Day 91

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Welcome back to Failton! I hope everyone had a very pleasant holiday period, and that Santa, and/or Kwanzaabot (Futurama, anyone?) was kind to you. After a brief break over Christmas, I've been working both on the animation for the trailer and the factory area of Failton again. I've added some detail to the buildings I put in last time and added the next three in.

Day 84

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 UDK Screenshot time! Yay!

I built some of the other buildings for the area around the factory, filling in the spaces I marked out with pavement meshes. The approach to the factory looks better now. I like how the buildings in front of it mean that the player sees it above them, but comes across the entrance after wandering through the alleyways.

Trailer is coming along, but there's still lots to do, and I'll probably take a break from working on it over christmas. Anyways, time to look at the lovely pictures!

As you can see, there are still a few small places to be filled. Most of the buildings are pretty large - though still insignificant compared to the factory - so they may take some time to furnish with meshes and stuff. I'm hoping to join many of them up with bridges made of junk from roof to roof, adding another way of moving around to avoid crowds of enemies.

On a barely related subject, I've been tweeting about doing livestream videos when I work on Failout. I'm not sure how they'd work, or if we will end up doing them sometime in the future, but It'd be a great way to show you exactly what goes on in the UDK.

Well, I think that's all for now. Have a merry christmas and remember to check in for next Wednesday's post.

Day 80

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Hello again, peoples of the internets.


Since Thursday, when the last post was (belatedly) put up, I've been carrying on with animating the stuff needed for the trailer. Today I also did some other stuff in the UDK so that there was something to take screenshots of, but this post is mainly about the decision I've come to over Failton. Earlier it took me 30 minutes to build the lighting on that map. A new record! So I've decided that it's definitely going to need to be split up into different zones.


Taking the area I've already built on as the central zone, I'm going to surround each area with post-Epic Fail junk walls, as if the survivors has closed off sections of the city. This will allow me to build each area as a different map, and cut down the stress on my PC. Hopefully, the player experience won't be completely fluffed up by this, as I'll do WHATEVER IT TAKES!11 to make sure the transition between these zones is nice and smooth.

So, this shows the central zone, which includes the Puka-Cola factory. You can also see the boundaries for the other buildings I'm going to put in from the sections of pavement (sidewalk, for you Americanists) that I added today. I also had yet another attempt at getting the lighting right in the factory, but the changes are minimal - so I won't bother showing that.


Stay tuned for another update on Wednesday, when it'll be the Christmas holidays. Wooo!

Day 78 (Following one day delay)

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Well, once again, there may be little tangible progress to show here. So far this week, I have FINISHED! Animating the main door for the trailer sequence, and made a start on getting the elevator working.

Also my new graphics tablet arrived, and I've been practising drawing stuff with it in photoshop. Hopefully, once I'm actually any good at using it, I can redraw the sketches I've already done, using the graphics tablet - meaning no need for crummily scanned concept art. Yay! Plus, having a general understanding of photoshop will allow me to create my own textures - which will help for obvious reasons, there's only so little you can take from Google images before bad things happen...

Anyway, a time frame for the trailer may be up to three weeks, hopefully less, because a number of things still need to be worked out such as camera movement, effects, editing and audio. Still, when it's finally finished, it should be pretty damn good.

I have very few days of school left until we're done for Christmas, so there should be more time to devote to weapons and levels again, other than concentrating solely on getting the trailer done.

On a side note, LP and I are considering an as-of-yet-secret side project concerning Call of Duty: Black Ops. And possibly other games. Any leaked information you hear is LIES! (just to be safe).

That's all for today folks. No screenshots of crates, or anything else for that matter,  or any new videos to show yet.  I'll try to do something by Saturday, but the trailer preparations, among other stuff, are keeping me busy at the moment.

