It lives!

Its finally walking! I finished Rigging the mech and i cobbled together a short 4 second animation to celebrate. Here it is for your enjoyment.

kinda finished

ok gang, here is the semi complete model of my mech! all i need to really do now, is add fine detail (bolts etc) and rig it up. then its finished for adding materials etc onto it + some preliminary animation testing. Once this is finished, ill make a walk cycle + create a sprite sheet for my game. From there I should have a demo ready within 2 weeks. After that its a case of rendering my animation out and editing the sequence.

More mech pictures

Here are some recent pictures of the mech im working on. As you may have noticed I have reworked some areas, such as the foot, so it would seem more mechanical and less organic. I am still reworking areas and adding more detail. I still hope to have this rigged and textured by next week.

Recent mech render

Here's my latest mech render for the blog. I have began work on the arms now, and testing some colour material renders for what the final outcome could be. Still quite a bit to go in terms of detail, but I'm sure that I can get this whole thing wrapped up and even rigged by next week. Detailing shouldn't take long, and all the major parts left to model now are the head, other arm, and some additions to the back. Then I can detail + set up a rig.

Finished lower half

Heres some extra screenshots of my leg + lower half of the mech.
Im now working on the torso and I hope it will be done by the end of tonight.

3D modeling

After some "persuasion" i have finally got max working + letting me save my work, so i can finally get some headway on my mech. So far I have got most of the legs modeled. I'm recording the work as i go along to show that it is in fact myself who is modeling the 3D work. Here are some screenshots of what I have so far.

Prototype game

My game will be a 2D platform game, similar to the Sonic or Mario games.

The story line of the game will be to prevent an evil group from taking control of the world. Each game level will have a series of mission objectives given to you when yo complete the previous objective. For example, the first objective will be to gain access into an enemy base by destroying a generator. Once you do this, you will get a new objective, which will be to retrieve some secret documents. Once all of the objectives have been completed, you are then able to move onto the next level.

There will be a health system, scoring system, and ammunition system in play, including collectable power ups which enemies will drop once they have been killed.

Here is a game that is similar in design as to what I hope to achieve.
Play Megaman Zero on Flash-Game.net

Motion Graphics research

It is my understanding that motion graphics can be created in both a scripted and modeling fashion, but would be far quicker and simpler to script it. I have never been really interested in motion graphics because to me it seems more scripting heavy, as oppose to being more creative in designing something. Thats not to say I dont like the motion graphics of which people create. I have also noticed that the majority of motion graphics are used in things such as Idents, Adverts and things of the like. It seems to me that this area of the design industry is where motion graphics should be. I think this is due to the readily available technology and software available, such as Motion or After effects. These programs enable designers to create something quickly, efficiently and allows them a lot of freedom in terms of how to create their project. I have noticed that Typography is frequently used in this field, and some very nice designs can be created with it. I also see how audio is often used in conjunction with motion graphics pojects, and usually helps to immerse the viewer into the visual effects. You can also notice how motion graphics employ some very creative camera angle shots and pan effects within each project. For me it makes the graphic look much better.



This is an example of how Typography is used within motion graphics. I really like how the designer has used it to portray a fast paced conversation. The only thing that I do not like about this motion graphic, is how the text is occasionally difficult to see. It sometimes moves rapidly, or gets partially cut off. Its colour scheme is very nice, and I think it helps excentuate how the conversation flows.



This next graphic is one of my favorite's, because of the different lighting effects in which it shows. It has some very unique effects, such as the face made up of different triangles. Things like this, which show fresh and new ideas towards motion graphics, are something which I enjoy. I dont like to see things which have already been done. I think it also shows that these kinds of motion graphics are created using scripts, otherwise it would be so tedious to replicate all the objects in different animated positions. I believe that due to this fact, motion graphic designers have a healthy distribution for technical knowledge and creativity. I also really like how the designer has created a stop motion effect with vectorised lines and shapes floating across the screen. This effect looks really nice, especially with the movement of the camera angles.



This next motion graphic has some amazing effects. Again they seem to have been created via scripting. I also think that the way each different animation reacts with the audio is quite creative, even though it is an old technique, it does work beautifully. I especially like the opening with the water effect over the text.

Update 9 - Title screen

Heres the latest of my progress video's. This one shows a title screen going into the game. Again, its rough around the edges and not quite finished, but its a milestone in progres.

Heres the video

Update 8 - Hit point system

Ive now added a hit point system into the game which allows the player more flexibility in the game.

Heres the video

Update 7 - new jumping code

Ive reworked my jumping code so now the character jumps properly across all of the map.
Now this is sorted im going to work on player + enemy hit points.

heres the video

Update 6 - Cursor tracking

I have now managed to change how the character shoots. The shot now moves in the direction of the mouse cursor instead of a straight line.

Heres the video

Update 5 - shooting

I have now got my character to shoot and when the "bullet" hits an enemy, it kills it and records a points value on the screen.

Heres the video

Game test 4

This one ive managed to work out how to create a colision event, so the character follows the land hes walking on.

Heres the video!

Game editor update 3

Lots of progression with this program, this time i have a nicejump animation that works as though "gravity" effects it. Still needs tweaking, but the idea is defonatly there!

A third video for you guys to check it out.

Game editor update 2

I have just managed to get a collectable system working, where I am able to walk around and pick up items giving me points. Im sure I could work this into a high scores table or something.

Also.. the scripting language that is built into this engine is C, which is nice to know... :P

Another video file, enjoy.

Game Editor trailer

Really cool trailer promoting game editor. looks like we can do some awesome things with this software

Game Maker Tests

Hey guys, heres a quick video I have made in regards to the 2D game engine I found. I plan to keep posting bits and bobs here informing everyone with what you can do with the software. Hopefully you will all find this rather useful + i hope you guys use it yourselves, as I think it will make our FMP workload abit easier on not just ourselves, but probably raj too, as im sure everyone will be stealing him for director scripts :P

Anyway... heres the video. Enjoy!

another 2d engine

Heres a second engine that I found, which seems to be very versatile for designing some 2D games. Im going to play around with it soon, see what it can do. Heres the link for anyone else interested.

http://game-editor.com/

2D game engine

I have been looking into how i can develop a really stable game platform, because as we all know, Director isn't the best of programs to create a game on. While searching I came across a very nice looking piece of freeware. It is called Love2D. (http://love2d.org/)

It uses LUA scripting to put together what could be a very nice game package. It even has some 2D particle and physics modules so you can do some very interesting stuff with it. I think its relatively new compared to other 2D engines that I have come across, which could mean help in this area maybe limited.

Still, A very nice find, and I may even use this over the next few weeks, depending if I can get my head around it or not.

New FMP Blog!

OK, long time in the making, but I've finally got this running.

For my first post, I would like to get some feedback for a name for my FMP.
As it is going to be all part of a game concept, I need to give it a name, and alas, I am stumped. I have several ideas, but none of them seem to click. The game itself is about a post apocalyptic, war-torn earth, where factions are fighting over land/money/and world domination blah blah. The story itself is about some evil group destroying all that is good, and the good guys develop a secret weapon, in the form of a mech robot.

So, as for the current name ideas, here is what I have thus far:

Section 8(or any other number), Project Phoenix (as in rebirth), Shockwave(sounded kinda good), Armored Gear, Armored Unit, Armored Force, Arms Core, Armored Fusion, Gear Assault, Armored Assault, Geared Assault + Armored Siege

Those are the kind of things that spring to mind when thinking of this sort of theme.

Anyone like any of these or have their own titles to share?

Many Thanks :]