Kit Test 2 update week 9

Modelled more kit test assets to get an idea of how big the kit would need to be.

For the workflow I have been creating all the object in the single scene, using the character scale. Then once one object is complete placing it with the rest of the kit pieces to get a second judgement of scale before duplicating it, deleting build history, centring pivot, setting to location to 0, 0, 0 on the grid then finally exporting each object separately.

the kit pieces laid out in maya.

Using this kit I put together a new secne in UDK.

Laying out the pieces again to show how much can be made with so little objects.

Non of these assets are unwrapped, that is why there is surface artefacts. 

Asset Sketches

Here are some asset sketches from today, i'll continue to keep the post updated so please check back to see if there is anything new. Feel free to make your own creative decisions when modelling from these sketches so that we can keep the creative process going throughout the workflow.

Probably best to ignore fencing for now as the designs aren't really there yet - but do feel free to give me some input or even go ahead and modelling your own if you have any ideas. As for the potato sacks and the wicker baskets it would be good to have quite a few shapes and sizes for variety.

(update)  Added a well (dani's idea) which is self pumping, to add in the extra sci-fi / modern element (Alex's idea) with animating parts to add depth / believability (my idea). And also designed a few modular parts for some interior 'cabinet' style markets to be used in conjunction with the exterior market stalls.

(update) Another update to include the street lamps. I will do design the market stalls next though i shall probably model those myself ready for testing on monday.

Another update including the market stall designs.

Inspiration

Thanks to Louie (3rd year) who showed us this video by artist 'Tor Frick'  which is a dystopian future level created with UDK. This is a great example of a city that feels alive, it's populated and the depth is insane.

This has given me the idea that i would personally really like to continue our project in the 3rd year (as we had thought of anyway) but just focusing on refining what we've already done - by adding characters, much more details and perfecting the story and the experience.

If anyone else finds inspiring videos, links, photos etc that can help to spur us on feel free to update this post so it's all in one place.

{Alex} -

Similar thing from someone's graduation Reel, a fly through like this would be nice to show at the end too for our portfolio's 

This is more a link back to music inspired stuff

Another scene with a lot going on yet empty, some similar VFX i noticed we will be looking to use to this effect.

Issues in UDK

Scaling

Both Max and Maya are going into UDK fine, when they are set to the correct unit (please refer to previous post)

When we put the maya files into max they were coming up tiny compared to the size they should be. After some small workings out - we concluded that the maya files need to be times by 10000 to be the correct size. This makes it the right size when imported into UDK.

The Max files when put into (as generic units and centimers) Maya they are fine.

Piviot Points

We worked out how to fix the piviot point in maya. You have to put the object at 0,0,0. And this centers the pivit point in UDK.

Schedule Commencing February 25th

Well done to everyone for achieving what they were set last week and more. This weeks tasks are

Dani
Model building from jacks concept art
Create a generic stairway (that can be used anywhere)

Jack
Finish market square concept art.
Create a handful of concept sketches for assets ready to be modelled.

Alex
Create script for narration.
Create a character profile - his likes, dislikes, his age, his job, social status, a quick blurb on his personality, a description of his looks. This will give you a feel of how he would talk.
Possible names
Bailey
Mark
Lucas
Lars

arabic names?
Saad
Malik
Juan


Dan
Model a crate, open and closed and unwrap them.

UDK Performance Notes

After having a discussion with Tanguay about how to judge our performance (poly limits, fps etc) he has told us our poly limit would be around 100k polys for our whole environment. However as the performance depends on much more than polycount (shaders, animations, texture passes, post processing etc) and also the fact that we are going to be using a lot of instancing for our meshes (which are only drawn when seen) our limit is less easy to calculate. Tanguay then told us about the 'stat engine' which is similiar to unity's profiler, which runs as you play the game and gives you live information about how the game is running and breaks it down into sections. Keeping and eye on this as we test our level will keep us aware of which aspects need to be optimised and how well the game is running.

Upon further investigation there are many more 'stat' commands that will be helpful for us to monitor our game's performance, here is a link to the wik: http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/StatsDescriptions.html

Map and Kit Test update week 8

Maya & UDK Kit test

After Jack and I had figured out the unit conversions i set up a maya file for this purpose, the small rectangle represents the player size in game.