Day 73

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 Well, as I tweeted earlier, I've been animating doors and stuff for the teaser trailer. Seeing as the amazing door opening sequence makes up most of the trailer, showing you it would kind of ruin stuff. So there isn't too much to show here. I've also been doing some sketches of the character models I want to make, once I can actually make anything slightly complicated. I promise I'll scan them sometime. In the meanwhile, I spent the last few minutes making a crate on 3dsmax so that this post wouldn't be completely empty. Enjoy.

Oh, I almost forgot. If you want to discuss anything about the game, ask any questions to myself and/or my associates or generally flame us for being noobs, register on our forums HERE

Day 70 (right?)

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 Been busy doing some sketches to get back into pencil drawing, so there's been only a little progress so far this week. Still, Christmas holidays soon, and I got a crap load done in the last two-week break.

I've changed the model of the pistol again,but it still isn't perfect. It's much harder to get the details right on a smaller weapon... the R.O.F.L.E. was pretty easy.

 Render window on the left by the way, in case you were confused. You probably weren't but...

Rendered view of the side (OMG CURVED TRIGGER) Textures still look pretty crap on the curved faces, although the longer bit looks a bit better because I stretched the bitmap in photoshop.

Day 66

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Once again, Saturday comes swinging around to smash me in the face and show how slowly things are going.
 Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh on myself, but 66 days sounds like a heck of a long time.

Anyway, this week I've been working on the 3d model for Failout's basic pistol. Modelled more closely to the conventional-looking 9mm from New Vegas, than to the unusual styling of the 10mm, the basic shape is coming along nicely. I think there are a few too many sharp edges at the moment, and everything just needs to be rounded off a bit.

 Need to find a way of making curved triggers...

The pistol's iron sights. It's the picture that's squint, honest.

I haven't yet gotten round to animating the hammer movement yet, mainly because I found a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 (a legal one, by the way, with a registration key and everything) lying on a shelf in the house.

I've been playing around with it, and the first thing that looked fairly decent was stuck onto a wall in 3dsmax and rendered. So here it is, a whitewashed wall covered in graffiti. I'll probably use it in Failton somewhere - once I work out how to export 3dsmax materials to the UDK...

Boom, headshot! You're dead, Mr Grey Man With Massive Jaw... Guy.

Day 63

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Well, I've been working on a second weapon since Saturday: the pistol. Being as much the main weapon for the first part of the game as Fallout 3's 10mm, it's pretty important to get it right.  I'll probably be using similar textures for the weapons, to keep a uniform feel, so I thought it best to make the pistol a grey metal with a wooden grip.

 

 Ta-da! Done. Impressive, no?

 Seriously though, this is as far as I've gotten at the moment. the blue bit at the back is still being worked on.

 Going to put the trigger in, finish the back of the gun, add textures, put the hammer in and try animating it before Saturday.

Edit - 02/12/10 Forgot the title... silly me!

Day 59

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Hello again. Time for another weekend update!

On Wednesday I posted about the textures i was using for the R.O.F.L.E. scope, using reflection maps, transparency and bitmaps in 3dsmax. 

Since then, I've rather drifted away from making stuff and turned my attention towards making a main website and forums. The website can be found at http://www.failout.eu/ (I know, ".eu" - fancy right?) and the forums are at the rather less elegant http://failout.forumotion.co.uk/forum.htm

Feel free to register on the forums and start contributing to discussion! For the next week or so, there will probably be many changes being made, so the forums may be down from time to time while we make them look... better.

If you have any problems whilst registering, read the forum FAQ accessable from the navigation bar. If you don't find the solution to your problem, send me an email and I will try to help. I might not try that hard, but I can guarantee at least the lowest amount of effort possible.

A pretty picture.... almost as pretty as me.

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 So i came home today and i thought, what could i do to kill some time....(without running around shooting the air obviously!)..... I started designing. Also gonna talk about the alpha testing on the Bunker level as i kinda forgot about that, but i will do that in the end.

