The Smashmouth Project

[TheWatcher]

As you may be aware, I've posted a few polls and surveys here and some other places about an up and coming project that I've been working on. I'm very excited about it and now that the tech prototype is at 85% (a milestone that most football game prototypes never reach at the indie level), I wanted to give you a quick screen capture of what I've been working on:























































Team practice concept field

When you look at the screenshot, obviously the first thought that comes to mind is "wow, that looks real!", and it should... because it IS real. This is not a hoax and not some sort of render. It's the real deal taken directly from my prototype. While some things are still being tuned, I think the shot above communicates very well where I'm going with this project.

With that in mind, I'd like to get into some key points about Smashmouth (working title) and what I'm setting out to accomplish with this project in terms of realism and how it will be communicated:

-Everything real, everything HD: that's the philosophy that Smashmouth is being built on. "Everything real" means that every player, and every field/stadium environment will be real. To be 100% clear, Smashmouth will contain no polygons. If it's not real, it's not in Smashmouth.

Why am I doing this? Why no polygons, you ask? I know this sounds insane. But I honestly feel like football will never look like what we see in real life until real life is put into the game without all the hindrances that polygonal football games place on it.

"Everything HD" means that every image will be in High Definition. In addition to that, the plan is to have things like overlays, stat banners, etc. be displayed in an innovative new graphical style using a technique that surpasses the current process. It will certainly keep you glued and fully attentive to every sort of visual communication taking place in the game.

-Broadcast standard: I just don't feel like a sports game today is complete without this, and so very serious attention is being paid to this area so that when this game reaches final, a complete broadcast experience will be achieved.

Smashmouth will be viewed with a broadcast camera. Innovative camera work and scene connection will bring you live to the action just like we see on TV.

-The future (gameplay, etc.): Every part matters, but gameplay is the most important. Either the game is fun to play or it's not. In order for gameplay in a football game to be even acceptable, the movements+controls have to be on point. The way Smashmouth moves is based on a process I'm developing called Adrenaline. With this process, there is no drawing and no animating in the traditional sense involved whatsoever. This is completely bypassed so that you get the raw movement capture in its original state, every time. I'm sure you can imagine the possibilities with such a process.

Now, it's time to talk about some very important considerations...

The bottom line is that developing any sort of game is incredibly difficult. Football games are arguably the most difficult of all. While the target is to have a playable demo available in 2011, there are no guarantees and there never are in the field of product development. The good news however, is that you'll have the opportunity to be involved in the development of this game in an unprecented way which I'll discuss in the near future. The way this game is being developed is in and of itself uncharted territory so I'm learning something new everyday, an since I'm taking a 4-step approach of Tech prototype-to-Game prototype-to-Game Demo-to-finished product, it's going to allow me to refine a lot of things along the way and also allow you to be involved in that process in a very impactful manner as well.

-What I'm working on right now: Offensive line/defensive line captures. It's not simple by any means, but before I declare my tech prototype 100%, these must be there.

-When new information will come out: There will be no schedule at this early stage. Information will be limited for a while. Please bear with me.

There may be a dev diary... I spoke to Steve about this and he was very kind and enthusiastic about it being at OS, so that's something I'm seriously considering for the future. I want to hold off on it in TP stage, but once I get somewhere between game prototype stage and game demo stage I'll be looking to do that, and the hope is that it's not far off.

I've invested my own money and countless hours into this project that I first conceived years ago when the technology wasn't even ready to handle it yet. The technology is here today... the future is now.

I remain a passionate football gamer just like you. And like you, I want to see this genre return to its glory days. In order for that to happen, we can't just sit by and wait. We have to take matters into our own hands and make it happen. Together, we will do just that.

[CreatineKasey]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Looks beautiful. Let me know if you want me to contribute to anything. I'll try to find time to help if possible and if needed.

Keep it up!

[sb24]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Cant see from work but I am in full support. I like the direction you are taking this. I will be willing to help anyway possible. Good luck!

[Joborule]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Very interesting approach your taking with this game. Defiantly a pretty sweet project I hope to hear more of soon.

