Spaaace! Workbook

This is the official workbook/blog for the game with the name of Xenorelic!

[spaaacedev]

Xenorelic Trailer!

[spaaacedev]

Crunch!

The last week or so we've had heavy focus on finishing the game. We've been working hard trying to complete what we've started. For my part I've gone back and fixed as much of the things that I didn't manage to complete during our designated production weeks.  Level 2 and 3 have been fleshed out with scripts and objects that help drive the story forward. H.U.D (Heads up display) elements have been implemented although unity screw us over with their positioning we still use them.

The sounds that we got from Anthon Elfström has been implemented. The best thing about our implementation of them is that the sound of steps are synced with the frames in their animation in which the foot is actually stepping on the ground, looks and sound perfect.

Animation for our enemies have been implemented and were quite tricky to fix. The problem was that I needed to know which way the enemy were facing and the method for this was quite foreign for me. I called upon the transforamtion.rotation of the enemy's invisible body (not the one that shows in-game) to find out which way it was about to go but the numbers i received were not degrees but something else. But after some cursing I got it to work.

With lots of thing done we've let some guys test the game, mostly with the purpose of finding bugs that are easy to miss when you're in the editor all-day. We're exited that our game has become so much of what we initially wanted it to be.

//Casper

[spaaacedev]

Spaaace

[spaaacedev]

Slice Neaaarly done and boom goes my hearing!

So, the final level of the slice for the game is nearly done. After that I'll be creating a sprite for the AI hologram, and start to put things together in Unity (as soon as Casp shows me the proper way to do so, right now I'll just make a mess). 

I will also be making a second enemy to the game. there'd be more if sprite making and sprite animating wasn't so time consuming.

The second enemy is an 'evolved' version of the first. The idea being that the mask that controls your fellow ex-crewmembers takes over more and more. So it should be relatively fast work creating it.

I've also made the HUD elements, as soon as we can implement those we can see if they need tweaking. I also tried my hand on doing a fancy start menu, but it looked a bit rubbish so I canned that and will have to try again later.

In more personal news I had an ear infection, which damaged my ear drum, and hurt like hell. Between that and the feeling that the game hasn't progressed much lately I feel my work flow has been pretty slow. But as we absolutely have to do part 3 of our school project, which is kind of a summary on how the work went etc (Casp can tell you more about it, as he took the helm on doing that, giving me more time to create graphical assets for the game, which was hella' smart). Anyways, I'm still hearing impaired but the doctors said it'l heal over the course of a month or so...

Oh, and a giganormous thank you to Anthon E. for creating all the sound assets for the game!

Until Next time! //Mike

[spaaacedev]

Home decorating in space, and the end is nigh!

The first level of the game is now finalized and completed, and the second one is already on the way!  Decorating each level, by creating and placing 3D and 2D objects in it is what really takes up most of the time. But it's also a really fun part because you get to come up with all the stuff that can litter a space ship and then you get to pretend to be some sci-fi themed home decorator gone mental.

Most of the things left to do before we're ready to show a slice of our game att KEON (our schools expo thingie for graduates on june 4), are the levels,  some portraits and a background for the text and polishing up the game mechanics a bit. So we're pretty close!

Until next time! //Mike

[spaaacedev]

improving the 1st level and my work flow.

Last week I went back and redid the entire first levels 3D environment, after I tried creating a few rooms and corridors from 2D planes instead of building them the way I did before. The Old version was built in the same way I would build other 3D objects like a crate or a chair. 

But creating the level from flat 2D planes has several advantages, like it being a much faster process, and easier to UVmap/texture. But also since a 2D plane is only visible from one side I can now create walls that aren't visible where we want them to not be seen, so they don't obstruct the players view but still stop the player from walking off into what's supposed to be a solid wall. Before Casper had to put down these 'invisible walls' by hand after to create collision, so this also saves him a bit of time as well.

After I had recreated the first level and textured it I started making more decorative 3D objects for it, casper made a concept on the 2nd levels layout, so hopefully I'll have it done by the end of this week.

I'm also creating the spritesheets for the player and a monster. I'm not overly happy with how the walk animation looks for the player. It flows correctly and all but I feel he looks a bit too cocky. I'd like to make him look more afraid as he walks through the now (almost) empty halls of the ship...

Until next time! //Mike

[spaaacedev]

AI Problem SOLVED!

This Week has been real productive! The problem with enemies walking through walls is solved! After some tutoring this Tuesday we got the the tip to check out unity's asset store where plugins to the program are offered some for money some for free. After some browsing on this incredible lifesaver I found a FREE AI plug-in with a pathfinding feature. This plugin allowed me to create an AI to a object in the game world and then create a waypoint system that this AI would follow, genius! It took some time to learn how this plug-in worked but after some trial and error I got it woriking. Now our enemies are a little bit smarter! I'll link you to the plug-in: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/6563

I also found some great tutorilas on how to use this plug-in on the youtube. I'll link some of them!

