I got a much better framerate and video quality using fraps instead of camtasia.
To clarify what content is mine, as there was some confusion when I originally showed this I have listed the content I have made below.
*Terrain
*lighting
*building
*character model
*character texture
*character animation
*All scripted events
*edit of the walls inside the house to make them glow purple
*lever for the light switch
below is a list of content taken from the UDK:
(some static meshes from the UDK, I arranged them to fit the map)
*model of trees (however I painted them on to the terrain to create the forest
*statue in forest
*plants
*all sounds
*stairs in building
*red device in forest
*Textures (except for character texture)
*wires
*church
*pillar and rocks at start point
8 Dec 2011
Evaluation
This project has been a big leap forward for me, learning 2 3D software programs ( Maya and UDK editor) and integrating this with my knowledge of animation has given me the skills to produce a playable game that includes everything from sounds, character animation and scripting events to occur with player interaction that culminates in an immersive 3D world. This has given me a strong grounding to further explore immersion with more interaction between players and the story.
The most time consuming part of the project was discovering ways to overcome all the problems I encountered. At times there were issues that had obvious work around type "solutions", for example, looping segments in the UDK animation editor matinee prevented me from adding in additional animation sequences to play afterwards, taking the time to investigate the problem and find a better, quicker solution not only helped increase the quality of the game I made but will also streamline this process in the future.
Encountering problems leads to an increased knowledge of the software and eventually gave me more control over what I was doing. Another example of this was due to clipping in the UDK editor, caused by me playing around with the controls and not knowing what I was doing, it took me absolutely ages of reading up on UDK documentation to figure out what I had done, it turned out to be easily fixable. However just trying to solve a single problem led me to knowledge about configuring visibility of static meshes within the game as well as useful stream lining tips which I would have not otherwise encountered.
After some initial compatibility issues with introducing my animation sequences in to the UDK I had a working walk cycle, changing the direction that my character was facing to the direction he was walking in was solved by changing his rotation. Ideally I would have liked the direction of my character automated to face the direction he is walking in, making it quicker to control the walk path, this is something I will investigate further in the future.
Future development. A genre that I feel has a lot of potential (if executed correctly) A film/story that allows for interaction with the player, the difference between this and any other video game containing a story would be much more focus on the dialogue, narrative and visuals than a typical game which involves combat or quests which you spend the majority of your time going through to get short snippets of the story in the form of cut scenes.
The thought behind this is that there exists a large group of people that have no interest in shooting bad guys but do wish to immerse themselves in a story in a video game setting without the distraction of challenges. The deus ex series is a great example of this, the story and sound effects were great, but I can't remember how I got past the 20th group of people shooting at me.
The most time consuming part of the project was discovering ways to overcome all the problems I encountered. At times there were issues that had obvious work around type "solutions", for example, looping segments in the UDK animation editor matinee prevented me from adding in additional animation sequences to play afterwards, taking the time to investigate the problem and find a better, quicker solution not only helped increase the quality of the game I made but will also streamline this process in the future.
Encountering problems leads to an increased knowledge of the software and eventually gave me more control over what I was doing. Another example of this was due to clipping in the UDK editor, caused by me playing around with the controls and not knowing what I was doing, it took me absolutely ages of reading up on UDK documentation to figure out what I had done, it turned out to be easily fixable. However just trying to solve a single problem led me to knowledge about configuring visibility of static meshes within the game as well as useful stream lining tips which I would have not otherwise encountered.
Future development. A genre that I feel has a lot of potential (if executed correctly) A film/story that allows for interaction with the player, the difference between this and any other video game containing a story would be much more focus on the dialogue, narrative and visuals than a typical game which involves combat or quests which you spend the majority of your time going through to get short snippets of the story in the form of cut scenes.
The thought behind this is that there exists a large group of people that have no interest in shooting bad guys but do wish to immerse themselves in a story in a video game setting without the distraction of challenges. The deus ex series is a great example of this, the story and sound effects were great, but I can't remember how I got past the 20th group of people shooting at me.
Evaluation and Contextualisation
Original brief:
To explore different applications of scripting and animating 3D characters in games in regards to helping to build a personality for the character and making it's actions as well as the environment believable.
