Gorbles
Sean joined
I make things.
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My attempt at updating this semi-regular blog continues! A New Year's resolution, of sorts.
What are my modding (and gaming plans) for this year? A whole lot of Borderlands 2, for starters. Looooots of Borderlands 2. In the small amount of time I have remaining after that, there are a few projects:
1. Phantasmagoria (pending 3D practise); a fantasy/alternate reality game universe I've been developing for a few years, on and off.
2. Firestorm over Kaurava; one of the oldest Dawn of War modifications around, we're relaunching the mod with a release for Soulstorm in the works. The SVN has just been setup for all team members and art and code content is being added at a decent rate. For more on this, check the associated mod link on my Mods page.
3. Battlefleet Gothic; one of the only total conversion modifications for Dawn of War (i.e. it changes everything about the game), we're currently on a bit of a break (again) due to RL issues but expect progress on that in the coming weeks.
4. Dark Eldar - the Kabal of Evil; an old Dawn of War mod that is currently gathering dust somewhere. The aim is to make progress with the Dark Crusade version before moving to Soulstorm, hopefully sometime during 2013! This is the lowest of my priorities though, even after Phantasmagoria (and Borderlands 2).
A lot to keep track of, and never enough time to do them all. Here's to 2013!
Is not easy, or even enjoyable at times! But we stick with it, right? The idea of making your own game, saying "I made this, isn't it awesome" is too tempting (even if you know how much your game sucks and the next one is going to be a massive improvement!).
But then you find the next bug. Perhaps Unity isn't detecting your hit collision correctly. Perhaps the particle effect is emitting upside-down despite the marker being set correctly. Perhaps you're just frustrated that there's a goddamn vertex limit on certain physics modifiers (computationally expensive? PAH. PUNY REASON). Maybe you just can't implement your super-amazing idea correctly because damnit the game engine just isn't up to scratch!
Or perhaps not. Perhaps you didn't design your models well enough. Perhaps you don't understand the code as well as you thought you did. Perhaps the fact that you can't apply that modifier means there is another solution to your problem. Of course, these kinds of sensible thought are completely ignored when you're busy punching your monitor. But you need to have them. So relax! Take a break (insert advertising slogan here)! Play a game or watch TV.
Never get frustrated at something for too long, because it'll sap your motivation in the long run. Unless of course you're a paid professional, but that's why I'm posting this on ModDB and not IndieDB or a blog of some kind! :D
Now get out there and program!
Gorb hates Unity 3D as much as he loves it, has two games development projects on the go and a number of applications in Java for messing around with actual, proper, professional games released by professionals. He also has the attention span of a fly.
Things are finally picking up pace. Three years of learning to develop Java data structures, learning LISP logic and figuring out how OSs make scheduling work, and I'm finally there. Final year. Just getting into my second term now, and while first term was pretty damn educational, this term is where it gets fun.
Specifically, Games Development and Computer Animation. Unity and Blender, respectively. Unity, for the most part, is impressing me in terms of functionality and ease of use. Blender is . . . not, given that I've been using 3DS Max for a couple of years now (on and off; I would never consider myself a competent modeller). Regardless the module is both welcome and useful; any modelling practise is better than none, and that goes for animation (when we start learning it).
It's interesting to look back to where I was two years ago. Looking back four years just makes me cringe; I was 18 at the time and incredibly naive to the world and also my chosen discipline (CompSci/games development). Two years ago I thought I was handy at Java, that I was getting a grasp on design principles and how to maintain products. Looking back, I wasn't that great. Not really. Not that I would call myself any good nowadays (oh that ego), but I've certainly come a lot. My personal projects have been maintained and refined, and I've ever started new ones.
Unfortunately, that leaves very little time for modding. In fact, I don't think I've done serious modding in over a year now, and I haven't been able to work up the enthusiasm to get back into it. The DoW I and DoW II modding scenes are virtually nonexistent, and there are very few skilled individuals still involved in those scenes. My free time is taken up researching for my final year project (which ironically is to develop a toolset for DoW I/II modding), along with extracurricular activities such as water polo. Modding just doesn't hold enough interest, and the feedback I get (i.e. none) doesn't inspire me to continue.
So, here's to final year. To learning new things, and moving onto the development of actual games!
Well, it's that time again. Two weeks until I start another year of Computer Science. Fun times all round, I can tell you.
Only downside is the university campus is undergoing refurbishments which means my water polo team doesn't have a swimming pool to practise in. Boo . . .
Anyhow, onto modding. I've been suffering from something of a mental block in terms of work so not much has been done on my existing projects, although I've been at work with Firestorm over Kronus helping the team get things sorted after a period of losing a couple of long-term modders. I wish Melooo, Horus and Patman the best of luck in their future endeavours. I've been redesigning the Kabal of Evil modification for a Soulstorm release; given that ILE and Relic have already provided Dark Eldar in the game I need to ensure that our team's interpretation is different and yet still Dark Eldar-y.
The only problem is Games Workshop are releasing a new Dark Eldar Codex in November (according to the latest rumours) so I might just scrap what I have and wait and see what the new Codex brings. Apparently Harlequins are in . . .
Oh, and in order to break down this mental block of mine I've been working on a design document for a new DoW modification, Age of Heroes.
So I've gotten around to updating the various ModDB pages I'm involved with. You'll see me answering questions on the Firestorm over Kronus modification (for Dawn of War); I'm the team member working with their Dark Eldar race, however I'm on holiday at the moment and as such I can only answer questions about the modification.
Secondly the Battlefleet Gothic modification, also for Dawn of War. I've been reorganising the team's assets as well as sorting out an Assembla space for us to utilise version control from.
Finally, I'm getting started on my own modding projects that have been on the backburner for a while. Age of Heroes is a large-scale DoW modification that hasn't really seen the light of day in months, and the Dark Eldar Mod is also being kick-started with both Dark Crusade and Soulstorm versions in the works.
Man, one of these days I might be able to learn how to mod a different game. For now, it's DoW, DoW DoW!
- Sean
Basically I have a tendency to forget about sites for a while. So, as today I revamped my DA page I figured it'd be a good time to check all my other old haunts. Like ModDB.
Next on my list: writing up some new Dark Eldar modifications. Since I've been working with the Firestorm over Kronus team I've been getting some good feedback on what is and what isn't good with my design of the Dark Eldar race (which I use as a base for the Dark Eldar Mod).
Oh, and Battlefleet Gothic is still around. I'm just busy with university. Well, I was. Term ends today, officially.
- Back in Black.
Just linking you fellas to my actual blog which I'm using more regularly of late; I'll be getting round to updating my ModDB page sometime soonish, honest.
University work really has me pinned down so any game-related work is on the backburner for the time being.
Until next time!
So, um, yeah, I have a blog. Didn't notice this until now. Anyhow, onto the news!
Basically, I'm pretty busy working on the Battlefleet Gothic mod for Dawn of War, and along with uni work it's taking up a lot of my free time. As soon as I get some free time I'm going to be updating the code base for Dark Eldar, optimising it for Soulstorm. The Dark Crusade version is pretty much finished, it's just waiting on the models and textures to be finished, as well as an AI update (that's to be coming whenever I send a message to our AI guy).
The Soulstorm version is quite different to the old Dark Crusade mod, although the style of play remains the same. I think you'll find, despite Relic having already introduced Dark Eldar in Soulstorm, that this mod is quite unique with regards to gameplay, and I'll try and keep this blog updated with news and such.
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