EXAMS! AHH!

We're done! Well, almost. One more week and this semester will be behind me! Tomorrow is our presentation day for our game. This has been an awesome semester and  I can't wait for the next! Some good news, I have passed my homework questions for engines! I can officially write my exam! I am feeling very confident this year for both of my exams (project management and engines) and I can't wait to take time off! This is also my last blog for a while, I will try to update it a few times over the break though no promises! I am going to be playing a lot of video games that I have missed these past few months such as Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Evil Within, and Far Cry 4. Very much looking forward to these games and I will be keeping up on my regular Counter Strike: Global Offensive play! Gotta get to Golden AK! (I don't know who will know what that means)

But looking onto the next semester I am excited. We are going to be switching engines but we dont know which one yet. I will post when we know for sure. Also, a lot of next semester is going to be making maps, and balancing the game. This is the most fun part of game development in my opinion. I love balancing and designing the game I have the most fun with this part. Also, I am going to be taking my electives next semester which is going to be fun! I'll be glad to start working on my production minor and getting into it.

So yeah, not much too write about on my last exam. I had fun working on my game this semester and I look forward to what is coming next! Let's go doodz!

The Home Stretch

So here we are in our final week of school. This semester has gone by so quickly and it's hard to believe it's almost done. At the same time I am excited to move forward and get one step closer to graduation. Hard to believe I'm less that 2 years away from that but I'm excited all the same. However with this end of the semester push comes a mountain of work to be done over the next week. I still have to do at least one engines question to write my exam and I have a few other outstanding assignments that are all due tomorrow. Hopefully I can get this done it might be a very long night

Though it is busy there is some good news, our game is near completion! We have added audio, our prototype tutorial is done, and we are putting the final touches on our protoype gameplay. This has been a very fun semester in the way of game dev because we have actually managed to create something we're proud of. And that is the best reward of them all. 

This next week will be me loading sounds into the game, and finding some basic menu sounds and other sounds like, walking, jumping, shooting, parrying etc. I really like working on the audio for games so this is very fun for me. There's nothing better than seeing something you made go into the game and having it work. It is truly a great feeling.  

It is truly amazing that we have gone from this:

To this:

In just 4 months. It is a great feeling to have something that we all like and are proud of. 

Next step after the game is complete is to study like mad for my final exams. I only have 2 this semester and I believe I am prepared for both. I am done on the 10th so I have nearly a month off! I have to think about this to help me get through these next 2 weeks and then I can finally relax and take a break. 

Who am I kidding I will probably be working on a side project during my time off.

Road to MIGS!

This is a very special week for all UOIT game devs. It's finally time for MIGS! I'm very excited to go and meet many new people and lots of game developers over the next week. This is a fantastic opportunity to get to meet many of the industries current developers and make connections. Not to mention the awesome lectures provided over the 2 day event. This is a perfect time of year to learn many new things and take those lessons and apply them to the game I am currently working on.

The past few weeks have been very busy with the peak of midterms coming and going and the medium homework questions due for engines. I have 35 xp now so I am on track to completing my homework questions. For this period I did the pong question and the keyframing question in engine.

Specular Shader Test - Project Pinnacle

So onto my game, over the last few weeks we have implemented a lot of things. These include global illumination, models, specular lighting, and networking. Yes we have the ability for 2 players from 2 computers to inhabit the same space online which is a very large step in making our multi-player game a reality!

Global Illumination - Project Pinnacle

This next work period is loading in all of our assets. Next I am going to have to load in audio and music to the game which involves implementing fmod and re-familiarizing myself with it. This shouldn't be too hard but I will need to learn how to get it working in 2LoC. Hopefully this goes smoothly. I do quite enjoy doing the audio of a game and plan on sitting in on many of the audio talks during MIGS.

Multiplayer Mode - Project Pinnacle

Another thing that can be noted is that all of our models are still in T-pose. This is because we are still working on our animations and while that is happening our programmers are hard at work implementing any animations at all into the engine. This is a key part in the next step of our game. It would look quite silly if the player you're facing was permanently in T-pose.

Global Illumination 2 - Project Pinnacle

So that's the update for this blog! Things are moving well and we are right on track to finish our game and have time to polish it. MIGS will be an awesome experiance for me and my team as most members are also going. A side note is I have made a new business card for the trip which I will post on here. And of course, we need to end it with a joke!

Credit to xkcd

http://blog.protectedstatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/pointers.png

I guess we're into it now!

This semester is just flying by... Already 6 weeks in and it's been very busy thus far. But, our game is looking good and we are having a lot of fun making our game this year. One thing I should mention is that we have changed our idea (rather drastically) to a FPS which is very different to our original idea of a 4 player boss battle.

