Author Archives: Marcus van Aller
Neon Skies – GGC Extra post
We faced a lot of critical problems before GGC and had to remove a lot of content from the game to make it stable and we had problems connecting the computers which took a whole day of GGC away. However, when we finally got it working we realized we had forgotten to make a texture for the first person arms, as such we sat down for 20 minutes before the second day started and fixed a fast version that would […]
Neon Skies – GGC Extra post
We faced a lot of critical problems before GGC and had to remove a lot of content from the game to make it stable and we had problems connecting the computers which took a whole day of GGC away. However, when we finally got it working we realized we had forgotten to make a texture for the first person arms, as such we sat down for 20 minutes before the second day started and fixed a fast version that would […]
Neon Skies – Week 9
This week marks the end of the production phase of the vertical slice for BGP.
The week started with making some props to give more life to the planet. First off I made a U-pipe that would traverse the map, transporting neon colored materials. This gives a sense of industry and a world where you are only a small part.
After that I added the last of the neon battery packs, a larger one with 3 modules. Together with the other props […]
Neon Skies – Week 9
This week marks the end of the production phase of the vertical slice for BGP.
The week started with making some props to give more life to the planet. First off I made a U-pipe that would traverse the map, transporting neon colored materials. This gives a sense of industry and a world where you are only a small part.
After that I added the last of the neon battery packs, a larger one with 3 modules. Together with the other props […]
Neon Skies – Week 8
Week 8 started with me updating the visuals on the bow to the white neon while our lead artist worked on animating the mesh.
A mesh is an object, specifically an object made out of a lot of smaller objects, we try to build the objects with quadrilaterals (quads) and let the game engines turn the quads into triangles as the computer has the easiest time working with triangles and each game engine turns quads into triangles in different ways for the […]
Neon Skies – Week 8
Week 8 started with me updating the visuals on the bow to the white neon while our lead artist worked on animating the mesh.
A mesh is an object, specifically an object made out of a lot of smaller objects, we try to build the objects with quadrilaterals (quads) and let the game engines turn the quads into triangles as the computer has the easiest time working with triangles and each game engine turns quads into triangles in different ways for the […]
Neon Skies – Week 7
This week was chaotic as some were sick and others couldn’t work, as such, much of the work was done remotely.
Destroyed mining drone
After a suggestion on how we should deal with neon, we’ve started to make many of the things with white emissive material that we later change in Unity.
The above image is of the destroyed version of the miner, we want to explode the drone outwards and for there to be alloy like pieces of it that you can […]
Neon Skies – Week 7
This week was chaotic as some were sick and others couldn’t work, as such, much of the work was done remotely.
Destroyed mining drone
After a suggestion on how we should deal with neon, we’ve started to make many of the things with white emissive material that we later change in Unity.
The above image is of the destroyed version of the miner, we want to explode the drone outwards and for there to be alloy like pieces of it that you can […]
Neon Skies – Week 6
For week 6 I started with postponing my work on the cliffs and instead I divided the drone into more components so that our coder can separate them when it is destroyed. Most of the effects will be made in Unity, but in the texture alone I darkened it and turned off the emissive (light) map to give a slight color change on it as it explodes as that will contribute to the sense of it being destroyed.
Once […]
Neon Skies – Week 6
For week 6 I started with postponing my work on the cliffs and instead I divided the drone into more components so that our coder can separate them when it is destroyed. Most of the effects will be made in Unity, but in the texture alone I darkened it and turned off the emissive (light) map to give a slight color change on it as it explodes as that will contribute to the sense of it being destroyed.
