Today I wanted to create a drone, but I have failed so hard. I’ve made wings that I wanted to connect to the main body, but I’ve lost my creativity, so I couldn’t finish it.

The drone that I’ve made looks more like a grill with wings rather than a any type of drone. I’ve decided that I won’t be using it in the final work, so at the end I’ve wasted some time. Not so good, as I really am struggling with a time right now… So, eventually I’ve made several other assets:

The key card is an important objective asset, so I’ve decided to give it a depth in geometry. I mean that I’ve could make it out of simple planes, but as far as I want this to be a focus point, I’ve made it nicer that I probably should. The final tris count is still low enough, so all of that explanation is even unnecessary.

So far so good, but I still want to make some more shed assets until the end. I still also need to make many textures and materials, but I’m catching up well.

This stage is always exciting and brings lots of the level to live. It always starts to looks like a production has become and the work starts to get in shape.

I’ve started with blocking out a terrain. This took me a longest amount of time, as I wanted it to be almost finished for the final production. I’m not sure is that the right attitude, but I don’t want to redo it in the future.

I’ve created one general material to fill my blockout with, but I’ve decided to make another one just for the river to stand out more. Eventually I’ve used it for several assets to simulate the difference within materials (mostly glass). I think it was a really good choice, as it bring out the shapes of the blockout even more.

Although the blockout is really simple and have many unfinished geometry, the map starts to fill up nicely. The entire area is quite big, so I may think about making it slightly smaller in few areas, but in general, it looks like a natural size.

The blockout isn’t yet finished, but I will try my best to finish it on time. I would like to record a promotional video based on that, so I need some time in advance to do that.

I’ve decided to do not put any of the plant assets that I’ve made so far. I still treat them only as optional objects and I’ll still have to rethink using them in the final work. As I mentioned before, I will be probably more happy to use the flowers, to bring some colours to the scene.

As I’ve already mention several times, I want my level to be based on the real-world location. During this late stage of project, I’ve created a top view of my environment.

I’ve used a Google Earth image to draw over it and create outlines for my map. I would like to say that this speed up the process, but I guess it rather slow it down as I had to be more accurate with my drawings. However, this was a vacuous process in general.

I really like the outlines of the entire area, but as this square is huge, the final map will have to contain just a close up of this piece.

With the use of the main objectives and collectables, I’ve draw over my own version of this terrain, by adding items required in the gameplay. The most important ones included the outlines of the lab facility and shed, but I have also added other information to the top view. I have also decided to include the walkthough with several main points on the way and possible moving directions.

Although some of the objects are not yet in the asset list (that’s why I’ve left a space for the updates in the list), I was able to place most of my objects withing this smaller square area. This is still a huge level, but I’m now sure that I will be able to fill it with goods. I can’t wait to start working on it!

Assets, assets, assets! The objects that will appear in the final level. Every production require a list of those items for the organisational purposes and easier track of progress. For the purpose of this project, I have created TWO different lists!

I’ve decided to divide my asset list into two slightly different ones: MAIN OBJECTIVES and GENERAL ASSETS. The reason behind that was that there is a specific amount of objects required in the gameplay to work. The rest of the assets will also be important, but at a different level. They will create a playable level, but won’t play any more role to the player. This would be more like a ‘background assets’ that are required in the overall production, but not as much as the objective ones.

Although the second list already have some entries, it will be updated during the production process, as most of the objects will be produced during that stage and will be a part of unplanned (yet) progress. The amount of variations of one object is still unknown, but it will be kept in a reasonable amount to limit the wasting time. The different versions will be produced slightly later in the production stage than the required items. This should minimalise the mistakes or high time consumption.

As far this looks like a minimum that needs to be made to be able to produce a level, but I know I’ll add more in time. That’s why I’ve planned two months for assets creation (alongside with other tasks). This would require a lot of work on the project, but I believe that I can cope with that.

Today I have mostly focused on the planning my time. For this purpose I’ve made a Gantt Chart including the entire project time. I have decided it into the two main sections with similar tabs inside them: THE RAINFOREST AREA, THE LAB FACILITY. This would improve the visual aspects of the chart and will make it more clear.

I know that I am able to produce around 100 assets in a month, so I’ve give each of the environment that amount of time for asset creation. I’ll use it more or less, but that’s what I believe would be a perfect timing.