Gun Concepts - Noah Van Nest

So onto the new idea... it is a versus FPS in which players are in an arena. Players have limited bullets and parkour/melee abilities. The players also have the ability to deflect and parry their opponents' bullets. We feel this is a much more manageable task and a much easier game to make fun. Our main reason for switching was we wanted to focus on something fun instead of something ambitious and impressive. We did feel we could pull off our old idea but we were worried it would not be fun because there would be no time to polish the experience.

Character Concept - Liam Svirk

As far as development goes we are doing very well. We already have movement, shooting, wall running, and levels loaded in. The levels have baked in lighting and we are working on adding more balanced levels in the coming weeks. Obviously one of the next steps is adding in another player so the players can duel against each other. This involves some networking which we are looking at implementing into the engine itself.

Screen Shot In Engine

One of the things still left to do is to add FMOD into the engine. This is a relatively simple task that I will personally take care of. This way we can add some music and get our game into the right feel. This is important to make the game fun and immersing the player in the experience. After this we can move onto shaders.

Wall Running In Engine

Though the sample images I have provided actually follow our new artstyle very well we are looking for new things to add to make it look unique. Our inspirations for the visuals are games like REZ, Mirrors Edge, and Portal. This involves low poly models with bright tones and accent colours. We are keeping the futuristic white washed look but adding accents in colour to make things pop. This can be done through shaders. We will add bloom to make things look nicer and brighter. Also we want to add depth of field among other shaders to make our game stand out visually. As for now, we just have baked in lighting and the white AO looking block levels. We will also be adding the gun in the next few weeks.

Mirrors Edge - EA

I would definitely say we have our work cut our for us for the next few weeks before the next blog. That being said, we have a very solid base already and we are well on our way to making a great fun game. I am very much looking forward to what we can accomplish.

To End My Blog...:

I figured I would include a programming joke to make it stand out.. So here we go.

A guy walks into a bar and asks for 1.4 root beers. The bartender says "I'll have to charge you extra, that's a root beer float". The guy says "In that case, better make it a double."

First Post! New Year, New Group, New Game!

Noah Van Nest – Blog #1

                And so it begins. Here we are, another year, another group, and another round of classes. My expectations are high for this year as I move through my final half of my university career. Here we go.

Environment Concept – Joshua Liew

                First: I learned a bit of Unity over the summer and familiarized myself with some more programming concepts. I quite like Unity with its ease of use and its excellent interface however when doing some tutorials on how to work the various functions of Unity I found myself doing a lot of copy and paste simple work. I then realized I had no idea what was going on underneath the pretty face I was looking at and wanted more. So I then looked into making my own engine and realized I had nowhere near enough programming know-how to accomplish such a task. That being said, I am optimistic that this course can give me the push I need to get my programming up to snuff and do it.

 

Boss Concepts – Mark Spolitakiewicz

               

Second: I have a new group this year. Intermediate Graphics broke the spirit of 3 out of 5 of my group members. Sadly they are no longer with us (They’re not dead, they just dropped out) however this does mean that I get to work with some new people for the first time in a long time. The last 2 years I have mostly stuck with the same group throughout and it is nice to get some new people in the mix who have new ideas and a fresh mix of talents that I have not worked with before. I have a very programming intensive group which can be both good and bad. On one hand, our game will (hopefully) run efficiently and use many features but on the other the art may suffer and our direction might get lost. As the producer it is my job to guide them and though I may not be the strongest programmer but I need to know what needs to be done to meet deadlines and meet expectations.

Concept Stage Design – Liam Svirk

Third: The game my group is making this year is a 4 player, 3D action platformer in which all players must work cooperatively to take down a large scale boss in an arena. Our main inspirations are Shadow of the Colossus for the gameplay and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker for our art style. This will involve a large effort to achieve the balancing in the game in regards to the gameplay and a strong knowledge of shaders and colours to achieve the art style we want.

Concept Visual Styles – Joshua Liew

Lastly: We have made some progress already. Myself, I have been working on gameplay and design decisions in order to make our game achieve the feel we want. Our lead programmer Kenny has already make our camera system we want to carry into the final game and has been able to load in textures all in the 2LoC engine. Our artists; Josh and Mark, have been working non-stop on concept art. The lead level designer, Liam, has already made a concept level map for our players to explore and has been working with me to make design choices. And finally, Nemo has been writing some music for our game that will help set the tone of the game.

Boss Concept – Joshua Liew

                So all in all I am very optimistic for this year. I have a solid group who is passionate about making games and I have a new found drive to succeed in both programming and game design which I believe I can carry throughout the rest of my time at this university. I have also littered this blog with concept art and other things involving the game.