Dungeon Maker - Risen from its grave

Historic discussions for the 3D clones "Dungeon Maker" and "Bloodwych 3D" which are both sadly now defunct.
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Wishbone
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Dungeon Maker - Risen from its grave

Post by Wishbone »

Hi folks,

I just wanted to say that Dungeon Maker took a small hibernation these last years, but I am happy to slowly start to make some progress in the game. Not too fast though, cause I'm sorry to say I am still enjoy playing World of Warcraft. But I will do my very best to find time to work on Dungeon Maker. I took the liberty to add a small Q & A here.

Q: So, why did you deserted us?
A: Not only WoW, but also a steady full-time job was the cause of the slow progress of DMaker. I still have the job and am still playing WoW, but my dungeon crawler instincts are still in me. And I got plenty of new ideas that I want to implement.

Q: Please update me. What was Dungeon Maker again?
A: Dungeon Maker is my answer to all clones. The idea is to make one game, that gives the option to make any classical dungeon crawler game that is ever been made, or more. Somthing similar to a game-creation kit. It's possible to create new games fast, and add your own custom monsters, items, objects, etc. to it. DMaker is full 3D (DirectX7 based), but contains no explosions of graphical ingenuity, no full 3D landscape worlds, no physics engine; none of those sort of things. It's still a square-by-square corridor-roaming game. And eventually will contain all that your dungeon-heart desires.

Q: What's the plan in the upcoming months?
A: First, the editor sucks at the moment, and I am going to rebuild it from scratch. It will contain a WYSIWYG mode (edit your dungeon in 3D mode), and I will add more options to each individual dungeon, like adding your own interfaces, changing character selection methods (DM style or BW/EOB style), changing spell types (EOB spellbook/DM runes/BW faerie), edit basic game law (character stats, experience gain, wall bumping damage, fall damage), etcetera. Adding new textures to objects will be simplified. Adding monsters or items will be easier and will get a full interface where all the small details can be altered inside the editor and not in a plain txt file.
Also, the game will be simplified. The main reason for this is that it is too slow. The game's outdoor areas will get less sight (about 6 squares). And much of the day/night details will probably be removed. So, I will focus more on indoor areas.

Q: I want more!
A: Ok ok.. here some more ideas I came up with: multiplayer mode, events, more spells, more monsters, more items, more variety in game-types, more... give me your thoughts!

Q: What can I do to help?
A: All you can think of. Graphics, 3D models, sound, map-making, in short.. I need it all!

Q: Whats up with the site?
A: We (Madmunky and I) will try to improve the site in the upcoming months. It will contain screenshots, downloads, info and more.

Download the game (Alpha 2):
Regards,
Wishbone

Official Dungeon Maker Site (still under construction)
http://www.dungeon-maker.com/

Download Dungeon Maker - Alpha 3
http://www.dungeon-maker.com/main/?file=download

Post with daily updated worklog
http://www.dungeon-maker.com/forums/sho ... .php?t=118

Alpha 3 thread
http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=27022

Alpha 2 thread
http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=24729

Alpha 1 thread
http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=23551

Discussion on games to remake on it (2004 post)
http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=23588
Last edited by Wishbone on Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:53 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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beowuuf
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Post by beowuuf »

Hi Wishbone

In anticipation of Dungeon Maker coming back, I had made you a moderator of this forum just like madmunkey, so you play around with your own threads and even make them annoucements or stickies

Good to see you back! :D
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Erik Bauer
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Post by Erik Bauer »

Glad to see Dungeon Maker is coming back. Lots of potentials here!
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Adamo
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Post by Adamo »

welcome back Wishbone!
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MadMunky
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Post by MadMunky »

Hey everybody!


Off topic: Anyone know much about webdesign in photoshop?
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Gambit37
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Post by Gambit37 »

Yes, loads, thanks! :-)
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

I updated my email address.

At the moment we are looking for:
- Graphical Designers. Can you make perfect walls, doors, items, monsters, interfaces? Let me know what you can make. At the moment we a having a lot of not-so-legal, ripped images from other games, and I want to get rid of them.
- 3D modellers. We really need more animated monsters. Preferrably in MD2 format. But I am also trying to get it work in 3DS format.
- Music composers.
- Thinkers. Help me to think on how to improve this game from any angle.

To be short, I am looking for anyone that can be useful in making this game look smart. Mail me!
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

Some updates on the current work.

The editor got an overhaul.
- The editor window is larger.
- The dungeon map is larger.
- At the right, you will now have an overview of all objects on the current location (RTC editor style).

More to come for the editor.
- More info about the objects on right panel.
- Object detail (bottom panel) will get a better interface to change settings faster.
- Adding a character editor, item editor, monster editor, general dungeon 'laws', interface editor, etc... all into the main editor.
- More macros.
- 3D quickview.

