The Chao Project fangame + updates

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ChrisOfChaos
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The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

So you all probably remember that a while back I began working on a fangame Chao Garden. The project is still in the works, and for now, I've decided to call the game "The Chao Project" (I'll probably change the name later on though). This thread is where I'll post updates on the game's progress every now and then.

What is the Chao project?
-Basically it's a fangame based off the original Chao Gardens intended to recreate the Chao pet system, except with more space, more Gardens (including recreations of all six Gardens from SA1 and 2), a tracking system to track specifics of a Chao's progress, more to do, etc. Since SEGA seems unlikely to reimplement the Chao system in future games, I'm doing it as a standalone game.

Features
NOTE: These are intended features, can't guarantee all of them in the final game but it's what we're hoping to be able to do.
-Many more gardens
-Advanced Chao school system (more classes)
-More Chao minigames (more to do than racing and karate basically, we need an alternate system for getting rings and animals/Chaos drives anyway)
-More Chao types (not sure what kinds yet depends on majority preference, but possibly a type for Intelligence and Stamina)
-Ability to track Chao statistics directly, such as needs, time to evolution, family tree, and other pertinent information.
-VR support (I'm planning a VR demo of the animations at the moment)

Want to help?
-If you're interested in helping we can use any kind you can offer. We need Unity developers and 3D modelers the most but concept art, ideas for gardens and/or features, and graphic designers are all welcome. You can contact me here or at thechaoproject@gmail.com.

More information
-You can stay up to date on the game's progress by following us on deviantART and/or Twitter.
dA: http://thechaoproject.deviantart.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheChaoProject
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Got a lot done on the game today. Three more people are on board the project, two of them 3D modelers and the third a graphic designer. Neocraftz, one of our modelers, managed to get us a model of the original SA2 garden, and our other 3D modeler, SouthTwitch, built a statue from the Hotel garden. So right now we're working on rebuilding the original gardens and improving their quality where we can. We located a great source of Sonic-related models and went over a few ideas, and earlier this week we got hold of some much needed sound files from the original games. Still lots to do, but we made a lot of progress this week. Thanks again to our 3D modeling team for all their hard work, it's really paying off and I'm grateful.

Pics of what we've done this week:
-Practiced UV mapping with a prototype model (not my best work but I have very little UV mapping experience):
Image
Image
-Built new garden layout:
Image
-Neocraftz recreated the original garden's tree (the textures look really good especially the leaves):
Image
-He also found a model of the SA2 garden we can use as a baseline:
Image
-And thanks to SouthTwitch, we've also got a model of the statue from the SA1 Station Square garden, which I'm using in the garden's remake (which is partially completed at the moment):
Image
Image

Right now we're on the lookout for models of the Hero, Dark and Chaos Chao. They can be almost any format, even MMD since I have a converter for those. If anyone knows where we can find them please let us know.

By the way, we now have a forum and a Discord server available to join. Discord is mostly for chatting about the game, the forums allow people to vote on and suggest any ideas they may have.
http://chaoproject.freeforums.net/
https://t.co/nGdgLzKLN5
Last edited by ChrisOfChaos on Sun Sep 17, 2017 6:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

It's been an extremely productive couple of days. My team and I have been remaking the original SADX and SA2 gardens, and we have a new Chao model that's fully rigged and currently being animated.
Hero Garden
Image
Image
Image
Hotel Garden
Image
Image
Image
Updated Chao Model
Image

Remember we're still recruiting so if interested email us at thechaoproject@gmail.com or drop by http://chaoproject.freeforums.net/ to submit your ideas. You can also visit our Discord server at https://t.co/nGdgLzKLN5 but we're not always on there.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by Triert »

Can I add some constructive criticism?
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Triert wrote:Can I add some constructive criticism?
Sure.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by chaoadventures »

Question 1: So do you play as a character like Sonic, Tails, Eggman, ect., or are you just the floating hand from the TIny Chao Garden?

Question 2: Wouldn't you find it more productive in the long run to work on gameplay first, graphics second? Seems like it'll stop the development from halting midway.

Question 3: what's up that model shine tho
Image


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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by Triert »

You should really lower the bloom effect
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Triert wrote:You should really lower the bloom effect
If you're referring to the lighting yeah we're working on it, the levels are using Unity's default directional light but we're looking at alternatives. Thanks.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

chaoadventures wrote:Question 1: So do you play as a character like Sonic, Tails, Eggman, ect., or are you just the floating hand from the TIny Chao Garden?

Question 2: Wouldn't you find it more productive in the long run to work on gameplay first, graphics second? Seems like it'll stop the development from halting midway.

Question 3: what's up that model shine tho
Question 1: Right now the game is first-person but we plan to incorporate third-person characters (probably a selection similar to Sonic World). We're also planning a VR mode but we're not sure how far off that is.

Question 2: We're doing both simultaneously. Some of our people are scripting and working on rigging the models in Unity + other Unity level building, others are doing the 3D modeling. It's much easier to test scripts when you have models to work with, also this way everyone has something they can work on.

