385 Game Design

Jeffs Final Blog

2008-06-14T14:59:00.001-07:00

Ok this is my last blog as I have gone home.

I tryed to get the girls ion the best position that i could before i left wellington. I was having trouble scripting the trasition between level 2-3 and 3-4. I followed the tutorial and used there code to get from level one to level 2. But i couldnt quite figure out the other trasistions.

So what i have done is set up all of the levels and the main menu. If all else fails an it all turns to shit. Tubs can just open the unity file and open each level. The different stages of the character are also in each of these levels. So you will be able to see the stages of the frog and his animations. (I Hope).

So I habe basically tryed to get the basic template and leave most of the mesh placement to the girls. I have tryed to get this far. I have faith in Tubs and what she can do! As she has been with me for the last week. We have been working pretty closely on it. I must say that it is much easyer and alot faster when there are two of you working on the game at the same time. For example i needed a new pipe so i just asked Tubs and she had one ready for me in under an hour. Fully textured and it looks great! So yeah.

I love the Game!!!

Jeff logging out . . .

Animations

2008-06-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some short clips of the animations of Tuff.

Enjoy!

Stage 3 Walk Cycle:

Stage 4 Animations:

Jeff Logging out . . .

Thursday - Progress

2008-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

We had a team meeting yesterday, to talk about the game and what i had to get done before leaving on saturday. Tubs and I as the remaining group members. Figured that i would like to have the games frame work set out and working. So then Tubs just has to place the meshes and make the level look pretty.

Whose wearing the pretty pants now Tubs? YOU!

Also all of the meshes and files that Kirsty has given me have not been able to be placed and used in unity. I have no idea what is happening and because she has done it all in maya i have NO idea!

Here is a list of what i am aiming on getting done by friday night:

Character Animation Switch
Camera Switch
Level Switch
Main Menu
Game HUD
Basic Fame Work of the Entire Game

Here is a list of what i would have liked to do:

Enemies
Cut Scenes
Gradual Damage
Death Fallout Areas

Here is a list of what i would of enjoyed doing if we had a complete group the whole time:

Underwater Vision Scripting
Moveable objects
Collectible Items
Maps
Comprehensive Game Menus

Jeff logging out . . .

Wen - Progress

2008-06-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

After yesterdays what ever about the lab and other stuff like that, I came back after 5 to do some work on my character:

Here are the other two stages of Tuff. With their final textures and stuff. They have also been rigged and animated. I only have the swim, walk and idle cycle for Tuff with legs. Then i can tak them into unity and get the transition between them to work.
I think that the four meshes are very similar and look like they are the evolution of Tuff. I like them.

Jeff Logging out . . .

Friday - Jeffs Progress

2008-06-06T15:09:00.001-07:00

I have been working on the weight painting of the frog stage of the character and his animations:

Here is a sample of the walk cycle. (Its a bit hard to tell how far off the ground he is but with the shadow in unity it will be cool.)

Other animations i am working on:
Jump
Attack
Swim

Well on friday i did a test with some kids. Here is the Email i sent Jennifer Cochrane (Mum):

Dear Jennifer Cochrane,

Here is the link to the game. If it works just refresh the web page after each kid has had a go and the game will reset.

www.jeffreycochrane.com/tuffbetatest/Platformer_7_2_7.unityweb.html/

So just install the player and hopefully the game will work if not don't worry about it. I have attached a folder with some images i would like the kids to have a look at and could you tell me their reaction to them. I have included some simple renders of Tuff (The main character) in his final form and the spawn stage in the 1st level.

Order of testing:
Tell the kids the story and then ask them if they would like to play a game like this. Don't show them any images or anything. Then show them the images in the folder. Ask them what they think about them. Then let them play the game until they get to the bottom of the tree.(Through and past the mushrooms, and around the tree for abit). Then ask them the questions

The Story:
Humans are dumping waste into the water. All of the frogs are dieing. Your name is Tuff and you are the last of the frogs. You must stop the humans dumping waste into your water or you will die. You start as a frog spawn at the top of a mutant tree. Work your way to the bottom. As you go along you will evolve through the stages of a frog until you finally become a frog.

Would you like to play this game?

The questions:

Is it easy to navigate around the game? Why?
Do you like the colors and aesthetics? Why?
Do you think that the controls are easy? Why?
Is the game too easy or to hard? (Jumping between the mushrooms, moving around the tree without falling off.)
What would you change? and Why?
What do you like? Why?

The controls:
The mouse is used to look around
w = foward
a = left
d = right
s = back
space = jump

Intent:
I'm just testing the use of the camera and the basic controls of the game. Not the level design or the lack of meshes or things in the level. How the basic game play works. And if it needs tweaking. Can the kids navigate around the game easily without too much hassle.

Could you also put in your views on the game from a teachers perspective:

Do you think the kids were navigating easily?
What would you change?
What do you like / Dislike? Why?
Other
Do you think that the game would be better if the kids had no control of the camera. It was just a fixed perspective 3rd person. With the kids able to move the character forwards, left, right and back. And a jump and what-not?
Ideas.

