omg a screenshot

nothing great just a bit of a block out and some rudimentry colours to plot some stuff in my own head but hey gotta start somewhere.

decision made

So I've mulled over the 3 projects for the past week, I've looked onto pro's and cons I've worked out a few things that were playing devils advocate in my head and I finally managed to get windows reinstalled to a point where I can use 3ds and Photoshop again.

And now it's set, I will be working on the Logan the explorer project. The upsides to this project seamed to out weigh the bad points. This project will not only serve as an environment on my portfolio but will also serve as the theme of the web page itself.

Logan the explorer will consist of 3 parts, 1st will be the environment.

As I said in a previous post the environment will be made up of 5 "Rooms" although this is mainly an exterior environment, if I break things down into rooms I can work on each in separate max files and concentrate on making each to a high standard, rather than trying to make a large area all in 1 go. A lot of the props that I will be making for the level will be reusable assets with only 1 major unique asset in each room, this should help with time frame and consistency throughout the level.

The second portion of the project is Logan the explorer the character. The character will be used as a mascot for the final portfolio website and his face or silhouette will be overlaid on all the images within the website. If I can get my head round it I will be taking the character into the udk or unity as a playable character within the level.

The third and final part of the project is the website I will be building a new website to replace my current older site. The sites design will be simple with as few clicks as possible to reach all the content. If I can get my head into unity then I will be releasing playable versions of each of my projects as well as stills and videos.

Now its time to start planning the level and assets so hopefully I can start showing some progress over the next few days in the way of some preliminary layout sketches and maybe an asset list.

useful tip ?

i was reading through the WIP section over at game-art.net and came across this post about an art test for a company called sim bin.

heres a link to the thread if your not a member you should check out some of the work on there.
http://www.game-artist.net/forums/work-progress/17268-simbin-art-test.html

anyway on the 2nd page somebody gave this tip so i thought if i put it up here its online for me forever lol.

If you select the middle edge in the centre of the road and hit 'loop' so the entire loop is selected, then in the viewport right click the selection and choose 'create shape' > 'linear'
With the newly created spline apply a 'sweep' modifier and create the shape to match the width of the road and ensure 'gen mapping coords' is ticked apply unique material ID's and weld into the landscape replacing the original and you will have a perfectly straight set of UV's

ohh and heres a link to the sim bin art test..
http://www.simbin.se/main/careers.htm

decisions decisions....

ok so ive spent the past 24 hours looking into the 3 ideas ihave and all 3 definately have thier merits so gonna break them down here and will take another couple of days to decide on the project i do 1st.

i have fleshed out the ideas a little over the last day and will continue to do so before i start modelling

LOGAN THE EXPLORER
the 1st idea from yesterday is a 3d platform game level, the emphisis will be on solid modelling and hand painted textures, aswell as level design that shows off gameplay mechanics. graphically the level will be reminissant of super mario and jak and daxter games with thier bright colours.

THE LAST WALK
yesterdays 2nd idea is for ingame cinematics so concentrates more on pacing and set pieces and will be a dark gritty sci-fi environment, doom dead space for android kinda thing. the poly count for this project will be bumped up to 15k so i can add that little extra.

THE BANK JOB
The final idea is more of a scene than a level i guess i'll call it a diorama its essentially a bank vault a tunnel and a basement with high detail models and textures. the poly count for this will be a massive 50k just so i can go nuts.

so now to weigh up pro, cons, timelines, workloads and see which project im looking at starting with.

RE3...

The bank job was a pretty decent movie ever seen it?... its on film 4 every other day you should check it out, its based on a true story you know.

ok so heres the idea the level is a bank that the robbers dug under it into the vault. your a copper investigating the tunnel and working out the escape route.

i'm thinking this would only be 3 rooms so would maybe be a higher poly environment but i'll leave this idea for a bit to see where my head takes it.

RE2....

Again its the 1st day of the blog expect alot of updates as thers alot to get out and only so much i can bother to type in 1 sitting......

Well here we have the second idea for my level this time its sci-fi same rules apply everything will be made in under 10,000 polys.

this is only a quick idea of a level plan this level will be used more to show pacing and atmosphere.


the notes on the image show where main points of interest will be.
the setting will be kinda like your a guy who woke up from cryo sleep and your walking through a ghost ship theres been shit kicking off and your just seeing the aftermath.

there will be a high speed elevator that will travel a pretend 128 floors and by looking out of it will have some nice veiws of planet x and again at the end of the level will be a big stop and stare moment of the planet.

again i'm toying with using unity because of the whole web browser game but i feel this would be an easier level to make in unreal as i have the knowledge to do 99% of this in udk without having to learn new tools.

so just read through this again i think raising the poly limit to 20k but keep trying for the 10k gives me wiggle room to try some stuff.

Random entry 1

I'm gonna try and update this blog as much as possible with major updates but will also throw out small update with not alot to show.

These Random Entries will be anything from a render or screenshot with no text or the equivilent of a facebook status.

This RE however is the 1st day of the blog so probably the 1st of a whole mess of short posts with flashes of inspiration such as this wonderfull little doodle....


Ok so this is my 1st quick doodle of a level plan its 5 rooms really but its an exterior environment.
The player will start in a closed in area with only a cave mouth they can enter,
inside the cave they will have to do a small jumping section collecting something or other.
once they pass the jumps they enter an open section where they can explore a temple (not enter it but the outside) ,they find a hole in the roof and enter it and fall ito a tomb area,
The player follows a linear path untill they fall through a hole in the ground in to another open area this time its a room of treasure and a big shiny thing the player collects that triggers something and the player needs to sprint to the finish where they exit on a boat. with a few cutesy matinee sequence thrown in to help display the environment.

With this idea i'm looking at using the unity engine as i can upload to the net and link to it as a play in browser game level. i could then evolve future projects around the level by making a character and enemies ect but thats future speak for now this is just the 1st idea, i'm gonna keep thinking for the day and find a few ideas and then see where i can combine or remove stuff and then start thinking of maybe using unity.

new blog new start

This is the 1st blog i have written since leaving uni so I'm a little out of practice but here goes......

This project blog is set to outline and define all the ideas and designs of a self contained low poly game environment, at this point that is the only detail i have so this will be a brainstorming portion of preproduction lol.

the lack of work offers and personal issues have taken their toll on motivation but i need to kick start my portfolio with something i can do and do well which is a small environment.

my thoughts are to try a million and 1 new things i want to do sci-fi, i want to remake metal gear from the 80’s into a new hd gaming experience. i want to make a fully destructible world where the world is the players main enemy and they must survive Armageddon and all the chaos around it..... hmm chaos yeah that what post grad life has been. well now that things are starting to settle again i need to get my 3d ass in gear and get something made and i cant send myself into an unfinishable project that will lower my moral further i need something that will strike the fire again, something that i can finish quickly and wont need to spend 3 months of 24/7 to get it done but instead can fit it into a few hours a day of actual computer time.

So here’s my thoughts........

…...i find i get more engrossed in level design than i do in anything else i love having unreal open, so unreal is something i have to include, i want this to be a finishable project so size and poly count are important. so its a small low poly environment that i need to be working on at the moment i’m not 100% sure on what the setting will be but we will work that out once i have the background details set in stone.

a few things that i know i have in my head are im thinking along the lines of android poly limits and not 3ds or psvita and deffo not ps3.

so a game world that weighs in under 10k... (if anybody has specific numbers for smartphone poly limits would be thankful)

now off to start researching..