damon112890

[damon112890]

First Publication

Once again, I admit that it has been a long while since my last post. But I have made significant progress as an environmental artist. I finally finished and published my first asset on the Unity Asset Store.

This is The Alleyway | HDRP Asset Pack which features a demo scene of an alleyway comes with everything you see here. It was my first stab at Unity’s High Definition Render Pipeline. I admit, it took a long time to learn all the quarks and get the visuals just right. HDRP is still in development so the bugs kind of made it difficult too. After a while, I learned to work around them, but it gets much better with each update Unity releases. Completing this project and meeting Unity’s standards for the Assets Store was a huge challenge and pushed me to learn so much. I hope you guys are impressed enough to consider buying this item from the asset store. If you are interested you can find it at https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/153779

Here’s a few more screenshots

[damon112890]

Dang, this game is beautiful! And it’s fun to take pictures in.

[damon112890]

My first job in the video game industry (kinda)

It’s funny how life works out. You lay down the foundation to make your own path and control your own destiny. But sometimes life has other plans and you find yourself on a new, unexpected path. That’s what happened to me about five months ago when I met Romeo Amaya, my new employer.

Since that time, we have been working hard to make his awesome vision a reality. His vision was a decked out party bus for video games. This bus is a mobile venue for entertainment primarily focused on video games. With four XBox One’s, four PS4′s plus two with PSVR and two HTC Vive’s set up with more to come, we are the largest mobile venue of this kind in the United States. Below are a few images of what the bus looks like:

Today we just completed our two day debut at the Maude Cobb Convention Center in Longview, TX. It was a huge success and I can’t wait to see where this goes. Soon, I will be able to quit my job and do this full time.

The best part of this will not only be that I have a job with video games, it’s that I will finally have a job that will give me enough time to work on my own projects. I will finally have time to complete my comic and hopefully get a few games out there all while developing my skills.

To be continued...

[damon112890]

A year later

A year has passed since I last updated this blog. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped working on games. In fact, I’ve been growing more as a game developer and I’m learning so much so fast. Let me get you caught up on what I’ve been doing for the last year.

In the last post, I told you I had a team to work on a game for a jam. We didn’t finish the game. But that’s OK. In this game jam, I was the artist. I was responsible for all models, textures and sprites. Everything visual was my responsibility. I worked hard, exercised new technique. Turns out I’m a pretty good texture artist. LOL. I had a lot of fun and discovered my limits and my strengths. The developers I worked with are great. I love those guys to death. I’m glad to finally have friends in the game dev community. Here is a sample of my work from those three days.

After attempting to work on the game some more, the team parted for a time. We each had our own things going on in our lives. - Life keeps us busy. I got a new job. I work at GeekSquad now. Just before applying for that job, I picked up a hobby and acquired a new skill. I started writing and drawing comics.

With Haunted, I was stuck because I was tackling level design and story at the same time. I decided to separate the tasks and exercise writing first. I started with a short story for the game above. Then I just had inspiration one night and just started writing this heart warming story about a boy and his uncle. In my mind it had to be a comic. So I picked up drawing. It took a few months but I finally drafted the layouts and have a comic that is half finished. XD. I have big plans for it. Many chapters to come. Below is a peak of what the comic looks like.

I also have a secret project going on where I get to use my writing skills even more. I really love writing.

It was about a couple months ago that the dev team got back together and we are now in the process of remaking the game in Unreal Engine. We have more members on the team and we hope to actually finish the game this time.

As you can see, a lot of stuff is happening. This blog is not dead. I currently have 3 active projects. I also have another surprise coming up soon. I’ll post it as soon as there’s something worth showing. It’s been a productive 12 months. I expect the next 12 to be even more productive. Can’t wait to show more!

[damon112890]

Catch up.

OK. It has been a very long time since I last updated this blog and a lot has happened since then. I entered a game for the IndiesVsPewdiepie game jam: my first game I’ve ever finished developing. It’s called Pulse Driver and can be found at http://gamejolt.com/games/pulse-driver/39955.

I also made ton of progress with my bigger project “Haunted.” Most of my progress was learning the new stuff that came with Unity 5.  The PBR system isn’t what I expected, but the game looks so much better. Right now, my difficulties lie in designing the darn thing. I know the universe I want to create, but I can’t seem to make the “levels.”

What’s going on right now, you ask? There is another major game jam much like the last one I participated in. This one is called IndiesVsGamers. The best part is I found a team of people to work with. I’ve been waiting years to work with other developers. The jam hasn’t even started and I’m already learning a lot. I hope this is the beginning of long and fruitful friendships.

The IndiesVsGamers game jam starts July 17th and ends the 20th. I look forward to this experience.

[damon112890]

The game is back on. More progress than ever before!

For the last two weeks, I have been working on my game. I have made more progress these last two weeks than I have since I started the game. That's pretty sad considering that the game is barely playable. Much less bugs though. Navigation is almost flawless. Items can be collected. Made a door, key and lock system. With such poor programming skills, I sure have come a long way with this game. I almost have enough knowledge to make the entire game. But first I will start with a short demo. For the first time ever, I really feel like I can actually finish this. It feels good. So, here you guys go. A link to a prototype build of the game.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uumlzrzguyrhrzb/Haunted%207-7-2014.zip

[damon112890]

What's up?