[ChampN252]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

I was wondering about the polls and all. I hope you the best of luck man. I know you know about the other guy with his CFL game in the makings. I believe if just one of you gets something working, that would shake football gaming up a little.

[TheWatcher]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Looks beautiful. Let me know if you want me to contribute to anything. I'll try to find time to help if possible and if needed.

Keep it up!

Cant see from work but I am in full support. I like the direction you are taking this. I will be willing to help anyway possible. Good luck!

Very interesting approach your taking with this game. Defiantly a pretty sweet project I hope to hear more of soon.

Thanks, guys. You'll have the opportunity to do some really cool things at every stage of development. There is footage of captures, but I didn't want to reveal that this time. But I'll post that in the near future.

[TheWatcher]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

I was wondering about the polls and all. I hope you the best of luck man. I know you know about the other guy with his CFL game in the makings. I believe if just one of you gets something working, that would shake football gaming up a little.

I appreciate that, Champ.

To my knowledge, there was a budgetary issue with the CFL project. You won't have to worry about that with this. I'm really good at cost-cutting and finding ways to turn out quality for cheaper. It's something I had to learn being an Inventor.

I'd also like to mention that this game is not FMV. You will have full control of the players. This game is being built in a unique way that allows there to be synchronized development for both PC and XBOX 360 (and other platforms, if I choose). I've been tinkering around with the framework and for 360 and the translations between the PC version and this look pretty solid.

So stay tuned, I'm sure you'll enjoy everything that will come next.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

This looks very exciting for football fans. I'll be rooting for you and keeping an eye out for your updates. I'm curious, is this looking to be a console game or a pc game or both?

Never mind the question, just caught the above response. Sounds great, I'm a console gamer for the most part.

[Hooe]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

I'm sorry to be the token negative guy, and I may be completely offbase on my assumptions, but...

You're building a football game (you mention the XBOX360 so I assume you're using XNA) which is supposed to be the most realistic thing on the market, yet it's going to be sprite-based and 2D (if it's not 3D and polygon-based, then you must be using sprites because that's really the only other graphical approach). Basically, you're harkening back to football games prior to NFL Gameday 98, which was the first 3D football game. I don't see how this is technologically superior to full 3D polygonal graphics with million-dollar rendering, lighting, shading, and animation engines. Care to elaborate?

How are you approaching problems like, for example, catching? You're not going to easily be able to keep track of where a receiver's hands since the player is more or less a picture of a player in a catch animation. Without having a concept of a player's hands in 3D space, the problem of catching more or less reduces to a collision between the player's body and the ball along with a ratings check.

Your process (tech prototype to game prototype to demo to game) also really isn't that unprecedented; prototypes are developed all the time in the video game industry before full game development even gets green-lighted.

I'm not trying to discourage you, I certainly admire people that try to work on independent video games at all (seeing as I do the same thing myself; I'm a CS major at UVa who will be interning with a video game company starting in June), I'm just trying to see through the overly flowery language and get some substance and I'm getting confused.

[TheWatcher]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

I'm sorry to be the token negative guy, and I may be completely offbase on my assumptions, but...

I appreciate feedback both positive and negative. I want to know what people are thinking. My feeling is that the more I know from the perspective of other gamers the better refined the final product can be.

You're building a football game (you mention the XBOX360 so I assume you're using XNA)

Any developer developing for MS platforms would be wise to use XNA, and in fact many do. You might be surprised to know that XNA is used by many major developers for a variety of purposes, including testing in many of the big time games you enjoy every day (assuming you play on XBOX 360, of course), even sports games..

which is supposed to be the most realistic thing on the market, yet it's going to be sprite-based and 2D (if it's not 3D and polygon-based, then you must be using sprites because that's really the only other graphical approach).

As you can see in the picture, there are no drawn sprites in the game. Each character and environment is extracted from real live captures. But if there is something more realistic than real, then I'd certainly be open to seeing it

Basically, you're harkening back to football games prior to NFL Gameday 98, which was the first 3D football game. I don't see how this is technologically superior to full 3D polygonal graphics with million-dollar rendering, lighting, shading, and animation engines. Care to elaborate?