This may include things like having the character look at you when you talk to it, instead of facing the opposite direction, small movements triggered by certain events, such as boredom
Purpose and intent:
My main focus is on immersion, immersion being defined as
"noting or pertaining to digital technology or images that deeply involve one's senses and may create an altered mental state"
As I see it there are 2 aspects of this that I feel lacking in current animation and video games. Realism, in it's most obvious form this can be put down to "how good do the graphics look". To an extent this can be ascribed to the current limitations of computing power. However, I think the details of facial expression and how characters move and behave are most relevant. For example you can often see a bland expressionless face on characters in game as they talk to you, something that is considered paramount within film to convey emotion. This would cover more of the animation aspect of realism.
The 2nd part of realism is interaction of the player with the environment, this can mean anything from being able to pick up a rock and throw it, to believable interaction with players in the story, this can be posed as "how can your actions effect the environment". Often I find this very limiting within video games. This is less to do specifically with animation and more so scripting and knowledge of how people wish to interact within their environment.
With this idea in mind, realism is the direction I wish to progress in. Learning how to implement a character with animation in to a playable video game would be the best way to start.
Target audience:
My target audience is me. Honestly I am not aware of how much of a market there is for this as most people that play video games seem content with the current style of challenges + bits of a story cobbled together, however I believe there is a substantial number of people that have no interest in playing traditional video games but would find a story in the style of a game (without the combat/challenges) appealing. I think the target audience has potential to include a much wider range of ages than typical games already do, I would need to research this in order to know. Perhaps it is the case that only people that presently play video games would be interested in playing a game entirely for the story, and so as consequence by not including challenges with game dynamics I would be just limiting my audience. More likely I think there is at the very least a niche market of dedicated gamers that would be interested in this, however I only base this reasoning off the reaction from friends and myself.
Which medium:
Pc, 3D animation software, Autodesk Maya , Unreal Development Kit editor
Which platform:
The final outcome will be a playable game on the pc with modelled characters that are animated, sounds and an environment that is intractable with the user.
Project strategies:
Focus my time on learning new software and integrating my animation in to a game environment, do lots of tests to see what works and what does not. I don't want to spend too much time on things like character development or the story as this is not the focus of the subject, so these things can be largely borrowed from existing ideas that work well.
Personal learning outcomes:
To broaden my knowledge of different 3D software and increase my skill set to include a good foundational knowledge of how to create a 3D game environment. Also to learn through analysis of existing games what techniques are effective in creating an immersive environment.
To explore different applications of scripting and animating 3D characters in games in regards to helping to build a personality for the character and making it's actions as well as the environment believable.
This may include things like having the character look at you when you talk to it, instead of facing the opposite direction, small movements triggered by certain events, such as boredom
Purpose and intent:
My main focus is on immersion, immersion being defined as
"noting or pertaining to digital technology or images that deeply involve one's senses and may create an altered mental state"
As I see it there are 2 aspects of this that I feel lacking in current animation and video games. Realism, in it's most obvious form this can be put down to "how good do the graphics look". To an extent this can be ascribed to the current limitations of computing power. However, I think the details of facial expression and how characters move and behave are most relevant. For example you can often see a bland expressionless face on characters in game as they talk to you, something that is considered paramount within film to convey emotion. This would cover more of the animation aspect of realism.
The 2nd part of realism is interaction of the player with the environment, this can mean anything from being able to pick up a rock and throw it, to believable interaction with players in the story, this can be posed as "how can your actions effect the environment". Often I find this very limiting within video games. This is less to do specifically with animation and more so scripting and knowledge of how people wish to interact within their environment.
With this idea in mind, realism is the direction I wish to progress in. Learning how to implement a character with animation in to a playable video game would be the best way to start.
Target audience:
My target audience is me. Honestly I am not aware of how much of a market there is for this as most people that play video games seem content with the current style of challenges + bits of a story cobbled together, however I believe there is a substantial number of people that have no interest in playing traditional video games but would find a story in the style of a game (without the combat/challenges) appealing. I think the target audience has potential to include a much wider range of ages than typical games already do, I would need to research this in order to know. Perhaps it is the case that only people that presently play video games would be interested in playing a game entirely for the story, and so as consequence by not including challenges with game dynamics I would be just limiting my audience. More likely I think there is at the very least a niche market of dedicated gamers that would be interested in this, however I only base this reasoning off the reaction from friends and myself.
Which medium:
Pc, 3D animation software, Autodesk Maya , Unreal Development Kit editor
Which platform:
The final outcome will be a playable game on the pc with modelled characters that are animated, sounds and an environment that is intractable with the user.
