SketchUp Skeleton UPDATED

http://www.filefront.com/17250703/SkeletonGS_walledit.skp

Hopefully the walls are lowered enough. Messing around with the dimensions has no doubt, presented a lot of missing faces/edges, but it shouldn't be too annoying to work with (fingers crossed)

Amy's Awesome List

This is an awesome list of things to do specifically for Amy so she knows what she's meant to be doing as her task is somewhat seperate to the level builders.

In order of priority...

By second milestone:
-Definite character concepts
-Primary weapons modelled (basic, not detailed, but in-game capable)
-Secondary weapons modelled (basic, not detailed, but in-game capable)

By third milestone:
-Primary weapons animation set
-Secondary weapons animation set
-Character models (basic, not detailed)
-Character animations set
-Primary weapons modelled (detailed)
-Secondary weapons modelled (detailed)
-Characters modelled (detailed)

If you have time:
-Objects (which ones decided when the time comes as others might have already been constructed)

6th of September (Monday) Meeting Details

I just copied and pasted the Monday things due so everyone could have a gander:

-Have the completed level skeleton completed so we can start on the other two skeletons (As in UT3 Mod skeleton, as the destroyed and construction then have to be done by the Thursday after for hand-in)

-Skype session at night to change the design doc and powerpoint for Milestone 2

Keep in mind that while the deadlines seem harsh it is important to get this done a week ahead of our presentation to avoid stress, as the friday after this meeting is also the hand-in for the milestone.

-Cheers!~

Level Colour Schemes

We've decided on general colour schemes for each level:

Construction - Sepia tones.

Completed - Cool neutral colours; metallic, frosted blue glass and general light blue tones on points of interest.

Destroyed - Grungy tones with a hint of green.

Decided Object Design

Here are the following objects that we have decided upon based on the deviant concepts submitted (Decided 31st August Tuesday Meeting):

-Nick's computers (mac, but changing the logo to some other form of fruit)
-Nick's weapons
-Nick's water cooler
-Nick's executive chairs (but used as chairs for all cubicle desks and board meeting desks)
-Belinda's meeting room table
-Belinda's waiting room chairs
-Belinda's lobby front desk
-Belinda's cubicle desks with instead a glass top

Amy will instead be submitting definite character concepts by tomorrow as opposed to object concepts.

-Cheers!~

Monday Deadline

Alright, I realise the Monday mini-deadline will be a bit more harsh because we have no uni. But if you could all scan (I know it sucks) and post them on the deviant page then we can still discuss it over skype. The 10 conceptual pieces required still stands as far as I know. So we need to decide on a time for Monday. I'm free all day so..

May be absent on Monday

Hey guys,

There's a chance i might be late/absent during the GS lab tomorrow morning. (Sleep is the factor tbh) It's no biggie with the lessons, i can continue the programming stuff outside class with the notes. But yeah if you need me for anything, post back and i can meet sometime later in the day.

Cheers,

:)

Base Skeleton

Here's the skeleton done in Google Sketchup. It may not be perfect and I've completely abandoned the cubicles and the windows after the first level *dies*, and there may also be some small dimension errors, but that's pretty much the base of the floor plans we devised.

Oh and the exterior is left off, because we're still kind of undecided and it makes it a bitch to see the floors when it's elevated up.

Again any problems, Comment section, derp, derp, blah...

LINK
V
V
V
http://www.filefront.com/17221322/SkeletonGS.skp

Floorplans

1. Decayed - 3rd stage
2. Construction - 1st stage
3. Completed - 2nd stage


Here are the floor plans we decided upon on Monday, they may differ from the sketches due to how rough the sketches were...sorry! But if there are any major differences/changes to make, just post them in the comments.

Also sorry for the delay!

Mini-Deadlines

So, week to week deadlines where we post or show others the work. It's been broken down to what MUST be done. Just because it's group work doesn't mean it should be treated less important than other classes... The schedule is reasonable...

25th of August (Wednesday):

-Sketch up prototype of allocated level completed, we will need to alter these afterwards if something doesn't work so it's best to do it quickly, and it gives enough time to do everything that's due this week :)

30th of August (Monday):

-Have pretty much every item decided upon - we will probably have a skype thing this week to discuss the key objects that need to be sketched out, then post the items in a list so we can focus on the more prominant objects. (Aiming for 10 thought-out sketches per person..?)
-Weapons and Characters 'Fleshed out'

1st of September (Wednesday):

- Sketchup of other levels completed

6th of September (Monday):

-Have the completed level skeleton completed so we can start on the other two skeletons for Friday submission
-Skype session at night to change the design doc and powerpoint :)

13th of September (Monday):

-Presentation
-Start testing of levels (all level and weapon skeletons completed)

If I've missed anything let me know.. >.>

UT3 Game File Requests?