As lots of my level would require technical work (objectives and collectables the most!), I’ve also planned some time for this development in my chart. It takes place at the end of the production, as I believe that would be the best time for it. In the worst scenario, the level can work as a static, not playable level, but it won’t work if there would be no finished assets. This is just the way I would work for this project, as prioritising seems to play a huge role in this production.

I have also make a place for bugs and error fixing. I gave myself entire two weeks for that. This stage also would include finishing anything that has to be finish before progressing to the final stage – post production (which I only gave a last week to work on).

I hope this time management would work perfectly, as this so far seems to be a reasonable time allocation. This should gave me enough time for each of the tasks with a small bracket for finishing of. I’m really happy with it at the end.

Today I wanted to produce something rather than just researching and planning, so I’ve made a bunch of flowers and some plans. Although, I’m not sure that I will use them in the final work, I needed a break from the research.

These flowers are still not textured, but I aimed for the interesting general shapes. Some of them may be used in a bigger quantity than other (flower_05), because of their low tris count. Others, those with the higher level of polygons, may become a bigger, singular plant-like flowers or even collectables.

I’m not sure what I wanted to achieve while creating some of those plants, but one of them looks a little bit like those water grass, so I may place it in several places around the river.

On the other hand, I don’t think I will be using the rest of those plants in my project. They all looks too weird both small and big, so I may just use them as an experiment with alpha planes and geometry combined together.

Today I’ve wanted to focus on the actual story. I already have the list of potential objectives, but now I wanted to combain them together to came up with the overall storyline.

BACKSTORY:

The facility was prospering at its high rate, researching the dinosaurs and producing several different medicines, but few days ago, one of the personnel infected the main computer with a virus. It caused a huge system malfunction and breakdown of the electricity supply. This affected and switched off the fences outside the area, so the dinosaurs roamed freely into the facility. The entire building was invaded by the Raptors and become their playground. This couldn’t end up well, so most of the personnel was killed and only few of them evacuated by the helicopter on the roof, but then they’ve lost the contact and disappeared from the map. Before leaving, the reminding scientists left the note about where all the cures are hold, but during the attack, the note was ripped apart. Now the information isn’t perfectly clear, so the newcomer must locate the cure by himself.

GAMEPLAY STORY:

The main character was sent t the abandoned facility to acquire a lifesaving cure for a terrible disease that was recently discovered in the reinforest laboratory. As the world is filled with many dinosaur species, the area isn’t as safe as it supposed to be, and the facility have been destroyed. The player will have to look for specific items during the mission to progress through the storyline. In the meantime, the main character will receive several voice messages through a walkie-talkie like device, from a friend, about his progression in the other area. When the player retrieves the note from the scientists, the information is partly unavailable. After a short search, the character will be able to locate a recipe for the cure. so he/she can prepare a new one. Then the player will have to locate the ingredients, pick hem up and prepare a medicine at the scientist table. This is where the story ends.

Although it wasn’t a very productive day, I managed to finalise the stage of the story creation. As said, I’ve also made a final objectives list and created a pop up menu that will be placed on the UI screen.

After almost a week of working, I’ve decided to switch the idea. My first one was about vampires and their hideout , but now I wanted to create a level that is similar to Jurassic Park and has dinosaurs in it. This idea came to my head at random and stayed with me since now. I think it would be more interesting than vampires and cane become a really great project at the end.

So far, I have only make a list of potentional objectives and collectables:

OBJECTIVES:

• find a map of the area
• get inside the facility (find & use a ‘key’)
• check perimeter for dinosaurs activity
• bring ….. from a lab
• gain specific components for a cure
• solve a riddle (minigame?)
• collect the information
• find out what happened
• get parts …… for your …..
• find a key
• locate a cure
• mix the components (minigame?)

COLLECTABLES:

• energy orbs (technology)
• footprints
• feathers/scales/fangs/teeth
• journal tapes/pages (story/info about dinosaurs)
• dinosaur eggs
• puzzle pieces
• references to Jurassic Park
• samples (plants/dinosaurs)
• bones
• money/coins/diamonds
• fossils

This is just a list of potential items and isn’t the final list for the game. This will change soon as I’ll make some decisions on what will be going on in the gameplay.

I’ve created this blog as part of my Final Major Project at university. I’ll be posting general updates of the stage of my project. This include the images taken while creating my pre-production work as well as during a production and post production stages. I hope that I’ll finish with the final piece that will become my best portfolio piece.