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strateg0s
Member Posts: 10 Arc User
Ok I made and ran a little adventure in NVN, I really enjoyed the scripting side of that.
Anyway I understood the foundry is really dumbed down and limited but thought I'd have a look anyway.
The first thing I thought I would do is make a map for the area surrounding a village.
But it appears I can't make a map.
Am I right that you can ONLY pick from premade outdoor maps?!
Anyway I understood the foundry is really dumbed down and limited but thought I'd have a look anyway.
The first thing I thought I would do is make a map for the area surrounding a village.
But it appears I can't make a map.
Am I right that you can ONLY pick from premade outdoor maps?!
Post edited by strateg0s on
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You can select pre-made maps. However, you can add textures and redesign your map a bit. Some of these textures are landscapes and buildings. There are several generic maps to pick from. The textures you add can change the original look of the map, though. There is a texture for buildings, walls, statues, broken swords, potions, a portrait of a dragon sitting with a guy, etc...
However, you will notice there is a limit to the number of textures you can use. My recommendation is to use a pre-existing map and build from there. However, you can get creative...
You can absolutely make a map with a wilderness area surrounding a village.
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Ah well.
This is a canyon I have made from scratch, started out as flat grass land and I've layered the various rock assets in different positions at different angles to make a huge canyon (elsewhere on this map I've made an underground cave network from scratch as well).
Here is a shot from the town square I made from scratch, once again starting with flat grass I placed each building, tent and strip of cobbled flooring.
Some people are limited by the tools at hand, other people find creative ways to get around it. You can't currently deform terrain, but you can build a hill using grass covered rocks and build one up yourself if you have the patience.
I've been a games developer for 15 years I know all about creativity but I'm not going to waste my time working with tools like this.
A tool you have to be "creative" and patient just to make a hill? It's incredibly simple to make a height map importer for a tool like this I've made plenty of them myself, leaving functionality like that out and giving your users a giant flat plane to work with? Terrible.
And these tools were given to the public?
The Foundry isn't a Game Development tool, it's a tool for making content out of hundreds of pre-made items. If it had the detail of a development tool then most people couldn't use it and/or wouldn't have the patience to learn how to use it (kinda like sitting down in front of Maya or 3D Max). It's simple so everyone can use it, it's a massive step beyond what other MMOs currently offer, and it's currently the Open Beta version of the system which is still incomplete (more features, art, clusters, etc. will be continuously added as stated by the developers).
You can use it to make basic stuff, you can be creative and use it to make more complex stuff. Or alternatively you can choose to "not waste your time" and not use it at all instead of criticising a feature you haven't even used yet. The Foundry is impressive for what it is but no one is kidding themselves that it's a tool for creating a complete game.... you just seem to expect that it should be, feel entitled to it, and that anything that doesn't reach the unrealistic bar you have set and tick every feature you believe it should have (even though the it is a free feature in a free game) is "Terrible".
I don't expect a game development tool where did I say that ? All I want is basic functionality.
As for my expectations, they are pretty low and this doesn't even reach that quite reasonable level.
I don't know what your getting defensive about really it's obviously not up to the job yet.
As for it being free, it's a game to make money. Companies don't make games except to make money that's it period. Part of their plan to keep the game interesting to players and in turn leep the bucks rolling in is to get people to create content for them.