Then based off of Jack's sketches i modeled the individual parts (Door, Window's, piping, etc) and once imported applied 1 of each to a base cube.

Once this whole file is imported into UDK it is automaticly split up into it's parts, meaning it is quite easy to use where ever needed in the engine. 

One problem we have ran into though is that the pivot points for these objects are not centered, so this is a problem that needs addressing if we are to import this way.

Only the door was actually unwrapped prior to importing to the textures dragged on don't work properly on the other objects.

Here is the same technique using UDK's example objects

Was also working on the map today. As a base we looked at 'Assassin's creed's' map for Damascus  We cut some buildings out, added some more in, changed street layouts and moved around large chunks to make our map design. It is split into 3 sections, the first market town sections, alley way section, and the garden section.  

UDK Scale

Our first problem was that when Alex and Dani were importing objects to UDK the scale of the objects were tiny compared to the character. After searching around i found that UDK works in UU (Unreal Units) which is 16x the size of a Maya Unit. As explained in feet here in this diagram and explained in this article:

http://dannyquesada.weebly.com/1/post/2011/08/importing-from-3ds-max-to-udk.html

I then found this article: http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/unreal3/setup-grid-scale-in-maya-for-unreal3.php  Which explains how to set up Maya to more easily scale to UDK. By setting up Maya's grid to have a line every 16units we are able to make a box that is 6 grid spaces tall which is the exact height of the character within UDK.

By using this box in maya we can more accurately scale the rest of our objects and have them stay the same scale within UDK.

World of Level Design looks like it will be an invaluable research for helping us with many aspects of our project.

(images taken from the articles mentioned)

Filler Assets List

Reference Sheet - for smaller assets feel free to model lots of the clutter that can be found in our reference images and take liberties with ideas / styles / colours / proportions as this is still an alien planet,.

Assets need to be interesting and different enough to give the player the feeling that they are on a foreign planet BUT it's still believable, the player can relate to it.

Here is a rough list of things that could be useful to have created, but again you can use the references to give you an idea of what needs to be created in order to fill the space and bring it to life.

- Crates - both open and shut, empty and full of goods
- Signs - in foriegn language, can be any theme but something suitable for the area
- Market stalls - Outter frame only (including cloth drapes, roof, table etc) to have objects places upon them
- Fruits / Goods - baskets, crates, singular, hanging bags, etc
- Cloth drapes - variety of sizes, can interchange textures for same model to add variety
- Wooden Planks - random debris to litter around
- Electric boxes / panels / wires - this place still has electricity so any fuse boxes and wires are good to have around the buildings
- Industrial style fans, cooling systems, vents - the typical things found on outter walls of industrial buildings, this is a hot climate so they would need to cool their interiors
- Organic / Vegetation - We would like random hot climate plants / vines to have dotted around the main market area but also lots of lush interesting looking plants to have in the garden (this will be covered in more detail later)

+ Anything else you can thing of based on the location and descriptions so far - using our imaginations is good!

(Open in new tab or download to view original size)

New Direction Update 07

Ok well after our presentation to the Tutors as well as professionals Steve Goss and James Brooksby. we were shown and forced to admit the holes and flaw with some of our concepts fundamentals.

As I thought more about what we needed to take from the feedback and how this effected the core vision of the game it became more evident to how constricting sticking rigidly to the album would be. This was a bit shakey for me as it meant I had to let go of a large part of what I wanted to do, which was working on something for this album and staying true the original intentions of a story interpreted out of the music. In it's own way however the album yet again inspired me and directed me to the next move. We needed a story that could stand on it's own feet apart from the music, what if the deeper meaning of this story was about letting go? This story would still be another interpretation of the album but would give us the freedom needed to create something that would work in the situation we are in. At this time the game is still intended to feature the music but not as high of a focus, that is going to be a more personal project in it's own right.

So the story as of now, pitching to fresh ears:

Marcus, a father searching for his lost daughter after she ran away many years ago on a chase in search of vengeance.

In more detail:

The players character *Marcus receives a recorded voice message from his lost daughter. She talks of apologies to him for taking off and not letting him know she was still alive, regrets and that she is scared. She talks of her progress tracking a man she has been trying to kill for a while. Best Marcus can derive she is on *planet X from her message and decides he must go there on the off chance he can help her/save her. He is not a young man, not much of a hero, but out of love must try to get his daughter back.

