mkngbrd-blog

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Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.

Farrah Gray

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Oh, the errors...

I made a script that allows my player to cross through a portal and then into a second scene and back again. Same thing for if you fall off the edge of the map. And then the errors start.

My scenes load and reload with a really dark shader effect that makes the game difficult to play. Time to debug!

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This is something I really want to look into learning. It doesn’t fit in well with my designs for projectNachos, but the project I plan to tackle after Nachos would benefit greatly from this concept.

Why you need to start using Modularity.

Anyone who has been involved in game development knows making games is a hell of a lot of work, so who wouldn’t want to speed up the process a bit, and whilst we’re at it, let the Quasi-Random chance run free? Yes, you won’t get the personal touch with modularity, but it can truly add an awesome element of endless mystery and chaos. I’m extremely intrigued by it, and if you’re like me, you are too.

Keep reading

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Level Planning

I LOVE level planning. Ever since I was a kid and there were modding kits for the Elder Scrolls and Dungeon Siege games, one of my favorite things to do was to put together new levels and worlds and watch everything come together and create challenges for my brother.

Through the years I have become (expectedly) better at it. I’ve been having tons of fun using Photoshop to plan out the first level for my game, though this is definitely one of the most tedious and time consuming activities for me. 

Above you can see where I am placing default paths and specific points that I plan to have in the level.

In this video you can see me testing out my planned level with a UV mapped texture. The circle in the middle represents the center of the village I will start in, and the brown lines will be turned into a beaten path that the player will follow to their destination.

The scale looks good to me; now to just add a few more details.

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Goals

One of the best practices I have implemented while working on projectNachos is writing out simple, clear goals every morning and working to complete those small goals by the end of the day to keep myself from getting overwhelmed and giving up on my project.

All these small goals combine and lead up to the main goal, which is currently phase 1 of projectNachos, and then beyond that comes the real project-one that I won’t specific just yet. I’ll definitely need a team for that project.

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Got the animations for the bee wings and general bee movement down. This will be their idle animations.

In gameplay, the yellow bees will mind their own business and just hang around flowers unless you attack and piss them off. The red ones, however, are infected with a nasty virus and want you dead. Have fun with that.

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This is a beautiful piece of technology. MUST HAVE!!!

The new Spark from DJI.

16 minute flight time

5 different colors

2 axis gimbal

12mp/1080p30fps camera

full gesture controls

optional smartphone or remote control

35mph top speed

You can preorder it now from DJI for $499 (drone, battery & charger)  or $699 for the Fly More Combo (drone, 3 batteries, carrying case, controller, extra props, car charger & charger). It should begin shipping June 15, though expect it to be backordered pretty quickly.

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IT FINALLY WORKS

I have been looking into a solution for my model geometry problem for WEEKS, and today, thanks to some very helpful individuals in the official Unity forums, I have found the solution.

The problem occurs when bringing a mesh from Blender into Unity. For whatever reason the two applications do not get along well.

To fix my rotation issue, I had to parent an empty game object to the mesh made in blender and make sure my empty object was what received the code, then my mesh (as a child object) would obey that code.

Ta da! From there it was a simple matter of playing with and aligning the rotation of the mesh and the parent empty object, and now the basic AI for my bee works flawlessly.

Next step is animating his wings and smoothing out his idle animation.

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A short video of my dilemma today. Gotta love debugging.

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Bugs, bugs everywhere

Today I’ve been working on this little dilemma:

The red bee is supposed to look at me, but instead raises his stinger. I feel that means my modelling geometry got messed up somewhere. Yay for debugging!

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How to tell you’re a Dev

If your workstation looks something like this, you’re probably a Dev of some sort.

And of course the Pandora app on my iPad has to be set to the Skyrim station, because FUS RO DAH!

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Still playing Pokémon Go in my downtime. Check out my dex count!

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Learning how to script with C# today.... I realize that most gamedevs use basic models and work out the functions, animations and interactions before worrying about their art, but I’m much better with art so I do things a little backwards.

I’m hoping the Unity tutorials site can help me out.

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Best way to pass the time while MonoDevelop downloads and installs on my work's slow as hell Internet connection? Mario Kart 7 on the 2DS!

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I’ve been working on the design for a simple, old-school style game for a while now. I have finally learned how to better use Blender and Photoshop to paint my models, and I’m quite proud of how they have been comingout.

I am doing the game artwork in a simple, low-poly style with inspirations from the old Spyro games for PSX. I also have smoother, nicer-looking versions that I am planning to make use of in the game that I intend to create once this one is finished. Coding for this game is still my biggest challenge, but I look forward to the day when I conquer my weakness and have a great final product!

In the meantime I will keep updates posted for my current work, codenamed Nachos!