Hidden away in the archives of the old game blender community, I've been led to the old un-finished game 'Caffuffle', which operates in almost the exact way I'm planning for T.H.E. I don't plan on stealing the whole engine, but it's definitely a valuable resource to reference from, especially seeing as learning python is proving difficult.
All this has put me in the mood for technical tinkering, so I'm officially planning a technical demo to be released around August 4, end of MYAP. The demo will be a room with the character inside and a few objects to be picked up and used in certain places. This not only motivates me to get the scripting polished, but it will also demonstrate the game genre to anyone who's still confused, it's also solid evidence of work and my first 'checkpoint' to fall back on in the event that no more gets done.
So remember the date August 4th, and if it's not done I'll eat my own foot
Monday, July 14, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Trying to keep up
You might have noticed that this is my first blog for a while. Partly because I'm lazy and partly because everything's been running smoothly. But mostly because I've been knuckling down with level and character design. You see, all of the sudden we're more than halfway through the year and I still have a ridiculous amount of work to do. Right now I'm power building about 20 backdrops, the scenes are disgustingly unpolished but they will serve as good testing grounds while I nut out the finer points of my game-play mechanics (Inventory/menu systems/Quest tracking?/Interaction) That's the important stuff, once that's done I'll make it look all purdy.
I've promised to post a plot summary, which I've been reluctant about because I'm not sure I can make it sound as cool as it seems in my head (always a dilemma)
The game is set on post apocalyptic Earth, (Global Warming maybe? a bit cheesy) where only the rich and intelligent have survived in WW2 style bunkers, with no outside communication. You will play a prototype robot made by the richest and the most intelligent, capable of learning and making informed decisions. To begin with there is no denying your objectives, but as systems sustain more and more damage and dodgy repairs (NPC and friend Jeffery is a fan of the masking tape and fence wire method) Independent thinking becomes a possibility, and one can begin to doubt their creators motives.
If you decide this is social commentary (Humans being damaged perversions of machines) that's up to you. If reading into it makes it more involving that's great. But I want to make it clear that that's not my intention. Don't assume for a minute that I'm shooting for points in the deep and meaningful department, it's just a bit of fun.
Robot with a soul? It's wouldn't be the first time. But there's plenty of my own original ideas in the characters and game-play, so don't fear for that.
Roger has been cracking down on establishing wide and efficient networks, which is a thorn in the backside because this is the exact time when I need to be putting time into game creation.
On a lighter note my network is in fact spreading, site-meter has recorded hits on this blog not only from the mainland but also Switzerland and South Africa, so a big 'hello' to everyone out there, so excited to have you following the project!
I've promised to post a plot summary, which I've been reluctant about because I'm not sure I can make it sound as cool as it seems in my head (always a dilemma)
The game is set on post apocalyptic Earth, (Global Warming maybe? a bit cheesy) where only the rich and intelligent have survived in WW2 style bunkers, with no outside communication. You will play a prototype robot made by the richest and the most intelligent, capable of learning and making informed decisions. To begin with there is no denying your objectives, but as systems sustain more and more damage and dodgy repairs (NPC and friend Jeffery is a fan of the masking tape and fence wire method) Independent thinking becomes a possibility, and one can begin to doubt their creators motives.
If you decide this is social commentary (Humans being damaged perversions of machines) that's up to you. If reading into it makes it more involving that's great. But I want to make it clear that that's not my intention. Don't assume for a minute that I'm shooting for points in the deep and meaningful department, it's just a bit of fun.
Robot with a soul? It's wouldn't be the first time. But there's plenty of my own original ideas in the characters and game-play, so don't fear for that.
Roger has been cracking down on establishing wide and efficient networks, which is a thorn in the backside because this is the exact time when I need to be putting time into game creation.
On a lighter note my network is in fact spreading, site-meter has recorded hits on this blog not only from the mainland but also Switzerland and South Africa, so a big 'hello' to everyone out there, so excited to have you following the project!
Monday, June 16, 2008
I'm back
Ok, so I look like a bit of a twat after presentations, but I'm not going to worry, because I know I'll get another shot later in the year. But for now there's a whole load of work to be done so I'd better get on with it.
I imagine there's still some confusion about the game type, I have said before that it is in the puzzle adventure style. If you don't know what that is think King's Quest/Myst/Gateway, if you don't know what they are then think Darkseed/Monkey Island/Day of the Tentacle. If you're still confused then chances are you don't play enough old games and you should check out this site: http://www.abandonia.com/ contains games that have either been released into public domain, or belong to companies that no longer exist, so it's free and legal. Games in a similar style to my project will be under adventure.
