Comments - DarkShiftProductions

What a fantastic experience...

Give this game a try - I promise you won't forget it.

I used UDK (Unreal Development Kit). UDK was nice, and had some features I miss, but ultimately UE4 is a much, MUCH faster and more realistic way to go.

If you want to see a comparison, check out the other posts I've done: those are all from UDK.

It's a big difference ;)

Let me know if you have any other questions!

-DSP

Thanks! I plan to do one video log each month alongside the regular written updates.

-DSP

Well, I've always been drawn to games like Bioshock, Fallout 3, Metro 2033, etc. for their unique, dystopian aesthetic. Fallout 3 and Full Throttle are other great examples of retro that I just love. Also, Alien comes to mind as far as the classic retro sci-fi. Honestly, I don't really know how I developed the style.. I sort of just started designing... and this was the result. I let me hands do the work, and my brain would just go "OOH, how about this!".

For my workflow, I do some simple sketches on paper (and, believe it or not, I have little drawing talent). For the objects and animation I use 3ds Max, and for texturing I use DDo and NDo to really help with texturing: it is SO useful for quick, detailed texturing for grime and dirt. I use Photoshop for textures along with these programs to really make the details pop! No other secrets really for workflow :P

Heh. I'd love to see some examples of these retrified (Oh yeah, Made up words for the win) pictures! :)

The idea about desaturating to a sepia tone sounds very interesting to me! I'll definitely give that a try.

If you'd like, Pm me or contact me via skype: noodlespagoodle
I'd love the feedback! We can discuss some form of voice acting as well :)

I look forward to hearing from you!

-DSP

Hi ZeroComfort!

I've noted that and am tweaking them. I was experimenting with color grading at the time I released the video. I'd bumped the contrast up which in turn made specularity more bright than it used to be. I will likely be tweaking quite a few materials as a result. Thanks for the feedback!

-DSP

Hi Expack!

The main reason is that I've spent over a year on G.R.I.T. (I started May of 2013). If I were to try and transfer all of my progress over to UE4, I would have to recreate the UI functionality, code, levels, etc. that I have made so far. It would simply take too much time to be worth the graphical improvement. Besides, UE3 is still very powerful, and UE4 can in some cases be more difficult to run on some systems. Despite its high performance for all of the features it offers, UE4 has a higher minimum requirement as a result.

Believe me when I say that I've wanted to switch! In fact, I even have access to UE4 and have dabbled with it (for example. I put some of the 2007 Bioshock assets in: Youtube.com)

It will take some time to get part one out there. At that point I will be able to move the assets/ui elements over to UE4 without having to remake what progress I have made :)

Hope that answers your question! If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them.

-DSP

I swear I sent you a reply to this before? Anyways, The crowd sound of children screaming was a recording of kids playing around a fountain that I got while in Italy. As for the PA System lady, she was synthesized by me. There are only a few time's I've used royalty free sounds: The people screaming in G.R.I.T. Trailer 1 for example :) I was responding to you from my phone earlier, and I thought I had posted directly here unless I am mistaken? Sorry about that!

You mean in the older bunker trailer? That was me recording some quick dialogue of myself. I had thrown a quick trailer together to show progress off to family last thanksgiving :P Thanks for the compliment!

Hey there! I'm happy to answer any questions you have!

First:

The first thirty minutes/hour or so roughly will take place in the bunker,then you will have the opportunity to visit the surface and try and find someone/something to help explain to you what is going on. The city will actually be the setting for the majority of the game (and introduces plenty of new locations and remnants of people to encounter). My intentions are to divide G.R.I.T. into two four hour (that's the minimum length) games for a total of eight, one on UDK and the other on UE4 :)

My game is going to be more linear, but will still include plenty of areas out off the main path to explore and will reward you with audio logs/gear/etc. for exploring. Think the style of Metro 2033 and how they had plenty of different towns/extra paths in the metro.

Second, The game is going to have survival features like radiation detection, limited, timed respirators, managing health with medical supplies from abandoned machines, food and drink can be stored and used or sold based on toxicity level upon collection (you can also consume them and purchase detox pills and such). I plan on having audio logs and upgrades for gear found around the game that you can discover.

Third, there are going to be a few different drone types, along with the expected raider/bandit type characters. I intend on making the Drone's the main antagonists, however humans can be even more terrible when trying to survive..

I hope that has cleared things up a bit! Let me know if you have any other questions and I will be happy to answer them for you!

Thanks!

-DSP

Thanks so much! I just went at the style head on and liked the results, so I kept up the theme! As far as story goes, I really want to make it memorable... That said, the story goes SO far beyond this bunker already, and all of the future updates will get me closer to bringing it all to you guys. I am genuinely excited to be making progress! Thanks again,

-DSP

Hello there :)

Thanks :D That'd be awesome!

