Day Something

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I need to count back to the last post for the title, but I cba right now. Finally have my preliminary exams over and I'll have a little more of my time to spend in the UDK. Today I just put some static meshes into this room to get it finished, and now all of the smaller buildings in this level are complete. The areas directly around and inside the factory are the last left to be detailed, then I'll need to finalise lighting before moving on.

Day 156

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Put some detal into two of the three remaining buildings. Should be finished this area soon, and can start on a new level. Can't wait to get back to crisp performance without such a big level to render!

Day 153

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 An aereal, wireframe view of the next three small buildings I'll be furnishing.

 Wireview of the whole level. Shows just how many static meshes (Blue) are in it already.

Day 150

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150 magical days. Finished off the building today. Three smaller ones to do, then the walls enclosing that zone to put in. After that, it's just finishing off the factory and its perimeter.

Day 147

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Welcome, peoples of the internets!

Here are some screenshots of the additions I've made since we last met. They include lighting, light fittings, detail on the loading-bay-door-thing, wall detail and doorways.

 Long room is long!

 Changed the gate thingy to slightly open, simply because it looks more interesting. Maybe mutant rabbits could burst from the building through it and eat your face. That'd be fun.

On a non-Failout-related note, some random people and I have started a little minecraft blog at http://epicminecraftjourney.blogspot.com/ Very early stages at the moment - basically an epic screenshot/epic caption type thing. Perhaps there'll be posts of a little more substance later on, though.

Day 145

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Well, a little late posting this, but I was a bit busy at the weekend. ALOT of homework which I decided to leave until the last minute because, well... I'm awesome. Anyway, I did a little work, making a cargo loading door type thing in one of the last buildings to "furnish".

Day 140

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140 days into the project, and the second level around halfway done. I wonder if we'll end up getting into 4-figures...

Anyway, some more details added to these factory rooms, as well as extra lights that were needed. I think these two rooms are pretty much done now, so that's most of the major buildings done. Just a few smaller ones to go, and then finishing off the main factory buildings and adding surrounding walls.

Day 136

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I think 136 is right, it always screws with my counting system whenever I miss a post. I did some work on some of the Failton buildings today, as screenshots below will show. Still not completely free of whatever nasty disease has afflicted me over the last week or so - but well enough to feel guilty about not doing any Failout stuff for about as long!

I've added some wall detail and moved a light in the room to cover it more evenly.

 

Day 129

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 I have a couple of screenshots for you today, but not much going on besides lighting put into the room from Wednesday. Very lazy at the moment due to cough/cold/thing that has infected me. Damn you immune system, why aren't you as effective as antivirus?

Day 126

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 Blah blah blah, welcome. Blah, blah, blah Failout.

Since Saturday I've furnished the long, dark room, but I couldn't be bothered building lighting for static meshes afterwards because it would take ages and I want to play Crysis. Which is also why I'm writing this pretty quickly. I changed the lighting a bit in the room that was really dark because it seems some people can't take a little spookiness! No, but seriously, I added a light in the ceiling, mainly because it'd be silly if it was the only place that didn't have any.

Blah Blah Blah, SCREENSHOTS!

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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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.