What can the Spacer do?
It is easier to describe, what the Spacer cannot do. Therefore I will start with this:
The Space cannot:
- Create a 3D World:
For this a program for the creation of 3D meshes is needed, such as 3D-Studio Max [today, Blender is the recommended 3D program of choice for Gothic Modding -Flosha].
- Enliven the world with humans and monsters (NPCs):
This is completely handled by the scripts. The Spacer can only prepare the world for living beings, for instance by lying down a Waynet.
- Design the Story:
This too is completely handled by the scripts, and here too the Spacer can only prepare: Include Events into the world, distribute objects etc...
Thus, one thing is clear: The Spacer is only one tool of many, that was available and used in the development of Gothic. To look at it in a very simplified way, the development of a game like Gothic can be imagined as follows:
- Creating the 3D worlds and objects, creatures etc. with a 3D programme and respecting numerous requirements while doing so.
Such requirements are, for example:
- Which height (N)PCs can climb?
- Which Slopes (N)PCs can still walk upon?
- Which "clefts" (N)PCs can jump over?
- How big is a polygon maximally allowed to be?
- Where lies the justifiable upper limit for the amount of polygons?
- and many others ...
Aside from levels all kinds of other 3D objects are also created with the 3D programme:
- Trees and bushes
- Fences, Stones, fireplaces
- Items and MOBs (winches etc.)
- many more ...
- Creating additional necessary data:
- Textures
- Item-Instances (are generated in the Scripts)
- Loading the modeled 3D world as a 3DS-file into the Spacer and fill it with the other created objects and textures.
Here an excerpt from these tasks:
- Texturing the world: e.g. laying textures unto polygons and aligning them ["Mapping"].
To do this one can make use of a texture-pool.
- Inserting trees, fences, bushes, torches and more into the world.
- Inserting items (potions, weapons etc.) and chests with items as intended by the story.
- Creating the Waynet for the NPC-AI. NPCs can move freely, but they need such a Waynet in order to also find locations without problems that are further (>10m?!) away.
- Placing Sounds (Sounds and Daytime-Sounds).
- Illuminate the world, e.g. placing light objects.
- Creating Events for the Story. These are for example the infamous winches, switches, traps, riddles and much more.
- And several other things: Tracking shots [Kamerafahrten], ...
- Writing down the Story in the scripts and linking it with the world.
This is an essential part, the one that, from a relatively static world, creates a living something... a game:
- Generating NPC-Instances (Humans and Monsters). These are supplied with body meshes, animations etc.
- Giving fitting routines to the NPCs. For example sending them at daytime to a working place and in the evening back to bed.
- Programming the reactions of the NPCs to the player: This is on one hand the general NPC-AI, on the other hand special reactions (I just say "Mud").
- Scripting dialogues with the player and embedding them into Quests (Missions).
- Inserting the NPCs via a central Script into the level.
You see: The Spacer handles equipping the World with everything that is not alive (except of plants maybe). This way, out of a disdainful, boring 3D-Mesh evolves a quite cozy or not so cozy world, in which one essential aspect is still lacking though: The liveliness of humans and monsters.
End.
Do it well and thanks for the fish.
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