Here I had started modelling the base low poly mesh for the NPC character or one of the NPC characters we would be in our game. This particular character would be one of the many old men which would be found in the houses, on the street our game is set in.
Start of npc model
I started with modelling the low poly that I would be baking the sculpted high poly mesh onto. I am going to import the finished mesh into zbrush to sculpt it . After sculping in Zbrush Iwould then texture the model in 3dcoat.
further progress on npc model.
I started the model with a cube primitive and using subdivision modelling I altered the shape of the cube which would serve as the body of the character to match the shape of reference image I drew for the character.
After the body was at the shape I wanted I selected and deleted faces and circularizing and extruded to create the arms,legs and neck.
After the groups were form we had our first meeting to decide what the game would be. Dominic suggested a bank heist or bank robbery as our main theme, which seemed like a good idea so we all agreed with the idea and started taking notes of possible mechanics for the game while incorporating our own ideas into the games mechanics gameplay, and possible story. We ended the meeting after agreeing to also bring in more ideas to add to the general idea of the game.
Later that day we also made a board game which would apply the current mechanics we had thought of and help us decide on other possible mechanics we could add or remove in order to improve the playability of our game. The board was grid based as it had turn-based game mechanics which we would not necessarily be including in the actual game. It also had dice roll mechanic/system used for input of actions such as movement, choice and attacks. There were also obstacles distributed around the grid to simulate walls.
There are two roles in the board game. The thief/Bank robber and the security guards. Only one thief is allowed but there can be as many as 4 security guards due to the size of the board. Who would be the sole thief is decided by rolling the die; whoever had the highest number at the end of the turn would be the thief and the rest security guards. Players have to roll the die on their turn to decided how many spaces they would move.
For this blog post I will be starting with the anchors. Overall some anchors are still the same as before with a few exceptions. The general anchors would still be our overall motivation lacking due to complete lack of interested in the genre of the game and overall theme as well as multiple absences we experienced
Some of the other major anchors would be me spending too much time on an asset we did not urgently need, this asset being a car which was going to be none interact-able and a prop to just make things look less empty outside.
Another major anchor would be the rig for the first person character not binding properly setting my work/production back by a substantial amount of time. There were also other technical errors that set us back such as maya not working properly and crashing, UVs corrupting after saving, etc.
I have started by creating a concept for one of the NPCs in the game. I have done this on paper as I am not a concept artist nor am I used to digital sketches. I had previously done a sketch for the protagonist concept before we had decided to go with a first person game.
Side view
T-posed Concept for one of the NPCs
The images above are for one of the NPCs we are going to be using in the game project and that I have started modelling, one of many to come. We are going for a cartoon art style with more exaggerated reactions and animations.
The Game’s Protagonist concept.
Progress as of 10/01/2020.
Here I had started modelling the base low poly mesh for the NPC character or one of the NPC characters we would be in our game. This particular character would be one of the many old men which would be found in the houses, on the street our game is set in.
Start of npc model
I started with modelling the low poly that I would be baking the sculpted high poly mesh onto. I am going to import the finished mesh into zbrush to sculpt it . After sculping in Zbrush Iwould then texture the model in 3dcoat.
further progress on npc model.
I started the model with a cube primitive and using subdivision modelling I altered the shape of the cube which would serve as the body of the character to match the shape of reference image I drew for the character.
After the body was at the shape I wanted I selected and deleted faces and circularizing and extruded to create the arms,legs and neck.
Progress as of 17/01/2020.
Progress as of 21/01/2020.
Today in the scrum meeting it was decided that i would be making the tiles for the houses in the game after completing the character and arm modelling.
in the image below i have made a few set assets for the houses using plains.
I have made pieces of the house separately, such as, the walls, roof, windows, doorways, etc. this is to make it easier and more efficient than creating a house in one piece and exporting it.
Progress as of 28/01/2020
Today as our team leader and scrum master was absent, we had a quick meeting deciding what was left undone and decided who would do what. I continued to work on character related models such as the hands for the first person character which needed unwrapping which i did while waiting for Matt who was in-charge of rigging to be ready to rig the arms.
Retrospective. 5th of February 2020
As a group we decided on our 3 Anchors and Engines. The engines we have decided are good communication skills, with this we were able to talk to each other properly without issues and tell each other whenever something was finished, being worked on or just started working on. To exploit this we will keep using good communication skills to tell each other when something is finished. The next engine we have all decided on is good work flow, with this we were able to get work pumped out quite quickly/at a reasonable amount of time, making the first sprint have a lot of assets and also making it so the coding was done at a reasonable pace for what there was as well. The next and final engine we have decided on is the good planning we had before we started, getting what is needed to be done at the correct time, to exploit this we will make sure to keep up this work flow.
Next we will be talking about the anchors we had. Starting with the first…Attendance which we will overcome by having better time management outside of college instead of just within college. The next anchor we have all agreed on as well is exporting files from Maya to import files into Unreal Engine, to fix this we will have to export the files as a FBX file and make sure the point is set as Y. The next and final anchor that we have to overcome is Unreal. Unreal at its latest version has most the plug-ins we want but won’t work due to it not supporting the up to date version. The way we can go around this is finding a new way to get these plug-ins to work.
