Easiest way to make open world
- Thread starter nicod
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Open world + using static images + no coding is an impossible task. And closest game engines have gotten to that would be called visual scripting which tends to be aimed towards non-programmers.
Your closest bet would be a software meant for making Visual Novels most commonly used Ren'Py.
I have personally never used it so I'm not sure how difficult it is however I know that people have managed to make somewhat open world games on it.
An alternative would be game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine where it would be possible to create a game using visual scripting. However assuming you mean to create a game with "static images/renders" my assumption would be that you'd be better off with Ren'Py and checking some tutorials on how to do it.
Your closest bet would be a software meant for making Visual Novels most commonly used Ren'Py.
I have personally never used it so I'm not sure how difficult it is however I know that people have managed to make somewhat open world games on it.
An alternative would be game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine where it would be possible to create a game using visual scripting. However assuming you mean to create a game with "static images/renders" my assumption would be that you'd be better off with Ren'Py and checking some tutorials on how to do it.
- Jun 25, 2017
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Open world (a.k.a. "sandbox") games are the hardest to design and code. "Design," because you have to factor in the player doing things in orders you didn't anticipate, and "code" because you typically need some sort of event system. Without one, your code can turn into a massive tangle. (I'm not saying it's impossible without an event system, just that it can get tangled.)
Without an event system, you're going to need to build a screen for every location. (So that you have something to show and wait for the player when the go to each location.) Each of those is going to have to have the hooks to navigate to all the other locations, and when you get to the location, you're going to have to deal with all the possible events that could happen there based on everything that's happened in the past.
An exception to the navigation screen part is if you use a "central navigation" system. An example of that is "Whores of Thrones" or "Room For Rent", in which there's a central map from which you go to each location and then when the event there is over, you come back to the central map again. That simplifies the navigation somehow. "Room For Rent" uses the "non-event-based" system, in which when you click on a location, it takes you to a long "if this, else if this, else if this" sequence to determine what the player sees at that location. "Whores of Thrones," on the other hand, uses a quest/event-based system. The latter requires more coding expertise (a good bit of Python). The former can be done with basic Ren'py skills.
But if you're a complete newbie as a coder (even a Ren'py coder), then I strongly recommend you set your sights lower for your first project.
Without an event system, you're going to need to build a screen for every location. (So that you have something to show and wait for the player when the go to each location.) Each of those is going to have to have the hooks to navigate to all the other locations, and when you get to the location, you're going to have to deal with all the possible events that could happen there based on everything that's happened in the past.
An exception to the navigation screen part is if you use a "central navigation" system. An example of that is "Whores of Thrones" or "Room For Rent", in which there's a central map from which you go to each location and then when the event there is over, you come back to the central map again. That simplifies the navigation somehow. "Room For Rent" uses the "non-event-based" system, in which when you click on a location, it takes you to a long "if this, else if this, else if this" sequence to determine what the player sees at that location. "Whores of Thrones," on the other hand, uses a quest/event-based system. The latter requires more coding expertise (a good bit of Python). The former can be done with basic Ren'py skills.
But if you're a complete newbie as a coder (even a Ren'py coder), then I strongly recommend you set your sights lower for your first project.
Remembered a little late however still. There's RPG Maker which some people hate playing games made in it however it would be possible to create an open world game without really needing to know programmingthanks guys
- Jun 10, 2017
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It's not that people hate playing games made with RPG Maker, but that those games tend to be awful, except when they come from the Asian scene. They offer big maps, but empty maps ; you've a whole world to explore, but absolutely nothing happen in this world.
This emptiness that people hate, way more than the engine. Make an open world/sandbox Ren'py game where, at a given time, there's only one of the available location that have content, and you'll see that people dislike them as much.
