My game idea has changed a lot from the first time I came up with the proposition to come up with a game. I’ve actually drifted off from the idea of making a game and now instead come up with thought of doing a model showcase and I personally enjoy modelling and texturing a lot more than doing a lot of advanced scripts to trying to get basic things such as combat working. There will still be some code used in my game, but only for basic interactions.
I’ve come to a point in game design where I’ve decided what I know i’m good at and would then mean that I would need to improve my coding skills to be able to have a multi-role mentality.
My idea might have changed but i’ve kept a lot of the original ideas such as the props and main theme focus. I’m looking to use the idea in the future for another project maybe but as of right now i’m sticking to the model showcase demo.
My level takes a lot of inspiration from Skyrim as I particularly like the look and atmosphere of some of the areas. I’ve made my room look very dark but over time I improved the lighting by adding bloom lighting and also by making it slightly brighter. I started off with the table and katana and torches and progressively over time, I’ve added more and more props such as barrels, a weapon rack and a training dummy. There isn’t a fixed theme for the design of the room but that could change in the future.
We started on project 4 and started coming up with ideas and concepts for what project 4 should be. I came up with 2 ideas that I could possibly use. I did some research on the games The Forest and Life Is Strange to get possible ideas for my environment.
Tuesday 5th March 2019 –
I decided what my game should be about and chose to create a melee arena fighting based around the Middle Ages with a twist of The Bronze Age. I did research on the era’s itself and also looked at environments for arenas and looked at the games Oblivion and Chivalry Medieval Warfare. I also did some research on weapons from the era including a Katana, Warhammer, and a Long sword.
Thursday 7th March 2019 –
I’m currently planning to start doing some modelling for my weapons and I’ve also done some more research on the whole look and feel of arenas. I’ve looked towards Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion as there is a arena in the main city area. I am planning to get a lot of inspiration and ideas from the arena in Oblivion.
Week 1:
Monday 11th March 2019 –
I did some more research onto arenas to get a better feel for what I would want my level to look like. I looked at an arena from the star wars universe and scenes from the movie Gladiator (2000) and drew myself a piece of concept art that I will later use as the base ground for my arena.
Tuesday 12th March 2019 –
I created a mood board filled with images from the Bronze era, The middle ages, various old weaponry and armour worn by soldiers from those eras. I thought to myself about creating the spectators for my arena as it isn’t a small area so creating a bunch of moving people wouldn’t work due to hardware and design limitations. I’ve decided that I might use an old technique that the FIFA series used to use where the crowds were in fact 2D instead of actual models that they use today. I would have it so the 2D sprites would constantly face the player so you couldn’t see that it was 2D. I created an arena that is very basic in design and want to work of the base of it and improve it drastically.
Thursday 14th March 2019 –
I did small research on arenas again to try and improve my mock up model and to see how it would look as a full scale level.
Week 2:
Monday 18th March 2019 –
I created a basic sword as the first weapon of the three I’m planning to texture and model for my arena game. I used research from a long sword to create a sword similar to one like it.
Tuesday 19th March 2019 –
After creating the long sword, I’m now planning to create the Katana and Warhammer models within this week and to also do the textures for all three weapons in Substance Painter.
I created a google form survey so I could better understand what could be changed or added and to also see if people like what I’m trying to create.
Week 3:
Monday 25th March 2019 –
I created my draft warhammer model that I’m going to use for my game. I used research based on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and looked at warhammers that were used in the game.
Tuesday 26th March 2019 –
I started crafting my katana model in blender and formed the blade from a reference image of a real katana sword. I need to now finish the handle and hilt to complete my sword and i’ll texture it in Substance painter.
Thursday 28th March 2019 –
I started looking at Mixamo to see the available animations so I can decide whether to create a rig. I’m planning to do research on gladiators and their helmets that they used into battle.
Week 4:
Monday 1st April 2019 –
I finished off my katana model and did some research on main menus. I’m currently planning to look at different lighting techniques as I want to create a main menu like final fantasy 7’s but with a dynamic lighting that shines onto the helmet which I’m currently doing concept art for.
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Tuesday 2nd April 2019 –
I created a basic texture for my katana which has a purple blade. It is temporary and I created it in photoshop. I plan to create the proper texture in Substance Painter.
