Generic Character Proportion

We need a generic character to be all characters for gameplay scripting/coding, and testing. This is the generic character shape for humans/humanoid characters. I describe it as a smooth beveled head, with a "onesie" pajama body.

Heads will appear even bigger b/c most characters will have a helmet or hat on.

Producer Hat

I sort of re-read the last post with a producer hat. Here's how that went:

PRODUCER HAT
You doubt you'll have the character ready by Saturday AM? Why are you sculpting? We don't need that, we need a simple blocking character with anim.

ARTIST
I know, but I want to get the scale right before I rig and I need to see the details to know if that needs to be changed.

PRODUCER HAT
But you're close now aren't you? Can't you just make a simple low poly version that scale, rig and animate that?

ARTIST
I could.

PRODUCER HAT
And how long would that take?

ARTIST
Not long.

PRODUCER HAT
Then can we stop sculpting for now and get that asset to Andrew to remove his blocker?"

ARTIST
Yes *heavy sigh*

My artist side wants to do things that are not in the best interest of the game as a whole. I have to also be my own producer and stop that and keep me on task. I kinda hate that but it does keep my artistic energy up b/c I have all these things in mind that I can't wait to do. 

Hood

Did a few cloth sims to get a sense of size. Obviously it can't really be the right scale hood with a head this big.

Scaled it by 50% did a better, more natural shape for the hood and re-sim'ed it.

Lost some of the detail in the sculpt when I brought it in and messed with its shape and silhouette.

Still have more work to do, and its going to be tough with a house guest for the next few days. I'll see what I can squeeze in, but I doubt I'll have the character ready by Saturday AM. New goal is end of weekend.

Character Start

Have to switch gears to the character. Andrew, the Gameplay Programmer, will need something by this weekend to start getting the actual game part going. We'll definitely need him rigged and block in animation by Saturday AM.

I blocked out the character from the initial sketches, slapped a texture on him and placed him in engine.

Um no. Head too big, body doesn't have the right frequency of detail to match the environment. Quick Sketch to hash out ideas...

Better, but I also realized its going to be a sculpt > bake normals kinda workflow. Which is fine especially for characters. So started to sculpt him but have to go to work...

This is where I'm at WIP. I like his new hair and 20% smaller head, or is it 20% bigger body? The bigger change is going to be his clothes. I'm thinking Robin Hood with a mage cloak/cape sort of thing. Might add a hood, we'll see. 

Weekend Update 2_22_15

Finished messing with materials for the houses, and looked over the other materials... good enough I think. I added motion to the vegetation (it does come with it almost working, just isn't set up correctly) I also mult a gradient so that it only moves on the ends. I made a few masts for the boats. Made 2 bushes to help break up the veg. Checked out the terrain material... basically I worked on set dressing the Showcase level, seeing what I had and what was missing. Overall loving the Top-Down City as I thought I would.
Also researched water shaders, this my non-transparent version, but ideally I'll want depth fog/transparent.

(lighting needs to be re-baked... whatevah)

Needs some color breakup, maybe some orange/tan and dead versions

Houses1 Material Update

Houses1 is one of two master materials in Top-Down City. I know this is might seem trivial but I've spent (more time than I should) today tweaking the material to my liking. They come by default set to PBS settings of basically metal and non-metal, and I wanted to do a little more than that. It helps getting that extra something from the lighting with better PBS. There's more work to do on correcting normal's and making better light map UV's etc. This kit was made for Unity3D and ported over... generally that means a little clean up work on each element.

Mouse over to see before/afters of the material update.

The game is going to be some sort of top down perspective that we haven't decided on yet so right now I just want to make it the best I can, with the time I give myself.

Top-Down City

(picture not in MY game, from Michael Orkisz FB page)

I've had my eye on, and finally purchased Top-Down City from Manufactura K4 on the Unreal Marketplace. Michael Orkisz is the artist and I just love the style. Planning on getting the other "Top-Down" kits after this is in place.
I did an initial once over looking at the assets, and there will be some minor work, like collision fixes. Then onto redoing the materials with Quixel suite, and exaggerate material differences as a stylistic choice. So right now, materials, materials, materials. At the same time make my own level, and start lighting so I can see the material work.

Starting New

Ok Its been a while. I'm going to post my dev diaries here and a few tutorials, its mostly to keep me accountable ...well, to myself. The new game has a working title "Mage Apprentice". Here is a collage of some concepts I did. Inspiration comes from MiniGore, Besiege, Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons.