Blog for Jerane Alleyne at GarageGames.com

Wednesday Jun 30 21:15

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-06-30T21:15:17+00:00

You ever get those days where it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day, and when the day ends, you can't remember what it was you were doing? This happens to me every time I get into updating my documents for Event Alpha...I've managed to stack up three nice sized ones:

1) Main Document for covering overall game mechanics

2) Creative Document for Artists; creative direction and outline for various mission types and descriptions

3) Progress Document, covering development milestones, completion chart and a report on every new version of our game (added features, bugs, what next, etc.)

This might be overkill, but it helps keep things a bit more organized, and I like to write stuff down :) A lot of times it keeps me from my art work, which is always a joy to get back to mapping retreading animation sequences, and trees (actually I've gotten much better at doing trees now...kinda like doing them, go figure)!

With our latest version of the game, we added a basic spawn point capture system, as well as spawning at the closest point to where a player has died. As we implement our own type team system, we'll add more functionality to this system as it relates to our modes of play.

I'm trying to find the balance between destructible objects and performance, to keep a more 'realistic' viewpoint on what can and can't be destroyed, without sacrificing little things like framerate. It seems the best way is to have a mix of .DIF and .DTS objects (which of course can be destroyed), I just want to steer away from having things like trucks blow up, and be brought to a full stop my a lamp post :)

I hope to have a full revamp of the website by August, detailing more info on the game, story and all that. We'll probably have more screenshots of count by then as well...I still want to wait until we have something of greater value to show.

Til then...

Jerane Alleyne
Event Alpha

Thursday May 27 15:22

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-05-27T15:22:01+00:00

I just heard a few "songs" from The Transformed Man, William Shatner's classic album...and I have to say it was one of the most surreal experiences I have witness to. I recommend it to anyone whether you like him or not :)

Not a hell of a whole lot to report this time around. I was trying to wait until we had a new build to report on, but we are getting a taking out a few bugs, and testing new weapon types first, so just a little while longer. We're starting to round up a few bodies to do some larger team testing , to make sure the bugs we do get aren't related to the scope of player we have on at a time.

We're starting to reach the limits of what we can do with large scale maps. I had a nice 5 minute load time for a large city map, which of course is not an option. At least this gives us an idea on how to better do larger maps with a lot of structures.

I've taken a bit of time to research a few places that help with developing small businesses, in regards to loans, financial information and so on. I got one of those Lesko books, and found quite a few places in New York. I'm gonna make some time next week to get into a few of these programs and see what they have to offer. If I find anything truly useful, I'll post it as a resource. Incidentally, the credit card companies are starting to be real nice to me now...they must be desperate :o

Ok, off to be productive. Hope to have mroe info next time, but probably no screenshots til I get my hands on TSE (nudge, nudge)...probably :((

Later

Jerane Alleyne
Lead Artist
Event Alpha

Wednesday Apr 14 16:29

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-04-14T16:29:44+00:00

"Fear covets the possibility of death...calm shepards its certainty." -D'argo, Farscape

I think the thing that I hate most is modeling trees. I probably hate the tedious process of doing the same animation sequences over for each time we add or test new aspects for our player models, but my hate for trees has earned a special place. I think of all the years I have done 3D modeling, I've never really done trees from scratch. At least now I'm happy with their look...now about 15-20 more types to go...

We just got a major update to the build of our game, Event Alpha. Now we have our mechs' arms and head being blown off, limping from leg damage, and can be knocked down by another mechs ramming it at a defined speed. We picked up some major bugs which should be resolved soon, but it didn't get too much in the way of having fun online :)

I finally got around to adding music to a few of the early maps, to see how they mesh with the missions. When we get a title theme I'll post it for you guys to hear.