If the game doesn't work just ask them the questions and show them the images. Some feed back is better than no feed back. If the game doesn't work txt me and when i get to school i can take and send more images of the level and stuff.

Cheers, Thanks a bunch!

Here are the results:

Evaluation of Game

Sam 5years old, Angel 7 years old, Elliot 10 years old

Sam and Angel both liked the sound of the game and would choose to play it.

Elliot: story sounds cool, but the idea of being a frog doesn’t appeal much

Images

Frog

Sam: like the frog with its tongue sticking out. The feet and body are like a ball. Its eyes are bulgy

Angel: Good graphics – don’t like the bit at the end of the tongue. I like the way it’s jumping and the way that the eyes have been created

Eliot: The frog made me laugh – it looks funny in mid air! I like the webbed feet

Egg

Sam: I like the egg, but the colours are a bit dark

Angel: the egg needs more colour, so the tadpoles stand out more. It’s a little dark

Elliot: I like the transparency. Colours are a bit dark

Other images

Children not sure what they are. Could locate water and ground. Dodn’t know what sunshine looking image was

After playing the game:

Sam: Moves to fast, I keep losing my place. Hard to use buttons

Suggestions: make the game slower.

Make the tree go to an island

I want to find a pond that hasn’t been polluted

Can I have a button where I can go back to the start when I am lost?

Angel: It’s easy to navigate (used buttons W, A – didn’t use jump). I just walked off the edges.

Colours – they show what you’re up to. The green is good.

Easy controls – easy to remember

I didn’t see any mushrooms. I walked off the edge of thetree to get to the bottom.

Suggestions: egg needs to evelove more as the journey progresses

Should put in flies to help you evelove. A tadpole also needs water to survive – you should have to go near water to keep going, and the egg should slow down if it has been out of the water for a long time. In this game, it keeps going at the same speed without food or water and they shouldn’t happen!

When you get to the water part, it should look polluted – that water looks okay to me!

Elliot: It’s hard to look around because the camera moves too quickly and is hard to control.

The ground is good – I like the texture. The red in the tree is weird.

Suggestions: Need activities to do to make it more interesting. Close to end of game, Tuff could find a female frog, because in order for the frogs to survive, need a female!

Teachers Perspective

Angel and Elliot navigated through game easily. Sam had a lot of difficulty coping with more than 2 buttons and speed of game.

What would you change?

Slow down speed – or allow controller to slow speed.

Have more landmark bits along the tree to help children navigate. Difficult to know where in the tree you were.

Like / Dislike

Like the idea of the game. Graphics were cool – especially underwater, hills etc.

Got dizzy and lost in the game. Need more educational features eg: Angels idea of catching flies a good one. Needs to evolve, but children need to do things to make it evolve – whether it be visiting water, answering questions, finding flies. Difficult for children to see things were polluted. What is Tuff doing to actually change the environment? Does he need to get to certain places to “win” something that stops humans destroying water? Have a game at school where they have to catch cockroaches, but have to answer a question after catching so many to evolve……

Kids love having control of the camera. Wouldn’t wan tto restrict them – but could control their use of it, by the game slowing down the more the are away from water / tree. Dying when there too long or more pollution being put into pond.

None of the children got the frog to evolve from the egg. Only Elliot found the mushrooms and we weren’t sure what we had to do. What was the tyre thing.

Kids all loved having a go and are very keen to re-visit your game!! Many thanks for giving us the opportunity at this stage!! We hope this evaluation helps!!

All the best!
Jennifer Cochrane

Jeff logging out . . .

Wed - Frog Development Images

2008-06-04T14:22:00.001-07:00

Here are a few development images of the frog stage of Tuff:

(He is rigged but i am yet to weight paint him)

I also put a test texture on Tuff and did a few renders: The texture is not final but you get the idea.3 lights:

Jeff Logging out . . .

Wed - Jeff Work

2008-06-04T02:18:00.000-07:00

Today i worked with the 1st level again. I tried a few different cameras. As the orbit camera is a bit spastic in enclosed spaces. I have also placed the dead spawn at the top of the level and textured them, I made a sign to point the way to the bottom of the tree and textured that. I had a little crack at the underwater vision. Placing the bouncing mushrooms. Alot of tweaking, tuning and testing.

I had a chat with mum about the testing and other things that i would like to do with the kids. I have a 1st level movement and basic camera movement test on Friday. With a selection of kids from mums school.

- I want to see if it is too hard or not hard enough
- Camera is Ok
- The style is appealing
- It is fun to play

I will be asking the kids to play the game and then with mums help answer a few questions that will help the further development of the game. This test will be key to the further development of the level and the rest of the game. And will be a good indicator if we are aiming at the right things or not.

Jeff logging out . . .

Jeffs Progress

2008-06-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today and yesterday i was working on the level and the meshes in the level. So here are heaps of development images.

Here are the light bugs basic shape and layout. The grey ball at the end will be clear and contain a light inside. The eyes are spirally and weird looking. I think that the style of the light bug fits the style we are aiming at.

