GLADE's future

[jda]

Well we still need a to get a team together it can't be GLADE with one person John lol

I thought you and Arch said you're in too...?

[ElimiNator]

What about GMD? are we gona dizolve it or what?

[Fluffy203]

Well i listed my skills , but i don't' know if GLADE wants to use me or not lol same for Arch .

Elim i think it dissolved along time ago 

[-Archmage-]

I have rule to propose:
OPEN-BLEND!
No crap where you upload the G3Ds and hold back the .blend(s)!

[Fluffy203]

I agree you should give the source file not just the outcome , but if i do that i'll have to export it to .obj and allow you to import it to blender

[John.d.h]

I kinda figured open-blend was assumed all along.  In fact, if we were to release something under GPL instead of CC, it would be required.  Anyway, as far as I know there aren't any good formats for getting an animated model from 3DS to Blender, and I'd prefer if all the animation were done in Blender so more people could use it.  I don't have anything against 3DS per se, but I just think it will be a lot more accessible to have it in a .blend.  Since Fluffy's the expert modeler and Arch is the animator, I think this could work out quite well.

Fluffy's_awesome_model.obj --> import to Blender --> Arch's_awesome_animation.blend --> animated_model.g3d

i don't' know if GLADE wants to use me or not

You're always welcome in GLADE.

[Fluffy203]

That works for me John , i don't mind making models , but what if i dislike the animation ? could i make a possible second to compare and we pick which we like better?

[-Archmage-]

Thanks John, it sounded to me like I was being complimented!

Fluff, don't worry, I'll always do good animations, and if I don't, then I don't mind you making another one, but that's really up to John.

[Fluffy203]

Ok just saying i don't want crappy animations , but i have not seen your work so i will see how it goes 

[John.d.h]

I know you both know how to animate, but my concern is having the animated version of the unit in a .blend instead of a 3DS file, so more people can use it and edit it.  If there is an intermediate format we can use that will support animations for both programs, then I'll be very happy.  Googling for that now.

[-Archmage-]

Agreed.

Happy Googling!

[John.d.h]

It seems *.md5 might work.  It's the format used in the newer Id games (Doom 3, Quake 4).  I have no way of verifying if it will work or not, though.

[Fluffy203]

.obj should work fine it has for me in the past , but i'll look more into , for now though i'm good with Arch doing the animations , but we still need more people or at least what we will be working on ?

[-Archmage-]

Yah, I don't want to be the only animator...

[jda]

It seems *.md5 might work.  It's the format used in the newer Id games (Doom 3, Quake 4).  I have no way of verifying if it will work or not, though.

md5 as in md5 hashes? LOL, just thought it was funny.

[John.d.h]

.obj should work fine it has for me in the past , but i'll look more into

Does it preserve the bones, keyframes, etc.?

for now though i'm good with Arch doing the animations

I'd certainly like to find a solution where our workflow can go both ways, so that all parts of a task can be modified with both programs, but we might have to settle.  This is something I know approximately this much about:

(click to show/hide)

Not a darn thing.

but we still need more people or at least what we will be working on ?

I like the idea of the underwater mod some of us were discussing a while ago.  I already did a not-very-good-but-kinda-okay sea slug model just on a whim.  I wouldn't mind working on Orcs either.  I also have another tech tree diagram (click here to see it) done for a faction I call "Cabal", which is dark elves and deep gnomes with some added creative flavor.  We could also do something completely different.  I'm up for basically anything, really.

[Fluffy203]

I think .obj will preserve all bones and key-frames i've been exporting to blender for some time , but idk if it works both ways cause i've tried to export to .obj from blender and i come up with nothing 

I like the idea of the underwater mod some of us were discussing a while ago.  I already did a not-very-good-but-kinda-okay sea slug model just on a whim.  I wouldn't mind working on Orcs either.  I also have another tech tree diagram (click here to see it) done for a faction I call "Cabal", which is dark elves and deep gnomes with some added creative flavor.  We could also do something completely different.  I'm up for basically anything, really.

I wanted to go more tech with guns and vehicles , but since we are staying to the old roots , I think we should make a 3 faction game that will be as good or even better than glest . Orcs , John's Hybrids and another race which i will leave up for debate , but i was thinking of a Noble race of humans or such , but i think this will be a great GLADE project

[Hectate]

The mecha mod I mentioned would be a good one for "tech" type factions. Especially if we get to use turrets and such.

