[VENERANCE] Status Report | June 21st, 2012
Aloha, fellow tube-surfers of the internet!
Today, the team working on Venerance is sharing with you some of the work that they've been up to and we hope that you like what you're seeing so far.
We really are just getting started on this and we are actively seeking to swell our ranks with folks looking to either push the ultimate game engine to its limits with their creations, explore the details of the extended Halo fiction, or some combination thereof; currently we are locking in decent placeholder assets while our design guys and 2D Art guys nail down the designs and finer details for the ultra-high-detail assets we plan to throw into the engine by project's end.
Here you can see our work on the first iteration of the placeholder low-poly model for the UNSC Frag Grenade that we'll be using, along with a placeholder texture from one of our modelers to use while we seek out talented texture artists for making the ultra high-resolution textures that we want for the project:
Here you can see our first iteration on the placeholder low-poly model for the UNSC Anti-Air gun, the Scythe:
And here you can see our first iteration of the placeholder model for Venerance's take on the SPARTAN-upsized Misriah Armory M6D (yes, that's "D" as in "Death") Pistol with extended magazine and, shown separate from it, the modular silencer and targeting laser assembly familiar to fellow fans of Halo 3: ODST:
Here you can see an early WIP of the placeholder model for Venerance's take on the Kig-Yar Point Defense Gauntlet, also known as the Jackal Shield Generator:
Here you can see an early WIP of the placeholder model for Venerance's take on the Plasma Grenade:
And here is some of the concept art for the first-person arms done by Halo community members Levi Hoffmeier and Garrett Post.
Here is the first iteration, from Levi:
And here is a WIP for the second iteration via Garrett:
Now here are some "Iteration 1" brainstorming pieces done by Levi for what the arms look like after being wrapped in MJOLNIR armor:
Here is a brainstorming close-up of the armored arm and its modular nature, courtesy of Garrett:
Perhaps you have never heard of our project before today? That's fine, here is some of the content we've already put out into the wild, starting with existing concept art.
Here is a moody piece of Concept Art courtesy of Garrett; very atmospheric, it's meant to brainstorm a scene in the jungles of Sigma Octanus IV outside the city of Cote d'Azur:
Here is yet another imagining of being in that alien jungle, but this time from the first-person perspective:
And here is a great speculative piece of a UNSC Communications Center located planetside:
Here Garrett brainstorms the Venerance take on the Kig-Yar's best friend, the Covenant Carbine:
http://i.imgur.com/duwaW.png
And here is a concept piece for the pistol seen modeled earlier:
http://i.imgur.com/TpOTR.jpg
One of my personal favorites, here is an image of the Venerance take on the MA5B(S), complete with jungle camouflage pattern and extended magazine:
http://i.imgur.com/dkG87.jpg
For those of you interested in designing and implementing HUDs, here Garrett brainstormed some ideas for how the Venerance HUD might look inside of the helmet of what is essentially a Mark V helmet without energy shielding tech:
http://i.imgur.com/QWRcM.jpg
And from Leviathan, here is an awesome helmet study of the Mark 4 and 5 helmets seen in Halo canon thusfar (we'll be synthesizing the Venerance helmet out of these helmets and other information available to us):
http://i.imgur.com/Dj0xF.jpg
Speaking of armor, Garrett took it upon himself to brainstorm the MJOLNIR armor underneath the green plasma-resistant plating and came up with these fantastic images:
http://imgur.com/wRrcD
http://imgur.com/YUeeS
http://imgur.com/TJmqf
http://imgur.com/GcA4F
http://imgur.com/Fu9Z7
http://imgur.com/8MQAl
We are actively seeking folks, especially folks who would be able to fill the slots that are currently open in our content creation assembly line. There are two kinds of ways to be involved in creating for Venerance: you can be a Contributor/Participant who doesn't have a lot of time to dedicate to the project but still wants to be a part of the magic... or, you can apply to be a Developer who does have the time to consistently engage in the team's productive shenaniganry; either way you'll be working with the most powerful game engine out there to help bring a great take on the Halo extended fiction to life, all within Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules.
Beginners are not only welcomed, they are encouraged. We're all using this to learn and get better at our various crafts. Worst case scenario for a beginner who isn't sure of whether or not their work would end up being used in the final version of the mod is that it isn't used in the final version of the mod, but they got a lot better at what they do by exerting themselves, and they may have very well had their creations used as placeholders until the later versions came along.
Here are some examples of the kinds of folks we're actively seeking right now:
2D Artists
Most Desired Skills:
Either familiar with the Halo universe or able to get acquainted with it authentically (able to stay true to the spirit of Halo while it is rendered in the CryEngine 3 at higher fidelities).
Able to integrate new ideas into existing designs (you'll be working with designers to transate ideas into a visual form).
Able to depict the same item from at least two angles.
Texture artists
Most desired skills:
Familiar with unwrapping UV's
Able to create high quality textures for organic and/or inorganic models (we will be using the highest resolution textures that we can get away with: we are pushing the CryEngine 3 as far as we can with the most powerful hardware available; for instance, we are looking at taking full advantage of 3 unreleased nVidia cards in SLI)
Familiar with Photoshop and exporting files as TIFFs
Familiar with the ins and outs of creating and implementing textures in CryEngine 3
Organic 3D Modelers
Most desired skills:
- Familiar with the Halo universe
- Familiar with 3DS Max
- Familiar with jungle flora and environments
- Familiar with CryEngine3
Most desired skills:
Proficient with rigging characters for CryEngine 3
Proficient at rigging weapons for CryEngine 3
Familiar with 3DS Max
Animators
Most desired skills:
Familiar with CryEngine 3
Able to animate characters that have emotions, weight, and a believable feel to them that helps bring the in-game world to life.