Ok, more trees to do. I'll have some brighter news next month :D

Wednesday Mar 3 15:30

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-03-03T15:30:54+00:00

Its been an interesting past few weeks. about 2 weeks ago, my system crashed for a 3rd time, causing me to format my main drive partition and reinstall my OS. I ended up losing a good deal of work, as well as all of my email records and contacts. I tried backing up my registry prior to this,and using that so I wouldn't have to reinstall all of my applications again, but I ended up making the problem worse :)

Nontheless, things have turned around. Everything is more or less back up and running, and I'm off of a Morrowind binge to cope with my recent computer catastrophe (which wasn't all bad. They have a nice sandstorm weather effect that I wanted to look at, and possibly doing something similar for our game). Or programmers have blessed us with a new build to play with, adding damage location more suited for our needs, a nice dynamic crosshair, and a few things to make it easier to add new weapons later on. Adding functional mines is one of the last areas to cover with our weapon types, as well as getting melee weapons going. As it stands we are inching much closer to a version that will feel like a true game.

I've gotten behind in preparing the maps with our level designer due to the issues I was dealing with last week, and now that we have a new damage location system in (which allows us to use our own hitboxes), I'll have to reanimate the player models, which isn't too big a deal, as I planned to remodel some of the current ones to knock up the poly count :)

As it stands, we're trying really hard to make a run for showing off something nice by the end of this year, but realistically we still have a while before we get to the spit and polish. So til then....

Jerane Alleyne
Sovereign Studios
Event Alpha

Wednesday Feb 4 11:48

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-02-04T11:48:38+00:00

Continuing to toil away with Event Alpha...

I got hooked into a few freelance assignments, so lately I've been a bit sidetracked, but I've still managed to do some work. We're continuing to do the prototype levels for what will serve as the first multiplayer campaign for the game. We're about 1/3 of the way through...once that's done, I can get back to the player models. I decided to bump up the poly count for our players, so I asked one of our artists to go back to some of the models he designed and have a field day. It'll be a bit more work, but I think the game will look even sharper because of it.

I just did a small update of the website, adding some concept images and screenshots. Even though I had some new shots made, I didn't want to post on GG until I had something more spectacular to show, so maybe a little while longer til that happens :D

Well, that's all for now. I think by next month or so, we'll be redesigning the site, to include more info on the mechs, weapons and so forth...and by then probably something for the gallery!

Later...

Thursday Jan 1 17:10

Jerane Alleyne — 2004-01-01T17:10:32+00:00

I didn't realize it been almost a year since my last plan! I did post a screenshot a while back, and vowed go back in my hole and not post another until we have more work to show. Well, we do have more to show, but its all stuff for later, and we still have a ways to go :)

Quite a bit has happened this past year...I upgraded my 4-year old PC (goodbye, Betty!), lost 2 of my precious hard drives (sorry to those whose emails I lost and couldn't contact :( ), lost my equally precious 19-inch monitor (goodbye 1600*1200!), lost some great members from Event Alpha, gained some equally great members, missed deadlines and made some new ones...whatever the case we still tread on.

We originally tried to set a date for a beta version of our game before the end of '03, but with the shuffle in our team that proved not to be. We are currently having issues with a new damage location system, which is one of the last major hurdles we have before moving to the end of the player-related code work. With this, and the missing of our deadline for this year, we decided on the creative side, to get all of the final content out of the way, so it will be done and ready to implement with the code. We have enough for testing purposes, but just decided to move on with what will exist in the final release of the game, which will include any changes or alterations to the game content. We've started on prototype versions of the missions that will encompass the first campaign and all related content. Then later, we can just throw in what is necessary when we are done with what is needed in scripting and code.

With the coming of the new year, I have tried to make some resolutions, as well as the hope of actually carrying them out (I only count the ones aimed at our game, I don't even consider my personal ones anymore :P ). I vow to have Event Alpha in at least a Beta form by mid Spring...I vow to make this this year to IGC (promise!)...and I vow to present a polished, professional and great game, before I turn 30...which is soon...

