tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88424508656958009892024-03-05T00:39:44.788-08:00Matt Swanson's ArtMatt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12039009385125679655noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-32501272637626197372013-02-03T21:59:00.004-08:002013-02-03T22:00:57.733-08:00A New Start, a New Project, and Keeping MotivatedA lot has happened in the past month, and I've decided I want to keep a fairly regular journal as I move forward.<br />
<br />
First of all, I lost my job as Producer at Cricket Moon Media as of January 31st and am now pursuing a new job making games. It was an amicable split, and I learned a ton in my time there and received glowing references from those I worked for and with, but that's part of the risk in the games industry. It is a ton of fun and an exciting field to work in, but it certainly isn't stable.<br />
<br />
At about the same time that I learned I was losing my job, Gas Powered Games laid off almost their entire workforce. Chris Taylor, the CEO of GPG,<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zJdMRKBbLE" target="_blank"> has been very forthcoming about his reasons for doing so</a>, and I was lucky enough to get to meet with him during the Washington Interactive Network's 2013 Power of Play Conference. He's a good man facing some hard times. It seems to be a bit of a trend across the industry - later that week THQ finally announced their final bankruptcy and laid off all of their staff. Scary stuff.<br />
<br />
I've been looking for work, applying to various companies in the Seattle area, but it's early yet. To keep busy during the downtime, I am working with my friend and former GPG employee, Vincent Leone, on building a game in the Unity Engine. I am teaching myself more about programming by doing Python tutorials and the excellent C#/Unity Tutorials over at <a href="http://bergzergarcade.com/">BergZergArcade.com</a>, and have been making fantastic progress.<br />
<br />
When Vinny got ahold of me and asked if I wanted to work on something together, I was absolutely thrilled -- this is what I needed! A partner and a project to keep busy, to give me goals to learn new things. It was time to put what I'd learned over the past five years, through DigiPen and Cricket Moon, and put it to work.<br />
<br />
My first task was to learn more of the basics of programming from scratch, building on the rudimentary exposure to Python I was given at DigiPen. As an art student, we don't get nearly enough of an opportunity to learn programming basics, so this was a wonderful chance to dive in and figure it out.<br />
<br />
I gave myself a project I knew I could handle - building a Dungeons & Dragons-style character builder and combat engine. First I set up a basic dice roller, then used that function to create specific dice roll types, such as stat roll (3d6 six times, pass the results into a list), combat rolls (1d20 + stat bonus, check against target) and similar sets.<br />
<br />
By building the stat roller, I could then display each roll result and ask the user to assign the number to a stat, remove the item from the list and repeat the process for the next stat. Once completed, I calculated the stat bonuses per attribute, applied them to various other attributes (health, armor class bonus and other defenses, damage bonus and to-hit bonus), had the player select a race and apply attribute bonuses and/or penalties based on the race, then print the completed character sheet. Pretty sweet stuff! It was great using a set of mechanics I knew by heart and could tweak and hack to teach myself the basics of this new language.<br />
<br />
Once I had a character set up, I was able to generate a monster - I pre-set a handful of monsters, like Rats, Slimes, Trolls and a Dragon, and gave each of them various attributes and experience points. Once the monster was selected, the player could encounter them, attack them or run away like a coward. The program would calculate the player's attack first and display the results ("Roll was a 13 + 3, target was a 9! You swing your <weapon> at the <monster>, cleaving into its flesh for <damage> points! <monster> has <current hit="" points="">/<max hit="" points=""> hp remaining."). If the monster was killed it would assign xp to the player and allow them to continue searching. If it was still alive it would attack the player, and so on.</max></current></monster></damage></monster></weapon><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq58if8WTjFPNrb_GkDrWKCrgd0A5vZr_V0LfmX5q4kVHvgzMWY5UQQ9OCmdICPw3fIaY1VL9zE_5D6MS4PYGG6lpHL9pSoCS7QfERC1c0ZMPf_N9tjZy7LU2bY2ZT9lWaCW0DzLESbs4/s1600/pyScript_ADnD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq58if8WTjFPNrb_GkDrWKCrgd0A5vZr_V0LfmX5q4kVHvgzMWY5UQQ9OCmdICPw3fIaY1VL9zE_5D6MS4PYGG6lpHL9pSoCS7QfERC1c0ZMPf_N9tjZy7LU2bY2ZT9lWaCW0DzLESbs4/s400/pyScript_ADnD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Pretty rudimentary stuff, but it only took a day or so, then another day to completely rewrite it more efficiently once I learned what I was doing. Fun!<br />
<br />
From there, I've been taking what I've learned and going through the Hack & Slash tutorial over at Bergzergarcade, which is very much in line with what I had in mind for the roguelike. When Vinny first asked to work together, we got together and planned out what the project would be in as much detail as we could in an evening, breaking the core game down to the most base components and figuring out where our first milestone would be. What would it take to make this thing into a roughly playable prototype? From there, I would take the elements and break them down into further steps while trying to flesh out the details of the entire project as a whole.<br />
<br />
I've gone through the first twenty or so tutorials, building a basic movement and AI system just to get the feel for the language and engineering process and how it differs from Python and learning better technique. Next was building the character generation, which required building a series of scripts that others would inherit, then creating instances of them and tying it all into a GUI. That's as far as I've gotten tonight, but tomorrow marks the real start of the project - we're doing daily check-ins at 10 am and plotting out the project and hacking away at it piece by piece. I need to spend a lot of next week working on documentation, planning it out in more concrete detail. A lot of this project stems from a road trip conversation with my friend Karl Parakenings, where we spent three days hammering on and elaborating on the ideas presented in the roguelike as a genre and what they could mean given a certain perspective, then gestating in my head ever since, so there is a <i>lot</i> I want to get down. I find the documentation process to be a lot about discovery and revelation, and there are so many ways this could go that it will be a lot of fun to really tie this concept down and begin building it.<br />
<br />
I'm going to try to keep this journal updated as much as possible - at least weekly if not more frequently, and would like it to serve as a development journal for this project.<br />
<br />
I'm looking forward to seeing where I'm at this time next week.<br />
<br />Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-73920398204006973302013-01-16T19:58:00.000-08:002013-01-16T19:58:41.404-08:00Green Man sculptureFor years, my father has been asking me to make him a Green Man sculpture to hang on the eaves of his house. I've done some sculpting, but not a ton, but every time I do I thoroughly enjoy it.<br />
<br />
This year for Christmas, I finally had a chance to create one.<br />
<br />
If you're not familiar with a Green Man sculpture, I'll let wikipedia do the explaining:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Domreiter,_Blattmaske.jpg/440px-Domreiter,_Blattmaske.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Domreiter,_Blattmaske.jpg/440px-Domreiter,_Blattmaske.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 19.18402862548828px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<span style="color: #444444;">A <b>Green Man</b> is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sculpture" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Sculpture">sculpture</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Drawing">drawing</a>, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Leaf">leaves</a>. Branches or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Vine">vines</a> may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Commonly used as a decorative <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornament_(architecture)" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Ornament (architecture)">architectural ornament</a>, Green Men are frequently found on <a class="extiw" href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carving" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="wikt:carving">carvings</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Church (building)">churches</a> and other buildings (both secular and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecclesiastical" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Ecclesiastical">ecclesiastical</a>). "The Green Man" is also a popular name for English <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_house" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Public house">public houses</a> and various interpretations of the name appear on inn signs, which sometimes show a full figure rather than just the head.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 19.18402862548828px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.4em;">
<span style="color: #444444;">The Green Man <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motif_(art)" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Motif (art)">motif</a> has many variations. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation_deity" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Vegetation deity">vegetative deities</a> springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbol" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Symbol">symbol</a> of rebirth, or "renaissance", representing the cycle of growth each spring. Some<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man#cite_note-1" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a></sup> <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man#cite_note-2" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a></sup> speculate that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: initial;" title="Mythology">mythology</a> of the Green Man developed independently in the traditions of separate ancient cultures and evolved into the wide variety of examples found throughout history.</span></div>
</blockquote>
I was unfortunately out of good clay, so I scoured the local craft stores and was able to track down some Sculpey. I tend to prefer Super Sculpey 2, as it is much more resilient, firmer and easier to smooth and shape, whereas this worked much more like traditional tera cotta clay.<br />
<br />
I have a lot of tools I use when I sculpt, but my favorites are a simple roller for preparing the clay and a handful of metal tools and scrapers I received by asking a dentist if they had any old tools they couldn't use any more. He responded by giving me a paper bag full of them, and they're amazing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/QFh4w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i.imgur.com/QFh4w.jpg" width="297" /></a> </div>
<br />
With the tools in hand, I got out a piece of laminated wood and started shaping out the basics. I had spent a day or two prior sketching out various designs and researching them, and had arrived at one I wanted to go with, so at this point it was just a matter of roughing out the general form to get started.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/zAqjy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/zAqjy.jpg" width="475" /></a></div>
<br />
I kept working on the eyes and brows while shaping the moustache and chin into more leaf-like forms, adding the rest of the beard as well.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/TPBTp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/TPBTp.jpg" width="475" /></a></div>
<br />
Getting the overall shape, at this stage, is far more important than worrying about the finished look. With clay this pliable it is easy to take away shapes or rip them out and start all over.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/qnShC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="475" src="http://i.imgur.com/qnShC.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Next I shaped out the general form for the crown.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/AeIaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/AeIaa.jpg" width="475" /></a></div>
<br />
Now that the overall form was in place, I added the rest of the details and began smoothing and shaping the details, creating more realistic cheekbones and creating the stylized layering I wanted to achieve, most noticeable here in the moustache. Creating these broad, flat areas overlapping helped create a more stylized look and allow the form to be much more readable from a distance, as it would be hung up at least fifteen feet from where anyone could get close, so fine detail would only confuse the image in the end.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/3klCH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/3klCH.jpg" width="475" /></a></div>
<br />
The final steps were to smooth out the clay, add the rest of the vein details and pupils and then bake it to harden. The scuffed areas you see were lightly sanded down to smooth off a little bit of rough area that resulted from the sculpting process.<br />
<br />
The piece removed from the board nicely, and was quite sturdy when finished.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/jM0Cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/jM0Cr.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
The problem that remained, though, was how to actually finish him - I could paint him with acrylic and then seal it in varnish, and that would allow it to weather fairly well, but I was worried about how it would be mounted and what effect it would suffer after a couple years of Washington summers and winters. If it got brittle it could easily crack and fall apart, and if the mounting failed, it would fall and shatter, and was irreplaceable.<br />
<br />
I eventually decided that the best thing to do would be to learn how to make a proper mold and make castings of it. I did my research and ended up going with <a href="http://www.tapplastics.com/product/mold_making_materials/mold_making_supplies/tap_platinum_silicone/494" target="_blank">Tap Plastics' Platinum Silicon 2-Part Mold Making compound</a>, as it was extremely easy to work with, didn't require a vacuum chamber or complicated pouring, and was very durable. It also turned out to be very <i>expensive</i>, so I decided that these were going to have to be gifts for more than just my father - I ended up making copies for my brothers, grandfather and father-in-law, as well.<br />
<br />
For the casting, I used <a href="http://www.tapplastics.com/product/mold_making_materials/casting_products/tap_quik_cast/74" target="_blank">Tap Plastics 2-Part Quick-Cast Polyeurethane Resin</a>, as it was affordable and extremely durable, and measured out at a 1:1 ratio just like the Platinum Silicon. Nice and foolproof. For the finish, I purchased Bronze Powder, which created a wonderful finish you can see at the end. Beautiful stuff.<br />
<br />
In order to make the mold, I first needed a form, so I built one out of a readily-available material.<br />
<br />
Lego.<br />
<br />
First I built the basic form.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/OjelQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/OjelQ.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Next, I sealed the sculpture to the board using putty so that the silicon wouldn't flow underneath it.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/gXBmK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/gXBmK.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
The Lego blocks were attached to the board using hot glue.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/jb1Sv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://i.imgur.com/jb1Sv.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The hot glue snapped right off of the blocks when I was done and worked out very well.<br />
<br />
In order to know how much silicon I would need, I filled the form with rice, then poured out and measured the rice. Neat little trick.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/AZ2VG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/AZ2VG.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
Rice removed, I filled the mold with mixed silicon and let it sit overnight. The silicon sets in a couple of hours, but I figured it was best to not rush it, since this was my first time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/Jfp4h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/Jfp4h.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
I regret not taking pictures of the actual casting process, but it was fascinating, and I learned a lot. My first couple came out okay, but by the end I had the technique down pretty well.<br />
<br />
In order to use the bronze powder effectively and economically, I ended up creating what is known as a <i>slush cast.</i> Essentially I mixed up a batch of resin with the bronze powder that wasn't nearly enough to fill the mold, and then ran it around, sloshing it from side to side, to coat the face of the mold as effectively as I could. The sculpture had a lot of vertical edges, however, so some of the parts didn't take as well, since the bronze powder was so much heavier than the resin, but the final product came out great regardless.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/3vPbL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="http://i.imgur.com/3vPbL.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
When I first took it out of the mold, though, I was pretty disappointed - it looked like fairly matte chocolate, not the shiny bronze I expected. I sulked for a day or two, researched spray paints and other techniques to get the bronzed look I was hoping for, and then came across a tip I missed somehow - I needed to buff it using fine steel wool!<br />
<br />
I dashed to the hardware store, picked up steel wool in a number of grades (from 1 to 0000), gloves and a dust mask, then came home and buffed the first one I did. The difference was night and day!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/nHH0n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://i.imgur.com/nHH0n.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<br />
It was actually extremely metallic and looked beautiful! And the parts that the steel wool couldn't get into created a lovely patina effect, making it look aged just as I had hoped. Perfection.<br />
<br />
I buffed up the rest and wrapped them up for Christmas, and was very happy that they were well-received. I was pleased with how they turned out, and getting to share them with my family was a treat. Plus it gave me the opportunity to learn more about the casting process, which is something I'd always been very curious about.Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-42204829429675234512012-04-16T12:21:00.000-07:002012-04-16T12:21:58.850-07:00Salvage Youth - Going for GoldIt's been a couple of weeks since the last update, and a lot has been done on the game in that time. We had a very successful and exciting Career Fair showing (and thanks to everyone who stopped by our booths and checked out the game!), took the weekend off to recover and catch our breath, then rolled up our sleeves and got right back to work.<br />
<br />
The first thing we did was very, very carefully review everything in the game that needed changes, tweaks, polish and attention. Then we looked at how much time we had left (not much!), who we had available to work on it (a very, very strong team) and came up with a plan on how to get everything looking as perfect as we could.<br />
<br />
The biggest thing we wanted to do was get in more content - we had the tutorial section working very well and two good, polished puzzles for the start of level one, but we we wanted two more puzzles to wrap up the gameplay for our Gold/RC1 release. We set Vinny and Thor loose on a brainstorming session, got Bobby to write some new gameplay scripting code and we ended up with some of our most fun new additions to the game - our third puzzle falls back on the skills the player learns in the first half of the game and adds some new additions, creating a great little area for players to explore. We even got to add in a new mechanic to our game - our AC unit can be repurposed by Jenny to create a Cyclone Booster to launch our other characters over obstacles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEIpLokHyF7BsS65K4PT-oAc5JtSHZp9QZf0VJlHrLMPslSv9wrpubXlLJUtSAKR9qmqUE_Np__QHSKUBe9qHRBOhClHkVfqJZkB57oma5N2dgocicdzd4f-4AZArl18Rpi7kqrvgVxc/s1600/AC_Unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoEIpLokHyF7BsS65K4PT-oAc5JtSHZp9QZf0VJlHrLMPslSv9wrpubXlLJUtSAKR9qmqUE_Np__QHSKUBe9qHRBOhClHkVfqJZkB57oma5N2dgocicdzd4f-4AZArl18Rpi7kqrvgVxc/s640/AC_Unit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This puzzle leads to the finale puzzle for the game, as it stands for our first release candidate. We're still locking down the final details for it, but it will use mechanics we've used in the past, combined in new ways, to be a great big over-the-top sort of puzzle to finish off the level.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OabLwHhy5EdZ5tY_0AI1YItjFDLqSQZ1LA8eblaRPcSJn_sZSadwLBRnAKvkpQt5z8msyUlo1YRKwOGRA66KpSDwE30RKW2VNOlhtNLgnckoQyWoXRq8PFijbdI5fbTpLQPoss7R3Lg/s1600/Puzzle04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5OabLwHhy5EdZ5tY_0AI1YItjFDLqSQZ1LA8eblaRPcSJn_sZSadwLBRnAKvkpQt5z8msyUlo1YRKwOGRA66KpSDwE30RKW2VNOlhtNLgnckoQyWoXRq8PFijbdI5fbTpLQPoss7R3Lg/s640/Puzzle04.jpg" width="561" /></a></div><br />
We spent a <i>lot</i> of time and attention on the world itself and how the players interact with it. We've been devoting a lot of care on Jenny and how she plays - right now her skills offer the player the least amount of choice and autonomy, and she feels less fun as a consequence. We're adding bigger rewards for her actions and adding a bit more of a challenge to the way the player controls her, making a mini-game to the "fix-it" animation and interaction where the players have to button-mash a simple sequence. We have the base mechanic in, and the GUI and particles for the action will be added in the next couple of days to complete the effect. On top of that, we're making sure it is clear where and when she can use her abilities and what effect they may have.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8oljR-C8yUgsExwPsvQfyUQkoGUQ8ci1GchwY0Lm2CUqiqLCCzkXoR4un00gmeL3Ln0BemDvXg0UEUxMJVQpHGx5R7J9uwvDKccgmbj4fDoLMe8-PuaIws-CbNfF4NesXrqDuD2DUR4/s1600/Jenny_Fixing01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha8oljR-C8yUgsExwPsvQfyUQkoGUQ8ci1GchwY0Lm2CUqiqLCCzkXoR4un00gmeL3Ln0BemDvXg0UEUxMJVQpHGx5R7J9uwvDKccgmbj4fDoLMe8-PuaIws-CbNfF4NesXrqDuD2DUR4/s400/Jenny_Fixing01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We have a couple of Buzzbots, tasked with holding up platforms, that have... seen better days. They don't have the strength to hold up much more then their platform, so when a character jumps on it they fall to a new location. To help communicate their status, we added a new animation of the Buzzbot struggling, as well as black smoke pouring out of them to show how they're malfunctioning.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cOy1QD3KkR3WiS9mHxNjVNIDGB1AUh0IxsyTZcIs_B5Nco5TNgUdyb7mT_mEsDrGD8SK5oLcNFrujMXfydzG5LKBZvqxPgX8capW2SxCSAULq3FuxysF8toD2hXpywvDLpXiSgQ-XII/s1600/Buzzbot_Smoking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="523" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6cOy1QD3KkR3WiS9mHxNjVNIDGB1AUh0IxsyTZcIs_B5Nco5TNgUdyb7mT_mEsDrGD8SK5oLcNFrujMXfydzG5LKBZvqxPgX8capW2SxCSAULq3FuxysF8toD2hXpywvDLpXiSgQ-XII/s640/Buzzbot_Smoking.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We also added in new art for the name tags that appear over the character when they're selected - a simple, but effective - little touch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLlqrRBKxuJ5vN8WuLXSeDDt32oyuIb1OyiDGWUFctjsSGXXzDKSqkCJrewwlWPsybLwax4WWpkJaQuf_t4RDMxnW7WdRpR4woWAVVlWMetYbyXX2F5sy4oCmDJFR9uKfh2um2PDrPa0/s1600/Nametags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLlqrRBKxuJ5vN8WuLXSeDDt32oyuIb1OyiDGWUFctjsSGXXzDKSqkCJrewwlWPsybLwax4WWpkJaQuf_t4RDMxnW7WdRpR4woWAVVlWMetYbyXX2F5sy4oCmDJFR9uKfh2um2PDrPa0/s640/Nametags.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We finished and polished the letterboxing and dialog system, then worked on adding small cinematic moments in the world where we do a camera fly-through to introduce the player to the next challenge they'll face. It works great, giving them enough information to let them come up with a strategy for tackling the next puzzle.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5ZdybHAnsrI8hb02QwR4FLIzUqw2Pe2B7xf-gHBd6I93n_uBluzzhLoA003gxi8w_lp9aGWB163_txXDcCF2rA2eqf37ld3lZRvkuKnM2_SXZQmNDcBTUpfhfY5Lyq-S0VtRDl9bNuA/s1600/Letterboxing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB5ZdybHAnsrI8hb02QwR4FLIzUqw2Pe2B7xf-gHBd6I93n_uBluzzhLoA003gxi8w_lp9aGWB163_txXDcCF2rA2eqf37ld3lZRvkuKnM2_SXZQmNDcBTUpfhfY5Lyq-S0VtRDl9bNuA/s640/Letterboxing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We also added the ability to create background animations, with Buzzbots flying around in the world carrying trash. It's another simple little touch, but it adds a lot of life to the scenes and ties it all together with the backstory really well. Using the iTween plugin for Unity and changing the interface to work easier for designers and artists was a huge win for the project, as this sort of thing would be a <i>lot</i> more work without it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zCg925CL5sUrLHFVsdcAE-rJp6mMtj1Yr_j18qgxhz5mjIhLLBbjTNy7CKXSwXF6dW2U0I0YrGj55awm4PeN2oLo61D3M-HaT5ICaAPfyLs2_0Bl7gSTChUMlrGKrV25QKwgeUhyphenhyphenvk4/s1600/Buzzbot_Patrol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_zCg925CL5sUrLHFVsdcAE-rJp6mMtj1Yr_j18qgxhz5mjIhLLBbjTNy7CKXSwXF6dW2U0I0YrGj55awm4PeN2oLo61D3M-HaT5ICaAPfyLs2_0Bl7gSTChUMlrGKrV25QKwgeUhyphenhyphenvk4/s640/Buzzbot_Patrol.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The tutorial level itself got a lot of love this last week, getting a full art/content polish pass and a lighting and shadow pass. It gives the player a nice introduction to the world in a safe, contained small play space and visually communicates the levels of trash and abandonment we want before setting the player lose in the more open world of the neighborhood.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcUJgO287gFfwBufXLQClpwMXKistbLJyK7dILpFRtQCbGbY1_Dyid63G784dQMKVQzSZBKC1u0e9OO5qhyXwZmNKQ2ihmejEYqPD351TjRjY3o9Jjcdra6hkYr10UtXCGuVcMlU5St0/s1600/Tutorial_Overview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcUJgO287gFfwBufXLQClpwMXKistbLJyK7dILpFRtQCbGbY1_Dyid63G784dQMKVQzSZBKC1u0e9OO5qhyXwZmNKQ2ihmejEYqPD351TjRjY3o9Jjcdra6hkYr10UtXCGuVcMlU5St0/s640/Tutorial_Overview.jpg" width="636" /></a></div><br />