Project strategies:
Focus my time on learning new software and integrating my animation in to a game environment, do lots of tests to see what works and what does not. I don't want to spend too much time on things like character development or the story as this is not the focus of the subject, so these things can be largely borrowed from existing ideas that work well.
Personal learning outcomes:
To broaden my knowledge of different 3D software and increase my skill set to include a good foundational knowledge of how to create a 3D game environment. Also to learn through analysis of existing games what techniques are effective in creating an immersive environment.
7 Dec 2011
Kismet
"UnrealKismet allows non-programmers to script complex gameplay flow in level. It
works by allowing you to connect simple functional Sequence Objects to
form complex sequences."
I've labelled all the things I have set up in kismet to make it easier to see what is going on.
Test run through of game + animation
I've labelled all the things I have set up in kismet to make it easier to see what is going on.
FBX Import
2nd attempt at using FBX import, originally I was using an outdated version which was causing some compatibility issues, updated to the latest, also it was not importing textures correctly because I was using jpg file formats instead of PNG or TARGA.
All of the previous issues have now been resolved, this is a lever I modelled and textured in maya and then imported in to the UDK. No reason to make anything complex I just wanted to resolve the initial problems with it. This lever will be used to activate the lights
All of the previous issues have now been resolved, this is a lever I modelled and textured in maya and then imported in to the UDK. No reason to make anything complex I just wanted to resolve the initial problems with it. This lever will be used to activate the lights
Concept
Background concept for the game:
Whilst this is not central to the theme of my project I thought it would be useful as a general guide to the style of content I will be creating for the map. As a consequence most of the concepts here are not in the slightest original, inspiration comes from science fiction novels.
"The Culture is a fictional interstellar anarchist, socialist, and utopian[1][2] society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks which features in a number of science fiction novels and works of short fiction by him, collectively called the Culture series."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
mixed with ideas obtained from here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Story:
You wake up in a foggy dark forest,head towards the dim light in the distance, you enter the building with walls made of water, there's a flickering hologram in the centre that activates, it speaks for only a fraction of a second, you can't make out what it is saying. Flick a glowing switch to turn on the lights and a small robot teddy bear wakes up, he has the personality of a child so he isn't very helpful, you attempt to find out where you are, what is this place and what the broken hologram is saying, he gives you some vague answer that the previous people became boring and you need to fix the hologram
it's about a race of beings that "sublimed", the hologram represents their species, they eventually lost contact with the physical world due to small changes in the physical constants of the universe which affected the technology they use to communicate between the normal universe and where ever they are now, they've been isolated for a long time...
It's just a short game, the objective is to fix the broken machine by looking for parts and solving puzzles.
A collection of images that go with my theme:
Tutorials and Documentation:
All 65 tutorials here: http://thenewboston.org/list.php?cat=12
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WebHome.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoCjYLji2ak&feature=bf_prev&list=SPF3092B0D6F66A015&lf=list_related
Whilst this is not central to the theme of my project I thought it would be useful as a general guide to the style of content I will be creating for the map. As a consequence most of the concepts here are not in the slightest original, inspiration comes from science fiction novels.
"The Culture is a fictional interstellar anarchist, socialist, and utopian[1][2] society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks which features in a number of science fiction novels and works of short fiction by him, collectively called the Culture series."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture
mixed with ideas obtained from here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo
Story:
You wake up in a foggy dark forest,head towards the dim light in the distance, you enter the building with walls made of water, there's a flickering hologram in the centre that activates, it speaks for only a fraction of a second, you can't make out what it is saying. Flick a glowing switch to turn on the lights and a small robot teddy bear wakes up, he has the personality of a child so he isn't very helpful, you attempt to find out where you are, what is this place and what the broken hologram is saying, he gives you some vague answer that the previous people became boring and you need to fix the hologram
it's about a race of beings that "sublimed", the hologram represents their species, they eventually lost contact with the physical world due to small changes in the physical constants of the universe which affected the technology they use to communicate between the normal universe and where ever they are now, they've been isolated for a long time...
It's just a short game, the objective is to fix the broken machine by looking for parts and solving puzzles.
