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Adventures with Constructor
Adventures with Constructor
| Name: | N R Bharathae |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Sep 07, 2007 | |
| Rating: |  3.0 out of 5 | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
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| Profile Page: | View profile page for N R Bharathae |
Blog post
Vespers3D: Adventures with Constructor
Recap:
Vespers3D is our attempt to bring old-school text-based adventure games (interactive fiction) into the world of real-time first-person 3D - a new genre we are calling 3D/if (3D interactive fiction). It is based on Vespers, Jason Devlin's fantastic text IF game that won numerous awards from the IF community, including Best Game at the IFComp'05 and the 2006 XYZZY awards. Vespers provides a compelling setting and storyline for a game that will, in the end, be something akin to Myst but with a fully interactive 3D environment and good old-fashioned text command input and output.
A few months ago Garage Games released Constructor prompting Rubes to suggest we convert Vespers3D's Quark-made monastery model to the new editor. I can't say this was welcome news since the monastery had already been through two previous builds (my harddrive ate the original version, forcing the complete rebuild of a second version). But like so many, I too wanted to dive into Constructor to see what two years of anxious waiting had produced. In the end I have to say it was worth the wait.
In the interest of countering some bad press Constructor has been getting, I felt compelled to show the community what CAN be made with C, despite its long list of programming bugs and design faux pas. Along the way it will be neat to see how the design process led to a complex and polished model.
THE DESIGN PHASE
To begin the design phase I was given text descriptions of the many rooms in the monastery, plus a simple graphic (fig.1) that showed the general layout as described in Jason Devlin's original text game.
Figure 1.
From these I produced a 3/4 perspective concept (fig.2) and a floorplan draft (fig.3). These were initially approved by Rubes and Jason with a proviso for adjustments down the road.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
I did spend some time researching photos of medieval churches in Europe, incorporating design elements that piqued my interest. But I wanted to add something unique to the design, something to add to the 'cool factor' of the model. That something was a round cloister (whereas traditional cloisters are square in shape) and rooms set at 45 degree angles.
The first two versions of the monastery were built in Quark and, as many of you know, it isn't the easiest editor to work with, especially for round shapes or 45 degree angles. Light-leaks were always a problem with brushes that cut angles across Quark's building grid. Getting vertices to line up with grid-points, even with the force-to-grid function, was agony. Progress was slow and tedious but it moved foward nonetheless. It was hard but eventually I had to accept the possibility that I might not get the round shapes I wanted, though I could probably save the angled rooms.
THE CONVERSION
After the first year of development the church and single-story structures were mostly finished (except for the cloister) when Constructor was released.
That's when Rubes presented me with a new layout (fig.4) and asked if I would consider a new build in Constructor. At this point Rubes wanted to go back to the traditional square cloister and repositioned the angled rooms so they were linear in relation to the rest of the rooms, to be more consistent with traditional monastery design in the middle ages.
Figure 4.
I hoped that once the Quark model was brought into Constructor that I would be able to salvage most of the architectural elements and rooms but from the start I realized a fresh rebuild would be quicker and easier to manage. I wasn't looking foward to that at all.
My first try at getting the Quark model converted was pretty clean and once I setup the texture folder I had a successful import. After carving the model up into sections I decided to save the Church off as a separate model (fig.5) and then deleted all sections except for the Refectory. Fixing many of the compound angle errors in the gable end windows (fig.6) was easy enough and on my first export to DIF I realized alot of the light-leaks had been corrected.
Figure 5.
Figure 6.
I spent alot of time fine-tuning the Refectory knowing that once I had that section complete I could copy/flip/rotate the entire portion for use as the Dormitory and Entrance Hall. With some adjustments to minor design elements I could then randomize the look of each section so they didn't all look like identical copies (fig.7).
Figure 7.
With the Refectory, Dormitory and Entrance Hall in position it was time to build the square cloister and tie everything together. Within a single day the roof section was in place and on my first try I was able to make the colonnade columns equidistant so the spacial proportions along the X and Y axis matched up. I was concerned with gaps appearing at the corners of the columns where the large sections of the model would meet, but this never happened. The result was a tight fit and a nice composition of architectural elements (figs.8 and 9).
Figure 8.
Figure 9.
CONCLUSION
At this point I still have the church to tackle. There is an arched ceiling I want to put in the foyer and various bits of lightning damage to the second tower I look forward to making. Here again, I expect several problems with the geometry will have been fixed already (micro-brushes automatically culled...yea!) and implementing new lighting schemes will really jazz up the church interior. For those who care the entire single-story structure was built using only square primatives, the subtraction function and the scale transform to flip grouped brushes (very cool).
In all, I know Constructor has problems and hopefully these will get some needed attention, but my experience with the monastery has proven that the core features of Constructor are stable enough to warrant high praise and continued support. As users we should give thanks that we finally have a viable alternative to Quark and that we aren't paying through the nose for it. And to prove the monastery isn't a fluke or one-shot deal check out this beauty I'm making on the side (fig.10) made entirely in Constructor.
Figure 10.