With this problem of my head I could move on and start work on apply all the new and crisp 3d objects and textures that decorate the first level. With textures in every room of the level it really looks more attractive than it did before.

This week have been real good and I'm satisfied with how far we have come. What's left to be done? Well we've got some more graphics to do on this level and I'll leave that up to Mike as he is the one with that skill. We will start to let people test different solutions and varieties in the design of interface and judge by the result from these test how we best can optimize our way of suppling information to the player.

Peace!

// Casp

[spaaacedev]

Work work, a report of what has been done this week!

This week I've been working good, have gotten a lot of things done and I'm satisfied with my effort. I'm back by my main workstation computer which is good, going back to a 28” monitor from a 11” is quite a change though but a good one.

I've been coding up a new enemy type that can shoot and does so in the direction of the player. The procedure of coding this feature was surprisingly simple and left me with the feeling ”why didn't I do this to start with”. An enemy that recognizes when the player is nearby and shots at him, right now it's stationary but that can simply be altered with a string of code.

Mike has been a good chap and provided new decorative models complete with crisp textures, I have decorated the level with these models of chair,tables and shelves. The result looks kind of nice and I'm positive that this will at least be a pretty looking game.

I've also been writing the dialog that will guide the player so that she knows what to do and why she'd want to do it. The manuscript is halfway done and I think it will suffice as a first draft that we can use in-game.

Lights have been put in to the level so that we can start to think of how we best can take advantage of their illumination for the right aesthetics and effects. The point lights in unity are a bit tricky if you don't know that they have a render priority setting you'll soon notice that some of the lights that you put in your level won't work. This problem could be easily fixed by setting their priority to important instead of “auto”.

I would really like to have some people test our early build of the game soon but I feel that some things must get done before that. The problem with enemies moving through walls is one of them. A alternative to fixing that problem would be to activate the 30 days trial for unity pro and make some a navigation mesh, but I'm not sure about that just yet.

Well that's it folks!

Peace!

// Casp

[spaaacedev]

Hello spring!

This week I have spent most of my time making sure functions and elements of the game which do not have their contents ready yet all work as they should. The tricky part in this process is knowing when to stop and move on to the next thing at hand and how much to leave for when the content for that function or element is ready.

I've developed a system for different keys and doors. Different doors have a designated key asigned to it and only when the player have gotten hold of that key will the door open. The keys have different public variables that can be toggled to easily create different keys, saving both time and effort for future usage of keys and doors.

The gui text elements of the game have been further improved with a method of placing them in the same place on the screen independent from the screens resolution. A trigger volume system have also been created to let the game know when to release story related content to the player via a gui text.

The enviroment in which the player navigates have been properly collision fixed, now the player can't escape using see through walls. I did this using a set of box colliders that I matched to the see through walls, it was pretty easy but took some time to actually do. There is a lurking problem with the simple enemy that currently inhabits the game, the problem lies in this enemy's ability to move against the player through walls. I suspect that this can be fixed by using some sort of navigation mesh, though I came under the impression while searching the web that this is a pro only feature in unity, that is bad news...

All in all this week have been quite hectic with me being forced to change locations twice but I think it won't effect the end result too much.

Peace out!

//Casp

[spaaacedev]

Taking a step back, and going more retro!

The image on the previous post depicts the player character in its current form. During the weekend I took a step back and looked at it. There are some problems with it, it's too detailed (wow, yeah), this comes with a few problems, the jagged edges were mentioned in that post, wich means it'll take more time to complete each frame for every animation, and it will take more time to create each sprite for other characters/monsters and so on. But also we felt like it didn't really feel as retro as a more scaled down version would A sprite using fewer pixels to depict the same thing not only feels more in line with our goals, but is also faster to create and easier to animate.

I hate to admit it but... Less is more, in this case. As it better accomplishes our goals and takes up fewer working hours, meaning we can spend those in other parts of the project.

That's all for todays rant Mike out!

[spaaacedev]

Making pixels, and the evil of jaggies

Above is my work in progress of the players walk animation cycle.

Currently it's riddled with jagged edges that I need to clean up. Jagged edges, or Jaggies, form when pixels are out of line and interuppts the flow of the line they're forming. Most notably visible on the legs here.(2) Compare the how the line looks on his hand on (1) wich appear much smoother because the pixels form an uninterupted line.

In other words, I got some cleaning up to do! For more information on pixel art I suggest this forum post on Pixeljoint.  Happy Easter everyone! Mike out!

