You guys have been working on this a while, so what's the general workflow like? Do you guys hold frequent group meetings/chat sessions to hammer out gameplay and art ideas? Do you have a comprehensive style guide to go along with the design documents, or was the current style built up and refined along the way? How far would you say you have to go until something like a working beta? Do you have certain milestones that you guys are trying to reach in terms of gameplay and art at certain dates?
@swizzle: we have a permanent chatroom on skype, there is no real design agenda, all teammembers are pros, the style has developed and still develops a bit but basicly the artdirection is settled so its kinda easy to work within the style.
When it goes to Characters, the main decisions are done by me an the concepter who worked on the character, when it goes to env Manuel and the concepter have the last words.
But everyone in the team can say his oppinio if enough guys are standing behind it, their word count more then manuels or mine.
A Beta? Seriously a Beta is way too far away to think about yet we are workin on this in our freetime, a alpha is possible, out last milestone was MSUC Phase 3 which contained the very basic movement (walking, running, cam movement, jumping, first simple attack) some simple NPC interaction. Next bigger milestone will be MSUC phase 4 with a lock on system for enemies, maybe basic fighting, pogostick movement, at least one simple quest and a finished harbour.
1. right now yes but we have a special shader for the env already built we just need the baked env to apply it to
2. hummm no just modulated shadows from a single directional lightsource, would love to use normal shadows because they don't multiply over each other and dont go through everything but normal shadows as opposed to modulated ones are pitch black and if i lighten them uop with another lightsource the shading complexity explodes
3. nope the exact same shader as on the chars and the big ship or the whale, just without SSS (look at the baloon that one has a subtle SSS) and tweaked parameters. I recently reworked the shading ALOT to be more tweakable, every part of the shader can now be turned on and off and tweaked within a MIC also i have control over almost every input from a MIC, thats really nice
ah yeah the wale... what you are referring to is a airwhale the weatherwale is just the airborn version of a weathercock (like chicken not like penis! :P) and no that one was just a crunched down old version of the whale to have something to work with the SSS
but nice idea i'm just posting the processhere too to keep thing together
the sculpt
the weatherwhale thats gonna be on a small tower on the entrance of the harbour
Been following this, but never commented in here! Just wanna say I love the art direction on this... Hope you get this finished! Awesome stuff! Who would have guessed this is UE3 just by looking at it
This looks really amazing and spectacular. The universe, style, and execution are really really cool and you guys are doing an awesome job making it all come together. It sounds like the gameplay is going to be great as well.:thumbup:
This is looking fantastic as always Neox! Love the creatures proportions!
On a side note, isn't it a bit unsaturated now? not the grey textures of course but I get a feeling that everything is too grey shaded, perhaps it's the fog...
Tweaking comes when there is more to tweak.
I can tweak and tweak now and then when the final env is in it all looks off, overall saturation is a thing i want to tweak when i actually see things together in one image. I'm currently building up layers of atmo ion a posteffect as a fog also fogs the sky, maybe its a bit too much but thats easy to fix (be it a posteffect, lighttweaks or overal saturation tweaks in the textures) once there is more to see
No i have one lightsource and that casts a modulated shadow, modulated because i can change the shadowcolor, but modulated shadows (not advanced modulated that later versions of the engine have) cast through everything and multiply on each other so if you have like a dozon of people behind each other the part where their shadows meet will get darker and darker.
I could use normal shadows but they are pitch black wich i hate. To compensate that i could put an extra light in the level, but well the shaders are so complex the complexity goes from green to ultrared with another light in the scene :P
ts unlikely to happen but then again it kinda bugs, guess we will have to either win the engine oder find someone to buy it for us :P
"The air is extremely dense, allowing all sorts of animals to fly, such as so-called sky whales, which have nine-metre wingspans and fly using echolocation. They hover above thick "pagoda" forests, which stand at an astonishing 1,000 meters."
can i get nasa money for making things up?