A cinematic plays showing the players ship approaching the planet and coming in to land. Game begins as he enters the town through a large gate. This landing zone was on an outskirts section of a moderate sized city, this is seen in the skyline. The town seems deserted, but not in a panic. There is a relaxed but eerie mood about the place, “a Sunday?” Marcus thinks. Marcus's thoughts are overlayed on the world to the player in speech. Walking through players see posters of an event on, presumably today. Markets stalls are still up, but are perceived to be automated. Most doors are closed or obstructed, not a lot is going on in town today but it clear that this is not normally such a ghost town and that there is no real worry at this point.

Players are lead on through various subtle elements; Using camera filters/overlay of brightness/contrast/hue etc, as the players move forward Marcus will comment/have thoughts on things he see's, a ghostly representation of his daughter will be seen a distance away from him. This aspect will not be very high in the visual mix but will be another element to draw the player in if they notice it.

Players are free to explore this confined town area until they find/reach a scrap/tinker workshop. A cinematic transition would take the player from the front to the back of the shop, loading a new level. In this cinematic another piece of the original audio device is found *and merges with it*, playing another message left from his daughter. *This time however it is not for him but perhaps a note for her self, a journal*. Taking information in this recording Marcus continues to follow where she may be. As well as this players will be driven by visual elements as before but also her ghost becomes more of a literal follow in the alley way section Marcus is stepping into. Seeing glimmers of her just around the corner. At this point the dangers she may have gotten her self into are hinted to add a bit of tension. Perhaps recent remnants of the towns gang or mafia types are shown here.*

Players are lead on in this fashion to what once was a garden rear entrance but is now boarded up. Some light game play, breaking this down to gain entrance. Again following visual cue's as well as wisps of her ghost through the over grown plants, players work their way through this more uptown and lush garden in contrast to the town's colour aesthetics. This continues with some variety until reaching a more center piece of a water fountain. *Attached to it swinging on the underside of a lip is a necklace he recognizes to be his wife's that was once carried by the daughter. At this point players are let on more of the back story. Just further up is a large house that the player has been seeing in the distance until this point, somewhere to again drive players to.

Mood Concepts

Spent a few hours sketching this out tonight, just something to serve as a bit of a colour / mood / texture guide. It's currently not finished but i wanted to get some feedback from the group to see if this also matches their visions yet or if i've gone off course.

Will do more of these until we nail what we are looking for, as well as more model-friendly line drawings.

Side street concept:

{Alex} - Made a slight colour edit, bit warmer, less green mainly.

{Jack} -  Quick update making it less green and bouncing around the light more to brighten the mood, still a bit green in aeas though don't want to go too red, will need to find a good balance. Needs more tweaks that shall be continued tomorrow.

Another update, probably done now unless Alex or Dani have anything they would like me to add. Alex mentioned during the week that it could be interesting to play around with different technological ideas such as windows absorb and transmit light. I was faced with an issue that the side streets may be too dark ( and therefore give off the wrong atmosphere) compared to the main streets. So i came up with an idea that built into the buildings are wide tunnels / boxes that have a series of mirrors inside. The light is taken from the top of the roofs (direct sunlight) and is then bounced through the mirrors and dispersed into the street below, flooding it with an ambient light. This could allow us to use pockets of light / colour to help direct the player through side streets. Included a very rough diagram to explain the idea.

Market square concept:

We have decided that instead of market streets it would be better for us to have 1 major focal point for this area to help had interest as soon as the player starts the game but also a central point for the rest of the streets to feed from, allowing the player to navigate easier.

This focal point will be a market square - a large square that is busy with lots of stalls and packed tightly, with a large unique building that is much grander than the rest, the height of this building will be seen from most angles of the streets to help the player pinpoint their location and to show off it's importance.

Another update, i have added the market stalls, cleaned up other areas, added some rough texture to areas and boosted the lighting. The bloom may be a little bit over the top but this is the overall feel that would like to aim for, i also added some birds into the distance - perhaps another way of adding life without humans being present.

