FMV Game basics

dislexsicknik

Hi I am new around here so have a few questions
I am an award winning underground film maker I have been making movies for over 15 years and had some success with it. I have also been a huge FMV fan since the 90s and I have so many finished , unfinished and unreleased footage that I have plans for making games with. I have been toying with the idea of actually putting together so FMV games with stuff I have already for a while and now I am keen to start. I have made simple games in the past on various programs but never attempted FMV or Unity adventure creator etc but I understand basics and pick stuff up pretty quickly. A few people have said Adventure Creator will be an easy and helpful start. My first project I want to attempt is really straight forward I have all the footage ready to go. The best way to describe it is a simplified version of Night Trap the video plays then at a certain point you click a button and it plays the next clip depending on when you press the button you will get one of 2 corresponding clips play every correct press you do fills a meter and every incorrect clip deletes from the meter when the meter is full the game plays the ending of the meter is empty it will keep repeating clips until you fill the meter back up.

Would that be easy enough for a first timer to pull off is there enough help online for me to get through it. Visually I am going for a 90s Mega Cd, 3do,CDI vibe complete with low resolution video and elaborate looking interface which really is 2 buttons and a meter haha.

Sorry for the long description hope it makes sense
Cheers
Nick

ChrisIceBox

Welcome to the community, @dislexsicknik.

Certainly, sounds like a good fit for AC. AC can be used to trigger the playback of video clips, as well as create a menu interface that runs different blocks of game logic based on variable values etc.

Though, if you're new to game development, I'd recommend starting out by looking at the two aspects separately:

1. In Unity alone, check out Unity's Video Player system to get a feel for how it works and what kind of formats it supports. Also have a look at its UI system, which is used to construct interfaces.

AC is able to make use of both of these systems, but as these are Unity concepts, it's a good idea to be familiar with them before also incorporating AC into the mix.

2. In AC, learn the basic workflow in creating game logic and variables. This is best done by following the 2D game tutorial, which covers many aspects of AC that apply to all game types.

Since the playback of video in the kind of game you describe is separated from the game logic, you could probably get a prototype up-and-running fairly quickly by using simple speech blocks in place of actual video. Something like "A video then plays of the Player walking through the doorway" appearing on-screen, followed by whatever game logic is needed, e.g. your "Score" meter filling up.

Being familiar with these two aspects separately should then make it quite simple to combine the two in order to make your game.

dislexsicknik

Excellent stuff alot of that makes sense I've actually got a few weeks off work now so I'm going to attempt it I'll post results and problems here thank you

TayannaStudios

We've just completed our FMV, The Dark Side of the Moon, with AC and it's been perfect for it. The only issue is that Unity's Video Player can cause issues here and there. But yes, go for it!