ChrisT. Weary Blog 5

         Some lessons I would really like to know would be is how to affect the player. What I mean is

that I want to be able to make the player sprint when I hold down a button or something like that.

Also gravity stuff really peaks my interest. 

As of now i am resting due to my birthday being today. And i will truely start working on tuesday.

Jordon's Post #5

At this point our group has just turned in our design doc and gave a presentation about our concept. I feel that we did a good job of clearing up any questions regarding our concept. At this point we are starting to create the textures and models for our level. Our goals haven't changed yet, but when we get our grade for the design doc we will have to tweak it a bit I'm sure.
The major problem that sprang up this week was that we had to hustle to get our presentation ready for Tuesday. It came down to the wire, but I pretty sure we put on a good show. Chris and Lionell were able to scan in all of their drawings and I was able to get everything printed out. The binder looked great in my opinion.
We are defiantly getting better at bouncing ideas off of each other. We usually get things decided within a couple of minutes instead of a half hour. We just need to start plugging away at our asset creation. That will be the deciding factor in our final grade. I already have some ice textures and rock models completed. I am working on cliff ledges and ice stalagmites at this point.
I think that we are doing a great job at this juncture. Now is the important moment where we must take our work from concept to tangible assets. Chris and Lionell have proven themselves to be great concept artist and I have shown that I am good at getting our ideas written out. Now we must see just how good we are at using the skills that we have gained in Photoshop and 3DS Max.
My job is to model the cliff ledges, rocks, stalagmites, bones, and treasure chests. I also am responsible for the textures for the ice, treasure chests, and bones. Chris is mostly responsible for working on the texture for the rocks, plants, and transporters. He will also have to model the sword and healing plant for our level. Chris and I will work on digging out the level in Unreal while Lionell will do a little more modeling than us. Lionell is responsible for modeling the plants, enemy placeholders, cave walls, and transporters. He will also be texturing some of the plants with Chris.
I think that this class has answered most of my questions so far. I also think that referencing the Unreal book will help us a lot. If there is one thing that the instructor could demonstrate to us to give us a little more help I would say that she should show us how to create a level that uses both indoor and outdoor areas effectively.

Lionell.Fisher Blog 5

o What stages of the (project) am I on and how is it progressing? How or what could I improve?

The stage now is to create my list of assets given to me by the team. create the Vines, the cave walls, and some other things that I will give you.

o Did I change my (project) milestone goals? If so, why?

The goals are all still the same. At least for me.

o How did I deal with the problems that came up?

With the help of Jordon and Chris, any problem that I've come to they helped me out.
(motivation, and keep me on track)

o What is working and what is not working in the planning and implementation of the (project)?

For Now nothing is working, because I havent started my workload yet

o Briefly describe your time spent and any problems (within the team, with a computer, etc)

My time spent was creating concept art for the character, enemies, and weapons.

o Evaluate the (project) as a whole including team members, if applicable

I can't say anything right now, because we just started to create the assests for the game. So I hope everything goes alright for my team and me.

Blog Entry 4 ChrisT. Weary

 At this point I am working on more concept art as well as some assets for the level. This precess is kind of difficult due to me not being use to drawing scenery. But the other stuff i am doing is going well for the most part.

How it could be improved. 

I still need to speed up in my draw while letting loose with the ideas.

Lionell's Blog 4

The stage I'm working on is modeling the assets. No milestones where changed. will not dramatically. Jordan told me not to slack so I won't . Every thing is working fine. Most of my time spent was on the assets. The team is doing better than ever, we have all the pieces to the puzzle all we have to do is put them to gather.

Great Work!

Great work fellas! Let's keep it up! This design doc is really important, and I know break is coming up. We can't let up yet. Let's go for broke!

Jordon's Post #4

At this point our group is beginning to work on our design document for our level. We have the maps and flowcharts done as well as the asset list. I am confident that we are moving in the right direction although the road is rough. I think that if I had to improve my efforts in one way I would start to model and texture more so that we will be prepared in case something goes wrong later on.
Our project goals have changed slightly since last week. we all decided to get a little more ambitious with our level and actually model all of the cave walls in order to give them a rock feel. We also decided that we are going to at least place enemy placeholders in the level to show where combat would take place. I think that this would be a great idea, although I did stress to the group how important it was to get the basics done and solid.
One problem that did come up was our asset list. The group had a small amount of trouble deciding what was worth putting on the list as well as what was the highest priority. we solved this problem by organizing our stuff into things the level absolutely needs and "Jello" stuff. In the end we came up with a pretty good list.
Our group had no problems handing out rolls because we have already completed some of the models and textures. We all compromised and came up with what projects best fit our talents. For instance, Chris is really good with the Wacom tablet so we agreed that he should do the difficult textures. I am assigned to mostly model with some textures on the side.
Our group is working great together as usual. One advantage that we have is that we are all cool with each other outside of this class therefore it is easy for us to compromise with each other. I think that they trust me to do my best work and i trust them to do the same.
we are coming up on the meat of the class, where we move beyond just concept and into creating the level. before we get into that we are going to have to give this design doc all we've got!

