Integration and Creation

Hey guys,

So the semester is quickly counting down. Soon our game will be due and so we’ve been in crunching down hard lately trying to get as much stuff done for our game as possible. Me and Gordon have kind of developed separate pieces of our game within our own projects, so we spent some time this week integrating as much as we could.

The biggest thing we integrated this week in terms of programming was GPU Mesh Skinning. Gordon worked a lot on that over the last month and a half, and we finally decided to integrate it into our code. Naturally there were many issues involved with the process, but you could read more about that on my personal blog, since I already talked a lot about it. Now we’re moving onto to features in our game. Gordon is currently working on other shader effects that we want for our game whereas I’m just doing other things such as the intro cutscene and gameplay features.

On the non-programming side, Branan has been working on getting our models rigged and animated. He actually went and bought a Kinect on Tuesday because Dr. Hogue said it would be cool. As a result we now have a Kinect. It’s actually pretty cool since with the right program a Kinect could be connected onto your computer and used as a cheap motion capture system. We spent some time recording a bunch of animations for our game since we have mesh skinning in our game now, and all we really need now is a lot of BVH files to load in, which the Kinect could magically get for us. The process and result isn’t perfect, but Branan is planning on cleaning up a bunch of the animations so that we could use it.

As for everyone else, Alex is continuing to work on the level. The main forest level is essentially done, but it needs tweaking and polishing. Since we feel that we can, we’re planning on adding a second level in the game as well which Alex is working on. Mack has also continued working on sound effects throughout the week, and even managed to make a pretty cool lightning animation for our character. Rachel has also been working on models and 2D art that’s required for our game.

Overall we still have a lot of work to be done, however our game is shaping up and I’m pretty confident we’ll have something awesome by Game Con.

Gary

Fun Time Countdown

Hey guys,

Random BVH issues aside, we have GPU mesh skinning!

So code freeze is pretty much a week and a bit away. We’re making some serious progress for our game and we should have a pretty sick game for code freeze and an even sicker game for the game con coming up. Here’s a bit of an update as to what we accomplished over the last week.

In terms of programming, me and Gordon have been getting a lot done. I spent a lot of time over the last week doing gameplay programming and improving our game’s framework. Gordon has been working on GPU mesh skinning for a long time now, and between Branan constantly making and fixing BVH and skin files and Gordon tweaking and debugging his code, we pretty much have it done. Now all that’s left is to integrate it into my engine and finishing fine tuning it and then Branan could pump out a ton of animations for our characters in our game. Gordon and I also managed to integrate his behaviour class into my engine so now our enemies have a reasonably solid AI. Last semester in SHFT our enemies just constantly seeked the player which was effective, but it wasn’t the most advanced AI. In our game this semester we plan on having a better AI system so you guys could look out for that.From the art side, Branan has been constantly working with me and Gordon to get our main character fully rigged and animated. He’s currently in the process of creating animations for our characters such as running and walking. Alex is still working on the level design of our game, but it’s coming together pretty nicely. Mack started to edit some of the sound effects that they recorded last week and is currently in the process of creating new sound effects and the music for our game. Rachel has been texturing our assets as well as designing 2D elements for our game such as our HUD.

The game is really starting to shape up now. We still have a lot to do, but with every passing day progress can be seen.

 

Gary

Our Work This Week

This week we met 3 times to continue work on the game. Gordon and Branan have continued working to implement mesh skinning on the GPU. Having finished implementing it on the CPU which caused major framerate issues, we knew that running it on the GPU was the only possibility. They are currently struggling to sort out the BVH files which appears t0 be missing joints, which is a problem on the GPU, as the joints must match perfectly.

Mack and I have began to collect Foley sounds for our game. We spent the day recording sounds in forest behind campus. We recorded our footsteps through the leaves, breaking branches, and a large stick hitting a tree, to simulate a sword hitting wood. We also recorded water running from the pond behind south village. We recorded a number of other random sounds to use as we need them.

Gary has been devoting his time to creating gameplay elements. Currently we are able to move and jump in 3D space. He has spent the week working on adding proper collision detection, as well as adding shadows. He has also been working on adding the combat system to the game. He has also been working with Gordon to ensure proper file parsing, and assisting with the problems Gordon and Branan have been experiencing.

Branan, Rachel and I have continued to produce Art Assets for our game. Branan and I have been doing all of the modelling, while Rachel puts the finishing touches on the assets, and paints the textures onto them in Mudbox. I have been producing all of the minor art assets, as well as working on level designs. Branan has been working on our main characters model, as well as rigging any models which require animation.

Overall our production is coming along nicely, and if we keep up our current pace we should have a quality game prepared for the Game Con in April.

Crunchtime is coming…

This week, the team has gotten some decent headway for the game. Gordon’s mesh skinning is looking better than ever, with just a few steps away from being perfect. In addition, we’ve now began merging more of the code together, and now have a working shell. As far as core features go, were only a few shy of being ready to go headlong into gameplay. In Modelling news, the main characters are coming along well, with the enemies in tow. As well, several side assets have begun cropping up as the team has divided them up into small portions to be done in free time. One looming factor still hanging over is us is our deadline.

Time is running out.

On the positive side, compared to where we were last semester at this time, were miles ahead. The bad news is that this semesters game was originally planned to be much larger in scale, and with cut-off in slightly over 3 weeks, it seems like some features may need to be cut.

we'll just cut this...and that....and, oh dear...

There is  small reprieve however, in the fact that our classes are barebones this week (Thank you GDC) and we will have alot more time to focus on assets. The goal for the end of this week is to have the primary art assets completed and a working demo version of the game up and running for testing. See you next time.