Interactive Medieval Props Pack And a Fractured Universe

Once again I'm giving the GG community a sneak peek at what I have been working on.


What is this pack?

1. It's a medieval content pack.
2. It's a tool for learning how to combine special "surfaces" and "properties" to objects to create small effects.
3. It's a series of tutorials.

What will this pack do for me?

1. It will teach you how to export a simple object from lightwave.
2. It will teach you how to export one of # attributes to an object/surface.
3. It will teach you how to combine the attributes into one object to create more complicated objects and effects
4. It will teach you basic "Art" scripting.
5. If nothing else, it will provide you with top quality Torque ready assets, which do STUFF!!!



What does the "Interactive" in "Interactive Medieval Props Pack" mean, you ask?

It means that most items are built to have something happen when a player interacts with them. Or, that they have some surface, animation, or combination thereof that makes them a little more complicated than a standard object.

Fractured Universe

Now here is something that came out of left field at me. One day, I was happily working along on my prop pack, trying to gather some feedback. I had posted some shots over on the Dream games IRC. Then a man named SgtFlame (AKA Tony Richards) sent me a personal message, offering a position as 2d/3d art lead. Well, as I have been around for a while, and have joined a few teams over the net before...well, lets just say, I had made a pact with myself that I wasn't going to do that again. Most fall apart, never pan out, or are just simply groups of people that, while they have great intentions, they don't have the skills to do what they had set out to do.

But, after getting to see what he had already come up with on his own. I was sold. Mostly, because its hard for artists to find good programmer support. (That also goes the other way also)

What I was shown was a solid foundation for an online game. That, more than any other thing, had basically prompted my joining this team. I did however, without committing, put myself on a "Trial" period.. But something that impressed me was Tony's ability to squash bugs... That really instilled confidence in me that this guy wasn't joking.. And that he could talk the talk, and walk the walk, something that I have found is not completely common amongst programmers.

I hope that doesn't come off as to arrogant, but after you have been a part of about oh...200 (Random number to prove point) projects, and worked with "Programmers" around the world, you get burned out.

As a consolation, I have heard this same phrase come out of the mouths of programmers about artists.

Needless to say, finding others that have at least the same skill level as yourself (whatever that level is) to work on a project is hard. I'm sure everyone reading this can relate, we all want to make games, we all want to learn, and it's hard to tell someone that they don't have the skills your looking for.

So, anyway, that's why I joined the team.

90 day art.

Let me preface by saying. "Holy crap!!1!. 90 days + Art work + it's a mmo = AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

That doesn't even give me time to put pencil to paper, let along build all the objects, Make the textures, build the zone, light it, script interactions, or create a cohesive look.

Thankfully, Tony has license to a ton of great art assets created by the fine people in the GG community. And I have no shame in telling you that we used the to the best of our ability in this game. There is some great work coming out of Flying Junk Productions, Todd Pickens brain, and others in the GG store, or connected with this community.

It's been an honor to work with these guys' assets, and their work has been a huge timesaver when I put on my world-building hat. With only 90 days, you will see a lot of their work featured in the game (When it goes public) as well as my own custom objects and environments.

Speaking of custom, when I was making and designing the assets for this game, I had to limit myself greatly. Most things, including the catacombs, were made in 1-2 evenings. (That's means, after my real jobs day, till about 1 a.m). This is something you'll find in common on most jobs, and in most production situations. You have to know when enough is enough, and when to move on. Something I think was well illustrated over at the Low poly co-op groups website. Sometimes, the only person that sees what is wrong with an object, or piece of artwork, is you.

Do I want to spend the next week making custom textures for that wall? Do I want to make sure that this and that look right, and are 100% optimized? Yes, I certainly do... Did I have time? [u]Nope[/u].

Not until after the contest.

So for this project, I think I have (Of the top of my head), Skinned the Main website, the forums, created the logo for the game (and about 8 variations depending on use), created about 19 objects, most with animations, or interactions, created one castle, one catacombs dungeon, 3-4 GUI screens, GUI chat skin, GUI spell bar skin, working on 1-3 NPC's (Mob type), .....uh.... and lots of other thing? It all blends together when you work so fast.

Any way, I'm tired of talking...and have work to do.

Here are some screen shots, some you have seen, and some you haven't.













And a Flash Movie, Please excuse the Construction, i haven't finished updating my website, or paying for the new hosting yet.