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Hi.

I need a little advice. I have been playig with FPSC (the free version) for a few days now and though i'm impressed I am somewhat disappointed.


I know nothing about models and textures, how to make them or how they go together to make the thing you see on the screen, just what I gather from playing games. My assumptions may be wrong.

A lot of the things I see can be done with FPSC are to put it politely, Cheezy, I mean, the graphics aren't that good, and I am compareing what I see to older games like Deus Ex from the year 2000. (Great game if you havent played it, give it a try)

What accounts for the differance in how nice and sharp the things on the screen looks? Textures? Is it also a limitation of the gaming engine? I'm guessing here.

I'd like to know, someone please explain this to me.

By the way, is there a designing graphics for beginners tutorial that would teach me these things?

(As long as I don't have to learn a complex programming language)


Also, Before I drop down cash for the full version, tell me, what are the main differences between FPSC and FPSC 10 for Vista? What i'm after here are what things can be done in FPSC x10 that cannot be done in FPSC?
(aside from what the FPSC x10 website already says.)


For Example.

In FPSC 10 are the models better looking..sharper..looks more like todays commercial games?

Also, will it have the ability to have an inventory screen that lets the player pick weapons or items like most FPS games have or an objective screen listing your next objective.

What about a more detailed menu at startup, with a complete Options screen with Video, Sound, Graphics/Resolution Gameplay/difficulty levels, full keyboard configuration?

What about active HUD overlays that let you pick items from the hud like in splinter cell?

Things like that are what I would like to see. You get my meaning? More of the stuff most of todays games have.. thats what I want. Can any of this be done in FPSC x10?

If FPSC 10 has these things, or at least enough improved things over FPSC then I can justify purchasing Vista and an Nvidia 8 video card to use with FPSC x10.

I know it takes teams of professional coders months or years to make top selling commercial quallity games. How close can I get to that with FPSC or FPSC x10 ?

For when I do get Vista, will there be a demo or free version of FPSC 10 I could Try before I Purchase..I mean, I have read the main page for FPSC x10 and it doesn't say anything about a demo. Or, How about a video if not a demo?

Yes the screenshots for FPSC x10 do look impressive, but it doesn't mention any of the things I talk about above.

Mainly.. I want to know, am I wasting my time with FPSC?

Thanks,
John Phoenix
johnphoenix@inbox.com

I think fpsc X9 is good. I've had Vista for 6 months, then went back to xp pro. Besides, x9 is going to get way better after the migration...

Indeed. Not many have Vista (I for one am waiting for at least the RC release of Windows 7, then I'm all for that!), and not many have a nice enough PC to run X10 games, which is why 9 is going to be great, especially when the migration is done!

As far as I know, X10 doesnt run on windows7, I'm not sure about X9...

Ok well I'll go ahead and clear a couple of things up for you.

FPSC is recognised as being the best game engine in the world right now. As for FPSC X10 you should probably read PC Gamer's opinion

"It does a better job at showing off the pluses of DX10 than Crysis ever managed to do". PC Gamer, March 2008.

Also a review of FPSC X9 worth reading
http://gamesfirst.com/?id=966

Basically if possible get both versions but as long as you have one of them you'll be able to develop your own Deus Ex inspired game.

FPSC is a major breakthrough in providing bedroom developers with the ability to develop commercial first person shooters. That just isn't possible with lesser game engines.

Once you start using the software properly you'll agree this is the best game engine in the world.

FPSC may be the most user friendly 3D game making experience ever made but simply defining it as the best game engine in the world is a bit silly (I don't mean to offend anyone here - I love FPSC like the rest of you).

There is a reason you don't see FPSC (X9 or X10) games fill up the shelves at your local game shop. It simply doesn't match anything near a commercial quality development engine. FPSC is great for beginners and hobbyist developers but is doesn't have anywhere near the strengts of a modern professional engine like Unreal Engine 3 used for games like Gears of War, Mass Effect and BioShock that sell in the millions.

FPSC is great but it is not the strongest engine if you want to make commercial quality games. The migration version does sound promising however and it may move the engine up a league or two.

No, FPSC games are not worthy of shop shelves because the engine is not good enough. On its own.

When you start getting mods involved (see Dark Goblin's Dynamic shadows thread and check out efxmod) you'll start to see a bit of geniune graphical quality shine through. It used to be the situation that the engine limited the gameplay, but as more and more mods come along that improve performance to be honest with you, the games you make are only limited by your imagination.

Sure, Bioshock games might be a bit beyond FPSC but with some hard graft, you can get damn close to being that quality. This is a really exciting time for FPSC with mods such as Ply's enhancing gameplay elements, efx the graphical front. As Scurvy said, not a commercial engine but it's easy to understand and you can make some good games on it.

To be fair what I remember of the free version was pretty basic and not really a tour de force for FPSC. Nickydude's guide is always on hand to make it all as clear as day, be it making custom textures, models, or even game set peices.

And menu screens. I doubt it would be logically possible to do that using the existing HUD system. But someone could be making a mod to get round it now. We don't know yet. ANd if they aren't... HUDs are a good idea.

The FPSC migration IS coming, however - some functions of X10 will soon be in X9.

AH, I see. Guys, Thanks for the info on the migration. I will get the x9 version and wait for the x9 migration to happen. I didn't know about the migration, I guess I missed that post on the migration discussion. (just read it)

Er.. the fps creators have another game making tool that will build exe files.. Q- something I think..(saw it at the bottom of the fspc manual) But I suppose that is for hard coders.

Yeah, TGPEG, If what you say is true about the free version, then I am not seeing all FPSC can do. I guess I will know more when I slap down the 50 Zorkmids for the game.

That makes me wonder just what other things about fpsc I'm not able to see with the free version.

(What, no Zorkmids? I thought Zorkmids were the universal standard)
o.k. I'll use this cheap floundering U.S. stuff. It ain't worth much anyway.

Thanks,

John Phoenix
johnphoenix@inbox.com