Now, after I purchase a new PC, 2 actually (laptop + desktop), I'll be using CryEngine 3 due to it's amazing next-gen features. However, I still love the ease of use of FPSC X9, and I'm thinking of making an x11 version with modern features (if anyone knows how to use 3d sound in the x9 version i'd love to know, but it's certainly a feature on my list to include in x11)
other features I'm thinking about:
-tessellation (easy, resource-friendly way to have lots of poly's)
-real-time reflections
-built-in vehicle engine (in-engine settings to make objects into vehicles)
-Hope to have Console-support (for our friends without Gaming PC's)
-dynamic, built-in AI
-Random Environment Generation with user-input constraints
-better multiplayer support (full dynamic objects, built-in custom-class and level-up system, multiple maps, etc., oh, and co-op with AI enemies)
-Distance-based rendering (objects are saved in multiple levels of detail, then shown in coordination with their distance from the player)
-occlusion (if you can't see it, it's not there...)
-interactive water (with separate areas of water at various heights, as opposed to 1-height of water across the whole map)
-texture streaming, and other performance boosting tech
-full support (ideally) of FPSC weapons, maybe characters, maybe objects, however it'll be made to support higher-quality objects, so everything ought to be redone for it.
-Sandbox-support, alter the environments and save it
-unlimited world (level-size is expanded as far as the developer places objects in it, dynamically expanding)
Some other Game-play additions:
-swap weapons
-knife lunge (lower weapon while holding with right hand, lunge knife with left, put knife away, raise weapon)
-in-game level loading (load next level while playing the current one)
-RPG features
-online voice-chat
-realistic gameplay options (e.g. better muzzle-flash, ricochet, destructible environments, explosion cropping [explosion animations and damage is cut off instead of going through walls], post-processing like heat causing curvature of image be-hind it, real-time weather, player incoming damage direction-indicator)
-hit markers (useful in-game and for debugging for developers!
)
-sound acoustics object textures (different colors on object textures indicate various materials for sound acoustics and special features like bullet penetration and environment conditions [shoot flamethrower at wood... wood catch on fire and dissolve after a while])
-lot's of other features (taking suggestions)
I'm not starting this project until the school year is over (so like late may or june), and I'll need some time to get an understanding on the structure of high-end high-performance game-engines
I've used Red-Eyes lightstorm engine for FPSC, which is coming along very nicely, and gave me some inspiration to at least try this. I'll write it with my team of about 12 developers. Idk if I should use GDK, DB Pro, maybe C++/C# (easy to export to consoles, and even those with a mac :\ ), etc.
TGC is a great community of great developers and I believe has the best introductory engines for new developers, I'd like to make the new FPSC capable of AAA-game creation by an individual or small team of developers.
any ideas? any recommendations? any legal concerns here? (idk if calling FPSC X11 is infringing on the original creators of FPSC if it would be sold on TGC's website with a portion of the sale going to TGC and/or whoever originally created FPSC, please let me know)
That Big Idea guy that can't find the time...
