Optimizing the full level

Because the game was still running a bit slow on some parts we decided to cut up the whole level. The game is now in 5 sections excluding the menus. This made the game run smoother, but loading times had increased a little bit as somethings had to be reloaded again such as when the player comes back outside after being in the basement.

Finally rendered out the video

It is now uploading to Youtube and I will say I am incredibly happy. The troubles it has caused me leading up to the deadline, I was getting quite worried, now just to finish all the documentation.

Video up of first playthrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqshux3x6xw

Camera Controls

Got some user feedback today from two people. One of the things that both people said was that the games controls where a little bit awkward in that the sensitivity was too high. So I have lowered it's sensitivity and it now feels a lot easier to control.

I also made a silly mistake that I managed to solve where the player would tilt upwards, so she was walking at a 45 degree angle when the player looked up and moved. I sorted this by making the mouse look on the player only move horizontally and made the camera only move vertically.

Song choice?

Set the world on fire by The Ink Spots, having this playing in a room on a record player with a fire burning outside.

Evil Stretcher

Scripted a stretcher to get flung against a wall when the player goes near it. This is actually a little bit jumpy. :)

Sound issue solved!

Had a problem with a sound where it was looping. However it wasn't looping it was because the player was on the point of the trigger, so I set a variable "playOnce = false" and set it to true when the player touched it, therefore the sound would only playOnce, a nice loud creak on a step to scare the player.

Lighting solved

The lighting throughout the level was way too dark, so I tweaked around with it for a while, eventually I added a sun with an extremely low intensity to the character so whatever direction the player is facing that area becomes more illuminated.

Starting to add sounds

Started adding some sounds around the level, it is starting to become a lot more atmospheric the more I add, tried making it rain too as it adds a little bit more atmosphere instead of the environment just being windy.

Jewellery store

I have modelled the jewellery store and normal mapped it.

Jewellery Store and Window Reference

Next Level!

We finally got the next level working, this works on a script that checks the player is in the area, so no collision is necessary, this way the player does not have to be touching the door and it acts more as a trigger zone.

We decided to do it this way as we want the games free roaming functionality to continue through out the entire game. Doing it this way means that you will always have the option to NOT continue onto the next level.

More Models

As the title say's...More models, (You can never have enough).

Too busy

We have both been incredibly busy with our client projects, we said we were going to take a bit of time off to focus on those projects so sorry if updates have been a little bit slow!

A few more models

Random Models

Sorry for the long pause in these updates. We are also working on another 2 projects along side this one.

With that said...

I have been Modeling (What a surprise)

Ventilation

One of the many things I have done today, others are little tweaks and creating borders... etc. thought I'd post this up though as I was quite pleased with the bake. The one on the right is the High Poly and the left is the Low Poly.

High Poly - 18464polys

Low Poly - 26polys

1x 512 normal map

Library tour video :)

Sorry that the quality is a bit low :(

Finished Poster Design (2)

Bernard Perron

Contacted Bernard Perron, writer of various books on the horror genre in media. He gave me a bit of knowledge on his views on horror.

Library so far

Started on a library yesterday, today I managed to get one section complete that can be duplicated. need to do the underneath, stairs and a doorway, possibly a chandelier :) but apart from that it's coming along nicely!

High Poly left - Low Poly Normal right. Not the cleanest bake I've done.

Library Reference

Katherine MK 4

OK after the feed back given from our presentation, I set about remodelling clothes for Katherine, and no matter what I did, I couldn't get them to look right so... I started from scratch once again.

This is the 4th time Katherine has been modelled and I am very happy that it is. Although all in all from the very first model to this one it has probably taken around 60h of modelling I am glad I did. I have learnt from each model and every time I have done her so looks better and better.

This time around she is wearing flairs and a bright yellow blouse, This is to aid in the period that the game is set in and also that the game is set in summer. I also made her look older as I personally thought she had the appearance of a 28yo and she is supposed to be in her late 30's to do this I made the face a little longer, made the cheek bones more pronounced and gave her nose a little more definition. I also made the sides of her eyes (tear glands) a little elongated.

Now for the big reveal...

Finished Poster Design

Nurses - Poster Design 02

The following two images where the most influential in the design.

Nurses - Poster Design 01

Brain thing from concept

I didn't quite get what the concept was showing exactly so I tried to model it loosely from it. I come up with this.

I could have done a cleaner bake but it's only around 1,100 polys. Might be nice to scatter some around, they will be easy to animate so the character could even cut the spinal part of them if they are an obstacle.

They could have been a lot better but the total time for it was around 2-3 hours

My attempt at a character

A painful 3 days learning (about 15 hours on this model) the basics of character modelling... but... for my first character I am actually quite happy, okay the shape of the hands and feet aren't perfect and neither is the texturing but it's 7374 polys and I'm quite happy.

The needles should have gone in the holes I made in the normal map, but I couldn't view this in 3DS Max and since I'm going out in... ten minutes, they will have to be arranged another day.

Concept art from Luke Kendall

Concept art from Luke Kendall

Feedback From Presentation.

After our mid way presentation, which went really well. We received feedback on the project. There where only 2 main points of concern from our tutors.

1. The branding didn't match the look and feel of the game.
2. The main character didn't really fit in the period for the game.

To help address these issues we have taken on another concept artist from the Illustration department of HSAD, Luke Kendall. We set him a brief to help with character concept and design.

We will also look into the branding, based on elements from the game its self. This will come at a later date when the game is a little further along.

Big Update

Pretty much finished the building, screenshots galore.