Hobbyist Game Maker
Hi, I am making a game (Just for the heck of it :P)
I will have to make all the media for the game, so I wanted to see if that is possible because I'm not that artistic
I would really like some comments on what I did wrong on the character below. I'm drawing a blank on what style to define it as, but it is not suppose to be realistic(thank god).
polycount = 2730 tris
polylimit = ~3000 tris
Texture Size = 1024 x 1024
Tools: Wings3D, Gimp
It is also worth noting that I am cheap & poor, so I'm planning to make the game using only freeware. So no maya,zbrush .etc
I will have to make all the media for the game, so I wanted to see if that is possible because I'm not that artistic
I would really like some comments on what I did wrong on the character below. I'm drawing a blank on what style to define it as, but it is not suppose to be realistic(thank god).
polycount = 2730 tris
polylimit = ~3000 tris
Texture Size = 1024 x 1024
Tools: Wings3D, Gimp
It is also worth noting that I am cheap & poor, so I'm planning to make the game using only freeware. So no maya,zbrush .etc
Replies
I have to admit though, this is way better than all of my first attempts
Zephir62: Thanks for the comments
I am currently practicing environment modeling and I completed the model below. It was a lot easier that the character
polycount: 2906
texture size: 512 x 512
Your modeling and uv mapping isn't bad at all for starting out.
do as the other guys suggested and you'll make a hell of a game
have you figured out a little bit of a story, or a way the game is gonna be? (first person, 3rd person strategy or something like that)
cool stuff!
oh and btw, the textures for your character are waay to big IMO, i think you should go with 512x512 or maybe even 256x256. It would also be nice to see some textures you drew yourself, instead of just placing pictures on your texture sheets.
keep it up!
is that better?
I also have a question. Should I export game models with all the lighting data embedded in the model or should I be manually changing these setting in the game itself?
And I'll upload the character model later, but I doubt anybody will want to touch that
Japhir: Thanks
And concerning the size of the texture, you are right, it should be, at most, a 512^2. In addition to this, I just realized that I could have mirrored the face,pants,goggles to increase the resolution of my texture because they are basically symmetrical anyway.....
ppenguin: thanks, I am a little torn on what to do with the style situation... texturing the house by just copy/pasting photo sourced stuff is easy, but i will have to make my characters look more realistic to match the environment, and realistic proportions scare me
Most often I've found that freestanding, non-bsp structures have lighting information baked into either the model, as vertex colors, or into a set of lightmap textures which are blended with the diffuse at render time.
Also, If this is going to be something the character can walk into you're going to want to think about how you're going to handle the collision. Collision meshes seem to work best as purely convex hulls, and given the building in question it would be best broken up into a number of different objects for collision purposes.
IE Pad, stairs, roof, columns, fence section, interior things each as their own object, etc. it will save time on the code end since the player will only collide with one or two simple objects rather than one overly complex object.
Also here's a couple of starting suggestions for your project based on my own experiences of making games on my own (small things), and long term independent team work:
1.) have a plan. Define WHAT you want your game to do. Spend a large amount of time actually documenting (in text) what your game needs to be a game. (make sure it runs on paper.
2.) Put the art as priority 2. Get your code working first with really ugly things like boxes and spheres with textures on them that nearly hurt your eyes.
Even if your art oozes style and coolness, if it can't move in game, its just a portfolio statue.
3.) after your game is working, make art on an as needed basis. This means more planning. Once you have the mechanics at least to a playable level (pushing the buttons does things that they are supposed to do, the game starts and ends, etc) then art starts to become important. make a list of things you NEED. then a list of things you want. When the NEEDS are met (main character, x number of enemies, boss, playfield, playfield textures.) then go to wants if you still have steam and or time. (that really cool shiny sword that's a rare drop by a rare enemy)
4.) Beware of feature creep. Just because it sounds cool right now, does not make it so. Stick to the documents from part 1.
5.) Don't forget about tools. If you're writing your own game, you're likely going to have to (or want to) write your own tools, at least a level/playfield editor. Having good tools can really save time in the long run, and if you make them re-usable/generic you can build your next project more quickly (welcome to engine design)
oh and lastly: Toss realism. If you're working by yourself and aren't some form of divine being, then go for style. Style tends to work better than realism in terms of audience retention anyway. (cloud strife's hair and sword for example) Plus if you go for a more cartooned look (not specifically cell shaded, but exaggerated proportions etc) it can often save you effort. If you stay with a realisticish environment, but place very tooned characters in it, it will actually make the characters pop a bit more, which can be good for player recognition. (see "who framed roger rabbit?")
now as for art crits:
The character, and house still suffer from a lack of defining form shadow in the texture. They sort of melt into a single visual mass.
Also the character's head seems very odd. The lips and nose are oversized (which is fine), but the overall size of the head hasn't changed, leading the viewer to expect the eyes at about where the bottom of the glasses are. A solution would either be to elongate the head vertically, or bring the base of the glasses at least half way down the length of the nose. Speaking of which, there are an awful lot of polygons in the glasses for very little effect. its mainly the bevel you used through the center.
not too shabby work overall, especially for just starting out.
I'll still do some 3D stuff now and then because I get bored easily :P.
skankerzero: Thank you for pointing that out. I haven't rigged a character yet, so I'm not sure how the geometry is suppose to look.
You're fingers are going to collapse too, but at that rez, you may not even animate them.
Anything with one ring will collapse when you bend it.
Put the extra geometry on the outside of the bend.
Go in there and make sure that all your edges are helping out with silhouette or deformation. At that polycount, everything has to count.