There's still some nuts and bolts to be added to the plot before I can post it, but it shouldn't be too far away.
Most games are either third person, with the camera following behind the character, or first person, where the gamer sees things from the characters perspective. Mine is slightly different, it will be fixed camera, so the camera will always view the same scene and the character will move around in the scene in a similar fashion to the final fantasy games. This is handy in a couple of ways, because the background is fixed I can use a 2D backdrop giving me a whole lot of room to breathe in the performance department. The backdrops will be made first in 3D, rendered, edited in GIMP then exported back to blender in 2D form. This way the computer only has to worry about the player, moving objects and anything the player can interact with, because of the extra breathing room I can afford to make those to a high standard.
Hopefully that has cleared everything up, I've got the character movement working perfectly, all I have to do now is sort the inventory system and make... everything.
I imagine there's still some confusion about the game type, I have said before that it is in the puzzle adventure style. If you don't know what that is think King's Quest/Myst/Gateway, if you don't know what they are then think Darkseed/Monkey Island/Day of the Tentacle. If you're still confused then chances are you don't play enough old games and you should check out this site: http://www.abandonia.com/ contains games that have either been released into public domain, or belong to companies that no longer exist, so it's free and legal. Games in a similar style to my project will be under adventure.
There's still some nuts and bolts to be added to the plot before I can post it, but it shouldn't be too far away.
Most games are either third person, with the camera following behind the character, or first person, where the gamer sees things from the characters perspective. Mine is slightly different, it will be fixed camera, so the camera will always view the same scene and the character will move around in the scene in a similar fashion to the final fantasy games. This is handy in a couple of ways, because the background is fixed I can use a 2D backdrop giving me a whole lot of room to breathe in the performance department. The backdrops will be made first in 3D, rendered, edited in GIMP then exported back to blender in 2D form. This way the computer only has to worry about the player, moving objects and anything the player can interact with, because of the extra breathing room I can afford to make those to a high standard.
Hopefully that has cleared everything up, I've got the character movement working perfectly, all I have to do now is sort the inventory system and make... everything.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Presntation 'bleh'
Ok so I kinda froze during my presentation, scary stuff. That's the last time I have faith in my charm and charisma and my ability to 'wing it'. But I'm pretty sure I got the message across about my project. If not, the project is a 3D game in the puzzle/adventure genre, if you don't know what that is think Kings Quest/Myst. Each level will have a fixed camera and the player will move around inside the scene, collecting items and solving problems to open new areas. I'm really quite excited because this style of game play has not been seen this decade. I've made a concept map with the obstacles and items contained in each area, but I won't b releasing it to the class. The story revolves around a robot lost in the desert, more on that later...
Also here's a quick video summary of the presentation, credits to roger for that one
Also here's a quick video summary of the presentation, credits to roger for that one
Monday, May 26, 2008
Room to breathe
Ok, so the presentations have been delayed, which is good, because I have a mountain of other stuff to get done. I have been meaning to post a general blog with some background on the project, but I think I will wait until the presentation before putting it out there. I'm currently working on a concept map for the game, which is a bit of a brain fryer. But I'm getting a really solid idea of what it will be like if it ever gets finished, and I must say I'm really excited. I'll put up my big post on Thursday with info on the game, and that will probably be the last until after the two week holidays. I doubt I will find the time to post a blog with my dial up internet (Yes it still exists in dark corners of the earth) But there's plenty to do before then, so good luck with presentations to everyone in the class and expect a nice big post Thursday.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Genuinely Terrified
Here's some stuff I've been working on this week, not really sure if I'll put them in the game or not. But I love to invent stuff like this and I'll advertise it any way I can. The presentation is looming, it's due next week and I'm genuinely terrified. I've pretty much been under everyone's radar until now, I'm positive that only roger reads this blog. Self advertisement is not a strong point. But in a way I'm looking forward to standing up and generating some interest in the project. But I've got a whole lot of preparation to do before I'm ready to get up there, so I guess I'd better get back to work
Monday, May 5, 2008
A quick post
I figured I'd better jot a few things down, went to the 'presentation' on mentoring today, really more a group activity then anything else. But it was nice to put a human face on some of the projects going on and to see how other groups were coping with the workload, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one with a mountain of work to get done. Hopefully I've generated some interest in my own project as well, with any luck I'll get a few more readers to this blog. Got my first red card the other day for networking, waiting patiently for a blog list on the moodle so I can get my stats back up. Until then I'm working on my intro cut-scene for the game, I'm also really starting to nut out the plot-line and the game mechanics, expect a big post on this real soon. Here's a quick taste of the intro, just a hand so far, but there will be more soon,
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