Plusses:
Ability to make stellar first person animations
A familiarity with 3DS Max
Environment Artists
Most desired skills:
Familiar with CryEngine 3.
>>>(These openings are more for folks who love creating terrain, placing objects, painting vegetation, creating your own vegetation, etc. If this is you, then you will likely have a lot of fun because our level size will be quite large. The areas in the level are designed to have intense atmospheres that evoke all manner of emotions.)<<<
Character Artists
Most desired skills:
Familiar with either Mudbox or Z-Brush
Able to make high resolution models and then bake them onto low poly meshes (We have an absolutely massive budget for textures and polygons on our character models, so you will really be able to go wild with it. All that matters is the quality at this point.)
Familiar with the anatomies of Halo characters and able to make believable characters utilizing art provided to them by our 2D Art Team Members.
Programmers
Most desired skills:
Familiar with scripting in CryEngine 3
Well-acquainted with Lua, C+, and/or C#.
If you fit the bill for any of these things, Venerance would benefit from your contributions or participation!
To get in contact with us, you have a plethora of options:
Our website (http://www.Venerance.net)
Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/VeneranceMod)
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/venerancemod)
CryDev.net (http://www.crydev.net/project_db.php?action=project_profile&team_id=1411&project_id=1371)
Or, the best way to get in touch is probably just to shoot an email to AngelicLionheart_at_gmail.com. That is my email and, as Co-Lead, part of my job is keeping things organized, answering questions, and linking you people up together.
If you message us but do not get a reply, don't panic: there may have simply been an error and we may have not received your message. Please try another means of contacting us, we're very interested in hearing from you.
One of our current focuses is to get the entire "SPARTAN-II first-person experience" completed by the end of this summer (Labor Day in the US, September 3rd).
What that means for players is that we want for you to have the ability to play as a SPARTAN-II through the Crysis 1, 2, and 3 campaigns while you wait on us to get the rest of the mod done. That way, you aren't exactly twiddling your thumbs while you wait on the completion of the mod, which will likely be some time given our quality bar. You can instead be experiencing a taste of what's to come. So jump in and help us out! We think it's going to be phenomenally cool and we welcome all folks interested in jumping into the fray with us! The more help we get, the faster it can get done!
If you still have no idea what we're talking about at all, check out our website, www.Venerance.net, to see what this is all about; our announcement of our existence was initially made on January 17th. There at our website you can read things like our "About" section with things like info on the story:
All of humanity is being slaughtered. Slowly. Methodically. Unstoppably.
Having done nothing to merit such atrocities, yet dying all the same, we are desperate and terrified. We don't even understand why it's happening. We havent a clue.
When the murderers show up out of nowhere and without warning, with their incredible technologies and their implacable hatred, we do the best that we can to slow them down, but we know that all we can hope for is a brief respite from the slaughter. Our morale has dropped to subterranean levels. Suicides and depression are at an all time high. Those who dont choose to give up the fight, fight in sheer defiance.
This has been going on for the longest 27 years in humanitys history. Our future is bleak, at best. Non-existent, at worst.
The enemy is without remorse. In them is no pity at all. To them, we are little more than vermin skittering about, defiling everything we touch. They will burn us into nothingness or they will utterly exhaust themselves in the effort. Anyone who speaks up to suggest otherwise is branded a heretic and is immediately purged from amongst their ranks.
What can be done in the face of such bone-chilling horror? What can be said in the face of such inescapable damnation?
Enter the SPARTAN-II.
The Covenant thought that it had come to know the best of the best in combat prowess. Their warrior elite, the Sangheili, were from birth made to understand that their only worth in life was their success on the battlefield. Strong, fast, agile, and cunning, the Sangheili were indisputably the razors edge of what was possible in battle.
That is, until humanity was put to the test.
When 75 six-year-old human beings of flawless biology were requisitioned by the Office of Naval Intelligence in the face of certain doom by mans own hand, prior to an awareness of the existence of alien races, the likeness of the Divine was put to the test as each child was made to understand that they were specially selected to save the world, and that without their success, without their victory, their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and everyone everywhere would die, and it would all be their fault for failing to save them because they were the only ones who could. Regardless of the degree to which that was true at the time they were told, it was certainly true later. For one boy in particular. And thus began the forging of the fiercest and most successful warriors that the galaxy could remember.
Fast-forward to 2552. It is July. John and the rest of Blue Team step foot onto the surface of a planet under siege by the Covenant. He and his team have accomplished such success in groundside action against the Covenant that the enemy has come to believe that he and his kind are not mere mortals, but supernatural demonic holocausts made flesh. He has become their Devil, and his fellow SPARTAN-IIs are all demons whose unholy bloodbath of history against the holy troops of the Covenant puts hesitation into even the most stout of Covenant hearts; absolute dread into all others.
He and his team have been sent down from above to infiltrate behind enemy lines, and discover whatever it is that the enemy is attempting to keep secret. For The Covenant to actually occupy a human city is unusual, and the Office of Naval Intelligence hopes to gain an edge in the overall war by finding out why.
On this covert mission with 10,000+ enemy troops on the ground, expert stealth is a must. But after Blue Teams objective has been completed, nuclear devastation is a definite.
Suit up, Blue-Five. Our future is in your hands.
We look forward to hearing from you! =D