It takes a lot of time but working without a design doc is asking for a project that will never end and cost a ton more to create….I have seen many a big project fail due to the lack of a design document or simply just not following it.. =)
You can follow along here as I add in all the scripted items. After this puppy is done I will create the first 10 levels. After they are done imo I will start to look for the initial Alpha crew that will help guide the rest of the game =) http://ryanmitchellgames.wikispaces.com/Missions
I plan on getting the first level in game to feel things out a bit and then go through the rest..
For the next few days I will be finalizing EVERYTHING that will appear in the final product. What that means is I will be writing the script the game will now follow to the T. Up until now all my systems have been designed for general application and is perfect for the simulation. Now I need to add the extra scripting and event based systems to truly make this an interactive and evolving experience.
Tonight: Massive setup on the docs. I need to layout ALL the missions and get this bad boy nailed down. Then I can go about forming the game mechanics together finally… I am starting to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel…or at least a train =)…
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Here are all the test vids I created to see how the shaders, textures, and models are working out. So far I am very pleased as they look great up close even when usually you will be looking at them from about 30 – 50 feet above them at an angle. Off to setup the title screen at least the beginnings of it.
Battlefield 3 ROCKS!… funny how the screens are from the computer version. It looks like PCs have taken the lead again in Graphics. But man I am sitting here at work wanting to play and unlock that next gun!…What I love the most I think is the map designs. You actually can play tactically and “camp” or play smart. Modern warfare series are VERY careful to always have 2-3 entrances to your spot from more then 90 degree angles. That rewards the idiots that just run and gun. So then you are stuck doing the same. Run kill 2-5 die because someone ran in behind you. So far the only major disappointment is the destructibility. IT is there, however it is very muted as opposed to BF2. The biggest issue to me is the language. The stupid argument that this is a war sim and you are blowing people apart dude so what is an F-Bomb drives me insane. So when I blow a deer apart or a boar while hunting do I jump up and yell F- YEA!!!! Mother -F-er! I Mother s!@#ing F!@#ed you in the A##…ooooo F@#$ING GRENADE!! (if I see a grenade I am not taking the extra seconds to CURSE before I let everyone know to get down…) Seriously I think EVERY line has a curse in it in multiplayer. I switched to FRENCH so my kids could watch. Sheesh….It REALLY takes away from the game. I mean REALLY. It jars me out of the immersion every 2-10 seconds with Mr potty mouth as my wing-man. I wish I could just crank off that language at least in multiplayer. It would be pretty damn easy… In the random line selection Flag the bad language and then when picking notice I like to have my 10 year old watching and not learning “Dad likes to mother f@#$@# f@#$@ that F!@#!@er in the face so many F#@$@#ing times he S!@#!@ is F@#$#@ing pants!”… ;P
Today movie of the classes as I tested them last night also when I was able to take a break from BF3 =)
Update:
Here is the correctly lit Demon:
Tomorrow I will get a movie up showing all the classes and all their shading techniques combined (had to do it to check anyway)…
=)
Now you will have to excuse me I have some BF 3 to play!!! =)
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THIS IS THE FIRST PASS! So please let the ideas fly on all these guys. I plan on a BIG art pass after the game is playable and in testing with a tight beta crowd… =-)
Something is wrong with his lighting.. I will look into it tonight… for now of to a site visit! Argh!!!! I just hate wasting time but the mortgage has to get paid somehow =p..
Let me know what yall think! Doom already has some great ideas =)
I tihnk the lighting is just blender giving me hell again with their inverted red channel… argh…
Starting to create the Hell Guard… Here is his head. No eyes just pits like a snake has to sense heat =).. Its dark and scary in Hell -P…..
A little more sculpting then off to texture =)
Update!
Tonight DEMONS!!! .. then I will get back to getting the whole game done and will make a final art pass during testing I believe as breaks from bug hunting =)…
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Weee… I like the wolfie!.. I am still at about 50% on the first pass for the puppy. =)..
