Plan for Jerane Alleyne
by Jerane Alleyne · 03/23/2002 (8:40 pm) · 1 comments
Well, the wheels continue to turn over at our merry project. As progress continues, the idea of sleeping fades into memory...
General Progess
======================
In addition having a Main game document, Our Objective List and Report document has taken shape as a guide to follow for breaking down a particular area of the game and assigining particular tasks in the form of objectives. Also, for every new version of our demo that is released among the team, a report is written out that covers the areas completed, bugs/errors encountered, and what we will try to shoot for by the next release.
In the main game document, I'll begin reorganizing the section on weapons, trying to be more descriptive with specific attributes, and how they might be achieved through scripting/coding. I'm currently trying to see the different projectile types/classes we will need to define, and what does/doesn't need to be coded. The first to consider is getting projectiles to hit a target instantly. I came across some forum threads that taked about this, but need to find them again. I wish forums had a keyword search like resources :(
Design Progress
======================
I started on creating structures for our first mission map earlier this week, using Worldcraft. I think I've gotten the hang of using it. Its a little rough around the edges, but seems adequate for our purposes. I might consider using Quark in the future, but it can wait. I put up a screenshot of an in-progress "tank bay", so it should be viewable soon. It'll probably be another week until I'm done with the remaining structures and added permanent textures. With the currently completed structures, there doesn't seem to be a loss in performance, but until we are ready to do an online test, I guess I won't really know...
I just tested a new player model, of a significant difference in size, with sharing animation and seeing how it looks in-game. It looks like some of the sequences don't work right in different sizes, although the blended sequences seem to be fine. It no big deal, just need to shrink the skeleton in the animation file.
After I finish the mission map, I'll be finalizing the animation sequences between the different size player types, filtering out the ones that need to match the actual size of the player. Also, I'll be adding proper Level-of- Detail to the models (they average in at around 1200 polys, at least one type of player class does this), and dummies to be used for particle FX and so on.
Programming Progress
===========================
Our lead code monkey has gotten our player to do an animated reload. Its not perfect yet, but is still very nice! I might do some edits to the animation, as the arm tends to go into the torso, but that can wait. He's added another ability to the player that I'm waiting to try out, being able to have a quick thrust in the direction you are facing. We've also succeded in getting muzzleflash working (Thanks Doyoon!).
Some of our next targets include a preliminary inventory setup, and a Profile Setup fo rcharacter creation. This would be linked to the inventory system, so as to help in filtering out weapons and equipment for certain player, based on their profile.
With 2 of our programmers going on vacation, it will be a bit of slow going for a while. With one of our members getting a hand on studying Torque scripting, we could still use another programmmer to join our ranks :)
The website should be up pretty soon. Right now, its just deciding on whether certain elements should be in or not. I unfortunately haven't had time to set up our Sovereign Studios site, but that won't take long, I'm thinking...
Well, that shold be all for now. I promised myself I would have at least one plan a month. We're going to start getting into the mode of more active "promotion" or our game, hopefully without the result being vaporware :)
See you next episode!
General Progess
======================
In addition having a Main game document, Our Objective List and Report document has taken shape as a guide to follow for breaking down a particular area of the game and assigining particular tasks in the form of objectives. Also, for every new version of our demo that is released among the team, a report is written out that covers the areas completed, bugs/errors encountered, and what we will try to shoot for by the next release.
In the main game document, I'll begin reorganizing the section on weapons, trying to be more descriptive with specific attributes, and how they might be achieved through scripting/coding. I'm currently trying to see the different projectile types/classes we will need to define, and what does/doesn't need to be coded. The first to consider is getting projectiles to hit a target instantly. I came across some forum threads that taked about this, but need to find them again. I wish forums had a keyword search like resources :(
Design Progress
======================
I started on creating structures for our first mission map earlier this week, using Worldcraft. I think I've gotten the hang of using it. Its a little rough around the edges, but seems adequate for our purposes. I might consider using Quark in the future, but it can wait. I put up a screenshot of an in-progress "tank bay", so it should be viewable soon. It'll probably be another week until I'm done with the remaining structures and added permanent textures. With the currently completed structures, there doesn't seem to be a loss in performance, but until we are ready to do an online test, I guess I won't really know...
I just tested a new player model, of a significant difference in size, with sharing animation and seeing how it looks in-game. It looks like some of the sequences don't work right in different sizes, although the blended sequences seem to be fine. It no big deal, just need to shrink the skeleton in the animation file.
After I finish the mission map, I'll be finalizing the animation sequences between the different size player types, filtering out the ones that need to match the actual size of the player. Also, I'll be adding proper Level-of- Detail to the models (they average in at around 1200 polys, at least one type of player class does this), and dummies to be used for particle FX and so on.
Programming Progress
===========================
Our lead code monkey has gotten our player to do an animated reload. Its not perfect yet, but is still very nice! I might do some edits to the animation, as the arm tends to go into the torso, but that can wait. He's added another ability to the player that I'm waiting to try out, being able to have a quick thrust in the direction you are facing. We've also succeded in getting muzzleflash working (Thanks Doyoon!).
Some of our next targets include a preliminary inventory setup, and a Profile Setup fo rcharacter creation. This would be linked to the inventory system, so as to help in filtering out weapons and equipment for certain player, based on their profile.
With 2 of our programmers going on vacation, it will be a bit of slow going for a while. With one of our members getting a hand on studying Torque scripting, we could still use another programmmer to join our ranks :)
The website should be up pretty soon. Right now, its just deciding on whether certain elements should be in or not. I unfortunately haven't had time to set up our Sovereign Studios site, but that won't take long, I'm thinking...
Well, that shold be all for now. I promised myself I would have at least one plan a month. We're going to start getting into the mode of more active "promotion" or our game, hopefully without the result being vaporware :)
See you next episode!
About the author
Darkness40k