We got the new elevator and button modelled and textured and added to the game, and they look great. We also added a little hang-out area under the scaffolding where Stu and Dustin spend their time while Jenny works on the rocket - a great little story-telling setpiece.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYn409SgGlu7WHCXFmy_mwbIk-HMSImc4LPMEpqLuTwhs9ewMCLRmhwptr_kfCyMdefsUVGu93_PiUpn9xR1QDoZC9QF7jUXpuGah4465cdkeFP3XNPwlT7DfU4E1H5X46E1TrDOLYFy4/s1600/Tutorial_Hangout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYn409SgGlu7WHCXFmy_mwbIk-HMSImc4LPMEpqLuTwhs9ewMCLRmhwptr_kfCyMdefsUVGu93_PiUpn9xR1QDoZC9QF7jUXpuGah4465cdkeFP3XNPwlT7DfU4E1H5X46E1TrDOLYFy4/s640/Tutorial_Hangout.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The lighting pass really made the level look great. We created some "hot spots" on the platforms to direct the player, then reappropriated some lamps from the work bench to create reasons for the lights to appear, making them all motivated by on-screen lighting features.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkz6_OM7D5iCZ8bPtTrXZg-x9P9d0-VcdP9N07gTaHJz3_p2Ji-LZjQVp5GhguFNue9otst8W7gjRzZOltdamu0XRkmuVKBv-C1CeqnGTt6ZYohGXGLs-h0HB9pHTyHqfubsDH9-sMaE/s1600/Tutorial_Platforms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkz6_OM7D5iCZ8bPtTrXZg-x9P9d0-VcdP9N07gTaHJz3_p2Ji-LZjQVp5GhguFNue9otst8W7gjRzZOltdamu0XRkmuVKBv-C1CeqnGTt6ZYohGXGLs-h0HB9pHTyHqfubsDH9-sMaE/s640/Tutorial_Platforms.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The intro cinematic is coming along beautifully, with all of the line art finished, the backgrounds painted up and half of the animation done. We just need to finish the last of it and spend time polishing it and we'll be all set. Laura and Beau have done a great job on this stuff.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCMg6FAo1AY/T4c136UqtCI/AAAAAAAAA-8/rD-C8Myr6Jc/s640/Cineamatic%2520lineart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nCMg6FAo1AY/T4c136UqtCI/AAAAAAAAA-8/rD-C8Myr6Jc/s640/Cineamatic%2520lineart.jpg" width="446" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UQKYge3KbQ/T4Ob_xUqUKI/AAAAAAAAB7g/xfvRnDkI6FY/s447/stage_lit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UQKYge3KbQ/T4Ob_xUqUKI/AAAAAAAAB7g/xfvRnDkI6FY/s640/stage_lit.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We completely redesigned the Main Menu. Instead of the floor of the playhouse, it is now set up on Jenny's workbench. There's some lighting and texture polish we have left to do and a little bit of functionality coding, but we're nearly complete, and it looks awesome.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBzzeB144VTMMCf6SULxjJie8XlEDzmvnEICYgPeGnXaP5MlWtj8kZdHNFmWJ36dsRAhY_AIgPIRGjv_kMHGHEdJjgLZGWThPjwydIM-NrWNc2lm7thxVzXoD-dZtPhkNkCAJVihyIvw/s1600/MainMenu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPBzzeB144VTMMCf6SULxjJie8XlEDzmvnEICYgPeGnXaP5MlWtj8kZdHNFmWJ36dsRAhY_AIgPIRGjv_kMHGHEdJjgLZGWThPjwydIM-NrWNc2lm7thxVzXoD-dZtPhkNkCAJVihyIvw/s640/MainMenu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We have some new models to add to the level as well, creating more story areas and variety to the trash. It's amazing the amount of different models and set pieces we already have. Our environment artists have been so prolific over the whole project it blows my mind.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDc1JZ5-cKPnwdgqqyRVICur8gQeC41PyfHEZq7axDtOIm3KF26kNu4m62fnS6IqGM0CMNdTl03pZJBWhLUtrx0I0kvN8EOA-HkeskOwBQ-yT_2ST6-YaniFYKvkiBfl89FvaBuM3TsWc/s447/CrazyRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDc1JZ5-cKPnwdgqqyRVICur8gQeC41PyfHEZq7axDtOIm3KF26kNu4m62fnS6IqGM0CMNdTl03pZJBWhLUtrx0I0kvN8EOA-HkeskOwBQ-yT_2ST6-YaniFYKvkiBfl89FvaBuM3TsWc/s640/CrazyRender.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NJy-zSvIbDgaqIJcpIipdbJDqeLcqnLKkfLQlekBm0_jsdSAdEoAzurzivEeyltaWEjH_Pzrz1ahLvLwPvXTBiX7QyEk67OMeX8ur6dVlptaAttohP6h3oQLXhn0hT-C5J6TnB5fdNk/s447/Stpvefridgecrazyrender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NJy-zSvIbDgaqIJcpIipdbJDqeLcqnLKkfLQlekBm0_jsdSAdEoAzurzivEeyltaWEjH_Pzrz1ahLvLwPvXTBiX7QyEk67OMeX8ur6dVlptaAttohP6h3oQLXhn0hT-C5J6TnB5fdNk/s640/Stpvefridgecrazyrender.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gc57mdebcv_tt9mNKye3NNjfY-Ee3g3uYTmaK_x2JKuHYgfWl4r1ZJ9gP-UkefLLos1VZbb_0T7EwwQoO7KQuumLNSYO4t5Xg-lCktkX51IBGLiJH1tsJ2TlBS3R25gpmKg2CBLyDh4/s447/CrazyrenderGhettoBlasta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9gc57mdebcv_tt9mNKye3NNjfY-Ee3g3uYTmaK_x2JKuHYgfWl4r1ZJ9gP-UkefLLos1VZbb_0T7EwwQoO7KQuumLNSYO4t5Xg-lCktkX51IBGLiJH1tsJ2TlBS3R25gpmKg2CBLyDh4/s640/CrazyrenderGhettoBlasta.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6vm8lwhrQQ/T4to91m4o3I/AAAAAAAAA2c/F2r6nATbWJo/s471/TV01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6vm8lwhrQQ/T4to91m4o3I/AAAAAAAAA2c/F2r6nATbWJo/s400/TV01.png" width="377" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZVFvCJ8IAQ/T2Z6zFjFDmI/AAAAAAAAA04/cseJ3GgyytY/s447/thewheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qZVFvCJ8IAQ/T2Z6zFjFDmI/AAAAAAAAA04/cseJ3GgyytY/s640/thewheel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We've got concepts and starts on models for a few other objects, mainly backyard toys to show more of the history of the neighborhood, hinting at other kids living in this world that may or may not have made it onto the rockets that took off.<br />
<br />
Overall, we've got a lot done, and a whole lot more left to do. We're going to be getting our gameplay trailer cut together this week and meeting later tonight to plan our last big push for the semester. We'll have a release to let people play in the next couple of weeks, then take a break for a little bit to recuperate from a long, stressful, successful school year. We are planning on coming back to the game this summer to get it ready for submission into contests and showcases, and will be sharing a lot about our plans for this phase of development once we've had a chance to really nail them down, but for now we're nearly done with this last big effort and ready to take a well-earned vacation.<br />
<br />
I'll have more news next week, so I'll leave it at that and sign off. See you next week!Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-77109235987408243392012-03-26T14:12:00.001-07:002012-03-26T14:17:45.886-07:00Salvage Youth - Beta and BeyondIt's been another fun week working on Salvage Youth, and the team seems to have recovered from the post-GDC exhaustion and various flus that went around following the conference. We met last night with DigiPen instructor <a href="http://rachel_rutherford.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Rachel Rutherford</a> for a Team on One last night, which gave us an excellent chance to do some team diagnostics, see where everyone's concerns lay with the game and with real-world outside stuff, and discuss a number of mutual concerns we had about the current state of the game. I'll get into specifics in a bit.<br />
<br />
In terms of progress, we've been hitting on all cylinders again. Tons of new assets added to the game, with a major focus on polishing the scenes - in particular, we're laser focused on getting the first section of Level 1 as perfect as possible for our upcoming Career Day on Friday, and we're very very close. We are hoping to have this version of the game, with the limited content, ready for both the Career Day event and for releasing to a number of places for public testing. We are <i>very</i> excited about both.<br />
<br />
One of the biggest issues we've encountered, in terms of the visuals, is that the garbage bags we had in the world never really felt like garbage bags, especially the large tiled meshes - they sort of looked like purple rocks, and confused a lot of players.<br />
<br />
Alexei stepped up to the challenge and, working with our Lead Artist Beau Bateman, revised the textures for the single bags and created some fantastic optimized multi-bag tilesets we could use to really remedy the issue, and the results have been fantastic.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy_1WjFqKbU/T2qW2ewbGxI/AAAAAAAAAdw/qn1_hkVp8jc/s1303/viewportpiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zy_1WjFqKbU/T2qW2ewbGxI/AAAAAAAAAdw/qn1_hkVp8jc/s640/viewportpiles.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3TerocwVfL91OBkn1nX5f5v0mYvdjGLoeEz33W27ZVgqIDqiths4wLy_QmWhiEoi9tWJymAePVQCMf0Ci3uOJf8T0VjirX2K8lW_wNNeLPy8iVVmQFXAB2LZWQwe7GT_raGT0Oa7ElM/s1000/TrashPiles01_Pieces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3TerocwVfL91OBkn1nX5f5v0mYvdjGLoeEz33W27ZVgqIDqiths4wLy_QmWhiEoi9tWJymAePVQCMf0Ci3uOJf8T0VjirX2K8lW_wNNeLPy8iVVmQFXAB2LZWQwe7GT_raGT0Oa7ElM/s640/TrashPiles01_Pieces.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Using these pieces, we've been able to replace some of the big piles throughout our game, as well as add them to some of the larger tiled meshes to really help them read.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2Aoz5teko4xq-dvQ7DuMdrlvIuAUbvY_Lu0AkwWPpIrtlPCFdi4tF2N8zGt2mTqsZ5alKwiMRajjKzzm-S1aRcNZd2ll4nVaSvRRSoM35CyswMydapHK1zwGtpk0PxBDqpKHSHMMoY8/s1000/TrashRamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-2Aoz5teko4xq-dvQ7DuMdrlvIuAUbvY_Lu0AkwWPpIrtlPCFdi4tF2N8zGt2mTqsZ5alKwiMRajjKzzm-S1aRcNZd2ll4nVaSvRRSoM35CyswMydapHK1zwGtpk0PxBDqpKHSHMMoY8/s640/TrashRamp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Using this system, we've also redone the first major prop players see in this section of the game - the Trash Mountain cave Jenny and Stu emerge from to find Dustin stuck in the tree after the failed rocket launch.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tob_XKFfdgw/T2qx3bHN8VI/AAAAAAAAHw4/CfbNNOTF5vk/s1000/TrashPiles01_TrashMountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tob_XKFfdgw/T2qx3bHN8VI/AAAAAAAAHw4/CfbNNOTF5vk/s640/TrashPiles01_TrashMountain.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This awesome little section got a lot of attention as we covered it in bits of litter, grass growing out of the bags to indicate age, other pieces of junk sticking out and a bunch of signs that Alexei made to help give it the feeling that kids had really made a fort out of the cave.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGJ-sVELXTIRRuDwcv2FOPsOlBnKHtaDXUQU9tc5pN_H4225YkPGNOO6WnQZRuWeWDI4ekDBPiYyn2P-cYarx-_TPN818qXtJJwoQV0S2wz4IAO3MIxJSdXM8uCLztl6hyphenhyphengHhPkE2E4I/s1000/TrashMountain01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGJ-sVELXTIRRuDwcv2FOPsOlBnKHtaDXUQU9tc5pN_H4225YkPGNOO6WnQZRuWeWDI4ekDBPiYyn2P-cYarx-_TPN818qXtJJwoQV0S2wz4IAO3MIxJSdXM8uCLztl6hyphenhyphengHhPkE2E4I/s640/TrashMountain01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The response to this setpiece has been fantastic, and really nailed the feeling we wanted for the start of this level.<br />
<br />
We also got a lot of new and old assets imported into the engine and placed throughout the level to help tell the story of the world. This has been a big part of my job for the last couple of weeks, and it has been a ton of fun.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4QCzte_E3KH0O_EeNSWQOBSebVBhtXbPKPkTQYvrDNlirNjjoveRAUGwS_8AIilv5h6-xNMa7RMItiqlXx9JUT3SOo8E6PmlehKGK0lpilJgVlaOsRiKTOv_xO8fJZvUvxUJ80t5hy8/s1000/Mailbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4QCzte_E3KH0O_EeNSWQOBSebVBhtXbPKPkTQYvrDNlirNjjoveRAUGwS_8AIilv5h6-xNMa7RMItiqlXx9JUT3SOo8E6PmlehKGK0lpilJgVlaOsRiKTOv_xO8fJZvUvxUJ80t5hy8/s640/Mailbox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4s28D1g6iql2FJxqNZfmM5qVWePiKAxPUJW5tFhBZUAYlUf6Z90_ryFGF4X42aRAopEsFa1pEBVcxqEkNbVhTIKHE17bLpq92nqpM7x_kg3n4kS0NomADUkHRy70KcS69tqxBGQeBXQ/s1000/Pots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib4s28D1g6iql2FJxqNZfmM5qVWePiKAxPUJW5tFhBZUAYlUf6Z90_ryFGF4X42aRAopEsFa1pEBVcxqEkNbVhTIKHE17bLpq92nqpM7x_kg3n4kS0NomADUkHRy70KcS69tqxBGQeBXQ/s640/Pots.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We even got the car crashed into the roof that was in a much older test build of the game back in - a favorite prop of a lot of the testers we had playing the game.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQyLrlMlRX3ONIM4k1rtDvEISDKzuH12uaT8VaIm3l_N1ELe9u28enBhzyLJdd7OJwgX656-u22Gl4C22d5ja-_CF6PCJ4KhCNVq8qgK-IEhfs3AT-YCIM6kp24aCSMv7UL7cy7o8A4U/s1000/RoofCar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQyLrlMlRX3ONIM4k1rtDvEISDKzuH12uaT8VaIm3l_N1ELe9u28enBhzyLJdd7OJwgX656-u22Gl4C22d5ja-_CF6PCJ4KhCNVq8qgK-IEhfs3AT-YCIM6kp24aCSMv7UL7cy7o8A4U/s640/RoofCar.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Little touches like this, without a ton of other exposition, give the players a chance to tell their own version of the story of how they happened. We'll be adding decals to this section and others like it soon to help blend them into the environment seamlessly, but already it adds a lot of fun and whimsy to the game world. This part, in particular, also helps explain why we had an invisible wall there, preventing players from moving into areas they should be.<br />
<br />
One issue we've been having lately with testing involves our dialog and scripted sequences - we have to take away character control and input from the player for these moments, but never really indicated well when they were occurring. To communicate this more clearly to the player we ended up using a rather elegant little solution - letterboxing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZWRQHAGTPsIh6vZ_TVuUquHcFe8JzcgskjDgXdvIV9n95emhGyLIhOKPOB3C9hQLzFLUQg246eAkJC_E5DAaipQNgb3jq6YKalpK5M8KF0HLCcOpwvquryYGrWKrIT2QMh-G52O7Wv4/s1000/Letterboxing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCZWRQHAGTPsIh6vZ_TVuUquHcFe8JzcgskjDgXdvIV9n95emhGyLIhOKPOB3C9hQLzFLUQg246eAkJC_E5DAaipQNgb3jq6YKalpK5M8KF0HLCcOpwvquryYGrWKrIT2QMh-G52O7Wv4/s640/Letterboxing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
By adding black bars to the top and bottom of the screen, we create a more cinematic frame composition, communicate to the player that this is a section for exposition or storytelling, and we get the added benefit of nice, clean areas for adding the dialog. This last point is a particular boon for us, as the dynamically resizing text boxes for character speech were problematic, creating all sorts of headaches and issues and we were short on time and manpower to fix them. Using a system like this fixed a number of problems all at once - a huge win for us.<br />
<br />
The other big issue we started discussing this week, and that we brought to the Team on One meeting to nail down, was one that had been bothering us for a while. Simply put, Dustin is by far the most fun character to play. He can sprint, do double-jumps and get all sorts of interesting places the others can't. Stu can lift heavy objects and throw them around, and that's fun, too. That leaves Jenny, our smart little hacker girl. She's a great character, but she isn't particularly fun to play. She can basically walk up to a few select Buzzbots, whack them a couple times with her wrench and they fly off to a new location based on pre-scripted events created by us. She doesn't have the autonomy of choice the other characters have, and she doesn't have an awesome super power like they do.<br />
<br />
We spent a lot of time defining the exact nature of the problem, and we came up with the following:<br />
<ul><li>There's just not enough interesting gameplay for Jenny.</li>
<li>Players don't have enough control over what her powers or abilities can do or how they can be used.</li>
<li>There's not enough feedback for when she can use her abilities.</li>
<li>Short term, we get a lot of positive feedback, but she has no lasting appeal.</li>
<li>She has no super powers the way the boys do.</li>
<li>The things she's fixing don't <i>look</i> broken.</li>
<li>When she fixes something, there's nothing the player can do with it afterward.</li>
</ul><div>We really looked at these issues and came up with a number of things we can do, both in the short term and in the future, to remedy the situation.</div><div><ul><li>We have a particle system already created to add to the event when she fixes things, making it look a lot more exciting.</li>
<li>Create a UI object, like an icon of a wrench, that will pop up above a buzzbot or other object, whenever she gets near, indicating to the player that you can use her powers here.</li>
<li>Create a dotted-line UI that will indicate what she is "reprogramming" the buzzbot to do.</li>
<li>Create a small mini-game for the players to give them a sense of achievement for successfully fixing a robot. We've got a number of ideas for these, ranging from simple and (hopefully) satisfying to some with increasing complexity. We're going to get the simplest version in as soon as we can to start testing, then look at other options either for the end of the semester, if time allows, or over the summer.</li>
<li>If you do particularly well in the minigame (hit the "sweet spot" on a meter, like in golf/sports games) you get an additional shower of sparkly particles as a reward.</li>
<li>Make the robots look disassembled, then allow Jenny to initiate a scripted sequence where they "pop" together, similar to how the pieces are built in the Lego games (Lego Star Wars, Batman, etc). Fun animations like this are a great reward for the player, and Jermz is super excited to get to make some.</li>
<li>Give Jenny the ability to transform or combine objects found in the environment.</li>
<li>Give Jenny the ability to "overpower" objects in the environment. We already have plans to do this with an air conditioner unit, creating a "Jump Boost" area.</li>
</ul><div>These, along with a number of other ideas, are solutions to a problem we've all kind of known for a while now. We're excited about getting them in for testing, and have a solid road map for what we can do immediately, what we can do by the end of the semester and what we'd like to get in for the final build at the end of the summer. Having Rachel there to act as a moderator for this discussion was invaluable - we've talked about these things a bit before, but having a safe place to really give the whole team a chance to give feedback and ideas with Rachel there to record everything was terrific, and we made a huge jump in terms of progress thanks to her help.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>We spent a lot of attention on the foreground and background of the scene this week, too. We added in some of the telephone poles to the foreground, creating a great sense of parallax and depth. We were initially concerned that they would obscure the player or gameplay sections, but having them so close to the camera, they go past so quickly that they don't create a problem.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VFR8DLct5Dk/T2qx3mHys-I/AAAAAAAAHxE/fL_H0_Adkks/s1000/TrashPiles03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VFR8DLct5Dk/T2qx3mHys-I/AAAAAAAAHxE/fL_H0_Adkks/s640/TrashPiles03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
We made sure to add in other objects in the foreground and in the streets, creating more story areas and filling the world with interesting content.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYFAq4gN8_ZHmLE3yY2-DbG8rbRUKeZO9w9nXuv46XpYvqCtEtrUjYV6irrfKeV97RcwUZjeMcb8CZeCXFDV2Hdvv1Tp1pYK0dOlf03JQML9dzkAqob2n02EXbsbQumYW4UNQ2hA7z5I/s512/Intersection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicYFAq4gN8_ZHmLE3yY2-DbG8rbRUKeZO9w9nXuv46XpYvqCtEtrUjYV6irrfKeV97RcwUZjeMcb8CZeCXFDV2Hdvv1Tp1pYK0dOlf03JQML9dzkAqob2n02EXbsbQumYW4UNQ2hA7z5I/s640/Intersection.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>We also made a big, yet simple, change to the tutorial. Players were initially confused because we basically have the characters going from right to left in order to advance - a huge no-no in a platformer, especially right at the start. Simply flipping the content around fixed a lot of the problem. We've got the layout of the level pretty well nailed down now, and will be moving forward on replacing all the placeholder art for this section of the game with final assets next week.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGKBRn-27Y1xStQPYbbsu15WWHQaqTkuLqR5PD4cWJjVpC5e_7gQQW7QLSXcgve8pnjC3nRt0yP8knkPJPlyzHkA3al9yUBsmgyoTCVTZafInie3bvJjp0vfDmEVPvwrcYiabYLrJ6Jw/s1000/Tutorial3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGKBRn-27Y1xStQPYbbsu15WWHQaqTkuLqR5PD4cWJjVpC5e_7gQQW7QLSXcgve8pnjC3nRt0yP8knkPJPlyzHkA3al9yUBsmgyoTCVTZafInie3bvJjp0vfDmEVPvwrcYiabYLrJ6Jw/s640/Tutorial3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We've been going over the Level 1 section with a fine-toothed comb, and we have been fixing all sorts of small things that really help the cohesion of the game world.</div><div><br />
</div><div>For example, since updating the texture of the fences in the foreground, the background fences really needed a new color pass to make them match.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Before:</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACAXeufOw2A/T2qx21SMNdI/AAAAAAAAHwk/UnQetzHgmRU/s1000/BGFences_Before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ACAXeufOw2A/T2qx21SMNdI/AAAAAAAAHwk/UnQetzHgmRU/s640/BGFences_Before.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>After:</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KYsOfMMenWM/T2qx2x4HLPI/AAAAAAAAHwo/JqqCSgpsLIg/s1000/BGFences_After.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KYsOfMMenWM/T2qx2x4HLPI/AAAAAAAAHwo/JqqCSgpsLIg/s640/BGFences_After.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We also fixed the texture for the road in the background. The old one is on the right of the intersection, the new one is on the left.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eC30rNv9lY/T2qxSfnNRRI/AAAAAAAAB4A/wvG4zGvXIE0/s597/new_bg_road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6eC30rNv9lY/T2qxSfnNRRI/AAAAAAAAB4A/wvG4zGvXIE0/s640/new_bg_road.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Other fixes we've done this week:</div><div><ul><li>Shadows in the background at the start of level 1 looked like they were flickering, because they were cast by the propeller of a Buzzbot up in the air. We fixed this by turning on the shadow casting of the tree canopy in front of the yard and carefully arranging some of the geometry of the tree to obscure the issue.</li>
<li>The texture of the grass/ground in the background looked neon (see the picture above for an example). This was fixed.</li>
<li>The smoke coming from the first rocket part in the scene was "popping" in. This was fixed.</li>
<li>The scaffold pole for the platforming area by the bus puzzle was clipping through the roof of the house it was built adjacent to. We tweaked it a little to fix the problem.</li>
<li>The character outlines were too thick and were breaking in places. We went through and standardized them to a very thin outline, and it is working much better now.</li>
<li>Issues with the old trash piles textures being stretched and ugly were fixed by simply replacing them with versions of the new trash piles.</li>
</ul><div>We also have been fighting with a big problem with the character controllers, off and on, for weeks. Whenever they'd walk down a slope their "falling" animation would be triggered, making it look like they were stumbling or floating down ramps, and they were unable to jump. Bobby Simpson, our gameplay programmer, implemented a terrific solution to this problem and the characters now control much, much better.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>Since we had our big team-on-one yesterday we are foregoing our usual Monday team meeting and all getting together to get a team work session tonight. We have a long list of other fixes, tweaks and assets that need to be made, but we're working in rare form at the moment and are excited to get the build ready for Career Fair. More then that, we can't <i>wait</i> to get a build ready for public testing - there's a lot of people who have already been expressing excitement to try the game, and this will be a wonderful way to give them access to at least a taste of Salvage Youth, while getting a lot of fantastic gameplay testing feedback and data. Our Lumos metrics plugin we implemented a few weeks ago tracks a lot of how the game is played, and we're really looking forward to seeing how well that data helps our design process once we get it out to a wider audience then we can get through DigiPen's playtesting club.</div><div><br />
</div><div>All in all, it's been a heck of a week, and we're all set to have another great one. Thanks for checking out the Development Journal this week, and we'll see you next time!</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-10428552495789968272012-03-18T22:54:00.000-07:002012-03-18T22:54:39.466-07:00Salvage Youth - Mad Rush Toward BetaIt's been an interesting couple of weeks in the development of Salvage Youth. Most of the team was out of town for an entire week during GDC and work ground to a halt, and it's been an uphill climb to get everyone back on track. We expected this delay, though, and accounted for it in our planning, so we're still on track to meet our goals. We just have a lot left to do, and not a lot of time left.<br />
<br />
Our major milestones are coming back to back - we want to have a Beta build done this week, and the following week we'll be rushing to get everything ready for Career Day, our school's annual Job Fair where we'll be demoing the game for upwards of 30 different game studios who will tour through our campus and see our individual efforts.<br />
<br />
To prepare for GDC, we got a lot of promotional materials created, including our website - SalvageYouth.com is live! It has a brief description of the game, gameplay video, concept art and screenshots and a complete list of credits for the game, including links to all of our respective blogs, portfolios and LinkedIn accounts. The game is really built as a portfolio piece, after all. We also put together a number of PDFs to highlight the game's features and development, and they were extremely well received by everyone we showed the game to. We're hoping to submit it to a number of contests and showcases once we release the Gold build in May. The gameplay video we brought to GDC is below, and already so much has changed from this version that I'm excited to make a new one.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q72KvXqo5HM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
As far as specific progress, we spent a <i>lot</i> of time tracking down bugs and polishing assets over the past few weeks. Just a huge amount of work. The biggest change is that we're finally able to upgrade the project to Unity 3.5, which has revolutionized our workflow. The ability to make changes to multiple objects, use the enhanced profiler to identify the source of specific bugs, the new particle system and the upgraded light mapping tool, as well as the more efficient engine itself, has really made our game and pipeline so much more efficient and effective. Just by installing the new version we gained over 30 frames per second, and are shaving hours off of our efforts in the engine. It's absolutely spectacular.<br />
<br />
In terms of specifics, however, we've gotten so much back-end stuff done, it's great.<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The dialog system is in and fully functional, with animated sprites per character. It pulls dialog directly from a database, allowing us to easily translate and localize the game into different languages. We'll be supporting English and French, and possibly others.</li>
<li>Jenny's "fixing" animation is now working, and it makes her interactions and "powers" make <i>so much more sense.</i></li>
<li>Sound effects are in for footsteps, triggering on event, and changing according to materials they walk along.</li>
<li>Buzzbots now hold platforms above and below their heads, giving us thematic reasons for floating platforms. We can constrain them to one-time-use or looping iTween paths, giving us a <i>lot</i> more platforming gameplay.</li>
<li>Refined our level 1 "bus" puzzle over and over, with playtesting data, to get it as streamlined as possible. Still needs work, but it's a solid section of gameplay now.</li>
<li>We created an entire new platforming area after our initial Level 1 "bus" puzzle.</li>
<li>Re-lightmapped areas in the background to fix problems with shadows and other errors.</li>
<li>Added new utility buzzbots to the world.</li>
<li>The run, jump launch and jump landing animations for all the kids have events set up for them so they'll play at the correct speeds and have sound effects play correctly when their feed hit the ground.</li>
<li>Background music is added to the opening splash screens.</li>
<li>Added a more consistent check for whether or not the kids are standing on solid ground using ray casts.</li>
<li>Refactored jenny's fixing ability to be more consistent across the different objects she can interact with.</li>