So i started by 'coming' out with this image.... (MW2 fans might recognise this)

 It eventually, with alot of hard and tough work, evolved into this thing under here.... I know its not pretty yet but its just what i called the alpha stage.

 I added some badga ears, fixed this and that..... and TADAAAAA.... Came up with this thing under here..... I know its not great but ah well. It will be used on Failout and in Failout's methods of outside communication so to speak.

The Badger >.< Face. By Failout.

That taken care of i shall now speak about and show you a portion of the very detailed and well written report from the alpha stage Bunker level Test Report......
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bugs Found: 1
Bugs Fixed: 1
Ants and Mantises found: 67
Ants and Mantises killed: 0


Level Grade: (Alpha test) 9/10
Observations: Needs more tubes. And sausages.


Din's word to describe the level: Failtastic
Lp's word to describe the level: Incalculable
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thats a small portion of the report sent to the development team of failout about the alpha tests.... Din was the first person to die in the game! *clap*
I was the first person to get lost in the game! *clap*
And we loved it. Nothing else to say.

With that my young FailReaders i leave you..... eat all your asparagus and sausages!
May the Fail shine upon you!

Lp, Producer and Lead Tester.

Failicide!!!!

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Greeting Failians!!! Yes tis I the almighty Dr. Din, thought I'd forgotten you didn't you? Fear not, I've been busy learning about loopholes and how we can weasel our way out of copyright issues without serving life sentences ( hoping to get that down to 5 years at least).

Well actually, I haven't done any of that meagre copyright-ish stuff yet, I've been dealing with far more important matters such as Constitutional and criminal law, not to mention all the various philosophies involved. So I can protect a cold-blooded killer but I can't protect a bunch of fools seeking to gain profit from a game parody...yeah...don't tell Badga or Lp I called them fools!! However I must commend my animalesque colleague for the outstanding work he has done/is doing, keep it up my dear black and white-striped furry marsupial (badgers are marsupials right? cba looking it up)

Until next we meet, may the Fail be with you!

Day 56

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It's Wednesday, and therefore time for me to write another post!

The past few days have been a little less productive than last week. But definitely not because I've been playing Black Ops. Which I haven't. Ok? Good.

I did manage to get a bitmap, together with reflective and transparency effects, to make a texture for the R.O.F.L.E.'s scope lenses which looks alright. I've also just started to make a metal shoulder thingy* for the stock, but rather unsuccessfully so far, because the stock is an awkward shape to fit anything on to.

 "But that's just boring and see-through!"

Not when it's all rendered up, it isn't!

*Words escape me. Trust me, it's something hard to describe.

Whoops, almost forgot...

Day 53

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Welcome to another weekend update post!


This week I've been using 3DsMax to make the R.O.F.L.E. (as seen in Wednesday's post). Creating basic shapes to form an object that resembled a gun was easy enough, however textures and advanced shapes are proving more difficult to master.

I've reshaped the stock of the R.O.F.L.E. into one block, with more rounded edges. I think this looks a lot better than the rather lego-esque version from Wednesday. Also, I've been looking into textures and have found out how to make the lenses in the scope reflective. However, circles are still playing havoc with my bitmaps, so I need to see if there's a better way of texturing them.


I haven't really started the small details on the weapon yet, but today I added a little plaque with the weapon's identity code and model to the side using a bump map texture. It'll probably only be visible when the weapon is on the ground, but I think it adds some needed character to the, so far, inanimate block.


Besides that, I had a very modest attempt at animating part of the gun. The reloading mechanism, which expels used cartridges and pushes a new one into place, can now move. I even made a short video clip showing it, although to be honest, that was mainly so I could try embedding a video.

 Revised R.O.F.L.E. design

 The more accurate shape of the stock

 Small plaque showing rifle model and code

The new reflective lens. (purple sphere for demonstration purposes only, not included)

Day 50

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Introducing the iBlam R.O.F.L.E. from Capital Rifle Armaments Plc.!