I'm aware of that just most likely was too lazy to write in such detail
.Personally what I hate the most when it comes to RPG Maker games when they tend to be too lazy and just go generic random fights everywhere that get beyond annoying and well nothing to spice it up so to speak. One of the better if not best RPG Maker games I've played that comes to mind would be To the Moon and it's not even an adult game
I would take a look at Twine or QSP here. They are very simple in terms of their language. It's easy to find your way around, even if you're not a developer. The kind of locations they have implemented makes it quite pleasant to create a kind of sandbox/open-world environment. There are some good examples here on the forum. You could orientate yourself on these. I'll just mention Girl Life as an example for QSP or Life Choices for Twine.
Don't give up too quickly. With a little time to get used to it, you'll quickly find your way around. If in doubt, you can also ask here in the forum if you have technical problems.
Don't give up too quickly. With a little time to get used to it, you'll quickly find your way around. If in doubt, you can also ask here in the forum if you have technical problems.
- Jul 24, 2018
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There is no perfect "no code" engine. You will have to put at least some effort into it. Even if there is one such perfect engine, is it truly satisfying to make something when everything is already pre-made or partially implemented for you?
If you really have the creative fire inside you, you should be able to learn the basics of some programming language. I doubt that every person who makes Ren'Py visual novels are Python experts, most of the time people just study the absolute basics to implement what they want and if they find a problem they study that specific topic along the production. I'm not trying to be an asshole but you really need to see that nothing is effortless and "easy", even purely text games have it hard since the audience expects more from the writers because of the lack of images. You said you already have the skills to make the game except for the programming, why not try to dip your toes a bit?
If you really have the creative fire inside you, you should be able to learn the basics of some programming language. I doubt that every person who makes Ren'Py visual novels are Python experts, most of the time people just study the absolute basics to implement what they want and if they find a problem they study that specific topic along the production. I'm not trying to be an asshole but you really need to see that nothing is effortless and "easy", even purely text games have it hard since the audience expects more from the writers because of the lack of images. You said you already have the skills to make the game except for the programming, why not try to dip your toes a bit?
- May 17, 2019
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i learn fast i can do that the problem i don't know from where to begin really
- Oct 12, 2019
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In here, I always have to retrain myself to remember that what people on this forum call open world isn't REALLY open world in a traditional game sense (ie., people here tend to use both open world and sandbox to describe games that have some clickable elements and different scenes that you can choose to explore, but it's not actually a true open world/sandbox because you aren't really moving the character model, and the scenes are still static. What they refer to is really more akin to old school point and click adventure games.)
The reason I say that isn't to be pedantic though, it's because it's important to know what you really have in mind when you say you want to make an open world. If you mean static scenes and renders without a movable character in a true 3d setting, then I agree with cgasper: go with RenPy. It's very easy to use, to learn, and will give you all the functionality you need. If you want to make a TRUE open world game, then....sorry to say but it's not going to be easy. Not impossible, but very challenging and you'll spend more time learning to code than actually developing your game at first. In this case, you would probably want to look into Unity or Unreal, but be warned that the learning curve is steep no matter what.
So it just depends on what you have in mind. It sounds like you would be best to go with RenPy for your first project, even if you wanted to learn other programs down the road to have more creative freedom.
The reason I say that isn't to be pedantic though, it's because it's important to know what you really have in mind when you say you want to make an open world. If you mean static scenes and renders without a movable character in a true 3d setting, then I agree with cgasper: go with RenPy. It's very easy to use, to learn, and will give you all the functionality you need. If you want to make a TRUE open world game, then....sorry to say but it's not going to be easy. Not impossible, but very challenging and you'll spend more time learning to code than actually developing your game at first. In this case, you would probably want to look into Unity or Unreal, but be warned that the learning curve is steep no matter what.
So it just depends on what you have in mind. It sounds like you would be best to go with RenPy for your first project, even if you wanted to learn other programs down the road to have more creative freedom.
I'd advise against it. For something like that typically you'd need a team of dedicated devolopers, 3d modela, etc. Even experienced devolopers would have a nightmare of a time to make something like that alone.
As far as I understand it GTA World is practically a GTA 5 RP mod and still I wouldn't be surprised if that had a community working on it.
