davidt3d

[davidt3d]

Some Maya Model Progress

Just a collection of images showing model progression of my newer models.

This is the one of my cassette

This is the Walkman

I did this in a bit of a reverse order, I already had the model finished but didn't take any WIP screenshots so I sort of just remade the models a bit and used those as images..

At the time I was more focused on finishing the models and fixing any apparent issued it had rather than getting pictures of the model when it was being made.

[davidt3d]

Game 'Research' Catchup - FPS Games - Ready or Not

With the upcoming release of the games full 1.0 release later today, I thought id include it since it does have a lot of diverse gameplay.

Ready or Not is an intense SWAT FPS shooter, which again, isn't necessarily the main concept of my game, but I want to include it because of the numerous ways you can approach a level, with different tactics and different playstyles.

With the games wide arsenal of weapons and tools, it allows for a multitude of different tactics allowing for the levels completion, from stealth to guns blazing, though you aren't as bullet spongy as most other FPS games so loud isn't always the best option and more of a backup plan.

This game isn't really relevant to my game, though I feel that the amount of choices in the game makes me want to do something similar though I'm not sure how I would to that with its initial concept.

[davidt3d]

Game 'Research' Catchup - Music Games - Beat Saber

Looking at some music games as well, since my game should have music involved in it in some way, so I looked at Beat Saber.

I started to play it more when its OST 6 released, and man is that challenging.

I've played Beat Saber since I first got my VR headset a bit before the first lockdown so I was playing it a lot, and now I'm able to play most games on expert+, though most of them I do die on but I am able to get a decent score and stay in tune with the notes and music a majority of the time.

I want to add music to my game that will be able to do specific things, like trigger certain events or something like that since it would make the game quite unique in my opinion.

[davidt3d]

Game 'Research' Catchup - FPS Games - FNV

Looking at some games that are first person, or can be played in first person, as to look at some inspiration for my game.

First game I'm looking at is fallout new Vegas, the 4th fallout game of the franchise.

I've played the game a lot and have experienced 90% of what the game has to offer, I tend to lean towards RPG games like fallout since I am able to easily immerse myself as the character that I'm playing as and make choices that I think would be relative to the characters personality.

Anyway, I really like the fact that the game semi-forces you to take the long route to reach Vegas by heading south and following the various main roads, showing you the different factions and their views, as well as other communities.

I'm also a fan of the games weapons and gunplay though that isn't relevant to my game.

Though something that is pretty relevant is the exploration, I really enjoy exploring the post-nuclear Nevada landscape, finding small camps and caves with interesting stories. I don't think ill be able to do something quite this big for my game though I would like to look at the idea of exploring to find hidden things.

[davidt3d]

A final model for this project

Finishing it just as the project itself is finishing up, I've recreated my Walkman in Maya, using the skill in 3d modeling I have learnt, with similar quality to my cassette!

Same as the cassette, I used a real world Walkman as reference

I haven't tested to see if the cassette fits inside but I'm still proud that I was able to make it all in one day.

[davidt3d]

Asset Design Research

Since I've made the cassette, I've had a look at some other games that have had assets made to be almost identical to their real life counterpart.

I've looked mostly at Rockstar's GTA games and how they perfectly replicate numerous cities.

For my future projects I would like to do more work in Maya or similar programs to achieve a level of detail similar to this, or it my cassette. Though voxel is nice and quite simple, its restriction of tools and size makes it difficult to make things to the level of quality I'd want.

[davidt3d]

Some Game Info

My game's general idea is to be a puzzle game, but you use a guitar to solve the puzzles by playing different combinations of notes to unlock doors, reveal hidden items, etc.

I haven't really thought of any relevant story since I've been focused more on the game itself but I have a general idea. the story, if it has one, could be to do with retrieving some form of item, which is what the game has already but its very bare bones and not really a proper story.

And with the differences with my game assets, guitars and the new cassette tape, the only real reason is experience. I didn't know how to do the things I was able to do on the cassette at the time of making the guitars and other assets, I did try but was stuck at an impass with one of the features I didn't know about.