<li>Adjusted how we're creating the dialog boxes so they're easier to move and manipulate around the screen.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We figured out how to create animated textures in the engine by sort of hacking the Particle System and making it do what we need. It's pretty great, though, because we can do cool stuff like this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/J_N4foneVOs/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_N4foneVOs&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J_N4foneVOs&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><div>We've also got decals working in-engine now, giving us the ability to enhance a lot of the art in our game.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-kAL21yKnE/T0weOSMbv7I/AAAAAAAABx8/3AWLt0I0IAM/s848/decal_pic_smear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-kAL21yKnE/T0weOSMbv7I/AAAAAAAABx8/3AWLt0I0IAM/s400/decal_pic_smear.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NbcucFA3sKw/T0weOQ7KQmI/AAAAAAAABx4/UoRtc26j01o/s890/leaf_pile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NbcucFA3sKw/T0weOQ7KQmI/AAAAAAAABx4/UoRtc26j01o/s400/leaf_pile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VLK0WfCBpHw/T0xI6nd6jtI/AAAAAAAAByo/nqEoTEfDlx0/s536/storm_drain_prefab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VLK0WfCBpHw/T0xI6nd6jtI/AAAAAAAAByo/nqEoTEfDlx0/s400/storm_drain_prefab.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wwS7wKVoeDw/T0wePOxLFTI/AAAAAAAAByM/qsVorjX2wJA/s912/tire_marks_oil_spill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wwS7wKVoeDw/T0wePOxLFTI/AAAAAAAAByM/qsVorjX2wJA/s400/tire_marks_oil_spill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Alexei made some great new accessories for our yards to help fill up the world.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOtYldlmHAE/T0w_eThjXvI/AAAAAAAAAdM/ljeSLUcDrhc/s912/Viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZOtYldlmHAE/T0w_eThjXvI/AAAAAAAAAdM/ljeSLUcDrhc/s400/Viewport.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>He also retextured the telephone pole.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H9TrCZp8R3s/T07l3bbIJcI/AAAAAAAAAdU/XJVWbUJyneo/s683/Viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H9TrCZp8R3s/T07l3bbIJcI/AAAAAAAAAdU/XJVWbUJyneo/s640/Viewport.jpg" width="352" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>...as well as our collectibles.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o-_BuE2U10c/T2ZW0getafI/AAAAAAAAAdg/-ay6yWvZbLw/s912/viewportrend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o-_BuE2U10c/T2ZW0getafI/AAAAAAAAAdg/-ay6yWvZbLw/s640/viewportrend.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Zach and Stephanie worked on some new accessories, as well - toys to litter around the world and give the yards and neighborhoods a more lived-in feel.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JJDi5N2Lj58/T2Z69PCzblI/AAAAAAAAA1A/A_MXD-yLX6g/s809/toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JJDi5N2Lj58/T2Z69PCzblI/AAAAAAAAA1A/A_MXD-yLX6g/s400/toys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qZVFvCJ8IAQ/T2Z6zFjFDmI/AAAAAAAAA04/cseJ3GgyytY/s786/thewheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qZVFvCJ8IAQ/T2Z6zFjFDmI/AAAAAAAAA04/cseJ3GgyytY/s400/thewheel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2fDo9hgkvc8/T2a_aMGsriI/AAAAAAAAAdg/WFX0g0rylMY/s400/bearWIP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2fDo9hgkvc8/T2a_aMGsriI/AAAAAAAAAdg/WFX0g0rylMY/s400/bearWIP.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Beau's been creating some great concept paintovers to guide our work - we're making a big push this coming week to polish how the garbage bags look in our game, making sure they read well. They're such a critical part of the look of our world, it's critical we get them just right.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzM-DyuwfIY/T2aqLOmPjGI/AAAAAAAAB0U/xHC1OAPrlDI/s338/garbage_bag_paintover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OzM-DyuwfIY/T2aqLOmPjGI/AAAAAAAAB0U/xHC1OAPrlDI/s400/garbage_bag_paintover.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vwmMZ0Dtuvo/T2aqLQfA5aI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/JvbYQuBWIdc/s440/garbage_bag_pile_paintover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="382" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vwmMZ0Dtuvo/T2aqLQfA5aI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/JvbYQuBWIdc/s400/garbage_bag_pile_paintover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qIGZUc2BzMQ/T2aqLRoYwII/AAAAAAAAB0g/3SdWXyiYXHQ/s912/garbage_cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qIGZUc2BzMQ/T2aqLRoYwII/AAAAAAAAB0g/3SdWXyiYXHQ/s640/garbage_cave.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We've been going over everything in our first level with a fine-toothed comb, looking for anything that can be polished and made more presentable, and making sure that it all gets the attention it needs. It's been a fun process, really polishing the game and the layout of the world itself, building little areas of story and composing the main gameplay areas for the camera. We're getting closer to our goal, and the game has come an astounding distance already. I played a build from January just a little while ago and it is hard to believe it is even the same project.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We're hitting the ground running this week, now that we've got our momentum built back up after the lag of GDC, and we should have lots of great stuff to share next time. See you then!</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-48434225394236972702012-02-20T23:02:00.000-08:002012-02-20T23:02:35.490-08:00Salvage Youth - Inches from AlphaWith Alpha due Wednesday night, the majority of the team spent all three days of our holiday weekend working together to get the as much done as possible. It was great having everyone together, solving problems, working on features and polishing assets and layout. We didn't get every single thing done we'd like, but we still have a couple of days before Alpha itself is due.<br />
<br />
We had a number of specific goals we wanted to really target as we got started.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Focus on polishing the first puzzle area after the tutorial</li>
<li>Get the character controllers working and feeling good to move around, jump and explore</li>
<li>Get the GUI system in and functional, including animated textures for status animations and our dialog popups to guide the player</li>
<li>Build and implement a system to control the camera for cinematic animations between puzzles to help guide the player</li>
<li>Fill the world with interesting scenes using the dozens of props we have implemented in the engine</li>
<li>Polish textures, lighting, tiling and level layout</li>
<li>Build any new assets needed to get the first section of level 1 working really well</li>
</ul><div>Given this list, we got to work. We had a number of specific goals to address, and managed to get a <i>ton</i> of them done. By Friday of this week, we had a huge number of new assets, scripts and plans ready to go for our marathon work session.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One of the first things we did this week was address the lighting - we had only sort of blocked it in prior, and it needed work. We wanted to lighten up the assets and really focus on getting the feeling of warm sunlight and cool shadows. To do this, we tweaked the ambient light system to give us a cool baseline blue to work from, then used the directional light in Unity to get a nice warm yellow light, with a purple directional facing the opposite way to provide an additional fill. In the pictures below, the image on the left is our original settings, the image on the right is our new light system.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LvR3l3hcNus/TzmSUpGHFqI/AAAAAAAABtI/3QIqamOIEYA/s1303/light+and+shadow_coolvswarm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LvR3l3hcNus/TzmSUpGHFqI/AAAAAAAABtI/3QIqamOIEYA/s640/light+and+shadow_coolvswarm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WoBdRUQYWAs/TzmSTJU-sdI/AAAAAAAABsg/_CiAT7NdCM0/s903/light+and+shadow_baked+lighting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WoBdRUQYWAs/TzmSTJU-sdI/AAAAAAAABsg/_CiAT7NdCM0/s640/light+and+shadow_baked+lighting.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>The clarity and enhancement it provides is remarkable. It makes a huge difference in how the game levels feel. We're going to try for an opposite approach for our tutorial section, which takes place in a sort of "bat cave" inside a mountain of trash bags, so the light will be a cooler night-time blue with a few god-ray shafts of sunlight peaking through holes in the mountain. It should provide a nice contrast and a great feeling of exploration to go from the first short sequence to a drastically different "main" world.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We also started looking for ways to really break up our environment more, and Beau created this paintover on how we can add streets receeding into the distance to create more of a feeling of distance and place. Before our level was a single long strip, and as you went up you could tell all the roads were just long parallel lines. This helps break that up and make the exploration feel like you're crossing from block to block.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rBt99u5AHjs/TzmndVtMDjI/AAAAAAAABuE/oVKCKlcOhI0/s903/corner03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rBt99u5AHjs/TzmndVtMDjI/AAAAAAAABuE/oVKCKlcOhI0/s640/corner03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>He also created some new concepts for some plants and shrubs to help add more variety to the grasses that are overgrowing our neglected world of trash.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2IY6k89iRw/TzmSVFJzoMI/AAAAAAAABs4/GZEMbneO9qQ/s903/medium+plants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2IY6k89iRw/TzmSVFJzoMI/AAAAAAAABs4/GZEMbneO9qQ/s640/medium+plants.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Alexi, naturally, whipped these into full 3d models in no time.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DaXx-iYRkoQ/T0MCIYpt-7I/AAAAAAAAAdE/eX2I8WOh83E/s903/Bushes_viewport1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DaXx-iYRkoQ/T0MCIYpt-7I/AAAAAAAAAdE/eX2I8WOh83E/s640/Bushes_viewport1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div>Alexi has been on an absolute <i>roll</i> this week. He re-styled the textures for the backyard fence and the rooftop planks to match the style we had on the pallet and crates.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EPGD5r15fwY/TzvkuxyQ9nI/AAAAAAAAAcY/kGjcxavTKLA/s903/fencebackyard4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EPGD5r15fwY/TzvkuxyQ9nI/AAAAAAAAAcY/kGjcxavTKLA/s640/fencebackyard4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zx-kqYsaDQY/T0GDm6dccjI/AAAAAAAAAcs/V_mv__OuTZw/s903/Newplanktex_viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zx-kqYsaDQY/T0GDm6dccjI/AAAAAAAAAcs/V_mv__OuTZw/s640/Newplanktex_viewport.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>He also created basic flood fills for our collectibles.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CvNzm0yMek0/T0BlV8oRn3I/AAAAAAAAAck/HqW_sBUK5G4/s903/Collectables_floodFill_viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CvNzm0yMek0/T0BlV8oRn3I/AAAAAAAAAck/HqW_sBUK5G4/s640/Collectables_floodFill_viewport.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>And as if that wasn't enough, he finished the texture for the rocket, which looks <i>awesome.</i></div><div><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaj-ZuM364Obcr2wvVa-PEoBf1djVQB16mwhawQocqTqD6LYiAWN2oO_F1NcmOGKNPv5xoIqH7gAy-L1Lf9sH37cnL-VygiGNCfFG1s2JUFnHnR2Cwz_IHAPdeAsb2xl3hMQeMvh5w4Y/s903/Rocket_with_panels2_viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaj-ZuM364Obcr2wvVa-PEoBf1djVQB16mwhawQocqTqD6LYiAWN2oO_F1NcmOGKNPv5xoIqH7gAy-L1Lf9sH37cnL-VygiGNCfFG1s2JUFnHnR2Cwz_IHAPdeAsb2xl3hMQeMvh5w4Y/s640/Rocket_with_panels2_viewport.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><i><br />
</i></div><div>He also made sure that we had access to all the bits and pieces from the rocket to use as extra trash throughout the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2J2JUJdqaA/T0GWZx4UbPI/AAAAAAAAAc8/ssPFh9mk9DA/s902/Garbagebits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e2J2JUJdqaA/T0GWZx4UbPI/AAAAAAAAAc8/ssPFh9mk9DA/s640/Garbagebits.jpg" width="640" /></a> </div><div><br />
</div><div>The rocket is the first major setpiece for our game and helps introduce the world and story to the player, and then takes us into our first in-game cutscene and introduces our crisis that the players spend the rest of the game solving - as you would expect, having been made by little kids, it doesn't work so hot. I grabbed the rocket model early this week and applied some very basic animations to make sure we could get the cut scene working in-game, and then gave it over to Jermz to work his magic on.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y8yLS7ZiakM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div>This, combined with a camera shake, textures, lighting and particle effects, looks <i>so good</i> in the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We got the new rocket model placed into the tutorial area and added a lighting system to help draw the eye to the goal - getting Dustin into the cockpit.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ysuoAEf_r2I/T0MRGd9Ax2I/AAAAAAAAHfc/D_GhAZ_SWJM/s912/Tutorial02_Rocket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="368" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ysuoAEf_r2I/T0MRGd9Ax2I/AAAAAAAAHfc/D_GhAZ_SWJM/s640/Tutorial02_Rocket.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Visual cues like this, along with our camera animation system and dialog, are going to fix the biggest issue we've had in playtesting - our players don't know where they're supposed to be going or what their goal is. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Knowing this, we spent a ton of time working with the iTween plugin and got a great camera animation system in and functioning well. Already we are guiding the player, using cinematic pauses in the game, to show them where to go next.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We put a ton of attention into getting our dialog system up and running, which was a pretty complex job. To get it fully functional we want it to:</div><div><ul><li>Utilize the GUI system to float in front of the screen in a predictable location.</li>
<li>Pause gameplay during dialog systems.</li>
<li>Allow for pauses in dialog for camera animation.</li>
<li>Pull all dialog as strings from a database, to allow for localization into multiple languages and much easier editing.</li>
<li>Have animated images of the characters talking next to the dialog.</li>
<li>Have "typewriter" style text so that the letters appear rapidly one character at a time.</li>
<li>Allow the player to skip through the dialog at the press of a button.</li>
</ul><div>All of this required a lot of systems to work together well. We didn't get all of it in yet, but we've got the GUI in and pulling from the database, we've got the script set up for the entire tutorial and all of the first two puzzles converted into the database, we have animated textures for the dialog rendered off of each character, we have the ability to show and hide the GUI at a key press, we can pause input for the scenes and we already have our camera animation system in. We have the basic tech in place to allow for triggers to occur to start the next sequence of dialog, there's just a lot of under the hood wiring that needs to take place to get it all working together, and we're working today and tomorrow to get as much of it in as possible before compiling the Alpha build.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>To create the animated talking head textures, I got the character rig files and set up a light and camera rig, setting up the scene to hand over to Jermz to animate. Zach went through and made sure we had a suite of textures to apply to the characters, and using this system we would create a whole batch of PNG sequences rendered from the camera, with a transparent background, that we could pick and choose from to make our character appear to be talking. I set up the camera in each scene and created a three-point lighting rig, customized for each character.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QNHEP_pZ_XA/T0M65l_08dI/AAAAAAAAHf0/toR0FkDwcPw/s912/DialogRender_LightRig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QNHEP_pZ_XA/T0M65l_08dI/AAAAAAAAHf0/toR0FkDwcPw/s640/DialogRender_LightRig.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>With these, we can create the final marqueed images.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NoSlt3ies0I/Tz8cdHeE6MI/AAAAAAAAHdc/GID2drZhNgc/s256/DustinTest02_GIMPed.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NoSlt3ies0I/Tz8cdHeE6MI/AAAAAAAAHdc/GID2drZhNgc/s256/DustinTest02_GIMPed.png" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>I was setting up the camera rig and testing a batch render for Stu when I accidently rendered from the wrong camera. The result, however, was so adorable I couldn't help but fall in love.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HQXtq_9jcNw/T0AzT4lxdrI/AAAAAAAAHd8/J98fkQcPpDg/s120/StuWalk01.gif" /></a></div><div>Look at him go! Awwwww.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Anyway.</div><div><br />
</div><div>A lot of my time this week was spent using the existing assets we had in the game and making new setpieces or background elements out of them, like this rickety-looking treehouse we have hidden off in the background.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhb-8WTLS4N333q75p-nOZdFbC8idsYjWCtONN_t3z68mXU-Dvd5l-RfYjTuW3cCrkB1wMaly9nsZDYlKKJgVXOYiglA6UjgNIQ6BiQsgHEc7fUxhKjU60Ml72LqFiJm61zeVAbWJuou8/s650/treehouse.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhb-8WTLS4N333q75p-nOZdFbC8idsYjWCtONN_t3z68mXU-Dvd5l-RfYjTuW3cCrkB1wMaly9nsZDYlKKJgVXOYiglA6UjgNIQ6BiQsgHEc7fUxhKjU60Ml72LqFiJm61zeVAbWJuou8/s400/treehouse.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>I also modelled a whole bunch of new trash piles, using our tiling trash bag system, and created a ramp of trash to put next to our schoolbus, a setpiece for one of our puzzles. Once I had it in engine, I absolutely covered it in trash and other assets, trying to reach the level of "fullness" we wanted for our game. This is the first spot we have in that really feels polished and to the level of visual storytelling and neglect we want to convey our world.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4lurckB3-BYFcAanMPQFY3dyXMmHJ0pXL_tDSHyW0xErkRyKllyI7Sh_xudT8GXQyF_EeKjdp7L-OR-TEewcDfVgyS2nQbIwecnrHg-aH3-NRpRk8jj2Al3uEA4LgHgB93HPZuqolxk/s912/Suburbs_BG02_Trashpile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4lurckB3-BYFcAanMPQFY3dyXMmHJ0pXL_tDSHyW0xErkRyKllyI7Sh_xudT8GXQyF_EeKjdp7L-OR-TEewcDfVgyS2nQbIwecnrHg-aH3-NRpRk8jj2Al3uEA4LgHgB93HPZuqolxk/s640/Suburbs_BG02_Trashpile.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We came up with a rather brilliant way of scattering lots of objects around in our world quickly - a system I like to call the AutoLitterer. Essentially we take a bunch of small objects, like the fast food bags and soda cans, add rigidbody physics and mesh colliders to them, duplicate them over and over, then just hit play and let gravity do the work. Once they settle, we can copy their locations and reset them back to their original place in the AutoLitterer, then paste in new instances of them back on the ground where they settled. Then we simply select the new trash on the ground, revert them back to their original prefabs and it strips them of the expensive collision and physics. Voila, instant trash!</div><div><br />
</div><div>In the background of the image above, you'll likely notice another new addition - Zach got us new grass textures in-engine, so now we have lanes and patchy areas of dirty and grass. Alexi also modelled up the new curb system with the corners and the "vertical" roads, and Beau painted new asphalt textures and crosswalks, completing the picture.</div><div><br />
</div><div>High up above this scene, we've got our Buzzbot chugging along. Jermz got these dudes animated, and combined with Zach's textures, they look <i>awesome</i> in the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v7fFxoX3c9Q/T0MRF6PiWiI/AAAAAAAAHfM/beT4IKuoctc/s912/Suburbs_BG03_Trashpile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v7fFxoX3c9Q/T0MRF6PiWiI/AAAAAAAAHfM/beT4IKuoctc/s640/Suburbs_BG03_Trashpile.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>In this picture, you can see the grass and patchy dirt textures a lot better, as well as another new addition - the trees are done! Beau made some really clever new geometry and textures for the leaves, and they really fit our game world a whole lot better.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tKvP7lZjFJ4/TzxQrMa7FFI/AAAAAAAABuk/CEJ9xmV64dY/s862/pass_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="334" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tKvP7lZjFJ4/TzxQrMa7FFI/AAAAAAAABuk/CEJ9xmV64dY/s640/pass_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He also got in some new low-poly versions to replace the ones in the background.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2QqBLw-dVFM/T0MRFK-GAyI/AAAAAAAAHe0/yn4N6fNGzI4/s912/Suburbs_BG01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="409" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2QqBLw-dVFM/T0MRFK-GAyI/AAAAAAAAHe0/yn4N6fNGzI4/s640/Suburbs_BG01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>Steffani finished up the Work Bench, both in the high-poly for the main menu and the low-poly version for in the game, and it looks <i>great.</i></div><div><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q1Vg0qaxc8U/T0LPyBTN7NI/AAAAAAAAAYU/4KAmuxkukss/s903/deskrender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q1Vg0qaxc8U/T0LPyBTN7NI/AAAAAAAAAYU/4KAmuxkukss/s640/deskrender.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div>The character controllers are now fully functional and feel a <i>lot</i> better to control - we've dialed in the speed and abilities of all of the kids, and got Dustin's double-jump ability in and working. Even better, we've got the animations for most of them working. The double-jump animation looks <i>so good.</i> I'll have video of gameplay coming soon, and I can't wait to show the whole world coming to life.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Speaking of which, there's another new addition we added this week. It isn't a critical feature by any means, but it looks really neat - trash blowing and tumbling in the wind. We took a couple pieces of the little trash from the AutoLitterer, then gave them limited mass and drag and applied a constant force. When we hit play, they roll and tumble down the street, gathering up in corners and moving past like tumbleweeds. It's another small little touch, but it really does add a lot of neat little life to the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Let's see, what else? Oh! We've got a way to record the gameplay footage now. This was all recorded on Saturday night, so a <i>lot</i> has changed since, but it's still cool to see it all together.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/A-FQjjHnKGc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div><br />
</div><div>I think that covers just about everything so far. As I said, it was a <i>busy</i> weekend, and a ton of fun, even if we are all exhausted. We'll be working through tomorrow and Wednesday, as schedules allow, to get the last bits ready for Alpha. It still isn't quite as far along as we'd like, but it is so gratifying to see the game falling into place the team working together to get so much accomplished in so little time.</div><div><br />
</div><div>As we finish up Alpha, we'll be trying to polish up as much as possible through next weekend, then recording off gameplay footage and other neat stuff so that we can prepare it for GDC, which is just around the corner. Almost everybody on the team is going, and we're all looking forward to having a break from working on the game and getting out there and showing it off to everybody in San Francisco. </div><div><br />
See you next week!</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-84470571931839192772012-02-12T21:52:00.000-08:002012-02-12T21:52:54.922-08:00Salvage Youth - Countdown to AlphaIt has been another busy week, with a lot of our work being done on behind-the-scenes stuff as we shift into polish mode and try to get the gameplay revisions we've planned completed in time for Alpha.<br />
<br />
Alexi has been going back and revisiting a lot of our old props, making sure that the art for them matches the style of our world.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PV3dgks64Gc/TzGp-hIZOrI/AAAAAAAAAbw/UWr5jHEwJjQ/s720/Woodpaletrender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PV3dgks64Gc/TzGp-hIZOrI/AAAAAAAAAbw/UWr5jHEwJjQ/s400/Woodpaletrender.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
He's gotten a first pass done on the rocket texture sheet. We're tweaking this a bunch, and he's already started on the changes for it, but we'll be getting the animation done for its cut scene this week. Should be fun.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hs1EtYDrAqY/TzFl_nGh1EI/AAAAAAAAAbo/Uqzhr1EfLYc/s800/RocketTextureWip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hs1EtYDrAqY/TzFl_nGh1EI/AAAAAAAAAbo/Uqzhr1EfLYc/s400/RocketTextureWip.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><br />
Finally, he also worked on making some more low-poly terrain assets for the game, little bits of weeds and stuff we can put around in our environment to help tell the story.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PTsVYaQ08cg/TzOgIHAD2II/AAAAAAAAAb4/FKna_5co590/s800/FlowerViewPort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PTsVYaQ08cg/TzOgIHAD2II/AAAAAAAAAb4/FKna_5co590/s400/FlowerViewPort.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
We got a very cool little script running in our game now that was quick to put together and adds a very subtle but important feature in bringing our characters to life - we can swap textures on the fly now, and we tested it first by having the kids blink their eyes randomly every two to six seconds. It's a little thing, but it really does add to giving them some life. With this feature, we'll be able to swap in other "emotion" texture sheets as needed, like if one of the kids is distressed or if they do something correctly.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ewwPSPs6Bl4/TzhPzsNf4-I/AAAAAAAAAzo/pSdwtQLY0OY/s877/faces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ewwPSPs6Bl4/TzhPzsNf4-I/AAAAAAAAAzo/pSdwtQLY0OY/s400/faces.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Laura has been hard at work getting things prepped for our opening cinematic, and she's really nailing the design of the kids. She has been creating some great storyboards for the cinematic, too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wpmEsTk93Q/TziEn2knr0I/AAAAAAAAA4s/NMa5n44ag0o/s679/approved+art+treatment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9wpmEsTk93Q/TziEn2knr0I/AAAAAAAAA4s/NMa5n44ag0o/s320/approved+art+treatment.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br />
Steffani created a fantastic rendition of Jenny's workstation that we'll be using for our main menu and in low-poly version in our game. She stayed really true to the original design, and it looks awesome.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhII44fDBU-fVGwyvboDxZkc7QRHbAqVS6cTRjBIW9N_RLoAclReRctbhLeVXfWKw0JwB9H69T4dowFq57r_ctg4VcAipjn8vrRpv0ziaQodkRCZjv3Z7Sp1XMo5MoafSUJbno0Ysg_QYo/s719/jennydeskblock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhII44fDBU-fVGwyvboDxZkc7QRHbAqVS6cTRjBIW9N_RLoAclReRctbhLeVXfWKw0JwB9H69T4dowFq57r_ctg4VcAipjn8vrRpv0ziaQodkRCZjv3Z7Sp1XMo5MoafSUJbno0Ysg_QYo/s400/jennydeskblock.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Jermz has been creating some fantastic animation work, and we resolved our export issue - like most things, it came down to a single check box we were missing, but that little check box cost us a couple days of heartaches. Oh, <i>technology.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/jvBPmqguAAs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><i><br />
</i><br />
We've started recording and importing sound effects this week, as well, which is going a long way to bring all of our hard work to life.<br />
<br />
Finally, we have a whole ton of other code and design changes: getting the boss battle really working, fixing problematic camera issues, getting AI states in, throwing boxes from lane to lane, double jump for Dustin and better jump controls, all kinds of great stuff.<br />
<br />
We've got another major deadline looming large, and then we're off to GDC shortly after, so this week is going to be a lot of nose-to-the-grindstone crunch time. We've been very carefully going over our list of features, additions and assets left and how much time we have total, so we're quite aware of the amount of work we have ahead of us, but we're all confident and excited - we're getting so close to getting our game in front of players, and that's the best part of all.<br />
<br />
