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Kismet's limitations?

i thought i might ask this question to the UDK gods in here..

Is there a limit to what kismet can do?
If someone who is a total noob at programming and knows not a single word of unrealscript were to go into kismet, can he/she create a new game from just using kismet?

From what i understand, one has to at least be able to know how to create a new game type by tweaking the gameinfo.Granted, there are enough tutorials out there that teaches you how to do that, but what goes after that?

Is it possible to lets say for example, create a rpg game with things like talent trees,crafting systems and stuff like that with just kismet?

or maybe a RTS game? or a side scroller with boss fights ? Is kismet capable of letting a non programmer create all those behaviours of various characters and create fight sequences , etc?

I ask this question because im still starting out learning UDK, and i would like to be able to create a game,but having no access to a programmer kinda makes it hard. So hence my kismet question.

Anyone kind enough to weigh in on this?

thanks so much :)

Replies

  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    ihour wrote: »

    Is there a limit to what kismet can do?
    Yes.
    ihour wrote: »
    If someone who is a total noob at programming and knows not a single word of unrealscript were to go into kismet, can he/she create a new game from just using kismet?
    You would be modifying the current game you're playing. Nothing more. You can make a side scroller with kismet, but so much will not be able to be done without UnrealScript.

    Spend the time learning UnrealScript. No need for a programmer. Start small and work your way up. You won't get very far with Kismet, as powerful as it is.

    Kismet - Level-wide
    UnrealScript - Game-wide
  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    I'm a big nerd for kismet. I was going to make a kismet appreciation thread even.

    I've made games within kismet, but as Lamont said they are but LEVEL-WIDE. I've made an adventure game teh side scroller obviously, dragon's quest style rpg, blackjack (cards) game, about half of legend of zelda (still working on that) and a bunch of other wacky experiments all within kismet. But, they are all still UDK levels working around their default rule sets. So everything is more-or-less forced in the level, but not truly a global game.

    I'd fairly confident an RTS would be completely out of the question. There's just too many things to control. Compiling resources to build things seems easy enough, but the whole combat around that would be tricky. In fact, most combat systems would likely be the reason you need UnrealScript. I've made some wacky weapons with kismet, but at the heart of it all I was still that Unreal robot fighting another unreal robot.

    The best game you could do would be something built around what kismet is capable of. If you can get creative with that, then the sky's the limit.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    cholden wrote: »
    The best game you could do would be something built around what kismet is capable of. If you can get creative with that, then the sky's the limit.
    I agree, you can quickly strip away extra Unreal Tournament stuff and make gameplay elements with UDK using Kismet.
  • ihour
    alright...that makes things clearer..
    so LEVEL wide only with kismet
    but for GAME wide rules like defining the battle systems,loot systems etc, you would need Unrealscript?

    its kinda a bummer...since i had hoped that i can do something to showcase some of the game design ideas i have..and i thought kismet can help.

    so..programming..*the fear starts setting in*

    Getting Started Programming on the Unreal Development Kit ? is this where i need to go for a total beginner?
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Yup. That's the place to start. Amazon has a couple of books you can get. But really if you have any kind of programming skill of any level, just read the documentation and pull apart the files.
  • cholden
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    cholden polycounter lvl 18
    You can still showcase design skills via kismet. I've seen some crazy student reels using it. But again, gotta be real creative around those limitations.
  • ihour
    i'll try my best. Thanks for all the advice. i'm still learning so i'll just go digest whatever i can get my hands on.
  • haiddasalami
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    haiddasalami polycounter lvl 14
    Epic released about 50% of the book that 3dbuzz was doing on unrealscript. Too pumped on morphine (helll I already had 7 spelling errors) to find the link but a check on UDN should lead you there.
  • ihour
    Epic released about 50% of the book that 3dbuzz was doing on unrealscript. Too pumped on morphine (helll I already had 7 spelling errors) to find the link but a check on UDN should lead you there.

    thanks for that..but when i went to take a look, it gave me a prompt that requires me to input a username and password?

    :'(
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