[spaaacedev]

Planning

After some tutoring last week we pulled some of our act together when it comes to planning. During the tutoring we were told that it's very important for a production such as ours to have some sort of plan on when things are to be done. We sat down to process this information and came up with a priority system as suggested by our tutor. The most essential elements of the game we set to priority 1 while the thing we wanted to be in the game but not judged essential we put in priority 2. Priority 3 we reserved for the polishing stuff, elements of the game that we consider to be the frosting on the cupcake (not a fan of cupcakes though).

Having listed everything we could come up with we started to estimate the amount of time each element would take to produce. Doing this gave us a better perspective on how long this game would take to make.

//Casp 

[spaaacedev]

Casper putting some final touches on our new wall. Post-its' are all the rage these days. They're also good for structuring up a timeline/priority list!

[spaaacedev]

Concept art for the player character.

[spaaacedev]

From Concept to Pixel (aka lost in translation).

One challenge we're facing when creating the graphical aspect of the game is the translation of the concept art to ingame graphics, this is especially evident for everything that's 2D as they are made in a pixel art style. The thing is that minor details will dissapear due to the lower amount of detail readily avaliable in the pixel art version, or they might just translate into changes in colour/hue in the game as the detail isn't large enough to really change the model but might still need to be represented somehow. So we got to ask ourselves what details are the most important to show off, and still make it easy for the eye to 'read' the graphic. For the player character for example, I think it's important to tell that he's wearing a sort of light armour uniform, placing him as a crewmember aboard the ship and as a security officer of some kind.

This is something that the finalized artwork can take into consideration too of course. Will the scars on the player-characters face be visible on his 2D sprite? Probably not (it's still there on the concept art though, as it ties in nicely with the story). So when sketching characters, monsters or areas of the ship we can always go back and reflect on 'what is important to show the player?'.

This low detailed art style does lend itself to the players imagination though, and it's something we're looking into how we can enhance through the game. Right now we're thinking of bringing in text, in the style of older games like Fallout or Baldurs gate, were it featured as a supplement to the visual cues in the game and added more depth to games less 'visceral' than more modern games.

Over and out!

//Mike

[spaaacedev]

The process of choosing different elements to our game

In the pre-production of our space adventure game we have to set some essential game elements and mechanics that we want our game to contain. Health indicators, movement and pickups are some of the elements we've been discussing. With all suggestions of what to include in our game we must ask ourselves questions that determine if they fit into our game. The questions can be both many and few. Is this retro or is it modern? Where does this idea come from and why did we come to think of it? How did others use this idea and how did it work out for them? Is this element a part of today’s games? Would this element do our game any favors?

If we take health bars as an example. They have been around for a long time and their origin isn't that important in this consideration. They used to be popular but have recently been replaced in many of today’s games by the “bloody screen” health indicator. We believe that some sort of health indicator that displays the health situation plain and simple would be to the players benefit and satisfaction.

This process is repeated on all the different aspects of our game. If a element's answer to our questions prove to disappoint us we have no other choice but to ask that element, aspect or idea to go home without an invitation to our game. The failed element may come back for an other audition further along the line and we may take it back in to consideration.

Peace!

//Casp

[spaaacedev]

Pre-production: Design document

Hi and hello reader! We just finished the theoretical first part of our bachellor degree project and now the time for production has come. Through some group tutoring this week we realized that the idea of our game was not completely synced in our minds. We sat down and talked through the different aspects of the game that we want to create.

Here's the first lite design document for the game, note that the plot is not included in this version due to spoilers.

Design document #1

With “Spaaace” we want to present a game heavily influenced by the retro scene of video games. We want to let the player take part in an adventure which with a high focus on aesthetics and game mechanics of older games. The player will be creeping through the different areas of a spaceship in 3:rd person, from medical, cargo hold, hangar to the command bridge. Occasional confrontation involving firearms will also be part of the game but not in the same sense as an action gun play game, we want guns to be part of the problem solving as a means to get through a situation. The game will be driven forward by the story of the game, we will encourage the player to explore the different areas of the ship by using secret areas (in retro fashion) stacked with supplies which will help the player get through more easily.

Pacing: We want the game to play quite slow and steady we don't want an action game we want to build our game on suspense and the feeling that you are alone.

Presentation: We want to present the game using a retro smelling visual design, we will represent the actor in the game through 2d sprites while the environments in the game will be in 3d. We believe that this will set a contrast between the two different elements in the game and we feel that this will serve our purpose in creating a game which ties to the retro aesthetics. This visual style is something we strongly believe in and an element of the game that we see as essential. The sound of the game will be heavy on ambiance spaceship noises and the dark humming of space.

*Note that “Spaaace” is a not the final title of the game.

This is not final and is subject to change.

PEACE! // Casp