Blog for Ashley Kelley at GarageGames.com

The Garage Games Community

Ashley Kelley — 2008-07-03T10:37:18+00:00

No products mentioned, no links and no pictures. Just an observation of my time as a member of this Indie Developer community.

When I joined this community more than 3 years ago I knew very little about what I was getting into. Like most people here I wanted to build a game. I toyed with ideas and resources but I could never get past a certain point. I asked questions on the forums and always got great answers. People who I'm sure had better things to do took time out of their schedule to help me along. People like Dreamer, Rex, Ari, Jondo, Kittle, Jonothan, and most importantly Dave Young spent hours working with me on different projects. They litterally taught me much of what I know today. Without these people and many more like them in this community I would still be scratching my head.

Garage Games really has a great community here. I wish everyone could appreciate that. Just think about any answer you get to a post in the forums. Even if its not as helpful as you'd like it is still someones time and effort. But there are a few people out there who seem to believe that the Game Engine License entitles you to immediate help with any number of questions. (Most of which have been answered time and time again in the forums.) That little search bar on the top right of your screen is your friend.

I think the reason I made so many friends here and got so much assistance was because I was willing to learn. I was respectful of other peoples time so I did as much research as I could and tried not to ask the redundant questions. Being someone who answers a lot of questions these days myself, it is really frustrating to explain the same thing over and over when its printed right in the forums here.

To sum it up... I am proud to be a member of this indie game development community. I've had a great time over the past 3+ years and look forward to many more.

Combat Starter Kit Released By Garage Games

Ashley Kelley — 2008-06-30T17:31:11+00:00

We are proud to announce that Garage Games has released the Combat Starter Kit.

A great deal of work has gone into this Starter Kit making it one of the largest packs available at Garage Games.

For more information Click Here

More In The Combat Starter Kit

Ashley Kelley — 2008-03-08T00:36:06+00:00

The Dev Team for the Combat Starter Kit has added a few more items to the next update. Combat Starter Kit v.1.0.1 will be out this week with the following additions.

The new HGT Vehicle Class

The new HGT is fully functional with mounted turret and animated doors.

Also we have added AP Mines. These Lazer activated mines can certainly slow down the enemy.

Also we are adding AV Mines. There is no better way to disable or destroy enemy vehicles.

These mines sink into the ground to blend with the terrain.

Expect to see the new version available in the next few days. All code, scripts and source art included.

Purchase the Combat Starter Kit

Combat Starter Kit Update

Ashley Kelley — 2008-02-25T17:17:03+00:00

The Combat Starter Kit Update

The combat Starter Kit was just released but already our team at Dream Games Inc have made a few updates. While the tank which came with the initial release was functional it was not the quality of art that we are happy to publish. We have developed a new M1A1 based on realistic dimensions. Also we have added a muzzle flash to the main turret gun.

If you are already an owner of the Combat Starter Kit these updates will be available shortly as CSK v.1.01 .

If you have not yet purchased the Combat Starter Kit you might want to compare the features we offer with any other content or starter kit package. Combat Starter Kit is a fully functional and well tested add-on for the Torque Game Engine. It was produced and sold under contract with GarageGames.

Our ongoing product upgrade and support is evident in the many functions that we plan to release in the near future. Among those items are additional vehicle and player model upgrades. Anti-personnel mines (Claymore Type) are being tested now.

Purchase the Combat Starter Kit

Indie art pipeline

Ashley Kelley — 2008-01-05T07:11:06+00:00

I am happy to announce that I have finally put together a 6 week course called Player Model Mechanics for Torque School. I focused on using the less expensive tools like Milkshape, Fragmotion and Ultimate Unwrap to create an art pipeline that is easy to understand and powerful.

Torque School

Here is a quick look at what I have planned:

Week One:

Dissecting the player: The class will take a game ready player model and break it down to understand the basic mechanics.

Discussion: The configuration export file and player components.

Week Two:

Groupings and UV maps: Class will break a model into groupings and UV mapping. Creating textures with painting program. Tips and tricks of the trade.

