ClydeFrog

Way too much pointless swinging and jumping, but this looks promising as phuck!

What about the Force? Are there any Force powers beside jump yet?

There will be force powers - in the future.  Right now, we are still working on different game modes, maps, character customization, and adding yellow/medium style to the melee system.  The team is very small, but we are chugging along.  We should release a new version pretty soon.

More info on the project's discord: https://discord.gg/ZR5F4x

Hello Everybody, this is a great topic 

I've been working on the exact thing being discussed in this thread - and I have a bare bones network capable (i.e. dedicated server) prototype.  I plan on uploading a video in the next few days so you guys can see the progress so far.  Basically, this is what I have so far:

1) One game mode - duel.  Two players fighting (obviously), and the rest are spectators.  All clients run through a dedicated server.

2) Three basic attacks (right, left, overhead), along with their respective blocks.  For testing purposes, I have a bot as client #2 - who can never be hit because he blocks everything perfectly (more on this later).

3) A light saber blueprint which handles all of the light saber stuff (i.e. it's blade color, turning on/off, etc..)  Also, the hit detection system is done by the light saber itself.  And this actually ended up working quite well.

I used the animations off the Adobe Mixamo site (mocap which can be downloaded by anyone for free).  The skeleton used for the animations was re-targeted to the UE4 dummy (very easy to do with any skeleton really).  A note about the animations.  They definitely need some more work, but they are good enough for now.  I'm using root motion for the combat - so the player attacking lunges forward a bit and takes the camera with him.  So during the attack, you lose player control until the saber hits something (which stops the animation) or the animation swing ends.  I tried the combat without root motion and my personal opinion is that you lose all tactical aspects of the combat - and face to face combat pretty much turns into players running around trying to get a lucky hit.  Just my opinion, ultimately the community will decide.  In either case, the way it's set up right now it is very easy to switch between both.

As for the blocking, what would be your opinion on this?  Should it be automatic, player driven, or a hybrid based on something like the angle the player is facing?

I'm still working on this every spare moment I have.  I think that even the most basic of foundations is enough to get the ball rolling on a project like this.

Also, I would really appreciate any suggestion you guys might have on the combat - as I'm still tweaking the shit out of it.

On another note, I have yet to write a single line of code (and I do know C++).  Yes, it might be required at some point - but so far it has not been needed for anything.  I've done no optimization work at all and so far it runs fine (and I have an old graphics card).

So after I clean up the code, and more importantly, document it - I will setup a Git project.

So something where you can jump high and have this movement based directional attack system with a sword with various slow/fast styles? How would blocking/staggering work? Stuff like wall-jumps/climbs? Strafe jumps? What about various bugs and stuff people use from JKA like backflip delayed swings and stuff that is important to JKA duels?

 

Some time ago I did some live streams where I put Kyle and his anims in Unity and started playing around with the movement and combat system. Unreal would probably be better suited. I wanted to change up the combat a bit, but I'd rather try out my ideas some more before I try pitching it to someone.

 

I think an ideal combat system for something with the Jedi Knight-series movement style would be some hybrid between JKA and JK2 1.04 and 1.02. No matter the implementation, I have some ideas on how to make stuff like blocking look good and got a ton of experience in Unity and some experience with Unreal. If your/the community's ideas get developed enough, I'm sure I could help coding/blueprinting.

Hopefully, a lot of people will be willing and able to contribute. 

Exactly this. I could imagine this to become what Blade Symphony wanted to be. Blade Symphony was advertised as a game similar to JK2 but failed completely.

 

I think poke/wiggle and all broken mechanics like broken wallflips etc would have to go. Remove all the bullshit and streamline the combat while not dumbing it down. Of course it would have to be discussed what is a bullshit and what is a legit gameplay mechanic. Delayed swings for example are probably too important to remove them. But all this would have to be discussed of course.

Agreed 100%

Can port the animations, onto a new set of bones with different names. We also have access to the full animation source as well. No one would be able to prove that they were ported.

Any animations would be great, if you could re-target them to the UE4 skeleton.