Oh ya, and to post plans on a consistent basis this year :)

Anyway guys, I hope you enjoy this year. I plan on trying to do my part and make it interesting for Garagegames and four our little group...and if I happen to eat my words, I hope some of you will make it a point to catch me on it and give me a stern talking to.

Have a good New Year!

Jerane Alleyne
Sovereign Studios
Project Leader - Event Alpha

Thursday Feb 27 11:57

Jerane Alleyne — 2003-02-27T11:57:45+00:00

*sigh*, it seems like my woman is good for nothing but breaking my heart, and I always return...well on with it...

General Progress
=======================
Well the site is still down, but it shouldn't be too much longer. In any case we should have a good deal of new things up, so it won't be for nothing. Our main concentration has been in getting our work completed for our in-house final build in June, before we make a full public release of a public demo soon after. Unfortunately we won't be able to present anything with Garagegames at GDC (mainly due to a somewhat fatal bug, and a few other things), but we hope at least to be ready for IGC this year...just need to set aside some cash for airfare :P

Creative Progress
In the time our site remains down, I though about posting up a screen shot of one of our new player models that was completed by one of our artists, and that I skinned, but I might hold off on it a bit more to get a few more player models done. In any case, the work goes on to get these player models done. We want to have about 3 types (varying in size and some animations, etc) from each of 2 of our races for the in-house game build.

While we have all the final animation sequences in (aside from some tweaking due to size variations), we have run into what appears to be a limit of 32 animation sequences for a player. While this isn't a big problem, we are interested in finding a solution. Our primary animation sequences are in, but some of the extras for filling in a few gaps would be nice. For instance, I never liked the way players switched weapons. Because the armthreads are blended sequences, they don't transition smoothly, so I wanted to add some 'transition' sequences between switching weapons...and they tend to add up. A few others (falling down in different directions, limping) will hopefully make it in once we get into this further.

A new map is being worked on now by our new level designer, set to be an 'urban combat training' map. We will build on this for things like triggered events and destructible buildings later on, but for now it will be a basic map. While we are not aggressively looking for level designers, we are interested in gaining a few, mainly for going over the design style and getting familiar with the tools and materials. For more information on what we are looking for in a level designer, please check here if you are interested.

Programming Progress
===========================
After our lead programmer came back full swing, we got a lot of things completed. Location damage, which shows up on our display HUD, additions to the profile and inventory system, our internal components for the mechs being functional and able to take damage (along with the pilot), and a few triggered events (damage to arms or legs will cause smoke/fire to emit out of the area). The addition of more responsive bots make me happy, as I now have something more to shoot at :D

Right about now we are in the debugging phase, getting rid of a few particularly nasty ones that crept up. After that we'll be back on, refining the new features, and adding the remaining stuff to finalize the player class. There are 2 more player classes to finish (Tank and VTOL), but they should go faster after the core stuff has been done. Making a habit of concentrating in the player and gameplay features now, and tackle all of our visual enhancements later is our train of thought. It's nice to make things pretty, but its still gotta play right. While we are making significant progress with our few programmers, we are on the look out for at least 1 to 2 more. You can check out what's required here if you're interested.

That should be it for now. With any luck, the site should be back up by my next plan, and I'll be much happier.

Tuesday Jan 14 13:15

Jerane Alleyne — 2003-01-14T13:15:55+00:00

I missed doing a plan last month due to so many things going on with our game, Event Alpha...I'm only now really able to sit down and write a plan before another month goes by.....

General Progress
=======================
After nearly 3 years of overpriced, underwhelming service, our contract with our web host has ended. I wanted to wait until our time was over before moving on to another host...one that updated their software and wasn't so expensive. Right now I'm caught between Globat and PhP webhosting. Both seem pretty good and well-priced, so I'm gonna think about it for a bit. Our site will be offline til the end of the month or so, as I have to clear up some issue with our previous webhost before getting it on with another...I've spent enough money already >( When the site goes back up, we should have a good loadout of new material to show off :) Just in the case of anyone needing to reach me in the meantime, I'm using my temp email address, majin_psyduck@yahoo.com...don't ask :)

On a bit more of a brighter side, things are starting to pick up again, as our motley crew has started to come back from their respective vacations and getting resettled in their assignments. We've set a date for an internal demo tentatively in June, and a public one to follow shortly afterwards. The internal demo will concentrate on our final player class construction and all established areas concerning the player in particular. The following demo will concentrate on more gameplay aspects and expanded areas of the base player class.

Creative Progress
========================
We've got a new artist on board to work on one of the races we need completed for the internal demo. They have their own unique look and will no doubt be nice to look at in the game. I'll probably put up a screenshot here of the models and concepts of our artists have completed, til the site is back up and running.

I think I've finally got a skeleton for the animation that is trouble-free. One of the main problems was an issue we had with sidestepping. In the first person view, the player model would rotate improperly, trying to align the BIP_Spine node (in a Biped skeleton in 3DS Max) to a forward view. All that was required was to rename the nodes so that the code didn't see Bip_Spine. Much thanks to Joe Maruschak for pointing that out :) Other things that were added were dummy nodes for certain events, like emitting smoke or fire when damaged, jet thrust when jumping, and a source for lights. Also, just to be safe, I added a dummy for a possible rear camera, in the case of using the current cameras (eye & cam) wouldn't be prudent. When we start working on aircraft, we'll have a Bomb view camera as well. There are yet still more animations that need to be added...seems like for every new idea, it requires 5 new sequences :)

It looks like we'll be having a new level designer joining us soon. For our demos, we won't need more than 2 basic maps, but during that time, we'll probably be putting him through the ringer getting him caught up on what we will be doing once the full campaign maps begin. Additionally, we got some great music samples from a great musician that fit perfectly with the vision for the game. As it stands, we'll probably have a few tracks from different artists to cover each of the races...thats the idea anyway :P

Programming Progress
===========================
After updating our code to the current Torque version (last month :)), its time to get out hands dirty with the fun stuff...

Now that our lead coder is back on, we're running full steam ahead. In getting damage location (from the resource that was provided here on the GG site) to work, there appeared to be a problem with it working for..apparently having to do with the size of our players...as they are much larger than the default player used in the Torque demo. He eventually wrote his own code for damage location, and it works fine, with accompanied gui damage bitmaps to show specific damage to areas. He also managed to knock out the bugs in our earlier homing missile code...although it was interesting to see what it was doing before that :)

There is yet still more work to be done...Gui bitmap controls for energy, "components" for the player units to control their various attributes, triggered events that occur when a certain amount of damage is received, and weapons(!). We're making it a priority to finish the player class first, and then work our way down. We're saving things such as graphical enhancements for later stages, as this is the most important area to tackle now.

Well, that's about it for now. If I've forgotten anything, its just because I'm tired. With all the work we're doing, we're gonna make it a priority to get to IGC this year and show our asses off :)

Later...

Wednesday Nov 27 14:20

Jerane Alleyne — 2002-11-27T14:20:45+00:00

"Any rational society would either kill me or put me to some use." -Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon

Wasn't able to make it to IGC, so I'm shooting for next year. I hope to have something nice to show by then :)

Work continues to go forward. For some time I was unable to get on the Garagegames site, CVS server, or the master server to play online. Thankfully, it all seems to have cleared up. It was keping me from doing proper testing, so now its good to have it back.

General Progress
=======================
Had to shirk my art responsibilities for a while to concentrate on a few other tasks: doing an overview report on the latest build of our game, updating our progress chart on what work has been completed, setting up the next set of milestones, and bringing in a few new people. With some new artists on board, all that remains is to snag a programmer, or two :)

Creative Progress
========================
We added 2 new artists, one working on some graphic design properties such as wallpapers and custom fonts, and our other artist working on player models for 2 of our 4 races. Probably by the middle or late december I'll put up some shots of the great work the artists have done recently.

I'm now just getting back to my art duties after working on the long overdue profile and inventory system. I've already started revamping some animation, putting in new ones for new sequences we'll be adding. Besides some skinning and texture designing, I need to put together the replacement map that incorporates some of the work completed by our briefly appointed map designer. While it would be nice to have a level designer on board, it is probably too soon to have one now...but for those interested in what we need, you can check here.

I believe that I can also close down our request for more artists, but it might be good to have one more depending on things down the road...

Programming Progress
===========================
After completing a crude, yet functional player profile system (for a players' personal information, and to set up their race and specialty) and inventory (based on the specialty and race of the player), one of our programmers was able to pull off the horrendous task of updating our code to the new 112 torque version. Apparently, he noted a problem with the code used for our healthbitmap gui, and commented it our for the time being. I'm going to inquire about this to hopefully get some answers. Before I touch the new version, I'm trying to test out the previous version for some changes I made to the player spawning script, to ensure that players spawned with the weapons and player model of their choice based on their profile and inventory choices. I also need to ensure that when this is all refined, we can properly prevent players from cheating, although it looks pretty secure now.

Well, there's other stuff, but nothing you need to know :)
Now its time to do soem cooking for tommorrow's Thanksgiving...gotta go to the family's place this year.

Hope you guys have a good Thanksgiving!

Tuesday Oct 15 4:27

Jerane Alleyne — 2002-10-15T04:27:35+00:00

"Man, I wish I were smarter..." - Yamcha, Dragon Ball

Odd things have been going on of late...

I've been having trouble getting on to GG's site from my Earthlink ISP, so I've been reduced to using Netzero til I figure out what's wrong. Couldn't be at a worse time since I'm getting into scripting...

General Progress
=======================
Unfortunately I won't be making IndiegamesCon this turn around...got the real folk blues here, so things need tending to. Been trying to organize how the inventory and player profile system should work in script as I write it out. The trouble getting on GG's site is becoming more distracting tho, as it extends to game hosting and logging on CVS. I really want to clear this up before I move on to more work :(

We lost a few members recently, but as our lead programmer said, "it is the nature of the beast in this line of work"...right before he left for parts unknown. At least he'll be back soon ;D

Creative Progress
========================
Recently finished a few new weapons remodels and skins. Still need some fine-tuning with animations and other additions, such as sounds, but do they're job for the time being. Since I've been working on scripting, The others artists are handling the art duties. Finished a construction crane for our map purposes, and finishing up on a heavy air transport, that we hope to use an AI troop carrier if plans go well...

We've recently had a map maker come in and give us a few nice new thigns, but unfortunately real life issues stepped in and he had to go. We are still in for a level designer, but it really can wait until we are farther along.

We're also looking at a few new possibilities with some new artist applicants, so that is always good :)

Programming Progress
===========================
Things still going slow here, with some of our programmers getting resettled after dealing with assorted hijinx. I've been trying to pick up the slack with getting into the scripting sode, celaring up a few old issues, and adding some features that should have been completed. I haven't programmed in years, and my brain hurts from trying to think like a programmer again..I hate semi colons :(

There was a small bug with player scoring, which was fixed pretty easy. Currently looking at our player profile system, and the consequent inventory open to a player based on their specifc race and specialty. I'm trying to look at the best way to save a profile (most likely by creating a unique script file), and within the profile, creating the listing for custom configurations for the player and saving them.

One of our other programmers is currently tackling another issue thats a lead-in to the inventory system. We are currently trying to allow the player to spawn with their chosen weapons and player type before the game begins (before connecting to a server), and while this is successful, there is an unusual amount of lag for the player clients. Not only that, but should the player leave the server and come back, the lag disappears. Hoping we get this bug solved soon.

Well, thats all for now. Hope you guys have fun at IndiegamesCon. I'll be there in spirit, but otherwise sleeping and holding on to all the extra cash I can...