Discussion: Techniques for UV mapping using groups in Ultimate Unwrap. Preparation of Levels of Detail for export.

Week Three:

Rigging the player model: The class will take existing skeleton rig and correctly weight it to a player model.

Discussion: Procedures and techniques. The player's construct script file.

Week Four:

Animation: Using Fragmotion the class will delve into poses and animation sequences.

Discussion: Full body animations and partial body animations and blended animations. Advanced configuration file setups.

Week Five:

Advanced animations and triggers: The class will add face animations such as blinking and laughing to the player model. Triggers for foot prints will be added to animations.

Discussion: Typical animations added to give more a more realistic feel to player models. How ambient and advanced animations and triggers are handled in the script and game engine.

Week Six:

Guest Speaker: Dave Young will be explaining the concept of multi mesh and multi textures in the Torque Game Engine.

Multi textures and meshes: Class will add mesh and textures to player model. Learn scripting guides for changing textures and meshes used for hair and clothing. Selling art, contract work and team work..

Discussion: Clothing and hair created with hidden meshes. Multiple textures and switching them in game. Selling yourself and your art. Knowing your limitations.

Battlefield Torque Demo

Ashley Kelley — 2007-09-17T17:54:36+00:00

Battlefield Torque Server Load Test

Dream Games Inc would like to invite everyone to test a Demo of Battlefield Torque. We are currently running a very stable test server but we would like to do a load test. If you are interested we will be monitoring the server Tuesday September 18th from 1:00 pm eastern until midnight.

Just so you know what to expect this is a generic battlefield type game. There are tanks which can be mounted by 2 players 1 driver/main gunner and 1 50cal gunner. The gunship helicopters can have one pilot/gunner. The transport helicopters can carry up to 7 players 1 pilot two door gunners and 4 passengers. The jeeps can carry 5 players, 1 driver, 1 50 cal gunner and 3 passengers.

There are numerous weapons available including rifles, hand grenades and even c4 packs. The inventory is set to the keys 1 - 5.

This is a very generic game but many people have had a great time playing it. We hope you will join us. Don't feel limited to just the server test. If you enjoy it you can log on and play anytime.

The demo is available here:

Battlefield Torque

Just download and run the self extract then start it up with the BFT Torque Demo .exe

My Dream Game Contest Update

Ashley Kelley — 2007-03-27T23:05:51+00:00

Not to be outshone by all the great blogs this week, we do have an update to make for the 1 Year Dream Game Contest.

Contest Rules, Team Entry Forums, and the all powerful NDA have been posted on our website.

The contest still starts on April 1st. We are really excited to see what projects the indie game developer community can design.

Good luck!

Ashtara
Dream Games, Inc.

Video Tutorials

Ashley Kelley — 2006-11-07T00:59:14+00:00

I have been putting together a library of video tutorials geared toward new artist. If you have questions about rigging characters, making portals for TGE or making a UV map for your character you should find the current list helpful.

I will be continually adding to these tutorials over the next few months. If you have requests for video tutorials please feel free to leave me a note here. I will try to get to them.

MyDreamRPG.com

Milkshape video tutorial series

Ashley Kelley — 2006-09-21T12:45:29+00:00

Thanks to some of the great people I have met here like REX, I have begun putting together a tuitorial series for Mikshape. The fist one of the series entitled Model Rigging is up and ready. My next video tutorial should be out in a few days. It will deal with vertex weighing and exporting animations from milkshape into Torque Game Engine. The next and more advanced tutorial will delve into exporting blends into TGE and setting up the script appropirately.

I couldn't have done this without the great people of this community. Its time I gave a little something back. Also I appreciate any constructive criticism.

tutorial link below:
click here

Horses

Ashley Kelley — 2006-04-26T15:33:54+00:00

We have been busy over at mydreamrpg.com. The question was how to put a horse into the game so that players could ride around the world. Well we finally managed. The horses wander around until a player targets one. The player mounts and takes control. Next we paln to make a pet out of the horse and maybe even a posession spell. Personally I've never wanted to be a horse but I suppose some might like that.

For those who would like to take a look we should have a demo out shortly at mydream.com as well as a horse pack.