Once Upon A DevBlog

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Kingdom Dawn 05

This devlog has one theme and one theme only. Hand-Painted Textures. Over the a few weeks I have been endless painting of solid surfaces and natural objects. Here we have an example of almost finished paint jobs. What I have come across while painting away is that my speed when painted improve but also what best fits our game. So far the heavier the contrast the better the look because our game is set from a set camera distance it needs to be defined. Well to a quality I am happy with and the team is agreeable too. 

I also learnt the art of not painting because general rules imply that if it cannot be seen, there is nothing to admire. Also it saves a lot of time not having to paint too.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Kingdom Dawn Devlog 04

This week we had a problem where our hard work for a beta test fell through. So we weren’t able to do digital testing so in turn we went for the most basic way to test. Paper play test. I spent most of my time creating a playable and printable version of our game so we could test balance and test the mechanics. Building a paper play of our game was next level stressful but let me develop deeper thought about our game. For instance communicating information to the player was so vast it was amazing but also frustrating. What tiles do, what things cost, counters so players know what they have done, buildings counters so players know what they have built, upgrades for gear etc. Overall I stress out a lot but it was with worth it because we made a ton of balance changes.

This also gave our coding genius time to build.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Kingdoms Dawn Devlog 03

So this log I am gonna show you my hex panels I have been modelling and texturing for our game. Nothing to big more just getting that image for our game right and letting the hand-painted textures do the work on simple models. We a going for stylized texture like Nintendo and World of Warcraft over realism. So I have the quarry and forest panels ready for implementation. 

Slight change to the hex shape model so it looked more slender and token like rather than chunky. I had to figure out how to double side textures since Maya uses Arnold to double texture but the grass planes a doing there job. 

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Kingdoms Dawn Devlog 02

So I spent a lot of time figuring trees out. Really basic in thought but real hard technically.  So above I have 2 examples of the testing I did for trees. I tried the whole low poly shape with a transparent texture applied. I tried the flat plane tree but really badly done. Fun but did not achieve what I was looking for. The other 2 examples are my success looks, I wanted a heavily nintendo stylized tree that looked beautiful with my paint job. These are only a few of a whole week of look testing. 

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Kingdoms Dawn Devlog 01

So to start off our project I did a some visual and style research for our project. I I have never pursued a game like this and neither has any of my team so seeing some top notch already created examples out there. Looking at the limitation of angles but also the potentials of having locked views. We also wanted to do a very stylized project and we chose a bunch of AAA games with a whole lot of style. To put mind to flow since I am on environment art and modelling for this project.

Here are my mood and reference boards for our project. All images to there amazing owners, thank you for making awesome things.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

New Game - Long Project

This nugget is overdue but I am working on a new project. And as per usual I am dedicating my life to environment because I like it, very much. I started with a big week long brain storm which lead me to two game types - 

A murder/ mystery set in the 1920′s where you play an robot automaton detective solving a crime wave OR

A politically driven strategy game where you earn workers through rng debates to help win the election and overthrow the heirachy of the rich get richer.

As much as I like these ideas I came to the realisation that I preferred to work for someone with a great idea. As long as I got to do environment I would hard while still doing what I wanted.

I joined with a 3 man team to create a hexboard adventure game with dungeon crawling, dice rolling and a interesting art style similar to a nintendo switch. The biggest reference being Breath of the Wild or Pokemon: Lets Go

[onceuponadevblogblog]

DEVLOG 08

We are back to modelling and this time I had the struggle but great learning experience of trying to get a functioning model to auto-rig in Mixamo. Reason for this is because of a such short development time rigging just one model took a lot of time let alone 2.

So what I am came across other than having a lot of fun dancing my model around is that the example formula they have on their page does not explain how the rig mechanically works or what specifically went wrong with model to rig process. It just displays error.

So with multiple redesigns and uploads I manage to get five fingers and body movement working on point. What redesign you ask, basically I just made every model more human in body but still kept the integrity of how I wanted them to look. So no over hanging gut, always have a neck and clearly define the wrists and thumbs. There was a tone of stretching when these were not checked. Other than that I was golden.

So enjoy the dancing goblin :) 

[onceuponadevblogblog]

DEVLOG 07

So this is just what I have been doing other than modelling. I have been building a simple but stylised map for our somewhat mission progression map. I attempted to design it like a top down mini map, using possible paths to take but still making it look like a natural. 

I thought the easiest way to block this out was to approach it similar to a level or sections of levels. Making this easier to understand the sections of each step out.  But this was for more of the building side of the map.

When it came to style I wanted to be more like someone had hand drew it out on a parchment. And with stylistic depth of shading to show the map as an enclosed area with one way in and out. 

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Devlog 06

This entree is all about my villain designs. So on the good side we have goblins AKA Gobbles but the villains are just your run of the train heroes, with a twist. So I wanted a more comedic but identifiable way to denote what the enemy is and what class they are. So what I did was make there exaggeration big, bulky muscles with tiny heads. Something to laugh at and confuse the situation of the term “regular humans”. 

But it took me some time to get that point. I went through very common tropes and designs such as Castle Crasher style units and just really regular ones. In the end the direction was more that what could be and the potential to make a more standout unit than ordinary one.

