DON'T STOP ME NOW!!!

DEMO DAY!!! I have found it very satisfying to see the fruits of my teams’ labor at the end of the semester.  After spending so much time working on this project, it is awesome knowing that we’ll have something cool to show to our fellow CSG mates!  Not only that, but we have something to show people over break and get some much needed feedback!  This winter break is going to be a very productive one. WOOT WOOT!!!

"It's so easy. Happy go lucky!"

For the last couple of sprints, it looks like the art team has been accumulated a bunch of technical debt.  This didn’t seem to make much sense since we were working our butts off.  After going through trello and revising the cards to correctly reflect what we have been doing, the art team is ahead by a sprint. That really helped with boosting our morale and confidence! Now all we have to do is finish strongly.

Ganbatte yo!!!!

"All I Need in this Life of Sin, is me and my Keyframes"

After working with Motion capture data for a while, the animation team would rather hand animate from scratch.  NEVER TAKE THE FUNDAMENTALS FOR GRANTED!!! In retrospect, if we hand animated character actions, we would have been done with the animations way before now.  At least we acquired some Mocap skills and will be better prepared next time.

"Planted Keys: The Animators Secret Weapon" OR "-00:00:13:29 to LIFT OFF"

So we’re starting to make sense of this whole editing Mocap data thing.  The biggest discovery for us, thanks to our instructors, is the planted key.  Planted keys are used to anchor parts of a character(hand, foot)while the rest of the character is moving.  We relied heavily on planted keys to keep characters’ feet from moving when they were supposed to be standing still and whatnot.

YOU! YOU!! YOU OUGHTA KNOW!!!

Okay…so I may have spoken to soon and had my expectations set too high.  Editing Mocap data is way more difficult than I initially thought.  I believe that the difficult part for me stems from the fact that every single frame is a key frame.  In order to make changes to parts of a Mocap animation, key frames have to be deleted/moved.  Also, a bit more hand animating is necessary when editing Mocap data.

MOTION RAPTURE

WE’RE USING MOTION CAPTURE!!!  That hopefully means that the animators will have an easier time applying the data to our 3d modeled characters.  Aside from the calibrating that has to be done with the Mocap equipment and the actor, it looks pretty simple.  I see this coming in handy when being used by someone with unique physical skills like martial arts and gymnastics.

COME ON DOWN!!!

So after pivoting from a destructive voxel terrain to a photorealistic one, we found $200+ worth of terrain editing software for less than $8. I should probably mention that the program creates photorealistic terrain with, wait for it, VOXEL BASED CONSTRUCTION!!! Thanks AXIS Game Factory!!! I have since switched to character stuff, but that hasn’t stopped me from cashing in on game development DOPENESS!!!

Vox for Naught? I THINKS NOT!

I’ve just been informed that we were going to switch from voxels to a more photorealistic art style.  It’s not a biggie, but it would have been nice to have found this out before a bunch of assets were made in the former style.  At least now I know about voxels and pretty good with MagicaVoxel.  In retrospect, at least we didn’t decide to make the characters in the same style.  QUE SERA SERA!

Quest of Quests

Games are everywhere: Quest for New York Comic Con Tickets The RPG

Leave hotel and head towards subway station.

Notice Javits Center(previously clear of any sort of activity days prior) has gigantic posters hanging inside with upcoming shows and New York Comic Con logos.

Enter Javits Center and approach registration desk

Inquire about NYCC admission

                Guy: Sold out for months.

                Me: Need Volunteers?

                Guy: No.

                Me: Need Interns?

                Guy: No.

                Me: Found out NYCC was starting tomorrow five minutes ago.

                Guy: Midtown Comics did a NYCC ticket giveaway a little while back. They might be able to help.

Head to Midtown Comics

Inquire about NYCC ticket giveaway

                Guy: They were gone over the course of a day at this location. Try StubHub or Craigslist.

                Me: Ok. Do you guys have the Biker Daryl Dixon Pop figurine?

                Guy: No. They’re really popular and we sell out really fast.  Try our Grand Central Station store.

                Me: Ok. Thanks

Take Subway to Grand Central Station Midtown Comics

Inquire about Biker Daryl Dixon Pop figurine

                Guy: We’re completely out.  We should have some in a couple weeks.

Small talk about The Walking Dead

                Guy: Yeah, I love that show. They’re going to be at NYCC.

                Me: I know!  I just found out NYCC was happening twenty minutes ago and I can’t find tickets.

Another Guy over hears conversation and comes over

                Guy 2: You’re looking for NYCC tickets?

                Me: Yes…

                Guy 2: How many days?

                Me: One…

                Guy 2: Which day?

                Me: Tomorrow(Thursday)…

                Guy 2: My friend is selling two NYCC passes for tomorrow for $100.

                Me: Really! Let me think about it.

                Guy 1: That’s a really good deal. You’re not going to beat that price.

                Me: Ok. I’ll take ‘em.

Exchange information

Acquired Real Biggoron Sword…I mean NYCC Tickets

Now, THAT is how you quest for rare items in real life.

Easter Egg Bonus...Yes, this happened.

