sNeaksieGarrett on 27/1/2012 at 05:01
Interesting, I don't believe I've seen this modeling program you have a screenshot of.
"Modo" is it?
Yakoob on 27/1/2012 at 08:56
Well, it's been a good month since I did any work on my stuff, and the mountain of "to-dos" and my own indecisiveness (I have several ideas for completely different projects) is getting me close to a burnout. So I figure, to motivate myself further, instead of spending the next 10 months working towards completing one of my big projects, I should use my existing tech to make a small showcase-type-game to motivate myself further and actually have a finished product of sorts. :p
So TTLG, any suggestions? Im about to implement Bullet for realistic physics/collision stuff. I am thinking something action-y / shootem up / FPS type thing since it's relatively easy to do. Also im thinking robotos, mainly because I dont have a skeletal animation system yet and dont want to spend 2 weeks coding and tweaking that right now.
Or I've been considering something off-the-wall zany / artsyfartsy. One idea is to make an adventure type game where the people are static 2D cardboard/wooden cutouts (you see the cardboard/wood if you go behind them). You could talk to them find items etc. If anyone got a good short interactive story that would work in this format they'd like to pitch, PM me.
Open to creative suggestions!
EDIT: also, any resources for free models? I've been using TurboSquid, but lots of models only come in proprietary 3DSMax or Maya formats so I cant use them. Basically, I need to be able to import it into Blender (since I wrote a plugin for exporting to my engine format). Actually, Renz, if you want to team up and do a small game together (you do art, I do the coding, both collaborate on story/gameplay) hit me up!
Bakerman on 27/1/2012 at 12:28
So after being a little burnt out on coding, I've decided to get back into the groove of modelling, since I'll be needing to do a lot of it for my current project. The game starts on a paddle steamer, so I figured that would be a good first step. With (
http://www.twainquotes.com/Steamboats/SteamboatANATOMYNew.jpg) this as a reference, I've managed to come up with:
<a href="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1429/steameralph03.png"><img style="width:640px;" src="http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1429/steameralph03.png"></img></a>
And with wire:
<a href="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4267/steamerwire01.png"><img style="width:640px;" src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4267/steamerwire01.png"></img></a>
The whole thing will be subject to a bit of iterative deepening... I'm still blocking out things like the paddleboxes at the moment, and roughing out the railings. The proportions are a bit different to the reference; it's far wider than it should be, and there's a bit more deck in the front. I'm tempted to rectify that, but the width at least is needed so I can fit enough room for gameplay onto it. There's to be a short firefight on board, but we want to give the player plenty of opportunity to avoid it; that means giving them enough space.
Also, if anyone should happen to be knowledgeable about how steamers work on the inside, I'd love for you to contact me... at the moment I'm particularly struggling with how on earth the smoke from the boilers is supposed to get to the smokestacks, which as far as I can tell are well afore of them :p.
sNeaksieGarrett on 27/1/2012 at 18:10
Neat! Looks like an NES era game.
Renzatic on 27/1/2012 at 19:31
Quote Posted by sNeaksieGarrett
Interesting, I don't believe I've seen this modeling program you have a screenshot of.
"Modo" is it?
Yup. Modo. Used by Pixar to model their stuff, and Id used it to make everything in Rage. It's my personal favorite modeler, mainly because it's the one with the least amount of excess pointless BS to work through.
And I should know excess pointless BS. I'm slogging through learning Blender at the moment, and while it has it's perks, the one thing I keep wondering is why the hell would anyone make a modeler in this day and age without edge bevels and polygon insets built in. I can work around their absence, but it takes me 10x as long to do the simplest things sometimes.
...no offense, Bakerman. Your boat model is pretty damn nice, but...Blender. :P
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Actually, Renz, if you want to team up and do a small game together (you do art, I do the coding, both collaborate on story/gameplay) hit me up!
Hmm. I'll give you a definite maybe on that. I think I've seen you floating around on Steam once or twice. I'll hit you up tonight about it if you're around.
edit: Yakoob, in case I'm imagining things, and actually haven't seen you bouncing around on Steam, what's your user name over there? I couldn't find you under the obvious answer.
Bakerman on 27/1/2012 at 22:48
Quote Posted by Renzatic
but...Blender. :P
Divide utility by price and you have your answer ;). ...ignoring the fact that dividing by zero isn't infinite...
Really, I'm sure for me it's a case of not knowing what I'm missing. I've heard Modo is really nice, but Blender works perfectly fine for me. I started off 3D modelling with GameStudio's built-in modeller... after that, discovering Blender was like realising that actually, yes, you can breathe air, and it's quite conveniently all around you. And I've stuck with it since. The most complaints about it I've heard have been about the interface... I never really had a problem with it, after the initial disorientation of using a real modelling app :p.
Yakoob on 27/1/2012 at 23:47
The old Blender interface was a disaster. The new one actually makes it usable. And I do not mind keyboard shortcut driven (particularily for a lot of operations like transform, rotate, cut edges, etc) they are quite convenient.
One thing that bothers the crap out of me is the zooming / orientation / move speed. Sometimes I will be moving around my model at normal speed, sometimes at a snail's pace, and for the love of mine I cannot figure WTF is affecting it. Changing my pivot settings doesn't seem to do shit either (I think its only for transforms).
Renzatic on 28/1/2012 at 00:33
I've got a problem, too. I've been goofing around with edge extrudes, trying to get the feel of things. I clicked into an overhead perspective, extruded one, rotated it into position, extruded another, ect. It should've been a pretty simple job...
...BUT
How it moves and where it moves seems to be totally random. I'm in an overhead perspective, I should only be able to translate it on X and Y, but sometimes it'd fling my edge up towards the camera. Or even worse, sometimes it'd move it all the way across the screen, and flip my two vertices, so I'd have a folded polygon. I'm not making any grand gestures with my mouse or anything, just moving it along at a normal pace. So why is it being so spastic?
And Yakoob, your problem is actually a common problem across all these editors. Try turning off zoom to mouse position under user preferences/interface, see if that help.
edit: think I figured it out. I went into an ortho overhead projection, and it seems to have fixed things up.
Yakoob on 28/1/2012 at 03:47
You can also press X, Y or Z on your keyboard while transforming/rotating/extruding etc. and it will limit you to that given axis.
Bakerman on 28/1/2012 at 16:50
Quote Posted by icemann
I'm not sure how I'll handle the user created content end of things since I'm including the level editor I created for it with the demo and later the full release.
Do you mean the nuts and bolts of getting user content into the game, or fostering an online community around sharing that stuff?