A collection of images that go with my theme:
Tutorials and Documentation:
All 65 tutorials here: http://thenewboston.org/list.php?cat=12
http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/WebHome.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoCjYLji2ak&feature=bf_prev&list=SPF3092B0D6F66A015&lf=list_related
Map Level
Map layout:
Initially I had an open style game, the player could walk anywhere and go off track, I had thought about this to an extent by creating dirt paths for the character to follow. After making a portion of the map and testing it I decided that this would be a problem so I made hills to counter this and prevent the player from walking where they are not supposed to. Ideally the map structure will be thought of well in advance of making anything as it is harder to rearrange once everything has been added. Now I know for next time, I would make the forest bigger with more turns for the player to walk through to better set the mood. One of the limitations was my hardware, any map much bigger than this crashed the UDK as I only have 4GB of ram and they recommend 8 in their documentation. The position of the forest would also be better placed so that it is only available to get to once the player has gone through the house.
I really like how this game carefully rations the amount of oil the player can use to light up the level, it doesn't give you so much that the darkness is not a problem , it keeps you searching for oil.
scary game, explicit language
Comparison of images from my map with and without lighting applied. Amnesia the dark descent was an influence for the lighting, the main idea being let the player use their imagination to fill in the gaps where the darkness is.
Initially I had an open style game, the player could walk anywhere and go off track, I had thought about this to an extent by creating dirt paths for the character to follow. After making a portion of the map and testing it I decided that this would be a problem so I made hills to counter this and prevent the player from walking where they are not supposed to. Ideally the map structure will be thought of well in advance of making anything as it is harder to rearrange once everything has been added. Now I know for next time, I would make the forest bigger with more turns for the player to walk through to better set the mood. One of the limitations was my hardware, any map much bigger than this crashed the UDK as I only have 4GB of ram and they recommend 8 in their documentation. The position of the forest would also be better placed so that it is only available to get to once the player has gone through the house.
I really like how this game carefully rations the amount of oil the player can use to light up the level, it doesn't give you so much that the darkness is not a problem , it keeps you searching for oil.
scary game, explicit language
Comparison of images from my map with and without lighting applied. Amnesia the dark descent was an influence for the lighting, the main idea being let the player use their imagination to fill in the gaps where the darkness is.
UDK particle and fog effects are very easy to use, after some tweaking of the density of the fog I achieved just the effect I was looking for, to limit visibility so the player can only see just the next light ahead of them.
Terrain UDK
Short video of me putting together some basic terrain editing to create a short map, this includes creating the geometry of the hills with a brush, different layers of textures, base layer for the grass and then I added a dirt path for the player to follow and rocks for cliff edges. The trees and objects were placed individually.
This is a test of me painting objects on to the terrain, the advantage of this is it's much quicker than individually placing each tree or blade of grass, in the previous video this led to trees being placed above the ground, so they were floating in the air. With this method the trees align nicely to the height of the texture. I don't know if it's possible to individually move the objects after they have been painted on, other than to remove them and repaint them. For example some of the trees on top a steep cliff needed to be lowered slighty as the edges of the roots were sticking out. I eventually solved this problem by increasing the resolution of the terrain and repainting them on, it would be nice if it was possible to have more control over the individual placement.
This is a test of me painting objects on to the terrain, the advantage of this is it's much quicker than individually placing each tree or blade of grass, in the previous video this led to trees being placed above the ground, so they were floating in the air. With this method the trees align nicely to the height of the texture. I don't know if it's possible to individually move the objects after they have been painted on, other than to remove them and repaint them. For example some of the trees on top a steep cliff needed to be lowered slighty as the edges of the roots were sticking out. I eventually solved this problem by increasing the resolution of the terrain and repainting them on, it would be nice if it was possible to have more control over the individual placement.
Character Texturing
UV layout
with occlusion applied to Surface texture, I'm not sure this was really necessary for my character however it is useful to know for when I am texturing skin.
Guide used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBk86H8scWk
To the left in this image is my initial test of the texturing just to see if it lined up correctly in the UDK, before this I have only ever applied one simple texture across the entire model which made matching up the UV's to the texture not much of an issue.
Final texture applied to my char, front and back. I like how it turned out, it adds a lot to his personality, for example the side with the blue eyes completely changes his appearance to one of being more distressed/ helpless compared to how it was without it. As character development wasn't the main topic with this project I shall not dwell too much on this aspect however I was disappointed in there being compatibility issues between maya's reflective surfaces and the UDK, trying to show the roundness of the eyes with the blinn reflective surface that I mentioned before did not work. In the future I will delve in to this topic more as the lighting on surfaces and details of texturing is important for the believability/realism of a character.
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