of the character(s) interacting with the environment? how can we load the characters into the level we just created? how big should the textures be?

thanks

[EDIT] sorry, i just clicked on the link and saw further information.. if a question i asked isn't answered there, feel free to add more details.

[ideasman42]

@dyf, I would not worry about texturing too much. You can just unwrap the meshes and apply one of the existing tilable grass/rock/dirt textures. Infact Id hope you dont even need to make your own textures unless you want to add some ice world or a lot of different scenery.

Updated the page with texture limits and level size, however I dont want to restrict artists too much.

If you make a level thats too big it will become obvious at some point it needs splitting up. If your textures are too big- they can be scaled later on.

See Chris's level template which goes over making a level from platforms in our library http://www.yofrankie.org/tutorial-level-template/

After going through this you can experiment with your own plan for a level.

Theres a big list on the wiki but using properties "bounce", "kill", "ground", "water" with loop-the-loops! you can already start thinking of some kind of jump'n run obstacle course...

[3DGURU]

have it to be a forest ? , i thought of a galaxy ship ... .

[delic]

yo frankie modding, hehe !

Was the thread posted on some modding forums ?

I'll take a look on yo frankie blend , it's difficult to evaluate the time it would take when just played with it ...

compatition ?

[malCanDo]

This is a very cool competition, especially for artists who don't have the resources to make their own GE game from scratch ( of course, if they do, it should be even easier for them to make some cool levels ).

The prizes are also great - the best of luck for all who enter!
Mal

[ideasman42]

@3dguru, I was thinking people could focus more on the level design if they didnt need to spend so much time making assets.
But you can make any scenery you like.
If your making a forest level try use existing assets where possible to keep download size down (especially for textures).

@delic, feel free to post on modding forums

[flyvin]

is there an age limit?

[AD-Edge]

This is a great competition to get Yo Frankie modding off to a good start.

Im considering entering, its just a matter of spare time at the moment.


*Edit* Campell have you posted anything in the game engine section? Thats where all the BGE buffs are, so it could get even more attention over there.

[ideasman42]

@flyvin, no age limit - updated yofrankie.org post.

@AD-Edge, I wanted to get non BGE people interested making content, (not take the thunder from Malcando's BGE comp), even so, Id expect by now most BGE users would have seen this anyway? - on blendernation or yofrankie.org. - Hope you can find the time to enter

[BenDansie]

I'm also tempted to enter as I got the updated 'Game Kit' and made a bit of a sci-fi-hall already. Although spaceship has already been suggested... I was planning to call it 'Frankie - In SPACE!' (I have a habbit of putting ' - In SPACE!' at the end of things to make them sound more outlandish.)

Only questions I can think of at this point -

• Can we make alternate versions of the current assets? (To continue the current example - texture a sort of space-suit on to Frankie.) I guess the best way to do that would be duplicate the texture / asset we want to change in the proper directory, rename it, edit it and link to it from there.
• What does the 100mb limit include? Is that just what we make for it or is that everything including the Frankie character, etc.

I haven't really done any game editing since the days of Dark Forces and WDFUSE...

Good times.

May as well post it, my corridor that I mentioned - using one baked 1024px texture map:

[linuxpimp21]

If I get a chance I might give it a shot. I have not messed with the BGE all that much. I started going through the first edition of the gamekit. I think if I made a level it would focus on Frankie's gliding aspect.

[ideasman42]

@BenDansie, if your keen on making frankie in space thats cool. Agree for modifications to existing assets, Copy them and rename in most cases, though with frankies texture just change it in place if you want him to have a space suit. Ill try figure out how to merge later.

The 100 meg is only for the assets you add - for the level blend + any textures you add. This should be easily enough. I just added this so download sizes don't get out of control and so people try to reuse where possible.

@linuxpimp21, some level where you glide a lot would be fun, since you end up falling a lot while gliding you could also work out a level thats not so flat- maybe gliding down a canyon between the cliff faces on either size, (Gives a TuxRacer effect, where its fun just to feel like your zooming down the level).

Would be nice to have puffs of gas from the ground give you boosts while gliding, I didn't add this because we didnt end up having a place to use it but if you need it I can probably add it in.

[linuxpimp21]

Gas puffs would be helpful, but I think I can design the level without them. I just have to be more creative. I plan on reusing the assets and working with those.

[Felix_Kütt]

Where would the participants have to sign up, and is a wip thread a must?

[BenDansie]

Cheers Campbell. I watched the video tutorial on adding levels, so I have a better understanding of what I'll need and what is already there. Not 100% set on doing a space one, but it's the subject matter I seem to keep coming back to... I noticed that we can focus on a specific area like 'awesome graphics' - which is good to hear because I haven't done much in the way of 'what makes good gameplay' thinking.

[ideasman42]

@linuxpimp21, yep, plan your level with YoFrankie 'as is', but closer to the deadline Id like to go over the promising levels and see if they'd benifit from some game logic additions.

@Felix_Kütt, Id just like to know who's serious about entering, posting here is fine, wip threads not essential.

@BenDansie, youll end up testing the level enough times that you'll start coming up with ideas for making it more fun to play.

[AD-Edge]

Originally Posted by ideasman42 Id expect by now most BGE users would have seen this anyway? - on blendernation or yofrankie.org. - Hope you can find the time to enter

Yeh your right, it is getting a lot of publicity. Im trying to get something together for the other game contest, so im a little pressed for time atm.
But ive been thinking about it and I have a few ideas.

Currently im planning on designing a little level and making the infamous Apricot Bazooka


*Edit* Ok just watched the video tutorial, that new grouping feature is amazing...

[joshC]

I have an idea for a level - though not sure if I may find the time to complete it at this stage (work is kind of full on). It would be based around a night time level with a few extra assets which may require a little programming to get off the ground.

Main elements:

- Night level
-acorn flashlight - user must collect fire-flies (hopefully boids physics will help) in order to power the flashlight - flashlight power is reduced over time.

-sleeping rams - most logic can be switched off - don't chase you anymore but hopefully will create a couple of anims to show sleeping/ startled look when flashlight is too close.

-owls - night time predator - hoping to reuse a lot of logic from rams/frankie flight. - frightened of/stunned by acorn flashlight.

Will try to re-use all other assets.

Lots of work. Maybe a little too ambitious. We'll see how things turn out. I will begin experiments with boids asap. I'll create a WIP so as not to clutter this thread any further.

[flyvin]

I will enter a level. I already have a pretty good one, but I think I might keep working on it.
Also, a little off topic, but what is a wip thread?