Jordon's Post #3

At this point we are in the Diagram and flowchart phase of our project. I think that I need to improve the way I get my ideas across to my teammates. We had some miscommunication that cost us points unfortunately. Over the last few weeks our project has changed in a big way. Originally, our level was supposed to take place in a desert and our game was supposed to involve our whole world. (Pretty much the completely wrong way to go about things) We changed it to make our game about just one mission taking place on Mt. Everest.
Our team has defiantly come together to deal with the problems we had early on which is great. Last class we really got down to brass tacks in order to set up a plan for our diagram and flowchart. We all sat down and discussed the way the level will play out as well as how each part of the level will work. Chris came up with a couple of really good ideas for light motivation and concepts for our rooms. Lionell and I came up with a basic map and list of rooms.
I think that our team is working very well at this point. We all just bounce ideas off of each other until we come up with something good. With two great artists like Chris and Lionell on my side I feel like I can make any concept come out looking great. The concept drawings will come in very hand when we go to make our level so I am very glad that we have them.

Blog Entry 3 ChrisT. Weary

 What stages of the project am I on and how is it progressing?

  As of now I am responsible for the concept art on the characters, and some of the scenery. As for the progress I have only a small amount done at this point, but over the weekend i will have most of it completed.

How or what could I improve?

According to Lionell when i draw pictures with great details my work place slows down, so this mean I should (in order to improve my art speed) draw less detailed picture for  the concepts

Lionell Fisher_Blog 3

The stage of the project I'm on is level mapping. So far we have mapped out the entire level, now it's time to create the map. I could improve on map making and better level flow. The milestone goals was change to make the level more fluent and interesting. There weren't any major problems to speak of. The only problem we had was the cooperation of the game as a team. Every thing is working according to planned. most of the time spent so far was on redesigning the level of the game. The computer didn't crash and everything else is OK. I think we're doing pretty good so far. No team problems that set us back, and no assignment problems that stopped us.

Backstory of Our Game

The back story for our game:
First Wave takes place on Earth 100 years in the future as was stated in our earlier High Concept. A large asteroid has been stuck in earth’s orbit for the past few months. The people of Earth began to contract a strange illness around the time of the asteroids' appearance. Scientists from all around the world began to take shuttles up to the asteroid to see if there was some connection between the plague and the asteroid. The scientists soon discovered a massive plant life form on the asteroid’s surface. As the scientists began to run tests on the plant it emitted a massive wave of spores as a defense mechanism. It was not long before the spores radiating from the plant reached Earth’s surface causing all kinds of plant and animal life to become intensely violent as well as grow in size.
The strangest thing of all was that many animals began to migrate to the highest points in their respective continents. The plant life in these areas also multiplied tenfold, which is not normal in high altitude environments. One day, the citizens of earth awoke to find that a massive vine had sprouted from the asteroid and anchored itself to the peak of Mt. Everest. The number of humans who were infected with the spore plague increased in the coming weeks, and communication with the science teams on the asteroid were disrupted. The governments of earth decided that it was finally time to take action against the massive plant and attempt to sever the vine that was pulling the asteroid closer to earth.
The first attempt to sever destroy the massive vine was quickly thwarted by the massive army of plants and animals who gathered to protect it. The air strike that was organized also failed as massive hoards of birds threw themselves into the engines of the planes. In a last ditch effort to destroy the vine, the governments of earth decided to launch a massive ground force to climb to the top of Mt. Everest and plant bombs on it. Our game begins as the ground forces prepare to make the long journey up the mountain to confront the enemy.

Re-Worked World Concept

World Building High Concept Addendum
The setting for our game:
First Wave will be set on Mt. Everest where the combined armies of earth attempt to take out a massive vine that anchors an alien life form to Earth. The three major chapters in our game would be the foot of the mountain, the cave networks inside the mountain, and the summit. The foot of the mountain would be comprised of mostly forest terrain and the cave network chapter would mostly consist of rocky and icy caverns. The summit area would be almost a sea of snow and the terrain would be very treacherous.
The player would have to deal with many obstacles that come with climbing Mt. Everest. Environmental hazards such as steep cliffs and freezing cold temperatures would haunt the player wherever they go.
We feel that First Wave lends itself to a style of play that is a cross between Resident Evil 4 and Mass Effect. The level design would be consistent with the sci-fi horror genre in that there would be many places where the player could be easily ambushed. For example, in the cave network chapter of our game there would be many dark corridors from which enemies would get the jump on the player. Also, our game would feature set safe zones where a Sherpa (mountain guide) would sell things to the player as well as offer an opportunity to save their game.

