Digital Props

I am happy to announce my new web site, Digital Props. At the moment its located at http://www.gearsofgames.net/digitalprops and there is not a lot to look at but over time some interesting stuff will be up there. Its a web site that I will use to post my film work from college. We are about to start working on a drama’s so that will be its first project. Any personal stuff that’s good enough will end up there too. So Check it out every so often. I am in fact planning to do a “making of” for my map waterfall once its done. Just to get some practice at editing and to talking about the 11 day speed mapping I went through etc. So that should be interesting. If it turns out good that could be its  first project in fact.

But look for an update on digital props in the next few weeks.

Waterfall An Update

Since the beta went up at the end of the 11 day speed mapping I have not really posted a lot about Waterfall, but it has been going very well. Folks from mapcore.net and game-artist.net have given me LOADS of feedback which has helped a lot. These community’s are really great and it staggers me how long people will spend giving you detailed feedback so thanks to everyone who have given me any so far. The biggest visual change you will see is the waterfall its self, it now flows in the cave and you can’t see out anymore. Its a lot more interesting to look at and as the waterfall is the most important part of the level it is now a lot more noticeable and adds something to the map.

I was recently reading an article above realistic blocking in levels. Lets face it we often come across parts in levels where the developer does not want us to get past until we have done something which is fine, but they are not always the most realistic. For example in my map the spikes that where blocking you from going through the waterfall would be quite easy to walk between in real life. Now after the changes there is no where to go so there is no need for the spikes and its a lot more realistic and looks better at the same time.

I am getting ready to post beta 2 tonight i hope, I have made a lot of changes and I still have more to make. One of the major islands just above the water level is now terrain instead of some large meshs which had allowed not only for more detail, but I can make a clear visual path through that area now. A lot of these changes have been pointed out to me by the fine people at the sites above and I can’t thank them all enough.

Resident Evil 5 Demo Thoughts

My experience with the Resident Evil series isn’t a very long one. I have a vague memory of playing RE1 at someone’s house where I wasted all my bullets on a wall and proceeded into a dark room where a zombie tore me apart. Being A good bit older now and having seen a few promising trailers I was very interested to check out the demo for RE5. So at around 10:00 when the demo went up I managed to grab it quick quickly.

“That looks nice” and “Interesting setting” where the first things to popped into my head, but it wasn’t long before the game went souer on me. My main problem with the game is the control system, you see I have a supsion that if you can play RE5 you could most likley drive a Challanger 2 Battle Tank because thats what it feels like, drving a tank! The weapon and Item menu requires several layers before you can chnage weapons or do what ever you wanted to and god help you if you press the wrong button. It may appear simple enough at first glance but when you are in a small room being attacked by several zombies and your partner is crying out for help it quickly falls apart. The combat its self is very clunky and old fashion as well.

You can get away with holding the left trigger before you can shoot but not being able to move and shoot at the same time sent it over the edge, and  into gaming hell for more. Its a shame that these issues effect the game so badley because beyond that there is a very intresting world with what looks like a gripping story and  very fun co-op. But that wont be enough to make me buy it. I am sure fans of the series will enjoy this game, but the cold realty it that RE5 is out dated and disapointing at best.

Some Love For The PS3 And 1UP Yours

I can hate on the PS3 a lot and rightly so, but last night I really had a lot of fun with the system. Sure I spent a good wile downloading updates but after that I grabbed a few trailers from the PSN store and then spent a good wile playing MGS4 which is just a brilliant game. I have started it again and am a good bit into act 1 and will play a bit more tonight after the new episode of LOST. The machine is a really great movie player. I watched an episode of Ross Kemp in Afghanistan and it up-scaled the DVD to HD really well. Watching DVD’s on my 360 is just something I will not do for fear of breaking the DVD drive (PS2 had that issue too of course but with the way 360’s can go….). So really for all its problems, I still love my PS3.

Then it was time for the end of a legend, the final episode of 1UP Yours. What an episode it was too. All the old crew back for a three and a half hour long show. Some very sad moments but over all its one of the best episodes ever and they did say they hoped to meet up a few times a year to do more. Good luck to everyone who recently lost there job’s at 1UP but to the people still there, we love you and you have the power to take the site to new places and make it better.

Waterfall Beta 1

Well the speed mapping challenge I was running ends today and I am very happy with how it went. The beta is now up for download so feel free to check it out and let me know what issues you come across. Making a map from concept to beta in 11 days showed me a lot of new things and where I had been wasting a lot of time before and places that I need to focus more on.

The plan is for 8 maps this year as I only really got one good one done last year due to a lot of assing around. At least two of them have to be in Sandbox 2 (Crysis Warhead) and source (LF2, TF2 etc). It should not take long to fix up any issues people find so i will soon be able to mark one of the list. Looking a head I am not sure what to do for the next one. It will be Unreal too but as for what it will be I am not sure yet. Might start to think about that soon.

http://www.gearsofgames.net/news.htm

http://www.game-artist.net/forums/work-progress/8409-map-dm-waterfall-working-name-11-day-speed-mapping.html

Brick And Cloth

Its been a long time since I posted any 3D game art on the blog or any where else for that matter. But I never stopped doing it. Granted I have not done much over the last few days with the speed mapping going on (check www.gearsofgames.netfor more) but as that’s all most over I can shift a bit more time back over to game art as well as level design. So I found out how the cloth modifier works in 3D Max the other day and here is a quick seen I have modeled and started to texture. As you can see the bricks are very basic box’s with no sculpting etc but I will make a normal map for them later. The main focus is to try out cloths.

