Changing roles.
by Gareth Fouche · 11/30/2006 (12:50 am) · 9 comments
Well, I've done almost no work in the last 2 weeks. The problem (if you could call it that), is that after years of running on my old hardware, I finally upgraded my PC to something meaty. Which means all those games I have been lusting after, but unable to play, I now can.
So I've been glutting myself on Dark Messiah, Gothic 3, Prey etc. Mainly Gothic 3 in fact. It has some issues, but its an amazing, open ended RPG.
All that gameplaying has meant little to no work done, but overall its a positive thing I think. You need to sacrifice a lot of personal time to be an indie developer, and you can almost get to the point where you forget why you're doing it in the first place. Because you just love games.
Fortunately, I have scratched that particular itch for now, and the urge to get back into development has returned. I've integrated my code with 1.5, there were a few issues there but it looks like its all sorted now.
However, now that thats done I'm changing gears a bit, and getting into some art.
Now, I'm not really an artist. I have some drawing talent, a sense of shape and colour, but I've never really developed it through formal training. My anatomy in particular is weak, its based off what I learnt copying comic books and a few figure drawing classes (I really should go back to those). I've played with photoshop, but I'm no expert there. And I've done some of the 3DS Max tutorials. Haven't got to characters or rigging yet.
Anyway, so, thats my starting point. Lets see how I progress ;)
I have drawn up a list of props I want/need for my game. Household accessories, farm implements, etc. And now I will tackle them, one by one, starting from the easy stuff (some will come from content packs, but I can't get everything that way). And hopefully I will get better as I gain experience. Its quite nice to have a list and to measure progress by marking stuff off, I'm not the best when it comes to drawing up design documents, but I recommend at least some attempts at planning.
So here is my first attempt. A stool. Marvel at its beauty. ;)
Its got collision and everything.
This was actually the first time I've used Texporter. A neat little plugin that. Oh, and for anyone looking at learning the basics, I recomend Ben Mathis's video tutorials, they are quite useful and beginner-friendly : www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm
Now, I know what you're thinking : "Gareth, thats a game in itself right there. Orcs and Stools. An instant classic."
But no. I have greater ambitions, if that is concievable. I see....a chair. Perhaps even a table. Who knows, eventually, maybe even a wardrobe.
So I've been glutting myself on Dark Messiah, Gothic 3, Prey etc. Mainly Gothic 3 in fact. It has some issues, but its an amazing, open ended RPG.
All that gameplaying has meant little to no work done, but overall its a positive thing I think. You need to sacrifice a lot of personal time to be an indie developer, and you can almost get to the point where you forget why you're doing it in the first place. Because you just love games.
Fortunately, I have scratched that particular itch for now, and the urge to get back into development has returned. I've integrated my code with 1.5, there were a few issues there but it looks like its all sorted now.
However, now that thats done I'm changing gears a bit, and getting into some art.
Now, I'm not really an artist. I have some drawing talent, a sense of shape and colour, but I've never really developed it through formal training. My anatomy in particular is weak, its based off what I learnt copying comic books and a few figure drawing classes (I really should go back to those). I've played with photoshop, but I'm no expert there. And I've done some of the 3DS Max tutorials. Haven't got to characters or rigging yet.
Anyway, so, thats my starting point. Lets see how I progress ;)
I have drawn up a list of props I want/need for my game. Household accessories, farm implements, etc. And now I will tackle them, one by one, starting from the easy stuff (some will come from content packs, but I can't get everything that way). And hopefully I will get better as I gain experience. Its quite nice to have a list and to measure progress by marking stuff off, I'm not the best when it comes to drawing up design documents, but I recommend at least some attempts at planning.
So here is my first attempt. A stool. Marvel at its beauty. ;)
Its got collision and everything.
This was actually the first time I've used Texporter. A neat little plugin that. Oh, and for anyone looking at learning the basics, I recomend Ben Mathis's video tutorials, they are quite useful and beginner-friendly : www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tutorial.htm
Now, I know what you're thinking : "Gareth, thats a game in itself right there. Orcs and Stools. An instant classic."
But no. I have greater ambitions, if that is concievable. I see....a chair. Perhaps even a table. Who knows, eventually, maybe even a wardrobe.
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#2
11/30/2006 (1:54 am)
for someon who's a "weak" artist that is a good stool, I suffer worse then you I'm afraid my problem is I can tend to draw/sketch on paper very well but when I try to do anything in computer programs, well it looks like it's a first grade finger painting. Good luck with the rest of the models, judging from the stool they will come out ok, and you may want to check out the plugin for blender called makehuman for you anatomy problems
#4
11/30/2006 (3:26 am)
Ummm... actually what I was thinking was... Im scared to visit that domain name.
#5
We will loose a lot of code in the process due to the fact that some of the features are now duplicate but in the long run it will save us time I think.
11/30/2006 (3:30 am)
Thanks for asking. It's in a 'changing' state right now. Level design and story writing is moving nicely but programming has been halted because we have purchased Dreamer's TITAS kit and so we're waiting for it to get to a more stable state before we merge and get back on it.We will loose a lot of code in the process due to the fact that some of the features are now duplicate but in the long run it will save us time I think.
#6
11/30/2006 (3:50 am)
Good stuff at the link above. Found it a year ago or so. Not sure why someone would set it up at that domain name... To each his own I guess - I can't imagine having that portfolio link on a resume though.
#7
Definately good to play a game here and then, Gothic 3 and Neverwinter Nights 2 have occupied a good amount of my time in the last month or two. Definately like both more than Oblivion, Oblivion might look prettier but both Gothic 3 and NWN2 questline and storylines are much more desireable. When I play these games, it just motivates me to work more on my Action-RPG bits.
@Nick
Good to see things going well with you. MMO Kit (I don't have Titas) is a good basis for learning, I don't use it straight for my project, but I have looked at the code to see how they do things and it helps me implement them for my needs. I sent you an email a couple weeks ago, did you ever get it?
11/30/2006 (4:03 am)
@GarethDefinately good to play a game here and then, Gothic 3 and Neverwinter Nights 2 have occupied a good amount of my time in the last month or two. Definately like both more than Oblivion, Oblivion might look prettier but both Gothic 3 and NWN2 questline and storylines are much more desireable. When I play these games, it just motivates me to work more on my Action-RPG bits.
@Nick
Good to see things going well with you. MMO Kit (I don't have Titas) is a good basis for learning, I don't use it straight for my project, but I have looked at the code to see how they do things and it helps me implement them for my needs. I sent you an email a couple weeks ago, did you ever get it?
#9
Matt, sorry I thought I had replied. Expect one now.
11/30/2006 (2:42 pm)
That domain name is actually blocked from the internet proxy at my work!Matt, sorry I thought I had replied. Expect one now.
Torque Owner Nick Zafiris
Good luck with your chair and table!
Nick