The basic layout of the light bugs over the level:
The light bugs:
In game Light bugs:

Tuff - Frog Character Development: The hardest thing in the model so far has been the feet:

What's next for Tuff:
Finish the model
Rig Tuff
Animate Tuff
- Walk
- Jump
- Tongue Attack
- Other
Texture Tuff

Also I would like to get the 1st level quite a way through so that i can get kids to test the playability and other aspects of the level.

Jeff logging out . . .

What i have did Yesterday

2008-05-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sweet so yesterday i was working in unity to get as much put in and working as possible. I ended up getting the 1st level mesh and 1st stage of the character working. The texture of the tree is still under construction, (Beth has done a simple one but after all of the meshes have been placed and are working we will re look at the textures to make sure they al match up.)

Here are a few development images:

Overall Image - Basically the layout of the world. Loosely based at the moment.Tree - Level 1 OverviewTree CloserTuff in water, top of tree.Tuff at the end of the 1st level.

What i am working on now:

Placing the different meshes from the girls
Making and animation the other 2 characters
HUD
Life bar
Health Pick-ups
Death Zones

Jeff Logging out . . .

I Hate inveted Normals

2008-05-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i was finishing off the tree level, by blending all of the different models together. This was fine until i took the model into unity as a test. Heaps of faces were missing and things like that, so i went back into blender a turned on the normals to see what way they were facing. Turnes out that getting 3 different people to model the same thing was a bad idea. Most of the normals were the wrong way. This is super!!!

So what i ended up doing was systematically working thought the model and making the normals face the right way. This took around 2 hours. But prob less. But now we have a normal looking tree with no faces missing. Yay.

I also had a meeting with Beth and Tania to flesh out what they are doing and how the lab is coming along. It is on track and going sweet.

Here are a few development images: This is the basic layout of the game. The cube on the left is a place holder for the tree - 1st Level, then the terrain (That is yet to be edited by kirsty) is the 2nd Level, and the cube on the right is a place holder for the labrotory.

Below are the issues i was having with the egg animation in unity. I was able to find a solution for this. The 1st image is what I wanted and a sample of the textures on and in the egg.

The animation wasn't doing what i wanted it was blockier and weird as the images below show:
Also an update of what i have done recently:

Fixed the tree
Got the 3rd person camera working (Still needs tweeking)
Got 1 character into unity, with animation.
Had a meeting with the girls to discuss what they are doing.
Received some of the finished meshes from the girls
Passed the tree level over to beth to texture.

What i would like to have done before Wednesday:

2nd Character
Idle animation for the egg
tree level in and test-able

Here are a few images of the tree that has been fixed: (Has no texture yet)

Corrected Normals YAY!!!

Jeff logging out . . .

What are the issues with the camera?

2008-05-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

The issues are that when the user jumps from the left to right button, while not pushing forward or back the character jumps from side to side. Same with front and back. I think that this is part of the 3rd person camera script.

Also i need to make a standing still animation for the egg so that when you stop moving the character doesn't keep on rolling. This is simple to do but i must remember to do it.

Jeff Logging out . . .

Issues and Progress

2008-05-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

I have been working on how the character interacts with the level and other things like that. I have also be trying to get the 3rd person camera to work and be nice. I have had issues with this. Here they are:

When i tried to get the spring follow camera script to work on my level with my camera it had a heart attack. I tried this a few times. Then i thought that i could use the lerps tutorial as a base and then build off it. So what i have been doing is using the tutorial and working through it with the first stage of the character. I hope to get my level design into the stage soon as it would be good so then we could get away from the lerps look.

Also i have modified the character so that the egg stage of the character has no tadpole. As unity was having a cry about it. So now it looks allot more simple. But i think that it looks good. What i would like to get done soon is the refinement of the 3rd person controller and the setup of our level with our meshes and things like that.

Jeff logging out . . .

My Plan for the day.

2008-05-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

I have a plan for today:

I want to get two of my characters into unity and moving. I also want to get the first level done so that i can start playing with my character in the level and making sure that all of the gaps are big enough for him to get through and stuff like that.

I also wouldn't mind if i have the time. To make a health bar and get that working and other smaller things like that. I am hoping that some of my group will get here today so that I can get their stuff and start working with it.

Jeff logging out . . .

Issues so far

2008-05-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

I have been having a few issues with getting the first level back together. I think it was a bad idea to get three people to work on the same mesh but in different parts. Some people have subdivided the tree and others have done some weird stuff that doesnt make sense to me. And it is my job to put the tree back together. I think next time. One person should model the tree with others input. I think that, that would make a much cleaner mesh and be easyer to texture.

I have also emailed the group to tell them that i will be at school tomorrow so if they have any problems or want to give me some stuff they can. I am also planning on having the 1sy level done by tomorrow with at least one of the four characters in the space.

Jeff logging out . . .

Things that i did today

2008-05-21T01:55:00.000-07:00

Ok so what did i get done today? I had a really productive meeting with most of the group and how things were progressing. I got some things off people like the different parts of the first level (the tree). I also made a unity file that had the basics of what in the world and how they would be layed out.

I made a very very simple terrain that Kirsty is going to modify and made water and an under water views. I made simple objects in the world that can be used as references as to where things are located. Also i put in a skybox and a directional light. I have also been tampering with the setting of things like the light to make it more like a sun and smaller things like that.

I have also layed down a few rules that i would like people int the group to stick to. Rules like, no high poly meshs! I it can be done simply do it that way. For example beth asked me if i wanted meshes that could be used as static things. I said no just use textures and bump maps. This way the world wont be too mesh heavy and bog down the processers with things that the user may only glance at for 0.01 seconds.

If it looks just as good as a facade, use a facade rather than a mesh.

So what am i doing now. Animating the different stages of the character and texturing them. Also starting to put together the level. Like bringing the different parts of the tree together and texturing it.

Other Thaughts:
I dont want to do everything! I want to delegate as much work as possible to others so that they are also working on the project and i am just fixing things they are having trouble with and doing the things that they cant. I think that i didnt make myself clear in 285 last year. So i am trying to make things easyer for myself in the long run. I'm abit fed up with greg. Even an email would be nice. But thats not worth complaining about. Im just getting on with it!

Sweet as meat

Jeff logging out . . .

Development of Tuff

2008-05-18T17:05:00.001-07:00

I have been working on the rigging of the egg and the textures of it. Im having some trouble with having an alpha channel in blender but im going to try and make it work in unity instead. I am making good progress with the ideas that i want to have in each of the three stages of my character.

Heres a few development images:

Here is the tadpole texture and basic shape. (This tadpole in inside the egg (I have just hidden the layers to see the textures and basic shapes) ).

This is the setup of the egg structure. The two spheres will be see-through. The outer egg will be a pale shade of blue and the inner egg is going to be an see-through black.

I quite like him and playing around with the rigging makes me giggle as he wriggles and moves its pretty cool: Heres a short movie of him wriggling:

So this is what i have been up too. I am planning on modeling up the tadpole stage of the frog tonight with a more complex rig so that it looks more fluid like while swimming.

Jeff logging out. . .

Project 3 Progress

2008-05-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i sat down with the team members that were there and modeled up the main tree (The first level). Here is an image of the tree.

The colour is to indicate the part of the tree that each person will model the track to. I also tryed not to do all of the work so that when people come to designing their part of the tree they could do themselves.

The tree is to get people to model on the same object at the same time.

What else have i done:
I have also been working on the egg stage of the character. I have created 3 things that work together as one. The outer, inner and tadpole parts of the egg. I was having trouble with rigging the three parts of the character so that they work together. I have after yesterday and a meeting with group members i have made a must have and a could have list of the things i want the character to do.

So the egg must have:
a foward roll cycle.

Could have:
a left and right lean animation.
front, left, right, top and bottom impact animation.
a jump animation.
and when the egg gains speed the shape of the egg will change.

Finished

2008-04-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to the online version of my level: (It takes a while to load)

http://jeffreycochrane.com/385/Project2.html

Enjoy

Almost Almost

2008-04-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

I have done quite a bit of tinkering around with settings and things like that. I have also created the new tower. Issues im haveing is trying to create a death box. I got Tom to give me a hand and we grabbed the code from the tutorial but it wont work. I think that it is because the code is not complete. I need to go through the tutorial and finish off the code, then it will work. Here are some images of what i have been doing:

My character in unity was a good idea at the start but after having some issues with unity glitching out and fragging and running super slow i just went for the simple first person shooter. This way seems to run better and not use up as much processing stuff. But i can make a character work in unity. Like i helped Tania on her level and because her level is just one blender mesh it didn't glitch out at all compared to mine so hers worked.

Here is an image of what skybox i am using. Its the blue sky one. The reason i chose that one is because of the angle of my light and the look that i wanted to achieve. I had created my own skybox texture but it just looked cheep and nasty.

So the theory of my level is that from the front it look like a "normal" cartoon like world and when you get behind the trees or rocks it becomes a "model" like level. I wanted it o be like i was building a model of a castle. Then to accentuate the castle the "2d" trees and rocks would stand and make the terrain for where the castle sits. And this is a top down view of the level. I was just being cheeky and put a J island in. You cant really notice it but i like it. He he he.

Jeff Logging out . . .

The new castle is sweet

2008-04-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have now redesigned the castle and the outer wall. They are 3d so they will stand out in the level. At the moment i have created a lift that goes up and down the castle but if a have time and can be bothered i will change the lift to a spiral staircase. Its pretty easy but i need to be at school to do it so that i get the staircase steps the right size, and the only way i can test it is in unity. Then back to blender and so on.

Jeff logging out . . .

Progress with new meshs

2008-04-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

OK after some thought into the matter of my level i have decided that i need more meshes to populate the new level rather than the ones i have at the moment. Also my castle at the end was nothing to spectacular so i am completely re designing it. I have decided t make the castle 3d so its a center point of the level and the other meshes 2d like cardboard. This is so that when you get to the top of the hill it is more of an accomplishment and isn't just another cardboard cut out.