See you next week!Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-82824821459728873952012-02-05T23:09:00.000-08:002012-02-05T23:09:09.467-08:00Salvage Youth - Pre-Alpha StatusIt's been an incredibly busy and productive week. We managed to get the whole team together a couple of times and the unity and motivation between everybody is just outstanding. It's starting to feel like a real studio.<br />
<br />
This Friday I was able to volunteer for the <a href="http://www.washingtoninteractivenetwork.org/" target="_blank">Washington Interactive Network's</a> <a href="http://www.powerofplay.us/" target="_blank">Power of Play 2012</a> conference, which was a fantastic experience, getting to hear from VPs and GMs of the region's largest game companies talking about the direction the games industry is heading and all of the incredible support networks available. I can't wait for their next Startup Workshop.<br />
<br />
The game has been progressing incredibly fast - we have prototypes working for the tutorial section, the first puzzle and the boss fight, which is very encouraging. We're going to be testing these sections as much as possible this week while we polish the gameplay and get the other two or three puzzles in place, polishing the art and look of the world as we go.<br />
<br />
Bobby Simpson, one of our newest members, has been hard at work rewriting the character controller code, to great effect. Already we have a lot more control over the way the player moves through the world and a much better understanding of the underlying code for it. It is great to have some support for Ryan, who has been working so hard on getting everything coded for our designers to get gameplay in place.<br />
<br />
We've got the first draft of our dialog script in place now and are revising it as I write this, giving Laura Franke, our Cinematics Artist, something to work from. She's already been hard at work sketching characters and thumbnailing panel ideas, getting a good understanding of the style of our game. She's picking it up very quickly, which is encouraging. We're all excited to see it in play.<br />
<br />
I worked with the game project file this weekend and played with the fog color and set up some particle systems, tinting the smog more brownish and away from the blue. It is already making a big difference. I also modelled up a big trash pile and set it up in the background along with a number of other props. This, combined with a world-sized cloud and dust particle system I built, adds a lot of depth and animation to the game world, giving it a sense of life and place. We'll be revisiting this stuff a lot to get it polished, but the few hours I was able to put in today already show a lot of promise. The plumes of distant smoke were made before the other changes and are looking too blue at the moment, but that's an easy fix.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgVKMAmdlTh-Xv-EiTKg7LhZihFUJ1lrHAWO3wF5KnKERAZlPPukU_BTp6Pmnx6fSUgQ297uiSrUX9iOq3-capEDEcn-F2g5HCHXqL0Pr-A1pX8PzLUbGeAI2gu5j1XtgJk8bJps1WII/s1600/TrashPile02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmgVKMAmdlTh-Xv-EiTKg7LhZihFUJ1lrHAWO3wF5KnKERAZlPPukU_BTp6Pmnx6fSUgQ297uiSrUX9iOq3-capEDEcn-F2g5HCHXqL0Pr-A1pX8PzLUbGeAI2gu5j1XtgJk8bJps1WII/s1600/TrashPile02.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I also went back and retextured the trunk of the tree to match the style of our game. It looks a lot better already.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmjW0dHOhTQJZMl-1FALsZV3vKXozemRKkxVXtPUFB98amOA4AwZXKq7QpIQUq7wS8PFTKNh58uTZe702Rw-Ovo6CaKkA_8TDKdEqtebNMzCuZ3TUsHWRxvZ5bBjkMxXxsllevvFZNU0/s1600/Tree_Redo_Max.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJmjW0dHOhTQJZMl-1FALsZV3vKXozemRKkxVXtPUFB98amOA4AwZXKq7QpIQUq7wS8PFTKNh58uTZe702Rw-Ovo6CaKkA_8TDKdEqtebNMzCuZ3TUsHWRxvZ5bBjkMxXxsllevvFZNU0/s400/Tree_Redo_Max.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tfB-bFWmiXk/Ty8CD1qCJ1I/AAAAAAAAHZ4/TVWRJtdHAjs/s1600/Tree_Redo_Unity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tfB-bFWmiXk/Ty8CD1qCJ1I/AAAAAAAAHZ4/TVWRJtdHAjs/s400/Tree_Redo_Unity.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j17WMZ7WfM8/Ty8CD0gFawI/AAAAAAAAHaE/XCxICxh2omg/s1600/Tree_Redo_TexturePreview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j17WMZ7WfM8/Ty8CD0gFawI/AAAAAAAAHaE/XCxICxh2omg/s400/Tree_Redo_TexturePreview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Steffani Charano, our new Environment Artist, has been polishing the look of the dumpster and the minicar.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/untitledpost-14/dumpster1.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7coGqL0tJ-tNTSuTzhoiy3bzOsCfbbkbM56YFhCjTiSM5PNdL_ofH-cQW6xPdfVhcBYBlo7LDKXfqnshCUyip4_36pK8XerdIB5XtrYSUEZcOwoezMphmE5fNQs_Z9KoreSbqB__SkGi6rIKUpDjRZfbv8Tlqs0_EZp8kc9t72JW_6mMTDa1L32z5QRu5ff8YEOQJfw617WPEh5es3-9zABpSv-pXR7uohUSwiel2GyAvj1pnpxlRgkHGQ1oBje_KIqWJEya&attredirects=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/untitledpost-14/dumpster1.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7coGqL0tJ-tNTSuTzhoiy3bzOsCfbbkbM56YFhCjTiSM5PNdL_ofH-cQW6xPdfVhcBYBlo7LDKXfqnshCUyip4_36pK8XerdIB5XtrYSUEZcOwoezMphmE5fNQs_Z9KoreSbqB__SkGi6rIKUpDjRZfbv8Tlqs0_EZp8kc9t72JW_6mMTDa1L32z5QRu5ff8YEOQJfw617WPEh5es3-9zABpSv-pXR7uohUSwiel2GyAvj1pnpxlRgkHGQ1oBje_KIqWJEya&attredirects=0" width="280" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/cars/carcompact.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7crQ8oQSO6UoY8V9lRkXv-jZ5iVRhPKS_SrwNdZNz0CUIIHlp_uQmbQMEyP_5YgRYJl3tceJ4a8ZeAPVQVO8JWSbhTTgr1SbXWw05UPlcxaLsIl_YsFT7stn_91lBxjqTkK9jvuMPm4YHvWCEztK9th2AZE2nmx35W1RlCqiwKWEFPShBWnCHe4mXUD4oWTuAc6qHe2Mr65z8vvP6ZvM1zg-IR3kIi3FpblrXttbFplFaWh9I6o%3D&attredirects=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="465" src="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/cars/carcompact.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7crQ8oQSO6UoY8V9lRkXv-jZ5iVRhPKS_SrwNdZNz0CUIIHlp_uQmbQMEyP_5YgRYJl3tceJ4a8ZeAPVQVO8JWSbhTTgr1SbXWw05UPlcxaLsIl_YsFT7stn_91lBxjqTkK9jvuMPm4YHvWCEztK9th2AZE2nmx35W1RlCqiwKWEFPShBWnCHe4mXUD4oWTuAc6qHe2Mr65z8vvP6ZvM1zg-IR3kIi3FpblrXttbFplFaWh9I6o%3D&attredirects=0" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Jermz Gallardo has been doing some great work animating the characters. We ran into an issue on the export for them, but we'll have it resolved tomorrow or Wednesday, as time allows.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/l-8zl60y_SQ/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-8zl60y_SQ&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/l-8zl60y_SQ&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><br />
He also made some great UI elements that we're incorporating for testing today. We'll have fully animated UI elements in by the end of the week.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8109/uishitlol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8109/uishitlol.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Zach Hartlage, our character artist, has shifted to working on more concept art for props and environment assets. He created an absolutely fantastic concept sheet for the work bench that Jenny uses that will also serve as the background for our Main Menu.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4mevWbk-doM/Ty8ntboR07I/AAAAAAAAAzU/6xICRKbELNg/s720/Jenny'sWorkstation.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4mevWbk-doM/Ty8ntboR07I/AAAAAAAAAzU/6xICRKbELNg/s400/Jenny'sWorkstation.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I spent time working on the tiling trash bag system earlier this week, as well as the textures for the individual garbage bags. They're not quite done yet, but they're getting a lot closer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKL0ze2fmRX6F_oSNJmDRnd6laBWW7fMDRoCvC_jjCZFMa6ECRDJeiTYOgyNbrSVZczrmL-qV4uPw1l807yuqNDpTTnqG0utkGYTvaEVUQxrSxtSz72tDN3IScK8q9kBHcQ_-uHmjWnk4/s1600/trashbags_preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKL0ze2fmRX6F_oSNJmDRnd6laBWW7fMDRoCvC_jjCZFMa6ECRDJeiTYOgyNbrSVZczrmL-qV4uPw1l807yuqNDpTTnqG0utkGYTvaEVUQxrSxtSz72tDN3IScK8q9kBHcQ_-uHmjWnk4/s400/trashbags_preview.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alexi Gil, our Lead Environment Artist, made some wonderful crates and barrels, mainstays of any self-respecting video game. I used his texture sheet to model up a few pieces of debris from the crates that will be used when the boxes break.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOy9-M7Tq7ICfRiwd5hy_6Xgnph3fJVbewF6uRFaZeUbkYRr8BUIR1pg8n_im2lhYHJBh5u2AS8vGsApF4P7enwBHNWyjEUBYShnZCaaw1KjsbA2n1H04aLRCsBT_SlrfTZp6j0URKsZ0/s1600/Dirty+Crate+chunks+preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOy9-M7Tq7ICfRiwd5hy_6Xgnph3fJVbewF6uRFaZeUbkYRr8BUIR1pg8n_im2lhYHJBh5u2AS8vGsApF4P7enwBHNWyjEUBYShnZCaaw1KjsbA2n1H04aLRCsBT_SlrfTZp6j0URKsZ0/s640/Dirty+Crate+chunks+preview.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alexi also modelled up some terrific fast food trash to scatter throughout the world. He's incredibly fast at this stuff, it's been great watching his process evolve this year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZaPYTyM8rHvBLFfTx46uu15q6P511G_97h2i6gNvofVC_wYzpx0ClykINmq0RvAJ3BPDDu1jeznce4QRGaGQICnVwIb3xd_lT9GVv7wTpdc502UZRTtv9E0dALqKx2EFj583VrSNJ9g/s800/foodbags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZaPYTyM8rHvBLFfTx46uu15q6P511G_97h2i6gNvofVC_wYzpx0ClykINmq0RvAJ3BPDDu1jeznce4QRGaGQICnVwIb3xd_lT9GVv7wTpdc502UZRTtv9E0dALqKx2EFj583VrSNJ9g/s640/foodbags.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We spent a lot of time working on optimization this week, as well. We got the light baking system in Unity working correctly and were able to create shadow maps for hundreds of objects in our scenes. This was a <i>tremendous</i> boost in terms of performance, and on our test machines we're able to run reliably at around 120fps. We are experimenting with replacing the transparency grasses with polygonal geometry, as a lot of our render time is spent on transparency and alpha sorting, and should have some solid results soon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gyHgDgafLb8/TykjB0tv9II/AAAAAAAAAbY/UetAJAduipM/s800/Grassbitsrenderedged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gyHgDgafLb8/TykjB0tv9II/AAAAAAAAAbY/UetAJAduipM/s640/Grassbitsrenderedged.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> It is encouraging seeing the results from our optimization be so promising. It is freeing us up to really focus on density of objects in our world and create the over-the-top feeling of an abandoned, neglected world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alexi did some more work revisiting older assets, as well, finishing the dirty texture pass for the schoolbus. He's unwrapped the rocket model and will start texturing it soon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9yP3ibMA7hqfDIA-P-0V0ndOU9rRIj2G-6t4DAvDJas3Pz44XIVHUBhwEwZpxAhFj2rMJk0DwmOVRzykAC08bnbkjEA1r_Hyv20dXHlczhU3lbCYbq7LlB9eFx-wYDVWHPzW7YcqS4CM/s800/NEwrender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9yP3ibMA7hqfDIA-P-0V0ndOU9rRIj2G-6t4DAvDJas3Pz44XIVHUBhwEwZpxAhFj2rMJk0DwmOVRzykAC08bnbkjEA1r_Hyv20dXHlczhU3lbCYbq7LlB9eFx-wYDVWHPzW7YcqS4CM/s400/NEwrender.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beau Bateman, our Lead Artist, is out of town for the weekend, but has been hard at work writing the script for the dialog and opening sequences in our game, as well as giving needed feedback on the status of all of our work, keeping everything in the style of our game world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, tomorrow we're meeting with Prof. Stephen Saulls, who will be creating the audio assets for our game. We're all very excited to meet with him and get this process moving forward. We've provided him with an exhaustive list of assets, and we'll be discussing priority and style questions tomorrow when we meet with our other advisors. This will give us the last critical element we need to bring our game world to life.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've got a <i>lot</i> left to do, and deadlines are looming, but our team has been incredibly hard working and efficient, and they are all working together extremely well. Everyone on the team knows who to go to with questions and we all lean on each other to provide our specific sorts of expertise. I am so happy to be working with such great individuals on this project.</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-41375792732684896632012-01-29T19:18:00.000-08:002012-01-29T19:18:31.521-08:00Salvage Youth - A New SemesterIt's been a long time since I've gotten to put up a progress report, since we took our long break for the holidays. A week after returning, we were hit by a snow storm that shut down production for a week, but we've gotten back into the swing of things and are in crunch mode to meet some very intimidating deadlines over the next few months.<br />
<br />
The last post I made was right before our First Playable presentation, in which we showed off all of the content we had in place at the time. We were able to really get the basics of gameplay and demonstrate all of the basic mechanics, as well as show off how our focused art production pipeline was paying off in terms of our tied-down visuals.<br />
<br />
Since that time, we've made a lot of changes - the biggest change has been in terms of our team itself. We've lost two full-time members, but we've added four new ones: <a href="http://www.thecommaspace.com/" target="_blank">Jermz Gallardo</a> is coming on as a full-time animator, <a href="http://fishingstarfish.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Steffani Charano</a> is joining us as a 3D artist, Bobby Simpson is our newest Programmer, and <a href="http://laurafranke.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Laura Franke</a> has joined us as a 2D animator to focus on our opening cinematic.<br />
<br />
All this new help is already paying off a lot - our production process is speeding up and we're able to really focus on polishing the work we've done and getting new work pushed through the pipeline at record speeds.<br />
<br />
We've really focused on filling the world up with content - now we have scripts set up to allow us to literally dump garbage all over the place to give us a bit more of a randomized feel, breaking up some of the inevitable pattern-forming that occurs when everything is hand-placed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tx6RMZZ9Evc/TthJ6gxg-XI/AAAAAAAAAII/kOAoacC-4Qw/s1600/trashphysics.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="337" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tx6RMZZ9Evc/TthJ6gxg-XI/AAAAAAAAAII/kOAoacC-4Qw/s640/trashphysics.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We got a lot of other new assets created before the break and added to the first playable demo, also.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5y5lwRc4ZxBpK28vy9mncAUd5qJLUL-WwZ0zC6n31WOk0Dg341U0PsEv5eSOaurb7ruAxJ3SQ8ybCOOAmF2JWiuO2aDWyZC49cBtN27joW5VYpdmogqbFnNOKmMEdKgN6sxH9eZuCoxA/s400/SchoolBusdiffuseview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5y5lwRc4ZxBpK28vy9mncAUd5qJLUL-WwZ0zC6n31WOk0Dg341U0PsEv5eSOaurb7ruAxJ3SQ8ybCOOAmF2JWiuO2aDWyZC49cBtN27joW5VYpdmogqbFnNOKmMEdKgN6sxH9eZuCoxA/s640/SchoolBusdiffuseview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3V5fRULqN8g/Ttw6z-2LdiI/AAAAAAAAAwU/Yod6UifI4Ho/s400/Group01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3V5fRULqN8g/Ttw6z-2LdiI/AAAAAAAAAwU/Yod6UifI4Ho/s640/Group01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GVi76O-p8BI/Tt0gL-uqPYI/AAAAAAAABYY/CBkmXtxZaNI/w500-h338-k/BG_houses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GVi76O-p8BI/Tt0gL-uqPYI/AAAAAAAABYY/CBkmXtxZaNI/w500-h338-k/BG_houses.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We worked hard to get them incorporated into the environment and tied together for our presentation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN3a80FVFleev3Gai8us1vOgRL81GqGa4ry7fv-tnQ9mPttovivliGUjDHZ6YD93-QLKMh8NJ6RWt_bpfcoaBpW2Dt8TE8TDN44c1ZTw5lUX0y4NLvdOWW7MHC0d6vm4PQLBs0BtP3-E/s1152/Screenshot_Today.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN3a80FVFleev3Gai8us1vOgRL81GqGa4ry7fv-tnQ9mPttovivliGUjDHZ6YD93-QLKMh8NJ6RWt_bpfcoaBpW2Dt8TE8TDN44c1ZTw5lUX0y4NLvdOWW7MHC0d6vm4PQLBs0BtP3-E/s640/Screenshot_Today.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_1SgtujsbE4/TyYE-7UHRlI/AAAAAAAAHXc/V7aG4Ac1znY/s1152/Screenshot_Today02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_1SgtujsbE4/TyYE-7UHRlI/AAAAAAAAHXc/V7aG4Ac1znY/s640/Screenshot_Today02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We got a working early version of our main menu in.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GKaP_-QLaLY/TyYFAToqglI/AAAAAAAAHXw/z-txtCg8ywE/s1024/Screenshot_Today05_MainMenu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GKaP_-QLaLY/TyYFAToqglI/AAAAAAAAHXw/z-txtCg8ywE/s640/Screenshot_Today05_MainMenu.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Our tiling terrain system is already working well for us.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tf_qpqGzT_o/TyYFA8Tp5xI/AAAAAAAAHX8/ID4-39lKKbE/s1200/TerrainTiles.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tf_qpqGzT_o/TyYFA8Tp5xI/AAAAAAAAHX8/ID4-39lKKbE/s640/TerrainTiles.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We've also built multiple levels of detail for the houses, giving us the ability to create lots of depth without costing us too much performance.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTZIRWxWDxk/TyYFDrBf34I/AAAAAAAAHYg/h0avLVAO4pY/s1024/Houses_LOD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="410" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BTZIRWxWDxk/TyYFDrBf34I/AAAAAAAAHYg/h0avLVAO4pY/s640/Houses_LOD.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
After our presentation, we took some time to take a break and step away from the project. It was incredibly therapeutic for the team, giving us a chance to relax and come back with fresh heads. The difference was amazing. We had a long, incredibly energetic meeting when we came back where we looked at what was working, what wasn't and how we wanted to finish our game. The result was thrilling - we've redesigned our opening sequence, are revisiting the puzzle mechanics into more condensed and focused fun gameplay and we've got plans for a terrific boss battle that should be a lot of fun. Even better, this new focusing actually reduces scope and gives us a chance to really focus on good gameplay and incredibly polished assets.<br />
<br />
During the break, I played around with AfterEffects and learned how to make this game team splash sequence.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/MxifKVEKR34?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Beau took a lot of time over the break to just have fun and concept up a bunch of great ideas.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6x-14IoIkpw/Tw1BLzOaA_I/AAAAAAAABb0/5An7ciwIvtE/w447-h271-n-k/fast_food_observations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6x-14IoIkpw/Tw1BLzOaA_I/AAAAAAAABb0/5An7ciwIvtE/w447-h271-n-k/fast_food_observations.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgn4vcGwPPk/Tw1BQmTq8eI/AAAAAAAABcM/ZGdTtKbPLpk/w270-h359-k/joy_burger_linework.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zgn4vcGwPPk/Tw1BQmTq8eI/AAAAAAAABcM/ZGdTtKbPLpk/w270-h359-k/joy_burger_linework.jpg" width="478" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCxjzB-akfo/Tw1BLVtrImI/AAAAAAAABbs/2iIOU28I4qw/w608-h271-k/downtown_sketch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCxjzB-akfo/Tw1BLVtrImI/AAAAAAAABbs/2iIOU28I4qw/w608-h271-k/downtown_sketch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ng3YjPqwLsw/Tw1BY43WHgI/AAAAAAAABck/8xNfHo17LJE/w267-h371-k/overpass_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ng3YjPqwLsw/Tw1BY43WHgI/AAAAAAAABck/8xNfHo17LJE/w267-h371-k/overpass_color.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--bKdXMrsegs/Tw1BJHLXx8I/AAAAAAAABbc/T8yGesrJndE/w351-h249-k/stews+trojan+robot+costume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--bKdXMrsegs/Tw1BJHLXx8I/AAAAAAAABbc/T8yGesrJndE/w351-h249-k/stews+trojan+robot+costume.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NJY1JVIsJLY/Tw1BGkC0PvI/AAAAAAAABbE/a9t7teH9hMQ/w146-h252-k/buzzbot+bouncer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NJY1JVIsJLY/Tw1BGkC0PvI/AAAAAAAABbE/a9t7teH9hMQ/w146-h252-k/buzzbot+bouncer.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
He even modelled up a great early version of our Incinerator Bot.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RC6UAE_0kXc/Tw1BHR8hQpI/AAAAAAAABbU/ZNFESR__M6w/w573-h394-k/incinerator_lopoly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RC6UAE_0kXc/Tw1BHR8hQpI/AAAAAAAABbU/ZNFESR__M6w/w573-h394-k/incinerator_lopoly.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
He also made these adorable, only <i>slightly</i> creepy cookies.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/merrychristmas/character_cookies.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cqkkaAjDyVVVESUZrMY_0ZPryTgwLJiKqSG5V4laB5f9JgTvW9QxkyYUXf5Hja4cdoISx-lNsXO1iiUmEcJIlskbeDGRH6Jcn_mim_pAhEFGO6hkupKXK7t6eAN8G2jgm5teItpltLpREHMo3K7AMTCI_qFw90PdUShJ0q4pGixN1KTgXl_l9CQeJVy8m5KXCFMKhWVwBQ0n6h2b1gvzi2CiC97R65fDx5RfMc-xHZZeQWmfR2ltEGFR6Qr7B1C5EUss30q&attredirects=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://4109625656347742954-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/scrapmetalgamesdp/scrap-metal-blog/merrychristmas/character_cookies.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7cqkkaAjDyVVVESUZrMY_0ZPryTgwLJiKqSG5V4laB5f9JgTvW9QxkyYUXf5Hja4cdoISx-lNsXO1iiUmEcJIlskbeDGRH6Jcn_mim_pAhEFGO6hkupKXK7t6eAN8G2jgm5teItpltLpREHMo3K7AMTCI_qFw90PdUShJ0q4pGixN1KTgXl_l9CQeJVy8m5KXCFMKhWVwBQ0n6h2b1gvzi2CiC97R65fDx5RfMc-xHZZeQWmfR2ltEGFR6Qr7B1C5EUss30q&attredirects=0" width="400" /></a>\</div><br />
Beau finished up the final concept sheets for the BuzzBot so that Zach could begin texturing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3h_9zfTcD-Y/TxYiO1wxGVI/AAAAAAAABeM/BbSzF3sEqpc/s400/buzzbot_can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3h_9zfTcD-Y/TxYiO1wxGVI/AAAAAAAABeM/BbSzF3sEqpc/s400/buzzbot_can.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27PlUPERw70/TxYiPE2iwiI/AAAAAAAABeQ/Y5gMviSAShs/s400/buzzbot_flower_red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27PlUPERw70/TxYiPE2iwiI/AAAAAAAABeQ/Y5gMviSAShs/s400/buzzbot_flower_red.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><br />
Alexi made a bunch of meshes for our collectibles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x0XXIguNFY8/TxdwOsIECcI/AAAAAAAAAYM/mE6K3wGBTXk/s400/Collectables1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x0XXIguNFY8/TxdwOsIECcI/AAAAAAAAAYM/mE6K3wGBTXk/s400/Collectables1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I got the first pass at a walk cycle done for Stu.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dlA8C8PveMQ?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Beau concepted up the area for our new tutorial section and game up with some great rocket designs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2nMsksdw91M/Txjyf97yv7I/AAAAAAAABfs/S_veeBIIt-Y/w261-h357-k/the_trash_cave_ground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2nMsksdw91M/Txjyf97yv7I/AAAAAAAABfs/S_veeBIIt-Y/w261-h357-k/the_trash_cave_ground.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZabhSGQg2Ss/TxjyevXgUsI/AAAAAAAABfQ/wTuKS9i-wSQ/w559-h822-k/rocket_designs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZabhSGQg2Ss/TxjyevXgUsI/AAAAAAAABfQ/wTuKS9i-wSQ/w559-h822-k/rocket_designs.jpg" width="434" /></a></div>Alexi made a first pass at a tiling garbage bag texture, and then took the rocket design and made it a reality. It is almost frightening how fast he is at this stuff.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9sEU-5kXZNc/TxowjDo4CrI/AAAAAAAAAYY/0xtvFOVd-kA/s400/TilingGarbage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9sEU-5kXZNc/TxowjDo4CrI/AAAAAAAAAYY/0xtvFOVd-kA/s400/TilingGarbage.png" width="398" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLXWB4S9z0yn5T9LaOpqLu44XX7593AaBS5Qn4hb1pQ-aWKVexSuD4gySyYSPAPm2NteBwqXi09NPr9o_wuqioLegtxIfPP7InyqU56C8RdqRLICIYM3DmdPA3RIlahjO0vk4y5JzuRA/s400/UberRoCkit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLXWB4S9z0yn5T9LaOpqLu44XX7593AaBS5Qn4hb1pQ-aWKVexSuD4gySyYSPAPm2NteBwqXi09NPr9o_wuqioLegtxIfPP7InyqU56C8RdqRLICIYM3DmdPA3RIlahjO0vk4y5JzuRA/s640/UberRoCkit.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqXi_63TsdnFr3yVsJ9OvGQMspDu5N8mQf_Oa1Cg918L0gLh-i7oHtRJ_kXB0GiAW7YIbcWu_mpEJpxvypwnWE0o6zECa_YY0PXg2rjVjR6cmdIL_RBlJrfdo0IEfHYM6dNhJG0_g0W8/s400/UberRoCkitDestroyed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqXi_63TsdnFr3yVsJ9OvGQMspDu5N8mQf_Oa1Cg918L0gLh-i7oHtRJ_kXB0GiAW7YIbcWu_mpEJpxvypwnWE0o6zECa_YY0PXg2rjVjR6cmdIL_RBlJrfdo0IEfHYM6dNhJG0_g0W8/s640/UberRoCkitDestroyed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Zach made a first pass at the textures for the BuzzBot...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NTwst43e07I/Tx3WfeX0aKI/AAAAAAAAAxg/qWZawQWVWSM/s400/buzzbotdiff01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NTwst43e07I/Tx3WfeX0aKI/AAAAAAAAAxg/qWZawQWVWSM/s640/buzzbotdiff01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
...and then took our feedback and went back to finish it, then make two more.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NQAzuPsD70o/TyXYyaI6s5I/AAAAAAAAAyU/Yj52Qs1k_38/s400/Buzzgroup01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NQAzuPsD70o/TyXYyaI6s5I/AAAAAAAAAyU/Yj52Qs1k_38/s640/Buzzgroup01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
We've gone ahead in-engine and gotten working versions of our tutorial section and our first puzzle in place and will be prepping them for testing early this week. We've got a LOT ahead of us, but with this new, larger team working together stronger then ever, our excitement and confidence are really helping us power through and prepare for our deadlines. We're very excited to get the game in front of people for testing, and expect to do so by the end of our Alpha presentation. Keep an eye out!Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-3262222690327680532011-12-01T13:45:00.000-08:002011-12-01T13:46:27.747-08:00Salvage Youth - Week 12 Progress ReportAnother busy week, with a much-needed short break for the holiday, but we're coming up on a very big milestone next week and we're pushing hard to prepare for the deadline.<br />
<br />
Our changelog for the project for the week is as follows:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Art Imports</u></b><br />
Compact Car<br />
Oak Trees<br />
Bottles<br />
Mattresses<br />
Couch<br />
Fence posts<br />
Picket Fence<br />
Skybox<br />
Trees<br />
BG Hills<br />
Clouds<br />
<br />
<b><u>Design</u></b><br />
Camera Fixes<br />
Pause Menu Fixes<br />
Name Tag Labels Appear when you change characters<br />
<br />
<b><u>Level</u></b><br />
Added down ramps to the high platform areas<br />
Checkpoints<br />
More trash to the world<br />
Swaying Path in Dustin’s Lane<br />
More Wooden Pallets<br />
Fog Fixes<br />
Trees<br />
Fences<br />
Cloud Particles<br />
BG Hills<br />
<br />
<b><u>Code</u></b><br />
Checkpoints<br />
Camera Target-Changing Triggers<br />
Tweaked Button Triggers<br />
Rope Spawner / Rope Segment, Rope for the Pulley Puzzle<br />
Occlusion Culling<br />
Name Tag Labels Appear/Disappear when you change characters<br />
<br />
<br />