The mechanical mosnters…Here is a start. I want bigger fangs and claws -).. More werewolf less lion.. long way to go but it is a start!.. Put about an hour in this morning and today I am going to see my son make the football playoffs (if we win!)… Lets hope he hits hard! =P…
Update: hopefully I will be able to get him in game tonight to see him in fully glory. First pass for sure.. I think I want blood coming down his lips too =)..
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The making of a character!
First pass:
The next step after modelling is to layout the look with the texture paint tool. (At least the way I work.). I will also write on the mdoel labeling areas so I know what they are in the map when I bring it into GIMP to finish it =)
Map in Gimp:
And some refinement: (Still MANY MANY PASSES TO GO!)
More Refinement:
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Later I hope to get some time to texture the guy. They are tore up and sick looking due to the massive amount of alien drugs they have to consume to stay alive and as strong as they are.
Update:
Could not sleep this morning so got up and got to work =)
First pass. She needs some work but I am moving on to the Users now… then Abaddon.. then Demon =)
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I got a little extra non day-job time today and here is what it got me =)..
Here is the start of the Atlantian. An all female race and all Ancient. There will be glowing symbols all over their dress in game. Blender does not let me get away with the glows =).
Update: Tonight the Atlantians… then the Users… then the Demons… then building out the class weapons…then the weapon and spell effects… =)
The plan is to get them all in game and then focus on the ones that need more artistic make overs or optimizations due to their loads on the CPU and GPU
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In Game:
Click for full iPad Res
animating the shock assault trooper now -)… should have him in game fully soon =)
Higher rez iPad shot. I wish I had the week to spend on these models artist get usually. There is just no way I could finish at that rate =/….
Click to enlarge it
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Remember these guys are viewed at a distance unless you are possessing and first person shooting through the level =)..
FIRST PASS! 😉 more detail and color work later =)….
Here is the base human model I completed all last night from model to texture.. owach. =P…Tonight I will be creating the weapons models for the characters. I am also going to pallette shift the different classes so they are easier to tell apart. I plan on having an assault rifle, rocket launcher, and chain gun versions of the human shock troopers. After I complete them I will be on to creating the Users. The Users are humans that have become addicted to the alien drugs. They will be a variation on this model. I am thinking exposed heads but the mouth and nose covered in a drug delivery device.
After that the Abbaddon Atlantians and Demons =)…Lets hope they all take two days a piece as the Humans did =)..
I ran out of juice tonight. I got as far as getting the Human trooper into the game. I have to get him in to get him looking awesome. This is because blender cannot reflect the shaders I have in the ios simulator. Tomorrow at some point I will get a shot of him in game. This will be a first pass shot. I expect I will be working on timings next to see what I can get away with and the numbers.
Not sure but I am excited to see the human in game. After getting the human done, that would leave 3 other base classes to create. After a class is created adding a weapon is EASY. The largest speed bumps left are the 3 other classes models and code.
Things are moving =)…
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Here is me working on the bad boy =)
I will post more later working on the texture painting now imagine camo =)…
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It is pretty amazing I am making this entire game on free software.
Texturing:
Gimp
Modeling:
Blender
Code:
Xcode 4
And one bought app:
Mac sound studio thingy…
Pretty neato =-)…
Tonight I hope to post pics of the human shock trooper. If anyone has a better name please post it below in comments. I am not sold on shock trooper.. =)
So here is the AI searching finding and checking to see if they can see each other. walking to each other and attacking =)..I am now going to make the human models! Then the users!…Then the Abaddon, Atlantians, and finally the Demons (already started them, they are going to look a lot like a hell knight from doom)…
The green line is actually the AIs Eyes.
Getting there! On to ART! A relaxing thing to do!.. =P
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I will be going through the design doc and altering it to accelerate the game making progress.. I am going to settle down to class types and non interchangeable weapons. I will have a human gunner, human grenadier, etc. And each of those you can upgrade =). Anything I can do to accelerate the process. The app market just does not really support really complex games as it takes more time. I also believe complexity does not mean a good game ;)..