This will take time but i think that it will be worth it in the end. So here is a list of the new things that i want to create:

Castle
Small and large statues
Grass
Shrubs
Posts
Animals (Possibly sheep)

Why did i change? Well it was glitching up unity and getting the level to move with all of my custom meshes was a nightmare with the processing speeds, and the computer was having a heart attack.

Other things that are worth mentioning are the styles of things that i wanted to put in. For example i asked jess for some grass. The grass she gave me was 3d and just didn't go with the theme or style of the level. I am actually quite disappointed with not getting my original idea to work. As i think that, that level would have been awesome and super cool. Why don't i like it? because of the terrain and the style that it makes me take. Rather than my own vision of the land or terrain i have to make it to what unity wants me to make it like. I feel like i have just been stone walled at every turn. Oh well, what ever. Its not worth complaining about really. I just have to get ion with it!

Jeff Logging out . . .

Unity on my laptop BAD IDEA

2008-04-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Ok my sister is coming down today and is staying until Sunday and i haven't seen her in ages so i thought id install the trial version of unity on my computer so that i could at least place all of my meshes on the terrain and do some stuff while she is here. Bad idea. I have crashed my computer 3 times now. It starts to runs then just crashes. GUTTED FOR ME!!!

So i guess i will have to head into school. But thats ok i guess.

Jeff logging out . . .

The new Level

2008-04-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the new level. Its now with terrain and im unsure about it now. Here are a few pictures:

Jeff logging out . . .

Unity Development Images

2008-04-23T21:02:00.001-07:00

Here's a few images that i have captured from unity. So i think that i will now just try and make some changes to it. Or put it all on a flat plane and make it run that way. Oh well.

Jeff Logging out . . .

Issues with unity

2008-04-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ok i have imported all of my meshes and placed them in unity, but... BUT. I cant get the level to move. Im also having trouble with the pace of the game. Its all glitchy and takes ages to load. So i think that my meshes are too large or there are to many of them. I know that my meshes are small as they don't have many polygons.

I think that i just have to many!

Issues are as follows:
Coding the level to move (Or creating gravity in the world)
Making the level not glitch out

Unity Trees

2008-04-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have started to put my objects into unity. I have done all / most of the trees and most of the rocks. I still need to texture the terrain but that will be easy. I also just need to finish off the castle and castle walls meshes then i will be able to make the castle and the other components to the level. I like the trees and the way that the lights are reacting to them but the lights still need abit of work.

By early tomorrow i want to habe the basic layout and most of the other small details done on the level. Then i will be able to work on the code behind the rotation of the level and the character movement through the level.

Jeff logging out . . .

Some Unity Forced Decisions

2008-04-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

So after some thought and some unity experimentation. I have had to make a decision about the level design. What wanted to do was make a sphere like shape the centre of gravity and then have all of the mesh pull towards that. But i cant figure out how to move the centre of gravity.

So if i cant move the point of gravity, i will have to move the way that i navigate the space. Instead of moving the character through the space move the space around the character. So a fixed camera and when the user moves in the space the level moves rather than the character.

And if this doesn't work i think i will just make my level on a flat plane or box.

Jeff Logging out . . .

The progress

2008-04-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

So after making the trees and rocks and houses and characters i have decided its about time to get into unity with the meshs and start playing around in there with them and actually starting to place them where i want them. I have also just completed the castle i wanted. It has a tower and is large with an exterior wall. But you will have to wait until i gt into unity to see it.(why because it is in peices at the moment. With stairs and walls and landings all separate, thus allowing me to manipulate the over all design of the castle easier.)

I think that a large part of my project is the materials and maps. This i think will make or break my design. And i trying to work on them.

Jeff logging out . . .

Development Images

2008-04-19T18:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some simple renders of the three rocks and the house i built. Also a drawing of my idea of the stand. I want to do it but i'm still thinking about it .

Rocks and a Hard Decision

2008-04-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ha ha ha im such a douche. Rocks, ha ha ha, hard, hahaha,

Arhhh. That was funny and dumb at the same time. Ok i have made 3 rocks also that match the style of the trees i created. Ok i have an idea about my rocks and trees and im not sure what i want to do. I was thinking about putting "braces" on the rocks and trees so they look like a tree from the front but from the back they look like cardboard cut outs. that are placed in a 3d world. I think that this could be a cool aesthetic and go with Alex the kid.

Im not sure weather i want to go back through the meshes and make each of them have a stand or make a separate mesh that i will clip on when in untiy. I think that if i make the stand n blender it will work out better when im duplicating the meshes over the landscape which i am yet to create in unity. Which sucks because i will have to redo all of the meshes so far and their textures and bump maps. Gutted for me. But i think that it will make it easyer in the long run.

Or maybe i could make the stand in blender and copy and past it through the meshes. They will all have the same stand but it will take me less time to do it. And its Saturday and i should be playing playstation or xbox. But this is a sacrifice that i am willing to make for my project (and Kah and Doug)!

Jeff Logging out. . .

3 trees so far

2008-04-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

So after creating the first tree i wanted more variety through-out the level so i have created 2 more trees. The first image is the texture i will be using on the back of the trees. Its a carboard texture .

