progress blog for the game

Status: On-time (we’re in the buffer week) Here are some update images! I’ve got sounds in there and I’m liking the density of the trees/plants so far (though I’ll probably be adding filler ferns and plants while I continue working). Not extremely happy with the ground--it lacks coverings, small details, so I’m going to need to edit the landscape painting layers. I’m tweaking the lighting now--learning more about the settings and the process of building the light. I’m also tweaking the camera motion, which is still a little choppy. I’ve also added a “drop fire” function, since parts of the level are dark. With this, the player can place a light source (fire) at their current location and it illuminates the immediate area around them.

WEEK 11 UPDATE

Very quick update this week:

I'll finish up set dressing. After that, lights (finalization), sounds, and then, finally, the final camera moves for the cutscenes.

WK 9 & 10 UPDATE:

I’ve made test documents in UE and made sure my workflow works (for lights, sounds, and triggers). This will significantly decrease the number of bumps in the road from this point forward.

The sculpted component in the bottom right corner of the image is a centerpiece and goes behind the fire. This area is a camp or home base for the player, and it’s also where the collectible is (the spear).

I am still on schedule! Which means I also have an extra two weeks for tweaking and small changes, according to the Gantt chart. Perhaps I’ll use this time to add wind.

This week, I’ll have finish importing filler objects (the jungle isn’t really coming across now, but the key is filler objects so that density and scale is conveyed), then I’ll add sounds, the tweak lighting (adding God rays), then set up the camera moves for the cutscene.

I’ve created the pause menu. This week, I’m going to continue working in Blueprint. I’ll work on creating a collectible, flags and various other HUD elements (perhaps a health bar, more work on the pause menu). I’ll finish my test documents (cinematic, collectible, HUD, fluid surface, foliage mesh and material testing). At this point, I think it’s necessary to create a new level with proper project settings and directories. A few things in my working file are broken (the first person pawn/movement, for example).

I viewed tutorials and broke down some Blueprint and Matinee test files. I'm more confident with Blueprint.

For WK7 (this week), I will import the assets (cards, textures, bushes), and work in Blueprint to set up triggers and some collectibles, and a pause/quit screen. For the next two weeks (WK7 and WK8), I'll add cutscenes and camerawork. 

By spring break, I'll have everything in the level and working--after that, I'll just be finessing some animation, updating and fixing textures, and adding lights and sounds.

This week, I completed most of the testing and began texturing the environment. Textures for the plants and vegetation are done, and low poly models are also finished (they only need to be imported into UDK).

For WK 6, I'll continue testing some scenes (Matinee and triggers), and finish creating assets. Ideally, I'll be importing assets in UDK by the end of the week.

This week, all proposal documents and the Gantt chart were completed. I watched numerous tutorials on Matinee and methods for creating cutscenes (triggers, sequences in Kismet). 

Going into WK5, I'll create some test files (triggers, sound attenuation, and camera work). I will also finalize the terrain and begin painting materials as well as inserting assets (SpeedTree).

Hideo Kojima on the game/story conflict, Wired

A Practical Guide to Game Writing, Gamasutra

Raph Koster's Website, "The Pixar Lesson"

Brian Kindregan (SC2: HotS), Polygon 

Del Toro, Ken Levine speak out against cutscenes, Eurogamer

ESSAYS In Defense of Cutscenes, Rune Klevjer @ University of Bergen

A Reusable Scripting Engine for Automating Cinematics and Cut-Scenes in Video Games

David Thomas, Gary Haussmann - Cinematic Camera as Videogame Cliché

TECHNICAL Digital Tutors - UDK lessons 

WORLD OF LEVEL DESIGN

EPIC GAMES Tutorials

Darren McKinsey tuts/hotkeys

NARRATIVE Irrational Games (From the Vault) - The Bioshock Pitch

Storm the Castle (ex. of the storyboard script)