Blog for Gerard Prudhomme at GarageGames.com

GPforge.com and lwolf.net

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-06-24T19:55:32+00:00

Been struggling with trying to get the new GPforge.com website off the ground.

Think I might have bitten off a little bit more than I could chew. I have to take some more certification exams as well coming up very soon.
[image]http://www.gpforge.com/files/images/abaddon.jpg]
I am also trying to work on Abaddon, if I can find some time between work, studying, and taking care of things at home.

Anyway, the new site has a new name. It is now called GPforge, as I realized iGerard was a little bit too egotistical.

Plus, people normally prefer .com site domain TLDs to those like the igerard.co.uk that I had.

Plus, I think I had a pretty nifty logo, so I really wanted to use it!

Anyway, the new GPforge site has loads of functionality that the previous sites didn't have, you can leave comments behind for all the postings, and I promise I will have fully fleshed out the site as soon as I get the chance.

I am also trying to get this blog lwolf.net off the ground, as I used to basically blog on my main site, but I realize that most people don't want to have my blog mixed in with info about Abaddon, so I will keep my development blog separate so if anyone wants to read it they can.

BRAND NEW WEBSITE

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-05-23T13:00:44+00:00

Welcome to the new iGerard.co.uk website. I would have to guess this is probably the twentieth time I have recreated my website (hopefully it will be the last!) I do like making websites though, so I cannot promise that I wont be remaking it again. I will promise, however, that I will wait at least a week before I remake the website!

I am currently in London, and have been having a rather wonderful time here. I have also been getting in touch with a lot of people I haven't talked to for ages, trying to notify everyone about my wedding coming up. I am rather happy actually, as it provided me a reason to call up my friends who I had fallen out of contact with, and it was really great to get back in touch with them.

As you can probably tell, the website is in a bit of a state at the moment, and I will be getting the other pages up soon. All that works at the moment is this index page and the gallery page (which has a pretty cool way to view the 3D images, so check it out!)

Trip To London

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-04-29T17:49:42+00:00

I used to be super excited about flying across the pond (The Atlantic Ocean) but now I just think oh my I am going to have to sit in one place for ages! I have to go to London to help Rakhi with some of the arrangements for the wedding (we are having it in London because most of her family is there.)

I am excited about going back to England, haven't been there for six months, and I missing it quite a bit. I have been working on some 3D/2D Art for Abaddon, and some Art tutorials to put up on my webpage. I also have redesigned the website, with a new interface that I think looks well nice (the present one is a bit too bright for my taste.)

I will be working on the art, the game, and my website while I am in England, so don't worry there will be updates!

SCJP 5.0 CERTIFICATION

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-04-25T15:34:28+00:00

I just wanted to tell everyone that I have passed the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 Examination.

It was most indubitably arduous, I had to spend a number of weeks in the library memorizing all the intricacies of Generics, Threads, Auto-boxing, Serialization, Synchronization, Static Nested Inner Classes, and more!

Thankfully though, I have now completed it and I will soon be getting a nifty logo that I can put on my web page to show that I am an official Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform, Standard Edition 5.0!

The gift that I got for myself as a reward for studying super hard and getting the bloody certification is the ZBrush digital sculpting program.

I have been playing around with the free 30-Day trial version, and I have completely fallen in love with the program. It works rather well with my new Wacom Intuos3 6x8 Tablet :)

Also, I have updated my website, added some new links, fixed the XHTML formatting for a few pages, and I will soon be releasing some cool new images of the 3D model for the main character of Abaddon that I have created with ZBrush.

Character Sheet

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-04-01T16:31:51+00:00

I spent a lot of time making this thing, working on the various icons and making sure that most of it is fairly intuitive. Hopefully when you look at the different icons you can readily determine what the symbolism of the icon is.

If you can't I just thought I would help you guys out by telling you what each one represents, and if you think that they are not appropriate for what they represent, please let me know! I always love to hear constructive criticism, helps me to hone my skills and view things with a fresh eye.

Anyway, the first icons are, starting from the left most column and working down. We have Hit Points, Current Equipped Weapon's Statistics, Armour Class, Action Points (how quickly your character moves and shoots), The Character's current level and Experience points, and the character's morality rating (How many good or bad things the character has done)

Within the 2nd column from the left we have the character's Attributes, these are, from top to bottom respectively, Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intellect, Perception, Appearance, or, as I like to call it, the SACIPA system...

Third column from the left is the beginning of the skills list. These are, from top to bottom respectively, Rifles, Pistols, Shotguns, Hand to Hand Weapons, Armoury, Explosives.

The fourth column from the left is a continuation of the skills section. These are, from top to bottom respectively, Stealth, Acquisition, Locksmithing, Medicine, Gambling, and Persuasion.

I was hoping to show off my new 3D Character Model for the main character in my game, Duke Gilead of the House of Levai. But, unfortunately, it has taken me a bit longer than expected to get the model up to the level where I would want to show him.

Sufficed to say, the character model is light years beyond the current character model I am using. My improved 3D skills have allowed me to create a character model that is easily on par with the highest quality models being put out by studios such as Electronic Arts, Bethesda Softworks, and Take Two Interactive.

The only question now is how I am going to retain all that quality without having millions of polygons in TGEA...obviously I am going to use normal maps, I just hope I am able to maintain a large portion of the model's current quality without having too many polygons!!

Anyway, thanks for looking at my blog and let me know what you think!

Inventory Screen for Abaddon

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-03-22T23:45:36+00:00

I just wanted to show off a new screen shot from my western post-apocalyptic role-playing game Abaddon (This game is in fact the most amazing western post-apocalyptic computer role playing game ever made!.... It is only a coincidence that it is the first, last, and only WPACRPG (western post-apocalyptic computer role playing game....it is an acronym I just made up!)

Anyway, this screen shows off the inventory system for the RPG. It is going to be rather simple to navigate, I have made it fairly intuitive and easy to use. I have used a categorization system, similar to the one used in the Oblivion RPG.

You can see at the bottom of the inventory screen, from left to right, the weapon category, the armour category, the miscellaneous category, and, finally, medicine items.

Oh, by the way, the Torque 1.7 Open Beta is available, I have played around with it and I am very impressed the way they have changed the code and the efficiency of the Torque Game Engine Advanced.

You can download demos of Abaddon at abaddon.igerard.co.uk/index.html

The Prodigal Son Returns!

Gerard Prudhomme — 2008-03-15T17:36:28+00:00

If you look at the picture for my profile you can see my beautiful fiancee Rakhi. We are getting married on July 31st and I cannot wait! I have been busy with the wedding preparations and I started a new job in October, a pretty hectic one at that! Therefore I have not had much time for my game. However, I am making some time for the game as I feel like I really want to.

I have all the 3D models I need to create a really good prototype, I am just holding off until I get everything I want together to make something that will really show off all the capabilities of the Torque Game Engine Advanced!

Oh, by the way I have also purchased an upgrade to the Torque Game Engine Advanced, and I am really impressed by the capabilities exhibited by the engine. It is a bit difficult to deal with, but I spend all day programming complex systems from scratch at my job, so I think I should be able to figure it out.

I am hoping to make use of the gorgeous Atlas terrain qualities. I was very impressed with the realistic feel of the RPG Oblivion, and that was in part because of the large terrains found in the game. Therefore, I would like to incorporate such functionality within Abaddon.

Stay tuned, I will be commenting on my progress in bringing the demo together. Hopefully I will be able to create some beneficial resources for the Garage Games community.

Get more information about Abaddon and see more Screenshots and 3D Models at www.igerard.co.uk and abaddon.igerard.co.uk