As far as progress combat is in! =)… I will be on to creating the other class models and code soon =)..
Things are really rolling now. Not much to say as I am creating the combat now. I will be creating the first humans soon and the base weapons after I get the imps duking it out with all their effects. I already have them fighting but I need blood,flashes, and health bars.
I had a thought last night while playing one of the countless tower defense games. That I bet I could make a 3D OpenGL 2.0 tower defense game with the characters from Cursed Realms in 4 weeks if challenged. I think it will be a good exercise to test this new engine when Cursed Realms is completed =)… So after this one I think I will create a strict simple tower defense game and see how fast I can pump one of those out and toss it into the ocean of tower defense games =)…
The next step tonight is to get the AI combat in. The combat modes are jobs just like anything else the AI does. They will start in a Hunt or Patrol mode. Then when a target is found they will enter an Attack Mode. One for example would be AttackMelee mode that the imps will use. The imps do not have weapons except for those double pick axes =)… The attack melee mode will attempt to get to the AI targeted. If the targeted AI is deleted then the imp will return to the Hunt mode if they are not to hungry or tired. If the imp reaches the targeted AI it will wait for its attack cycle and animated a swing toss off the effects for the attack and spray the numbers for damage. ;)….
Back to the day job!… tonight more work!.. I am getting very excited about this engine as the next game will come MUCH faster with this generic design =)…
Update: My day job is eating my life up as always. However, I wanted to get this video uploaded of the AI wanting to eat, and then eating. After that then the AI wanting some sleep and finding a home tile to sleep..( basically living =) ). It is amazing the amount of code and work it takes to complete those actions and display it as an animated character. Path finding, playing animations, effects to show mood, and finally to decision making are just some of the code sections in my engine being utilized just for that piece of the game =).
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Ignore the art and frame rate =).. This is what you will see when a minion is upset or happy about something. A mood change will float out of them. This imp is hungry and there is no where to get food so he is getting upset =).. I need to animate him also I just have not done it yet…( I may just have it float over his head and not float up. No big thing just a change later. I want to get to a playable game soon so a team of people can toss their input in =)
At this point I have all the basics in. I am adding all the other AI Jobs for the imp now and soon I want to add in the combat side of things and have two imps face off since they are different factions. At that point I will add in the first level items and start to build level 1!. =).. I see a playable game in the near future! =)
It really is nice when systems are so robust that adding one little thing opens up tons of new possibilities. Now I click on an AI Unit and its status pops up. Very ugly menu right now but I am waiting on a solid redo of all menus to make them all have a similar look and feel. Exporting the menus from blender is so easy I am not worried about it. I am thinking about adding combat commands to the AI also. Like defensive, offensive, and suicidal under the main AI window (maybe some other commands).
Not sure what I have going on tonight. Maybe some work on this. However, this weekend I should get a good amount of time to work =). A football game and a trip to the gun range are all that is on the plate =)..
Update: Menu in and done. I need to get to where you press on a AI unit and it pulls that menu up =).. good stuff. Sometime soon I need to go through the menus and repalce the temp art =).. Starting to feel like a living game. =)
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They get hungry and find food now. Then when they get tired they go to a rest unit and rest.
What I want to do next is make it possible to press on the AI and get a full read out of its status. What I want to list is below. Is that to much? I have been known to over-do the interfaces =P…
Press on AI unit then at the top of the screen you will see the below
GO GO ASCII ART!
|########|_NAME:__CANNON_FODDER
|#PIC#OF##|_ENERGY:_50%_JOB:__RESTING___JOBS_DONE:20
|#UNIT####|_HEALTH:_75%_KILLS:23________AGE:______3:00 min
|########|_HUNGER:_35%_LEVEL:1________MOOD:_____Happy
Ryan Mitchell Games - Mission Europa 2 