I'm still not compltely happy with it, the stalls need a bit more life and variety to them, but otherwise i think it's mostly okay, will get feedback from the team tomorrow.

Update: Decided to make a sheet out of this with some annotations and texture swatches to better communicate certain points.

Weekly Task Achieved

Dani

For this weeks schedule I was to look at the particle systems/vfx in UDK to get certain effects that we require.

Fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ7eZ34v9i8
By looking at this tutorial I was able to create fire - this is something we will use for our fernace and whatever other object would require it.

Fog
http://www.hourences.com/tutorials-ue3-fog/
This is a nice tutorial on how I would create fog, but it is also possible to animate this and make it look like a sandstorm.

Sparks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3eiC9xilo
This is the way I could make sparks in UDK.

Daylight System
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/udk/udk-how-add-skybox.php
This is how to add a skybox with the texture that you want :)

I have emailed the library lady to purchase the UDK Cookbook, so that we can get more information on what we need to do.

This past week I have also been working on the Greybox, as well as implementing it into UDK and creating the terrain.

 This is a render of the map model that I created in max - its not completly finished as we aren't sure how to end the garden part just yet.

 

 

This is the model imported into UDK, playing around with the terrain at the moment as we want it to be a few different levels.

Workflow Concept

Above is a quick sketch to demonstrate how we will be taking a modular approach to the creation of our level. After feedback from the pitch we will be removing the BSP block fom the process and instead creating the simple geometry within Maya to import into UDK, as BSP brushes are out of date and not as easy to use as regular meshes.

Essentially we will be making a kit that will allow us to make a large variety of buildings and other assets to populate our scene, this means that we can spend time creating impressive and detailed assets that will be used multiple times throughout the game, instead of spending lots of time on and object that is seen once in a small area.

Below is a concept sketch to show off how i will be approaching the designs for the town. I will start off with one variation of a building and then break it down into it's components and then see if they can then be further broken down. These pieces will be added to our kit. We can then model these kit pieces and see how many variations we can create within UDK and then use this information to decide which new pieces we should create to allow us more variety, which will involve another design sheet.

(Update)

Added some more critical pieces to the first iteration of the kit, with a comparison to my more refined concept.

Schedule Commencing February 18th

Dani
Research some ways to do the VFX required

Dan
Modelling various assets from concepts. Barrels, bench etc. Also learn speed tree

Alex
Finallising the game/story

Jack
Making more concept images - refining the workshop to model

Due; February 25th

Pitch Conclusion

Wrong

• We cannot use outside sources for scripting and modelling. They can help with the music implementation.
• Some kind of focus/point/ player drive. The reason why they will want to move and progress through the story. Examples are: Dear Esther has the narrator that continues to tell the story as the player continues to explore the level. Journey has the obvious end-goal which is the light mountain and also has the wall symbols that hint to a greater purpose, story.
• Don't depend on the music. It can still be a focus but more secondary, as it is a more niche genre and therefore we don't want to restrict our audience and put people off playing it. It also isn't defined enough to be a drive for player, or at least not by it'self.
• Don't use bsp brushes use same process but in maya as it is more convenient and bsp are a bit out dated. Though we can use them for grey boxing if needed.

Right

• The overall concept.
• The kit idea, how it is being approached, the workflow.

Ideas

• Have audio clues - the character talking, you hearing his thought on what direction to go. 
• Player has a recording device that is broken (plays only noise, nothing useful). Player must walk around the environment using visual and audible cues to find the battery (or other part) to fix the device, probably found in the workshop. It is now fixed but is out of signal. There is a large building / structure in the garden (or other part of map if we don't get time to do it) that the player always see's right from the start, he might find it and climb it in order to get signal. Once at the top the player now has signal and can decipher the message - something awesome. Can fit the character thoughts into this idea to help guide him and add interest.
• Bonus Idea: Have a lady figure (perhaps in a dress) who pops up in the distance at certain points, a sign of life. The camera can been drawn to her when she appears. She leads the player around the map to the destinations (the shop, alleys, garden, tower etc) The player can still go there without following her, but if they choose to be distracted by her then they will still end up in the right locations. We perhaps then see her at the end of the first alley, and the player chases her through the small, tight alleyways, until she turns the last corner and dissapears, but instead of seeing her around the corner, he finds the entrance to the garden, he's been lead here without realising.
• Have a drone, that you follow around. You see visuals of where you want to go to. Or its already in the garden and you have to find it.
• Use color correction and post processing aswell as things out of the ordinary to help direct our player and draw them to different sections of the map.