Pre-production design. Subject to change.

The R.O.F.L.E. (or Rifle of Fairly Long Extent) is CRAP's most widely produced rifle model. As the name implies, the R.O.F.L.E. is a fairly long-barrelled rifle designed for accuracy at mid to long ranges. Coming equiped out-of-the-box with a 4x zoom telescopic sight, the R.O.F.L.E. is perfect for hunting, game-keeping and long-range personal defence in the case of a zombie apocalypse or Epic Fail incident.

Typically firing .44 hollow-point rounds, the R.O.F.L.E. is best suited against soft targets. However, compatable armour piercing rounds are also available from some retailers. Always remember to clean and maintain your R.O.F.L.E. regularly, after ensuring that the safety switch is set to "SAFE".

Safety first, please remember that the C.R.A.P. iBlam R.O.F.L.E. is a dangerous weapon! Do not attempt to use it as a toy, until you have removed the ammunition magazine and placed it safely out of reach!

 The basic shape I started with, before magazine, scope, grip, trigger etc. were added.

 A little further on, the finished design without a few details.

Completed design pre-texture.

Wireframe view.

Hopefully I'll get the texture/material stuff locked down soon, and will have tonnes of awesomeness to post by Saturday!

Day 47

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Hello again, and welcome to another weekend update!

This week, I've added some meshes to the inside of the factory building, added proper texture to the vats I made last week (I think it was last week anyway) and attempted to improve the lighting in the first factory building. While the lighting changes have so far had... limited success, the second building has been visibly improved by my additions - as you will, hopefully, see from the screenshots below.

I think next week i'll take a break from the UDK side of things and concentrate on modelling my own objects in 3dsmax and Milkshape. Progress on this will likely be very slow, because I haven't learnt much about how to use these programs yet.

So, enough talk, you want pictures!

 Pipes! How I love them so! They can carry all manner of things, from water, to gas, to Fail! Also, they make things look awesome! Pipes are good. I like pipes.

 Texture added to the bottling machinery!

Lit view of the room so far. Bit too dark I think - you can hardly see any of my lovely pipes!

Day 43 (I think)

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 Why hello there.
 The interior of the factory has come on a little. I started making the bottling production line, putting in some sort of conveyor belt around the room, which will be lined with bottling equipment... once I make it. It then cuts through the wall into a small room used for packing the bottles into crates ready for shipping.

These lovely pictures will show you what my words can only pass as a feeble description of.

 "Wait!" I hear you exclaim! "We've seen everything here before!" But, in fact, the vats have been changed - although they're still not finished. Still.

 The bottle production line. Some of it, anyway.

 This overview shows meshes in blue, with landscape structures in purple/orange for addition/subtraction.Just thought I'd give you an insight into what I've actually done to create the structures so far.

Still here.

TweetHello, It's me. Lp. Yes.
I have not yet abandoned this project, although i am rather busy with certain affairs at the moment. I was developing some sort of weaponry the last time i worked for failout so i shall resume that as soon as possible.
I will still abuse my fellow badga and his followers and obviously produce .... kinda.
Love you all, More than Badga loves his sausages.

Lp

Day 39

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Welcome to another Failout first! That's right, our first ever Weekend Update!
Be excited!

This week has seen some progress on the inside detail of the second building. Since Monday, I've finished the walkways around the vats and added the gooey goodness of fail to the vats themselves. I also put the flooring in today.

See you all again on Wednesday, when I should have some of the wall detail in.

Day 36 - First Official Midweek Update!

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Welcome to our first EVER mid-week update! Hooray! I've added textures to the vats and the rest of the room, as well as changing the walkway layout a little. The room looks a bit more full now, and hopefully it'll balance out pretty nicely once I fill up the empty wall space.

I've still got a lot of work to do on the vats, as they're the centre point of the room. Tomorrow I'll put the stairs up to the walkways in and, hopefully, I'll get some of the other meshes in by my next post on Saturday.

