What's possible with MMF?

[Ryzzo]

As I'm new to MMF I wonder what is possible with Multimedia Fusion 2. For example can you change the hair color of a figure with a simple click? Are arcade games such as street fighter or little fighter 2 possible? In what way are massive multiplayer online games limited? Can you even make simple 3D racing games for example?


If someone could answer some of these questions i would be very pleased.

Bye

[Greg]

In theory everything is possible with MMF :P

[Ryzzo]

That's the answer I wanted to hear So even an amazing fighting game similar to lf2 is possible? Think I have to play around with this amazing tool further more. Thanks

[Nifflas]

With 2D, more or less anything is indeed possible with MMF2, you just need to be skilled enough.

Only if you plan to do 3D, you'll run into limitations.

[Popcorn]

When making fighting games, the biggest challenge is often the graphics. Making the game work is actually quite simple. The reason there are so few arcade fighting games made with MMF is because of all the work going into making all the characters.

In Street Fighter 2 each character had 64 different attacks. Just imagine how long time it would take to draw 64 different animations for all your characters. And even if you only want a couple of attacks, you still need the charaters to walk, run, jump, crawl and do some kicks and punches.

For the ordinary MMF user that isn't done in a minute. You'll need to have quite some experience with 2D animation tools or be impressingly good with the pencil to accomplish that

[Joshtek]

For example can you change the hair color of a figure with a simple click?

There is an action in the event editor for active objects called "replace color". This allows you to replace all occurrences of one specific colour in an object's animations with another specific colour. This action applies to all instances of the object.

[Brandon]

To make a 3D game, I would suggest using the Mode 7 ex extension. It is an easy to use extension for 1st person games and such. The example files are pretty helpful.

[00J]

Ahh, I had to add to this.

MMF 2.0 is built upon so far years of design.
That said, you can pretty much create anything short of a full 3D engine, unless you are very incredible with extension creation.

Other than that, you can make Isometric, Top Down, Side scrolling Platformers [Seems to be everyones favorite] puzzle games, racing games, etc etc...

UP to your ABILITY. this is the most important point, As you can also make an RPG game complete with Save games, and MMORPG's, See Blizna's Game http://chmatakov.ceskehry.cz

But be aware this is based on your level of knowledge with MMF, and MMF has years of mastery behind it. Yet it is easy enough to make amazing games... In minutes.

[vortex2]

If you are sticking to 2D games then for most games you will not run into limitations. If you want to do insanely complex games involving lots of graphics on screen at once then the only real thing you have to worry about is speed.

As far as 3D goes, don't even attempt it. Mode7 is very limited and really MMF 2 is not the right tool for a 3D game at all.

So if you want to make a 2D game then MMF 2 is ideal, but if you want 3D then you need to look at other options.

[Maggott]

As I'm new to MMF I wonder what is possible with Multimedia Fusion 2. For example can you change the hair color of a figure with a simple click?

Yes. However, if you want to do it more than once, you're going to have to keep track of the color you changed every single pixel to. (Color changes are permanent)

Are arcade games such as street fighter or little fighter 2 possible?

Yes. Arcade-style games are, in fact, MMF's strongest suit.

In what way are massive multiplayer online games limited?

1. They have to be 2D.
2. You cannot realistically allow different players to wear customized colors. (Objects can have their color changed, but different instances of the same object will all be the same color. This may become possible once the ink effects SDK comes out, but there is no ETA on that.)
3. Complex RPG dynamics, while possible, can be a chore to do in MMF. You can, however, code the complex RPG logic in another language and import it as an ActiveX control or dll.
4. MMF's MooGame extension will help you with a few of the technical aspects of making a MMOG, but there will be a lot more that you'll have to deal with yourself.
5. Designing a client-server architecture in which all the security-sensitive processing takes place on the server will not be any easier than it would in any other language.

Can you even make simple 3D racing games for example?

No. You can make 2D racing games to your heart's content, but 3D is essentially nonexistant in MMF.

MMF2 is good at one specific thing: rapid development of anything that is traditionally required for 2D gameplay. The closer it is to a basic 2D shooter or platformer, the faster it will be. If you discount the time you take to make the graphics, a short action game can be made from start to finish in a few hours. The same holds true for games with similar dynamics. The further you stray from action game dynamics, the less MMF benefits you. A turn-based game, for example, may take just as long (if not longer) to make in MMF as it would in another development environment. Ironically, an action-based RPG might actually take less time to make in MMF than a turn-based RPG would.