I think it’s a good time to redesign this blog. I have had it for quite a few years and I want to start taking it seriously now. To try to note my progress everyday and see the development of my idea’s. (Only god knows how many ideas I have actually had) Maybe I will include an ideas section in my blog. who knows.
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Well I am back in the game with a little bit of industry experience.
I have alot of great ideas and one in particular I wish to pursue at the moment. On The Edge. an Augmented Reality RPG Game. I will take the next month to fine-tune this idea and see how much support I can get for this idea. I believe it will bring something to gaming that has been missing in my opinion for a long time.
More information later tonight.
Sorry for anybody whom has actually been following my blog there has been alot happening.
As an update LOCI has been discontinued but the Mechanics are being ported to another game project. I will be posting regular test builds of the mechanics in a demo scene but as for the game the Working title is being kept a secret until further into production.
The Launch of a studio:
That’s right official and everything Sollex is coming on the scene as a publisher/studio soon so look for this name in the next 3 years because its hopefully going to please.
I have a job:
Yep i have a job as a software engineer for Tournament1 Gaming Corp which deals with gambling games leaving me free to start my studio in other areas
Moved Into Connecticut;
I am now an official resident in Stamford Connecticut woo hoo.
Got a longboard:
Yep just randomly got a longboard.
Hello Everyone,
This is the second to last update I will be making to The Legend of Crystal Island before I switch to my new project which is going to be called “Unheard” That is just a beta title for now until it can be discussed further but it will be using similar mechanics as The Legend of Crystal Island. I hop to be able to make a WebPlayer version available to play soon as I figure out how to host it on word press.
Mechanics Updated:
Added an automatic attacking mechanic.
Fixed some of the rotation.
Additions in next 2 weeks:
Add more Age of Conan Style Combat mechanics into the game. Thats about it and we will see how that turns out.
The expo was just flawless. I recieved alot of good feedback for the game (The Legend of Crystal Island) and met alot of new people willing to help out with the content creation. So far the word used most often to describe my game has been “cool” so lets see if i can take this a step further and make it amazing.
A webplay version of this game and its creation process will be posted after finals this week but to everyone tuning into my blog because of the convention thank you very much ^^ and know that any suggestions made and noted will be implemented or tried to be implemented within the next 2 weeks with hopefully a webplayer version of the game for you to try out your new suggestions.
Until next time this is Evan McCall signing off.
Well it is good to be able to post on this blog all the major fixes sinces the last build of the game.
Lets Get started.
Mechanics Fixed:
- Fixed the movement of the character he now walks forward and walks backwards instead of turning around when you hit back
- Rotates Left and Right When you press the left and right keys
- Added Health Potion fully works
- Fleshed out the rest of the particle systems
- Added an in-game Cutscene Feature that can be customized with multiple cameras
- Fixed the GUI Text so that it is now readable
Features Added:
- Added a splash screen to the beginning of the game that shows our logo
- Added a start screen to appear after our logo to play or quit game
- Added In-Game Cut Scenes
- Pause Screen which enables you to Quit the Game, set audio level, Graphics Level, See the credits and Version of unity and graphics card
Models:
- Willhelm is now fully rigged with proper controls and fully skinned and nCloth added to the clothing
- Base mesh for Spider and Humanoid Spider are Done
- Bandits are Fully Meshed Out
Level:
- Entire level mapped out with either alpha assets or beta assets
- Play Path Roughed out
- Enemy and Quest placement has been roughed out
- Boss battle has been placed
What is left to do?
- Make In-Game cut scenes to progress player towards Play Path
- Script Out Main Quest Scene and Chase with Bones
- Fix GUI Placement of skills and items
- Hopefully enable 2 – 3 combos to be performed through the free form combat system
- Playtest and Refine Play Path and Enemy Strengths
- Animations for all the models
- Create Save Data and Load option
- Create enemy respawn Points
- Optional Targeting System
- Possibly rolling credits when you beat the boss of the game
- A checkpoint for you to respawn at when you die and exp loss when you die as well
That is about all I can think of off-hand. Loving the new unity 3.3 features in the rendering department.
The schedule is very simple. Stay up as late as possible building this game and get up as early as possible for the same thing. Hooray
Updated in-game trailer Coming soon. Within the next 2 weeks
Alright so Spring Break is here and i am stuck with a malfunctioning computer, limited phone charge and just all around no way to do anything for my capstone until i get back to school on monday…
Time to write a Mid-Review of The Legend of Crystal Island:
Mid-Review
In Development by Team LOCI:
The Legend of Crystal Island is to be an RPG with a real time attack system, Combo’s and Linking Skill System.
Target Audience: Hardcore Gamers or just anyone looking to have a good time really
Development So Far:
ü Programming: So far we have gotten through mostly all the programming, about 95% of the core is done and combat actually works as well
ü Modeling: The main character has been roughly modeled and weighted. Zbrush still needs to be used and then the Monsters will be created as well.
