EvilZone

So if you know its a huge project and you just want something to work at for a lonnng time, just a few things for consideration:


#1) the programming world changes very quickly. The more time you take to release something, the more out of date it will be. So if you start programming now, and end up releasing a product in 10 years, all the programming you did for the first half will be completely irrelevant. take Duke Nukem Forever for example. This game sucked basically because it took so long to develop. read up on it and youll see what I mean. If you don't care about any release though, then:


#2) your really talking about multiple projects here. there are large companies that literally only do engines. and most game development companies do not create their own engines, they use their partner's because it would be insane for them to try. Even with the massive amount of people they may have. Maybe you don't understand exactly what an engine is though, so I may look into that a little more.


#3) your gonna have a hard time convincing anyone to join you on this little adventure. As you can see most people are just gonna laugh and call you a noob.


Basically, this is a really really REALLY big project that is indeed very close to impossible for one person, even a very experienced game developer. I would just lower the ambitions a little bit, start out with your basic ideas first, then expand upon it as you go. Make one small project first so you get an idea of what your doing. I recommend a 2D physics based game using box2d in c++. after this, you will have a better idea of what you are getting into and know where you want to go with it. Maybe if you do a really really good job with a very basic game, others will decide to help and your game could slowly evolve into what you originally wanted it to be. With the help of the entire open source community.

This is a perfect example of constructive criticism.


Anyway, you are right in all areas, but I do think that some misunderstanding is still in effect here.


1. I do not intend to make the game world all at once. I'll start small. Like, real small. I was thinking somewhere around the size of Solitude in the square kilometer range.


2. I don't intend to make a game "engine" as is the proper definition, ergo I do not intend to create a tool, I was simply talking about the framework needed to run and display the graphical images without actually making a separate program for it.


3. I also intend on making everything using procedural generation, which means I can do a 300 man team's worth of work (at least as far as 3d modeling goes). Even the textures will be created algorithmically.


4. And finally, I don't even know if I WILL release this project. I may quite on it before a few weeks are over, I just want to try.


If you need proof of the fact that you can in fact make a huge game procedurally, then please look at Limit Theory which was made by two guys, of which one did the coding and the other made the music. He did not create any of the textures or 3d models, it was all done procedurally and within the space of a year and a half. I recognize that I am no Josh Parnell, but I should be able to do something similar, albeit within a larger timescale.


And lastly, are you telling me that the "Master Coders" here can't do this? I recall reading a forum post telling me about how I will be next to people that were always the smartest kids in their class including the teacher, and that many quit school because it wasn't worth their time. If that is indeed what you or anyone else here tells me, then when I do start this undertaking, and when I present it to you on a silver plater, I will count myself as being once again, the smartest person in the class. Once again, the smartest person I know. I will gladly return to that isolationist box that I so desperately tried to escape by searching for people that were at least at my level. And if you are telling me that even the best among you cannot even begin to perceive how to complete this task within TEN YEARS, then I suppose that there is not a place for me here. There is never a place for men among apes still bashing things with a rock.


But if that isn't what you are telling me, and I assume it isn't because your pride wouldn't allow you to, then I suggest you guys stop doubting me. I know the time scale, I understand my newness. But it does not bother me, it does not discourage me, and most importantly It will not stop me.

It has been a while hasn't it? I already introduced myself... a few months ago. Also, I do realize just how massive this project is, which is why I intend to work on it in my spare time over a period of years. Hell, I don't really even intend to finish it, it's just something to work on.

One more thing, it should only take a few months to learn how to make a prototype landscape generator. This game is all about algorithms my friends, see limit theory for an example on algorithmically crwating a dynamic universe.