Dear Viewers

Hey Everyone,

Just thought I'd say here to try and get more page views, but I've made a new blog for summer where I'll be posting anything I work on.

http://alssummerfunalongblog.blogspot.co.uk/

XB2178 - Final Piece Done

Thought I would upload the final renders since some lovely people view this blog. The end result was rendered within 3DS Max using 3 omni lights. Will hopefully upload a video turnaround tomorrow as well as a close up of how the animation went.

XB2002 - Video Game Assets

We were given a new assignment which was to create a level using modular assets as well as a few unique assets which we were to use in conjunction with XB2001.

As stated in XB2001, I went for a sci-fi horror game that took place within a massive tower-like structure and I looked at a range of different material and produced a couple moodboards.

Initially I began modelling right away without really thinking and just winged it more or less and ended up with something a little bit dull and something that was very star wars-y which wasn't something that I wanted to go for.

So I then began modelling simpler more square like things with right angled corners etc, which produced some interesting results that I eventually went with.

At one point my level had a wall that had been damaged by an explosion so I had to then merge t2 walls together and then cut through them.

Red object is the custom collision for use within UDK

Doorway Tests

I ended up with 3 levels of wall models, bottom, middle and top as I knew my level had varied wall height, and with all these pieces I would be able to create the majority of my level and so quickly did a couple of tests to make sure they were all snapping together properly.

After which I then realised I had stairs within my level which I then created using 2 Doorway models and slowly linked the 2 together with steps.

You can see the ramp which I used as custom collision for exporting to UDK

Stairs are really really hard to make as it turns out however I feel that they turned out quite alright.
I was also able to use these stairs as a template for any other ramps or wide star cases I had to make later on.

Again you cans see the red object which was the custom collision for UDK.

After I had created the my modular assets that would allow me to add my custom models to my level in XB2001 I then textured these assets and created some extra ones which I am quite proud of.

Note that I just textured the underside of the floor so it could be used as a ceiling as well.

The Tower building which can be seen from the outside and how much bigger it is in comparison to the other models, only 6 tris as well.

I was quite happy with the amount of assets I created for this project however I felt that it was a bit too much and that I aimed too high and would have been better off creating a shorter level and including a shorter asset list as I unfortunately wasn't able to bring all of my own assets into the game's level in time for the hand in.

XB2001 - Environment Moodboard

 

I created a sci-fi moodboard before I began creating my modular assets for my level as it is very important to get this nailed down as it must feel at home with all the other assets I've made as well as looking to suit the area.

Above is a an initial quick model of the general shape I was thinking of for the corridor, however this reeeeeks of star wars, not that I'm not a fan. I'm a huge fan, but it isn't at all what I wanted to go for as I was after a more uniform and square approach to match the rest of my assets that I've made.

Although my tutor told me to take a step back and take a look at it and it did look very generic and quite dull and something that has been done over and over and over again. he then linked me to many different sites about architecture and design which I was very thankful for and they were very interesting, however it's hard for me to stop and want to put that much effort into one area when I have soo many other things to do.

Maybe I will though, maybe I will put in that extra little bit of thought into the assets I create, maybe I won't. One can dream though.. one can dream.

If any one is interested in some of the links they can be found here

XB2001 - Further Development

I firstly created a block map of my udk level just so I could gain a better understanding of how the finished level would look but also so that I could get working kismet into the game and actually make it playable.

Additionally I was able to build lighting and start to think about how I should use my lighting to direct players and attract their attention etc.

A video playthrough of the level can be found here

XB2001 - 2nd Game Developement

The last playable level I made was a great introduction into UDK and I learnt a whole lot and hopefully it will help me in my next assignment.

My next assignment was to create a first-person game that had to have modular assets as well as an internal and external environment. This assignment was set recently after Aliens: Colonial Marines which is why I chose to create a horror game. Additionally I am quite a fan of horror titles such as Amnesia and thought it would be an interesting assignment as with a horror game, lighting, pacing and level design are all very important.

I began this assignment by creating  moodboard to help generate some ideas as to the environment that it is going to take place in and what exactly is going on in the level.

I rather liked the thought of creating a barren environment with little or no human contract with the exception of some isolated settlements in the form of spires or towers. The first idea that came to me storyline wise was that the player is a traveler and comes across one of these tower cities that is in ruin and everyone is missing and so the player must navigate throughout the level and investigate what has happened

XB2001 - Solo Game Developed

After looking at some quick reaction based games such as Temple Run and Doodle Jump, I decided I would create a fun casual game that would be aimed at the mobile market.

The game was simply titled jump and featured a character in 3rd person perspective where the player played a ninja of sorts tasked with getting from A to B by jumping between pillars or tree trunk and if the player failed on assigning which tree/pillar to jump to next the player would would to their death.

However creating a constant moving character who would automatically fall die die after there was no player input after a couple of seconds was rather hard to do, although I was still able to create the game and simply hold down the W key and have the player jumping from the tops of the pillars which worked fine.

A video of the game can be seen here