Here are the other two tree types. After the first tree was created it was really easy to bang out a couple more. Each has their own textures and bump maps so they should be easy to manipulate if i need to.

Jeff Logging out . . .

More trees

2008-04-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here is just a small sequence of the development of the bump map on my trees. It looks pretty cool. And its a very small polygon count. Im quite happy with the end tree. As it looks toony but still quite complex and neat.

Jeff logging out . . .

My sweet 2d / 3d trees

2008-04-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

After emailing Kah and asking him about making separate meshes or one big one i have decided to make multipul meshes. This will allow me to manipulate them individually and will give me more control over things.

So here is an render of what i have been working on so far. Its a 3d but really 2d tree. I am going with the toon style of textures and am working with bumps, normals and other mapping things to get the textures to pop and be cool. I am going to make three types of trees and three dirrerent types of rocks. Then after that i mite make some other things that would populate the rest of the level.

I said i would show you the basic character that would be exploring the world so here he is:

Like i said he is very basic and i don't think i will do much more to him. Maybe a bump map or something fancy if i can be bothered. He will just roll around the world. Hes a happy little fellow.

Jeff Logging Out . . .

Blender issues

2008-04-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well not really! Its more me getting used to blender again after a short break. Ha ha ha im finding it quite tricky to navigate and make the things i want. But am slowly getting my blender groove back. Like i want to find the unwrap menu. I had to watch a few videos to find the key. Its "U" by the way.

A few other issues i am having in my head. With the design of my level i'm unsure whether to make it one blender object or multiple objects that i would then combine in unity? I think i mite email Doug or Kah before going to far with the blender.

I hava also created a really basic character that will navigate the world i am creating. He is just an orange rounded cube with stubbly little arms. When i get a chance to do a render i will upload a picture to my blog.

Jeff logging out . . .

Sweet Holidays

2008-04-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Its now the holidays but i dont want to fall off the band wagon as i will prob not get back on! So here is a sketch of what my level will look like:

Its based on a tube or cylinder, that turns around. On the tube are trees and rocks and other outdoor things. These are all going to be 2d (well look like 2d). Using textures and other forms of mapping the trees will look like they are 3d until you get closer or past them.

Jeff logging out . . .

Project Two Ideas:

2008-04-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

Project two Ideas:

After looking into Alex the kids and other old school Sega games. I have decided to make a 3d world out of cardboard. So the trees look sweet front on but as soon as you walk past the tree the side of it looks like cardboard. So its still a 3d world but with almost 2d objects and terrain.

How I want the level to look: The general style of the level will be toon like. With trees building and other game terrain made in a toon style. For example a roof of a building would be larger and on a lean.

Over-size and bright!

Other:
I was going to use my character from project one but I have decided to make a very simple character that I know will work and be very quick to make. Because of all the problems i was having with project one character.

Two Amigos

2008-04-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hey here is my game idea for project three. Its in a PDF so you will have to download it.

Link

Jeff Logging out . . .

Alex the Kid: In Miracle World

2008-04-01T13:36:00.001-07:00

Alex the Kid: In Miracle World:

This is a game from my childhood and just recently I have found and downloaded an emulator and a copy of the game to play. This has brought back the memories and the good times.

The basic game play and interaction: You are Alex the Kid and you fight your way through Miracle world to get food. The game was on the Sega Master System. So the levels are all 2D. But I think that the level design is awesome. Much like sonic the hedgehog and other games of the time, its basically tile based system. The levels are generally very colourful and simple. There is a way through the level and enemies or breakable walls usually block the way.

The things that are able to be interacted with are generally very distinctive. A different colour or a symbol.

As you the player make your way through the levels they change and evolve. For example the first level starts with you up the top of a cliff, I guess. Then as you descend you get to the bottom and enter the water. This changes the level.

The user also has to break parts of the level to progress. These are the things that I would like to incorporate into my level. I also think that this style of bright colours and the general aesthetic of the game, is great and I am looking forward to incorporating some of these ideas into my level.

VIDEO

2008-03-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

Done (To a point)

2008-03-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

OK i have made the most of the things that i can do i am still trying to get my model into unity with all of it but thats ok. I have done all the rest of the project requirements. Sweet here is a short video of the walk cycle.

Ok quicktime is having a cow so no movie on the blog.

Jeff Logging out. . .

Yay Unity Works! ....... NOT

2008-03-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yay Unity Works! with a cube. How awesome. I guess i could pass with a cube!!!!!!!!!! NOT!!!!!!! ROAR ROAR ROAR SWEAR SWEAR SWEAR. So i think that the problem is in the weight painting or the amount of vertices i have in my model.

Issues with Unity

2008-03-25T13:41:00.001-07:00

Ok i went home and tryed to make the model in blender simpler. I cut out heaps of vertices in the sucker! This didnt working unity. So i cut off the sucker. This didnt work in unity. (And yes i am selecting both the armature and the mesh in blender before exporting) I then took off the bump map, as unity said it had an error with two materials. This didnt work. Then i cut off the sucker and the more complex parts of my model and the texture! This still wouldnt work!!! Yay i am loving blender and unity now!!! ( sarcastic!!!!!! )

I have also checked that i have weight painted everything in my model. So at least one bone has a light blue over everything!