Hey everyone. It's been a while. I thought it would never happen but I touched my game again. By touched, I mean worked on it a little more. This is not a dead project. Just put on the back burner. I've been extremely occupied with my job, which I live by the way.

In case you aren't stocking me, I'm now the IT Director for Jefferson Christian Academy. It's a tiny boarding school which I happened to have graduated from. I spend a lot of time with my students. So much that I decided it would be easier for me to move into the dorm and live on campus.

I think I'll still slowly make more progress throughout the year. No promises though. I also want to post a prototype of the game so you guys know it's real. I would be sharing the game design document though. That's still a secret.

I still need a programmer. You know, 'cuz I still suck at programming. So yeah. Just throwing that out there. If your interested let me know by replying in the blog.

[damon112890]

Project on hold

     It's probably no big surprise, but development on my game is being put on hold for a while. I have taken on a new job which I will begin on July 1st. I will be working at Jefferson Christian Academy, teaching two classes in computers. I will also be the IT administrator. As you can imagine, there won't be much room for game dev. But I'm sure I will acquire a lot of knowledge with this job.

     In my free time, I will be working on a game design document. This is probably for the best. I need a solid design for my game before I make it for real. But I guess I can say that prototyping for the game is finished. So now the plan is to work out a good game design document that will cover every detail of the game. I guess you can even think of it as an over-detailed strategy guide. Then I will try learning how to protect the project. I don't know anything about copyright law or intellectual property. But I'm sure knowing something about it will make me feel better about sharing all the details about the game with the world. I can't wait to show it. So far the idea is great, but it doesn't mean a thing until it can be played and experienced.

     Sorry for the news that the game won't be finished anytime soon. But maybe I'll have something to show for it after a year from now.

[damon112890]

Graduation

Sorry for the long halt on updates. I've been busy with school and trying to finish out the year. I finally graduated with my Associates Degree! I have had more time to work on the game and I am happy with my progress. It may be a little slow, but it's better than no progress. I am continuing to learn and improve all my skills of game development. And I have to add, this is a lot of fun! So I know I'll keep it up.

[damon112890]

More progress!

Things are looking well. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on this but I’m learning a lot. I now have decent player navigation working. Still have a few more things to tweak before I’m completely satisfied with it. Once that’s done, I will add enemies and I’ll have a prototype before you know it!

[damon112890]

Prototyping has begun!

It's official. Prototyping has begun! It's extremely early but it's happening. I decided to go with Unity for this project. I like the way scripting works, although I am having many difficulties. Probably because I'm a poor programmer. But I'm learning. I'll keep you up to date and post a screenshot when I have something worthy to show.

[damon112890]

Game project not dead

I’ve been distracted lately. I realized how work has taken its toll on me and I noticed something that I think will help make me a better developer. I’ve been lazy. Not at work, but at home. I needed to change my attitude towards my projects to get them done. I now think of them as a job. But I still have my priorities like my real job and school. With all this in mind, I’m trying to start my projects more realistically. Just today, I realized that I should start making some simple common assets. That way I can quickly begin laying put the land of the game. I started this today and it feels good. I know if I keep this up, I’ll have a prototype eventually. So it looks like the project isn’t dead. I will definitely keep this up. Maybe it will pick up even more after I graduate. We will just wait and see.

[damon112890]

More bad news.

I know I promised you some progress on the game and a screenshot of an enemy in the game, but unfortunately my job takes precedence over the project. I don't even remember the last time I had a day off. Development on the game will be held off until that changes or until I find another job. I applied for one that will give me 4 on and 4 off. That would be perfect! I can do a lot with 4 consecutive days of uninterrupted peace. If anything changes and I actually make some progress in the game, I'll be sure to post it.

[damon112890]

Some progress

I've been extremely busy with work and school lately. But I finally got started on the first enemy encountered in the game. So far, I've only conceptualized a model of it - nothing game ready. It's really simple for now. I have to go to my job in a few minutes. When I get back, I'll try a few more renders and post a screenshot.

[damon112890]

Update

I've been having troubles with shaders in CryEngine. Maybe I just dont know what I'm doing. But I had better luck with UDK, which I'm giving another shot. Also I'm looking into Unity. So it looks like I'll be busy for a while. I'll let you know when I decide which one I'll be using. But I'll be learning a few programming languages along the way hopefully.

[damon112890]

Bad news

It looks like it will he a long while before I get anywhere with the Cry Engine. My main issue is importing my own content into it. None of my models are compatible. I tried to accommodate every error with no results. It looks like I can’t model with my most familiar software anymore because no conversion process works well enough. I will have to learn how to model in a different 3D package. And I have no idea how to use it. Looks like I’m starting from scratch and learning the basics again… This is much harder than I thought.

[damon112890]

Good news, everyone!

I finally made some progress with the Cry Engine asset pipeline. Meaning that I can finally bring my models into the game. I don't have to learn a new 3D modeling package after all. I have to admit that the pipeline for my assets is a complete mess but it works nonetheless. I can now start making making some assets for the game and hopefully soon I will have a working prototype. I'll post a few screenshots when that time comes.