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 09/07/07 - Adventures with Constructor 05/29/05 - Plan for N R Bharathae |
|---|
Submit your own resources!| Tom Eastman (Eastbeast314) (Sep 07, 2007 at 02:36 GMT) |
How do you make so much progress with the game while keeping us informed? Great work, as usual!
| AcidFaucet (Sep 07, 2007 at 03:25 GMT) |
Looks great by the way. May want to hunt down a copy of the old-school "The Name of the Rose" with Sean Connery. Much of its scenery was impressive while it maintained a foreboding appearence as well. Coincidentally it's also a mystery set in a monestary.
| asmaloney (Andy) (Sep 07, 2007 at 04:22 GMT) |
Thanks!
| Kevin McLaughlin (Sep 07, 2007 at 04:38 GMT) |
Thanks for sharing!
| Edward (Sep 07, 2007 at 06:05 GMT) |
| Stephan (viKKing) Bondier (Sep 07, 2007 at 09:04 GMT) |
Guys, you can ask me churches pictures (including stone details) if wanted, I'm living near an UNESCO referenced Basilica: Vezelay, and old buildings are common in this part of the world.
I'm also an old buildings architectur enthusiast.
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 10:09 GMT) |
@Stephan- If you can texture pics of old buildings, wood and stonework would be great. I'd like to update the texture in the church with better stuff, send to my e-mail. I'll pass on the favor when I can.
| David Montgomery-Blake (Sep 07, 2007 at 13:35 GMT) |
| Jason Burch (Sep 07, 2007 at 16:46 GMT) |
| Rubes (Sep 07, 2007 at 17:23 GMT) |
The conversion of Vespers from a text game to a 3D game is really not that unlike the conversion of a book into a movie. Often, the success of the movie depends heavily on the visual production, and how skillfully the cinematographer captures the essence of the text. I think N.R. has done an amazing job in that role.
@Acid: I read the book years ago, and brought it up with the game's author when we first met. Many have made that correlation to him, but he insists it had no bearing on his writing. And aside from the most general of comparisons (murder at a medieval monastery), I would agree that it's not really related. Great book, though.
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 20:30 GMT) |
| Stephan (viKKing) Bondier (Sep 07, 2007 at 20:39 GMT) |
Quote:
Also, if you guys like Umberto Eco you should try Foucault's Pendulum.
I read it because I wanted to; and because I knew I could say one day, I read it all!. No worth a reading IMHO. Lots of words for nothing. Better read something else.
@NR: just noticed there is no scriptarium nor library?
| David Dougher (Sep 07, 2007 at 20:40 GMT) |
Personally I think the first design is much more interesting architecturally than the second. But the interior work is first rate and really nice to look at. Best of luck with the game. Look forward to trying it out.
| Rubes (Sep 07, 2007 at 20:56 GMT) |
@Stephan: That's one of the tough things about going from a text game to a 3D game. In text games, you can easily get away with excluding lots of features and details -- the player will "fill in" these details in their mind, consciously or unconsciously. But in a 3D game, if it's not there it's not there.
In the text version of Vespers, a lot of features were (intentionally or not) left out, probably for the sake of brevity or simplification. So there is no library or other similar feature in the text game, but creating or including one in the 3D game would mean a departure from the original and the creation of new content. For the sake of simplicity, we decided to stick with what was in the original game, even though that would open us up to some criticism. There are actually quite a few examples of that.
@David: I agree with you on that. My desire to switch back to the rectangular design was guided more by the desire to try and be somewhat consistent with traditional monastery layout in the middle ages. In fact, monasteries were described as having a widely recognized and consistent layout, with square cloisters bordered on each side by individual structures. Although I don't think we need to adhere strictly to that (and we don't), it's still nice to have a design that is more historically correct.
In fact, even as "historical fiction" is rising in popularity in the literary world, so too do I see a growing place for "historical interactive fiction" or, as in our case, "historical 3D interactive fiction". Something to think about.
Edited on Sep 07, 2007 20:58 GMT
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 20:59 GMT) |
@Stephan- Layout for the monastery has always been guarded by Rubes, he wants to stay as true to the game as possibile. And since neither a scriptorium nor library appears in the text game it wouldn't have made the cut for the model. The one exception is the second tower, which isn't in the original graphic, but I somehow was able to keep. What if the monk's of St. Cuthbert keep that tower closed off and protected their secret stash of rare books with poisoned ink...
Edited on Sep 07, 2007 21:02 GMT
| Stephan (viKKing) Bondier (Sep 07, 2007 at 21:02 GMT) |
Though, I think it is a miss
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 21:08 GMT) |
| Rubes (Sep 07, 2007 at 21:18 GMT) |
If that happens, though, then we'll have to talk about rotating the church 90 degrees to really simulate a true monastery!
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 22:26 GMT) |
| Stephan (viKKing) Bondier (Sep 07, 2007 at 22:56 GMT) |
Flood Rubes email to have crypt and library (and a few extra rooms) and at the same time have the buildings rotated by 90
| N R Bharathae (Sep 07, 2007 at 23:13 GMT) |
Now the point of this blog was to support Constructor and give inspiration to other artists using it. Let's all give Matt Fairfax and his crew a round of applause!
| Rubes (Sep 07, 2007 at 23:18 GMT) |
You're not holding that.
> APPLAUD MATT
That's not a verb I recognize.
> CLAP, DAMMIT!
Fine, fine. You clap feverishly for a job well done.
| Stephan (viKKing) Bondier (Sep 08, 2007 at 09:44 GMT) |
Quote:
Now the point of this blog was to support Constructor and give inspiration to other artists using it.
You did it! :)
@Rubes: LOL
| David Dougher (Sep 08, 2007 at 11:55 GMT) |
Oh yes, Adellion is still rolling along. We may displace John Romero as, the longest announced game to market, but we are still working it through. I think the thing that amazes me is that we have managed to adhere to all those crazy, role-playing ideas that we came up with in the early development stages. It sure has made the game a lot different to build than a traditonal shooter or MMO.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing Vespers completed. It seems to be doing nicely.
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