Redwall 3D Game/Levels

[s_purs]

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I have not yet read the final book

The Rogue Crew

I am going to read it over the next months, so please do not post story spoilers from it.

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Hey all,

I have just joined the forum today. I grew up reading the Redwall series and have just finished re-reading Redwall again tonight.

I am a 3D artist and make computer games for the Xbox for my job and am going to make Redwall as a personal project. I have seen the game that a member on here started making and spoke to him about helping him but I could not help the way he wanted.

My game will run in the Unreal 3 engine on the PC and will look the same standard as current games. I am not a coder or anything and do not have grand ideas to make a fully functioning game with a storyline, menus, etc but you will be able to walk around it, see the world, open doors, etc.

One thing that is currently halting my progress is a good description of the layout of the Abbey. I have read the books, but all of them years ago, minus redwall, so I cannot think off the top of my head of good descriptions of the main features of the Abbey. So any info you guys can provide would be very benificial. I have all of the books, so I can look up chapters if you know good ones, I also have the film- but that is a bit rubbish and I don't know how accurate it is either. The graphic novel seems good from the quick flick through I have done so far, and I will read this tomorrow

The main areas I am going to work on first are the Abbey grounds, The Great Hall and Cavern Hole.

Any input, links, reference, etc is welcomed

Kind regards,

Ben

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

Hello.
I've dabbed around with that SDK a bit, but never really got into working with it. But it has impressive capabilites, and a good load of professional tutorials, which I liked about it.

The map in Redwall is a good bet of a visual representation.
Some paraphenia called 'Build Your Own Redwall Abbey' was created some years back.

Spoiler

[close]

The main building is reduced obviously for size restraints.
As for book descriptions, most of the solid text devoted for that purpose won't supply much more than what I've already described. Isolated text describing parts of the Abbey and what the Abbey has and where (Cellars, kitchen, dormatories ect.) are a good bet.
I'll look through the books in the new couple days, probably tonight, and see what I can learn. Be a nice project anyway.
I am pretty well versed besides though, so I can assure the following, which you may already know: Great Hall has an entrance into the grounds, and seven steps lead down to Cavern Hole. Cavern Hole has the access point to the Cellars, best described during the siege of Mattimeo. The kitchens are accessed off from Cavern Hole as well, and the kitchens have (I would strongly assert from the books) access to the grounds. Stairs in Great Hall lead to the dormotories on the second floor. The infirmary is on the third floor. Not sure what all else might be on these floors. Attics open after this, which expand to compartments very few Abbeybeasts ever accessed. The belltower access, if I'm not mistaken, is described in Mattimeo. The besieged under Ironbeak could access and ring it despite being barracded inside.
Hopefully I've helped some.

[s_purs]

Thanks for that.

I saw the image of the build your own abbey thing, but it seemed to go against most of the descriptions I had read- with the scales being completely off. Obviously they had to change it to make it easier to build and work as a model. So I think i will go with the descriptions from the books.

Yeah the thing that I am most struggling with is the 2nd and 3rd floors, as you say there isn't much info about that apart from saying there are dormitories and the medical ward.

Is there any mention about how they bathe/clean themselves? Minus in rivers, etc. I don't remember anything about it from within the abbey.

I have not yet read the final books:

High Rhulian
Domwyte
The Sable Queen
The Rogue Crew

Are there any useful descriptions in those? I am going to read them over the next few months, so please do not post story spoilers from them.

Its a shame there was never a map of the layout of the abbey or anything- minus little images at the front of the books

Regards

[Skipper]

i can't wait to see how your project turns out, goodluck

[s_purs]

Thank you.

I work for Frontier Developments, and we make games aimed at kids/families with a painty style, so hopefully that will help me make this- though my aim is to make it more gritty than a young kids book, to reflect the violence in the books.

I have recently worked on Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Kinectimals Now With Bears, along with adverts such as the Honda Jazz This Unpredictable Life.
The style will be a mix of those but with a bit of grit from games like Gears Of War.

[Skipper]

wow really!? i have kinect disneyland and kinectimals, me and my family love them, they're amazing!
if you've helped make those games then i know the redwall game will look great

[s_purs]

Thank you. Do you have Kinectimals with just the cats or do you have the new version/DLC with the bears story too? I worked on the Bears one.
In Disneyland I made the nursery where the kids learn how to fly in the Peter Pan ride and all of the small space ships in Space Mountain ride, as well as other bits

[Skipper]

i have the normal version and am hoping to get the bears DLC soon

[DanielofRedwall]

Is there any mention about how they bathe/clean themselves? Minus in rivers, etc. I don't remember anything about it from within the abbey. 

They seem to tell dibbuns to scrub up in the abbey pond before feasts a lot, so I'm guessing that is one way. There is a scene in The Rogue Crew where the dibbuns are getting washed in big baths, as well.

[Taggerung_of_Redwall]

The dibbuns are often and mostly bathed in the infirmary.
Also, it appears as if most of the Abbeybabes are somehow orphans. Most families, like Deyna's in Taggerung, had rooms of there own. Abbots did as well, Cregga had one described often, and that hamster in Triss.
I opened Triss and literally flipped to the exact page I wanted, quite good luck. Mokug the hamster was given a nice room next to the dibbuns' dormitory. (chapter 28-page 252, Ace paperback edition).
My guess is that Abbeybabes had a single dormitory and it was the only one and that other Abbeybeasts had their own provate rooms for themselves or their families.

[redwallgurl]

For the 2nd and 3rd layers you should look in the High Rhulain I just finished reading that and it should help you alot i hope

[Bragoon]

The Redwall storybooks (The Great Redwall Feast, a Redwall Winter's Tale, and the Redwall Cookbook) have some pretty expansive illustrations of various parts of the abbey, so those might help too. 

[s_purs]

Thank you, I did not know much about these books before but I have ordered The Great Redwall Feast and A Redwall Winter's Tale now- as I really want to get as much inspiration and accuracy as possible when making this game. They were pretty good value with the Feast costing about £5 like new used, and Feast about the same new on Amazon.

The Redwall Cookbook though is about £20 new, or £10 used, does this book show anything that you think I would find useful that is not in the other two books? If not I will wait to find it at a better price

Thanks for your help

[Skipper]

it has good recipes AND it has pictures which you might find useful

[s_purs]

Ok thank you, I will see what I think of the other two books and then go from there. I have just been reading through the Ask Brian volumes, they are really interesting and has given me some nice ideas

For the 2nd and 3rd layers you should look in the High Rhulain I just finished reading that and it should help you alot i hope

Thank you for that, I will make sure I read that book next then- thankfully I just finished Redwall and was wondering which to start next