OK. Now i am going to create a box in blender and export it into unity. I wonder if that will work?!!!! Probebley!!! Man i hate this!!! ROAR ROAR ROAR, SWEAR SWEAR SWEAR!!!!

That is all,

Cool, calm and collected Jeff Logging out. . .

Just before bed

2008-03-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

OK, after much f**king around and trying to get things done when I'm half asleep, i have started to create a back story for my character to try and increase the believability of it. I don't want to reveal much but, its name is Heliopod. I am working on a style sheet for him. So tomorrow when i present I can show people what i was thinking and how this little fella lives!

Tired and very sleepy Jeff Logging out . . .

Development pictures

2008-03-25T02:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more development pictures:

This image was me blurring the bump map so that the bumps were a bit smoother:

This is after i have refined the bump map and the textures:After getting home and starting to do some more work, blogger was working fine on my computer so i uploaded some development pictures.

Jeff Logging out. . .

Am still having issues with unity

2008-03-25T00:46:00.000-07:00

I have been able to get some of the parts of my model into unity. I chopped off the lower half of him and then re-imported him. This worked. So i think the problem is in the sucker in the lower half of the model. I am still working on it. I am also have issues with blogger. I cannot seem to be able to upload pictures to the net. So i think i will go home and work on the other aspects of the hand in. and come in tomorrow refreshed and work on the unity side of the hand-in. Sweet i'm out of here!

Im starting to go insane. Aaaaarrrrr!!! I guess i shouldn't have gone to Jack Johnson. Oh well it was a sweet concert. So what ever!!!

Jeff Logging out . . .

Issues with Unity

2008-03-25T00:23:00.000-07:00

I am currently having issues with importing my model into unity. Jackie says that i might have to many vertices. So am going to have another look at my model and see what i can do. Otherwise go back to a earlier model and trying to use that. I probley shouldn't ha ve left it until the last night. Oh well. What's a night without sleep?

Yay ... NOT!

Progress

2008-03-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have been making progress with my model and the animation. I am now currently rendering out a "walk cycle". I have also made a few changes to the bump map. I think it looks much better. Yay. I am as soon as the render finishes, going to take my model into unity and make him do all the things he needs to do. Sweet.

Jeff logging out . . .

Texture Mapping Render

2008-03-24T17:32:00.001-07:00

I have uv mapped the texture to the model and have also mapped the bump map:

What i think is wrong. I need to blur some of the color in the texture so its not so sharp and also create a bit more of a gradient in the bump map so the bumps aren't so huge. They need to be more subtle.

Textures and a bump map

2008-03-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Because my model floats and doesn't really have a walk cycle. I think that i need to work more on my textures. So i have been tinkering with colors and have just made a bump map so that the textures have abit more depth to them.

Intital Texture: At the start i was think about a blue and red texture:

Here I was adding more darker colors to the texture to define the curves:
Again more darker colors were added:
I was not really liking the color of the texture and in earlier posts i said that i wanted to use reds and yellows. So i think that this is a much better color combination:
I was happy with the colors , and i wanted to add more depth to the model so i created a bump map that i will be applying to the model today:

Jeff Logging out . . .

Yay!

2008-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Just after i blogged up the problem Tim walked in and showed me how to fix it. Yay. So am now just tinkering with the textures. And trying to find a cool modifier.

Jeff Logging out . . .

problems and progress

2008-03-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

After taking saturday and sunday off to go to the Jack Johnson concert up in Napier. I have started to do some work on my model and the textures on him. I have been using the uv unwrapped picture to apply my texture. I think it is looking pretty good until I wanted to see what it would look like after a render with the texture on the model. I now cannot seem to get the texture to render through. I get a shaded model but no texture!!! ARRRRR!!!

Here is a render so far: (I have been messing around with the edge settings!)

I will figure this out. I mite take a break and do the animating on the character for a while.

Jeff logging out . . .

Got some stuff done

2008-03-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

In class yesterday i worked out a few issues i was having with the weight painting and UV texture mapping. I am now at the stage of making the texture in photo shop and animating my character. I still have a lil bit of weight painting to tweak but it is generally pretty sweet. Texture shouldn't take to long. On Friday I am hoping to spend some time at uni working on the unity side of the project. Also i want to finish with blender on Friday. But i think i will have to make some time for the render. Judging on the 205 renders last year.

Jeff logging out . . .

Unity Tutorials

2008-03-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

Tutorials: Last night Mouse, Ash and I went through the first two tutorials and had a go. They were all pretty easy. Well thats what i thought. But when we came to the third. I think we had, had enough of school for one day. As we had, had a class before. So we all went home. After i got home i downloaded the pdf, and had a look through. This will be a helpful tool. I think i can do most of it at the moment. I just need to spend some more time in unity and get myself up to speed with the software.