[John.d.h]

I think .obj will preserve all bones and key-frames i've been exporting to blender for some time , but idk if it works both ways cause i've tried to export to .obj from blender and i come up with nothing 

Hmm... I guess we'll have to test it out and see.

Orcs , John's Hybrids and another race which i will leave up for debate , but i was thinking of a Noble race of humans or such , but i think this will be a great GLADE project

I laid out a diagram for the human nation, and modified the other one a little bit.  The concept I'm using for the human nation is basically your typical heroic high fantasy, with knights in shining armor and all that jazz.  I tried to mix it up a bit, though, and I think I managed to give it its own distinct flavor.  My main concern is that people will see Orcs vs. Humans and cry "WARCRAFT CLONE!"
Links: (Cabal) (Hyperion)
Other faction possibilities that come to mind for this idea include Undead, Demons, Elves (already taken), Dwarves (already taken), lizard people, snake people, Faerie folk, and I'm sure I can think of some more once I've gotten a good night's sleep.

The mecha mod I mentioned would be a good one for "tech" type factions. Especially if we get to use turrets and such.

I have no objection to doing a more high-tech mod.  I think that might require a bit more on the engine-development side to make it really live up to its potential (turrets, multiple projectiles, "tracking" missiles), but I think it would still be doable.  What I'd like to see is a few more tech tree diagrams to look at and compare before making a decision.  Personally, I'm not really very familiar with the whole mech/herc/gundam mythos, so I don't quite know how that would go.

Another possibility for a high-tech mod would be something more "retro-future", like the cheesy old shows with flying saucers, rocket ships, ray guns, and robots, back when they didn't let little things like science get in the way of being cool.

[jda]

How about a Greek Mythology (creatures) mod?
Greek mythology unlike Northern Europe (from where pretty much everything ancient mod comes from: Orcs, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, pretty much "races") mythology is more based on characters (each creature / monster is most often than not, though with exceptions, one of a kind). Still... no reason why you can't produce several of each of those characters in a Glest mod.

And the list to choose from is huge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_mythological_creatures

You could also possibly do Greek Mythology heroes for a "human" faction (often they were half gods or somewhat blessed/cursed by some kind of "magic"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_hero_cult

[Bruce]

I'd be happy to contribute a little down the track as well - with my background incorporating modeling, animation and programming, I should be able to contribute in a variety of ways (except that time is always the limiting factor where I'm concerned).

I think a Gods vs Titans type mod might work too (along the Greek Myth theme), and I think it would be good to work on an entirely new concept that doesn't have its roots in anything else - think how the Zerg and Protoss in Starcraft were quite different to any other RTS faction at the time. It also gives the concept artists a lot of scope to be creative, and this is a good thing. It also means animators aren't restricted to the usual bi- / quadra-ped animation styles either.

Just a few more things to think about

[-Archmage-]

Yeah, I'm reading a series that's practically based off greek mythology, the only problem is that there are so many gods, a god of this, a god of that, and there's so many things, but then there is only the titans, I have no clue how many of them there are...

[jda]

You're complaining you have too much to choose from? 
Well, I guess that might get people drifting away on discussions like "I want this one", "No, let's do that one instead!"
But still... what's a Czar good for if he can't make a decision and execute the opposition?...

On the number of Titans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28mythology%29
(twelve on the first generation)
If you're gonna make a Titans vs Gods mod, remember on the Gods' side two main characters: Zeus who beat them with the lightning bolts Vulcano forged for Him.

[Fluffy203]

I completely disagree with the Greek Mythology mod , i don't want to do something that has been done to the best of its abilites with AOM and AOM titans and plus they have a movie clash of the titans , so this will be cheesy , but i like the retro future one mentioned by john or maybe a WWII/futuristic type warfare and also the Orc's vs Darkeleves/ Gnomes vs Humans or another faction 

[modman]

I am always a proponent of doing a little Magitech extended!

https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=4124.0

I think it is a great mod for regrouping the team.  This is because we can do small modifications at a time and keep the factions playable!  There are also some really good ideas that I think I've already gathered, but feel free to add to the list.

On a side note, if we do end up doing Magitech extended, a moderator should merge this topic with the one I linked to above.

I don't like the idea of Greek mythology, because it would end up being the same boring, tired concepts: swordsman, archer, spearman, some kind of monster.  A little lame if you ask me.

If we're doing orcs, y'all may want to keep in mind that you could feed off some of the concepts I've already laid out long before.  I'll post that in the orcs topic.