A big push we've been focusing on this week is getting in the last critical art elements to start tying the world together - skyboxes, clouds, tuning in the fog/fade and incorporating more detail elements to the world, such as trees.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-om_Dch8AJrc/Ttf1VEoPpEI/AAAAAAAAGR4/J4glTjCqQG0/s1024/InEngine_Dec01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-om_Dch8AJrc/Ttf1VEoPpEI/AAAAAAAAGR4/J4glTjCqQG0/s640/InEngine_Dec01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MdqQj-SegwU/TsqnvQNIZYI/AAAAAAAABUI/vz_sLUEdSvg/s640/clouds_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MdqQj-SegwU/TsqnvQNIZYI/AAAAAAAABUI/vz_sLUEdSvg/s400/clouds_01.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZpw88RM2fU/TsqnsKxLmDI/AAAAAAAABTg/F9pMGpxLH8E/s640/clouds_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YZpw88RM2fU/TsqnsKxLmDI/AAAAAAAABTg/F9pMGpxLH8E/s400/clouds_02.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ6Rxc28g4o/Tsqnrz_L8pI/AAAAAAAABTU/torZxg_GId8/s1280/city_scape_whole_level_bluesky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ6Rxc28g4o/Tsqnrz_L8pI/AAAAAAAABTU/torZxg_GId8/s400/city_scape_whole_level_bluesky.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zIcQ0qn58oI/Tsqnr0a4UII/AAAAAAAABTQ/Ny6Z2IUMglY/s526/top_to_bottom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zIcQ0qn58oI/Tsqnr0a4UII/AAAAAAAABTQ/Ny6Z2IUMglY/s400/top_to_bottom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F54TdHLiAVA/Tsx9xJcyrhI/AAAAAAAABVY/rJS0QcX4sns/s1024/tree_shapes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F54TdHLiAVA/Tsx9xJcyrhI/AAAAAAAABVY/rJS0QcX4sns/s400/tree_shapes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVU2N7MP5a8/TssLBq5A7wI/AAAAAAAAAHU/0XnCEW9iFLA/s1600/NewProps.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVU2N7MP5a8/TssLBq5A7wI/AAAAAAAAAHU/0XnCEW9iFLA/s400/NewProps.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9-UZzabVI7I/Tsx9xK0UqJI/AAAAAAAABVU/cT-5pFiOr3E/s912/bus_w_ortho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9-UZzabVI7I/Tsx9xK0UqJI/AAAAAAAABVU/cT-5pFiOr3E/s400/bus_w_ortho.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3B195FPurqQ/TtPBz4vW4dI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/HhEgYe8OJAA/s1280/Schoolbusview2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3B195FPurqQ/TtPBz4vW4dI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/HhEgYe8OJAA/s640/Schoolbusview2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oW1jdfuhT5M/TtPHq4Y09HI/AAAAAAAAAWg/v6lPifoeilc/s1280/driveways.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oW1jdfuhT5M/TtPHq4Y09HI/AAAAAAAAAWg/v6lPifoeilc/s400/driveways.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've also completed preliminary work for our first robot, the Buzzbot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-knFkll7fSjE/Tsx9x3rzAuI/AAAAAAAABVk/9ap4UPzvVs8/s912/buzz_bot_finish_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-knFkll7fSjE/Tsx9x3rzAuI/AAAAAAAABVk/9ap4UPzvVs8/s400/buzz_bot_finish_bw.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cdh1jwE5iKk/TtVV3u-2TgI/AAAAAAAAAWo/ByOo82vqFsc/s1280/Eyelids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cdh1jwE5iKk/TtVV3u-2TgI/AAAAAAAAAWo/ByOo82vqFsc/s400/Eyelids.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We're really excited to get this guy rigged up and ready for the game - he'll replace the last of the placeholder art we had in the game. Randy's been working hard on getting the rigs complete, Stu's rig is nearly finished and he'll move on to getting little Buzz here ready for animating shortly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">With the current push, my plate has been incredibly full working on keeping everything on track and doing a lot of the critical texture work needed for the game. I've been too busy to keep up with the animation needed, but the ridiculously talented<a href="http://thecommaspace.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> Jermz Gallardo</a> has volunteered to help us out in that regard - he's starting work on getting Jenny animated this week, and I'm really excited to see what he does for her.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Zach's been speeding through getting the high-res Stu and Dustin models finished, and they're looking great.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i98V7r5Bfqk/TtL96VnFlII/AAAAAAAAAuY/wmcIszOlB3w/s640/Stuzbrushed01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i98V7r5Bfqk/TtL96VnFlII/AAAAAAAAAuY/wmcIszOlB3w/s400/Stuzbrushed01.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S51IMgrn520/TtL96fafYdI/AAAAAAAAAuc/2TjzxvX3W8g/s640/Stuzbrushed02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S51IMgrn520/TtL96fafYdI/AAAAAAAAAuc/2TjzxvX3W8g/s400/Stuzbrushed02.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--iePuyAxH70/TtL97iEq_KI/AAAAAAAAAuo/Ke_VkALU9SQ/s640/DustinZbrush01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--iePuyAxH70/TtL97iEq_KI/AAAAAAAAAuo/Ke_VkALU9SQ/s400/DustinZbrush01.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1UPcg7K4cA/TtL973KntAI/AAAAAAAAAus/5KR1C878x7M/s640/DustinZbrush02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L1UPcg7K4cA/TtL973KntAI/AAAAAAAAAus/5KR1C878x7M/s400/DustinZbrush02.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He's wrapping up the last of the detail work on these as I type this, and will be moving on to getting the texture work for them done soon. We're thrilled, they're looking really great, and he's doing a wonderful job of exaggerating the details to make sure everything reads clearly in the engine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've been making a big focus on gameplay, too. One of the things we're currently missing is collectibles, motivation for the player to explore. Beau's been doing some great concepts for ideas.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dllaLUY4J6k/TtbI4chBNmI/AAAAAAAABWI/VBfL9hDZC5k/s1024/electric_sweets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dllaLUY4J6k/TtbI4chBNmI/AAAAAAAABWI/VBfL9hDZC5k/s400/electric_sweets.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fiz9HlxwJHc/TtbI33iI4LI/AAAAAAAABV8/Wwd6p_v4EHc/s640/batteries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fiz9HlxwJHc/TtbI33iI4LI/AAAAAAAABV8/Wwd6p_v4EHc/s400/batteries.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Upf5UdABZEA/TtbI4dFBxHI/AAAAAAAABWM/Afuadr3HmxQ/s912/nuts%252520and%252520bolts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Upf5UdABZEA/TtbI4dFBxHI/AAAAAAAABWM/Afuadr3HmxQ/s400/nuts%252520and%252520bolts.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We're also looking at reasons for all the platforms to be in the world - one of the ideas we have that we like is the old scaffolding and cranes from the rockets the parents left the planet on that are now littering the trash-strewn world, as well as old abandoned rockets that weren't ready for lift-off for the Great Leaving.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UHaJOTCdx1c/TtbiM18EcCI/AAAAAAAABWg/a3QbHqCZZ8k/s640/rockets02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UHaJOTCdx1c/TtbiM18EcCI/AAAAAAAABWg/a3QbHqCZZ8k/s400/rockets02.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-earhiFKsops/TtbiNBXRKNI/AAAAAAAABWw/Oj3npQpJRRg/s640/scaffolds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-earhiFKsops/TtbiNBXRKNI/AAAAAAAABWw/Oj3npQpJRRg/s400/scaffolds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-0p8m34oZE/TtbiNPXIjeI/AAAAAAAABWk/x-AJ9rRjleg/s640/rocket_platforms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i-0p8m34oZE/TtbiNPXIjeI/AAAAAAAABWk/x-AJ9rRjleg/s400/rocket_platforms.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JIXDJxyuaRw/TtbiTmv5WpI/AAAAAAAABW4/d6ePeUDTfdQ/s640/rockets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JIXDJxyuaRw/TtbiTmv5WpI/AAAAAAAABW4/d6ePeUDTfdQ/s400/rockets.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, I've been working on texture passes for our houses, working getting them ready for final import.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VeS34R1EjOI/TtL6Gf_Ac0I/AAAAAAAAGP4/LfPKQQzvYcs/s1280/SidingPreview03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VeS34R1EjOI/TtL6Gf_Ac0I/AAAAAAAAGP4/LfPKQQzvYcs/s640/SidingPreview03.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1RPAuk8tyUk/TtL63UX_YhI/AAAAAAAAGQM/mY5J0oQZAaw/s512/Accessories_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1RPAuk8tyUk/TtL63UX_YhI/AAAAAAAAGQM/mY5J0oQZAaw/s320/Accessories_Preview.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkrThUWw9fscvxuIp_oFgb-wuX0JiRyNFXWouXC9OPFwro6U9UFtuQq-l0tENhw6Ws8iOHTv3rAnxy6RB_uavriT_nv7vny94rBTVMgdTyx6IHaneWBXN6kTXFHd1fCrvNNJsXRY08kA/s512/accessories_normal01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkrThUWw9fscvxuIp_oFgb-wuX0JiRyNFXWouXC9OPFwro6U9UFtuQq-l0tENhw6Ws8iOHTv3rAnxy6RB_uavriT_nv7vny94rBTVMgdTyx6IHaneWBXN6kTXFHd1fCrvNNJsXRY08kA/s320/accessories_normal01.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yhH-HLpetYs/TtL63PRugQI/AAAAAAAAGQE/TLz0ONUD7N4/s512/Bricks_Color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yhH-HLpetYs/TtL63PRugQI/AAAAAAAAGQE/TLz0ONUD7N4/s320/Bricks_Color.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1ETpKDqkUNzPOb4JRh3Hi2zA_bhQJikbbIVpwYhjrE5fyWjssrzwzqe6eOLDRHxWS_nBzicVI-bJCu1aQAvzVHbjkSlVT2JHTqNKyVihXe0wYSl7jNkv1sez_iUrBpUhBGkOUBqQCbI/s512/Bricks_NRM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN1ETpKDqkUNzPOb4JRh3Hi2zA_bhQJikbbIVpwYhjrE5fyWjssrzwzqe6eOLDRHxWS_nBzicVI-bJCu1aQAvzVHbjkSlVT2JHTqNKyVihXe0wYSl7jNkv1sez_iUrBpUhBGkOUBqQCbI/s320/Bricks_NRM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AMdbrAemwD0/TtL631KXY4I/AAAAAAAAGQY/MSE1eaYPaGU/s512/SidingTest02_COLOR2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AMdbrAemwD0/TtL631KXY4I/AAAAAAAAGQY/MSE1eaYPaGU/s320/SidingTest02_COLOR2.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZG3rK1Cssczb20aLhJCKQ49uBZKTx1X1pjFtieoURjYFnFxmfg_UGA51OBM6UJEzCM2dpqABkLuJqjHY8S_-JKCWQKebNmQHj0Fd_OmmtEi041IETSCjnJxZKvMFStsNXB78I-wk59R8/s512/SidingTest02_COLOR2_blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZG3rK1Cssczb20aLhJCKQ49uBZKTx1X1pjFtieoURjYFnFxmfg_UGA51OBM6UJEzCM2dpqABkLuJqjHY8S_-JKCWQKebNmQHj0Fd_OmmtEi041IETSCjnJxZKvMFStsNXB78I-wk59R8/s320/SidingTest02_COLOR2_blue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KfpBMpSeF5g/TtL64gOmsDI/AAAAAAAAGQ0/yNSm7X1f64I/s512/SidingTest02_NRM02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KfpBMpSeF5g/TtL64gOmsDI/AAAAAAAAGQ0/yNSm7X1f64I/s320/SidingTest02_NRM02.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Em2_BsJfEv0/TtL64NROc5I/AAAAAAAAGQs/W8tJYmhJfVI/s512/SidingTest02_COLOR2_green.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Em2_BsJfEv0/TtL64NROc5I/AAAAAAAAGQs/W8tJYmhJfVI/s320/SidingTest02_COLOR2_green.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtyLu-MdNguJTt24xp3FnINveFdz13nMnmlVKCu537ZWsckrOER7AN6ElefzeSEp1wIQmdPKo4OBuAx7nvNwcoGgZfpkR4XvEecYijIkYumw79D4U4aRiIA401JzWx7YcEgZ0pqX7ozg/s512/vert01_NRM02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtyLu-MdNguJTt24xp3FnINveFdz13nMnmlVKCu537ZWsckrOER7AN6ElefzeSEp1wIQmdPKo4OBuAx7nvNwcoGgZfpkR4XvEecYijIkYumw79D4U4aRiIA401JzWx7YcEgZ0pqX7ozg/s320/vert01_NRM02.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXzto4UaN75R6DGkz9YwoQzGUz2g3qvaGQvfWzIgbE03Jvh-X9VA_C3lDET0TQlIaoe5l2zF8nZtdzyiTEo3IDgO1b43ZA5MIlRfiFnIFWDaUQ0dSNETE7W3UcVBH0ev0pczRdGZ9L0c/s673/SidingPreview04_withTrim.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXzto4UaN75R6DGkz9YwoQzGUz2g3qvaGQvfWzIgbE03Jvh-X9VA_C3lDET0TQlIaoe5l2zF8nZtdzyiTEo3IDgO1b43ZA5MIlRfiFnIFWDaUQ0dSNETE7W3UcVBH0ev0pczRdGZ9L0c/s400/SidingPreview04_withTrim.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've been spending weekends in group work sessions, which have proven hugely beneficial - we've been able to get both the Art and Tech Teams to work directly together and get through a lot of issues very quickly, with great results. We're still pounding away to get the last of the work done before our Art Freeze this coming Monday and our Code Freeze this Tuesday, but they're close and we are all planning to take a little bit of much needed time to rest between semesters as we prepare for the second half of production and really polishing our game.</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-31285815030898060012011-11-23T09:54:00.000-08:002011-11-23T09:54:12.799-08:00Salvage Youth - Week 11 Progress ReportAnother busy week with a lot to show, but I can tell the team is starting to feel the weight of a long semester. It'll be nice to have the Thanksgiving holiday to let everyone depressurize a bit and get some rest.<br />
<br />
We've started keeping a more detailed changelog as the designers get in and start making tweaks to gameplay and getting more and more mechanics into the game. Current changelog for this week, as of Monday:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Art imported to engine</u></b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>Stu Rev1 Model</li>
<li>Jenny Run animation rev1</li>
<li>House wooden Planks</li>
<li>Picket Fence</li>
<li>Billboard houses</li>
<li>See-Saw final</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<b><u>Game changes</u></b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>Pulley puzzle set up for Jenny/Dustin</li>
<li>Start of splitting up of kids within the level</li>
<li>Added House Billboards to the level BG</li>
<li>Got Jenny Animation working in engine</li>
<li>Got Stu model in engine</li>
<li>Bug fixes to Stu Pickup/Throw</li>
<li>Stu can Jump!</li>
<li>Dustin has a gui element (temp art!)</li>
<li>Dustin's sprint has a trail</li>
<li>Main Menu camera Tweens edited</li>
<li>Main menu button fixes, no more invert</li>
<li>Jumping controls smoothed out</li>
<li>Atmospheric fog</li>
<li>Screen Space Ambient Occlusion</li>
<li>Field of View changes per character</li>
<li>Camera fixes so all 3 kids are visible</li>
<li>Outline shaders edited</li>
<li>See saw puzzle edits</li>
<li>Messaging system</li>
</ul><div>Even beyond this, we've made a number of other changes - we've got basic screenspace GUI elements in place, such as a rudimentary word balloon.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82JaPK0jcXys60B6-Z6NDMRPU6iGsF2nXIXoGCm1S2-3rDtsEM42KRxTLFlYeTbYvVhrB-cleqjOiW5f3dnflzgNlhRUWh-fY-vpw4ks7vkFdp50EGKgDFR7kapQVvxuaKNhIF_ehEgY/s1600/jenny+caption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82JaPK0jcXys60B6-Z6NDMRPU6iGsF2nXIXoGCm1S2-3rDtsEM42KRxTLFlYeTbYvVhrB-cleqjOiW5f3dnflzgNlhRUWh-fY-vpw4ks7vkFdp50EGKgDFR7kapQVvxuaKNhIF_ehEgY/s640/jenny+caption.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><br />
<br />
You'll also notice we've got a first pass at fog to create atmosphere as objects recede into the background. We should be getting a skybox and background planes for the distant city in within the next week or so, as well as low-poly houses instead of the single-plane billboard-style houses.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RNUVNarxamE/TsqnsrXV7XI/AAAAAAAABTk/bpvL9Ci9fNA/s1280/city_scape_whole_level.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RNUVNarxamE/TsqnsrXV7XI/AAAAAAAABTk/bpvL9Ci9fNA/s640/city_scape_whole_level.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
We're also going to be adding in a <i>lot</i> more art into the screen to start filling out the world. We're in the process of planning our modular trash pile system and just got our first pass at models for one of our trees - we should have older decaying versions of this tree and a couple other types within the next week or so.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TLVfLPOZq3E/TsqnuZAngKI/AAAAAAAABUA/gZMxIpGLeOg/s912/trash_pile_pieces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TLVfLPOZq3E/TsqnuZAngKI/AAAAAAAABUA/gZMxIpGLeOg/s400/trash_pile_pieces.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F54TdHLiAVA/Tsx9xJcyrhI/AAAAAAAABVY/rJS0QcX4sns/s1024/tree_shapes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F54TdHLiAVA/Tsx9xJcyrhI/AAAAAAAABVY/rJS0QcX4sns/s400/tree_shapes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVU2N7MP5a8/TssLBq5A7wI/AAAAAAAAAHU/0XnCEW9iFLA/s1600/NewProps.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVU2N7MP5a8/TssLBq5A7wI/AAAAAAAAAHU/0XnCEW9iFLA/s400/NewProps.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Beau finished up concept work for the bus, the third and likely final vehicle model we're working on for this push of assets.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9-UZzabVI7I/Tsx9xK0UqJI/AAAAAAAABVU/cT-5pFiOr3E/s912/bus_w_ortho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9-UZzabVI7I/Tsx9xK0UqJI/AAAAAAAABVU/cT-5pFiOr3E/s400/bus_w_ortho.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He's also put in a bunch of time getting the concepts tied down for our Buzzbot model, which we should have modeled soon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AozT8sJUzUU/Tsqn1scVHxI/AAAAAAAABUg/m2p59F4W2Qo/s800/buzzbots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AozT8sJUzUU/Tsqn1scVHxI/AAAAAAAABUg/m2p59F4W2Qo/s400/buzzbots.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0HqLNml9rP0/Tsqnv9CoxjI/AAAAAAAABUQ/VXc2mACiYIc/s640/buzzbots_jaws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0HqLNml9rP0/Tsqnv9CoxjI/AAAAAAAABUQ/VXc2mACiYIc/s400/buzzbots_jaws.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-knFkll7fSjE/Tsx9x3rzAuI/AAAAAAAABVk/9ap4UPzvVs8/s912/buzz_bot_finish_bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="456" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-knFkll7fSjE/Tsx9x3rzAuI/AAAAAAAABVk/9ap4UPzvVs8/s640/buzz_bot_finish_bw.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Meanwhile, Zach finished up the base model for Stu, and we've got him in the game!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5V7qWI714U/Tsl-bdonIBI/AAAAAAAAAuE/g51Cb1aEv7c/s640/model03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5V7qWI714U/Tsl-bdonIBI/AAAAAAAAAuE/g51Cb1aEv7c/s640/model03.jpg" width="544" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is just a flood-fill texture, we'll have a much more detailed texture pass on him in the next couple of weeks as Stu and Dustin get put through Zbrush for high-poly sculpts and final textures.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alexi, as usual, has been modeling like crazy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TRdHgJT6ut4/TseX6K0u-_I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/Hawv1GC96hg/s912/Picketfencerev1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TRdHgJT6ut4/TseX6K0u-_I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/Hawv1GC96hg/s400/Picketfencerev1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cVD87efd7fk/TsjqVTxNmQI/AAAAAAAAAVg/p_32r0Xp1uk/s720/fencebackyard1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cVD87efd7fk/TsjqVTxNmQI/AAAAAAAAAVg/p_32r0Xp1uk/s400/fencebackyard1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y4omayNWCl4/TskLww1aj1I/AAAAAAAAAV0/7LFxDw-JzA0/s1106/yardstuff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y4omayNWCl4/TskLww1aj1I/AAAAAAAAAV0/7LFxDw-JzA0/s400/yardstuff.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I got some more texture work done on top of working on the animation for the kids.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w-k4leQtkZw/Tsqaiw4mKqI/AAAAAAAAGPE/Rtg6Ce4T_84/s599/BackyardFence_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w-k4leQtkZw/Tsqaiw4mKqI/AAAAAAAAGPE/Rtg6Ce4T_84/s400/BackyardFence_Preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2mbMjrFRPDg/TsqaiwsOmGI/AAAAAAAAGPI/IztKqtsMtMY/s512/BackyardFence_Diffuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2mbMjrFRPDg/TsqaiwsOmGI/AAAAAAAAGPI/IztKqtsMtMY/s320/BackyardFence_Diffuse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiThbDbug89G5Q5Io24_eED1b-3O8FziITbfVgv-hZlX38pc5IyiFI_qsELkDaBXocQomp8HChQxIy1AhxYO-LIWQWm_y8fiTxWqfy_oLhRfuh27fBmVRGkfBff42lBU-t9MCw-x5sTpf4/s718/Rooftop_Planks_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiThbDbug89G5Q5Io24_eED1b-3O8FziITbfVgv-hZlX38pc5IyiFI_qsELkDaBXocQomp8HChQxIy1AhxYO-LIWQWm_y8fiTxWqfy_oLhRfuh27fBmVRGkfBff42lBU-t9MCw-x5sTpf4/s400/Rooftop_Planks_Preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-erkF6aY7fEw/Tsg8O06sD3I/AAAAAAAAGOY/fNCdyKWgLqY/s800/PicketFence_TexturePreview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-erkF6aY7fEw/Tsg8O06sD3I/AAAAAAAAGOY/fNCdyKWgLqY/s640/PicketFence_TexturePreview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFokJRetVmz3FfUeiKsG-aizM1s9exY7x8loEBGz5FVSl9Ja6P5pkmSKU4HsKuZ9qSYV2D0uOATFkDIDYWGEIfWmLlNuYj-6YS1sOdIwJVXlFWm0OJX9ZFnocnsmivNAyGpPOWJFfhkw/s512/Tex_Prop_PicketFence_COLOR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFokJRetVmz3FfUeiKsG-aizM1s9exY7x8loEBGz5FVSl9Ja6P5pkmSKU4HsKuZ9qSYV2D0uOATFkDIDYWGEIfWmLlNuYj-6YS1sOdIwJVXlFWm0OJX9ZFnocnsmivNAyGpPOWJFfhkw/s320/Tex_Prop_PicketFence_COLOR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iI9VlbFL050/Tsg8qZmyvgI/AAAAAAAAGOk/YXeg6eFSei8/s512/Tex_Prop_PicketFence_NRM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iI9VlbFL050/Tsg8qZmyvgI/AAAAAAAAGOk/YXeg6eFSei8/s320/Tex_Prop_PicketFence_NRM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've got our First Playable presentation coming up in just a couple of weeks and we've scheduled out the tasks needed to get us ready for this milestone. We're already in pretty good shape, things are really moving along quickly, but we have a left to go. We're pushing hard to polish gameplay up and start getting sound into the game, and there are a lot of art assets we're going to need to get the world really tied together, but we're all on track and excited to get this next big push complete.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">See you next week!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-71676494077097366402011-11-18T18:35:00.000-08:002011-11-18T18:35:48.182-08:00Salvage Youth - Four weeks and a world awayWe've got another big milestone coming up in a few weeks, wrapping things up for the semester, and we've been listing out everything we need to get done before the deadline. Getting it all listed together, seeing it all in one place, it's intimidating. Lots of work, not a lot of time.<br />
<br />
But then I went back and looked at an old build.<br />
<br />
For reference, this is a screenshot from the most recent build we're testing with, created 11/17/2011.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjEz5Mrho3hjqmkAF-Hp-75odQIeO8XqgCLUlaTYxCyygzNheZlTFDiILgZo831ECVO2OkkSGAYEkVIKcf_Hcgy0qA8TLfce1-1gre9UcHySITLPxsib02obq0DOOk-Scw-GPOg4s_Spc/s1600/today.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjEz5Mrho3hjqmkAF-Hp-75odQIeO8XqgCLUlaTYxCyygzNheZlTFDiILgZo831ECVO2OkkSGAYEkVIKcf_Hcgy0qA8TLfce1-1gre9UcHySITLPxsib02obq0DOOk-Scw-GPOg4s_Spc/s640/today.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
This is a screenshot from a build a month previous, dated 10/18/2011<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-nEZRWPHkd0HjY4utAIX5HWO5fu-UyIJp_MPp6Q2EfQnw3qM2LOOZEdfP6QirwudAUcODRGda5r3W47c6OilR2RUL8wr0nkxrwU1azeXFKoeSq7jBHQIgow_6zbbm-WioPnmuUOab9s/s1600/four_weeks_ago.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-nEZRWPHkd0HjY4utAIX5HWO5fu-UyIJp_MPp6Q2EfQnw3qM2LOOZEdfP6QirwudAUcODRGda5r3W47c6OilR2RUL8wr0nkxrwU1azeXFKoeSq7jBHQIgow_6zbbm-WioPnmuUOab9s/s640/four_weeks_ago.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Seriously. Less then four weeks.<br />
<br />
I love my team.Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-64205396495295479122011-11-17T14:28:00.000-08:002011-11-17T14:28:09.579-08:00Salvage Youth - Week 10 Progress ReportAnother productive week with a lot of exciting progress, even with the <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CFYQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elderscrolls.com%2Fskyrim&ei=4ILFTrCLKIv-iQKmtMT5BQ&usg=AFQjCNGEMBDi5pYQuNFMJVd1lzdIHacI5w" target="_blank">myriad distractions</a> that presented themselves this week.<br />
<br />
First up, we got the car model finished and unwrapped. It is now being sculpted in Zbrush by Dan, and we're excited to get it in-engine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IfcQVnrrmi4/TrXJ22N9RjI/AAAAAAAAASk/Zk7JVmoSJeA/s881/StationWagon2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IfcQVnrrmi4/TrXJ22N9RjI/AAAAAAAAASk/Zk7JVmoSJeA/s400/StationWagon2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>We made a handful of smaller props to help fill out the trash in the environment, too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTDmWlrGdfo/TrXJk_OLEjI/AAAAAAAAASQ/ZqxK2vuAJrY/s881/bottles2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTDmWlrGdfo/TrXJk_OLEjI/AAAAAAAAASQ/ZqxK2vuAJrY/s400/bottles2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Alexi also made a set of platforms we can attach to rooftops and piles of junk to help build out the paths the kids will take through the environment.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MFKawGHKQqo/TrfbEyKAPGI/AAAAAAAAATI/RDdFK6xBomk/s1024/PLanksplatfor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MFKawGHKQqo/TrfbEyKAPGI/AAAAAAAAATI/RDdFK6xBomk/s400/PLanksplatfor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MT34-gOLzP8/TrfbFNRHYwI/AAAAAAAAAS8/KJODtVMt8ck/s1113/PLanksplatform.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MT34-gOLzP8/TrfbFNRHYwI/AAAAAAAAAS8/KJODtVMt8ck/s400/PLanksplatform.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGyqnXYr_Yw/TrfbE4ozyxI/AAAAAAAAASw/55nrwj_ED-U/s1280/PLanksendged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGyqnXYr_Yw/TrfbE4ozyxI/AAAAAAAAASw/55nrwj_ED-U/s400/PLanksendged.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Additionally we have the base models we're using for our main menu completed and ready for sculpting and textures.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wRNRn4r4GNs/Trfn6i86feI/AAAAAAAAATQ/nfajQhCRIz8/s640/MenuProps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wRNRn4r4GNs/Trfn6i86feI/AAAAAAAAATQ/nfajQhCRIz8/s400/MenuProps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The see-saw and mattress are also ready for texture.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K-WZ-Iylk1w/Trx71HVc8QI/AAAAAAAAAUA/8jMos42WWws/s1280/seaswasrev11unwrapped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K-WZ-Iylk1w/Trx71HVc8QI/AAAAAAAAAUA/8jMos42WWws/s400/seaswasrev11unwrapped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ahe6hj2HHaM/TryD-KYuIcI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/Asf_j17zeOg/s1280/matress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ahe6hj2HHaM/TryD-KYuIcI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/Asf_j17zeOg/s400/matress.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>As well as the first draft of the small car model.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BP0zEtASgc/TsFEunyetQI/AAAAAAAAAUc/wg4MnjuP4ws/s612/COmpactCar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="335" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BP0zEtASgc/TsFEunyetQI/AAAAAAAAAUc/wg4MnjuP4ws/s400/COmpactCar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
And the picket fence.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EIpOxe5f9nk/TsFHRY5UjPI/AAAAAAAAAUw/DfbtIViO2oc/s1280/pciuketfence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EIpOxe5f9nk/TsFHRY5UjPI/AAAAAAAAAUw/DfbtIViO2oc/s400/pciuketfence.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If you hadn't noticed, Alexi is an absolute <i>beast</i> when it comes to producing models.<br />
<br />
