This post is going to serve as an update for the Patreon found at
this link here.
So, I know things have fallen behind a bit, and I haven't been getting that many updates out like I should have been. The reasons are related to supporting a loved one. I won't go over the personal issues here, but I will talk about what has been done in the past few months and I will provide screenshots of what I can.
I'll start with some behind the scenes stuff. A lot of work that has gone on in the last few months has been stuff I can't really talk about too much. This being because it is all story sensitive information. The before mentioned loved one I've been helping about has offered to help out with the project. She sees the passion I have for game development and is just as passionate as I am. She was recently, before running into the complications, trying to develop her own game and decided to put it on the shelf as a result of the complications. She is an amazing story writer who understands all the ins and outs of what makes a story interesting, she is an amazing artist, and she has experience with technical computer work. Once things slow down in our lives, I'm sure I'll be posting some amazing concept art that she makes.
Out of the creepy and spooky shadows that shroud our story to protect it, I've mainly been doing some model work. All of this work has gotten me much more comfortable with the tools that I am using; especially Substance Painter, which is a beast if you don't know how to use it. It works wonders in material and texture creation as can be seen below.
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| The first hand-painted 3D model to be imported into the game. The lower dirty half of the model is intended to be underground. It extends underground so much to compensate for terrain height variances. |
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| This is a screenshot showing the fence model being used in game. This view is from in the editor. |
Next, I worked on a chest model. This model will be used to test containers and storage in the game. It's got its own problems, and will only be used in the preAlpha map because of them. Below are some screenshots of the model. I learned a lot in creating this model and in painting realistic textures. My main focus on this model was the metal. I figured out how and where to apply different types of wear. As you can see, this model has a thin and spotty layer of rust covering it's metal parts. The rust blocks out the reflections of the metal underneath, as to does the "tarnish" layer I painted on it.
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| A view of the chest model inside of Substance Painter. |
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| The chest model as it appears in the engine. This too, is from the editor window. |
One of the last models I've been working on, I'm relatively proud of and am looking to see how it turns out. It is the biggest model I have ever worked on. Because of it's scale and importance, I've imported it into the editor to check proportions and to get another view on it while I work. The model is Elara's house. I think the proportions of the house are nice; not too roomy, and not too cramped. I'm very happy that it imported so well. There are a few things to fix on it, but this is all in development. It was only loaded into the editor to see how it would look from the player's view.
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| The basic floor plan of Elara's house, as seen from inside of Blender. Each gray square on the ground is one square meter. |
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| Elara's home, visualized with a roof and placeholder support pillars. |
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| A view of Elara's home from in-game. Note that the house is elevated off of the ground to the floor inside would be flat. |
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| This is an animated .gif that shows the internals of Elara's home, from her point of view. |
I've also been working on a few easter egg things here and there, but we don't need to worry about that... It really hasn't distracted from work on the game all too much. It has helped with understanding materials and textures more than anything else really.
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| "spek.exe"; "I'm feeling lucky." |
