Vendara is a multiplayer RPG set in a medieval time period. Game play will have numerous aspects which include much player interaction, combat, and a large economic system. The client will be portable and multiplatform (see below for platforms).
Status:
The Vendara development team has passed a few large programming-related milestones and now seeks graphic artists, texture artists, 3d modelers, and animators. The game client currently runs with demo models and textures (borrowed from Ogre examples and other websites), but needs custom models/graphics in the near future to help with (and speed up) development.
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac *Currently tested and run on Windows and Linux, but portable to Mac as well.
Technologies:
C, C++, Java, SDL, Ogre3D
Seeking:
-graphic artists
-concept artists
-3d modelers
-animators
-texture artists EDIT: Our 3d models are currently in Ogre3d .mesh format [see http://www.ogre3d.org for more information]. There are plugins and exporters avaiable for blender, 3dsmax, and maya to export to this format. Please contact for additional information. Compensation:
(See below)
Target Release:
We are aiming for a free release/limited open source for the game client.
The team is currently working on donations alone, and therefore compensation for services rendered cannot be monetary. Please contact for more information.
Here are some of the basic things we have running:
-loadable game world [maps aren’t yet finished, but we can load them]]
-server/client networking code with multiplayer [as of right now you can connect and be with other players, limited functionality [stats system not implemented yet]]
-in-game console
-in-game chat [with color]
-integrated sound system
-3d model loading system [character system]
-game launcher/updater
-database and website login
-custom game forum on website
The lack of custom artwork for the game has just become a hindrance of our progress. We need some custom animated models before we can finish the playable-character part of the client [ie, loading and switching armor, changing weapons, etc.].
wow this project sounds very interesting. but you might wanna post some screens and a video that shows the system you’ve detailed really works if you want people to join. if i can see you’re really serious about this project (updates and stuff like that) and i have my new computer (coming 29/08) i’d be interested in joining.
Hmm it does look interesting, and I would like to join, but I’ve been a part of several free projects that just seem to fall apart due to lack of interest, and not enough motivation, mostly from the project manager.
The reason commercial games don’t fall apart is that they are getting paid, and so they work hard throughout the boring, and repetitive work.
I’d just rather be sure that this won’t be just another project that ends itself in a couple weeks or monthes, since then its just a big waste of my time.
EDIT: from the looks of your website, there appears to be only you and 1 other person. Since I wouldn’t really consider 2 people a “development team.”
EDIT: from the looks of your website, there appears to be only you and 1 other person. Since I wouldn’t really consider 2 people a “development team.”
A large portion of the project so far has been developed by 2 people, although we do have a few others helping in other aspects. Large programming projects dont necessarily require a large development team. There needs to be a balance of team size to productivity and skill level.
Hmm it does look interesting, and I would like to join, but I’ve been a part of several free projects that just seem to fall apart due to lack of interest, and not enough motivation, mostly from the project manager.
The reason commercial games don’t fall apart is that they are getting paid, and so they work hard throughout the boring, and repetitive work.
We have a project/task management system in place that has seemed to keep motivation going. We have already outlined what needs to be done for upcoming development milestones and releases. The biggest hindrance/motivation killer is the lack of graphics. As you can see from our website, you can’t really tell from our screenshots that we have working game systems in place. This is because we don’t have any spectacular graphics/models to show off yet.
If you decide that you want to help, even on a casual basis, send an email or message my way. We will probably always have a need for additional graphics helpers.
Looks very interesting… If you get a working demo up and running I’ll be willing to work on some textures…
What kind of demo are you looking for? We have a running game client/server, but it isn’t in a releasable state. We are thinking of whipping up some kind of graphics demo so that artists can demo load their models and textures into the game. EDIT: [appended post]
wow this project sounds very interesting. but you might wanna post some screens and a video that shows the system you’ve detailed really works if you want people to join. if i can see you’re really serious about this project (updates and stuff like that) and i have my new computer (coming 29/08) i’d be interested in joining.