I made a texture set for the see-saw this week.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pp0bTV6sxaSRbpl0TVJ3FnvX_jfUznQytbU3cDWUQl7AiVYEA9QB7FCXYvSTbaNI8Xpew0Ee2V2QHUJrTbYxqWyez8MZY0vpmPENgFg1RXOQEsq2iMVP2_CRazWGE_kDvZrRGN5fwNg/s731/SeeSaw_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pp0bTV6sxaSRbpl0TVJ3FnvX_jfUznQytbU3cDWUQl7AiVYEA9QB7FCXYvSTbaNI8Xpew0Ee2V2QHUJrTbYxqWyez8MZY0vpmPENgFg1RXOQEsq2iMVP2_CRazWGE_kDvZrRGN5fwNg/s400/SeeSaw_Preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wFlvfsQbDko/Tr8a_uVUAhI/AAAAAAAAGKg/HT_qQ4FKlok/s512/Tex_Prop_SeeSaw_Color.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wFlvfsQbDko/Tr8a_uVUAhI/AAAAAAAAGKg/HT_qQ4FKlok/s400/Tex_Prop_SeeSaw_Color.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnIYxB6RCmMgjfJjLxoq9du69RhV7h6qcliApTc-EaLmrO624FceMiCWx_PIOsl_b1BLf9qSFnge4KceS1Aim2hZzbo1LLsGRdXh9ruYn7ArIm-ifzVwgwd-asEM7HD73jGMsPDNqEIU/s512/Tex_Prop_SeeSaw_Normal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfnIYxB6RCmMgjfJjLxoq9du69RhV7h6qcliApTc-EaLmrO624FceMiCWx_PIOsl_b1BLf9qSFnge4KceS1Aim2hZzbo1LLsGRdXh9ruYn7ArIm-ifzVwgwd-asEM7HD73jGMsPDNqEIU/s400/Tex_Prop_SeeSaw_Normal.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beau has been cranking through concept art as well as churning out great game concept layout work.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjclR6YiUXxZX0TKyY2m54JKknbok7bu0Mqzc-3tpVFoJkcIN8GUvpeWoYCgwZRHVdp6huWCqlphCJ-oYgRXMSaPgUYUHrlHdRbIGTMzKeEqo5Opa9T3rpuxB6UbH1jFupBX2QAL74gp9/s720/the_compact_car%252520copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjclR6YiUXxZX0TKyY2m54JKknbok7bu0Mqzc-3tpVFoJkcIN8GUvpeWoYCgwZRHVdp6huWCqlphCJ-oYgRXMSaPgUYUHrlHdRbIGTMzKeEqo5Opa9T3rpuxB6UbH1jFupBX2QAL74gp9/s400/the_compact_car%252520copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioK3eCFL46POSyl7SEPcJKDWGXRqiEggBbz0TsOu2-jzMgJt-Wb9C4YWB_ySiJrSiDZtjuhNXwqxwmlbKEm8LTF2zS0Aj2sRwc0YcJ7kuWrOnrYIM2zRoPvbS-zCfcFtN_f2QeVaN2VbtP/s576/pciuketfence_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioK3eCFL46POSyl7SEPcJKDWGXRqiEggBbz0TsOu2-jzMgJt-Wb9C4YWB_ySiJrSiDZtjuhNXwqxwmlbKEm8LTF2zS0Aj2sRwc0YcJ7kuWrOnrYIM2zRoPvbS-zCfcFtN_f2QeVaN2VbtP/s400/pciuketfence_color.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJprbK8hhREAtCiIfIo2zz9XB0fk49pwMZsKVNWveUdslNGnaA6DJ2IeQmF44rqdAlvriT3-K1cjbaHFQON5lZap9FroYTs-aSgYAmCvqIU6_d2YMMYa9nVlLTTrjbasPMv3-tTKWJGku1/s1280/the_compact_car_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJprbK8hhREAtCiIfIo2zz9XB0fk49pwMZsKVNWveUdslNGnaA6DJ2IeQmF44rqdAlvriT3-K1cjbaHFQON5lZap9FroYTs-aSgYAmCvqIU6_d2YMMYa9nVlLTTrjbasPMv3-tTKWJGku1/s400/the_compact_car_color.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGk1v0D2x99gxH3_mDjG3qLkkWMCWbDkY0rQPOmEkPUD04ORZugFjqVk2PTx4A4Lh_zVKgm0eZ02c6qozgJAlFpV7XgZmNFhpPsp7JXSu5zZCxBKNfDqJi85bRd55frJzqXWNf5oVgSdx/s1280/the_oak_tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGk1v0D2x99gxH3_mDjG3qLkkWMCWbDkY0rQPOmEkPUD04ORZugFjqVk2PTx4A4Lh_zVKgm0eZ02c6qozgJAlFpV7XgZmNFhpPsp7JXSu5zZCxBKNfDqJi85bRd55frJzqXWNf5oVgSdx/s400/the_oak_tree.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3JBz3sMxy3g/TsFlj6WHZTI/AAAAAAAABRA/nwijigU0Odc/s640/poplar_trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3JBz3sMxy3g/TsFlj6WHZTI/AAAAAAAABRA/nwijigU0Odc/s400/poplar_trees.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgiR4uZQXkQ/TsFliVyOYzI/AAAAAAAABQ8/tM5-lAiJFtE/s640/poplar_trees_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BgiR4uZQXkQ/TsFliVyOYzI/AAAAAAAABQ8/tM5-lAiJFtE/s400/poplar_trees_color.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The designers have shifted focus, now that we've got a lot of core functionality in-game, to laying out fun to play platforming puzzles and then providing them to Beau to make them make sense for our game world. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vcp-taqPTug/TsFlfkytyOI/AAAAAAAABP0/K4P5nxheCQQ/s1280/jennytraversal_greybox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vcp-taqPTug/TsFlfkytyOI/AAAAAAAABP0/K4P5nxheCQQ/s400/jennytraversal_greybox.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dr-KLds_rfY/TsFlfgNsXyI/AAAAAAAABP4/bwAxVSy82A0/s1280/dustintraversal_greybox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dr-KLds_rfY/TsFlfgNsXyI/AAAAAAAABP4/bwAxVSy82A0/s400/dustintraversal_greybox.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WCVWs_GXs8w/TsFlgrY2OrI/AAAAAAAABQE/s5oV7ZCC1ww/s640/greyboxing02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WCVWs_GXs8w/TsFlgrY2OrI/AAAAAAAABQE/s5oV7ZCC1ww/s400/greyboxing02.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The game layout itself is getting to be a lot of fun - still a lot of placeholder art and objects in, but it's coming along great, and the data we're getting from our weekly testing has been incredibly valuable. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G6z2Zik5Oio/TsWICMOXZvI/AAAAAAAAGNw/5XYhYusdcT8/s800/greyboxing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G6z2Zik5Oio/TsWICMOXZvI/AAAAAAAAGNw/5XYhYusdcT8/s400/greyboxing.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9OBisaiJ90d4pQCU3xqTJbbYK-V7EmnxX73t4xQ_1clsr1d2jvSTv5MZfVmS_vikOCohktkcGuYRJcYVvFdjADNjkostm71aJNk6W-nsYpih1aEXIFyZpRlswGqEQZuT2MCRMWW-LLI/s800/Waterspray02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9OBisaiJ90d4pQCU3xqTJbbYK-V7EmnxX73t4xQ_1clsr1d2jvSTv5MZfVmS_vikOCohktkcGuYRJcYVvFdjADNjkostm71aJNk6W-nsYpih1aEXIFyZpRlswGqEQZuT2MCRMWW-LLI/s400/Waterspray02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Zach got ill this week and wasn't able to get through everything he wanted to, but he still did some wonderful work getting the wrench finished up and working on designs for Stu, our third kid.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-axd8Dny6Jtw/Trgvg1_f4nI/AAAAAAAAAp8/ZMfjvAv3rXI/s640/Wrenchmodel01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-axd8Dny6Jtw/Trgvg1_f4nI/AAAAAAAAAp8/ZMfjvAv3rXI/s400/Wrenchmodel01.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DEex1zAhhSg/TrgvqPOXulI/AAAAAAAAAqM/9AkPKTrzv5k/s640/Stu001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DEex1zAhhSg/TrgvqPOXulI/AAAAAAAAAqM/9AkPKTrzv5k/s400/Stu001.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-akBx9AuTljs/Trg4EZZ2mUI/AAAAAAAAAqg/fc-rXIz_H5Q/s800/Stucolorthumbs02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="338" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-akBx9AuTljs/Trg4EZZ2mUI/AAAAAAAAAqg/fc-rXIz_H5Q/s400/Stucolorthumbs02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg4cc1tAdqc/TsFuQFWkbHI/AAAAAAAAAs4/JAEGM24nG20/s912/together001%252520copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kg4cc1tAdqc/TsFuQFWkbHI/AAAAAAAAAs4/JAEGM24nG20/s400/together001%252520copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zg9NrzL8eaU/TsFujN_MQrI/AAAAAAAAAtI/5oWuBx7xiIE/s800/thekids%252520copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zg9NrzL8eaU/TsFujN_MQrI/AAAAAAAAAtI/5oWuBx7xiIE/s400/thekids%252520copy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JaTgAx6XLqA/TsFuQwik3LI/AAAAAAAAAtA/2qxpqkyMQZk/s1280/Stuturn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JaTgAx6XLqA/TsFuQwik3LI/AAAAAAAAAtA/2qxpqkyMQZk/s400/Stuturn.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He's already underway on modelling him so we can get a rough version of him in-game and get rid of the last of the placeholder robot guys. We're all really excited to see him in-game.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Finally, and most exciting for me, Randy finished the character rig and got animation import working for the game.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9rUsmIEKG0o?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I've been spending the rest of my time working on animating Jenny and getting her ready for in-game. It's been a lot of testing and working with the designers early-on to get the speed and physicality down, but I should have a lot of fun stuff to share soon.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We set ourselves some new goals this week and are looking at making some really exciting new art and gameplay over the next month or so, and with any luck we're hoping to have the game ready for early public testing by mid-January.</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-15544640944672546322011-11-13T18:22:00.000-08:002011-11-13T18:22:12.394-08:00Cobbler & The Elves - Process WorkI've really been inspired by a bunch of work posted to a few art blogs I follow lately, especially when they detail their process work - in particular, <a href="http://ralphhorsley.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ralph Horsely</a> and <a href="http://samkieth.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Sam Kieth</a>'s blogs are wonderful resources for inpiration, tricks and ideas. Ralph is an astounding fantasy artist, which I'm a huge geek for. Sam was the artist and author of The Maxx, a comic that had a <i>huge</i> impact on me when I was a teenager, and he continues to create amazing mixed-media pieces on a regular basis. You should check out their work.<br />
<br />
In an effort to share a bit more of my stuff and talk about how I work, I thought I'd try and do some of the same, although obviously not with work near their level. I just completed this piece below as an illustration for a class and had a lot of images available to show the progression - I've taken to working on a new level any time I reach anything that feels like a milestone so I can go back and see how things are coming. It's helped a lot in keeping me on pace and on track.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DgXoGJa3VOLmJeO4kg53RLiWaHubWCh1UeuvqYBLvpO6DcTrDniFCqNOD1eRXxb1-WtDPwB11adPiJaljTPTIaeivJE1wmF1OidrW3-iMl1a9lnZ20Nqqkb47tuL_6fnImBEwog6Fhk/s1600/Cobbler_016_Contrast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DgXoGJa3VOLmJeO4kg53RLiWaHubWCh1UeuvqYBLvpO6DcTrDniFCqNOD1eRXxb1-WtDPwB11adPiJaljTPTIaeivJE1wmF1OidrW3-iMl1a9lnZ20Nqqkb47tuL_6fnImBEwog6Fhk/s640/Cobbler_016_Contrast.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The piece was an illustration from the story of the Cobbler and the Elves. We were given three stories and told to find scenes from them we wanted to illustrate and take to a finished state over a couple of weeks.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MyWeUCHN6tySqo9kOKSS1YHVDqc_lmNsyOdyn1KDFzmeZq6wOIBnd3AC_WzQ1WJV9fYIaH-UenlL6FkKf8qtvaDkRIVCy5KI_8Eskfb5CZJXWnFuczY7tPdbxFBgfpLV0-8Hf68eycA/s1600/Cobbler_000_a_Thumbs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2MyWeUCHN6tySqo9kOKSS1YHVDqc_lmNsyOdyn1KDFzmeZq6wOIBnd3AC_WzQ1WJV9fYIaH-UenlL6FkKf8qtvaDkRIVCy5KI_8Eskfb5CZJXWnFuczY7tPdbxFBgfpLV0-8Hf68eycA/s320/Cobbler_000_a_Thumbs.jpg" width="305" /></a></div> I began with some very rough thumbs, trying to find compositions and images that told the story well and would be a fun challenge to work with.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtIMe4pPXRVGZnAORy9eOqekjE8M5W-wM98rx-fpQF7iJZl7z2vUC_RI8aLO54mNOOJgFXJsZqYRDG1CqoL6RigjKnby987j9GaTfMqT4cDfrJ3U0yZgA7TqZ61YP_6I2DtYaQqqJ5dY/s1600/Cobbler_000_Pencils.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtIMe4pPXRVGZnAORy9eOqekjE8M5W-wM98rx-fpQF7iJZl7z2vUC_RI8aLO54mNOOJgFXJsZqYRDG1CqoL6RigjKnby987j9GaTfMqT4cDfrJ3U0yZgA7TqZ61YP_6I2DtYaQqqJ5dY/s320/Cobbler_000_Pencils.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I ended up selecting this piece. Now, this is where I ended up causing myself the most heart-ache. Instead of going in and doing a tighter pencil drawing, I just used my thumbnail. Foolish, lazy mistake. Every time I do that in an effort to save time I end up causing myself WAY more work. It's the same way with animation - if you don't put in the planning work at the beginning, it'll cost you a ton more heartache later when it gets a lot more complicated. Had I been wise I would have tightened up and resolved all of the shapes, the detail and the perspective here rather then trying to do it in paint in Photoshop. Live and learn, I suppose.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCohOWMagwfH8WevxXYmtkjaFbIZ1S6DEL-ZMhoL_iP5gTLGcfcFq8V5DdHiZw_GVUU6w1JfFYdirAlEwmRUCprHZvoR_XOQ06H2Wq0NWTS36OkgBLkOFIjm7TIYdeNP6WOLoc8SWyrSY/s1600/Cobbler_000_Pencils2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCohOWMagwfH8WevxXYmtkjaFbIZ1S6DEL-ZMhoL_iP5gTLGcfcFq8V5DdHiZw_GVUU6w1JfFYdirAlEwmRUCprHZvoR_XOQ06H2Wq0NWTS36OkgBLkOFIjm7TIYdeNP6WOLoc8SWyrSY/s320/Cobbler_000_Pencils2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
To start, I laid down a warm medium grey/brown tone as my base and began painting in my base values roughly to get a decent feel for the illustration and composition. Again, had my pencils been better, I would have been able to solve a lot of problems here, such as the cobbler's wife, the drapery and filling in the dead space.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgum17-W1Xic6Ms7oSvg0H7GQhSEZ9qntgweorAdZ_s_UJvI-8nIkO6Qx_gdm5ZfXmtAwIotlYHBtUogBXmcSE5kJ5-ogb3Im2HWHuD-yReRgSy8dc-XtNCj1NSIfa3ZMr0UTiPd-wigf0/s1600/Cobbler_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgum17-W1Xic6Ms7oSvg0H7GQhSEZ9qntgweorAdZ_s_UJvI-8nIkO6Qx_gdm5ZfXmtAwIotlYHBtUogBXmcSE5kJ5-ogb3Im2HWHuD-yReRgSy8dc-XtNCj1NSIfa3ZMr0UTiPd-wigf0/s320/Cobbler_001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Once I reached a certain point I turned off my pencils so I could begin working with the actual values. This is really where you know if a painting will work or not - does it read without the linework?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaeyrIMAcSQaOsiIKHEYne4YSixu_JEM8YZYL1bGxZe06-gDd5Kmc6PrXWczvyjrm1-lh72EvZ3tpq05XIlKPUjRnMuqiXPYq4NUDrsc1kvTGecWBB7e5hdE6g1wLpxP2k5haOtocaOUU/s1600/Cobbler_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaeyrIMAcSQaOsiIKHEYne4YSixu_JEM8YZYL1bGxZe06-gDd5Kmc6PrXWczvyjrm1-lh72EvZ3tpq05XIlKPUjRnMuqiXPYq4NUDrsc1kvTGecWBB7e5hdE6g1wLpxP2k5haOtocaOUU/s320/Cobbler_003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here I began increasing contrast slightly, defining a little more of the forms and adding in some fill light, building up the shadow shapes and trying to figure out a bit more of the forms.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOOhdIHqmRbILGMlM3_v7NnNd8_3kndjXgL0CiktKVtYG1mfYBOBUBIOl55MeDU0pUZ1heL9U2XJzIQlQDhWBdK7hQQHodZGVfWKK3YvV7TMZ2q0WkB6EwnsgoQGeQgHSM44P6EGQ_SE/s1600/Cobbler_005_Peter01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtOOhdIHqmRbILGMlM3_v7NnNd8_3kndjXgL0CiktKVtYG1mfYBOBUBIOl55MeDU0pUZ1heL9U2XJzIQlQDhWBdK7hQQHodZGVfWKK3YvV7TMZ2q0WkB6EwnsgoQGeQgHSM44P6EGQ_SE/s320/Cobbler_005_Peter01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
At this point my instructor gave me a great little paint-over on my piece, first starting with a line sketch over the Cobbler, helping to round out his shape and add better detail.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7RO2NLEOdXqfNVA4rEFuc-CtJuSK3jUZ5kcejuV8kLx6Lr9r7o5ptm4E8vXi-umot21sNDCAWanzvt_SIMvViuvltduECXsRQHF0n5q2JlnRh1MYtGUzhtB5Uhqab4TSJZSNdhFCUog/s1600/Cobbler_006_Peter02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG7RO2NLEOdXqfNVA4rEFuc-CtJuSK3jUZ5kcejuV8kLx6Lr9r7o5ptm4E8vXi-umot21sNDCAWanzvt_SIMvViuvltduECXsRQHF0n5q2JlnRh1MYtGUzhtB5Uhqab4TSJZSNdhFCUog/s320/Cobbler_006_Peter02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
He also did a scrub-in of light and dark to add better contrast and form to the piece.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrghlG53cWsgKCXmJov8AcyYYs34Cl-9I5XpFG0zB7Cmb1ja24TG_fAZHYYS_MSJ76XDf75_jsc9eE_M5JxzzV5ioAz9K-Yzkbp7z5TcQNvQJSjNzx1wRvsqYf7rfIQGU2pb_vz0xqmI/s1600/Cobbler_007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDrghlG53cWsgKCXmJov8AcyYYs34Cl-9I5XpFG0zB7Cmb1ja24TG_fAZHYYS_MSJ76XDf75_jsc9eE_M5JxzzV5ioAz9K-Yzkbp7z5TcQNvQJSjNzx1wRvsqYf7rfIQGU2pb_vz0xqmI/s320/Cobbler_007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I selected my old cobbler and just blurred him out, giving me a decent base to paint over without getting wrapped up in the details.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfd17_H-OOQTlYd2i0YA4LXa-p171GkJ-vBF8LMbJuBrdQeKZ7AQXmXBGnKNzM_dRiO_o2MnsK5AxNpy3zcvPDC7LSRDzxsFp6O5sRL1BYSPmLLf8kGf51uL_WLQu9FhAsyLmkOq8bIQ/s1600/Cobbler_009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEfd17_H-OOQTlYd2i0YA4LXa-p171GkJ-vBF8LMbJuBrdQeKZ7AQXmXBGnKNzM_dRiO_o2MnsK5AxNpy3zcvPDC7LSRDzxsFp6O5sRL1BYSPmLLf8kGf51uL_WLQu9FhAsyLmkOq8bIQ/s320/Cobbler_009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Here I went in and started tying down the changes to the forms, adding in light and form to the wife, the cobbler's head, arms and beard. I also added the clothing for the elves he was working on onto the workbench and filled some of the dead space behind him with a shelf of some kind. Lots of defining shape and form.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtX0LJtvKTCXmrlYAOnnCfneE9PJhBMuGhCZ_f_b0Gt3rzspfbA5HXgYOpDSEQ8U9yhgfyD7w8_Mp6fYPMqJZhNDvctd9E8oqj1NyNguRGBCzKRHp5Lv3Usm2ixqtzIit4fUfJ62lNMc/s1600/Cobbler_011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVtX0LJtvKTCXmrlYAOnnCfneE9PJhBMuGhCZ_f_b0Gt3rzspfbA5HXgYOpDSEQ8U9yhgfyD7w8_Mp6fYPMqJZhNDvctd9E8oqj1NyNguRGBCzKRHp5Lv3Usm2ixqtzIit4fUfJ62lNMc/s320/Cobbler_011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
More definition, more contrast. I should have worked from more reference of candle-light, there is far too much ambiguous and ambient light for a piece that has the single-point lighting of the candle.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYHxBL2PWVsDi3oT9yN2Yl0_E34XM4FJBvDOaKG7a60OZWqRQuGpvmUvDHoOCvp_xJ5Bi7mHvfRrm-aU3hRuA5P5nCXV9gjhyanF9p6YYDWTT_HKfDZv6Q1SGns6r91C3WOF-AUBdq-o/s1600/Cobbler_013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYHxBL2PWVsDi3oT9yN2Yl0_E34XM4FJBvDOaKG7a60OZWqRQuGpvmUvDHoOCvp_xJ5Bi7mHvfRrm-aU3hRuA5P5nCXV9gjhyanF9p6YYDWTT_HKfDZv6Q1SGns6r91C3WOF-AUBdq-o/s320/Cobbler_013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Softening the forms of the shadow, defining the wife and the basket, getting a bit more work on the Cobbler.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvbeX7GRr7RtVoYhyphenhyphenNBkOXAA_JC7TBs_oFf6yoXatlod3Iw9z0HhRN_J44FJlF5ALzad7J-67slLLHDtkyNnTD2pyPwOQdxPwkA00PeFwzkPZVnQyUnX_9HCe2AacGdLxwr2fcSrgzog/s1600/Cobbler_014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQvbeX7GRr7RtVoYhyphenhyphenNBkOXAA_JC7TBs_oFf6yoXatlod3Iw9z0HhRN_J44FJlF5ALzad7J-67slLLHDtkyNnTD2pyPwOQdxPwkA00PeFwzkPZVnQyUnX_9HCe2AacGdLxwr2fcSrgzog/s320/Cobbler_014.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
At this point, I decided the lighting was still too ambiguous so I just did a huge rough lighting pass on a new layer, pushing the idea of cast light and shadow and increasing the contrast greatly.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9zJci3irwcNNkp_zNfhihBm2-OtNOO2jpnf8KYmNSTblX74YaZZCfKHWxbWoC7ZO-zwPI3nuO0hA1bHYX_0Wyf97F0BirD7FjhWsIpCtkau-2kJBqQHVEnPzZokkloQSt4on474WM8A/s1600/Cobbler_015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9zJci3irwcNNkp_zNfhihBm2-OtNOO2jpnf8KYmNSTblX74YaZZCfKHWxbWoC7ZO-zwPI3nuO0hA1bHYX_0Wyf97F0BirD7FjhWsIpCtkau-2kJBqQHVEnPzZokkloQSt4on474WM8A/s320/Cobbler_015.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I then blurred that layer and used its information to paint up new light and shape into the forms.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2j1V1XEXxRkIEcVHfJ_Mq5DM6QFSJ9g5CsQEB55oGWClb3cD73z1Qs_xzqkUQD4P2DT8ASBvvMfvYn8fG-P4pFVcfoyMvZk96JWocgb7RekEbdgnwrS4YLocFC7P21HHIQ-tPWica9ks/s1600/Cobbler_016_Levels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2j1V1XEXxRkIEcVHfJ_Mq5DM6QFSJ9g5CsQEB55oGWClb3cD73z1Qs_xzqkUQD4P2DT8ASBvvMfvYn8fG-P4pFVcfoyMvZk96JWocgb7RekEbdgnwrS4YLocFC7P21HHIQ-tPWica9ks/s320/Cobbler_016_Levels.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Softening the light a bit more, giving a warmer feel and adjusting the levels for clarity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DgXoGJa3VOLmJeO4kg53RLiWaHubWCh1UeuvqYBLvpO6DcTrDniFCqNOD1eRXxb1-WtDPwB11adPiJaljTPTIaeivJE1wmF1OidrW3-iMl1a9lnZ20Nqqkb47tuL_6fnImBEwog6Fhk/s1600/Cobbler_016_Contrast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DgXoGJa3VOLmJeO4kg53RLiWaHubWCh1UeuvqYBLvpO6DcTrDniFCqNOD1eRXxb1-WtDPwB11adPiJaljTPTIaeivJE1wmF1OidrW3-iMl1a9lnZ20Nqqkb47tuL_6fnImBEwog6Fhk/s320/Cobbler_016_Contrast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A final levels and contrast adjustment and the piece and I were ready to part ways.<br />
<br />
I wouldn't say this is my strongest piece ever, but I learned a lot from the process and enjoyed working on it a ton. It was one of the first digital paintings I'd done where I felt like I was in control of the process and enjoying it.<br />
<br />
I did nearly the entire piece using a single brush, one I gleaned from a tutorial video by a stellar game artist, <a href="http://www.mindofmcgibs.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Jesse McGibney</a>. He demonstrates the brush, along with a number of his other techniques, in the following video.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RHlEduMhraU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The brush itself is actually pretty simple - a rounded corner square with the direction set to follow the direction of the stroke, with size, opacity and flow set to pen pressure. That's about it, but it is remarkable how much it creates a feeling of actual painting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
This was also my first piece working with the new painting tools in Photoshop CS5. I have to say, I <i>really, really</i> like them. The new color picker that lets you compare your selected color to your previous color is an absolute revelation, and I can't imagine working without it any more. Great stuff.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, I hope this post was useful to someone. If anyone has any comments or other process work/tips to share, I'd love to hear them.</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-34390653045913792642011-11-02T17:05:00.000-07:002011-11-02T17:05:56.822-07:00Salvage Youth - Week 9 Progress ReportIt never ceases to amaze me how quick things happen on this project - every week I have to go back and look at what happened since my last report, and every time I'm amazed that it only happened in a week.<div><br />
</div><div>Like what, you ask? Well, we've got a logo now. Makes things all official and stuff.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8l0jvd6-h0/TqiILEmbZ_I/AAAAAAAABJc/9iNX2wjS39Y/s400/salvage_youth_logo_idea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8l0jvd6-h0/TqiILEmbZ_I/AAAAAAAABJc/9iNX2wjS39Y/s400/salvage_youth_logo_idea.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We've already used it in some branded artwork hanging on the projects boards here at school - great looking stuff Beau put together.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GxEA7luCeZM/TqiH-xuniBI/AAAAAAAABJM/R58lRCnBXLI/s400/salvage_youth_display02_stationwagon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GxEA7luCeZM/TqiH-xuniBI/AAAAAAAABJM/R58lRCnBXLI/s400/salvage_youth_display02_stationwagon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Alexi has been hard at work as always, modelling up a storm. We've got a few more gameplay props being pushed through the pipeline.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQHiL3Qa2Ws/TqWfrxEuDxI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3C3QJmdCinA/s400/pullyviewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQHiL3Qa2Ws/TqWfrxEuDxI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3C3QJmdCinA/s400/pullyviewport.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woxCVDTRyEA/TqnRlDlForI/AAAAAAAAARM/5wvIrlDWp-k/s400/Viewport2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-woxCVDTRyEA/TqnRlDlForI/AAAAAAAAARM/5wvIrlDWp-k/s400/Viewport2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>We also did a lot of work this week standardizing sizes and shapes for our tiled terrain system - the basic unit is complete, with a rough texture pass done for it. I already tested replacing one of the sidewalk tiles for another shape, the banked sidewalk that allows driveway access, and things worked perfectly.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D-IsBqg_l4k/TqoC_Q1tI2I/AAAAAAAAARY/bAFpUvkeiZM/s400/Groundtilething.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D-IsBqg_l4k/TqoC_Q1tI2I/AAAAAAAAARY/bAFpUvkeiZM/s400/Groundtilething.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tZjx_ZNhClo/TrHWGUD-KHI/AAAAAAAAF3w/OZPFRUwoKas/s1280/Tile%252520Textures.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tZjx_ZNhClo/TrHWGUD-KHI/AAAAAAAAF3w/OZPFRUwoKas/s400/Tile%252520Textures.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>I actually had time to do some texture work this week, too. I love getting to polypaint, it reminds me a lot of painting miniatures and traditional models, something I almost never get to do any more.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpMZefX6Bf4N4CqXAlyFJdiFDQHG6UmLCHPSVxDXcZ7MwZf1gxDJw-kJf9fJAUJwYs1jP3fjkoTA_nfexl5XbVnetd4sj3GT-U-IPVRrcJ4KuSZXvMxRumOGlzsS8CQDV_JTSU2m5oh8/s1600/hydrants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnpMZefX6Bf4N4CqXAlyFJdiFDQHG6UmLCHPSVxDXcZ7MwZf1gxDJw-kJf9fJAUJwYs1jP3fjkoTA_nfexl5XbVnetd4sj3GT-U-IPVRrcJ4KuSZXvMxRumOGlzsS8CQDV_JTSU2m5oh8/s400/hydrants.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div>I also spent more time playing with particles, getting the water spraying out of the hydrant looking more realistic. I also got to do a little animation - the hydrant now rumbles and flaps as the water shoots out of it, and when you fix it, the lid floats up and slams itself down on top.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3KNpkFK7bDE/TrHXNyrbkNI/AAAAAAAAF34/khDnq1uZCoY/s800/waterspray_particles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3KNpkFK7bDE/TrHXNyrbkNI/AAAAAAAAF34/khDnq1uZCoY/s400/waterspray_particles.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>If you look closely, you'll notice another new feature we've got working in the game - real-time shadow-casting. We need to spend time dialing in the lighting, and right now it severely slows down our framerate (we're still averaging around 80fps, though), but that's an optimization issue - every item in our game is casting real-time shadows. In later builds, once we get the layouts more established, any static object (items that don't move around) will get shadows baked in, so that we don't have to render their shadows every frame. It'll save us a TON of computing power.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We've got some other new features working, too - we have patrolling enemies (the robots above, although the art used for them is placeholder art for the time being) with incredibly intuitive tools for setting their waypoints, thanks to Ryan. We also found a great plugin for Unity called iTween, a free system that allows us to animate or constrain objects and characters along splines and bezier curves. This lets us actually move objects along complex curve systems and control speed, direction, all sorts of things, in a perfectly predictable manner. The tool is pretty robust, and it's already found its way into our main menu system and some of our puzzles. It'll also allow us to move the kids between lanes much more naturally as well as make their lanes curve from side to side around objects, rather then the perfectly straight lines they were previously. Good stuff.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUJoi1s7K_Q/Tq50zPcleJI/AAAAAAAAARs/F1QSindP8rU/s400/renderEdges1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CUJoi1s7K_Q/Tq50zPcleJI/AAAAAAAAARs/F1QSindP8rU/s400/renderEdges1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Alexi's been working on getting the first car up and ready for texture/sculpting, which is great - this is one of the props with a lot of character we've all been looking forward to seeing come together.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cN7JzrTm6Cs/Tq6OlO0IQPI/AAAAAAAAASE/SX5cIXsTU2E/s400/Mattressviewedged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cN7JzrTm6Cs/Tq6OlO0IQPI/AAAAAAAAASE/SX5cIXsTU2E/s400/Mattressviewedged.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
</div><div>He's also got a great little mattress all finished, ready for texture and sculpt. Meanwhile, Zach's been hard at work getting our fast kid, Dustin, ready for putting in-game.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rXHSy6VkPUI/Tq7oFApzNKI/AAAAAAAAApA/6IwDf5m5XPY/s400/dustinmodel01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rXHSy6VkPUI/Tq7oFApzNKI/AAAAAAAAApA/6IwDf5m5XPY/s400/dustinmodel01.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rlbY5VzqCo/Tq7oIHblrTI/AAAAAAAAApQ/5Dhwp2piJ9E/s400/Dustincolorcomps01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rlbY5VzqCo/Tq7oIHblrTI/AAAAAAAAApQ/5Dhwp2piJ9E/s400/Dustincolorcomps01.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At this point, Zach is switching gears - instead of getting the zbrush sculpt done, we're going to get the Stu character concepted and put him in some drawings with Jenny and Dustin, making sure that we are thinking about the color schemes and designs of all three kids at once, rather then waiting until the end to do him. Zach has been rock-steady reliable for his contributions since the start, so this change-up shouldn't effect our estimated progress at all.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We're really moving along, getting tons of stuff in-engine and in front of testers, and it's really going great. We are all still excited and motivated about the project, but we all know we still have a long, long way to go. Hopefully we can keep our enthusiasm up through the rest of the year, but with a project this fun, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
See you next week!</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-87541651234948670222011-10-26T14:28:00.001-07:002011-10-26T14:55:11.139-07:00Salvage Youth - Week 8 Progress ReportI missed putting up a report last week, since we were focused heavily on preparing presentations for our milestone, but I'm excited about sharing all the progress we've gotten done over the last two weeks because we've gotten a <i>ton</i> of work done on the game.<br />
<br />