Slice of Video Game Heaven

So, I had the opportunity to New York City again this year, which means two things: 1. Halal Guys aka Delicious Street Meat and 2. NINTENDO WORLD!!!!!!!  Nintendo World is the only store of its name in the ENTIRE WORLD!!! It’s pretty much my video game Mecca.  Aside from the nearly three dozen various gaming kiosks and divine selection of Officially Licensed Nintendo merchandise they have for sale, there is a display that showcases a game or series of games on the second floor.  The last time I went, the history of Pokemon was being showcased and I felt like I was in middle school again.  This time, it was a different experience because the game being showcased was one that I have not quite gotten into, yet.  The game is Splatoon.  It did not really appeal to me at first, but the showcase had bits from the Iwata Asks interview and Splatoon’s design process awesome sauce.  By the time I had finished observing the display, I knew I was on the right path.  Nintendo World really is my video game Mecca.

I was quite excited!

Views from the 4

So, my group has decided that Europa Universalis IV is the best game ever.  After watching a good portion of gameplay for the “Luck of the Irish” Campaign, I am convinced that it is definitely a top contender.  Essentially, the campaign involves playing as Ireland and pulling one of the biggest underdog wins, IN HISTORY!  See what I did there?  The fact that players have the opportunity to play as over four-hundred countries and being able to simulate and/or redefine history at any given moment, provides EU4 with endless amounts of replay value!  Many strategies can be used to get what you want.  A player can conquer by war, forming alliances via Royal Marriages, embargoing trade with other countries, betraying alliances, etc.  After watching all of this gameplay, I’m going to buy it on steam since it’s 80% off!!!  Woot Woot!

Monster Like a Boss

This week, I got the chance to destroy some classmates in Boss Monster.  

Boss Monster is a card game where players serve as the Boss at the end of their own respective side-scrolling dungeons, like Super Mario.  Players play room cards to lure heroes to their dungeon to meet their demise and collect their souls.  Each room and spell card has effects to either help or sabotage a player in their pursuit of ten souls.  I felt very empowered being my own Bowser…ain’t that a Peach?!

Pinch Me

THIS IS THE LIFE!!! What other programs require you to play games in order to pass?  I’ll wait…  So that was a little misleading.  We have been playing games to break them down to figure out what mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics were used to make them fun.  After breaking down all of the games that were played, it became very clear that there are many many many ways to make a fun game.  For example, apparently, competing for the most depressing story in Lovecraft land(Cthulu Gloom) is fun…twisted, but fun. 

If you think that’s weird, trading natural resources to build roads and cities can also be fun(Settlers of Catan).

  I know…I was surprised, too.  Someone, perhaps myself, should make a game where the person who has the best bowel movements win the game.(NO CRAP!) 

A Game For You, A Game For Me

GAMES ARE EVERYWHERE, EVEN AT WORK!!!  Don’t believe me?  Check this out.  So, I’ve worked (more or less) at the same place for over four and a half years.  I started in manufacturing where I cut the insoles…I gained EXP and Leveled Up at my reviews which got me more loot during my daily grinds. 

I changed classes to embark on a quest that would yield the potential for an exponential amount of loot, relatively speaking. 

Real World Translation: I switched from manufacturing to shipping in order to go to school, land a job in my field of study, and make money hand over fist!!!

BOOM! *drops mic*

Card Hunters...Oooh Gimme gimme!

Card Hunters = DnD-esque dopeness, minus the mess and the necessity to play with others!  The campaigns are fun and pretty straightforward, which makes it easy to pick up for beginners in this game genre.  I was hooked before I finished the tutorial portion of the game.  My intent was to play for an hour or so, but it ended up being approximately six hours…go figure.  I have a ways to go before I start playing more like a game designer.

New Class Acquired: Game Designer

Although I started my CSG journey in the 3D Animation emphasis, I’ve recently figured out that my experiences have (more or less) prepared me to be more of a game designer than an animator.  Thanks Extra Credits!!!  Knowing that every single thing that someone encounters in life adds to a designer’s arsenal makes me super excited about the things that I do.

Goons in a Vox

Magica Voxel Update!!! I didn’t realize that Magica Voxel hasn’t made it to version 1.0, yet!  Apparently, now glass materials can be made!!!!  I know this is a bit ambitious, but I’m looking forward to the Futuristic Biome that I caught a glimpse of a few weeks ago.  Where has this program been my entire life!  Okay…I’m done spazzing now…BUT THERE’S SOOOO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!! I’m really done now. Bring on the buildings!!!

Cubee Dooby Doo

I’ve been fooling around with the Cubiquity plugin for Unity3D and it is pretty dope!  Being able to build and edit voxels land masses in engine is really convenient.  It has some similarities to Magica Voxel, but the major advantage of using the Cubiquity plugin is that each voxel can be manipulated in engine.  Whereas, everything brought in as an .OBJ is one object.  I’m looking forward to working more with Cubiquity’s tool set in the later levels of Wreck-uistion. 

Re-Hash

So, I spent a bit of time creating and manipulating objects in Magica Voxel.  The interface is still a little complicated, but nothing few more tutorials can’t fix. 

So far, the fundamental things to remember when working with Magica Voxel:

1. Know what dimensions you want to work in before starting.

2. Know what tool you currently have selected.

3. When modifying or starting a new object, make sure a new model or a duplicated model is created.  Otherwise, the “New” or “Modified” object will overwrite the original object.

4. Tutorials are our friends

Dippin' Dot Dash

It’s even better than I thought!!!  I figured out a way to quickly generate voxel objects using a combination of Magica Voxel and Autodesk 3D Studio Max!  Basically, I make an asset in 3D Studio Max, export the piece as an .OBJ file, import the .OBJ file to Magica Voxel, and export the now voxelized asset as another .OBJ file.  It’s worked well so far, with the exception of the colors disappearing when imported into Unity.