Thursday 4th April 2019 –
I’m currently planning to model a helmet based off of the gladiator helmet used in the movie gladiator which is also popularised by rapper MF DOOM who I listen to. I like the style of the helmet and looks very advanced for the time period it is set in.
Week 5:
Tuesday 23rd April 2019 –
I created some props for my area including a medieval style table with a dark wooden that I made in substance painter. I’m currently planning to create other various props such as Hay bales, A bullseye target, Barrels, and a weapon rack.
Thursday 25th April 2019 –
I’m planning to play Skyrim and to look at various areas such as Dragon reach to explore the personal quarters below the main area as thats the inspiration I’m using to form my own rooms with props. I’m going to be taking screenshots of different rooms and I’m going to decide what props would be necessary.
Week 6:
Monday 29th April 2019 –
I’ve started forming my room with textures and I’ve also started creating textures for the walls and table used against the wall. I’m currently creating a medieval styled torch which will light the room and be placed on multiple walls. I’ve created my textures in substance painter.
I also decided to change the project focus to instead be a model showcase rather than the arena game idea which would take a lot longer than expected. I’m still keeping the theme and ideas to form my own highly detailed models to demonstrate in my level.
Tuesday 30th April 2019 –
My room is coming together and is almost filled with props and lighting. I currently plan to create a door and windows too add more of an effect. I’ve looked at medieval windows and doors to help inspire me to design one.
Thursday 2nd May 2019 –
Currently, this is how my level looks. I plan to add a lot more props to improve the atmospheric feel to it and also add a door and windows which light could shine through to improve the detail. I would want the lighting to shine on the props that I’ve put a lot of effort and detail in. I was thinking of an idea to have stained medieval glass with various colours on and to then have it ray cast light into the room but I’m not too sure if I’ll go through with it.
I also plan to texture my Warhammer and my Longsword in substance painter within next week. Once I’ve done the weapons and the other props, I’ll start to do the coding so that the weapons can be held and can be placed into the weapon racks.
Week 7:
Tuesday 7th May 2019 –
I designed a dummy prop based off the one in Skyrim as I really like the look of it. I also included a bucket which is supposed to be the helmet of the dummy. I also included a target in the middle which I painted with substance painter which is what I used to create the texture.
I’m currently planning to create a chest prop within the rest of the day. I’ve also created a medieval door which I’ve modelled but currently need to texture in substance painter and then I can import it into my project.
Thursday 9th May 2019 –
I’m planning to play Skyrim and to explore in various rooms and houses to look for inspiration for what to add. I’ve currently looked at Delphine’s secret room in Riverwood and in the previous day I said I was going to make a chest prop which I still need to do. I’m going to screenshot different rooms from Skyrim and take some key objects fit for the era.
Week 8:
Monday 13th May 2019 –
I decided to create a door for the room as it looked like that there was no way in or no way out. I’m planning to create a small metal grate on the side of one on my walls so I can have some volumetric lighting shine in the room onto my props.
Tuesday 14th May 2019 –
I created the metal grate and placed it on the ceiling and used a volumetric lighting unity package called Aura which helps with volumetric lighting. I’ve only placed a temporary light source from the ceiling and looks very good except it is quite bright and needs some more work done to it. The lighting also uses up a lot of resources from the computers and I need to find a way to make it more optimised for use on basic pc’s
Week 9:
Monday 20th May 2019 –
I encountered an issue with lighting coming through my vent and tried many options to fix it but couldn’t do it. I was silly enough to not realise that I was using the wrong light type and will provide a before and after. As you can see, the lighting is coming through and projecting onto the top of the walls. I later fixed this.
Tuesday 21st May 2019 –
I looked at this video and formed my own hand which i’ll be using to hold the weapons for my game. I made a not so detailed version of the hand and i’m quite pleased with it. I’ve rigged up the hand and I’m now ready to do my swinging sword animation with it which i’ll be doing over the weekend.
Thursday 23rd May 2019 –
I added some volumetric lighting into my level through a metal grate which projects the light coming from the sky into the room and has a nice lighting effect which I think looks good. I used an external asset called Aura to achieve this and I did look online to see if there was another way to achieve this effect.
Week 10:
Monday 3rd June 2019 –
I’ve rigged my hand and created a basic swinging animation. I’ve also touched up on some of the lighting.
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