Model Progress: I have rigged up my model and it is moving but not quite right yet. I am also this morning working on unwrapping my model and working on its texture. I know Kah is going to give me s**t, but I forgot how to do this after he had shown us all. But i found a great tutorial on you tube and am making great progress now.

See you in class!

Jeff logging out . . .

Progress

2008-03-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet i have had a kind of productive weekend in gaming. I played Army of Two for a few hours. This i feel is game research. Ha ha ha. The game was pretty cool. It was awesome that the storyline and game play were based around two people. So about 7 on Friday night me and my flat mate sat down to play. I went to be at 3. So we got pretty far in it and had heaps of fun.

So if you get the chance. Sit down with an amigo, and give this game a crack. It is defiantly work a look. But onto 385 game design.

I have been tinkering with my model in blender and have made the rig for it! It is not quite moving the way i want it to but its getting there. I am also today going to start to make the texture for it. I am trying to do a render of my model. So i can upload it to the blog, but my computer is having a hard time keeping up. So I am going to do a few at school today.

What am i think in terms of textures?
After basing my model on the jelly fish i thought that that could also be a nice texture idea. Am not sure hoe see through it will be but there will defiantly be some see-through stuff going on. At the moment I am thinking reds and oranges, with blue high lights.

Sweet stay tuned for updates.

Jeff logging out . . .

Lack of Progress

2008-03-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

To be honest. I haven't really done much since last time. I am about mid way through modeling my character. But i am hoping to have the rigging done in my character done before class today.

Concept Sketches and First Images

2008-03-04T14:06:00.001-08:00

OK here is my first sketch, It looks like a jellyfish with eyes.

Im not sure what i was think when i was drawing this but i had some idea about a jellyfish like creature that lives in the air. Just drifts and chills out. It goes at its own pace! Can be manipulated by wind but still has some control.

After this sketch i wanted to to look more like a balloon and less like a jellyfish. So this is concept no.2

This concept is shaped more like a hot air balloon. Which is kinda what it is like. The tendrils are more for stability through the air rather than stinging, like a jellyfish.

The main idea behind my character is that of a membrain or very light and very thin skin. The character feeds on carbon in the air and carbon residue on the surface of things. Then it produces the gas helium. This helium is then caught in the balloon like dome, and gives it lift. My character can manipulate the amount of helium in the sack so it can rise and fall. But it has no or very little way of moving left or right. It get carried by the wind.

Next after some thought about the way it moves and needing to rest and feed etc. I started drawing suckers, and maybe how they might attach to the body of my character.

I was unsure if i wanted one or three suckers on the bottom of my character. I quite like the simpleness of the one but i think i mite go for three. I don't really know why but i tend to just like the idea of three.

I have now moved onto more development of the tendrils, im not sure weather i want them to just be as they are or have more mass so they can choose to drift in different directions. Or have weights on the ends of them so they stay upright? Am not sure.

Jeff logging out ...

More Research

2008-03-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

After looking into different things to do with my character i came across a few links that are quite interesting.

10 most horrible deep sea crastures:
http://www.oddee.com/item_79915.aspx

Freaky Tiny humaiod creature:
http://www.rense.com/general31/tinyt.htm

After looking at these links i had a bit of a look into sea creatures that mimic the types of styles i wanted to put in my character. One of these creatures was the octopus. It has no bones so can squeeze itself into beer bottles and other tiny places. But the main reason was with my character i wanted it to be able to grab onto things and rest. So i was looking into the suckers on the octopus when i came across this amazing website. With a wicked video! You should check it out! Link is below:

http://www.aqua.org/animals_octopus-video.html

The video has the most amazing images of the suckers close up!!! It is sooooo cool!

Research Into small creatures

2008-03-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

I have started my character design by doing some research into tiny creatures. I wanted to go small rather than big. Why did i choose small? Small is a generally unknown area for humans. We can see small and look right down to small things using tools, but big is different. If we are relating small and big to the average size of humans. We can see big easily, we do not need a specific tool to see large things straight away.

I also think we as humans have an affinity with small objects or mammals. From the perspective of a girl. Things are cute when they are small but not quite so much when they are big. Like Paris Hilton and her small dog. I think that if she had a larger dog she would need a much larger handbag for one. And i think we would see a different attitude towards it. But from a scientists perspective small things are more intricate and delicate. Small things seem to have a strange almost magical power over humans.

This magical perspective of small things is what interests me and why i am designing my character small.

I started by thinking what is less than 10 grams, bugs, fish, bacteria, other macroscopic things. On friday i went free-diving with my mate, we go out at and spear fish, collect paua and crayfish. While we were out there were a heaps of jellyfish out in the water. The way they moved and the way they looked really got me thinking about my character. They way it moves and the way it looks.

This style of create started to effect the way my character moves and the way it looks. Key issues i was looking at were, colour, shape and movement. Going along the same lines as the jellyfish i have decided that my character has some influence on how it moves but it just goes with the flow. It drifts from place to place not really knowing where it will end up.

Stay tuned for character sketches and development images.

Jeff Logging out...

First Blog

2008-02-27T00:38:00.000-08:00

Hey im back and rearing to go!!!