We have the current development screenshot on our website at http://www.vendara.net . As for development videos, I’m not sure it will be necessary to make them because of our lack of custom graphics. If you want to see our updates, check back with the website forums or main page [we just added the news feature a few weeks ago]. I will be happy to provide any additional information.
the reason for the video is because its a little harder to fake a video. People will be more confident in your claims that your project is what you say it is. I saw your screen and the first thing I thought was “i wondering if the chat is real or if that mspaint text there”. But I certainly don’t know whats really the case.
Anyway if you need models and such there are some free one’s about the place. I’ve got one somewhere so does oto (also other good stuff if you look for it) and I know there are a few more equin…can’t remember the spelling released a neat little town. I’d like to hear about your animation system if its going yet and what type of poly’s your pushing. Assuming you’re using orge for rendering. What your plans are for physics and such. Just curious
the reason for the video is because its a little harder to fake a video. People will be more confident in your claims that your project is what you say it is. I saw your screen and the first thing I thought was “i wondering if the chat is real or if that mspaint text there”. But I certainly don’t know whats really the case.
Nothing in the screenshots are photoshopped; I’m curious about what would make you think someone would photoshop screenshots for a game that is seeking help.
The chat/console system works like the quake console. You press ~ to bring down the console. Currently, we don’t have a separate chat box or gui; we are using the console for debug commands and chat.
Anyway if you need models and such there are some free one’s about the place. I’ve got one somewhere so does oto (also other good stuff if you look for it) and I know there are a few more equin…can’t remember the spelling released a neat little town. I’d like to hear about your animation system if its going yet and what type of poly’s your pushing. Assuming you’re using orge for rendering. What your plans are for physics and such. Just
We are using some free/open models right now, but we are pushing for our own model format. We need to start our own format for models soon to be able to do things like armor switching and attack animations. Our animation system is pretty basic. We can call animations on models using ogre and our model class; but since we don’t have any custom models we can’t finish the code to allow binding of weapons/armor. For this to be done, we need to pick 1 format for models and stick with it [for instance, exporting into many pieces versus exporting into 1; creating animations for different parts of the skeleton that don’t run at the same time].
As for our physics system: right now we have a basic gravity in place that lets us walk around on the map. This will need to be updated eventually. Since we are not making an FPS-like game, our collision and gravity systems are going to be very basic.
Numbers can be tricky, especially in programming teams. It has to be one of the only industries where 2 is greater than 10. We can definitely carry the weight of the game. The hard part, is we both have exactly zero graphic/modeling abilities. It’s getting to the point now, that we need models in a format we can use for weapon/armor changing. We don’t want to keep coding around the fact that we have no models that do what we need.
We’re really looking for a few artists (model/texture/design/etc) that are interested in this project and want to see what they create work in the vendara world. We have lots of plans for the game, and would welcome new members to the team. Send sig9 information if you are interested. We will actually be putting up a chat server soon (and a chat page on the site, probably tomorrow), but until then we will probably get together on irc/aim/googletalk for realtime, and forum for other things.
Assuming you’re using orge for rendering. What your plans are for physics and such. Just curious
Yep, ogre lets us run on linux/windows very well (and on Mac, it’s just more of a pain for us to build the release). For physics, we will be making our own. 1) I love physics, and have written a few decent engines, 2) Most of what we require is basic, and a few thing are outside the scope of other engines (a few custom things for spells, etc).
the reason for the video is because its a little harder to fake a video. People will be more confident in your claims that your project is what you say it is. I saw your screen and the first thing I thought was “i wondering if the chat is real or if that mspaint text there”. But I certainly don’t know whats really the case.
What’s funny about that, is even that would probably stretch my graphic abilities =p.
There are plugins for blender to export to ogre .mesh . Check the ogre website at http://www.ogre3d.org . There are also external programs that can convert from blender format to ogre .mesh format.
[EDIT] : Here is a link to a download page with some exporters to ogre format:
Yeah, as sig9 said, there are plugins. As a side note, blender and 3ds max are one of the most recommended ways for modeling for ogre it seems. So should be lots of information on it.
The chat wasn’t bad to setup, the way we ended up doing it. The hardest part for us is getting the graphics and setting them up; the backend/networking aspects of the game are pretty easy to knock out.