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Author Topic: [FanGameProgram] Plan of a UE4-Based Lineage 2 Fan Game  (Read 1233 times)
Sodium
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« on: May 18, 2021, 19:35 »

Greetings,

I'm Sodium, a UE4 developer from China. At first I'd like to greatly appreciate Gildor and the UEViewer program as my start of contacting 3D game design. In recent years I've been planning a UE4-based fan game of Lineage 2, and have already succeeded in implementing a few parts of the gameplay.

Some planned/possible new features: ("*" on index = lower priority)
a) Combat system based on collision.
As the collision system of UE4 is well-developed and convenient to use, it's not so difficult to make combat much realistic and fun with collision checking.
*As one of the best games with collision-based combat, see Monster Hunter: World (by Capcom, available on Steam).
*For what it may like as the combat I plan to implement, see Genshin Impact (a Chinese 3D cartoon online game by Mihoyo, official website: genshin.mihoyo.com/en/download).
b) Collection of L2 people/monster/story/equipment/etc. handbooks.
*Old-version Maplestory contains a monster handbook, allowing player to collect monster cards rarely dropped from corresponding monsters. The more cards a player collects from a specific monster, the more information the handbook will show about it. Regretfully, in a certain update Maplestory deleted this feature and now it's no longer available. Although I don't plan to design the handbook system samely as Maplestory, it's anyway a good example.
c) More quests and more detailed stories based on L2 original universe and main story.
d) Partner system.
It allows some NPCs/monsters to become your partners which you can: (1) let them follow and fight for you, and/or (2) get hidden items/weapons/quests/stories/etc. when having high favorability.
e) Crafting.
Expand the types of crafting materials and let them available more reasonably. For example, a wolf may drop a material named "Wolf Fur", and you may get "Iron Ore" when mining at veins randomly spawn in the world. With these materials you may be able to make "Wolf-Fur Jacket" or "Iron Sword" respectively. The crafted equipments can also act as materials of other stronger equipments, leading to "Equipment Trees".
f*) Improved models.
UE4 Landscape system provides a convience way to make a fancy world with simple models and materials. Also, original L2 models don't have even normal maps. If possible the original L2 models can be refined. By the way, L2R and L2M have some delicate models, which may be taken directly.
g*)  (Pending) Custom buildings.
It provides some area in the world for players to build their own houses. If this feature is added, the game will allow only single player or small servers, as the world don't have much space for many people to build.
*For an online game with custom-building feature, see: ArcheAge (Available on Steam).
h**) (Pending) Smarter monsters.
Current machine-learning algorithms allow to train monsters how to better fight against players, which can make the game more challenging. For example, with machine-learning programs, it's possible to train the monster AI just by making several monster teams fight against each other. Unfortunately, due to the complexity and difficulty of machine-learning, this feature is extremely hard to implement and has the lowest priority.

Those will not change from L2:
a) Universe settings and main story. (Details of stories should be changed/filled.)
b) Regions and landscapes. I.e. the world map will not change from L2. (Although we may not create the whole map.)
c) Most existing NPCs and monster types.

Those I've found methods to implement:
a) Combat system. I've already created a system which allows the player fight against monsters, although in the simplest form.
b) Item system (partly). A system shop has been created which allows the player to buy items both with coins and with other items. Also, a usable HP portion has been implemented.
c) Methods to remake L2 landscape in UE4. I've ever found an L2 server provider which also provides the landscape height maps, which can be imported into UE4 landscape system. I've already created the landscape of the Speaking Island, although not textured.
*Actually in L2 world map each region occupies a square area, so we can create landscape of each region seperately and simply combine them together. However, I've not found the method to create underground complex structures yet.
These features were implemented with Blueprint, which need to be refectored to C++ at first.

Please do not hesitate to reply this topic or contact me (sodiumzh@outlook.com) if you're interested in this fan game program. It's better if you have at least one of the following skills:
(a) UE4 Blueprint / C++ programming or any other skills about UE4;
(b) Programming with any language (e.g. C++, Python, etc.);
(c) 3D art (modelling, materialling, skeletal animation, etc.);
(d) Much knowledge about L2 original story and game system;
(e) Story writting.

I will launch this program once the conditions are enough. Again, my email address: sodiumzh@outlook.com.
Also, I'll appreciate it if you could provide any information of other L2 modding communities or forums via email.
This topic about L2 fan game program has been permitted by Gildor.
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Sodium
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« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2021, 16:12 »

Some demos about what I've implemented:

Due to the size limit, please download figures from the given hyperlink.

Landscape of Speaking Island in UE4:
https://disk.pku.edu.cn:443/link/BC4A0E4CBF355AF2C38A319001EE1646

A simple demo of the gameplay implemented:
https://disk.pku.edu.cn:443/link/B569BE4902B5F1C9DC0DC71CD19708AC
« Last Edit: November 28, 2022, 22:19 by Sodium » Logged
Sodium
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« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2021, 21:11 »

Project progress update (Sep. 24, 2021):

In the past half year I'm working on refactoring the previous Blueprint scripts into C++ codes. During this process I modified the structure of objects (about players and monsters) for flexibility and reusability. Since new structure will bring new issues, now I'm still adjusting the player, monster and combat system. Currently the logic of movement control has been basically done, and I'm working on attacking skill and attack collision checking. Nobody else has taken part in the program yet.

I'll appreciate it if you could understand that the reason why the project is being developed so slowly is that I don't have much time for coding. I'm now a Ph.D student and working very busily in the research institute. UE4 development is still my after-work activity during this time period.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2021, 21:18 by Sodium » Logged
Sodium
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« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2021, 21:56 »

Project progress update (Oct. 24, 2021):

Currently the existing combat hit check has been implemented in C++. Now I'm working on monsters - enemy mobs which are controlled by AI. As I've never done any AI programming in C++, it will take some time. After finishing monsters, the simple combat scene in the demo will be implemented.

Item system is also in progress. As the item system depends much on databases, I'll work on it after the mob system is done. (Databases have not yet added to my C++ project.)

A bad news is that I'm also in problems about my research program now. In the past 2 weeks I've been working in about 95% of my time awake, which makes me exhausted. It's a pity that the L2 project has to be delayed these days.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2021, 21:59 by Sodium » Logged
geon
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« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2021, 17:03 »

Hello, what have you done for the server side?
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Sodium
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« Reply #5 on: December 20, 2021, 21:42 »

Hello, what have you done for the server side?

Currently I'm not planning to make it an online game, so I didn't consider about the server. Now I'm working on the game logic itself, such as combat, character movement, item system and UI.
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AlexDDK
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« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2022, 03:24 »

Wow, looks awesome.
How did you manage to import landscape?
I tried myself, but stuck on texture apply
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Sodium
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« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2022, 22:20 »

Rough height maps are available on L2J websites. Import them into UE4 and simply draw textures using Landscape Auto Material.
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