Until then, play safe.

Day 33

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Did I miss some days out or something? Pretty sure I wrote more than two posts in September...

Anyway! Been busy again with other things I'm afraid. Boring post is boring. So, starting from the end of this post, I will be cutting my posts down to two a week. probably one on the Wednesday, and one on the Saturday as a review of the week's progress.

In case you think I've just been slacking and playing New Vegas, you are wrong! I watched a 3DsMax tutorial today, but didn't actually get round to trying out what I'd learned. I may have to find some cash for a full version - the trial will run out soon. Maybe they give them away free to "students". 

Adios amigos!

P.S in 5 minutes before midnight GMT, so it is technically day 33 this time.

Day 32

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It's been a busy day today, so I've only managed to put some ideas I had for story, quests and dialogue down on paper. that means no lovely screenshots to watch! Soon I'm going to be busier with a lot of other stuff, so I may have to cut these posts down to weekly or half-weekly. If we get some more people involved, maybe they'll post something now and then to make up for this.

I doubt I'll be able to get much time in the UDK tomorrow either, but I'll try to do something that I can actually show on here, anyway.

Day 31-ish

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Due to unforeseen connectivity issues, today's post is a little bit more... tomorrow. But, better late than never!

Earlier I added more stuff to the interior of the second building. Pot-type thingies full of fail and a network of girders to hole them up. Perfect for walking on too... I might break up the walkways along the side to force this.

Tinkered with the lighting a bit again too, trying to get more light coming through the vent openings. It's still a bit too dark, although I do want it to be dingy.

Day 30 - I can has... more vents?

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Yes, you can!

Now that we've dealt with that, please view the screenshots below. They show the work I've started on the interior of the other large factory building. Hopefully it won't be that dark in the end, but I do want the vents to be the only source of light. That and the bright glow of pure Fail of course.

Day 29 - I can has Vent?

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 Howdy from La.. eh, New Vegas! I've been "researching" again today. Mainly finding place names and trying to think up jokes to make out of them. However, I redid the stuff that got wiped after yesterday's UDK crash. I then saved it. Twice. Anyway, here's the work I did on the side of the building - more vents and pipes, yay! I've used so many damn pipe meshes... they're gonna be in my dreams soon.

 Hopefully this air-conditioning system will ensure that any Failco. Industries employees working in the factory won't die of anything other than Puka-Spine, the affliction which most employees expire of after a few months at the plant.

I'm off to do more exploring and totally not-fun-at-all research. The things I do for this project.

Day 28

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 Today wasn't particularly successful as far as UDK progress goes. While I was able to put a few windows into the side-room, the crash wiped all the stuff I'd done on the side of the factory - vents, piping and doorway. After that, a copy of Fallout: New Vegas for the 360 arrived and I rage-quit from the UDK for a bit. It's still research, ok? This copy isn't mine, but it's pushing me gradually towards clicking the purchase button on Steam. I wonder if they'll give me a discount as a poor free game developer looking for material to Failise. I love making up words.

Day 27

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Another day spent working on the first building. I put glass in the windows, added some detail to front and back, and fiddled around with making the lighting a little better. I also added meshes to the inside of one of the two smaller side-buildings. I reckon I'll finish up with these buildings tomorrow, and be able to move on to the next two.

 The back of the first main building, with pipes to load to and from tankers. Also, the small side door down at the bottom right-hand.

 The inside of the factory viewed through the hole in the corner, and the root of the giant collapsed chimney stack.

 The front of the factory. Hoping to put a huge Puka-Cola banner above the main door.

 One of the smaller side-rooms. On the far side, the vast array of Fail storage tanks, with status indicator lights. On the right, a leaky container of pure Fail.

On a different topic, I saw today that Felicia Day did voice acting for Fallout: New Vegas. I wonder if she'd do the same for us? I doubt it, but a guy can dream, right?