Do any of you guys want me to bring a copy of UT3 tomorrow? I just need to know whether i need to bring my big hard drive with the game files or just bring Maya on a usb stick.

Cheers.

Modeling Practice!

In addition to roughing out concept floorplans and other things, I thought I may as well get some basic practice with the Unreal Editor at the same time, by making little play areas. Obviously these aren't going to be full "floors" and by no means are refined (dead ends, no textures, screwed up lighting, overlapping corners, etc.) but they are a quick and effective way of familiarizing yourself with the Editor, and attuning yourself to the settings/windows, etc.

Here's the link to the first one, the "cubical" concept I was drawing in the last GS Lecture:
>>>LINK<<<

I'll make a few more of these and post the links in the Comment Section at a later date, try them out.

Monday meeting agenda outline

Alright, well I think it would be good to get a list of everything that needs to be discussed on Monday.. In order to help smoothly move between each thing on the list. Here are the things I think we need to discuss, feel free to add things in comments and I'll edit it in.

-Breakup of tasks within the group (e.g. Buildings, objects, weapons, characters, textures)

-Layout of buildings, exact specifics, with sketches and mock ups drawn up *during* the meeting so they are absolute (this will help people model their objects specifically, knowing they already have the consent of the group, which will reduce hesitation)

-Items/placeables
-Appearance (from all angles)
-Textures needed
-Assignment of additional sketches needed to be done ASAP for immediate modelling

-Character concepts
-Appearance (With sketches decided upon during the meeting, again so it is absolute)
-Textures needed

-Mini-deadlines
-What we need done by the prototype, with mini-deadlines week by week (possibly 'handed in' on the Mondays for discussion

The mini-deadlines may seem Nazi, but the more we compartmentalise tasks the more sure we will be that we have covered everything for the milestone and overall game.

Details of the meeting:

When: 16th August (next Monday), 1:30 (after lecture)
Where: Games Lounge
Bring: Weapon, object and character sketches done during the week (not so much objects).
Who: Basically the entire design team, Joe you're welcome to come along but you don't have to :D (which means you could skip the lecture)

*This will probably be a longish meeting, but if we stay on track and tackle most things, it will make everything easier for the long haul. So try not to need to be anywhere after Uni that day.

Anyway, let me know what else we should add to the list :)
-Belinda

A Quick Idea - The Models

So I was thinking about our Art and how we're going to get the style over to a 3-D model without losing any of its "pezzazz".
So I've started drawing simple shapes over some of the concept sketches of the characters just to get an idea of how we might begin to create them.
I've found that doing separate ones for both the body and the close up head work well as most of the character is in the face and there's nothing worse than a flat poly face with textures doing all the work, looks nasty.
Thoughts? I've found it really helpful in envisioning the way we might try to tackle the task.

Presentation Backup

http://www.filefront.com/17183670/TeamTeam.ppt

Presentation Typed

Here is the presentation typed, but not styled... Take it away Nick! :D

http://rapidshare.com/files/411712834/Just_Another_Day_At_The_Office__Presentation_.pot

Powerpoint Presentation

Alrighty, so who is doing the powerpoint presentation? I could probably type it all up into the main aspects, but I'm not so much with the pretty stuffs.

Just checking...

Couldn't help but notice the design doc put on filefront was a .doc file. Hoping it was converted to pdf. Just wanted to know...?

Durr Hurr

Heyyy guys. I don't function in the morning and with all my planning to get here early and put shit together and take photos of more concept art I did here, I forgot the cable for my camera.
I am a little bit special.

Therefore, any other art is going to have to come from you guys before 12:30 (time given for me to flail around with the uploading system) or shall be submitted as is.
Cheers, enjoy your day off.
Wankers.

Backup

http://www.filefront.com/17175516/FINALDESIGNDOCUMENT.doc

Artificial Intelligence

Although [game name] has been intended to be a game played entirely by humans, AI used in the game may apply to NPC's and enhanced Bots.

NPC's in the game may include bystanding workers (construction workers, office workers, cleaners, etc.) that would react to the hostile environment around them by seeking safety (and perhaps even try to defend themselves, thus becoming nuisances to nearby players).

The Bots, if there aren't enough designated human players, may fill in and perform like a normal UT3 bot, except an extension of code would be added to the bot AI so that they can understand the rules and weapons of the game and act accordingly.

