~Kitasia
Development
The Perfectionist
Apr 13th
The good news is I think I finally finished the head, the bad news is I’m doing the same thing with the body as I did with the head. I never realized Felix’s stature was so complicated to me. Then again, seeing as his weight changes like every game, it’s starting to add up. I’ve spent half the month drawing, 3d modeling and clay modeling almost in a recursive cycle. It’s was a bit of an embarrassment at first but I’d rather take all month than release a model that doesn’t personify the character correctly. I hope to have the final version by the 15th.
I’ve been blabbing on about this forever so I’ll share something maybe someone will find interesting. I’ve tested what I have of the game on Xbox 360 and thus far there have been no garbage collection issues what so ever. So a silky smooth frame rate is expected. Also the first true screens of the game are likely to be of Everblue City as opposed to Lithodora. Everblue City is a metropolitan area so you’re likely to know how in-depth I’ll go with this off the start.
Art Takes Time
Apr 8th
A message I can’t seem to get into my head. When it comes to art, I’m I hippie in a suit. I just can’t seem to get myself under control. Alas,
more Felix heads!
Although I’ve been adding new functionality and learning how I will animate the face along the way, I feel to be stuck in time here. I hope to finally start on the body tomorrow if I can ever stop tweaking the head! I expect the head to change ever so slightly that only I notice the changes over time.
I’ve also been playing around with Zelda character models for fun, seeing as I haven’t used the obj importer for much. I might go as far as to rig one and put it in game one day. It’s a weird obsession of mine.
The Wonders of Clay
Apr 4th
I finally got my clay. and while it took me a while to actually model a head with it I finally have a perfect representation of how Felix’s head should look in 3D. The model in the picture may look similar to the last one but trust me when I say it’s very different. The normals are in fractals because it’s easier for me to work and I currently don’t have support to switch between the two but I’ll add that support before the final version.
My tool does a very good job! I’m really surprised how much it feels like a retail modeling tool. I’m at the point where 3D feels like second nature now.
Downtime
Apr 1st
Still no clay, and when I’m waiting to finish something I’m usually careful not to delve into anything too big causing me to shift my focus. So I’ve been working with music again. The first song is the hardest for me because it sort of defines the rest of the songs and I’m finding it a bit difficult knowing there will be sections of the game where the player may move a slow pace. It’s been a weird process. In any case, when this is all over I’ll probably get into more of the advanced aspects of collision detection.
Modeling on hold
Mar 27th
I
t’s been a long week slowly adding tweaks and modification to my tool to smooth along the modeling process. My favorite new feature would probably be extrusion. That’ll come in handy later when working with levels later.
Easily the hardest part of modeling for me is the head. It’s not surprising considering the hardest part when drawing is, the head. What I’ve decided to do, is delay the process about a week and model the head using clay so I can get the modeling correct. What I don’t want to do, is just accept the head and then later on become use to how it looks. If I get the head just the way I want it, the rest will be easy. The strange graphics where intersections occur are tentative.
I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do until I get more clay but it seems Block Felix may be around a bit longer.
Production Plan
Mar 22nd
I’ve taken some time to reevaluate things and following is a list of how things may go thus far. I wanted the game out by May but a realistic time frame may be around July. I’ll still be attempting to complete things as soon as possible without rushing.
End of March - First revision of true character Model
April - Complete Animation Support, World Editor Tool Derivement, and General Game Physics, New Graphic Implementations
May- Sound, Cinema, Combat, Items, Game Logic, and Prologue Chapter in Playable form
June and Beyond- Content Development and General Improvements
Wedged between that are a lot of fixes, tool enhancements and other things I’ve forgotten to mention. Next month I plan on testing the game out on Xbox 360 to check for potential performance issues I’m sure you can expect it to move flawlessly. The month after, I hope to begin posting video of the game or to make some sort of trailer. If a fair share of people aren’t excited about the project after that, I officially haven’t met my expectations for the project. Expect great things!
Felix Takes Shape
Mar 19th
T
he project seems so bare at the moment but it’s really starting to come together. Was I out of my mind to think the game could be done by the end of April? Probably, but the game was still 2.5D at the time I made that decision. I’m still targeting May although, there are still many potential 3D issues looming I’ve yet to face.
Block Felix has gotten a bit of an upgrade, this was to test out the animation in 3D which seems to work just fine. Facial animation seems like it won’t be a fun thing to deal with.
I may be somewhat giving the impression that Block Felix is near the limit of my modeling capabilities seeing as I’ve yet to show one good 3D model created by me and my modeling background is little more than nonexistent. Well hopefully the picture on the right helps towards redeeming myself a bit. I was testing out knee animation for one of Block Felix’s legs and somehow it turned into that. I thought doing a human leg might give me a better idea on how leg skinning really works. Obviously I couldn’t use the legs in the model but I think I learned about skinning a lot more.
PERFECT Collision!
Mar 16th
HAHAHAHAHA!!! Wow! It only took 5 years, but yeah my collision system is finally up to standard! I can now perform the bare basic collision that any modern Physics system can do… Okay it’s ‘s a bit depressing to put that way, but its comforting to know I can finally do collision in just about any scenario without errors occurring on systems that don’t have physics built in. That’s you XNA! ; D
I won’t lie by saying my levels before were somehow limited due to my collision detection previously but falling through the floor or having something very ugly happen were a concern, especially with the hills. I really hope I’m not jinxing myself here but everything looks good to go! I’m going to revel in this for a while and I think it will show in the end product!
Ah, the gloves have clearly come off! ^_^
Collision Testing
Mar 13th
I knew this subject was going to drag me down and kick me, but I still wasn’t expecting it. I’ve been trying to properly do collision detection and while the detection part is easy the response part is always a headache. You may be thinking, “wasn’t collision already fine”? Well I looked into that and it seems there was even an error there I had missed. If this takes any longer I’m just going to give the go ahead signal and assume that my previous collision will suffice. Most developers probably just use PhysX for this, and the thought of “reinventing the wheel” is another thing eating at me.
In summary, I’m cranky! |: {
I should have this sorted out soon. (hopefully)
Cutting Back on Posts
Mar 8th
My resolution of two to three day updates was nice, but I think I’m running out of points to bring up so I may bump it up to at least once a week and then start posting more frequently when I have more to offer. A May release is starting to appear unrealistic and in turn I’m shifting more focus towards development as to opposed to fun little series related trinkets (what little focus I had anyway).
Why is a date important? Because if I don’t have a date I’ll get lazy and distracted causing me to lose focus on what is important and in addition to that, there’s no telling what unknown variables could pop up before that date on a series that is currently unestablished. I don’t want any idea I felt was unique to the game appearing somewhere and I don’t want some movie about a goofy fox showing up in the movie previews. Using QTEs mid-game still feels pretty unique but so many games do it I can’t even tell anymore. Not using buttons in them helps towards sort of a new identity.
Being driven by paranoia isn’t so bad!
This week I plan on starting my collision/physics engine. This is my first steps towards the environment of the actual game. Originally the plan was for the collision system to become very interactive and dynamic. I’ll post on how that’s going this week.