ProjectBlog

Update on Unwrella.

Labels: game design

Yes it is indeed true; that rumor you heard about unwrapping 3d models. It is very true. It is a bitch to unwrap/skin/peel/discombobulate a character's polygon mesh in order to paint it.

This tool by Unwrella claims to be a god send to texture artists. Let me give it a shot and see if I enjoy unwrapping any more than I used to. I'll update on this later...

Labels: game design

It is a daunting task to build a 3d video game with a team of two...

Back to the drawing board is what they say when your challenges become harder and the scope of work changes. Either that or you kill the marketing department. Well, no. I wouldn't want to kill any marketing dept, especially because I have dear friends who do it for a living.

After some initial tests and more software research Danny and I have decided to take a few steps back and re-asses the goals of our project. Initially it was to be a hit the ground running effort to make a top down shooter with a simple game engine. XNA seemed to be a likely solution, but Danny has found it to be somewhat complicated in implementing some of what we want to do. That is not to say it wouldn't be useful for a 2d side scroller game, but we want to incorporate user controlled animations.

So this weekend we will have a pow-wow style brainstorming and planning session. The hottest topic will be defining new goals for our game and figuring out the pros and cons of using a more expensive game engine. It may costs us more than we had hoped to spend, but that may all be driven by how beneficial it would be to cut production time. We love games, and we would rather spend more time making it a decent, fun, and playable game. Not to mention that we would both like it to be stylized and eye catching.

This Sunday should prove to be very fruitful in defining a game story and charting milestones. More on that later... Meanwhile I have been going through a lesson book on Game Character Modeling and Animation; It is a great book to get started with and so far I'm enjoying it. Now about those game engines...

Labels: game design

Dan has started downloading all the necessary development tools; he's been looking into using the Torque game engine. Meanwhile I've been sketching some map ideas and trying to come up with a compact and engaging environment. I don't have the luxury of making it lush a the moment, so what I'm really after is a quick view of what a game map may look like.

It took me about 4hrs to model, texture, and render an overhead animation of the game map. It is crude, but it should suffice for now. We are aiming to play this on our TVs, so our resolution reflects a wide screen ratio. We'll see how this holds up. We may have to cut down the size if we hit any snags or limitations.

In the meantime, here is a quick clip showing the game map test:

Labels: game design

Summer 08 has been good so far and now it seems to be getting more fun. After kicking around the idea of making video games with my home boy Dan, we've decided to make a go of it. Our initial concept will be simple. Mostly it will be a chance to try out a collaborative and new techniques. Dan will be handling all the programming, meanwhile I'll take care of art and animation.

This is an organic process for us since we've never designed games for the XBOX before. The game idea is drawn from the good ol' days of games like Ikari Warriors. We will attempt to create an overhead scrolling shooter. Top down view with simple left, right, down, up controls. Initially we've given ourselves a month to see how far we can get in laying down the game mechanics and some artwork.

I'm hoping to create most of the art in 3d and animate walk cycles for the player character and the NPCs. The story is evolving and at the moment it is merely an excuse to have an anti-hero character destroy his enemies and a big boss. Dan will have his hands full trying to figure out XNA and including enemy AI.

Wish us luck!

Labels: game design