And after the editor is done?
- Documentation
- Editor walkthrough video
- Event squares (like in DMJava)
- Game packages (make your own game and put all gfx/sounds/maps in a single package. Easier to publish your work)
- Customizable interface, monsters, items, spells, and other dungeon specifications to make your own dungeons even more personal.
- Multiplayer options.

And finally a sneak peek on how the editor looks now:
Image
Image

Let me know what you think!
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linflas
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Post by linflas »

that looks neat and very intuitive : i would have loved making such editor when i tried to make my own B3D clone..
but my expectations about your clone are mostly about the 3D engine and especially its optimization.
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

linflas wrote:that looks neat and very intuitive : i would have loved making such editor when i tried to make my own B3D clone..
but my expectations about your clone are mostly about the 3D engine and especially its optimization.
Thank you :)
There are still some headaching bumps on the road to an optimal interface. The problem is that the programming language is (hardly) using any standard windows interfacing, like dropdowns, menus, file managers, buttons and other stuff you see in browsers/windows. We did find a library for that, but it would mean to start all over again on many parts.
At the moment I'm struggling with the best way on getting a list of textures, sounds, or other featuresks that makes object editing a lot easier and clearer. Our idea wa either replacing the dungeon view with an object edit window, and then switch back to dungeon when we are done. The other solution is to make a dropdown popup whenever you right-click on any of the to-be-edited object features. This is hard to develop from scratch.
But this is all technical user-interface talk nvm. :)
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

3D preview is there. And it looks hawt! :)

Some of the features are...
- It automatically shows the object in 3D, that is under your mouse pointer.
- It shows an indicator that points to the north.
- In edit mode you can left-click on the 3D image frame to enlarge it to the dungeon frame.
- When right-clicking on the enlarged image, you can freely rotate the image.
- While editing your object and changing the values, the 3D image will be updated on-the-fly.
Image

Next on my to-do list:
- A faster and easier interface to edit objects.
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MadMunky
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Post by MadMunky »

Now wheres that tumble weed pictures.....
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Post by Omniom »

Hi All Hi Wishbone and Madmunky

It s me :!: I participated once with the big test dungeon for the alpha release, last I was registred as mimba on your forum, there I uploaded some textures.

It s hard to get grafik assets with an overall dungeon feeling and a continous style.
At the moment I participate on the minas tirith project over on the cgtalk site. Maybe some texture left overs can be used for dungeon maker in some months.

What I recommend you to do, is to advice your project on the team collaboration forum on cgtalk.

There are several reasons for this:

- You can already show off an advanced status off your project.
- The texture size of 512*512 ( without additional maps, bump, gloss...)
is relatively easy, could be that some people are willing to produce some textures for you (from old assets) very fast.
- also your engine is going to use very easy 3d models (from their point of view) = lowpoly, simple animation, easy texturing, again if your are lucky and find some dungeon crawling fan over there something can provided.
- on this place 3d modelling and 2d art/texturing are present at the same time (which is rare)


If you decide to head over to the forum I would recommend you to write a very thourogh description of your project and rate your project as beginner to medium difficulty level.(many people are looking for projects which dont use top notch technology)

The most important thing would be to be present on the forum to be reachable and figure as a team leader. This is the most important part. It is very time consuming and hard work, but only so results will be get.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=73

I will look out and note down when I see something that could be potentially interesting for you something like this for example...

http://www.robg3d.com/downloads.html

wish you good luck on the project
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

Thanks for your effort, Omniom. Your help is very much appreciated.
We will look into this and see if we can pull out some lost souls from there. :)

Regards,
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MadMunky
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Post by MadMunky »

All worklog and details will be posted on our site now, no point spaming here if ppl arnt interested. Any large updates will be posted here though.
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ian_scho
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Post by ian_scho »

At least add the major milestones to the project here in this thread though:?:
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Wishbone
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Post by Wishbone »

ian_scho wrote:At least add the major milestones to the project here in this thread though:?:
The milestones are as followed:
- Improve editor's user interface (70% done).
- Add more options to customize items, monsters, spell lists, game interface and other features to the editor (the really big challenge).
- The ability to make projects (your dungeon + media all in one package).
- Add stuff to the game, like event squares, more particles, more item/monster abilities, more spells.
- Setup standard media (graphics, sound, music) for the game. This also includes monster and item graphics and sounds.
- More can follow!

Worklog: http://www.dungeon-maker.com/forums/sho ... .php?t=118
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Gambit37
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Post by Gambit37 »

I am wondering if Dungeon Maker got killed off again as the website no longer exists?
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