What I would like to see more game companies do. - Just an idea -

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

Here's what I would like to see more of:

A2 is maybe the closest thing to it...

• Companies Developing Only Engines
  
• Developing easy / APPROACHABLE Set of Editing Tools that are easy to understand
  
• Graphic Packs
  
• Documentation
  

Forget worrying about the campain, and so forth. Give tools for the average bonehead like me to make fullforce campaigns. The editor in A2/A1 is awesome on the top layer, but digging deeper, you really need to be a programmer to understand everything underneath.

Tools would include: Script Generators, Placeholders for voice, music, Graphics downloadable content into the campaign mission you have. For instance, you want to change all the trees at once in a level, say you want to go from an Oak to a palmtree. Select / Choose / Replace.

Then for the higher level peeps... would be 3D Modeling Engine.

The idea is that the community has an easy to approach ToolSET. The game engine is modular. They spend their time developing the Engine and Tools only, and leave the game content (missions etc...) to the bigger community.

Sure BIS released the toolset, but when I opened it with my limited knowledge of programming, I went :confused::confused: and closed it.

So I make missions with the editor, but I won't ever tackle a full fledged mod. But would like to. I'm sure many, many people would like too as well.

I dunno. I personally like the idea, but then again, I like sitting on cold toilet seats.:803:

[Flaxpants 10]

I absolutely agree with you 110%. The thing that most games lack for me is- and I can't think of a more suitable word- 'freedom'. I feel like I'm locked in a confined space after an hour or so of most games, Arma2 is completely different, it is far more interactive than most games in the sense that you can use the software for your own devices, and not follow some 'route' through a pre-determined environment.

I'm with you, I don't see why this format couldn't be applied to many other game 'worlds'. It's more entertaining, more intelligent, and appeals to peoples imagination and sense of adventure much more than typical formats. I wouldn't be surprised to see many more 'sandbox only' games on the market in the coming years.

[draeath 10]

OFP/ArmA/ArmA2 have always been good in that, the tools to do your own thing are mostly integral to the game.

You would like Epic/DE - that's basically exactly what the Unreal Tournament series is - a quick game slapped on top of their new engine and editor suite.

[BeerHunter 0]

I agree and ArmA2 is as open ended as you could want.

The biggest problem is the total lack of documentation regarding the editor and the tool set. It's spread all over the net on various wiki sites and forums but it's virtually impossible to search for something specific. That's why there are so many basic "how do I" questions in the editor section of the forum I guess.

The scripting language used leaves a lot to be desired as well as it violates just about every rule of programming you'd ever find if you're used to using a structured programming language (ie C++ , Java , Basic etc.). It's a proprietory language that seems to have been slapped together then grown out of hand and just doesn't seem that capable of handling the demands of ArmA2 anymore. The vast majority of the "bugs" in ArmA2's campaign are scripting errors , not actual programming (hard coded .exe file) problems. And these were created by the actual staff at BIS who should know the scripting language inside out as they "invented" it.

Should have taken a look at NWN's scripting language that follows the standard "C" conventions fairly closely. Was relatively easy to get into.

There is an excellent tutorial available my "Mr. Murray" (you can google for it and download it) but it's for ArmA1 and whether or not he'll update it for ArmA2 remains to be seen. Covers the editor quit well.

I think BIS would do quit well if they were to release (and even sell) a full tutorial for the editor and tool set.

Shouldn't be left up to the community to figure out.

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

Should have taken a look at NWN's scripting language that follows the standard "C" conventions fairly closely. Was relatively easy to get into.

There is an excellent tutorial available my "Mr. Murray" (you can google for it and download it) but it's for ArmA1 and whether or not he'll update it for ArmA2 remains to be seen. Covers the editor quit well.

I think BIS would do quit well if they were to release (and even sell) a full tutorial for the editor and tool set.

Shouldn't be left up to the community to figure out.

Yeah, I forgot NWN's toolset. I could actually script-kiddy that and make different fire, and particles etc. I could do a semi-decent small module in a day for the wife or friends to mess with. Totally forgot about that. That's exactly what I meant.

I've done the excellent tutorial by Mr. Murray and that's probably the best I've seen, but there are some parts that I just don't get and you can't find it on the web. Like you said, it's all over the Wiki's and not concise. I tried applying my severly limited coding skills with arma and nothing really worked like I thought it should. Like you said, it's backwards or sort of made up.