I've recently held back from posting on this blog, this is mainly because the progress of the FMP is rather bland. Its simple texturing and rendering of small assets to make the project feel whole. But now the project is nearing its final destination I thought its now time to upload a long list of changes that have occurred since my last post. I have finally got the project to a standard of which I'm content with. This screen shot is the standard of which I want my final project to be at and still run at an FPS acceptable for a high grade. As of now the lighting builds weirdly into not reflecting the quality of this screenshot. Thus more work needs to be done of the FMP, saying this, I'm happy with the current project and am finished adding more assets or changing the landscape. It needs collision to be added and such but as it stands this is the quality of the final submission.
I'm rather proud of the outcome so far. I believe this is up to a standard in which a real game could be marketed with. Ofcourse there are changes I would like to make, most namely being, smaller assets in which describe the story and follow a narrative through the level. However as I am one man with five other modules there are limitations to what I can achieve.
I'll start a list of the changes I've made since my last post in order of what I deem to be the priority.
- No more cel-shader
- Tree textures
- Fixed gate model
- Animated dragons that give life to the environment
- 2 Dojo buildings situated to the right of the temple
- Improved pond textures and micro environment
- Textured static dragons
- Textured buddah
- Tweeks to the temple textures, temple foundation textures and more....
- Blossom leaf particle effects
- Tower remodelling
- Mountain planes
Cel-Shader
The cel-shader offered a unique style. This style separated me from the rest of the crowed. It allowed for individuality through styalization. This would eventually mean I have a better chance of getting a specified job within the industry that adhered to this style. It also means my FMP doesn't have to reach a realistic quality that artists have the bar of so high.
However ultimately my project does look more authentic, natural and aesthetically beautiful without it in my opinion. So regardless of those key factors I want my FMP to look the best it possibly can.
I posted an image on Facebook of the before and after to gain some critical feedback from a general popular that would infact be my clientele later down the line. The feed back was overwhelmingly positive and the consensus is that the environment without the cel-shader looked best.
Tree textures
Although its just another model being textured in the grand scheme of things. The trees being textured helped fill the environment. Helped really make it feel complete. So this was quite an essential piece to the puzzle.
The tree texture it's self is far from perfect. It has a clear seem directly down the middle of the trunk. This can be fixed if I have to time to go over it. If not I will direct the trees in a way that the seem can't be seen from the fixed walking direction the character is forced down.
Fixed gate model.
The gate needed complete revaluation, it was missing faces, the textures were of a bad resolution, the detail to the model was moderate at best. I've revamped it so when close to the model it still retains as much screen priority as it does when you first spawn in the game.
Animated dragons
This was a large step off the road. I didn't even know if I could animate a dragon. I simply did it because it thought it would bring the environment to life. At first I struggled greatly. I used the already built in presets of animation for a CAT rig within 3DS MAX. This was not how a dragon files so i scratched it and reanimated it from a fresh start. My thought process behind the animation was that a dragon's structure is much like that of a tail. So if I made the whole CAT model with the kenetic formations of a tail within max then it would easily allow me to CAT pose the model and create key frames to auto animate. Getting the free forming movement of a tail is surprisingly hard. The biggest problem with this was actually the auto-key. The auto-key kept building the movements in a way that didn't suggest a constant wave going through the tail. So I had to either add around 16 key frames to give max a better idea of the movement I'm going for. Or pick 4 very precise key frames that allow max enough information to build a movement I'm happy with. I went with the latter. Although its still clunky its not the a level I'm unhappy with. So i kept it and added it. The only problem now is the textures. In which I will revisit soon enough.
The reason I added dragons and not another creature was because I already had static statues honoring dragons within this fantasy Chinese environment so it would make sense for the statues to be built around existing creatures in the fantasy universe. The rough idea is that the dragons were also being hunted in this magical world due to being pure magic beings and also found refuge on this island along with the magic wielders finding refuge on the island. Thus you can see sleeping dragons around the environment and such. Which is a nice effect.
Within this picture above you can see the new water shader and also the dragon in the top half of the picture. The dragon is attached to a spline that loops in a pattern. This gives a simple effect that the dragon is constantly flying around the environment.
You can also see the mountain planes in the background. This really gives the illusion of seclusion as if there is something more beyond the green hills of this temple ground. And are very cheap as they are simple alpha cut outs. They are actual photos sourced from google images. I will make sure to fully credit the photographer as this is actually the single and only aspect I have sourced from the internet and used within my project.
2-Dojo Buildings.
There's not much to say about these Dojos. They were mostly a spur of the moment creation, like much within this project. The texturing is was a simple process that followed the same pattern as most of my buildings in this environment and its the same for the modelling process. The tiles of the roofs are the same as the other buildings which made for an easy build. I've tried to brand the custom made Chinese logo I've shown previously into as many buildings within this environment as possible to give it Identity to the people that It was originally built by.
Quality of life changes.
Quality of life changes are just as the subheading suggest. Small changes that make the quality of life for the character within this environment a bit more enjoyable. In short, Wind movement changes, texture saturation changes, landscape changes, contrast changes, so on and so forth. Simple changes that can add all the difference. The devil is in the detail as they say.
Buddah, dragon and tower textures.
Some of the feedback I got given from changing futures week was that the tower textures were too low res for quite and important building within the environment, so I upgraded them. I've also added a jade smart material to the dragons and Buddha. In a real environment this amount of jade would be completely unrealistic but because It's a fantasy environment I believe I can get away with it. There are changes that need to be made such as adding a sub-surface material to it to allow for some translucency in the gem stone to give it a more believable feel.
Overall the project so far is going well and very nearing its end. Apart from collision and a few texture changes, maybe some more particle effects the environment is complete.
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