I have made a good start on the cloth texture i think, using a photo sourced image as an over layer and then I painted a few details in. I will get back to it later tonight to add some more details, fix it up and a normal and spec map. There are some bricks under the cloth and when its finished I will have it on some dirty ground.

Midnight Nation Thought’s

So I am still quite new to the comic scene, the only one I have read before is the on going and soon to end Halo limited series as well as  A Joker comic someone lent me. “Life changing” is a phrase people have used to describe this book to me, so need less to say it was hyped going in and I was hoping for something special. I don’t really want to spoil the story as everyone really should go and read it but the very brief overview would be, its about a cop who goes to investigate a murder and something very strange happens. I will leave it at that.

But this book really does have something to say about society no matter how you look at it. One of the best ways to describe it is it will tell you something you always knew but yet didn’t. It takes a more super natural approach to people “falling through the cracks of society” but yet it does happen everyday. People lose job’s, become homeless etc and really get forgotten about by society. Wile the book builds on this in a very interesting way for me that’s what the core of this book is about. But it also shows faith in humanity, that in your time of need someone will care even if you don’t realise it.

The road trip type nature of the book is really what attracted me to it in the first place its just so different to what I would have expected from a comic book. On the down side I really feel like there was a lot of over sexuality which appears to be common in comics. Wile games and movies are not free of this, some roles in this book where a bit like the Alex Vance (Half Life Character) of comics and the over “sexiness”  sort of ruined it at times. Its not that you should not show people naked in comic’s, games etc but it really felt like it was done for the sake of it at times and could have been approached in a much more mature way. Other than that Midnight Nation was a great first steap into the world of comics for me and its sure to be read may times again.

Been A busy Few Day’s

I have had a lot on these past few days and a good bit more to come so that’s the main reason I have not posted a blog update in a few days. The last episode of Stargate Atlantis was on last night (UK) and it was one of the best, if not the best episode’s ever. It’s set up things in a very interesting way for the first of what I hope will be the first of many Stargate Atlantis movies. Great guest star cast and for sure one of the best moments in Stargate history. Might have to watch it again tonight!

I am working away on my mapping challenge which you can still keep up to date with on my site. Is coming on well and the latest update will be going up an a few hours. That’s all I have to say really at the moment. I have a few blog posts that I want to make but I just don’t have time at the moment. But do look for stuff in the coming days. Blog hits are way up this month too.

Update

Podcast will be coming this week if everything goes well. I think the first one might be involved with the speed mapping thing I have going on but I am hoping to build up something. So look for something on Friday I think?

EDIT: still hope to do somthing this week with a podcast but not 100% sure yet.

Gearsofgames.net Update, Level Design and More

Gearsofgames.net got some changes today. The photo page now has its own page instead of linking to Flickr. So you can watch them all there in a slide show which I am happy about (and lets face it I just found out how to do it). There is also a new feature running at the moment which should be updated every day. Speed Mapping. I got the idea from Alex Galuzinwho ran something more or less the same not too long ago. So I am following more or less the same 11 day format he went for and its going to be interesting to see where it goes. Day 1 is up now.

I just finished a map which is the reason I am starting this, it was ok but not worth posting. I have a shit ton of work at the moment acutely between college and personal projects but I am on top of it all so far, so not too bad. I just finished mid night nation which needs a blog post of its own but its a really great read and I will be going through it again. Anyone else see the video’s of Halo Wars up on GT.com, its looking very nice, all stuff from the demo due on feb 5th. I really can’t wait for it. Killzone 2 is looking really sharp as well GT have a preview on the site which is well worth a watch. You may have noticed twitter now works with the blog so I have started to use twitter again which is interesting and I will keep it updated. Might start to throw in some links to interesting stuff I find through out my web surfing.

Might head to bed in another 30mins or so, I have some stuff to finish off and then I want to read a bit. Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Also, support these ex 1UP guys. Good luck guys and I will be there to watch, listen and read what ever you guys do. I am fine with paying for content too. Wish I had the cash to throw some your way to help towards the better gear.

http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/news/

http://talkingorange.com/

The Halo Wars Demo And What It Could Mean

So at their CES Keynote Microsoft announced a demo for Halo Wars coming on February 5th with the game its self out at the end of the month. So that got me thinking what could that mean for the game? Well first of we are all going to be able to play it a bit earlier which will be cool, although it’s most likely going to make me what the game even more and, make the rest of the month go very slow. But far more important than that is will it improve the sales for the game.

I have little dought that the game will be great given who is developing it. It does have the Halo name which will help it a lot, but its also the first non Bungie Halo game and the first Halo non FPS, which could provide some challenges for it. As long as the controls are tight and in the demo people find something that makes them think “yea this is halo”, even if its just the way the warthog moves. Demos can often be make or break but for Halo Wars they really need to show people this is a Halo game and this is how great it is. It’s also making Halo history as its the first Halo game to have a demo before launch and only the second Halo game to have a demo. Bungie avoided it after Halo CE as they said it cut too much into development time and lest face it you are not going to get a bad bungie game.

I for one am very much looking foward to playing it and let me know your thoughts too, in the comments.