[davidt3d]

Maya Cassette Tape

With my increasing experience with Maya, I discovered some extra tool functions. with those I was able to make an almost real world replica of a cassette tape, in theme with my retro style of assets.

I used a real cassette to help with making it, things like the letters indicating the side, serial number location, and where the tape is read.

I decided to make it this high quality since I have a small collection of cassettes so I feel that I should make it as close to real life as possible, if don't then I would just be really lazy since I could use those items to model it, which is what I've done here, without using images.

I think I did really well with the recreation!

[davidt3d]

Guitar Video

I've recorded a quick video showcasing the guitar in my game, I'm also attempting to play the main chorus of talking in your sleep though I don't think it was very good. Its harder than it looks :p

[davidt3d]

Door Improvements & Playable Guitar

With the help of a YouTube video that I found I was able to prove my doors, now instead of them destroying when you walk up to it with the appropriate tag you have to press e to open them, same for collecting the keys.

the video also helped me with creating a popup that shows what key to press when you walk into the doors collider! I've made a few variations of this, one that doesn't require a key to replace the destructible doors and a slightly larger door for the entrance to my building structure that I've got.

I've also replaced the games gun with an actual playable guitar! I used the model that I made in Magicavoxel based on the Casio DG-20 and exported then re-imported it as a skeletal mesh and then changed the gun components skeletal mesh to the guitar, though with the games hands it was misplaced and in my characters neck, i tried to fix it by moving the mesh around and adding joints but it didn't work so I went for the easy fix and just moved the arms themselves until the guitar was in the right spot. the hands were hidden anyway and I have no idea how to reposition them so having them hidden would've been the best way.

For the playability I got some guitar sounds and linked them up to keys I thought would be easy to reach when moving: x, c, v, b, n.

I feel they are good keys at the moment at least, since I'm able to use my thumb and reach them without any discomfort but I can change that if I feel its necessary

I've got no idea how I would make an openable door that responds to multiple key presses, like a combination lock, so I could technically open the doors by playing the right sounds, but I've got no idea how it would work and its something to search up.

[davidt3d]

A slight improvement

adding a pawn sensing component to my ai character gives it some senses that can be set to do different things, like if the player is seen or heard by it.

utilizing this I've altered the ai's code to walk around if it doesn't see me and follow me if it does, the only problem is that there is no way to lose them once they see you :b

[davidt3d]

Game AI

I've now added an ai to my game, all it does is walk around and change direction every few seconds though it will be useful in my games development. I also made sure to put down the nav mesh so it can actually move.

[davidt3d]

Moving Platforms

I've added some moving platforms to the game, this should help me with moving objects smoothly in the future and allow me to be more creative with certain things.

The white platform is a looping movement, and the orange only moves when the player stands in the collider, though it doesn't work the best which is something I'm going to try and improve and experiment with

At the moment both blueprints look almost identical, except for a few different nodes and links.

I'm guessing the blueprint for the orange platform (bottom) will become a bit more noticeably different to the looping platform (top) as I try to improve its functionality.

[davidt3d]

UE Landscape

First attempt at landscaping in unreal engine, its way to big for my game idea but this is mainly just to experiment with the landscaping tools and things like that.

To make this bit of landscape i used the Sculpt, Smooth, and Erosion tool, which are quite simple, the sculpt tool is what you use to raise and lower the landscape. Smooth is mostly used for making sharper and less natural looking landscape smooth and a bit more natural. Thermal Erosion simulates erosion and movement from a higher area to a lower area similar to sand.

I also utilized the foliage tool to add a bit more decoration, and also try it out.

[davidt3d]

A Tiny Bit more complicated

Changing the workspace from its general layout to its animation layout shows an animation graph editor, which allows me to much more accurate changes in the animation

[davidt3d]

Simple Maya Animation

Starting to animate in Maya I created a simple and quick animation of a cube jumping through a hoop.

[davidt3d]

Another Voxel Model

This time I've modeled my own guitar in the game :)

it is an 85' Westone Thunder 1-A and I think I did a pretty good job at recreating it in voxel form.