As with all my work I take note on my process just in case I have to back track for something more favorable but I did not have to this time.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Devlog 05

Concepts for Goblin AKA Gobble

Here is a little insight into how I operate my concept work. I do a mass production of what is going around in my head and then refine, critique. Until I get to a nice point where everyone is happy with the direction. 

During this I started by refining shapes of my models. Big, tall, short and tubby, trying to find a good one and then try some variation drawings. I did struggle trying to find an image for my gobble but I started to define features that I wanted my audience to see. Which was big ears and a big nose, and after that things started coming together. 

Once I got him into a A-pose and T-pose I started developing armour or “armour” which a goblin with no strong Smithing or Tanning skills would use. And deciding if he/she (unsure) should be tubby or slender. In the final step we put tubby on the back board because the more slender but still defined gobble had more potential.  

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Devlog 04

New Project -- E.E.P

So I have a new project in the works. Something different in mechanics up just as exciting. After bouncing around some ideas with my bros AKA Dev team for a few hours we came up with a which we think will be a fun and simple take on turn based battle systems with rogue like elements.

Theme of the project is Anti- Hero. So the tag of the story, well my interpretation is. 

‘In a human ruled land, you, a horde goblins live out your lives in deep cave away from surface dwellers doing the usual goblin things. When suddenly an explosion echos through the cave and a giant hole is blown into the ceiling. Waves of mighty heroes swarm in from the surface. Claiming goblin heads and sacks treasure as they travel deeper.   But you are horde and won’t lose your home to surface dwellers. 

Recruit, find, equip, battle and die. Travel through the burrows and push the humans out‘ 

Once that was decided we built upon our roles were assigned and fun issues, time to model some goblins and humans.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

Ja Cobby said I had to do this

Question01: What was the aspect you enjoyed working on the most? What was it about doing that thing that you enjoyed? 

I loved everything about it but mostly I was just happy to do things that were what I wanted to do more and improve on such environment art / Level design. Though our concept of the overall environment looked changed from our previous endeavours we kept going forward and in the end got something I was quite proud of. It felt like a full-fledged game with intro, outro and a neat little UI menu. I also really enjoyed my team, I felt comfortable in it. It really helps out my mentality to projects when the synergy kicks in. And we were able to pick up the slack when others were sick.

Question02: What might you do to continue getting better at what you enjoyed doing? 

You mean continue to love and do. I would keep my environment art / Level design and concept practice going. I would really like to a design a small town and eventually a city if possible. Someday, if possible do a fusion of eras, similar to the Bioshock series. Texturing is a big thing which I feel is of low standard when I do it, so I will jump into substance designer / painter more. And I have been introduced to procedural generation in Houdini which is another pursuit of mine. I would want to do character stuff but on the side, make it more of a free time practice than a I want this for the rest of my life.

Question03: What did and didn't pan out how you thought it would. What might you do to address this in future projects?

Okay mostly it was the change of concept we definitely decided on a scary slender type game with narration but what we produce and style which I was really happy with. Sticking to a concept would make things more industry standard. Like direction changes a very major things other than replacing a tree. Another thing is we definitely collapsed into the more ideas turmoil near the end. We had so many things we wanted to put in it pushed our deadline. But crazily enough we did manage to get what we wanted to get in there. However I would like to avoid that if the project is big enough.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

DEVLOG 03

So I was working on some UI design for our game. During the process I was trying to reflect a low poly feel to the main menu. I fully had this in mind to match the actual game itself and give the overall feel and story before actually playing. Using a very strong palette I decided for our game design, created bold buttons and low poly quality foreground art.

I the one thing I really wanted to try script for the menu was a particle effect of falling leaves. Giving more life to the UI other than just still a image. Being inspired by those more lively menus like the Witcher game and God of War.

[onceuponadevblogblog]

DEVLOG 02

Hello again, I know I have not been consistent with these devlogs but sometimes there is just nothing to show but now I do. So I have had of change of scenery and I have been producing a small cut scene / intro for our current project. We wanted produce something more stylistic and not so time consuming to produce. So I thought a animatic styled around a comic strip to tell the story would be a good start. Nothing majorly detailed just visually informing. Key to making this work was finding the minimal amount of story telling so the player could understand what is happening. As you can see above I told it in only like 3 pages, go me. I did it in sections, develop the relationship, introduce the “what happened” event and end with twist of fate.

If you look closely though I adopted a little shape colouring to match the overall aesthetic of the project which, is a low poly art form. The process is time consuming but really worth the effort. 

Does it make sense? Does he look like a good boy?

[onceuponadevblogblog]

DEVBLOG 01

Okay internet people, first Dev blog of the week, I am currently work on a creepy/ atmospheric game based on the narrative friendship (you can fill in the details). 

Me and the team are about 2 weeks into development and I have be working on environment art.

I have been designing some low poly spooky trees based off Willows and Spanish Oaks. We a going for a very dead and lost forest look. Twisted and claw like to really scare / spook the player.

These a just early development shots but so far nothing has gone horribly wrong . . . yet. 

The first you see is my special feature, look-wise it is extremely twisty compared to the others. Suppose to catch the eye and spook the senses. Took some inspiration from good ol’ harry potters Womping Willow, but less bulk and more grabby.

I have also been trying my hand at modular trees building, creating a variation of tree trunks and tree bases which you can be switched out between to build different tree variants.Reason for that was it was easier than creating 8 different individual trees. 

What do you guys think? Spooky enough for ya.