Edit: When I think of it only example remotely close to what I assume you wanted would have maybe been LifePlay which is made in Unreal Engine
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- Jul 24, 2018
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First of all you should look into some engines and understand their pros and cons, if you want to do something like that you will most likely be using Unity, Unreal, Godot, etc. Download a free 3D model from the internet and do some research into how to use the engine and how to animate properly when the character does actions, don't add too much special actions or else you will have too much on your plate.
Next is the ambient, where the game will be set, let's use a small town surrounded by a forest as an example, you will need some models of some trees and some appropriate houses, maybe some cars. You will need to worry about textures too. You could buy models, pick free ones or sculpt your own but it will require another set of skills.
There are also the inhabitants of the town, you could fill your city with NPC's that are there but the player can't really interact with and this will be relatively easy but for the characters that have story and complex interactions with the player you will need to dedicate some time not only with thinking about their individual routes but also writing code specific to them.
Coding. The number of systems you want to add on your game will dictate how much code you will need to write, depending on the game you will also have to worry a lot about optimizing.
There is a lot more I could write but these are some guidelines off the top of my head, you need to properly go through with this in parts and subdivide them into tiny tasks. Online courses and youtube can help you on this process.
You could do it, it's going to take much time and effort but you could. If instead of making a GTA scale type of game you focused on a small town or a neighborhood then your chances could be better, maybe just letting the player walk freely once they are inside a specific room-sized area they selected on the map? Anyway, I personally would tell you to first make a 2D game with a map and various locations, such as Summertime Saga and others.
- Oct 12, 2019
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Okay, so I don't want to discourage you but I'm going to say something you have to hear. What you just described is not going to happen, not exactly as you described at least. It's just not possible for one person to make something of that scope and scale by themselves. Not from scratch. Now for the good news. You do have options if you want something more open than RenPy, but you will have to scale way down. There are two main ways you can do this. The first is to go 2D and top down. Basically, like the RPGM games (but you don't have to use RPGM, you can use whatever program you like for 2D. That's just one of the more popular ones for people with limited coding experience.) But if you really want to do 3D, you're going to have to go for a much less realistic art style, and a much smaller world, and even then, it will be very hard and very time consuming.
It's not impossible if you're willing to make sacrifices in your ideas. But no one human being can make a game of the size and scale of GTA. But if you go with a low poly art style for example, and start with a much smaller world area, and expand slowly over time, it can be done. BUT KNOW THIS: You will be working on it for the next many years of your life because it will take a serious time commitment, and everything you do will take twice as long as you expect. It will get easier with time and experience. But take it from me, I've been making games for several years, in everything from Game Maker to Unity, Objective C to RenPy. It's hard. It's frustrating. You will want to give up A LOT.
And that's ok. As long as you keep your eyes on the prize and never lose love for the craft, you can do it (just learn to always scale down and fight feature creep like the evil monster it is).
EDIT: I just want to add I agree with everything the person above me said as well. You can definitely use premade assets until you are comfortable making your own. But as they said, every single aspect of the game will take far more coding than you will ever imagine. Adding NPCs is relatively easy, getting them to talk to you is harder, getting them to walk around in a nonpredictable manner and behave naturally is VERY HARD.
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If you want that amount of freedom for you game, I think the best tool would be Unity, but...
That kind of freedom and "not programming" are 2 things that normally don't blend together. You will have to spend a massive amount of time learning an programming. If you don't take any pleasure in programming it's probably impossible and you would be better off making a team with a programmer.
Just note that, as cgasper and Papa Lewd said, games like Skyrim, GTA, Cyberpunk and so on are impossible to make alone or even with a small team. It's possible to make simple 3d worlds alone in Unity though, just don't expect it to be a game full of life like the ones I mentioned early.
