This is something close to me. I dream of writing it my sleep. As a programmer who cares less for the programming and more for the tools it can yield, it's a project I wish I'd made any sort of real progress toward in the last ten years. And, yeah, it's been spinning its web in my waking and unconscious mind for that long, with equal parts unbridled enthusiasm and Derek Smart-levels of self-delusion, well before Minecraft existed. But Minecraft is great inspiration. You can see that across genres and scenes right now. Problem is too many devs are trying to replicate its success wholesale, with minor tweaks for playability, while ignoring its greater potential as an entry-level 3D design tool.
3D game development as of now is necessarily decentralized. It takes groups of people in specialized roles to put together something like Assassin's Creed 3. 3D tools then necessarily cater to that workflow. It's a very piecemeal process, but it works if you have those connections and feel comfortable in that environment. It's not the only way to work, or even the best, however. Game design should be a very hands-on process in my mind. Designers should contribute to art, animation, world building and scripting in a direct fashion. Or at least they should have that option. In the days of 2D tile engines, this was very possible. In the days of early 3D, it was even still. But with 3D it's never been as basic and functional as it is with a good, feature-rich 2D tile engine. Minecraft turned that idea on its head, but it's still not all the way there.
Now consider Blockscape: here's a guy taking the basic build aspects of Minecraft and expanding them, giving them nuance, without sacrificing the fun and the ease of use which Minecraft engenders. But he's set his sights on the same ends Notch achieved - a contstruction set meta game, a sandbox mmo - and seemingly not much else. What he could have is a tool that could change the development landscape for indies looking toward 3D. Maybe the secretive "Phase 3" is something like that. Maybe not. But it's what I want. Accessible, but relatively freeform tile-based 3D engines are the future of independent development as I'd like to see it. If you take Minecraft as a bridge, expand its tile sets, give users simplified scripting tools and give them basic 3D model templates that can be easily modified, textured and animated in-engine (this is key), you'll see single persons putting together hugely ambitious 3D games.
Imagine putting together Super Mario 64 by yourself in six months? Or Ocarina? It's not far out of reach with the right tool. Might not look like something a team could put together in UDK, but it wouldn't matter if it played well. And, with current generation hardware, who says it couldn't look like that? Powerful tools with basic and direct interface could mean all the difference to the laypersons out there.
I'd really like to make this happen. What do you think? Have I burned through too much of my goodwill on this forum?
3D game development as of now is necessarily decentralized. It takes groups of people in specialized roles to put together something like Assassin's Creed 3. 3D tools then necessarily cater to that workflow. It's a very piecemeal process, but it works if you have those connections and feel comfortable in that environment. It's not the only way to work, or even the best, however. Game design should be a very hands-on process in my mind. Designers should contribute to art, animation, world building and scripting in a direct fashion. Or at least they should have that option. In the days of 2D tile engines, this was very possible. In the days of early 3D, it was even still. But with 3D it's never been as basic and functional as it is with a good, feature-rich 2D tile engine. Minecraft turned that idea on its head, but it's still not all the way there.
Now consider Blockscape: here's a guy taking the basic build aspects of Minecraft and expanding them, giving them nuance, without sacrificing the fun and the ease of use which Minecraft engenders. But he's set his sights on the same ends Notch achieved - a contstruction set meta game, a sandbox mmo - and seemingly not much else. What he could have is a tool that could change the development landscape for indies looking toward 3D. Maybe the secretive "Phase 3" is something like that. Maybe not. But it's what I want. Accessible, but relatively freeform tile-based 3D engines are the future of independent development as I'd like to see it. If you take Minecraft as a bridge, expand its tile sets, give users simplified scripting tools and give them basic 3D model templates that can be easily modified, textured and animated in-engine (this is key), you'll see single persons putting together hugely ambitious 3D games.
Imagine putting together Super Mario 64 by yourself in six months? Or Ocarina? It's not far out of reach with the right tool. Might not look like something a team could put together in UDK, but it wouldn't matter if it played well. And, with current generation hardware, who says it couldn't look like that? Powerful tools with basic and direct interface could mean all the difference to the laypersons out there.
I'd really like to make this happen. What do you think? Have I burned through too much of my goodwill on this forum?
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