First of all, we've made a huge step - instead of having art assets <i>for</i> our game, we've actually got art assets <i>in</i> our game. This has been a gigantic milestone for us, and is starting to make it feel like a real game rather then just a demo of the Unity Engine. The Art Team is excited, seeing their art actually in-game, and the designers are having a great time working with the assets to make levels for testing that are much more reflective of real gameplay. It's hard to overstate how critical this stage has been for all of us.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIq77DJL9HM/TqhAQE1ThCI/AAAAAAAAAGM/qLRHAx95hTE/s1600/screencap2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EIq77DJL9HM/TqhAQE1ThCI/AAAAAAAAAGM/qLRHAx95hTE/s400/screencap2.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The art itself has been chugging along wonderfully - adding Dan to the team has sped up the process greatly, as he's taking over doing all the high-res sculpts of the prop objects.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NhwcVOvI5kA/TptsPjVi-sI/AAAAAAAAASo/G9zLA_bboG8/s400/Fire_hydrant_sculpt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NhwcVOvI5kA/TptsPjVi-sI/AAAAAAAAASo/G9zLA_bboG8/s400/Fire_hydrant_sculpt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9dbgeJcm6lA/Tptr3ifiQ9I/AAAAAAAAASg/Vqbk7ntgC1w/s400/Garbage_Sculpt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9dbgeJcm6lA/Tptr3ifiQ9I/AAAAAAAAASg/Vqbk7ntgC1w/s400/Garbage_Sculpt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've been doing a lot of planning for the beginnings of our UI stuff, starting with the Main Menu. We've got a neat idea we're hoping to get in-game soon that should tie in well with our backstory and help explain a lot about the world in an elegant fashion. Beau's concept work for it has been gorgeous, as always.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Le873YzzTkX4cHdQUnkDgAId6fNJfaJuLZCPk_xQn0c656gW24WRr9IRVa4KzyuXlcDq01YWoQDzsvPTr7R6bofXLQVet-06hlTuOJEopeJ-2hAhviWB6JyHYFcF07W1urFH0k955KQ/s640/menu_thumbnails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Le873YzzTkX4cHdQUnkDgAId6fNJfaJuLZCPk_xQn0c656gW24WRr9IRVa4KzyuXlcDq01YWoQDzsvPTr7R6bofXLQVet-06hlTuOJEopeJ-2hAhviWB6JyHYFcF07W1urFH0k955KQ/s400/menu_thumbnails.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjSRMTr78d4/TqWuZ4ymIgI/AAAAAAAABHE/4e0vHnv07kI/s1152/main_menu_concept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VjSRMTr78d4/TqWuZ4ymIgI/AAAAAAAABHE/4e0vHnv07kI/s400/main_menu_concept.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He's been cranking out great concept work for other props and world objects, as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_FcKgwtFrZ8/TqWuZLuE02I/AAAAAAAABG0/XB2azKkLT8s/s1280/station_wagon_oxidized.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_FcKgwtFrZ8/TqWuZLuE02I/AAAAAAAABG0/XB2azKkLT8s/s400/station_wagon_oxidized.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w0PL6guw7BE/TqWuX5F8WoI/AAAAAAAABGs/izg--cj1J_Q/s640/robot_dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w0PL6guw7BE/TqWuX5F8WoI/AAAAAAAABGs/izg--cj1J_Q/s400/robot_dog.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eWRFHMdW6rc/TqWucaC_fXI/AAAAAAAABHk/oCDUYywjANo/s640/trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eWRFHMdW6rc/TqWucaC_fXI/AAAAAAAABHk/oCDUYywjANo/s400/trees.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We're getting more world props built and pushed through the pipeline as well. Alexi is a modelling <i>machine</i>, he's constantly getting props built and ready for texture and sculpt. Unstoppable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQHiL3Qa2Ws/TqWfrxEuDxI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3C3QJmdCinA/s400/pullyviewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SQHiL3Qa2Ws/TqWfrxEuDxI/AAAAAAAAAP8/3C3QJmdCinA/s400/pullyviewport.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8wZ9Rk_QwwcjfRUnjuoTY5-C8ysse5rJwidQus2bovadZkdGwlWQQQus0CatnoqcD0bbZxmFljC_YMdkcf-giS6cOHoMvHAS8RDonw1M9nYFpVSnwBWuXlvxfVGd-MvCUiJDNsDt2cY/s400/Dumpsterviewpoer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8wZ9Rk_QwwcjfRUnjuoTY5-C8ysse5rJwidQus2bovadZkdGwlWQQQus0CatnoqcD0bbZxmFljC_YMdkcf-giS6cOHoMvHAS8RDonw1M9nYFpVSnwBWuXlvxfVGd-MvCUiJDNsDt2cY/s400/Dumpsterviewpoer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8czfB5lnPE/TpxfNxaatvI/AAAAAAAAAPk/l8SiEOVqgJI/s400/Viewport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8czfB5lnPE/TpxfNxaatvI/AAAAAAAAAPk/l8SiEOVqgJI/s400/Viewport.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Zach's got Dustin's concept art nailed down and has already started modelling him.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pur-Z17yTvE/TqNt2dEL3BI/AAAAAAAAAoY/VZuxM-Fg694/s1280/DustinTurnfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pur-Z17yTvE/TqNt2dEL3BI/AAAAAAAAAoY/VZuxM-Fg694/s400/DustinTurnfinal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Randy's got the first rig test complete, but we were given a bunch of information on rigging for Unity by a former classmate, Micah Zahm, that pointed out a few issues we need to address, so we're going back and revising the rig to ensure we won't have any problems getting the character in engine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I spent some time last week working on building particle systems and getting the designers familiar with the tools. At the moment we currently have a "starburst" particle effect that creates a UI reward element for any time the player does something correctly, solves a stage of the puzzle or gets a collectible. It's already helped with some of our playtesting, giving important feedback to the player as to the context and consequence of their actions.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi9NAAkPbVakXJfO4VVqXsDqjX5aKvpR1Rg9smpIzy-ZneSslkOvv1EkaVpV2rQVXSODo7jsNEgzjdn-1J4qa73VcJcdSe0nddaxEsU_6NzYwAVUI_il37y-vwJMnzJijiDwUvXvXT04/s400/Starburst_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqi9NAAkPbVakXJfO4VVqXsDqjX5aKvpR1Rg9smpIzy-ZneSslkOvv1EkaVpV2rQVXSODo7jsNEgzjdn-1J4qa73VcJcdSe0nddaxEsU_6NzYwAVUI_il37y-vwJMnzJijiDwUvXvXT04/s400/Starburst_Preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This week, however, I spent a lot of time researching - I came across an incredible suite of tools called Substance Designer by <a href="http://www.allegorithmic.com/">Allegorithmic</a> that allows us to create modular, dynamic textures. This lets us make "dirty" versions of all of the props we already have in-game and scale between the dirty and clean versions in real-time in engine, as well as creating a ton of modifiable dynamic tiling textures using set parameters - in other words, it saves us a ton of time in our art pipeline and adds variability to our world that we wouldn't have otherwise without devoting an absolute <i>ton</i> of programming time we just can't budget for. Awesome stuff.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIzEB55aZPU/TqZoZ1QQ3yI/AAAAAAAAF2Y/g2ZaynNSRJU/s1600/Substance+Test+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xIzEB55aZPU/TqZoZ1QQ3yI/AAAAAAAAF2Y/g2ZaynNSRJU/s400/Substance+Test+01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2lMYg39q0i1Tmz03zi_1c-Ra951peAudMJeU0cvmxecnVSVaQxIgFngITPAYx934dn2vHhFd7UW9N7VR92t4LD0v9mTuvE2SqVG0NIY49l3dwWbMVhE6P-eB5_kAC_P33c1m12iw1nM/s1600/Substance+Test+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ2lMYg39q0i1Tmz03zi_1c-Ra951peAudMJeU0cvmxecnVSVaQxIgFngITPAYx934dn2vHhFd7UW9N7VR92t4LD0v9mTuvE2SqVG0NIY49l3dwWbMVhE6P-eB5_kAC_P33c1m12iw1nM/s400/Substance+Test+02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've already gotten successful tests in-engine in controlling these "dirt" passes, allowing them to scale in real time, so we can have Jenny fix an object and reflect her effort on the model by cleaning it up over time. Really, really neat. The Substance Designer toolset is <i>incredibly</i> powerful, and I'm just now starting to get in and wrap my head around it, but I'm excited to spend some time with it and get the results of the work in-engine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ga3972Y93Bw/TqhBYqvJgMI/AAAAAAAAAGc/ZyqEyR7U7vI/s1600/screencap3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ga3972Y93Bw/TqhBYqvJgMI/AAAAAAAAAGc/ZyqEyR7U7vI/s640/screencap3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We've really been moving these last couple of weeks, making up for lost time from a few weeks ago when it seemed like everyone was out sick. We were a little behind for this current milestone, but we put together a very solid plan on how to get back on pace for the upcoming milestone in a couple of weeks, and we're already racing to get everything back on schedule.</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-41212547089551399672011-10-12T21:16:00.000-07:002011-10-12T21:16:32.634-07:00Wasted Youth - Week 6 Progress ReportIt's been another exciting week of progress, with at least as much work on the back-end planning stuff then on all the pretty art that's so fun to post.<br />
<br />
First of all, we've got a new artist on the team! <a href="http://theartviking.blogspot.com/">Daniel Samuelsson</a> has joined Scrap Metal Games as a support artist, he'll get to start working on high-poly sculpts and texture work on props this week. This helps us fill the last major gap in our pipeline, and just in time, as it frees me up to focus on animation right when we're getting our character rig completed. We're all excited to work with Dan, he's a great 3d artist, <a href="http://theartviking.blogspot.com/">go check out his blog.</a><br />
<br />
That's right! Our first iteration of the character rig is nearly ready! We should have a prototype of it tomorrow to start testing, making sure that the system will work in-engine and we can test the last major hurdle of our pipeline, getting character animations in and scripted to be fully functional, right away. As I've been helping some underclassmen with their animation lately as a Projects TA, I've been itching to get a chance to do some more animation, so nobody is more excited about this turn of events then me.<br />
<br />
We spent a lot of time this week trying to finalize the most recent drafts of our GDD and TDD, and are getting a very solid roadmap of where we're headed with the project in the process. We got some really valuable feedback from professors on how we can further refine them and where we can put more attention, and we're well on our way to having an exceptionally thoroughly documented project - with a crew ten students working on this game, often in their own time at their own houses, this is a critical component to success, and helps us make sure we're working on the highest priority tasks we can be at all times.<br />
<br />
We also wrote up a complete roadmap of our roadmap feature commitments this week, giving us a long, thorough overview of every critical feature of the game we're planning on implementing and when they're expected to be deliverable. It really is great getting to look this far ahead and see how everything is coming together - especially considering we're still right on schedule to meet our current deadlines.<br />
<br />
We had a lot of new concept work and art tests done this week - Beau has been pumping out concept art for new props.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FMNPbIR7bvE/To4ul2UvbRI/AAAAAAAABEQ/NQqpLeSKopc/s400/trash_pile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FMNPbIR7bvE/To4ul2UvbRI/AAAAAAAABEQ/NQqpLeSKopc/s400/trash_pile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97jTl9SkXMM/To4ukkjaySI/AAAAAAAABEM/IyXe6qBOHrM/s400/weeds_and_grass01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97jTl9SkXMM/To4ukkjaySI/AAAAAAAABEM/IyXe6qBOHrM/s400/weeds_and_grass01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>He also worked on testing some grass and foliage alphas to put through the "painter" feature in Unity that allows us to lay down broad strokes of plants and other debris on terrain objects. We're planning on using this feature to help scatter random trash and stuff throughout our environment, filling the world <i>way</i> faster then it would be if we had to place each object by hand. He put a bunch of this stuff down in-engine along with some test models just to see how things might look in-game, then dropped in a first-person controller to let us walk around the models and see how things look!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PPjSdlXESCw/Toz_mc7wnRI/AAAAAAAABDw/C2IuL15wuWk/s400/props_engine_snapshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PPjSdlXESCw/Toz_mc7wnRI/AAAAAAAABDw/C2IuL15wuWk/s640/props_engine_snapshot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
We got some new art assets textured and ready for engine, too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R73GuGgctBk/To1N9VyoCtI/AAAAAAAAAOM/Oqvc8c0JGR4/s400/GarbageRendertextest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R73GuGgctBk/To1N9VyoCtI/AAAAAAAAAOM/Oqvc8c0JGR4/s400/GarbageRendertextest.jpg" width="287" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wnWE1TTEIU/To1N9fRaFeI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/wv-4BD8yksw/s400/RenderTextureTest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wnWE1TTEIU/To1N9fRaFeI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/wv-4BD8yksw/s400/RenderTextureTest.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0twoDZwZ5tk/TpKeZ0lz6iI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fQyMorFcy9E/s400/TilabletexturesWIP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0twoDZwZ5tk/TpKeZ0lz6iI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fQyMorFcy9E/s400/TilabletexturesWIP.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Zach got Jenny all textured, too. There's a few final touches to make, but she's nearly done! If the eyes and mouth seem a little out of place, that's because they are - they're going to be applied later as an animated sprite texture, allowing us basic facial animation without having to deal with facial rigging, a major time-saving feature.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMSyA_RtfNo/TpY5g3CElzI/AAAAAAAAAnI/vlRqYgX0VUM/s400/JennyUnity01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VMSyA_RtfNo/TpY5g3CElzI/AAAAAAAAAnI/vlRqYgX0VUM/s400/JennyUnity01.jpg" width="325" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gbYsIFGfwc4/TpY5gzNDyZI/AAAAAAAAAnY/hoFG8r_L5Dg/s400/JennyUnity03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gbYsIFGfwc4/TpY5gzNDyZI/AAAAAAAAAnY/hoFG8r_L5Dg/s400/JennyUnity03.jpg" width="345" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NUrBwfEoK1A/TpY5e2PcOKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/LQ1bb_hbnVY/s400/JennyDiffuse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NUrBwfEoK1A/TpY5e2PcOKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/LQ1bb_hbnVY/s400/JennyDiffuse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-juXMgyP9KhA/TpY5ejqHDtI/AAAAAAAAAnA/gK02gNmS0_Q/s400/Jenny_body_normal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-juXMgyP9KhA/TpY5ejqHDtI/AAAAAAAAAnA/gK02gNmS0_Q/s400/Jenny_body_normal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And last but not least, we may have a new name for the game! Wasted Youth was always a working title for us, as we liked the idea of it but it has some implications we're not particularly pleased with, so without further ado, I present you with our newest name:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilorCk07CZqSG_9q0eojRXwLkdh6h9oDVti3vpTCiRsy2KYsirwSzQvahyphenhyphenIehbCimhpYuLohdMbSfom75rdgwg-_5YDkx9nDSLZGzgRymgOlmJfha2YM0gateZC4Mf3NC5JO6oeWfj0lY/s1600/render01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilorCk07CZqSG_9q0eojRXwLkdh6h9oDVti3vpTCiRsy2KYsirwSzQvahyphenhyphenIehbCimhpYuLohdMbSfom75rdgwg-_5YDkx9nDSLZGzgRymgOlmJfha2YM0gateZC4Mf3NC5JO6oeWfj0lY/s640/render01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whatta ya think?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-69505272308997215682011-10-05T10:47:00.000-07:002011-10-05T10:54:59.519-07:00Wasted Youth - Week 5 Progress ReportAnother busy week, and a whole lot of progress. We're all getting very excited, as we're on the verge of getting the first art assets in-game this week, which will prove out our asset pipeline.<br />
<br />
A lot of this week was spent on getting art assets ready for import into the game - we have a couple of props complete now with normal, specular and diffuse maps.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUY5nNQMspw7Ds6Flb7c0JJbaLL1JkLckFzEDI5wDhUPSPBUqMVMZc4MMx_7-4_gcdC_yUXG2ItAxoVKXDlLWXw6zxSkbfgh3IjGVV5BL_Z8W32tYUbGhv2iMQiRhmzUI1AY94qyB83I/s400/Mailbin+texture+preview.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUY5nNQMspw7Ds6Flb7c0JJbaLL1JkLckFzEDI5wDhUPSPBUqMVMZc4MMx_7-4_gcdC_yUXG2ItAxoVKXDlLWXw6zxSkbfgh3IjGVV5BL_Z8W32tYUbGhv2iMQiRhmzUI1AY94qyB83I/s400/Mailbin+texture+preview.png" width="297" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYlsMnn84DY/TobLNJH5LAI/AAAAAAAAFq4/qu4Wo8RC00Y/s400/Tex_Prop-Mailbin_DiffuseSpec_512.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XYlsMnn84DY/TobLNJH5LAI/AAAAAAAAFq4/qu4Wo8RC00Y/s400/Tex_Prop-Mailbin_DiffuseSpec_512.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-illoW7tP6D4/TobLNFI8voI/AAAAAAAAFq0/UGfNbn7VKPY/s400/Tex_Prop-Mailbin_Normal_512.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-illoW7tP6D4/TobLNFI8voI/AAAAAAAAFq0/UGfNbn7VKPY/s400/Tex_Prop-Mailbin_Normal_512.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dpv9IIGuuM8/TofVbPAwByI/AAAAAAAAFrA/6ttPrGS-3j8/s1600/LawnMower_Preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dpv9IIGuuM8/TofVbPAwByI/AAAAAAAAFrA/6ttPrGS-3j8/s640/LawnMower_Preview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yZQvC7vBmT0/TofVbbw-aYI/AAAAAAAAFrE/D5fF7wkXrdg/s1600/LawnMower_Diffuse03_damaged1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yZQvC7vBmT0/TofVbbw-aYI/AAAAAAAAFrE/D5fF7wkXrdg/s400/LawnMower_Diffuse03_damaged1.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our Jenny character has gone through the ZBrush sculpting phase and is now moving on to texturing. This is thrilling, as it means we can get our character rig built and ready for testing in the next week. Plus, she just looks awesome. Zach's done a great job on her.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5pmTmu5Yuy0/TofIclsZBJI/AAAAAAAAAlc/JAlGkaJz7K4/s400/JennyZ01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5pmTmu5Yuy0/TofIclsZBJI/AAAAAAAAAlc/JAlGkaJz7K4/s400/JennyZ01.jpg" width="347" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uj77hrs3goA/TofIcu11VoI/AAAAAAAAAlg/Tbvkx4S4Q3A/s400/JennyZ02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uj77hrs3goA/TofIcu11VoI/AAAAAAAAAlg/Tbvkx4S4Q3A/s400/JennyZ02.jpg" width="347" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Randy's been doing great work on the tank, too. The high-res mesh is complete, with placeholder colors to demonstrate how each plate is a separate object that can be colored on its own.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jS7qVS-buX8/TojOkq2KYvI/AAAAAAAAAw0/IpLnr3TTbQU/awergagr.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jS7qVS-buX8/TojOkq2KYvI/AAAAAAAAAw0/IpLnr3TTbQU/awergagr.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He also did some rigging experiments with the treads. We may use a path deform, like in the video below, or we may just animate the UVs for the treads - we haven't decided yet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/i8wS7sFQNss?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Alexi got the first house unwrapped and ready for texture tests, and we should have diffuse maps for it in the next week or so.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qqu5HL1CC8M/Tomzi5ZlWmI/AAAAAAAAAOE/bPfBtp7WRbg/s400/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanViewPortUved.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qqu5HL1CC8M/Tomzi5ZlWmI/AAAAAAAAAOE/bPfBtp7WRbg/s400/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanViewPortUved.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The house uses four different texture maps - one for the roof, one for siding, one for trim pieces and one for accessories like the porch, windows and chimney. This allows us to swap out a different roof style, for example, to create a ton of variety with very few assets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beau and I spent part of the weekend working on writing the script for the opening cinematic and promotional materials, and we're nearly ready to create the art for it. We're really excited about this stuff, but we don't want to give away too much yet. There will be more to show soon.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In terms of design, we've spent a ton of time working on improving the gameplay feel based on testing feedback, we've got placeholder UI in place and are working with the particle systems, greyboxing out the first few puzzles and getting the interactivity scripts such as scripted physics events and such working. We also spent a bunch of time finalizing our most recent draft of our GDD, which came out to nearly 60 pages! There's still a number of things we want to refine further, but it's been great having such a detailed blueprint for the project.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A lot of our meeting this week was spent looking at our task list and making sure everything was up to date. We're right on our expected schedule, and we may be bringing in another artist to assist with high-res sculpts and texture work, which is awesome. We've got a very busy couple of weeks ahead of us, but we're all motivated and working very hard to get stuff in-engine and get the game looking good. We should be able to get character animation tests in in the next week or so, and that'll be the last major pipeline test we need to resolve - if that works as well as we hope, there's nothing stopping us from cranking out art and gameplay through the rest of the year.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-58807232954209768172011-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:002011-09-28T13:56:26.619-07:00Wasted Youth - Week 4 Progress ReportIt's been another exciting week of production on the game as things are starting to really come together. The most visible change is that we have a playable early build of the basic game mechanics put together and ready for testing! We actually got it in front of testers yesterday and started gathering up feedback on the control scheme and basic mechanics and got a ton of wonderful data in the process. Really exciting stuff, and a huge boost for morale - it really made everyone feel like we're working on something tangible.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8H5Abxw_WGTQAH21or-P0NewoeE_1RnlbbaoZGi__0Czo38bQTRc-EuqI0fKB5161DPG_Y9yWQYA6cTQAS876YHnqMeLAptrmIKD3kveqkNwbgRuewfbU7lbno6-il9rLDY4ldN2s60/s1600/EngineScreenshot_09-28-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy8H5Abxw_WGTQAH21or-P0NewoeE_1RnlbbaoZGi__0Czo38bQTRc-EuqI0fKB5161DPG_Y9yWQYA6cTQAS876YHnqMeLAptrmIKD3kveqkNwbgRuewfbU7lbno6-il9rLDY4ldN2s60/s640/EngineScreenshot_09-28-2011.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Working with placeholder art elements, of course, but we've got them actually working in game, with working physics and everything.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We've already incorporated a ton of the feedback into the game and should be able to test the new changes in tomorrow's playtesting session.<br />
<br />
Jenny's base mesh is basically done and being unwrapped in preparation of texturing and high-poly sculpting.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ex6W3tRnMTw/Tn-heZ9ErgI/AAAAAAAAAlI/1shhGbGMcGs/s720/Modeldone01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ex6W3tRnMTw/Tn-heZ9ErgI/AAAAAAAAAlI/1shhGbGMcGs/s400/Modeldone01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This low-poly version of the mesh will have additional edges added to it and will be brought into ZBrush for high-poly sculpting so that we can extract normal maps and make it look really great. Zach has been working really hard on this stuff, and we're really excited to get the mesh in-game.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TQPKx2YLv3g/Tn-heLq7M4I/AAAAAAAAAlA/-e1OTnStNMU/s720/Modeldone02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TQPKx2YLv3g/Tn-heLq7M4I/AAAAAAAAAlA/-e1OTnStNMU/s400/Modeldone02.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What an adorable backpack.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Beau spent some time working on more concept work, focusing on some great designs for our robots.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JW3tffdffVo/ToDMyxTgr6I/AAAAAAAABCg/YkGry8kSVVQ/s640/incinerator_unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JW3tffdffVo/ToDMyxTgr6I/AAAAAAAABCg/YkGry8kSVVQ/s400/incinerator_unit.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_D3bptt-EE/ToDMzXVMyVI/AAAAAAAABCs/iMn6-3AEogk/s640/arial_unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_D3bptt-EE/ToDMzXVMyVI/AAAAAAAABCs/iMn6-3AEogk/s400/arial_unit.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>He also put together another great look and feel piece, helping to resolve some of the style questions. It was extremely helpful and brought up a lot of new questions we are going to work together this week to try to resolve.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ohTKW8RovY/TnrvaX7usqI/AAAAAAAABCI/Hw3Ebeko4kU/s800/rooftop_concept.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2ohTKW8RovY/TnrvaX7usqI/AAAAAAAABCI/Hw3Ebeko4kU/s640/rooftop_concept.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<br />
This week we're going to spend a lot of time working on tying down the backstory for the world, putting together the script for the comic book that will serve as the introduction to the world, the opening cinematic and a great promotional piece.<br />
<br />