If you intend to make a game like Jedi Knight that has sabering, I'd say do that from the start. Get the prototype up with the important features immediately. I think projects easily come to a halt if you say "we'll add that later when this part is good", if it's actually part of the core, even if a MP shooter is easier.

But I guess it's more about what the community wants in such a game. Personally I'd focus on saber combat, as this is the unique part that warrants a remake, since there is no other combat system like it outside of JK series.

Exactly, get the bare bones combat working and then take it from there.

I will never understand this. I'd love to play around in this kejim port of ClydeFrog, but this video is ugly af. Every bad material work is simply overblended by super gloss. Then every where the same stupid detail normalmap that would imply the materials are rough, but then again, super gloss. An example, a metal floor where like a hundred stormies walked over is smooth like polished glass? Thats simply stupid.

 

They should start making proper pbr textures and hand them over to eezstreet for his JK:Enhanced.

Looks like the roughness is way too low, and the roughness maps are too high contrast, leading to a "wet" look on almost everything, which is made even worse with UE4's screen space reflections.

After digging into and implementing UE4's animation system(s) I am very optimistic...

Does anyone have any combat animations?  I was able to download some from Adobe's Mixamo site (everything there is free for the time being), and I managed to use quite a few for the combat system I'm working on, but you can never have enough.  And I suck really bad at animating.

i'd be down to help, i use to work with FrontWire Studios on the SWGIT project before they got shut down and i left before they got dcmaed

, although i never really got use to ue4 but if someone showed me the way i'm sure i'd learn quick.

Thanks NightShadow.  Any help is always welcome.  As soon as I have something basic (bare bones) in place, then I will know and be much more specific on exactly what and were help will be needed.

When it comes to a project using the Jedi Knight combat to make a modern game I'd gladly help out. I would have already started something like this if I was good in coding. Making it completely open source and let everyone contribute would be a good idea then (as mentioned). But again, porting content from Jedi Knight 2 or even just using intellectual property will lead to problems if the project attracts some attention. Personally I would focus completely on the multiplayer and rebuild some of the JKA/JK2 maps.

Agree 100% - focus right now is only on multiplayer.  

I'm not sure if Disney would give a shit if nobody is making money off the IP.

By the way, the combat system I've built so far was done without writing a single line of code.  UE4's visual scripting system can be used instead.  I thought Epic Games was just talking bullshit when they would say you could build an entire game using only visual scripting - but they were right.  Funny this is, I'm a software developer and I know C++, but I've yet to even use it on my project.

From what I see, the goal of this project is merely to show that it is possible to transfer the assets of Jedi Outcast to Unreal Engine 4.

And because most of the assets are taken 1:1 from the original game, we can't expect that the whole thing will automatically transform into a better looking map.

The whole revising can be done later, when the main goal is done.

 

Personally, I think this is a great project. There is so much potential. It would be interesting to see every map reimagined into a modern engine.

And by the way, is it be possible to put all the maps from a mission seamlessly together? I mean, for example, Kejim has two chapters, Kejim Base and Kejim Post.

Putting both together would make a complete map.

Yes, that is exactly the goal of this project.  And I do agree with Teancum, a sparse environment will always look like a sparse environment...especially when we are all used to the detailed environments of modern games.  Geometry "clutter" goes a long way in making an environment more realistic (pipes, cables, debris, etc.) - and there is absolutely none in JO.  As Lancelot mentioned, adding extra geometry and polish would come later.  And yes, it is possible to add missions (maps) together via streaming based on player position (like what is done in open world games) or even the old fashioned way, by actually merging both mission maps and positioning them correctly.

In Spain we say 'a nadie le amarga un dulce', that in english would be something like 'sweet things never made anyone bitter', and that's what I have to say about this project (if its already a 'project').

 

And well, about the improved look, I guess we can't judge with only a few pics. Not everything is geometry and textures (which I guess it won't change a lot), there's iluminattion, postprocess effects, global occlusion, and all this stuff, that will look much better with UE4, I guess.

........

 

About if only a saber combat game or only a star wars shooter game, well, why change what it works? I would prefer a game like JK/JO: a shooter plus saber combats, the perfect combination, and that system is already done: JK and JO. No need to think or squeeze the brain.

