We need a GoFundMe for a boxing game now

[The Problem Child]

I'll make the game. I'll start a GoFund and ya'll can donate. 100K is very little for me to learn to code and make a boxing game, I need at least 800K+. Let me know and I'll set it up. It'll take me about 2 years to make it. I'll give you updates, if the updates stop after reaching the goal don't panic I'll probably be working very hard that I might disappear for a few months.

[Barcham]

100K for a videogame is very, very, very little.

If you are going for a solid Fight Night clone, a current gen game, with nice high res textures and 3d models, mocap for the boxers/others movements, with proper music and sound fx, voice acting, multiple platforms (pc only would be best), basic online infrastructure, marketing and distribution, etc. you could end up needing like 10-100 times that budget, and that's probably not even enough. And that's without licensing anything or using real boxer names or image. And then the game could still play like ****.

It can be done, though, with enough funds and time. Boxing games follow a very predictible and closed structure (create a fighter |> train > increase/decrease stats > fight > increase/decrease stats > change ranking position > repeat), have very simple level design (a ring and background, a gym for the training stages), use repetitive assets (most boxers use the same gloves/trunks/bodies/faces with small variations), have more or less established rules (the science of boxing itself) and don't require much resources (only two active players on screen, the ref, animated background, basic sound fx and soundtrack).

The hardest part would be the 3d modeling and mocap/animation, proper physics and hit detection, and establishing some good stat and combat rules with balanced increasements that don't break the game.

Add a player creation mode, training modes and minigames, some random boxing backgrounds (gym, local amateur, crappy ppv arena, olympic stadium, title fight arena, etc), a rival and ranking randomizer, some star rivals with a little story background, local and online player vs player mode, maybe some online rankings, and I don't think there's much more to it from a design point of view.

A game with all the features you are describing, especially if you are including doing motion capture of the actual boxers, could not be done for under $5 million. Not including the rights for the fighters. It could easily cost more than that just to get a top fighter like Mayweather to sign off on it. Now if PBC actually had fighters signed to contracts with the promotion instead of to Haymon, there might be a chance to do a PBC Boxing game. But unfortunately that is not the case. Could always try for an Al Haymon Boxing game.

All of those features could make for a great game, however. I could imagine playing in a career mode where you start a fighter out and take him from the amateurs, through the World Championships and Olympics and finally into the pros. Including all the inherent risks of the sport, injuries, concussions, career ending knock outs. System controlled match making and purse bids. Including online play and online tournaments. To be honest, I'd play a game like that even without the big name fighters.

[Heavyfist]

It peaked with Knockout Kings 2003 for PS2, I believe. There were lots more boxing games after that, but that was the best.

[louvega]

A game with all the features you are describing, especially if you are including doing motion capture of the actual boxers, could not be done for under $5 million. Not including the rights for the fighters. It could easily cost more than that just to get a top fighter like Mayweather to sign off on it. Now if PBC actually had fighters signed to contracts with the promotion instead of to Haymon, there might be a chance to do a PBC Boxing game. But unfortunately that is not the case. Could always try for an Al Haymon Boxing game.

All of those features could make for a great game, however. I could imagine playing in a career mode where you start a fighter out and take him from the amateurs, through the World Championships and Olympics and finally into the pros. Including all the inherent risks of the sport, injuries, concussions, career ending knock outs. System controlled match making and purse bids. Including online play and online tournaments. To be honest, I'd play a game like that even without the big name fighters.

I would completely forget about licensing. Licensing and using fighters image should be the very last step of the project and, like you say, has very little impact on the actual game. You can probably get away using altered names and close-but-not-enough likeness of fighters. Or wait until you have a working demo and try to persuade fighters, licenses and sponsors then. Making Al Haymon's PBC Boxing is not a bad idea and would probably get you some of his investors' money. Would be great to make the squirrel twins' models and place them randomly in the ring after each fight

Sadly, I think making even the simplest decent 3d boxing game is a job that requires a group of dedicated professionals with experience. It took EA plenty of KO Kings iterations and a huge time and money investment until they reached Fight Night levels, and even then everybody was ****ing on some of their game decisions and elements.