Finally, one of the most exciting pieces of art we got this week was a glimpse at one of our favorite pieces of the game.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1aWiwjs_94k/TnpVnOav_sI/AAAAAAAAAus/_VT6GKkUVoU/ctx%252520wip%2525203q%252520b.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1aWiwjs_94k/TnpVnOav_sI/AAAAAAAAAus/_VT6GKkUVoU/ctx%252520wip%2525203q%252520b.png" width="640" /></a></div>How cool is <i>that?</i>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-14849843994051448012011-09-20T20:23:00.000-07:002011-09-20T20:23:30.101-07:00Wasted Youth - Week 3 Progress Report<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This week one of the main tasks the art team had was to create textures and high-poly sculpts of a few props so that we can test out our pipeline and try to nail down our style. The props given to most of our team were the lawn mower, power pole, trash bin, wheelbarrow, mailbox and mailbin. Each artist was told to get as many done as possible and return with the results so we could compare techniques.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Vfcmu75pzxQjzVCwmlCccIlObMG_eyntHUyEoB8Y6rzkIKV-TZh84Zp8cG6uMbiKR_nhF1Lng61kXD0HxlgtnRSKPg4Vqr9Kgd5vMw38T1PwgjXQFxwUNjCdUrM7HKk6TMU82fYP86c/s1280/ColorPencil_viewportScreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Vfcmu75pzxQjzVCwmlCccIlObMG_eyntHUyEoB8Y6rzkIKV-TZh84Zp8cG6uMbiKR_nhF1Lng61kXD0HxlgtnRSKPg4Vqr9Kgd5vMw38T1PwgjXQFxwUNjCdUrM7HKk6TMU82fYP86c/s400/ColorPencil_viewportScreen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Aleksei, our environment artist, came back with the mailbox, sculpted in Mudbox. He didn't get to do many others, however, as he spent most of his time working on other models. I'll post those in a moment.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rGOspBzuqTE/TncALpoJtqI/AAAAAAAAANI/u6aGU8iF27I/s720/MudboxzedMailboxz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rGOspBzuqTE/TncALpoJtqI/AAAAAAAAANI/u6aGU8iF27I/s400/MudboxzedMailboxz.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I had the time to work on a number of props. The first one I did was the mail bin.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ3bebfN-9c/TndvBEqpimI/AAAAAAAAFps/FPOwMtZkagU/MailBin_Overview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ3bebfN-9c/TndvBEqpimI/AAAAAAAAFps/FPOwMtZkagU/MailBin_Overview.jpg" width="362" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High-poly sculpt made in ZBrush</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_otSPuHBOxYyh3IkwAtWLV94G1hZsDgK13VRu_8QWCJBi2dstqzY9FYGeifcNUX_MBz7Pze2Vik7QnKSyTnWlIM1YLpDWlyxrZC8npyWprbdMlXcj-GTid70MXwSTCrJlRfWL1X7Rqrk/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_otSPuHBOxYyh3IkwAtWLV94G1hZsDgK13VRu_8QWCJBi2dstqzY9FYGeifcNUX_MBz7Pze2Vik7QnKSyTnWlIM1YLpDWlyxrZC8npyWprbdMlXcj-GTid70MXwSTCrJlRfWL1X7Rqrk/" width="381" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Render in Unity of the model with the first pass at the diffuse, normal and specular maps. Not very happy with the diffuse, it needs more detail, but it was just a first attempt.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also worked on the mail box.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM05ex2WpBREBahLrfxTjqJP-y9tlu00blOn_sOyC4YlQ3MCQenY5xlknzOFoxwh48fmVD6jGevtF3j87pxTAXGXUp_ciKakHNJVxtljWG81QlrT_xnfpiVie0MmTNn29CYx4jTFaIdRs/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM05ex2WpBREBahLrfxTjqJP-y9tlu00blOn_sOyC4YlQ3MCQenY5xlknzOFoxwh48fmVD6jGevtF3j87pxTAXGXUp_ciKakHNJVxtljWG81QlrT_xnfpiVie0MmTNn29CYx4jTFaIdRs/" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Profile view of the sculpt.<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WKnxjTFTedg/TndvBfRlIeI/AAAAAAAAFpw/r5YQDBZ2kWA/Mailbox_Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WKnxjTFTedg/TndvBfRlIeI/AAAAAAAAFpw/r5YQDBZ2kWA/Mailbox_Detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail view of the mailbox - I used a very stylized alpha image for the wood grain and tried to exaggerate the main details like the rivets and the number stickers so they'd show up well in the normal map.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u-J-wIDk_BQ/TndvBnLHR3I/AAAAAAAAFp8/84dUHiG4dSM/Mailbox_Engine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u-J-wIDk_BQ/TndvBnLHR3I/AAAAAAAAFp8/84dUHiG4dSM/Mailbox_Engine.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Render of the mail box in Unity with normal, specular and diffuse. The specular here is WAY too strong.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I also worked on the garbage bin and the lawn mower, but wasn't able to get diffuse maps painted for them, as I ran into some problems with the models once I had started sculpting - a benefit of doing this test is it gave us a chance to look for these sorts of problems and make sure they aren't repeated later in the project.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AncGIqBIBDM/TndvBzBb-PI/AAAAAAAAFqE/TdfO-IhpS-0/Mower_Detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AncGIqBIBDM/TndvBzBb-PI/AAAAAAAAFqE/TdfO-IhpS-0/Mower_Detail2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of the wheel and body of the mower - mainly focused on adding the primary details to the wheel and damage and scratches to the mower.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrou5zrmA_s4A1z437HZXBcbGQ0FVqeS31nNhw2FMwXlGPyCW0OzhthOv28Q3Slgr58gZlzbvv0VoQ7ztesCKefZbAlxVrPa0sCGaqu8SFq_cZCbGZ6Y5qv2BgnYQyxvPnwPvSlE0adA/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrou5zrmA_s4A1z437HZXBcbGQ0FVqeS31nNhw2FMwXlGPyCW0OzhthOv28Q3Slgr58gZlzbvv0VoQ7ztesCKefZbAlxVrPa0sCGaqu8SFq_cZCbGZ6Y5qv2BgnYQyxvPnwPvSlE0adA/" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another detail of the mower. We only modelled one wheel, which will be duplicated and added to the mower in-engine, making for fewer resources to work on in the production phase.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cwb55oO6dXY/TndvAR-psjI/AAAAAAAAFpY/afnFP_M1D1w/GarbageBin_Overview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cwb55oO6dXY/TndvAR-psjI/AAAAAAAAFpY/afnFP_M1D1w/GarbageBin_Overview.jpg" width="362" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High-poly sculpt of the trash bin.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bNUtCuqAbD0/TndvATsF7LI/AAAAAAAAFpU/RuuDQyr9saQ/GarbageBin_Detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bNUtCuqAbD0/TndvATsF7LI/AAAAAAAAFpU/RuuDQyr9saQ/GarbageBin_Detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of the wheel and damage on the trash bin.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Our lead artist, Beau, did a test of the look and feel of the game levels themselves.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eTdc_qtj4Pk/Tnb2AkrH3oI/AAAAAAAABBo/bDCvsp1AqUA/house_wide_shot02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eTdc_qtj4Pk/Tnb2AkrH3oI/AAAAAAAABBo/bDCvsp1AqUA/house_wide_shot02.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First he created rough models of the houses and laid them out in perspective.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uzvvxz2m_d8/Tnb1_N89FjI/AAAAAAAABBc/5qrxo_hBGZo/s912/house_wide_shot_block_in.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uzvvxz2m_d8/Tnb1_N89FjI/AAAAAAAABBc/5qrxo_hBGZo/s400/house_wide_shot_block_in.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then he took that image and did a quick paintover, adding in the lanes for gameplay.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-66cbyWrUaFc/Tnb2BPRczPI/AAAAAAAABBs/O_OjJJqb9jc/s912/house_wide_shot_unpopulated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-66cbyWrUaFc/Tnb2BPRczPI/AAAAAAAABBs/O_OjJJqb9jc/s400/house_wide_shot_unpopulated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then he focused on creating the levels of detail needed for each row of houses, simplifying and reducing contrast each row.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BYQOirR1nqY/Tnb2AaUZiKI/AAAAAAAABBk/2KseY4gjhCI/s912/house_wide_populated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BYQOirR1nqY/Tnb2AaUZiKI/AAAAAAAABBk/2KseY4gjhCI/s400/house_wide_populated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More detail and content added, giving us a good feel for how the game layers might look.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Alexei, our environment artist, started the first pass at creating models for our modular house system.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-btsgxeaiF-M/Tnc4j1EGWGI/AAAAAAAAANo/UsjnxURKQnA/s720/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanVariationsViewPort2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-btsgxeaiF-M/Tnc4j1EGWGI/AAAAAAAAANo/UsjnxURKQnA/s400/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanVariationsViewPort2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6LC-0ZyGvU/TncprqP-LXI/AAAAAAAAANQ/cNUTII7Ms0A/s1024/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanViewPort2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6LC-0ZyGvU/TncprqP-LXI/AAAAAAAAANQ/cNUTII7Ms0A/s400/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanViewPort2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPYY_yAA819YxeSk7FxyfM2-AR1UFx_yhQfFHws3R7CSxOkmSTMP2XDC6YdU95VP9Rh1Oy71XLyRmLjkuqK_GTBPyVvoXImHfgOEv_hc0EmKGcqEA46Mpp4fK3qofAxAO5xMRChJvgws/s1152/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanMojulatedViewPort2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPYY_yAA819YxeSk7FxyfM2-AR1UFx_yhQfFHws3R7CSxOkmSTMP2XDC6YdU95VP9Rh1Oy71XLyRmLjkuqK_GTBPyVvoXImHfgOEv_hc0EmKGcqEA46Mpp4fK3qofAxAO5xMRChJvgws/s400/HouseCaliforniaCraftsmanMojulatedViewPort2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>This process of building the house in parts then assembling them later will allow us to create a tremendous amount of assets in-game without having to make each of them by hand, giving us the ability to adapt to game testing and build tons of levels in a minimum amount of time and effort.<br />
<br />
Alexei also created a new set of props, including a newspaper, a couch, a tire, a fire hydrant and a wood pallet.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTKj4EV0umA/Tnb-jT66E9I/AAAAAAAAAM4/WGPotDHPv0o/s1152/PropsSet2_persp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NTKj4EV0umA/Tnb-jT66E9I/AAAAAAAAAM4/WGPotDHPv0o/s400/PropsSet2_persp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Finally, our character artist Zach got the first pass at color comps done for our first character, Jenny. We critiqued these comps and he's working on a revised pass at them, as well as about halfway done with her base model.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ADHIafUUZo/Tnd2NcHQwHI/AAAAAAAAAjo/kai_TVYgzsg/s720/Jennycolorthumbs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ADHIafUUZo/Tnd2NcHQwHI/AAAAAAAAAjo/kai_TVYgzsg/s400/Jennycolorthumbs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Our designers and programmer did a bunch of other great work this week, getting multiple lanes functioning, as well as location-based lane-restrictions. They've also got character abilities started, keyboard and controller input working and the first basic level ready for testing. Next week we're moving forward with menus, creating a complete list of sfx and our robot characters, getting object throwing, pause and quit menus and researching how to add sounds and checkpoints in Unity.<br />
<br />
For the art team, our goals for next week are to add texture work to the style guide, finish the comps and model for the Jenny character, complete the concepts for our tank and keep working on new houses, props and texture work.Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-84089879974620717132011-09-13T23:44:00.000-07:002011-09-13T23:53:25.172-07:00Wasted Youth - Summer Post-Mortem, and reflections on what's nextI spent the majority of this past summer working with my game team, Scrap Metal Games, on what will be our collective senior project - a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with the working title <i>Wasted Youth</i>.<br />
<br />
The game, as pitched to the team originally during recruitment and over the first couple of weeks, was an ambitious one - turn-based tactical combat plus squad management with dozens of levels, similar to the X-Com series or Jagged Alliance, one of my all-time favorite games. The squads would consist of children living in a wasteland of trash and scraps left behind when all the adults in the world abandoned their pollution-wrecked homeworld in pursuit of a new utopian planet to infect, leaving the children behind. The meek literally inheriting the Earth. Through a long, difficult, amazing and exciting series of weeks we really collaborated to find ideas that we were all passionate about, could get behind and thought were of an achievable scope given the team, resources and time, and that's where we're at today.<br />
<br />
As of now, Wasted Youth is an entirely different animal - we retained the original world and the idea of the kids in the wasteland but decided to move in a more positive direction, eschewing the violence of squad-based combat in favor of trying to communicate positive messages through play - collaboration, teamwork, clever non-violent solutions to difficult problems and the value of discarded things.<br />
<br />
The team consists of myself as Producer and Animator, <a href="http://beaubateman.blogspot.com/">Beau Bateman</a> as Lead Artist, Alexi Gill as Environment Artist, Zach Hartlage as Character Artist, <a href="http://randmworks.blogspot.com/">Randy McMeekin</a> as Technical Artist, Jeff Mountain as UI Artist and Art Support, Thor Gass as Lead Systems Designer, Vincent Leone as Level Designer and Ryan Cassell as Technical Director.<br />
<br />
Our main focus for the summer semester was to prepare ourselves for the Fall Semester and get us to the point where we could enter full production, to spend our time exploring the art styles, gameplay choices and world designs we wanted to so that we could enter production mode having made the hard decisions and ready to go to work. In that regard, I think we were very successful. We also spent a lot of time getting used to working with the game engine (Unity3d, in this case) and preparing basic prototypes to test ideas and the general asset pipeline. In that regard, as well, we were successful and have a fully interactive and playable rough tech demo in place, and are on schedule to have the first couple of levels designed and playable within the next couple of weeks.<br />
<br />
One of the biggest challenges with working with a team of this size is communication and collaboration, making sure that everyone knows what they need to be doing, where the project currently stands, to collaborate on work, share progress and get feedback. For this team I found that using one of the Google Sites worked spectacularly well so far. I set it up at the beginning of summer and got the entire team to subscribe to it so it emails out whenever it is updated. Each of us share current progress in the blog section. I embed various Google Docs documents to give us all easy access to our Game Design Document, Technical Design Document and Style Guide, and we use the list/task system to keep track of who is doing what and when it is due.<br />
<br />
I've also been working on developing a thorough cascading scrum toolset in Google Docs' spreadsheet program, but it's been difficult - I needed it to perform certain jobs that I couldn't really work on using Microsoft Project, as this task set has different requirements for budgeting time then you'd see in a business environment since we're all students with varying schedules, but it doesn't really feel like a good fit for the team so I've been playing it by ear, being sure to keep track of what tasks are going to be necessary for the project and getting them scheduled in our weekly team recap meetings on Mondays. Having them be part of the process, volunteering to handle a task rather then just assigning one, is far preferable in my opinion. Additionally, it helps all of us retain ownership of the work we have to do, we're more accountable for our work and we learn how to better estimate our skills and abilities.<br />
<br />
Keeping a fairly well established chain of command for issues and such was also useful. Having Beau and Thor be the leads for their own teams makes sure that the two departments feel like they have ownership over their own jobs and know who they need to turn to with questions.<br />
<br />
All in all, I'm excited for the next few weeks - we've just moved into full production mode, we're scheduled to have the first levels greyboxed in soon and we'll be ready for playtesting in the next couple of weeks. We've established look & feel for the world and for individual props and are just dialing in the texturing pipeline now, already having established the styles and pipeline for the characters, rigging and environment models. Now all we have left is making our group vision come to life.<br />
<br />
Finally, I want to show off some of the fantastic art that's been generated from this project so far - a lot of the art that follows wasn't made by me but was made by my team during our summer exploratory preproduction phase.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaW0lzUb9XSltEcLWJDclDPCvDz71-pcMh4QrM-s6jQsK2E_bCJ3I7AmIVq21aMyTYvOHfWCRrvVuy4L4AVcD0gDvltynBQCuhRDmzvfQT3zM6ixiZh7naSDjxwdtpYPpOG_zAyfgyBn0/s1152/WheeliesDwelling_RenderTest_Parts_Wire_AG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaW0lzUb9XSltEcLWJDclDPCvDz71-pcMh4QrM-s6jQsK2E_bCJ3I7AmIVq21aMyTYvOHfWCRrvVuy4L4AVcD0gDvltynBQCuhRDmzvfQT3zM6ixiZh7naSDjxwdtpYPpOG_zAyfgyBn0/s640/WheeliesDwelling_RenderTest_Parts_Wire_AG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSR7vEDxzKh3VAMv5ZwGVhYz2gzBk4lqoflTTuFRResJBDhC3hb8FmW5tFzcFk5AUJEIf6GBzUT08tRIuxBnH-9RqcANb_iXIO0t6A4EPm-2aNo9myy5pBKrSkhIzafK5_LFkCoIXjUE/s1152/WheeliesDwelling_RenderTest2_AG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBSR7vEDxzKh3VAMv5ZwGVhYz2gzBk4lqoflTTuFRResJBDhC3hb8FmW5tFzcFk5AUJEIf6GBzUT08tRIuxBnH-9RqcANb_iXIO0t6A4EPm-2aNo9myy5pBKrSkhIzafK5_LFkCoIXjUE/s640/WheeliesDwelling_RenderTest2_AG.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3BUfn1VXmoFXCmRjzDkqH1upgi2mh81SZZL7hNCcqgrq0tF3CfmhSs9nOL0LVhiECKkSGRnnsaTFV36uQZG0aDVwnScH4DRAPsbOLHD1pkRyQuGkBZUOImP6DGQBj2DC5uSqUqbkmZM/s720/WheeliesDwelling_Tower_Render1_AG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3BUfn1VXmoFXCmRjzDkqH1upgi2mh81SZZL7hNCcqgrq0tF3CfmhSs9nOL0LVhiECKkSGRnnsaTFV36uQZG0aDVwnScH4DRAPsbOLHD1pkRyQuGkBZUOImP6DGQBj2DC5uSqUqbkmZM/s640/WheeliesDwelling_Tower_Render1_AG.jpg" width="533" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Early environment model tests by Alexi Gill, exploring the ability to reuse assets to create an assortment of environment props and areas.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O7sGbfhPsp0/TkIV2dgNkbI/AAAAAAAAA_I/2mlOj1ZOjLM/s1280/Dustin_concept01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O7sGbfhPsp0/TkIV2dgNkbI/AAAAAAAAA_I/2mlOj1ZOjLM/s640/Dustin_concept01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x8_rn1SI1EU/TkIVnoT_IgI/AAAAAAAAA-0/e4qQrCy34Po/s1280/max_original_render.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-x8_rn1SI1EU/TkIVnoT_IgI/AAAAAAAAA-0/e4qQrCy34Po/s640/max_original_render.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-haVRzi6YRYg/TkIVneFjjaI/AAAAAAAAA-w/D0TXahtymxg/s1280/paintover_color_block.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-haVRzi6YRYg/TkIVneFjjaI/AAAAAAAAA-w/D0TXahtymxg/s640/paintover_color_block.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L680m4cgOZ0/TkIVtYdggTI/AAAAAAAAA-4/2avWsOLz3Hw/s1280/paintover_plate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L680m4cgOZ0/TkIVtYdggTI/AAAAAAAAA-4/2avWsOLz3Hw/s640/paintover_plate.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hmmrBssh19I/TkIVzIxWoWI/AAAAAAAAA-8/qYNKj8rn95U/s1280/paintover_plate_character.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hmmrBssh19I/TkIVzIxWoWI/AAAAAAAAA-8/qYNKj8rn95U/s640/paintover_plate_character.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Look & Feel concepts and paintovers by Lead Artist Beau Bateman. The first is a rough concept and color comp of one of our characters. The rest is a process series in which he created rough models of the environment to speed up getting the shapes and perspective correct, then did a rough color pass. He then went through and populated and aged the world, then tossed in the character concept so that we could all see how things should look in-game.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jP-nxOeP-OU/TmcBgs6L7QI/AAAAAAAAAjA/HGQRWsGSEas/s720/kidsconcepts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jP-nxOeP-OU/TmcBgs6L7QI/AAAAAAAAAjA/HGQRWsGSEas/s640/kidsconcepts.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ol3HrM6Lbbo/TlUz4wbNLII/AAAAAAAAAio/RXzT5OpJ17Q/s720/StuWIP02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ol3HrM6Lbbo/TlUz4wbNLII/AAAAAAAAAio/RXzT5OpJ17Q/s640/StuWIP02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SE-_s5WKxro/TjmCMZmnl4I/AAAAAAAAAfI/trDk6XnRf0o/s720/DustinFast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-SE-_s5WKxro/TjmCMZmnl4I/AAAAAAAAAfI/trDk6XnRf0o/s640/DustinFast.jpg" width="464" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ATo6gsFvMvk/Tkha5YBNMXI/AAAAAAAAAhU/Jcog-XecwKI/DustinJump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ATo6gsFvMvk/Tkha5YBNMXI/AAAAAAAAAhU/Jcog-XecwKI/DustinJump.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xHl9rnBFS_c/TicadhioOzI/AAAAAAAAAcw/ehPIjZfqwi4/s720/wrenches02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xHl9rnBFS_c/TicadhioOzI/AAAAAAAAAcw/ehPIjZfqwi4/s640/wrenches02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i><br />
Character and prop concepts by Zach Hartlage.<br />
</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JwnCYP5ab5E/Tlv3U2f9EGI/AAAAAAAAAtE/OwrNr6mF3p4/s1600/tank_concept_draft1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JwnCYP5ab5E/Tlv3U2f9EGI/AAAAAAAAAtE/OwrNr6mF3p4/s640/tank_concept_draft1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7eDy77zvmPc/TkBuTCOn50I/AAAAAAAAAq4/GS7pW_BInfI/s1600/tank%252520concepts1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7eDy77zvmPc/TkBuTCOn50I/AAAAAAAAAq4/GS7pW_BInfI/s640/tank%252520concepts1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CNF56fJOQ1I/Tjl9i-q9dGI/AAAAAAAAApI/cbS8HB0rugk/s1280/tank%252520concepts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CNF56fJOQ1I/Tjl9i-q9dGI/AAAAAAAAApI/cbS8HB0rugk/s640/tank%252520concepts.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Vehicle concepts by Randy McMeekin.<br />
</i>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-11026329637968148572011-07-14T22:03:00.000-07:002011-07-14T22:03:52.726-07:00Parkour AnimationThe second piece of animation I did for my Ani399 physicality class was a short, 100-frame parkour piece. First step was to analyze my video reference and create thumbnails, timed out in flash.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O0PZqhrczrs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/leTWXiEQFGo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Next was to build a stage and block in the animation in Maya.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EW6P9seu4BQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
I then took feedback in class and incorporated the suggestions into the poses, then began splining.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AEdV2G4wOqk?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
I took further critique from class, changed the set to be something a bit more dramatic, finessed the splines and rendered the scene.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JNeM-ixeh0k?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-26683970379105648922011-07-14T21:44:00.000-07:002011-07-14T21:44:30.887-07:00Ninja Drop animationI started taking a class in animating for physicality. The first piece I did was of a ninja dropping from the ceiling and then slinking away.<br />
<br />
First step was to sketch out thumbnails based on my video reference.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-cSGewUrKRw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
I then took these and blocked in the key poses for the animation.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6k0xTSGDTds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
From there, I took the feedback from my class session and fixed some of the poses. I then I began splining the animation, first using linear and autoTangent and then finessing them a bit. <br />
<br />
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4nbBKl9nCTc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
There was a number of issues, especially the "sticky" hand resulting in the IK/FK switching, which I hadn't done before. I fixed the issues I could and polished the splines, resulting in this rendered version of the animation, the final so far.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WOM736t07AA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-85565881397466648232011-04-26T22:21:00.000-07:002011-04-26T22:21:21.514-07:00PRJ350 - Week 15 Project Post-MortemHaving gone through the process of creating this short, I want to look back at what went well, what didn't and what I'm taking away from the project.<br />
<br />
First of all, I should look at what it was I set out to do, my initial plans, versus what I was able to accomplish in the time I had. Initially, I wanted to have a much more playful portion of the scene where the goblin turns the god lights on and off by touching the sword. Now, the god light stays on, even after he removes the anvil - not what I had hoped, but by the time I had gotten to the actual animation, I had run out of time for the polish needed.<br />
<br />
Additionally, I wanted to use Maya's Paint Effects to put in geometric grass to soften the background, give it more volume and shape and help with the transitions between the ground and the trees. This, again, wasn't possible due to time constraints and had to be abandoned - what it would have done to my render time alone would have made the project impossible in the time allowed.<br />
<br />
As far as the character's controls and acting, I really wanted to get more blend shapes set up to allow more facial rigging and expressions. This, too, had to be abandoned, as I had already taken up far more time then was allotted for the rigging process.<br />
<br />
There's a number of other things that didn't make it in or had to be sacrificed for the project due to time constraints, but breaking down the specifics isn't particularly interesting. Instead, I should look more at the reasons behind why - most of the time spent on the project was in research and development of the rigging process and creating and tuning the textures and subsurface scattering shaders. Had I been more familiar with this process, I could have better planned the time for it, and gotten through the process much easier, but that's what I'm happiest about taking away from the project. The power of the rigging process in Maya and the capability that can be built into it is intriguing, to say the least, and I'm excited about learning more about it - the rig I have in my scene is pretty basic, all things considered, but it did the trick for what I needed it for, and I learned more about how to plan a rig for animation and how to animate a rig well just having spent the weeks researching and building it and learning from others who were more proficient with the process.<br />
<br />
At the outset, I did lose a week or two of work when I had to go back and redesign the character - a step I'm very glad I did, as the new character design has a lot more appeal and was just a lot more fun to work with. The more I model, the more I learn about edge loops and how to design them for deformation, and this character's belly and wrists certainly could have used a lot more careful planning. His skinning, as well, is a bit atrocious, which is something I'm definitely going to have to learn more about. Using Maya's paint weights tool was a new experience, and more difficult than I had originally planned, and I spent much of my animation time posing the character in ways that minimized or hid any problems I had with the skinning.<br />
<br />
Overall, I wish I had gotten through the process of building and designing the character faster so that I had more time for animation - as it was what I was hoping to focus on, having only two or three weeks to do more animation then I had done in all of my animation classes for the year combined meant that great sacrifices had to be made in quality. There simply was no way to have time to properly block in poses and spend the weeks needed to polish the spline curves and finesse the animation into appealing, smooth and high-quality motion the way I would have liked. Tight deadlines are a reality in the industry, I understand, but with all the technical hurdles I faced in creating a well-rigged character that would allow for quality animation, I don't know what the alternative would have been other then planning for very simple, short animations or creating a simpler character without the technical requirements a well-rigged and skinned character posed.Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8842450865695800989.post-32919009268863577222011-04-24T21:39:00.000-07:002011-04-24T21:40:18.586-07:00PRJ350 - Week 14 Progress JournalWhat a long, miserable day.<br />
<br />
I've spent the last six or seven hours having to render out the first 140 frames of my animation one-by-one by hand, because if I don't, the volumetric "god lights" don't work. It is absolutely maddening, tedious and incredibly boring but it is nearly done.<br />
<br />
So, what's changed since last week?<br />
<br />
I spent a lot of time cleaning up the poses in my animation and fretting over what to do with the opening of it - the walk and his "surprise" reaction just never worked right for me, and it was getting far too close to the end to fix them. It was upon reflection to this problem that I had an epiphany.<br />
<br />
I don't need them at all.<br />
<br />
If I start the shot out with the goblin already looking at the sword, we get it. We understand the setup right from the get-go - he's a goblin, this is a sword in a stone. We know how this story goes. I needed to give him some time to consider the sword, to think about it and to ponder his approach, but trying to tell the story with him walking in was trying to tell too much. I needed to introduce his personality in his walk, his mood and why he might be feeling that way, then show a drastic, big change of emotion followed by another drastic change of emotion, from sad to surprised to cautious, all at once, and that is really, really hard. And really, really unnecessary.<br />
<br />
I proposed the plan to Pam Matheus and Antony DeFato, both former Disney animators with excellent senses of story and timing, and they agreed it was the right decision. DeFato even brought the idea one step further - start the shot with the camera tight on the character so I could really play up his thinking process, then pull out to reveal the goblin's motivator. Genius.<br />
<br />
I deleted my walk and surprise keyframes and got to work adding a good animated hold, using his eyes and slight shifts in the direction of his head to really try to get the subtle animation in to show his thinking process and then proceeded from there. Additionally, I spent a huge amount of time working on getting the spline pass done this week, all while working on wrapping up other assignments (expect more blog posts in the next few days as I finish work for my other classes). I really, really wish I had a few more days for this, or weeks, or months, but I'm happy with what I'm getting so far, and very happy with everything I've learned from the project. I know it isn't the strongest piece in the entire class, but it is the culmination of months of hard work, and I stand behind the result.<br />
<br />
I'll have the final posted here in a few days, once I've had time to composite it, build in the title and credits screens and do the post-processing. I'll also follow this post up with a post-mortem, most likely, to review what went well, what didn't and what I'm taking away having gone through the process twice now. For now, I've got to render out the last of the frames (11 left to go, thank god), start the compositing and get some rest before the last big push of the semester.Matt Swansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04467677996952819119noreply@blogger.com0