Limitations

Limitations in Time
The time required by the group to decide upon ideas and themes was unexpectedly excessive. Obviously in a group everyone wants to get their ideas across but unfortunately not all can. In our group there was a lot of ‘flip flopping’ between ideas that delayed us from reaching a concrete idea earlier in the design process.
After we came to realize our vision we were quickly reminded of the limited time that we had available to us. This would mean that we would be unable to implement our favorite and most innovative ideas which would require an unrealistic amount of commitment.
With very little 3-D modeling experience between those in our group we were not confident in our ability to learn software tools in the short space of time available.

Limitations in Tools and Skills
It was difficult for each member of the group to acquire a copy of Unreal Tournament 3 or distribute it amongst other members due to downloading times and technical issues. Learning a new toolset format was difficult in comparison with what we have used earlier. For instance, in Neverwinter Nights 2 all models or characters and objects were already made and ready to be placed in the game environment. However, in Unreal Tournament 3 there are considerably less available models and most have to be made from scratch.

HAMMA!!!

Game Progression

Map 1 - Construction

This map will consist of 3-4 storeys in the building. The layout is focused on wide open building storeys where the basic load baring walls have been mostly fleshed out, the windows have not been put in, and scaffolding still remains in certain areas between levels. We will also place some cranes lifting cargo from the bottom level to the top level. The top level won't have all of it's walls in place, so more experienced players can easily jump to the floor from the cargo.

The scaffolding on the outside of the building will provide a save more stealthy option between floors 2 and 3 of the building, whereas the incomplete emergency stairs will provide access between the ground floor lobby and floor 1. These two options of floor transport will be placed at opposite ends of the 'exposed' open floor plans and require the player to move rather than just camp. In addition to these two routes the crane will be a makeshift shortcut from the bottom directly to the top, but highly exposed to all floors inbetween.

Map 2 - Completed

The outline of this map will be more sleek and 'contemporary'. It will be filled with mini mazes (yet amazingly organised) office cubicles. The ground floor will be a more open lobby area, with a desk centered neatly towards the front entrance. Surrounding the complex there will be a neat uniform garden. The building will also be fitted with finished emergency stairs on one side and an elevator on the opposite.

The office cubicle walls will provide cover to crouching players, but be short enough to allow players to see over it when they're standing upright. The ground floor lobby will be a more open conflict area where players will most likely 'bump' into each other in a more crowded multiplayer situation. Emergency stairs will then have a similar purpose as last time providng a stealthy but lengthy means to progress from floor to floor. The elevator will automatically shift from floor to floor stopping every floor up and down. It is the player's strategic advantage to keep track of when it is going up and down, and it will be a faster means between floors, but 'ding' on every level to announce it arrival, which will draw attention.

Map 3 - Dilapadated

After years of struggle the once sleek and new building in map 2 will be crumbling under it's age. This will immobilise the elevator, create breaks in the stairs and produce holes in floors. The garden will be overgrown and slowly climbing the building, possibly the only thing still holding it together.

The elevator shaft will create a one-way shortcut from top to the first floor, with a slight health penalty upon impact. Originally, the broken elevator will restat the bottom of the shaft on the lobby floor. If time constraints allow we will endeavour to change the broken elevator to a 'counterweight' idea where it will be broken at the top, and players need only jump on it for it to drop a level. The doors will be stuck open providing a hiding hole of sorts on certain floors. The broken stairs will provide a means of floor progression both up and down floors for more experienced players who are confident enough to jump between chunks of stairs. Holes between floors will not be placed directly under each other, but be randomly scattered. Some floors will also have fallen planks which can act as walkways to go up to the next floor. This will enable a more stable way for more inexperienced players. Piles of rubble and left behind furniture will add as cover as well as creeping foliage.

Game Mechanics

[Game Name] will place the player in a first person perspective. The game rules are a free for all 'not it' situation. One player will have a weapon of dominance (a gun with a charge restraint to keep it balanced) whilst all other participants will be weilding only a basic melee weapon.

The gun-wielding character is free to hunt down and kill these melee players for points. The objective of the melee players is to use strategy and knowledge of the map to get close enough to the gunner to kill them. The melee players aren't desiginated as a clearcut official 'team' but may see fit to work together to take down the gunner.

However, whichever melee player delivers the final blow to the gunner then respawns as the gunner, and the deceased gunner is then respawned as a melee player. This creates a situation where the player must choose to attack alone with small odds of winning, but a garunteed gunner position if successful or use a team strategy and sacrifice their chances of getting the gunner position just to hinder the current gunner's point progression.

This will also aid in balancing the game as the more points the gunner gets the more likely the melee players are to team up. Melee players do not get points for killing each other. The player will recieve a bonus point for killing the current gunner, and an additional point for every kill they get as gunner thereafter.

Art Style

We're still a bit bitsy on the style, but what we had in mind was closer to UT3 default styles so we can still use some of their textures. We're still going for a simplistic but exaggerated style (like warhammer space marine armor) we're not aiming for photoreaslism.