Correct, there is no color grading, no post processing effects, no proper reflection.  Global illumination is the default for the baked light maps and there is no global occlusion at all, only the default "screen space" occlusion and the occlusion maps used by the textures.  

Yes, a shooter + saber combat would be the ideal, but one has to start somewhere :-)  I'm trying to put together a highly "tweak-able" animation system in UE4 for saber combat.  The point being so I can slap a single duel level on a server and ask all the fine people of this forum for some feedback.

Personally, I think the best thing to do would be something similar to the way Epic Games is doing the new Unreal Tournament.  It's entirely community driven, where anybody can contribute by adding maps, code, models, animations etc.  Of course, that doesn't mean anybody can add anything they want and expect it to be in the final game (in the case of Unreal Tournament, Epic ultimately decides what community content makes the grade) but as long as there are some clear guidelines and goals it certainly can be done.

My personal preference would be a saber melee game - multiplayer (and/or bots) combat.  I think it's vital to start with something as manageable as possible.  Start with only one map and only one game mode (for example one duel map).  Put the project on Git hub so everybody has access to contribute, using only the main branch on some dedicated servers for public consumption and testing.  Keep iterating and updating the combat system until the community is happy with it - then start adding the polish.

We should all band together and create a basic Star Wars shooter and saber combat on UE4.

Just the saber combat alone would be worth doing, considering that it's been 15 years.

@@Psyk0Sith

Biped rig is fine - the bones can be re-targeted inside of UE4.  Do you have a link to the model?

@@Teancum

You must be thinking of UE3.  UE4 does not have a license - the engine, tools, and source code are all free.  Epic Games takes 5 percent of your game sales after it reaches a certain revenue.  It it's not a game (i.e. visualization, simulation software etc) then Epic takes nothing.

I like what you have done so far even if not PBR. There was a Movie Battles 3 project planned for UE3 that could have benefited from this workflow. I still have the Boba Fett model i made for them, maybe he could find a home in one of your maps XD.

Absolutely!  Is he already rigged?

I tryed a lot and in past also i worked on a project about a fangame on LOK with 3 peoples, but rendering of engines was not much good and i found too much technical for my opinion. i am searching something that is the most fastest and user friendly possible for open build worlds and game (possible rpg games with space fight simulation too and c++ support )

something that allow to shape terrain and add water and cliff and montains with immense easy way and also prefab of buildend and can use also external models (obj, 3ds, fbx etc )

HD for me is secondary. i prefear the speed of building and game program at the stunning graphic, also i like if the engine should have the more possible soft visual particle effects rendering , because i am photosensible. >.< and also i am alone to work with project so i cannot stay an eternity to create a single dungeon or map. ..

it's not easy to find something like that. for moment heroengine is the best i see, but is very expensive with coast of assets and also not run on XP. (so for moment i cannot try -.- damn...  )

 

someone now what game engine are not again cutted of by XP? so i can try something for give me some idea of what i need or what i want exactly i know what kind of game i would make, but i not know what engine is the more nice for do it and for my necessity. ._.

Asgarath83, your options are pretty limited if you're forced to work with a 32 bit OS.  UE4 is 64 bit only, as SomaZ mentioned, you could try Unity or maybe you could try the previous version of Unreal Engine (which is called UDK - which is also free).  The only "professional" grade engine with all required tools out of the box (level, particle, landscape, material, animation, cinematic editors etc.) that I know of which supports C++ is UE4.  In fact, all of the engine source code (C++) is included with UE4.  UDK has all of these features as well, but no source code is provided, and all game logic is done within its scripting system.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.

@@ensiform, the tool I use to export the models is called Noesis.  It basically converts quake maps and md3 files to *.obj or *.FBX files - including their textures and material ID's.  Sure, that's all you would need for the most basic material shader in UE4 but just using that would be a total waste for an engine that uses physically based rendering.  It would not look good or "updated" at all.

So, to answer your question, I try not to make any 3D asset from scratch - I just use the source models and maps.  I cannot avoid, however, re-texturing all of the assets.