Noob wanting to make a game

[Verdite]

My advice is to start off with metasequioa and move "up" (sorry meta die-hards) to blender when you need to make more detailed models.

If you intend to make a game with the stock set, and then replace the item models with your own, thats really easy. If you want a really customised game, you'l need to make your map pieces too, because everything should be high resolution, otherwise the items, enemies etc that you place will look weird. But if you just wanna use the stock map pieces for a way less refined custom experience, then stick to making weapons and armour.

When you download meta, click primitive and select what you want. Use the rect button to select faces and vertices, and the move tool to move them... Or use the magnet tool.

Get used to the basics and the more advanced modellers will help you, or you can follow my tutorials (they should be stickied but they arent  )

[sirtuftcat]

ok i think ill start with making a door.. i figure simple shape and hopefully easy to texture...  one question i have is how big do i make the door in the mesq program?  and are there more textures avaliable somewhere or do i and/or should i make my own entirely .. soo many things to take into account and whats the high res setting im after or is it just called high res.. 

lol im already lost with this 3d stuff lol

[sirtuftcat]

  i forgot to ask about sizes of map pieces too..  ohh im such a noob... modeling looks real involved 

[Verdite]

Hey dont worry. If you've got creativity and imagination, you'l keep trying hard. Doors arent such a good idea to start with. Mainly because to have a fully working door in SoM requires animation, and thats a whole different category.

Ok, because you're new to this and because other members dont seem to wanna chip in  (just messin) ill give you a very brief tut on how to make a very simple sword. You'l then 'ave to find my items to SoM tutorial and follow it.

Open meta. Right mouse button to move camera.
Click on mat panel and obj panel in the edit area.

Step 1. Go to primitive and click on the cube. Press create.
1.1 Scale it in by clicking and holding the yellow cube.
1.2 Scale it out by using the red cube. Then scale in with the blue.
Sword guard done.

Step 2. In the object panel hit new.
Go to primitive and click on cube. Create.
2.1 Scale in with the blue cube. Scale towards center with the red.
2.2 Move up with the move function.
2.3 In edit, click unselect all.
2.4 See the extrd command? Click it, then move the camera to the tip of your sword and click, hold and move up.
Scale it in with the yellow.
If you get stuck with finding the face of the mesh hit 'ln' at the top of the mesh window.
2.5 I;ve decided to select the blade and scale it out. Click sel object.
Blade done

3.1 new obj, primitive - cylinder shape. Scale it in with the blue and red.
3.2 move it down and scale in with the yellow to make it look like a handle.
3.3 Unselect all. Hit rect. Select the bottom of the handle.
3.4 extrude this down.
3.5 scale it with the yellow.
3.6 extrude down again.
Handle done.

Finishing touches....

4.1 Scale pieces of the sword with the sel obj and rect tool. I moved the blades tip up.
4.2 Now we'l made the blade sharp. Click select, then zoom in with the middle mouse button and click the edge (narrow edge) of the blade.
Do the other side too, but holding shift and clicking. (parallel side.)
4.3 Now click extrd and click on either of the selected faces and move out.
4.4 Now click scale and squash the blade in so it looks sharp! (Blue box.)
4.5 use the move tool to drag the new extrusion down so it fits the tip of the sword.
4.6 Scale it with the green so it drags the edge down a bit.
4.7 Select the tip of the sword. Squash it with the blue. Make it pointy with the green.

Texture

Now select all with the sel all function in the edit tab on the left.
Double click on the mat1 in the materials panel
Go to ref.
Click on any texture. Press ok.
Now go to the selected, then set material to faces.
It'l have mapped it to the whole model.

Now for finishing touches, Click map, click the flat panel and if it says lose UV co ordinates click yes.
It'l have mapped the texture.
Now click UV. It'l hold the texture there.

Thats my input.

Verdite

[sirtuftcat]

thanks a lot.. ill get right on it.. oh ill do doors later and start with weps and such .. im sure ill have more noob questions but fer now i got my homework ... giggles

[HwitVlf]

is it better or reccommended to try to create all the map pieces and items and what not or make some and use some from som or maybe the better question is what do u all reccomend for customization tactics?
how much to create urself Vs how much to use from the already avaliable?

It's a judgment call. Verdite has been amazing, but I've seen several other people on these forums who seem to get bogged down trying to make everything custom and eventually give up. My advice would be to make your first game relatively short (you can add another 'episode' to it later if you want) and just create a few new Items or Objects. I think gameplay is mostly about story and play, so custom parts are just 'frosting on the cake'.

A rough list of 'easiest to hardest' to make parts:
1) Accessory (rings, pendants), non-hand armor, generic items (bottles etc)
2) Weapons, hand armor, non-animated Objects (barrels, plants etc), simple map Pieces (wall, floor etc),
3) NPCs, switch Objects, pedestal Objects, chest Objects, complex map Pieces (staircases etc)
4) Doors, enemies, trap Objects

You might check the Metasequoia tutorials listed in the top post here for basic information on what all the buttons do.

Since you're new to it, here's some basic 3D 'theory':
3D models are made of flat shapes called polygons.
A polygon will be a triangle with 3 corners or a 'quad' with 4.
The points in the corners of these polygons are called 'vertices' (singular is vertex).
Each polygon has a 'face' which is the flat surface drawn between the polygon's corners (vertices). Faces make up the visible parts of a model.
A face can only be seen from the front; it is 'invisible' from behind. So a polygon that can be seen from both the front and back is called 'double sided' since it is actually two faces back to back.
A model is shaped by moving it's faces and vertices around.
A 'line' is just a line drawn between two vertices.
Most of the controls in Metasequoia are just different tools to help you select, align, move or add faces/vertices to you model.  
Metasequoia's 'Command' panel is where most of the controls you will be using are located so if you learn those button's functions, you will be well on your way.

To make a 3D model, you can create faces manually using the 'create' button, but this is quite hard to do from scratch so we usually start a model by making a pre-formed 'primitive' shape and editing it into the model we want to make. You can press the 'primitive' button to see the shapes available in Metasequoia. For instance, the 'hoop' primitive would be a good start for making a ring accessory model.

A 'material' is something like a paint that you apply to a polygon's face to give it color or a design etc. A 'texture' is one type of material that uses a picture (.BMP in SoM) which is applied to the faces in a model. You can make a texture graphic from scratch or just use a photo. There are also a decent number of free textures online. The 'UV' system is a coordinate system to set how you want a texture aligned on a polygon's face. Verdite's 'UV Projection' tutorial on the forums here is a good starting method for setting up a texture.  

Basic view controls (Verdite already covered most of these):
'Move' button pushed: left-click+drag = select model parts
Right-click+drag = rotate camera
Center-click+drag =  move camera L/R
Center wheel = Zoom in/out
F1, F2, F3 = center view on side/top/front
F4 = toggle split view

Hope something there helps ;p
 

[sirtuftcat]

How did i do professor?

[sirtuftcat]

err how would i put this in som? ohhand idk how to do the very last part on ur basics guide...  i couldnt find a map button

[sirtuftcat]

heres a beginners shield fer the game xd

[HwitVlf]

Not bad at all! The star is a nice touch; it would really 'pop' if it were a different color.