Theoretically, it should also be possible to give it a try at a hobbyist level while keeping expectations very, very low and using one the current 3d game engines (unity, unreal, etc):
- Quality sound fx, voice acting and music can be easily obtained/produced. Plenty of free resources and collaborators online. Easiest part of the game.
- Background 3d modelling/texturing for a boxing game is simple, but a bit time consuming. Luckily there's not much to do besides a few scenarios that tend to be very generic and with little detail.
- Fighter 3d modelling/texturing would be hard and time consuming but still doable to a certain degree as long as you reuse assets and with very low expectations.
- Mocap and animations would be incredibly difficult and time consuming, and results could be catastrophic. There are 'homemade' solutions using a few kinects/pseyes and cheap capture software, but require some investment. Then cleaning the captures, retouching and organizing in motionbuilder or whatever, and hopefully be able to implement the results in the game. Still, very difficult job, and we are not even talking about facial expressions.
- The game itself: proper fighter control design and implementation, collision/hit detection, implementing ragdoll physics, balancing stats, etc would also be incredibly hard and would make or break the game.

Is it possible to do it all without much money or professionals? I really think so, but you'll end up getting what you pay for. 3d boxing games are simple but quite ambitious since they deal with many different aspects of game making. It could be a fun and very hard project but would probably stop and end the moment you encounter the first big 'unsolvable' problem during development. And even if you manage to complete a very simple demo the results would most likely be less than ideal.

[buge]

Now we have one,lets see who supports it

Anthony V. Sims?? You're supposed to be named Larry.

[louvega]

John Podlasek, the Mortal Kombat fighting games old producer and huge veteran in gaming industry, was answering questions in reddit today. Thought would ask his opinion for realistic times and team making a simple non-commercial 3d boxing game. The guy knows his stuff about making 3d fighting games.

What would you consider the approximate minimum team and time to make a simple non-commercial 3d fight game using an accessible engine like unity3d? Something simple like a boxing game (repetitive animations and assets, no sfx, no need to be creative in design, few simple backgrounds).

Good question - and wise choice on Unity which just keeps getting better and better.

Depending on skill level (output can vary by 5x or more based on the individual's aptitude and work ethic) a small team of 3-5, and maybe 3-4 months, depending on the polish level? It'd take a week or two to get the tools, environment, etc. setup. Then flesh out the pipeline with game assets getting on screen (although easier in new engines like Unity). Placeholder models could be done fairly quickly for animation (likely hand-animated since a small team), then shared with design and programming. Placeholder environment could also be knocked up quickly to have a ring/arena to start in. Then it's updating, improving, and not stepping on each's work.

I remember that being a big challenge initially on MKDA, just having two characters on screen, with a background loaded. It took a while for us, just because RenderWare was so crude back then. Plus we always wanted it working on all the platforms, it's too easy to focus on the easiest platform, then let the one with limitation lag behind. It takes forever to catch up later...

Really comes down to the skill level and motivation. Big teams can have circles run around them by a smaller, focused, hungry team.

He thinks a good 5 member team with 4 months work could get a very basic demo working, without mocap. One could try speculate what would it take to get a very simple complete game without mocap done. Maybe 10-20 workers working a full year? Going from the game developer salaries (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2...lts_are_in.php) that would mean a minimum $1-2 million, without mocap and not taking into account taxes, marketing, distribution, licensing, having to pay for any tech (hardware or software) used in development, etc.

Double that figure to be sure you are not short on budget and for better polish, $4 million? Probably without mocap, and the game could still play like shiet when it's done. Seems impossible to find real data on the Fight Night games' budget or team size.

I doubt EA will release any more boxing games soon but, at it's peak, Fight Night 3 sold around 5 million copies, all platforms combined. There is a market there.