ü Music: The main theme music has been composed and a preliminary sound effects database has been gathered for using but other music to appear within the game is still waiting to be mixed.
Whats going right?
1. Schedule:
So far the production is on schedule even on a college schedule and will be ready for capstone if every milestone and goal can be met.
2. Programming:
Everything programming wise just fell into place because of the unity forums and their great support for new developers.
3. Assets Import:
Working in unity everything magically works together. Maya, Zbrush, FBX and Unity were made for eachother. And cannot forget my dear friend Adobe AfterEffects
Whats going wrong?
1. Technical Difficulties:
Even though everything is going right on the production plan life is just killing the team. From Equipment problems, Lack of budget, and overall college and various circumstances I am surprised we have gotten so far.
2. WorkFlow:
Everything in maya translates into unity. So if your not organized or do not have a good labeling system a file can become quickly jumbled and find it hard to find a simple part of the IK or a node within sub folder’s. In some cases a file can explode into a million pieces making it hard to put it back together again.
3. Environment:
Even though the team talks at least once per week we never are able to coordinate a meeting over Skype or in person thus never giving us the opportunity to develop together which is important in a lot of aspects to realign the team on what the current task is. In my opinion
What do I hope to see in the future?
- Well for starters I hope to have a working computer within the next week so I can start working with the engine again. I don’t like my technology giving out but atleast it happened after midterms and during spring break…
- Better communication because we need to be more pungent in the future
- A game I can be proud of!
That’s it for now. This is my Mid-Review
EMM
The time has come to induce Crunch Time to my newest game “Legends of Crystal Island.” This has been quite a project so far and all the character animation has to be done within the next 2 days…I believe thats about 20 which isn’t to bad. The entire programming of the game is done except for the targeting system. which is amazing to me because of the fact that its been 5 months and now i just have to worry about assets being put into the game. A blog for this game will be posted after midterms which i will start to pass around to people to view and keep updated with. If you have been following my blog I thank you.
Well back to work.
Postmortem: Keep the Light
Author: Evan M McCall
Your only source of hope, comfort and ability to stay alive is a single torch light, guiding you through the endless caverns of darkness with monsters of old and new creeping down your every step as your lights go out. Keep the light ladies and gentleman for it’s your only hope to avoid extinction.
Our Lead Designer “Cory Harrell” came up with the idea for Global Game Jam. The team as a whole helped to cement the idea and build the emotion and experience of the gameplay. There were a total of 9 of us on this team.
Team Keep the Light wanted to keep the scope of the project minimal but wanted the immersion into the game to be the pulling factor that keeps a person playing. We wanted to portray the feeling of claustrophobia and a little helplessness. It was really fun just pounding out this game in 48 hours a lot went right but a lot went wrong, but there is a lot of love in this idea.
What went right?
- 1. Design:
Well the design of the videogame went absolutely flawless. The atmosphere of the environment and the feel of the character within it were just stunning. It’s basically a time limit to get from point A to B but the main goal of this was just bring the player into the game make them feel the pressure. Within 48 hours minus the time to sleep, relax and meet together it was rather successful in my opinion.
- 2. Work Flow:
Believe it or not it is very important to have a good workflow within a team of 9 people. So that no bottlenecking was created we had meetings between each other twice a day to note our progress and divvy up tasks that need to be done. Cory and I thought of the tasks that needed to be accomplished and in what order so that we maximized everyone’s efforts towards the game and no one was left with “idle hands”
- 3. Teamwork:
Everyone knew what they wanted to do and they did it. As long as we gave them tasks they were happy to accomplish this and the fact was we all shared our experience with each other so not only was it enjoyable but the amount of learning done in these two days is enough to cover 1 semester college to me.
What went wrong?
- 1. Playtesting:
Not enough of it, we had so much to do within the 48 hour period we paper tested for the most part the design of the level and how to would execute it within gamemaker. O man a lot of stuff within the level stopped working , certain mechanics just would not go right.
- 2. Crunch Time:
Even though the 48 hours to make the game was crunch time enough there was crunch time upon that crunch time. Last minute additions to the game and whatnot just had me bugging out trying to get everything perfect the last hour before submission.
Out with a bang.
All in all not a lot went wrong in my opinion. The process was smooth, we really worked well together and it was a fun experience. With the team and time we had it was just amazing and I would gladly do this every month if given the opportunity.
And here is a link to the game.
http://www.globalgamejam.org/2011/keep-light
to start the game press esc at the main menu screen after the introduction credits.
Alright guys its a sunday and superbowl day. I figured I could talk about the progress of our capstone and the start of a blog i am doing for it. The name of the capstone is called LOCI or Legends of Crystal Island.
Programming, 95%
Art, 40%
Music, 40%
trying to have it done by the 20th or atleast a beta done for a unity contest to submit this to.
Going to start adding colliders to the terrain assets soon as well
I will be sending links to the blog site after i create it within 2 weeks.