- Oct 12, 2019
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I can definitely relate to you because your goal is pretty similar to mine a few years ago. So if you're really serious, but willing to compromise and willing to take things slowly, here's what I would suggest, in a speedrun format lol:
1. Download Unity and watch some beginner tutorials to learn the interface and the absolute basics.
2. Download a free sample character model from a site like models-resource. Learn how to import that character into your game.
3. Learn how to get a very basic movement script on that character so you can move them around your game world (scene).
4. Learn how to import some basic objects to your scene, also downloadable from any number of sites online. Things like small huts or houses, boxes, trees, etc.
5. Learn how to test your collision against these objects so you can push them around (if it's an item you CAN push around), and so you CAN'T push around heavy/non-movable items like trees.
6. Import another character model into the scene, and watch A TON OF TUTORIALS on adding dialogue so you can talk with them. At this point, you aren't trying to animate them, you just want them to talk back to you. I don't know why, but I swear this is one of the hardest things I ever encountered as a beginner in Unity. It's something that every game requires, yet there are a million ways to implement dialogue and NONE of them are very beginner friendly lol.
7. Ok, if you're still alive at this stage (lol), now you can try to animate your NPC to walk around the scene in a preset direction. Maybe just from one side of the scene to the other and back. Don't try to animate their facial expressions, or any complex movements like shoulder swaying and sauntering, just get them to walk from point A to point B. That's it lol.
8. If you still haven't given up, keep watching tutorials on every topic you can find regarding Unity. You will never run out of things to learn or watch, and you can even go back over the previous steps and learn more about each one in depth. Learn how to add more complex animations, learn how to add your own textures, learn how to play around with different scene settings like lighting.
9. Much much further down the road, you'll want to start learning how to add a pause menu, inventory and other hud options, a GUI, how day/night cycles work, and a million other things. But the whole reason I wrote this is that I want you to look at the whole process as individual steps you can break down and accomplish one at a time. If you can tackle step 1 today, you can tackle step 9...someday.
It's a slow process, but it is very rewarding and very fun to learn all these new things. You'll have days where you are very frustrated because something in your code isn't working at all and you don't know why, but then you'll figure something out and it will be like the greatest day of your life. Game development is a fucking roller coaster every step of the way. But if you're brave and willing to work hard, and you REALLY LOVE IT, you can do it. Good luck to you, and feel free to ask anything you like along the way. I'm certainly not an expert in any one topic, but I've been around Unity awhile and gamedev in general a little longer, so I can try to help in any way I can.
In general, every road block you run into will be one that thousands of others have before, which is great. Because you'll never have a problem that someone somewhere hasn't already solved! I hope some of this helps.
1. Download Unity and watch some beginner tutorials to learn the interface and the absolute basics.
2. Download a free sample character model from a site like models-resource. Learn how to import that character into your game.
3. Learn how to get a very basic movement script on that character so you can move them around your game world (scene).
4. Learn how to import some basic objects to your scene, also downloadable from any number of sites online. Things like small huts or houses, boxes, trees, etc.
5. Learn how to test your collision against these objects so you can push them around (if it's an item you CAN push around), and so you CAN'T push around heavy/non-movable items like trees.
6. Import another character model into the scene, and watch A TON OF TUTORIALS on adding dialogue so you can talk with them. At this point, you aren't trying to animate them, you just want them to talk back to you. I don't know why, but I swear this is one of the hardest things I ever encountered as a beginner in Unity. It's something that every game requires, yet there are a million ways to implement dialogue and NONE of them are very beginner friendly lol.
7. Ok, if you're still alive at this stage (lol), now you can try to animate your NPC to walk around the scene in a preset direction. Maybe just from one side of the scene to the other and back. Don't try to animate their facial expressions, or any complex movements like shoulder swaying and sauntering, just get them to walk from point A to point B. That's it lol.
8. If you still haven't given up, keep watching tutorials on every topic you can find regarding Unity. You will never run out of things to learn or watch, and you can even go back over the previous steps and learn more about each one in depth. Learn how to add more complex animations, learn how to add your own textures, learn how to play around with different scene settings like lighting.
