frogburd tee shirts

Oh Valve how I love you, let me count the ways...

Wow saturday was a fun day in the lab for all of us... I mean me... nobody else showed up :(. Whatever I still brought my Xbox 360 in for some "research." After some cord fananglin i was able to hook it up to the projector and play on the wall. I booted up L4D2 and started in on the developer commentary extra feature.

Why is this not in every game made?!

Basically you play through a campaign with infinite life and zombies don't attack you. I know that sounds boring and lame but there is a upshot: there a chat bubbles placed along your path that play audio commentary by developers and some even spawn enemies and examples of what the commentary is about.

It was awesome not only were there shotgun noises filling the entire MA building but I was actually able to pick up a ton of cool information on the production of that game. I made a quick text file and started taking notes. Here they are for all you fellow nerds:

L4D2 dev commentary notes:

use of spawned texture maps for different types of damage that change the UV pixel color to simulate blood and gore

use of rag-doll system to create body piles then export them as prefab objects.

use of texture randomizers on different layers to create a myriad of infected combinations like different shirts, dust, pond scum, hair and facial features.

common and uncommon (themed) zombies add theme to each level.

pictures of gore and "infection" are actually textures of housing insulation and potato skins.

Kinematic explosions from "boomers" cause populated areas to become different as players progress.

Pose parameters are used to modify animations for Jockey attacks in different animation layers one upper-body and one lower-body

they record play tester's screens as well as webcams monitoring their reactions so that the dev team could reference specific moments in the play test as well as freeing them from having to sit and monitor testers which takes hours.

blood splatters are handled with a strange form of raycasting that simply stretches the texture based on its angle of impact so that it appears to be coming from the dead zombie and if it is closer to parallel with the wall it will be stretched more but if it is head on with the wall it will appear free of distortion.

valve uses incandescent vomit to make the spitter easier to spot in the darkness as well as track, when she drools it onto the floor.

the impound lot in "the Parish" is a form of obstacle course where the cars all are rigged with alarms that summon the horde when activated making for a sneaking gameplay mechanic

director controlled weapon/item spawns help the player through the map but are constrained to when the director spawns them so if a player is whooping ass the item will not spawn or it will spawn an unnecessary or otherwise less weighted item. on the flip-side of that if a player is doing poorly or struggling the director can spawn a very useful or "clutch" item.

a "smeared axe" melee weapons and corresponding particle effects help the player to see the axe while still conveying the sense of a fast motion. this is a good way of creating motion blur without the use of processor heavy blur filters.

the team made a "left 4 dictionary" that contained terms like "capillary," "close-quarters," "open-spaces," "funnel," and "king of the hill." This keeps designers in key as to what the team wants from a level or specific area.

So basically I spent all day playing video games on the projector and accompanying sound system and taking notes all the while *yawn*. I got some other games that I took notes on (Dante's Inferno, Modern Warfare 2, GTA IV, Condemned 2, Mass Effect 2, Shadow Complex, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2) but I have yet to finish my research. I guess i will have to do this again with the rest of my games because it gives me a chance to step back stop worrying about leveling up and get to know a game and its functions.

Back From Santa Ese

Spent the last week taking care of my mom back in New Mexico, she had her knee replaced. Did get some FRAGSTONE work done though, made new concept art for the pistol, shotgun, and rocket launcher that is more in line with the style of the game. Created the first level in maya and brought it into unity. However the planes that make up the floor can only bee seen from one side (curse you normals). Should be a quick fix though, extrude and done. Also managed to get four selectable weapons working in unity, but only with placeholder objects; not actual functioning weapons. I also am posting the crosshairs for each weapon.

random idea for gameplay mechanic: crowd pleaser

basically you have to score kills in the view of the camera so the audience watching back home can have a good laugh (And the announcer gets to yell "BOOM HEADSHOT"

fragstonlevel 1 flythrough

basic model of the first arena in Fragstone. I made the map and legend in illustrator and will use that to map spawn points and items (your only seeing layer 1).

Fragstone Checklist Incomplete: Very Boring

Here is the initial checklist i have for the game read only until the plot section the rest is very boring stuff it is just a checklist posted here so i don't lose it.

Video Game Checklist:

Basics:

Type: FPS

Title: Fragstone (working)

Style: Space from dirty to clean.

Plot: You are a lone wolf space mercenary who was contracted to kill an evil space assassin. You and the assassin cause a whole mess of trouble fighting and are both trapped in the process. In prison you learn the real motive for your contract to kill each other (conspiracy). You and your former enemy are chosen to compete in the space arena, by the crazed warden, for your freedom from prison. You are reluctantly forced to work together to take down hordes of convicts as you amass galactic fame and uncover the plot to control the galaxy.

Assets:

Game Features (non-final):

Objectives and bonus objectives:

Upgradeable Weapons:

Multiplayer:

Arena (Campaign) mode:

Survival Mode:

Versus Mode:

Research:

Characters:

Clothing

Weapons

Equipment

Levels:

Containers

Styles

Other Games

Weapons:

Style

Animation

Projectiles

Impact

Upgrades

damage

fire rate

reload (capacity?)

Script:

FPS Controller

Move

Look

Jump

Crouch

Crouchwalk

Reload

Switch Weapons

Recoil?

Ammo Count

Health

Physics

AI

Animations

Menus

Multiplayer

Cutscenes

Misc:

Art:

Characters:

You: Space Merc (tank)

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Ally: Space Assassin (dps)

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Extras:

Warden

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Shopkeep

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Outsider Buddy

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Enemies:

Grunt: basic convict

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Big: giant convict

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Elite: gang higher-up: just add headgear or flare

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Boss:

1: Crusher

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

2: Jumper

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

3: Assault

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Levels:

Hub:

Lockdown: Prison cell & yard

Arenas:

Tier 1: Crappy "Rot Iron"

Concept

Map

Model

UV

Bump Map

Light Map

Lighting

Tier 2: Cooler Tech "Scrappy Place"

Concept

Map

Model

UV

Bump Map

Light Map

Lighting

Tier 3: Super Slick "Post Murdernism"

Concept

Map

Model

UV

Bump Map

Light Map

Lighting

Weapons:

Shotgun:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Grosshair

Gui

Rocket Launcher:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Grosshair

Gui

Assault Rifle:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Grosshair

Gui

Misc:

Ammo Pickup:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Health Pickup:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Cargo Containers (cover):

BIg:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Small:

Concept

Model

UV

Bump

Storyboards (cutscenes?):

Intro:

Opening:

Plot:

Ending:

Animations:

Playable Characters:

Jump

Reload

Die

Crouch

Run

Walk

Crouchwalk

NPCs (for cutscenes and in game hub breaks):

Excited

Idle

Sad

Hello

Walk

Goodbye

Enemies:

Idle

Run

Walk

Die

Headshot

Hit

Crouch

Crouchwalk

Jump

Gameplay:

Balancing:

Health:

Upgrade Levels

Damage:

Upgrade Levels

Speed/Fire Rate:

Upgrade Levels

Reload:

Upgrade Levels

Play Types:

Arena/Campaign:

Co-Op

"Wave Map" (How many enemies spawn at once and where)

Survival:

Co-Op

"Wave Map"

Versus

Interfacing:

Menus

Controller Support

AI:

Line Of Sight

Aggression

Tactics

Testing:

Level Design Article

The LOD’s of Level Design: An Architect’s Perspective

Fragstone First Look: Assault Rifle