My next SOM game after DD and shadowgate will probably take me a ton of time but will not be a very large game.
I am going to spend some real time creating an entire custom map set using all 1024 slots with as many unique map parts as I can get into about 3-4 maps. The idea would be to make a game built on a fully unique 3d environment rather than a construction set of 2meter x 2 meter tiles. In case you didnt already know, just because SOM's map editor tries to limit you to 2x2 map tiles doesnt mean the map editor is truly limited to them. In other words, I could easily 3d model a 6 meter x 6 meter map tile and place it on the map editor, then I wouldnt have to place anything but invisible tiles in the adjacent squares around it. The msm and mhm files are capable of creating visual and collision far larger than 2x2...
Imagine how good an SOM game could look if you threw out the tile-style map setup and instead modeled a real 3D environment and just converted it to SOM usable files.. The 3D engine itself is capable of showing decent resolution textures, and a moderate amount of polygons.
I figure the project will probably take me 2 years to finish, but I am not going to start it unless all of the following come true to make it worthwhile:
1 - someone cracks the code on enemy and npc creation for SOM and I can create entirely custom and new enemies/npcs. This is an absolute must, else the rest of the 3d work will be worthless.
2 - I would want to utilize the cracked version of SOM that holydiver hints is possible, in otherwords being able to modify stats the game doesnt currently track, being able to add armor items that affect attack powers, being able to monitor what is equipped, being able to simulate weapon and armor deterioration etc.
3 - I get a talented musician to make an entire score for the game.
4 - I get some help texturing 3d files for this world I am going to create.
The goal of the project would be a game probably half the size of DD but much more vast in appearance and feel, as well as something entirely new that no other SOM game has.
If another program pops up that I can figure out how to use between now and then I may not go with SOM, I dunno yet...either way I wont be starting this project until probably late next year or early 2011.
