Making a fighting game in udk?

John Crean

Hi, I was wondering how easy it is to make a fighting game in udk? I know some of the basics in udk for example cinematics, level design and some basic kismet but I have not really started making anything seriously, so I was thinking I would give a fighting game a shot because I would like to learn animation at the same time and fighters tend to be based around the flow of the moves/animations. The problem is I do not really know where to begin. So ff someone could point me to some tutorials or give me some pointers I would appreciate it .

JamesWild

Making a fighting game in any engine is incredibly difficult. In fact, it's surprising how even something like Pong becomes nightmarish when you consider making sounds, menus, customisable controls, and because they're pretty much expected now internet multiplayer and some kind of progression like a story.

Fighting games are difficult to make in particular because you need very good animations, well mapped collisions and most importantly a good "feel".

blankslatejoe

It's certainly *possible*. The newer Mortal Kombat was done with UDK, but as James said...it's no small task. Even with a more simple homebrew approach, with a fighting game, you're talking about spending a lot of time with the animation and collision systems in UDK, which are two of the more confusing systems in the engine.

The best place to start would be the UDN/Epic Games forums--search and see if anyone has gone this route before and see how far they got. Post a question there asking what kinds of examples exist for UDK/UED, and then go play them.
Also, IIRC the Mortal Kombat team posted a GDC post mortem somewhere about the problems they hit while doing a lot of the graphical tech backend. Can't remember what was in it though.

John Crean

Thanks for the responses. I will check out UDN forums ^^. I understand that making a fighting game is hard I am not really making it to be like a AAA title. I want to learn about animation, so I though a fighter might be idea because it is centered around the animations.

JamesWild

You could probably pull off a basic character with a set of animated moves; a rough prototype. Good portfolio stuff too as it shows you understand how it all fits together.

ambershee

blankslatejoe wrote: »

It's certainly *possible*. The newer Mortal Kombat was done with UDK

No. Mortal Kombat is Unreal 3, and absolutely not UDK. Having native code access means you can do so much more than you are restricted to in UDK, and I expect large parts of Mortal Kombat to be built natively (if not indeed the entirety of it).

Nevertheless, I suspect it is not that difficult to build a reasonable fighting game with UDK, since it has moderately strong animation support built in. I would handle collision and result entirely in UnrealScript.

blankslatejoe

Whoops, you're right Ambershee--I mistyped when I said UDK...in my brain UE3 and UDK are pretty much one-and-the-same, and Native access is more a license difference than a technological one (Even UE3 doesn't have native access if you're modding a UE3 game). Regardless, I think we're saying the same thing... I'm sure you're right about MK+native--that post mortem powerpoint I referenced even talked about them doing all sorts of C++ hacks to the rendering pipe to pull off certain things.

imbueFX

Yeah NetherRealm's version of Unreal is so heavily modified, it's almost not even the same engine anymore (specifically on the script side). What was awesome was the modifications they did to Matinee (which they called Cinema). But I can tell you from experience that making a polished, playable fighting game is probably too much to chew for someone just getting into UDK.

John Crean

I'll never know till I try and if not I can always make a side-scroller or something :P thanks for the advice guys ^^