Question 3: It's Unity's default lighting system for levels, we're working on it but it should look a lot better later on.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by Triert »

Continuing question 2,

So you mean to tell us that your people are moving on with both since their specializations allow them to? I mean it makes sense that the person in charge of textures probably wouldn't be able to do the coding. Do I have that correct?
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Triert wrote:Continuing question 2,

So you mean to tell us that your people are moving on with both since their specializations allow them to? I mean it makes sense that the person in charge of textures probably wouldn't be able to do the coding. Do I have that correct?
Right. When we recruit C# programmers, they work on C# programming, and when we recruit 3D modellers, they do 3D modelling.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

I've listed out a lot of my current concept ideas for features, you can view them and/or respond here: http://chaoproject.freeforums.net/threa ... cept-ideas.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

So at the moment we're working on the Chao's AI and movements. Most of the basic animations are now rigged and working in Unity, the Chao can "see" the player and react to their presence. You can view a short video of some script testing gameplay in Unity here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzxImhHXXfA. One of our dev guys is working on a script to allow the Chao to wander around, once he's done we'll have the basics of the Chao system mostly covered and will likely be moving onto scripts for stats and stat grades. Cheers to progress :chaohappy:

Also we're looking at remixes of the original garden soundtracks tell us which one you like the most here: http://chaoproject.freeforums.net/threa ... music-most
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by dustyoni »

You guys have gotten some serious progress done here. I'm overly impressed.
I'm a graphic designer and digital illustrator--I've sent you an e-mail offering a hang with anything along those lines should you need it!
If you guys give me a pass, it's cool. It's just neat to see what you've guys done! Interested to see where it leads. :darkcool:
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party time
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Been a busy few days lately, but we've gotten a lot of stuff done. First and foremost, we have prototyped and tested a Chao AI movement script, and our Chao are now capable of wandering the garden on their own. It's still incomplete, the Chao are having a couple of collision issues, but overall it's looking great. We've also built a GUI that appears when you get close to a Chao:
Image
As you can see it's roughly the same size as the original, but we've improved on it and added info on the Chao's needs, age, and happiness, as well as direct access to other pertinent information. We've also begun work on the needs system, it's running pretty well at the moment we just need to integrate animations and update our Chao's movement script so that it checks the needs script and plays need-related animations when a need is low.

And finally, thanks to the fine handiwork of dustyoni, we now have a custom font for the game!
Image

At the moment we have a substantial amount of the Chao's AI completed, but we'll be focusing mostly on that for the next couple of days as we hope to get it done as soon as possible. Next update will likely be within the next week, so stay tuned!
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by SwifterTheDragon »

A few questions about this...

1. When this becomes fully completed, where will be available for download? Will it be free? On Steam maybe?

2. I am not very good at coding myself but I have some HTML tags memorized. What language is this made out of?

3. The font looks great, could I see the entire alphabet somehow?

4. Are you going to have shapes, punctuation, numbers or other languages available for naming chao with? What's the character limit for naming Chao?

5. Are mini games going to have rewards like the balls, Television etc.?

6. How many colours are available for chao to become? How many chao per garden?

If these questions were already answered in this forum, whoops didn't see them.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

SwifterTheDragon wrote:A few questions about this...

1. When this becomes fully completed, where will be available for download? Will it be free? On Steam maybe?

2. I am not very good at coding myself but I have some HTML tags memorized. What language is this made out of?

3. The font looks great, could I see the entire alphabet somehow?

4. Are you going to have shapes, punctuation, numbers or other languages available for naming chao with? What's the character limit for naming Chao?

5. Are mini games going to have rewards like the balls, Television etc.?

6. How many colours are available for chao to become? How many chao per garden?

If these questions were already answered in this forum, whoops didn't see them.
1. We haven't thought quite that far ahead yet. The game is coming along well but it's not nearing completion any time soon. We can't put it on Steam or charge for it even if we wanted to since it's a fangame and contains a lot of content copyrighted by SEGA. Odds are it will be available for download on Google Chrome once it's ready.

2. We're using mostly C# but we'll likely end up using Javascript in some areas as needed.

3. Not just yet. This font is kind of game-exclusive for the moment, that'll probably change in due time or at the artist's discretion.

4. It'll probably be restricted to letters, the typeface we're using is purely alphabetical so it doesn't contain numbers or symbols, plus so few people ever use those in Chao names it doesn't seem worth it. As far as I'm currently aware we won't have any character limits (something like 24 if anything, Unity is very lax in that department compared to the SA1 and 2 engines).

5. What we're currently planning is to have the minigames be a source of pretty much everything of value in the game. We're planning a lot of minigames, and they'll be the source of Chaos Drives, animals, rings, unlocking new Chao eggs, etc.

6. We haven't decided on that yet. Assuming no problems come up we'll likely be using every Chao color currently in the canon games plus whatever we can think of. As for how many Chao per garden, our current estimation is 20 but that may change.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by The Thunder »

You're using Unity?! If so, that's awesome! I'm planning to use Unity for my own game design!
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

The Thunder wrote:You're using Unity?! If so, that's awesome! I'm planning to use Unity for my own game design!
Yeah we are, what kind of game are you building?
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by SwifterTheDragon »

Now I feel like I had a brain fart asking a few of these... But thanks for replying. My first question seemed obvious now. Will you provide a link in this forum when it is completed?