Once […]
Neon Skies – Week 5
This week has been consumed by revisiting the old cliff objects to make them look better. Some of the old cliffs didn’t have a good normal map and most assets in the game do not use normal maps either. As such, I went back and started retopologizing (lowering the amount of triangles in the object) the object, but now I am more skilled at capturing details and now, we don’t use any normal maps on it to capture details (everything […]
Neon Skies – Week 5
This week has been consumed by revisiting the old cliff objects to make them look better. Some of the old cliffs didn’t have a good normal map and most assets in the game do not use normal maps either. As such, I went back and started retopologizing (lowering the amount of triangles in the object) the object, but now I am more skilled at capturing details and now, we don’t use any normal maps on it to capture details (everything […]
Neon Skies – Week 4
Week 4 started with rework on the drone to make the outer neon light strips larger. We then experimented with different colors and patterns to find something we liked. We knew we wanted something with a simple color scheme like the rest of the environment, almost like the rocks, but lighter in tone. The body also needed to look different from the wings. As such, we experimented with different shades of grey until we stumbled upon […]
Neon Skies – Week 4
Week 4 started with rework on the drone to make the outer neon light strips larger. We then experimented with different colors and patterns to find something we liked. We knew we wanted something with a simple color scheme like the rest of the environment, almost like the rocks, but lighter in tone. The body also needed to look different from the wings. As such, we experimented with different shades of grey until we stumbled upon […]
Neon Skies – Week 3
Week 3 focused on creating a fast 3D sketch of the drop pod that the players will come down in. However, due to me having to travel away, we decided that it was better to start work on something that would take a longer time that I could work on independently for extended periods, as such we started work on the mining drones.
In the beginning we were going for a very robust style on the drones with 4 […]
Neon Skies – Week 3
Week 3 focused on creating a fast 3D sketch of the drop pod that the players will come down in. However, due to me having to travel away, we decided that it was better to start work on something that would take a longer time that I could work on independently for extended periods, as such we started work on the mining drones.
In the beginning we were going for a very robust style on the drones with 4 […]
Neon Skies – Week 2
In the beginning of this week, we realized that the bow we were making was a lot more high poly than what we wanted. Instead I found an old concept art the team had made and finished it quickly so we could get at least an alpha version.
As it currently is, it is too small, the version on the right is a scaled up x5 version in Unity, I will early next week go back and fix the […]
Neon Skies – Week 2
In the beginning of this week, we realized that the bow we were making was a lot more high poly than what we wanted. Instead I found an old concept art the team had made and finished it quickly so we could get at least an alpha version.
As it currently is, it is too small, the version on the right is a scaled up x5 version in Unity, I will early next week go back and fix the […]
Neon Skies – Week 1
First official week of the Neon Skies project is now finished.
During this week I have been working on getting the neon crystals into the game.
It did not work out as well as I wanted, I had some issues getting the maps to work properly and it’s possible that it will be revisited later to get the polycount down. Then I could also work on getting the shape more along what it should be.
The coloring is 100% a single smart […]
Neon Skies – Week 1
First official week of the Neon Skies project is now finished.
During this week I have been working on getting the neon crystals into the game.
It did not work out as well as I wanted, I had some issues getting the maps to work properly and it’s possible that it will be revisited later to get the polycount down. Then I could also work on getting the shape more along what it should be.
The coloring is 100% a single smart […]
The Green Warden – Report 6
Image looks weird because it is too big
This week I have been trying to do the final work on the main menu to prepare for bug fixes and such next week.
Since the post last week I have been able to load into the main menu state, I can now play music in the main menu and the background is being successfully loaded.
Changing states works in theory, but only in theory and I have yet to find where the problem […]
The Green Warden – Report 6
Image looks weird because it is too big
This week I have been trying to do the final work on the main menu to prepare for bug fixes and such next week.
Since the post last week I have been able to load into the main menu state, I can now play music in the main menu and the background is being successfully loaded.
Changing states works in theory, but only in theory and I have yet to find where the problem […]
The Green Warden – Report 5
Above is an example of how the main menu would look like.Artist: Eva Sokolova
This week, work on the Main Menu has continued slowly. I have been trying different methods of solving the errors I encounter and so far I have solved the error in the Update class which was a case of a lacking return statement that I had overlooked.
bool MainMenuState::Update(float deltatime)
{
if (m_start == true)
{
MainMenuState::GetNextState() = true;
return false;
}
if (m_exit == true)
{
MainMenuState::Exit();
}
return true;
}
Once that had been dealt with however, […]
The Green Warden – Report 5
Above is an example of how the main menu would look like.Artist: Eva Sokolova
This week, work on the Main Menu has continued slowly. I have been trying different methods of solving the errors I encounter and so far I have solved the error in the Update class which was a case of a lacking return statement that I had overlooked.
bool MainMenuState::Update(float deltatime)
{
if (m_start == true)
{
MainMenuState::GetNextState() = true;
return false;
}
if (m_exit == true)
{
MainMenuState::Exit();
}
return true;
}
Once that had been dealt with however, […]