I’m not done yet I’m just posting to say this will be the last post before I post the video in a few days. Yes I know how stupid that sounds, but it seems like a necessary action due to my misleading initial posts.
This video will be on the platforming aspect of the game.
Here were are 5 days after video day! Things aren’t going smoothly. Every feature I mapped out seemed to have a bug or I needed to add something additional to get the feature to work correctly. I really didn’t think this through but to be fair the design was rather last second. The problem isn’t getting the features to work it’s getting them to work in a stylish manner. I’m going to need more time to polish.
Speaking of polish I think I’m comfortable enough to show the Felix
model as it is now. He’s still missing thumbs and there are a few decals missing but here’s a relatively final build. Small disclaimer, I can change things on a dime.
The video may not look as final as I hoped but I’m sure it won’t look drastically different at release.
I was SO close to finishing that video! So close!! But after today, I can tell I’m not going to finish on time. Music was the first bad sign, but after trying to program some of these levels it’s going to take, ahem slightly longer than I thought. I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll never make any date I set. Why you ask? Is it because I’m lazy, is it because I’m hyper cautious this time or is it because I just miss time things?The answer is probably all of the above. Yeah I’m not perfect.
I may stop with using dates for a while after today. So I’ll just say check back soon! You may see the video floating around on some gaming website! ; D
Don’t check back Sunday though, I definitely won’t be done. At least I can project when I won’t finish something…
After a bit of research it seems that company websites, even in the age of Facebook and twitter, are still considered essential. One good article on the subject can be found at a place called sazbean. I came to the conclusion that simply existing is important. Go figure.. So I’ll probably treat this page more as a developer blog.
As for the footage of the game, I’ve hit a slight bump. It’s not what you think! I actually set a realistic goal this time. The problem is I’m having a bit of trouble on the music. I didn’t want to use the song I had been working on previously (I’m saving it to make it aware there will be a variety of songs!), so I’ve been trying a different song.
I can still make my goal but I could be a few days late. I definitely need music.
Remember that point I talked about, where the game rapidly starts coming together? Well I’m at it. Adding the icing to the cake seemed to be just the assignment to kick things into high gear. I have a test model of Roy running around whom is missing a head, but the game is definitely coming together now that I have a starting coat of paint.
I’m going to throw out a date for a trailer April 15th. I have a habit of constantly missing my dates, in fact the last thing I finished on time was that picture for Valentine’s Day, so take that with a grain of salt. The next trailer I do won’t be an actual trailer but rather show off some finalized gameplay footage and a few new features.
When I’m done with this video I’ll probably become a bit more promotional. Afterwards, when I’m done with the actual trailer, I’ll probably become even more promotional, annoyingly so. Selling myself has never been something I’m accustomed to doing but it’s really sink or swim at this point.
I’m back from my break from talking about progress reports! Unfortunately I’m not zooming along as fast as I’d hoped. I’ve pretty much walked away from character modeling at the moment and when I started decorating my levels only using efficient methods, I realized it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park building the whole game with what I’m working with. Dealing with art in a timely manner clearly isn’t my forte. I’m running into a lot of problems but I’m not quite empty handed.
I have a relatively official screen shot. This isn’t concept art, its an actual part of the game. Probably not the best graphics but I will be upgrading them further, I just need to add a few more tool side features. I may also move around some things around or add a few more things such as more varied trees to the scene but I’m more or less set on this theme for the first portion of the game and what little of the stage layout seen here will remain untouched.
Everything still runs at 60FPS and I haven’t gotten rid of the bump mapping. Right now I”m going to focus a little bit more on creating better levels, so I’m going to put a bit more effort on the tool side of things.
I know I’m moving extremely slow but I’m certain it will be worth the extra time.
I’m going to take a indefinite break from progress reporting, because, eh.. they never turn out well. I had absolutely no idea how much trouble modeling was going to give me. It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds but I think it’s time I’ll move on to something else. I probably wont be making any more projections (me being terrible at it and all) but will stand by the idea that I’m almost done.
With that out the way, here’s something that’s been on my mind a while, why is there a 10 point review system? A rating of 1 to 10 sounds all nice and well rounded but I rarely see it used properly. A bad game is usually a 5 or 6 while in order to be a good game you have to range in the 8 to 10 area. I’ve even seen some reviews that make it even more confusing and throw an 11 in there.
Normally I have some excuse as to why I’m having trouble doing something but nope, not this time. This model is just slapping me sideways. I’ve probably been solely at this nearly a week and I’m still not done. I’d like to say I’m close to done but sometimes just when I think i have things right I end up right back where I started.It doesn’t help that my brain has a digestion period, where I have to look away a few hours and come back to see if it still looks right.
I’ve changed up my style a bit to a more classic Disney-esque look and I think I’m seeing a lot of improvement in how well the character works in 3D. Honestly it seems like everything has improved; not too foxy not too cartoony. If it seems like my model is getting less refined however, that’s because I’m only worried about the basic look right now.
I suppose a week or so focusing on the model and design itself is my way of decrypting all the little changes I’ve been making throughout the years on the fly.
I hope all this pays off. The days are just flying off the calendar but this is definitely one of those things I can’t rush. I probably should start doing a few side tasks though. Hopefully I won’t lose focus.
It’s leap day and I probably haven’t gotten as much as I wanted done. I suppose you can chalk it up to artistic integrity, still I’m only a hop skip and a jump away before leaping into trailer grounds.
While the game is in its final paces (from a Wendell standpoint), much of the graphics work is preventing me from showing anything, namely the illusive Felix model itself. The move into 3D has put me into a weird position because I have to design the character well enough to work in 3D and once my design became questionable it’s been a nightmare ever since.
Although, the game mostly takes place in a 2Dish view, I’ll actually be using a variety of camera angles. Even if I wasn’t I wouldn’t want to have to make drastic changes at some point in the future.
Business will leap forward once I get this model right. the hardest thing about anything artistic is that you can’t control when you’re done with it. And even when you think you’re done you can wake up the next day and not like what you did.
This model is especially important because I don’t want to end up hating it like I did with Tale of the Night, in addition, I’m actually expecting this to be considered the “first” game and the model I launch with will likely be the one that speaks for every game afterwards (provided there are sequels of course).
I thought I was going to have the model done this week. Wrong! It’s driving me nuts! I promised I wouldn’t end up whining about in a long winded post so I’ll move on to something else. It’d be so nice if I could do something on time for a change.If I slow down, take a deep breath, and follow proper protocol (profile images) I’m sure It’ll turn out okay. The model is getting my complete attention so that is most certainly to be my next update.
I’ve also been playing around with the shader because it was very hard to to see the finer details of the model in-game, such as teeth due to the whites bending together. It’s not a hard problem to fix at all but I could easily kill a few hour experimenting with all the different lighting styles.
I’d hate to end another post empty-handed so here’s some concept art on a few features in the game. These are just a few of the obstacles that you will come across in the first chapter.