The course leader said that he will mark us down for using UDK, if it doesn't work as well.
when the professionals told us that we made a good choice to use UDK.

Visual Effects Stuff

For Dani to do.

UDK
Fire (for a furnace)
Sand floating round
Heat ripples (in background)
Camera effects?? Post processing. - adding in depth of fied, colour correction.

Butterflies in the garden. (particle effect)
Steam out of chimneys
Sparks if metal is being sawed.

Water effects.
Fountain perhaps?



 

Pitch Notes

- Don't read exactly from a sheet!
- After watching the town cutscene keep it up and skip frames when talking about it so there are visual references.
- Mention in a more basic way how the game plays for example: 3Rd or First Person adventure game similar to Uncharted or Dear Esther.

-Need to be more sure on the order of things, make sure it flows right.

{Alex} - A broad description of our intended vertical slice.

 "'A Journey Of Intrigue' , Is an audio, visual focused adventure game. Where we follow our traveller on his Journey through a linear but interpretative story."

"The music is both the world and companion, the author and the watcher. Reflecting mood and pace of the visuals as well as the players goals."

"The story and basis of this game were derived from myself and the song writers interpretations of the songs and album as a whole. The main section of the game starts roughly 10 minuets into the album. Players experience the city whilst this particular song loop plays, and following visual cue's as well as cue's within the progression of the music they will be guided and confirmed onto the next section of the game and thus the next section of the track. Using UDK we have been able to create smooth transitions from track section to track section following the players movements."

"This first section is quite smooth but busy as players stroll through the town. However once this song finishes, the next begins with the kicking down of doors. Following this, players are chased down through alley ways and industrial courtyards by the music and two assailants. This pace continues until the player ducks into a large up town garden, the music at this point transitions to far more organic and ethereal tones, and in loop as the player traverses though this over grown, rich garden."

The intro cinematic for the pitch -

-

Town After Effects Final

Here is the mostly final After Effects town scene, i need to clean up some of the movements and may also refine some of the artwork if there is time. Otherwise i shall pass it to Alex to refine the music.

Weekly update No.6

Weekly update No.6

Following this weeks schedule we have all been getting on with our tasks. Jack has posted the concept and after effects work he has been doing for the town. Dani has prepared quite an amount of documentation as well as put together a power point presentation. I (Alex) have been working on concept work for the opening intro scene.

It was decided that a wide angle shot suited much better so i re-painted some of the earlier opening scene.

The cutscene transitions inside the ship where our traveler sleeps with the ship

Awoken by the sun, memories play out. (This painting is not quite done.)

Part one of the cutscene intro.

After Effects Test

Took one of the thumbnail sketches from the batch and did a 'quick' after effects test.

Update: 11/02/2013

Another After Effects test using one of the market shots, this would act as the opening shot. With the large metal gates opening to reveal the street.

Update: 13/02/2013

Finished off the other scenes.

Pitch Schedule

Pitch Schedule

Alex

Continuing Space concept art for intro piece to introduce the games music mood and visuals. Using photoshop and after effects. To be shown at the pitch intended to gain interest

Jack

Creating concepts for the town to then be used in after effects for the pitch. Visual representation of what we want to achieve.

Dani

The pitch document and powerpoint presentation. Containing the information as well as creating the schedule and all documentation.

Dan

Our helper if we fall behind.

Due 18 February (ish)

Weekly update No.5

Not an awful lot done this week. But we have some early concepts of the town done by Jack.

Now that the project has officially started at uni we have 2 weeks to put together a pitch.

 Myself and Jack have discussed getting a bunch of concept pieces done for the 3 main sections we are going to focus on in the vertical slice.

Tomorrow we will discuss with the rest of the team as to what we plan to have done.

Hopefully by next Monday update we will have some more concept work done as well as the start of possibly an after effects intro on the go.

Town Thumbnail Sketches

Some initial thumbnail sketches for the town, will continue to do these to spring up new ideas and art direction.

Updated on: 11/02/2013