Heh, right? ;)

Absolutely! My plan is to complete the game in two parts. Part one will be around 2 to 3 hours at least in length, and will be here on UDK. Afterwards, The second part will be another 3-5 hours and will be on UE4. I REALLY want to switch now, although I have too much created and coded in to port it at this point (which is why it will be divided into two parts.)

Thank you! I'm currently making the place more detailed and am trying to give it an extra sense of having once been a real place with real people :) I'm glad you like it so far!

As a fellow solo IndieDB'er I wanted to give you some thorough feedback on your game!

All in all, I thought it was very promising. Good usage of modular assets, pleasing post-effects, level designing, and reflections. It does seem to be just a series of jump-scares thus far (I assume it'll be a bit more in-depth later on), so I don't wish to critique that in its current state. It did startle me plenty of times so A+ on the scare factor!

I had a few optimization/performance nitpicks, including the huge amount of water plane that I saw jutting way away from the level when I ghost-commanded around the water area of the map. Another issue is the total lack of player hud and default UDK footstep sounds, which are the first things I replaced when I started :P I also had some issues with character movements: for example when you jump and move forward you practically fly! And F seems to stick the character for some odd reason.

An important note: I DID max out the game settings, but I have a very powerful gaming setup (GTX 780, i7-3770, 8gb ram) and encountered obnoxious frame drops and such especially from the reflections which I found disappointing . Try experimenting with reflection settings/resolution as well as streaming in maps if you haven't already. I have spent a hell of a lot of time trying to segment and optimize my bunker level, and it makes a very noticeable impact on performance! . Despite the above issues, Really nice atmosphere and designing.

On another note, I'd love to chat with you about various technical things such as how you created your PBR system for UE3 :)

I actually really respect the amount of work you have done in such a short time: I have classes/duties that prevent me from working my desired amount on a daily basis. Anywho, If you'd be so kind, I'd love to chat/email about your game as well as ask some general questions regarding workflow and modular asset creation. Thanks, and I hope you do well on your fundraising campaign!

-Elijah

I'm glad you are interested in it ^_^ It's going to have an emphasis on exploration and some ties to the traditional fps later on in the game. The first part, while in the bunker, I like to consider more like amnesia in the sense that it is just you, a flashlight, and your ability to analyze your environment :) The second part in the main city will start you off with an ineffective stun gun-type gameplay. The stun gun is not very useful in combat, and is directed more towards puzzle solving and stealth-based combat. As you progress, you will eventually get things such as makeshift guns and some nice pre-disaster weapons. However, there will always be a less-vhazardous way to deal with most situations ;)

I personally have a very high end rig... I was trying to keep it as reasonable as I could for low end, although I suppose I could go back and bump some of them up a bit! Thanks for the tip :)

I've dabbled with parallax already to give an extra oomph to some of the floors and walls :) And I've been trying to avoid too many poly's, since I've still got tons of assets to make for the game :P Which one's from the video are too low poly for your taste? Thanks for commenting!

Thanks for taking the time to comment :) The ending says: "Thank you all again for choosing Elwood's Bunkers. Enjoy your stay!"

You have some very good points... The doorways are in need of transitional meshes! As far as the tiles at the beginning go, they are a default UDK material that had unappealing normals so I disabled them... I might remake them? Also, I probably could make some interesting masks with the ceiling, although I hadn't previously considered it. Ironically, the teaser shows the least detailed parts of the entire bunker, and the beginning area from the teaser is actually very full of debris in-game (I removed them to make the pre-disaster teaser). Every bit of feedback helps so thank you!

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it :D

Thanks! I'm hoping to achieve a relatively creepy, lonely mood :)

Thanks! I love this image. .. I had a great time making it haha.

The freelancer I hired seemed to like that game's aesthetic and lighting. It shows a bit in the concepts, which I like ;)

Awesome! I was just curious. Looking forward to seeing where Caffeine goes! :D

I've been tracking your game for awhile now and I really dig it! Good models and atmosphere. The trailers that you've posted look very promising, and the sounds are well implemented too! Is everything custom including sounds? I'm also attempting a solo indie game called G.R.I.T. - The Past Is Everything here on IndieDB and I'd really like your feedback on what you think of it so far! I'm also curious to learn more about Caffeine and maybe ask about your process for creating assets (particularly the metallic specularity on your assets: do you use Ddo and Ndo? Thanks!

That's fine :) Thanks again!

Thanks! I Appreciate the kind words. Most of the game is going to take place in a city. The bunker is just the starting area :) If you have any questions, feel free to create a thread on the G.R.I.T. Forums.

Thanks! Funny enough, I threw together this little trailer to show family (Not realizing I'd use it for promotion). That being said, I just quickly recorded some improvised lines to get the trailer started :) The ironic part is that most of the game will take place in a ruined city, not in this bunker! I appreciate the comment and if you have any questions, let me know. As the only person working on it, it will take a while to finish (not that I mind. I work on it every day). Thanks again!

This video was shot 100% in-game! :) (excluding the ending logo)