It's still very vague, the more concept art we can pump out the sooner we can look through it all and pick one so we need diversity!

:D Have fun drawing!

What we need for the Design Doc submission

Okay people! I'm going to attempt to tackle the Design Document tonight, so that we have a fighting chance come submission (5pm Friday, August 6th) and will be able to work on the presentation for Monday (and no, we can't use the same thing if you where wondering people!).
Here's what we need (Most of this is on the "Guidelines.pdf" under "Lecture 1" on the Blackboard)

EVERYONE
DONE
AMY
BELINDA
JOE
NICK
ALEX

Design Document

• Table of Contents - Self-explanatory
  
• Introduction/Overview - The overview describes the purpose of the document at hand
  and tries to depict the game design in a concise fashion. No more than a single page should convey the feeling of the game (and of the document)
  
• Game Mechanics - We describe the gameplay style, the type (1st/3rd person? Deathmatch? etc.), the interaction between players/the world/NPCs, the controls
  
• Artificial Intelligence - [Joe I was hoping you could cover this if you don't mind! Not sure if we really have any though] What kind of AIs we need in our game? Are there different AIs (NPCs)? What actions are allowed for every AI? Are there special features in some specific AIs?
  
• Game Elements - Where we describe all elements relevant to our game. Weapons/power ups, Objects/doors/switches/jumps as well as any NPC actions or skills
  
• Game Progression - Describes what happens to the player in our
  game. Better explained on a per-level basis. What are the challenges offered to players? What are the main events?
  
• References - Any relevant materiel/resources
  

Art Guide

• Table of Contents - Again...self-explanatory
  
• Introduction/Overview - Introduce document as well as art style, etc.
  
• Art Style - What kind of art style are you going to use? (Cartoon, Photo realistic, Based on some specific movie/comic/fiction) What are your artistic references? Sketches, renderings and/or storyboards should be included.
  
• Storyboards - Mock-up sketches to show the intended style/gameplay of the game
  
• Technical Guidelines - Technical limitations (time, polygon budget, tools, etc.)
  
• References - Again any relevant materials
  

Technical Design Document (apparently only appears in the second and third assignment submissions)

We need to know also that everyone agrees on the idea and it would be awesome if anyone wants to help me out (possibly writing up some of the sections in an articulate way, or finding references, whatever!).

Theme

Office building set in three seperate stages of it's 'life cycle' (which will make three seperate deathmatch stages). These will effectively be:

1. Construction : Moving girders/platforms, scaffolding on the outside of the building for covert level changes, half completed buildings with 'exposed' regions to the moving platforms, ground/gritty bottom level with very little cover.

Characters: Builders (uniform compromised with ww1 style armour with a futuristic twist)

2. Completed : Sleek, modern design with various mazes of office cubicles high enough to cover you in a crouch but also allow you to pop your head over the top, elevators moving up and down, garden on ground level to hide in (possibly parking lot).

Characters: Architects (suits, with possibly briefcases, wielding something like a T-square)

3. Dilapidated : Worn, holes in floor, trap floors that fall, empty elevator shifts which allow fast moving between levels but may incur health penalties, breaks in cubicle walls.

Characters: Standard UT3 characters (already possess post-apocalyptic feel)

Have a read over it and I can edit this post (I think) as we change it.

My Style Concept

So as instructed by the overmind I have gone home and worked on a brief style concept for "Janitor Wars", this is the style I think the game should be done in.

The only problem is that the shade and light will change direction as objects move because they are painted onto the model. Maybe just a general colouring is required and we just use contentional game shading.

- Alex

Brainstorming pt.2

OK guys, so after our little "brainstorming" session earlier today we've come up with the idea of some sort of Janitor/Maintenance Wars. This is what I've gathered about the concept from our discussion:

• The gameplay style is time-based, and will have a strong emphasis on the "door" system (a means of gaining access to different pathways, vantage points and areas)
• The game will involve shifting obstacles/platforms
• Will most likely be set in indoor locations (Hotel, Hospital, Office building, University, Shopping center, etc.) but one level must have an outdoor area/greenhouse due to the brief
  
• The combat is to be strategical, as the only weapon that can inflict physically harm is the wrench/melee weapon and the player must utilize a variety of maintenance based"weapons" to overcome the enemy (some of these weapons may blind/hinder speed or footing, etc.)
• There could be a variety of characters such as Janitors, Mechanics, Gardeners, Maids, etc.
• The game's "style" is to be similar to that of Team Fortress 2. Using bright color and simplified shapes/textures.

If I've missed anything, please tell me! Otherwise post your Comments below!