Just some sketch practice its old but i have not posted it here so enjoy the fine work

Christopher Weary mod Experience

         I am a huge Diablo II fan so i had no choice but to find a mod for this excellent game. With that said, i actually found a bunch of really interesting mods, but i'll only mention two. 

(you can find it here http://modsbylaz.hugelaser.com)

         I was only able to get one to work, the one i got to work was called MEDIAN XL. I did not get to far into the due to time factors but i played until i got to level 8 or so. The character I played was a Necromancer type of dude he used totem spell that he creates from dead bodies it was a nice idea but the character was really over power for being so low leveled. he was able to make  six totems that shoot ice infernals at the spells first level,if you put him in a group with a tank then they would unstoppable. i don't even want to imagine the high level forms of the character. As for any change in the story i have not even played it long enough.

The other game i found was  called Back to Hellfire and... Oh my flahtrucking sweet lord jesus have some mercury on my soul toast GOD! This game looks seems amazing it has all the upgrade and advances  Diablo II:LOD  and the atmosphere of Diablo 1, but i cant play this game so this is only thing i can say.

http://bth.hugelaser.com/

Rogue fighting The Butcher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMFV9QyIsh8&feature=player_embedded

Our High Concept

Level Design High Concept
Game Title: First Wave
Created by: Jordon Davis, Christopher Weary, and Lionell Fisher
Date: 11/ 29 /09

Table of Contents:
1. Genre
2. Target Audience
a. Game ESRB Rating
3. Brief Description
a. Setting
b. Main Character
c. Enemies
d. Goal of the Game
4. Competition
5. Research for this Project

1.) Genre:
First Wave is an RPG shooter that plays like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect. This game would be played on the PC or X-Box 360 game console.

2.) Target Audience:
The Target Audience would be male American style RPG lovers between ages 14 and 25.
a.) The ESRB Rating of this game would be T for teen because there would be some minor foul language and lots of action. However, there would be no blood or gore during game play and no nudity or sexual references.

3.) Brief Description:
First Wave is a game about a team of elite soldiers who are trying to stop infectious alien plan spores from ravaging the earth.
a.) The game would take place on the planet Earth 100 years from now. The player would fight their way through many types of places ranging from forests and mountains to destroyed cities and underground bases.
b.) The main character of this game would be a young soldier fighting for the Resistance named Cage. His allies would consist of elite soldiers, pirates, and scientists who are all trying to survive the spore plague.
c.) The antagonists of this game would be the hordes of infected plants, animals, and humans who are trying to exterminate mankind. Infected individuals are extremely strong as well as violent and seem to travel in packs.
d.) The goal of First Wave is to fight through hoards of enemies upgrading your characters, collecting valuable treasures, and completing missions in order to take down the forces of evil.

4.) Competition:
The competition of this game would be Action RPGs such as Mass Effect and the more recent Final Fantasy games. Also, this game would have to go up against epic titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Gears of War 2.

5.) The research I would need to do for First Wave would involve looking at new age weapon mechanics to make my combat seem more realistic while still having elements of fantasy. I would also need to look at pictures of areas similar to the ones in my game such as forests, mountains, and deserts.

Jordon's mod experience.

Playing a Lord of the Rings mod on StarCraft

I decided to play some old school StarCraft, and download a map off of battle.net. I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy and so I chose to download a map that was moded to look like the battle of Helms Deep. The map was done quite well done and it looked like several people have shared and refined the map over the years.
The actual layout of the map was very much like the movie. The only major problem that I had was that errors kept popping up all over the screen because of the amount of units spawning on the screen. If you played the map as the heroes (Aragorn, Legolas, or Gimli) then the map was pretty fun because you just get to run around slaughtering loads of guys. However, if you played as the humans, elves, or orcs then the map kind of difficult to play because of the amount of units that you had to control.
I think that if professionals had created this map it would have been way better. There would have been no errors and the number of troops would be under control. I also think that the ground and structure textures would have been better chosen.

Lionell Fisher Mod post 1

The mod game I played was sonic 2 featuring shadow the hedgehog. The game was put to
gather very badly. So of shadows animations skipped a frame so it looked like the walk animation was interrupted and then the animation starts over. This was a very interesting mod, shadow skates instead of runs and tails is now a chao. Forget about starting on green hill you start in the chemical zone “take that”.

Welcome to World Building

This is a lable for Game 365 World Building.

We will post everything in class under this lable.

Im here NOW!

This is my first post. I'm just making sure this works.