2. Reasonable. Random question.

3. Now that I think of it I should've left this question out, but the font looks great and I'd look forward to seeing it in-game. More hype!

4. Aww ok. I myself do use a lot of non-alphabetic options for chao... The character limit seems very good. Many combinations so I won't have to name two chao the same name eventually. (Yes I have that many saves...)

5. If the mini games are sources of chaos drives and animals, how do we start off raising our chao if they were just born and we need to play mingames to raise them?

6. I'd honestly love to basically see the mixing colours mod from CWE. Sounds great.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by The Thunder »

ChrisOfChaos wrote:
The Thunder wrote:You're using Unity?! If so, that's awesome! I'm planning to use Unity for my own game design!
Yeah we are, what kind of game are you building?
I'm hoping to make a 2D RPG, possibly J-RPG. I made one non-RPG demo that took three to four months. It's a 2D side-scrolling platformer with a difficult end boss. This may not be the right thread for discussing it, though, so that's all I can say. Just saying that I like Unity and when I heard it was finally getting 2D features, I was excited as hell. Don't get me wrong, CGI and 3D is still great and all that. I'm just better at 2D designing myself.
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Been a while since the last post here so I wanted to give you guys an update. Mostly we've been working on animations lately as there's still a lot of them to do. I've also finally gotten around to adding the Chao's emotes and have rigged a couple of them to the model:
Image

I've also finally put a VR demo of the game into motion, which will take place in a small house with a backyard. I have the layout for the home's interior done, although it's pretty basic (to prevent player from losing track of their Chao):
Image

I've been thinking about it and have decided to release an early beta of the demo some time soon (in the next few weeks to a month I'd say) for the HTC Vive. Basically it'll allow players to see Chao wandering around and playing some of their animations, although I'm afraid they won't be interactive just yet (the Chao in the main project are already partially scripted to interact with the player but I don't know how to transfer that to VR).

A couple of people (myself included) have taken a short leave from the project. We've all done a lot and had personal stuff to take care of, so it was for the best. But we're back in business and working hard on the game. Remember, we are always looking for devs to lend a hand. Whether you're an amateur 3D modeller or a scripting maniac, we're happy to accept anyone of any skill level. Contact us at thechaoproject@gmail.com, or on our Discord: https://t.co/nGdgLzKLN5
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by chaoadventures »

Yo, I don't know if this would be a difficult to add to your current progress, or if you would like to take a completely different direction with the controllable characters in the gardens, but,

Image

Hedge Physics
seems to be doing a pretty good job at emulating SA1 and SA2 like movement, so you guys can take a look at that if you want.
Image


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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

So recently we've gotten a lot done. The Chao are now moving independently, which is something we've been working on for a while. This is a pretty huge step for us, because it means that our Chao have a functional AI and can act on their own. And now that that system is working we can turn our attention to other aspects of the Chao's AI. Our main focus is progressing the Chao AI system as much as possible, because that's the most important and most difficult part of the development so far.

Here's a video of our progress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EhMdhYMRDA&t=7s

We're also beginning to add Vive support into the game. This is mostly something I've been looking into personally but I'm really optimistic about the results. For now the player can view the game in VR, but can't move. I already have a working script for VR movement available that I'm going to transfer from another project. Once I do I'll be able to release the VR demo I've been planning, so hopefully it won't take too long.

As always we're still recruiting anyone who wants to help, but currently we're in need of web designers to help us build a website. I've started working on one but don't have the time to complete it and work on the game simultaneously. If anyone wants to help, message me here or via my above contact info.

Thanks again for all your support guys!
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Re: The Chao Project fangame + updates

Post by ChrisOfChaos »

Thanks to the hard work of Exant64, our newest dev guy, we've gotten a lot done recently. The Chao's movement system has been refined, and we've combined most of the AI related scripts into one. Chao are now capable of reacting to a decline in needs with an animation when they stop moving to rest (i.e. a hungry Chao will stop and cry if it's Hunger need gets too low). We've also begun working on racing, and while it's a work in progress, it's coming along quite well. Today we've started working on a new camera mode called "Chao mode", which will allow the player to "transform" into a Chao to view other Chao's thoughts about the player and explore the gardens from a Chao's perspective. We've been experimenting with other features and additions quite a bit as well, but there's too much of that to get into at the moment.

We've also been in the process of building a website, which dev team member South was nice enough to host himself on Wordpress. It's incomplete so I'm not going to link to it yet, but I'm hoping to finish building the site within the next week or so. Thanks again to SwifterTheDragon for assisting with building the website.

Last but not least, we've finally started working on third person characters! Up until now the player's view has been first person only, but thanks to the miracles of rigging we now have a working Sonic the Hedgehog model that has been tested in Unity and works pretty well. So now it's just a matter of animating the model and he'll be ready to port into the game.

Next update will be within the next week or few weeks. Stay tuned!
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