Sketchbook: Zetheros
Hi there!
So after getting a bit of industry experience, I thought I'd like to make the transition & expand my skillset from an artist to that of a more well-rounded game developer. This Sketchbook will be dedicated to the project I'll be working on. I'd like to try to update this thread every Wednesday with my progress. If you have questions or comments, feel free to post in this thread or send a PM.
PROJECT NOVA SYNOPSIS:
The Player, a newly turned vampire-sorcerer, lives in a massive open world. The lands between cities and outposts are extremely hazardous. Megafauna, man-eating flora, cataclysmic storms, lava lakes and roaming raiders are just to name a few. Hazards and the world changes with the time of day, season, and weather. Players will need to construct their mech, be very resourceful, and band together for any hope of survival outside safe zones.
Genre:
The game's genre will be MechBuilding/Survival/FPS/MMORPG, with a third and first person camera toggle.
Artstyle:
Currently lowpoly pixel art appeals to me, but I'd like to make datatables of every asset in the game, assess the amount of work I have given myself, and choose based on that criteria keeping in mind futureproofing and live-service before committing fully. Good planning and effective time management will be crucial to this project.
Gameplay:
Primarily being a FPS and over-the-shoulder shooter, Project Nova's gameplay will be quite similar to many other games; kill things, get loot, use that loot to get stronger, all while immersed in a sizeable, handcrafted and detailed - but not needlessly massive open world.
Developer Note:
My goal is to create a genuinely fun MMO worth time investing in, while learning from the successes and mistakes I've seen in many other games I've played over the years. Nothing I do will be substantially innovative, clever, or record-breaking, and I make no promises.
Note: I am using Stable Diffusion to generate concept art. They will not be in the final game, and are simply used as references.
Replies
I've actually been working on this project for about half a year now, though much of that time has been learning the ins and outs of UE. Currently I have an inventory system working, and have delved into replication for multiplayer. The inventory system is multiplayer compatible, and currently allows item transfers between the player inventory, containers, and the equipment system. It is a simple grid inventory with arrays and inventory slots.
For now, I'm pleased I was able to get so far. Multiplayer and inventory are the only major hurdles for me personally, in making a game. The rest should prove relatively easier.
There are future plans to improve QoL by implementing a sort algorithm for Alphabetical, ItemClass, Weight, SellPrice, and similar variable-based sorting. Much of what you see is placeholder.
The priority for this week is improving the human basemesh to allow for cleaner UV layout, modular character heads and armour, and dismemberment.
Old (left). Still needs work on the legs and arms imo
thinking about adding black draconic/demonic scales to the arms and legs, cuz it looks too similar to morrowind dunmer. Guess I'm going hand-painted for the artstyle? Texture size is 256px for the entire model. There's still some UV space left over for doodads like piercings, earrings, hair ornaments, etc. Hair obvs still needs work, belly button might be a bit low
butt
Last week was productive. I've replaced the base UE manniquin with the female vampire basemesh. Earlier I said that dismemberment was a priority, but I'm kicking that can down the road in liu of making the male base mesh, armour and weapons, and animations. Additionally, a lot of time was spent world building and writing notes in my master document.
Equipment slots now detect item class. Before you could, for example, slot apples as a helmet item instead of a consumable.
Progress on the male basemesh is quite straightforward, but making hair look good is hard work and takes time. The male basemesh shares the same UV map as the female one.
I did get around to painting in the scales for the female basemesh, but I'm holding off on polish work until I get a firm grasp on the modular armour and dismemberment systems. There may be crucial UV or geometric edits I'd need to make, and perfecting art only to have to redo it later due to technical reasons would be an unnecessary time sink.
Lastly some closeups of some hair improvements, again not final due to technical uncertainties.
Last week I started prototyping a new race and, more importantly, began designing a character creation interface.
Mandibles open, revealing two sets of inner appendages, which I believe are called 'maxilla', but I'll be doing more research as well as cleaning up and optimizing the mesh over time. One of the more important design facets of building new races is that they all have to be armour compatible, so that a human helmet will fit on this race's head.
This is the prototype of the character creation screen. The player character will be displayed in the middle. Show/hide armour, as well as randomize race and name are planned. It's a lot of info crammed into one page, so I'll take steps to make it less confusing, though personally I think it flows quite well.
I've also been getting a hang of ChatGPT, and have been using it to generate filler text, as well as suggest ideas I may have not thought of. Icons are simple 16px textures that I make in photoshop for placeholder.
Something I'll need to keep in mind is scope. 8 face types, 8 hair types, 8 'flair' (piercings, earrings, similar detail). This is 240 unique textures and/or meshes.
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
All races have morph maps to their opposite sex as well as to the human female basemesh so that they all inherit the same weight map, which will save me a lot of time, alongside animation retargeting.
Have a great week!
Have a great week!
Have a great week!