Hey folks!



Some of you may remember me from the old forum, I used to make models and apps related to FPSC.

Although I don't actively use the software anymore, I seldom try to release art at an affordable price (or free even) for the people who are aspiring game developers.



Recently, I started selling on the TGC store and it came to my attention that the Building Block Kit I released became quite popular very quickly.



Seeing that its purpose was to be able to create modular soviet buildings by yourself, I decided to create a more diverse second version of that, which would allow for much broader building styles and shapes. The second version is ready, but it is yet to be uploaded to the store and there is a good reason for that.



Of course almost every time something sounds too good to be true, it has a catch to it.



I quickly realised that it can be quite a tedious task to stitch the entities together and most of the time it would require a lot of effort to align all entities precisely as they were intended to be.

Furthermore it would be quite annoying to create each building prefab from scratch every time you decide to add a building to your scene.



So, with all that being said, I decided to come up with a solution - Building Block Creator



With the Building Block Creator, the creation of custom structures becomes extremely easy. All you have to do is select a block from a predefined model pack created for the application and place it on the grid like a lego-block. After you are done, you can export the created building into a single mesh/entity and use it in FPS Creator.



Screenshots of the current build :





Functionality :



Each Model pack / Kit has an .xml Setup file created which sets a uniform size (width,height and depth) all blocks , according to which the movement of the blocks in the application is made. This is done so that there is no room for human error when moving entities and they are all perfectly placed next to each other without gaps.



The basic structure looks like this :





Furthermore, all blocks use ONE single texture ( also known as a Texture Atlas ) , which although does pose some restrictions on quality if you have too many different looking objects, is very practical because any exported model/entity would only require one texture, no matter how much detail it has in its mesh (NOTE - there is a limit of 65000 vertices per entity on exporting ) .



This makes it very easy to import into FPS Creator and other engines that favour single-texture objects.



Features :



1. Create modular buildings (and other structures) with ease and export them to single FPS Creator entities.

2. Import your own custom media into the application.

3. Advanced Editing function , which allows to manipulate each block more precisely through a 3ds Max/Blender like Move and Rotation widget.



4. Get a few included application-ready Building Kits created by myself to get a jump start.





The application should be finished within the next week or two, if you have any suggestions for it, let me know and if I can I'll add them in.



NOTE : At the moment, I am not sure how to go about releasing this. The TGC store does not allow applications as of yet and I don't particularly want to make people go through external pay sources , so if anyone has any good recommendations , I'd love to hear them.



Gencheff.

That looks very impressive !!!
Put me down for one
How much is it likely to cost any ideas yet ?

I haven't decided on a price yet, but I can assure you it will be in an affordable range
If you have any features in mind you'd like to see, let me know, I'm looking to expand the functionality a bit.

My first thought would be Texture selections for the buildings ... Just for a bit of diversity in games ...If that makes sense

You can create very diverse Entities , as long as you have the 3d models and textures. The way the app works is you can setup as many meshes as you wish in each kit's .xml setup file and as long as their UV data is corresponding to a part of the Atlas texture you should have no problems.



The main restriction you have is the Atlas texture's resolution. Going over 4096x4096px would be quite demanding on the engine and I do not recommend it , although the Building Block Kit which has good quality textures even for First Person games only uses a 2048x2048px Atlas for all 5 entities and I can definitely optimise the UV layout to be much more compact. Right now its very messy. As you can see below room can be made for atleast one more entity's UV data







What I do plan to add however, is to make a function that will allow you to edit each setup .xml file and from there set your own atlas texture (this can also be done manually of course with notepad ) ... As soon as I fix the vertex translation issues that have been giving me a headache for the past two hours

Very nice indeed, great work.

The TGC store can support applications we just don't have any yet if you want to send me an email at jasonlbrook[at]gmail.com we can work out some way of getting your application as the first.

This looks like a very useful application and we would love to get it on the store.

With the kit will you be able to make inside houses and hotels and more??

@The Next

Thanks mate. As soon as I finish the application, I'll send you an e-mail.



@Smartheart16

Yes, it is definitely possible. Of course to do that you would need the appropriate 3d models for that. The new Advanced editing feature I've added allows you to free objects from the grid and move them very precisely through a transformation Gizmo that is similar to most modelling packages. On top of that you can manually enter X,Y,Z positions and angles of the selected entity on the scene, so yes it is very possible to create a complex scene and merge it into one big entity.



