day 122

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Well hello there! Welcome the Saturday installment of Failout's bi-weekly - wait, is that  twice a week, or once every two weeks?

Anyway, it's Saturday, so I'm here posting pictures. Today we have a fine selection of screenshots from a dark, gloomy factory building in the vibrant industrial heart of America: Failton.

 Dingy - but at least it offers panoramic views of... more factories.

 These new darker areas should give me somehwere to stage scary stuff for the player to run into. Totally not inspired by all the Dead Space buzz going on at the moment.

Day119

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It's Wednesday, if you hadn't noticed. And that means Failout stuff!

Well, since on Saturday, Blogger was rejecting all my pictures, I have both Photoshop concepts and Failton screenshots for you. Yes, that's TWO things!

First up, UDK stuff. I've changed the lighting in Failton to have one dominant directional light (sunlight, basically, lighting the entire map from one direction) which has decreased light rendering times a bit, and made shadows cats by buildings more realistic. I've also addedsome more detail to the inside of the smaller factory buildings.

 Another - smaller - building furnished.

 Some changes made to interior of this building, wall detail added, lighting dimmed to give a gloomier feel, and made the tanks bigger to create a claustrophobic effect.

Now I'd like you to meet... John? I don't know. He doesn't really need a name, seeing as he wouldn't  remember it anyway. 

Attractive, huh? This little fellow is a Fool. Basically the dessicated husk of a human who has been so badly affected by Fail that they are driven only by their need to find and consume more. Bodily damage appears not to affect them as much as before their mutation. Weaknesses include fire and decapitation. While insignificant alone, fools can pose a very real threat to survivors if encountered in large groups.

Day 115

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Hey look, it's Saturday! Again. So soon.

Like I wrote on Wednesday, I've been working on character concepts in photoshop as well as doing Failton stuff. However, for an unknown reason, Blogger is rejecting every one of my image uploads today.

I don't know if it's a general problem on their end, but I've tried several different file types, as well as the URL feature to attempt to link from Photobucket. No cookie. Pretty annoying, but hopefully it'll be fixed soon. I'd hate to have to try to migrate all this stuff to another blogging site. That would suck.

So, I apologise for the failpost - but there really isn't much to say without any pictures to talk about. I have started a little side-project building a small, detailed map in the UDK to use for my personal  portfolio. It might find its way into a Failout level as some sort of terraformed area.

So anyway, hopefully things will be back to normal on Wednesday, and I'll be able to post some nice, shiny pictures! I better see you then! Or I'll cry. Copiously.

Day 112?

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Something close to that, anyway.

I have UDK screenshots for you! Yaysies, super-happy dancey funtimes.
Seriously though, I've added a bit more detail into the room again. Also working on more creature concepts in Photoshop, but I'll show those on Saturday.

 A view of the gas tanks through the skylight above.

 The gas tanks and some wall detail in the background (yes, more pipes). If you're new here - they are my friends. They make walls look so much less bare, and give stuff a rough, gritty, industrial look. I use them a lot.

 A section of wall covered with wiring, tidied behind skirting with power-indicating lights
  (Sparkly lights, yaaay!)

Day 108

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Hello again, faithful Failers... Failures... Failists...  uhh, People.

I have somebody I'd like you to meet. His name is Garry, and he is an Ubermutant.

Don't worry. He's informed me that he's perfectly harmless, because he can't see you, and because he can't smell over the internet. Or so he says.

Ubermutants are similar to Supermutants, which appeared in... some game. They are one of the many products of the Epic Fail. However, nobody is quite sure as to the circumstances in which these brutes were first created. It is thought that many of them were factory workers in areas of heavy Fail industry, mainly due to the tools of such trade - which are often fused onto the Ubermutant's body. A perfect example of this is the Fail injection equipment sported on Garry's left arm.

Quite how this happens, and why more and more Ubermutants seem to be appearing, are unknown to survivors who have studied Ubermutant activity. It is more than possible that the Ubermutants are being purposefully created by an individual of questionable morals - for an unknown purpose.

Ubermutants hunt by smell, due to their blindness and (presumed) deafness. This makes them extremely clumsy and slow creatures, as you can't smell obstacles. Unless it's a dead cow, or something. They are however, unstoppably determined and deliberate. They will not hesitate to hunt and kill survivors, or even other mutants, as soon as they pick up a scent. Don't worry though - I'm sure you'll be fine.

Day 105

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Gr33t1ngs, t0d4y5 p05t w1ll b3... actually, nah - screw it.


I'll just have to break it to you straight. Not a lot has changed since Saturday.

I know, I know, It's been a WHOLE four days. I'm disappointed too. But sometimes, you just have to accept things as they are, and move on. Also, I was playing Forge on Halo: Reach way too much - but never mind that. It's in the past now. like spilt milk. Or something. Under a bridge.

I did have another go at assigning collision maps to the window meshes, so that the player doesn't fall straight through. However, either I'm doing it wrong, which (while perfectly possible) would not seem to be the case, or... they just don't work. Every setting I can see looks to be right.  I suppose I should pull my finger out and just create some transparent planes in 3dsMax. Then again - there's no reason that they would work any better. I also put some barrels and crates and stuff into the building... which is like, reeaaally interesting.

So, that was Wednesday. Saturday is a whole three days away, and maybe - just maybe - I'll actually have done something.

Day 101

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Well, it's been a dramatic week here at Failout development HQ - i.e. my desk. In a rather embarrassing incident - involving me accidentally cutting out the power to my computer, and so shorting the power supply somehow - which resulted in a pause to work on the game for a while. However, I have installed a new PSU and, luckily, there seems to be no damage to the other components. I've just got back to working on Failout, but I added the detail in these screenshots last weekend, before the... accident.

 Pumping machinery sits idle on an abandoned factory floor.

 The building viewed from the secondary, raised entrance.

 Skylights, now lined with concrete to give them a finished appearance, give me the chance to vary lighting styles. The glass meshes seem to be adverse to having collision maps; meaning that, at the moment, the player falls straight through.

Day 94

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Since Wednesday I've been working on adding details to the area of failton around the factory, which will make up the central zone for the overall level. I've added barricades and makeshift bridges put up by the survivors of the Epic Fail in an attempt to contain the many monstrosities that it created, and make it easier for them to travel in safety. I also added general details to the buildings such as skylights, windows and doors. 

 Skylights will add variety to indoor lighting and, possibly, additional entry points to buildings.

Piles of broken equipment and machinery block some routes through the zone.

 This is the beginnings of the makeshift bridge which spans across the widest road in the zone, and will be impossible for the player to miss on their way to the factory. I wanted to give it a distinct look from the other features in the area, and I think the large column made up of concrete blocks has a tribal look to it, almost like a Native American totem pole.

 The latest aerial view of the zone, showing added roof details and bridges/barricades.