9. Much much further down the road, you'll want to start learning how to add a pause menu, inventory and other hud options, a GUI, how day/night cycles work, and a million other things. But the whole reason I wrote this is that I want you to look at the whole process as individual steps you can break down and accomplish one at a time. If you can tackle step 1 today, you can tackle step 9...someday.
It's a slow process, but it is very rewarding and very fun to learn all these new things. You'll have days where you are very frustrated because something in your code isn't working at all and you don't know why, but then you'll figure something out and it will be like the greatest day of your life. Game development is a fucking roller coaster every step of the way. But if you're brave and willing to work hard, and you REALLY LOVE IT, you can do it. Good luck to you, and feel free to ask anything you like along the way. I'm certainly not an expert in any one topic, but I've been around Unity awhile and gamedev in general a little longer, so I can try to help in any way I can.
In general, every road block you run into will be one that thousands of others have before, which is great. Because you'll never have a problem that someone somewhere hasn't already solved! I hope some of this helps.
Also if you happen to choose to go the path on Unreal Engine you have Blueprints for visual scripting that can be used instead of C++ and on Unity I know that they made Bolt for visual scripting which is free after buying them out.
While both can technically replace C++ or C# etc. be aware that blueprint help presence might be higher then Unitys alternative since it's been around longer and always free.
Personally I'm not sure how powerful Bolt is however as I've heard people have managed to make pretty decent games with it. So it should be possible to create whatever with it. While when it comes to Unreals blueprints it should be quite possible to almost replace C++ for small indie devs.
Now take this with a grain of salt since it varies from person to person however when it comes to those two engines I personally think that Unity is nicer for 2D games (despite the fact that I hate the UI) while Unreal Engine is better for 3D games however overall it takes a lot of time to master either of them especially to make the game run smoothly on all systems.
Last though I can give in case anyone reading will want to learn either Unreal Engine or Unity they both offer free courses on their websites Unreal - Online Learning and for Unity there's Unity Learn.
While both can technically replace C++ or C# etc. be aware that blueprint help presence might be higher then Unitys alternative since it's been around longer and always free.
Personally I'm not sure how powerful Bolt is however as I've heard people have managed to make pretty decent games with it. So it should be possible to create whatever with it. While when it comes to Unreals blueprints it should be quite possible to almost replace C++ for small indie devs.
Now take this with a grain of salt since it varies from person to person however when it comes to those two engines I personally think that Unity is nicer for 2D games (despite the fact that I hate the UI) while Unreal Engine is better for 3D games however overall it takes a lot of time to master either of them especially to make the game run smoothly on all systems.
Last though I can give in case anyone reading will want to learn either Unreal Engine or Unity they both offer free courses on their websites Unreal - Online Learning and for Unity there's Unity Learn.
If you end up using an engine like Unreal Engine or Unity I believe that Daz3D does have official tools for importing character into engine not too sure if it works with actual scenes since I've never attempted it. Legally speaking they want people to buy a seperate license in order to use ther marketplace stuff in game engines where image isn't static however since this is a pirate website screw that feel free to experiement hehe.
- Oct 12, 2019
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A-FUCKING-MEN
And hey nicod, it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you want to do. I think you might just be crazy enough to make it work! Start small and add content over time, and it becomes very doable. I can tell you really want to do it, so I believe you will make it work. And again, we're here to help, so feel free to ask anything you need along the way.
Oh I also forgot to write on previous post not overly too sure regarding Unity however Unreal Engine has a lot of free stuff on their marketplace that you should be able to use with your project and if it's paid you can check out websites like game-asset.info where it might be possible to get it pirated or some other website like it however just about all of them tend to use annoying websites with BS premium subscriptions for normal download speed. What help is having top notch connection just to end up having to download from websites like that lol.
- May 17, 2019
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for sure i will use pirated assest iam not paying alooot of money cause i don't make it for profit thanks bro
thank you too for positive energy Papa Lewd