Progress as of 14/02/2020
Progress as of 28/02/2020
This week i made a practice model of a car prop as i had never made something as technical as a car before. My original choices as to what kind of car to was either a pickup truck or the Oldsmobile 1976 or maybe even a hatchback.
Progress as of 04/03/2020
Progress as of 05/03/2020
Progress as of 06/03/2020
Progress as of 12/03/2020
Today I had to complete my car model. I had to retopologize my car as it had a lot of polys, making it more difficult to UV unwrap which in turn makes it more difficult to texture the car.
Today’s Plan 12/03/2020
I’m going to finish the re-topology of the car, unwrap it then send it for texturing. After that i will also make the tree house which will be used in the game as a starting point for the character.
At the start of the session I attempted to mirror over the first half of faces i had made for the re-topology of the car by duplicating and the flipping the faces over. I did this, because, I thought that I would be able to merge it with the quad draw tool as I was doing before with the faces, but it didn’t work.
01/04/2020
I realized that i had not unwrapped the character model for NPC yet so I focused on UV unwrapping
Today’s Plan 01/05/2020.
Today’s plan is to finish the tree house/base for the protagonist/player.
This is about my first and second ideas during the synoptic project planning stages.
HiJinx (Game provisional Name ).
Marketing Focus and Demographics.
Age, Gender and Cultural Relevance.
I am going to be aiming for people in their teens and above as it will be an easier age group to aim at as the game will contain humor that I am more familiar with and will also contain strong themes and strong language that will fit in with the theme, look and feel of the game. The game will feature names of actual places in Nigeria and will also have lore, which will tell you more about the real locations and provide links to find out more about them, as well as the in game lore for the locations. This will be for people who are interested in finding out more about landmarks and well known locations in Nigeria.
Possible Competitor Titles.
Possible competitor titles that i think this game might have would be games with similar themes. Such as: Dust an Elysian Tale, Overgrowth, etc.
Dust: An Elysian Tale.
Dust is a 2D sidescroller action RPG developed by independent designer Dean Dodrill; with a rich story and beautifully hand drawn environments rather than pixel art or 3D models, which “Hijinx” will be made using. The games story is set in a world with bipedal humanoid animals much like “Hijinx” would be. The games story or setting also features elements such as, magic and demons as well as a power hungry dictator who attempts to unite the world through bloodshed. The game features a protagonist who not only has he lost his memory but he also wakes up with a talking sword who’s voice only he can hear.
Overgrowth.
Overgrowth is an open-world action RPG that is designed to make you feel like the star of an action movie as well as the director and producer, as you choreograph the scenes yourself and even edit the levels and remodel them with the level designer. The game is developed and published by Wolfire Games, the developers of the 2005 game “Lugaro”. Just like “Hijinx” and “Dust”, the game is also set in a world of bipedal animals. The games campaign features a rabbit or bunny ( as they are referred to in the game ) named turner who fights to save the bunny race from slavery as a part of the rebels.
Unique Selling Points.
The unique selling points that I believe the game will have at time of release. Would be the unique characters and races as there aren’t that many games that have humanoid animals as characters being released as of recent in the modern game industry. My game will also feature names and facts about real locations from the country i was borne in, which players will have to find across the different environments.
Platform.
The game will be available for PC to start with. There might be future developments on the topic but for now it only be on PC.
Expansion/Technological Direction.
Future developments for the game may include the addition of other platforms including the existing platforms such as the PS4, Xbox 1, and the switch. There might also be the possibility of remastering the game for the PS5 and other future consoles. there is also a possibility of including multiplayer and VR in future updates.
Narrative/Summary.
The game revolves
around a small town in a jungle world which features a little town next to a
waterfall known as “Gurara Falls”, and Bipedal animals known as
“critters”. In this world where critters dwell and co-exist with one
another. in this world where there is no discrimination, on the outskirts of
Gurara Falls dwells a mischievous vixen, “Jinx”.
Having been
abandoned at a young age, Jinx had grown up as an outcast in the forest
surrounding Gurara Falls. As a result she regained her feral instincts and
beast like agility and reflexes, as well as her beast like tendencies. She now
spends most of her time terrorising the Critters of Gurara falls.
As a player you will
be in control of Jinx the Mischievous fox. As Jinx you will be able to explore
the surroundings of Gurara Falls reeking havoc and causing confusion among the
critters of Gurara Falls. You will do this by completing several tasks which
will involve pulling pranks, stealing and all sorts of other hijinks. You will
need to utilize Jinx’s ultra instincts to complete the many tasks you will
have.
The main focus of the game will be the theft of key items for various purposes, such as: Survival; there are certain daily necessities that “Jinx” can not get from the wild which she must steal from the town’s critters, She will also need items of monetary value to gain in game currency for upgrading her ultra instinct.
Core Game Loop.
The main activity the game has is to get key items and take them back to your base in the forest.
Richard Lowton's Synoptic Project 