Crybringer + Explodies

Ayra's crossbow is all set up in UDK and working now 8)  Here's what it looks like in the mesh editor, with the stylized post-processing on it from my Platformer applied:

Also, I finally got a video of the little Programming challenges from a month ago, which include exploding fruit, an exploding crate, and collectibles. Fraps got a little jittery at the end though, lol.

And here's a screenshot of the trees/branches I modeled for my forest. It's a mix-and-match modular kit. I didn't want to have obvious repeating assets, so I went a bit overboard |D  It took almost all day to export them into UDK, but I have the most epic tree package now and... hopefully.. never have to model trees again (lol sadface but I know I will).

Weapons and Animations

I haven't updated in awhile! I can't believe there's only two weeks left; this year has flown by, and yet when I look back to the beginning of the year and everything that we've learned it seems like forever ago. Tomorrow is Accepted Students' Day and all the kids and their families have swarmed the campus, either deciding whether they want to attend here next year or visiting their choice school. All the student end-of-the-year galleries have opened now too, along with Best of Ringling, which my board-game Daemonibus got into 8) The theses this year look awesome, I can't wait to see them all on the big screen for the thesis show.

I modeled, textured, and put the weapon for my character into UDK, so here are some of my Crossbow weapon concepts for Ayra:

And the one-page design of the final:

 I'm going to re-do the textures, so here's just the model for now:

We're going to customize our weapons with particles, animations, sounds, and other stuff as well, which comes next.

Also, here's a short video of Ayra's idling animation in Maya. Since she's being chased and is constantly on the move, she gets pretty antsy.



I'll get some of the old Programming stuff up soon that I've mentioned before. Eventually, lol.

Model Sheets + Weight Painting

I never posted finished versions of my model's headshots, so here they are along with a low-poly wireframe/maps sheet. I've been working on weight painting before we start animating our characters. Importing our models into UDK and using the default animations makes them go haywire before weight painting, it's hilarious. I want to take a video of it, lol. Anyway, here are some sheets!

Some weight painting process. There are so many layers for each object p_p

I haven't posted Programming stuff in awhile because I really need to make a video to show what I've been doing. I'll make a big post on that soon! Also, my Platformer is kind of a secret for play-testing, but I'll post bits of it along the way 8)

Lowpoly Character

The whole process of making a character model is tons of fun and really rewarding, but decimating the high-poly model into a low-poly was kind of painful. I really like texturing, re-topoing, and UVing, but it was still sad to watch everyone's high-poly characters lose quality. Here are some process shots of the high-poly to low-poly process:

And my final Lowpoly Model:

 Also, for Game Design I pitched a One-page Design document for my Platformer, including the boss battle:

I don't want to go into too much detail regarding the specifics and give it all away, since it will be playable and I'll need a lot of people to play-test it in the coming weeks 8>  All of my Game Art classes are finally coming together to focus on the platformer project in different ways, and I'm so excited to see how everyone's turns out ;v;

Mood Ripomatic + WIP

   Have I mentioned how much I love my Game Design II class?

Our first assignment back from spring break was to make a Mood Ripomatic video that would capture the emotions and gameplay experience that we want to generate in our platformers. Since my game revolves around a renegade assassin running from the empire and being chased through the forest as she escapes to the port city to flee the country, I wanted to start where the game starts - having momentarily lost her pursuers, she finds herself navigating through a tranquil, beautiful forest - before the chase begins.

The main thing I wanted to convey was a sense of intense forward motion as you're being pursued, the building forces of danger and determination driving you to go faster in order to escape.

Outside of class I've also been working a little on an illustration of my character. I wasn't planning on posting it until I was done, but since I might end up using it in some way for the platformer, I thought I would show some process.

Works in progress:

 I'm still planning to paint a forest background and re-paint over her, and fix the wonkiness of her anatomy.

I'll also have some screenshots of my low-poly character model next time 8)  We're baking normals and texturing/painting/adding materials, so I'll show some of that.

Platformer + Final Character Sculpt

Final high-poly character sculpt before I start doing the topography in 3D Coat and decimating it for the low-poly model that I'll use in my Platformer:

I think I'm gonna change her name to either Ayla Sortwind (Ayla pronounced Ay-luh) or Ayra SinClaire (Ayra pronounced eye-ruh) because the previous name was just supposed to be temporary.

Also, we pitched our Platformer concepts and levels in Game Design. Mine revolves around my character, so it takes place in a medieval fantasy world. The story is that you play as the character above (Ayla/Arya), an undercover Assassin who received missions from the King's high general. She was ordered to assassinate a good friend of hers for a crime he committed, but upon refusing to carry out the order, is threatened with death. She kills the high general in order to escape, and makes way for the nearest port to sail for another country where she'll be safe from the King's jurisdiction. That's where the game picks up; the player makes their way through this platformer forest (the branches being the platforms) to the port city, where the boss fight will occur with the King and his forces prepared to capture you. As the player navigates the forest they are confronted with various puzzles, but have to solve them with speed and efficiency, because if you take too long some enemies will catch up to you and you'll have to kill them in order to survive. Overall I want the feel to be really fast-paced, fun, and fluid.

The main mechanics are jumping, pushing/pulling objects to reach higher platforms, swinging, speed pick-ups, falling objects (environment obstacles), repelling, bouncing on giant mushrooms, and shooting with her crossbow.

Here's a simple draft of my tutorial level (the first level), the yellow path being just one of many the player can choose to take:

Right now we're blocking in our levels in UDK and getting the mechanics to work 8)

Character Modeling WIPs

My model's progress from a few days ago:

And then progress as of today, about 85% done with everything:

I just blocked in the colors to make sure they still looked okay in 3D, but I didn't color everything (we're not even doing the colors until we texture/do materials), and I still haven't touched the hands in awhile or done the hair yet. The face is almost done though, but the head is a little small right now, haha. I have a bunch of little fixes to make, but I'm on-schedule for having her done by Monday :)

We also pitched our Platformer ideas today in Game Design class, so you'll be seeing stuff on that soon. I'm so excited to see everyone's Platformers, especially with our characters in them, it's going to be so awesome (B