By the way, I changed the interface quite drastically as I felt the other one wasn't good enough. It's still a Work in Progress, but its getting there.







I'm happy to say that the vertex translation issue has now been fixed and the entity exporting function works perfectly.

Here's a shot of the exported entity created from the app screenshot above , placed in a modelling package (fragMOTION). It took me literally 30 seconds to align all those blocks together.







Developer log ( for those interested ) :



- Added local http browser to access the How To Use documents within the app ( I've written a detailed guide on how to use the application )

- Fixed exporting function ( vertex rotation was inconsistent and would result in flattening of 3d meshes at times )

- Changed entire GUI structure. App no longer relies heavily on windows' .. well windows . The majority of the interface (~80%) is Sprite based.

- Added function to Delete entities from the scene. [FIXED]

- Added statistical data for the current scene. Displays : Frame rate (capped at 60) , Vertices of selected entity , Total vertices in scene.

- Added Post Filters like Screen Space Ambient Occlusion and Bloom ( through Evolved's Advanced Lighting )



Current bugs ( Which should be fixed ASAP ) :



- If exiting application through the close button on the window it shows a Don't Send error ( this does not damage your work in any way , it's just annoying to look at ).

- When in advanced edit mode , if the gizmo is set to entity rotation and you press the [R] button for uniform rotation (+45 degrees just like FPS Creator) it causes the entity to only rotate on 0 and 180 degrees. ( This can be avoided by switching the gizmo tool to move instead of rotate ).

- Mouse cursor gets jumpy when the help window is open and you try to focus back to the main app window.



To Do List :



- Fix above mentioned bugs ( priority )

- Load Scene / Save Scene functions

- Create a settings menu for the graphics options ( due to the post filters being performance intesive and will cause slowdowns on very old machines).

i want it NOW!!!!

can or will you be able to enter buildings?, I got the buildings you made from store and was disappointed you could not go in them
even more so when it was segmented into parts that fitted together.
if you cant go inside these or your not going to make it so you can, it really is a pity...

On my building models in the store it says in the description that the are no interiors included.
I myself have not released any interior buildings on the store as of yet, those take a lot of careful planning and time to make, but maybe in the future I will.


I have a feeling you misunderstood the concept here. This application is intended to allow YOU , the game designer , to create your own building structures and export them into single entities ready for FPS Creator.
Those can be used purely for scenery ,or they can also be made with walk-able interiors, etc. The point here is to give you the freedom to QUICKLY and EFFICIENTLY create modular structures. There are some screenshots above that help you visualise my idea.

As I said , if you have the necessary 3d models , you can structure your entity any way you wish.

That looks pretty cool, Gencheff! Just one question, though, will this do anything that the upcoming Conkit won't? As for going into buildings, if I may put my own two cents in, I think for interiors of any complexity, it would be best to simply put a trigger zone at the entrance and load the interior as a separate map when that feature becomes available. I don't think the engine in its current state could handle it very well otherwise, and I don't see future performance increases improving on that by much.

I'm not that familiar with the Conkit unfortunately. This application is more geared towards independent entity creation. What you export can be used in various engines including FPSC, etc. You don't need to rely on parent applications. It would also have ready models in the package like the Building Block Kit + others, which I believe to be an incentive.

I have to agree with you in regard to the interiors though.
Personally, if I was developing an engine I'd use occlusion culling to deal with this kind of task.

UPDATE



In the past few days I've included a lot of new features while also making a lot of changes to the original code :

1. Entity selection is now quicker and more flexible.

2. Deletion of objects can be done with prompt screen or silently( used for quickly removing many objects from the scene )

3. Precision step modifier - allows for setting a custom amount of steps before an entity is moved one block in any direction (+rotation).

4. Brush segment tool - allows to copy multiple blocks to scene with one click by setting custom x,y,z boundaries

5. Edit mode - changes the behavior of the move,rotation and scale tools. Can be set to world , local or view perspectives.

6. Visual aid blocks with changing color states (red for inactive , green for active)

7. Dynamically scaled grid to match the block sizes.







Currently working on :

1. Multiple entity selection

2. Entity groups

3. UV Map editing for kit blocks

4. Snap entity to closest grid block (+rotation interpolation)

...



After discussion with some colleagues, I have decided to create an independent professional product out of this, so the development time will most certainly increase to at least a few months.

Looks interesting. Do you have any video of it in action?

Currently no, however there will be one in the near future ( as soon as it looks like a more complete product if that makes sense ).