This time we are looking at part of the opening sequence of the game, a storyboard showing Fara descending into the Arena. We'll also discuss a small update on the music, our plans for IGF, and a live art demo.
Storyboard
Sometimes it is best to just write something out. For example: an item description or explanation of how the item works in theory. Other times, it's appropriate to render out or sketch some storyboards in order to visually portray a rough draft of how you see something like a cutscene taking place, with different camera angles and whatnot.
Below is a sequence of camera positions for Fara's entry into the Arena from above. Since most of the game is first-person and cutscenes will also be in that view, I wanted to visually showcase some dramatic angles for the shots. It's one of the few times the player will get a glimpse of Fara in third person, so we needed to add that extra emotion to it.
Sequence
News
We are still working on The Course, and we have gotten a lot of the modular pieces done. We are currently in talks of how a level editor, if possible, would work.
Currently, our general art pipeline is:
- Create set pieces along with textures
- Import into Unity and set up a level or structure
- Export from Unity and bake lightmaps
- Re-import and throw a directional light in the scene to give the specular map something to shine from.
- Yay, it's so pretty!
This however, does not lend itself to easy setup for a level editor as lighting is baked externally. So, unless we offered a "kit" that you could import into Unity (which would give you the proper scale of levels and the pieces themselves, unlit), that wouldn't work. So, we are currently in talks of rectifying this situation. We may not have a good means of offering players the ability to make their own levels, but we sure would love to have that as a feature!
Art Demo
This art demo showcasing a small section of tentative art for the hallways section. It is mentioned (in the url) that it is used for wall-jumping, but you are currently unable to do that in this build. Wall-running and jumping ARE now close to being done, but aren't ready to show off yet. What we are ultimately trying to achieve is the feeling of Super Metroid's wall-jumping sections in 3d. Here's hoping it works as well as we expect it to!
Click the image to view the demo:
Music
Just wanted to drop a little update on the music as well. Due to my musician's lack of formal access to the internet, he's been playing some tunes he's been working on via Skype on his iPhone. Even though (as you may have guessed) this produces less than stellar audio quality, what I've heard so far was nothing short of amazing, and I can't wait to share some of these tracks with you guys and girls.
IGF Schedule
We have decided to enter the Indie Games Festival this year and are working to produce a 5-level demo for the competition. With this announcement, we've devised a schedule of milestones that we will be working towards to have certain parts of the game ready. One important date on that list is September 31st, as that is when we are planning on having our demo completed by. While we won't post anything on here until after the game is posted on IGF's official website, that's a relative date to mark your calendars for if you are looking to take a plunge into a sample of our game. We are very excited to be entering this wonderful event and can't wait to let you all have a taste of what we've been working so hard on!
Wrap-up
That's all I have for this update. I do want to formally appologize for the delay. This most certainly was not a "weekly update" from the last time I posted, but we've been quite busy working diligently on making this game the best game it can be. I hope you will continue to follow us as we bring this game to existence and that you will take the opportunity to peek into the progress of our journey along the way.
While I can't promise an update next week, I assure you we will post as soon as we feel we have something fit to show. Until next time, I bid you farewell.
nice update