Waterfalls

I've been sick for a couple of days, but that doesn't stop me from making me some waterfalls! WOO!  Before I hand it over to the programmers I will put it in Unity to see if it fits.  I am curious if I made it too big, and if so is it something the programmers could just re-size or if I have to do something.


A lot of this was inspired from The Paper Fox.  Their stuff is amazing.

Learning More About Time Management

I've made three tracks so far for our game that we can recycle throughout the game.  Yay for modular design!  However, I want to mention what happened with the first two tracks and what I learned.  It took me about 30 minutes to get the basic design for the ground and modeled out.  Then it took me hours, HOURS, trying to figure out texturing.  When it came for my stuff to be due, I had the geometry, but texturing was just so-so and not final.  I finally realized I shouldn't have put so much effort into the textures, as I can do that a bit later.  The programmers need the geometry as soon as possible so they can test it out.  With those hours spent on textures, I could have made more tracks and other things to populate our world.  With every game I've made I learned that it's all about timing and getting things out fast (yet efficient) to meet the deadlines.  So, I will henceforth create our geometry and put my basic textures on it and send it to the engineers ASAP.  I can worry about final textures later.


Then, we realized something.  It would be easier to create the geometry around the tracks in Unity, then place a paper texture on it.  It makes it easier for us artists and the engineers.

On a side note, I've started another blog for my Art III class!  Check it out! :D  www.sketchz.blogspot.com

Researching

Since I am now the environmental artist, I've been researching what I should do with my world and not just physically, but mentally as well.  What feeling am I trying to get across?  What colors should I use?  Our game is for that casual gaming family, so I don't want super harsh and dark colors.  I want bright and light and something inviting.  Now, should I make my dominant colors be reds and yellows since that color scheme is something you'd see in China?  This game IS based off a Chinese legend. Should there always bee an environmental landmark somewhere?  For example, maybe the player can constantly see the Jade Palace off in front of them so they know what they're running to. *sigh*  So many things to consider.  At least I know we are making our environment out of 3D tiles that the programmers will procedurally generate.  I have already gotten with one programmer to help me sort out measurements of the world I will create so we know we're on the same page when they program.

I googled 'paper worlds' and 'worlds made of paper' and got some interesting results. I found out Media Molecule is creating a paper-craft game for the PlayStation Vita.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6_QvdxyXQ  It looks really cool and it gives me hope, actually.  If they can pull off a paper-look with simple blocks and textures, well why can't we?  I just need to keep on trying!

Among that I found some other pictures to help me think about my paper world.

This is the last day for us artist to figure our art out, at least so we can finally get started.  The other artist and I switched jobs.  I have decided I want to focus on environmental art, so I will be modeling the level.  Still, one of the hardest things right now is figuring out our direct art style.  We know we want paper, but what about realism or cartoon?  I think we're leaning more towards a cartoon style because our game appeals to kids.  So, now it comes down to how to make our game look like it's made of paper. Art can be so frustrating some time to figure out :(

Here are some renders I made in Octane Render.  The models I made in Maya as concepts for the video game I am helping create for the Kinect.  I'm finding it hard to portray these animals as paper craft.  I'm hoping once they are actually textured they will look better...assuming these concepts will be used.  Nonetheless, no matter what I make for this game I will try my best to help it look like paper.  I did talk to the creator of the Paper Fox, Jeremy Kool to get some insight on how he created his paper animals.  He said he made low-poly models and the rest was texturing.   Those were really the only tips he gave, so I can only hope the team and I can create something great like Jeremy has been.

Staring Off A New Semester

So, a new semester has arrived and it's time to fully dive myself back into the video game I am helping create.  However, our team decided to take a different approach to our game and change it.  It it now a game that will procedurally generate the level with different 'tiles' of the map us artist create.  There is also no longer an end to our game.  You keep running through it until you die.  The team also decided that the player is no longer playing with the Rat, Cat, and Ox within the Zodiac, but rather the Tiger, Goat, and Monkey with a power up you can get to play as the Dragon.

I personally don't quite like this change.  It seems too boring to me.  Sure, this will make the game easier to make (according to the programmers), but I think by doing this we've lost some of our edge somehow.  It also means more work for us artists since we're starting over. However, we will try to make the base of all the animals basically the same so it will require less modeling time to create another animal.  We can also use the same skeleton rig for all of them, which would be nice.

Our game is due October 31st for IGF and I personally don't think our game has enough spunk for it with the change.  However, with experience and with talking with others I have noticed games have constantly changed for better or for worse.  Maybe this change is for the better?  I guess we'll see.  We'll present our new idea on Monday to our professors and fellow students and see if it flies.

In the mean time, I quickly modeled a tiger concept and slapped on a texture.  Very blocky at the moment, but maybe with good texture and further modeling/touch ups it'd look OK.  It is a concept after all!

Other Summer Stuff

Here are some other things I did over the summer so I wouldn't lose touch with Maya.  I also found out about a render software called Octane Render!  The following 3D models I made in Maya were rendered with Octane: My HTC Sensation Cellular Phone, Gimli's Axe, and Mission Concepcion.