Astrobiology sounds like a awesome job for a conceptartist xD
What? No way, man! That's way too colorful. Tone down the saturation.
actually we are planning on changing the style to be a bit more next gen ready, more dof to guide the players view, more bloom to make it all shiny and also more lensflares to make it more bling bling.
actually we are planning on changing the style to be a bit more next gen ready, more dof to guide the players view, more bloom to make it all shiny and also more lensflares to make it more bling bling.
Replies
A few questions, if you don't mind:
You guys have been working on this a while, so what's the general workflow like? Do you guys hold frequent group meetings/chat sessions to hammer out gameplay and art ideas? Do you have a comprehensive style guide to go along with the design documents, or was the current style built up and refined along the way? How far would you say you have to go until something like a working beta? Do you have certain milestones that you guys are trying to reach in terms of gameplay and art at certain dates?
@carlo: we are absolutely buyable :P
@swizzle: we have a permanent chatroom on skype, there is no real design agenda, all teammembers are pros, the style has developed and still develops a bit but basicly the artdirection is settled so its kinda easy to work within the style.
When it goes to Characters, the main decisions are done by me an the concepter who worked on the character, when it goes to env Manuel and the concepter have the last words.
But everyone in the team can say his oppinio if enough guys are standing behind it, their word count more then manuels or mine.
A Beta? Seriously a Beta is way too far away to think about yet we are workin on this in our freetime, a alpha is possible, out last milestone was MSUC Phase 3 which contained the very basic movement (walking, running, cam movement, jumping, first simple attack) some simple NPC interaction. Next bigger milestone will be MSUC phase 4 with a lock on system for enemies, maybe basic fighting, pogostick movement, at least one simple quest and a finished harbour.
2. hummm no just modulated shadows from a single directional lightsource, would love to use normal shadows because they don't multiply over each other and dont go through everything but normal shadows as opposed to modulated ones are pitch black and if i lighten them uop with another lightsource the shading complexity explodes
3. nope the exact same shader as on the chars and the big ship or the whale, just without SSS (look at the baloon that one has a subtle SSS) and tweaked parameters. I recently reworked the shading ALOT to be more tweakable, every part of the shader can now be turned on and off and tweaked within a MIC also i have control over almost every input from a MIC, thats really nice
the weatherwhale ! (the one flying around is just a whale)
but nice idea i'm just posting the processhere too to keep thing together
the sculpt
the weatherwhale thats gonna be on a small tower on the entrance of the harbour
and the SSS Shaderstuff from the unreal thread
and the same shader on another beast
filthy fat beast!
very smooth modeling
:thumbup:
Very cool as always! Cant wait to play it!
don't trust them! they are the evilz!
yalla yalla back to painting horses
Well done sirs.
On a side note, isn't it a bit unsaturated now? not the grey textures of course but I get a feeling that everything is too grey shaded, perhaps it's the fog...
I can tweak and tweak now and then when the final env is in it all looks off, overall saturation is a thing i want to tweak when i actually see things together in one image. I'm currently building up layers of atmo ion a posteffect as a fog also fogs the sky, maybe its a bit too much but thats easy to fix (be it a posteffect, lighttweaks or overal saturation tweaks in the textures) once there is more to see
Could you explain that issue you have with shadows? Are they somehow multiplied like a post effect, per object?
I could use normal shadows but they are pitch black wich i hate. To compensate that i could put an extra light in the level, but well the shaders are so complex the complexity goes from green to ultrared with another light in the scene :P
ts unlikely to happen but then again it kinda bugs, guess we will have to either win the engine oder find someone to buy it for us :P
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/sky-whales--sci.html
can i get nasa money for making things up?
Astrobiology sounds like a awesome job for a conceptartist xD
dont refer to the whale it has no depth masking and is not tweaked at all
Nice, that reads like the good old 50's 'in the year 2000' papers
Imo
*cuts self*
What? No way, man! That's way too colorful. Tone down the saturation.
working on the textures..
unlit maya screenshot, looking forward to see it with all the shader and outline magic
actually we are planning on changing the style to be a bit more next gen ready, more dof to guide the players view, more bloom to make it all shiny and also more lensflares to make it more bling bling.
Yes! You always need more lens flares.