"Superior" is a matter of subjectivity. That said, in my opinion real is always visually better than polygonal, it's kind of stating the obvious in my mind, but I'm sure there are those who would prefer polygons over the real thing for personal reasons and that's okay, too.

A polygonal model cannot match the realism of a real person though. Someday the line between the two will be blurred to the point of not being able to make the distinction, but that's still quite a ways down the road. For now, real will continue to have the undisputed edge.

How are you approaching problems like, for example, catching? You're not going to easily be able to keep track of where a receiver's hands since the player is more or less a picture of a player in a catch animation. Without having a concept of a player's hands in 3D space, the problem of catching more or less reduces to a collision between the player's body and the ball along with a ratings check.

Those things are not an issue with the process I'm using or in connection to the game concept. I'm able to capture and program players to move and react normally like any game can... and do it using a heckuva lot less memory.

Your process (tech prototype to game prototype to demo to game) also really isn't that unprecedented; prototypes are developed all the time in the video game industry before full game development even gets green-lighted.

I didn't actually state that part to be unprecedented... I only explained what steps I'm taking. I did however state that the community involvement will be unprecedented and that's something you'll see in due time.

I should also mention that it's very common for companies to skip game prototypes and begin working on the demo of the game after mastering (or getting a decent grasp of) the tech, especially since major games are made on tight schedules and don't allow for an unlimited time window. They also have much larger teams. My position is different. I have the freedom to do whatever I like on any timetable I choose.

I'm not trying to discourage you, I certainly admire people that try to work on independent video games at all (seeing as I do the same thing myself; I'm a CS major at UVa who will be interning with a video game company starting in June), I'm just trying to see through the overly flowery language and get some substance and I'm getting confused.

"Overly flowery"... I'm not sure about that one... but you have to understand that this is a product after all. Downplaying it would obviously be counter-productive for any product. I'm also not over-hyping it either, the project is what I'm stating.

I have no idea how the final will turn out, no one ever knows that. Best case scenario, it turns out great and we get a new game doing something innovative and finally getting to the last plateau of visual quality. Worst case scenario, I put out a new process for doing it that winds up becoming an asset to the industry in general and we all still benefit. There really is no negative or point of discouragement. No one loses either way. It's all positive

[Hooe]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Foremost, it wasn't my intention to badmouth XNA; I'm actually part of a small team working on an XNA game (not a sports game) for XBOX Live Arcade right now, and it's very easy and dare-I-say fun to work with.

As for the rest of the post, I guess I'm just not understanding exactly what your game is. My understanding of graphics (having taken computer graphics and game design courses here at UVa) is that you either have a 2D environment with sprites, background textures, etc., or a 3D environment with bunches of textured and shaded polygonal meshes. You seem to indicate that your game doesn't use either, which has me wondering exactly how the graphics are done in the first place.

I suppose waiting to see what you're working on in some sort of "finished checkpoint" state and in-action might better answer some questions I have about what you're doing, though if you care to offer a more detailed explanation I'd be all-ears for providing feedback to it.

Good luck, either way.

[TheWatcher]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

You seem to indicate that your game doesn't use either, which has me wondering exactly how the graphics are done in the first place.

Ah, but that my man is the secret

But people with your experience are precisely the types of people I want in addition to the average gamer. I think the community approach I'm taking will allow you to really give some good insights. As time passes, more about the process will be talked about. For now, the most important thing I want to communicate is that real characters and real environments are being used.

[24]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

looks very promising good job

[HOKIEBEN]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

Good Work!

[red95vette]

Re: The Smashmouth Project

So, are you saying then that you won't have any animations in the game, only static photos? Or are you planning on recording video footage of every possible play and play outcome? I'm not quite sure an approach of either type is going to yield something the gaming world gets excited about.

To be honest, I had to check your original post date to ensure it wasn't posted on April 1st. In any event good luck. I'm not one to discourage people's projects.