Today is the hand in before the hand in, so all focuses are now on our presentations and even if we didnt manage to get Dwynwen in engine and final we'll be able to show our efforts.

Terrain in engine

These are some images from in engine.

So in the days leading up to the presentation and hand in have been a lil stressful. Today has meant another day spent trying to sort Dwynwen out for engine. Me, Todd and Lewis discorvered that a vertex on her bum sticks out at a strange angle and when moving the hand this vertex moves also. But all focus is on a least getting her and the narrative boards into the game. Here are some of the images for the amphritheatre that i completled today.

Sites the were searched through in pre-pro

Nearly forgot to put these up, these are just a few of the sites i originally read up on Caerleon's history. The up on here as a research source.


http://www.caerleon.net/
http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/roman%20britain/caerleon.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/newport/pages/caerleon_roman.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silures
http://www.murphsplace.com/gladiator/glads.html
http://www.gladiatorschool.tv/thracian.htm

These above are the title screen for the newly name Isca and a logo design i did. Though it didnt make the grade, it was a little too busy.

Animation and Production Update

So far the project looks as though it will be ready for hand in. my only concern which hasn't changed over the course of the project is the animation. This week has seen me and Lewis working on the animations and editing them, though the rig has been a challenge to use i think it will go fine. we'll just have to keep editing them until they look how we want them. Next week will see us stitching it all together and finishing the loading screens and title screens and complete our intro and outro to the game. And of course...getting Dwynwen finally into engine.

As for programming we have a working level with our models and map in place. the fort has been put in and so has the amphitheatre. However with the project suffering from time issues and our problem getting Dwynwen into engine it has caused us to axe a few things from production. Firstly the Gladiator was taken out of production but will still feature in the cut scenes, the horses though textured and made have had to have their side mission axed. Though still in the environment we didn't have time to have them escape. It's a shame but at least they are still standing in their stables. Our models of the guards however have been made and work into their textures and animation will continue this week.

Isca previously known as the Caerleon Game

A Catch Up!

Right so it's been a while but in that while a lot has happened. All our weeks have focused on getting our leading lady into engine and it has proved to be harder then first thought. Dwynwen has seemed to be a little annoyed about the whole process and either made her head disappear or any other part of her body. Team B has had a E3 presentation and though all the stress and not having a build the week before managed to turn it all around and present...a build! So far we have a basic environment and the guards can spot and chase you with you resulting being caught. Textures have also worked and i made my first successful model- my roman horse!

Though the project has proved a lot more stressful i will be pleased just to see Dwynwen in engine running around. This week i have done the loading, quit, title and end over screens. I've also managed in the time i have been absent from my blog painted pictures for our opening and ending AVI sequence. We should have a narrative video to introduce the player to idea of the game. I'm also working on getting my animation skills up to scratch in Maya by trying to get Dwynwen running. All in all the project although slow to get going is now coming together.

Week 6

Week 6 has seen our game begin to take form, environment models have been going through the texture process, Dwynwen's rig was fixed and further work went into our other models. This being the completed horse and gladiator. Textures have been placed onto our Dwynwen model, as for Torque everything seems to be fitting into place. The programmers jobs are up to date and now the team carries on the process of putting the demo together.

This week also saw the Gladiator be axed, we decided that to make or rather complete the model of him would be a waste of valuable time. The Gladiator for this level (5 out of 10) is the focus of the lead character and the conclusion of the level. We came to an agreement that this RPG/Action Adenture is heavily based in its narrative. Therefore the player must understand where they are and what to do, the theory is to place narrative stills to explain what has happened before and introduce the level. The player then reaches the conclusion and watches another set of stills that given the ending but also an implication for what could be set out if this were to be a whole game.

They start with Dwynwen leaving her village, and having undergone a ritual that sees her numb to the elements. The lasr still is her looking over Isca- the game beings at this point. When the player reaches the end having slinked through Isca to find the ampritheatre the stills cut to the lit arena and then to her Gladiator's fight. The next sees his murder and the last Dywnwen's devastated face and cliffhanger.

This means our GUIs play a big part so work has been started on them. Appart from our second group meetings being cancelled becuase the whole group hasn't turned up it has been a successful week.

^^^^^^We Found Dwynwen!

Week Four and Week Five

So far I'd say the project has been going along fine. This week saw more designs go through the mill and work on Dwynwen continue. With a visit to saint fagans to finish the week off. There we took photos for our environments to ensure work to continue.

Week Five has seen a state of panic, after a not so successful session we've managed to see areas that have been neglected. This being the environments and not having Dwynwen animated. This week has been hectic and worrying since trying to keep communication with what people are doing and what is being produced has caused us extra stress. I can only hope people read their emails and turn up to meetings. That aside so far the designers to today have managed to start getting back on top of things. Hopefully this will be a minor blip, Dwynwen has been repaired seeing me and Todd staring at a screen for a few hours. She's also been rigged although we've been set back a little trying to get the weighting right.

As far as Dwynwen goes i don't think it should be that long until we see her running around. By the end of Week Six i would like to see all her animations done. Fingers crossed things keep rolling smoothly. Along with our lead the Gladiator has been modeled and once we've figured the problems out on the other models I'm guessing he should go through the same process quicker. I started the horse model too and I'm happy to say it looks like what i imagined! Our textures are also going well and the environments are being worked on.

Week Six should see us getting back on top of things...here's some pics of saint fagans

Week Three

This week orthographics have been worked on for our main character and gladiator. The week before saw our base model in engine so now we're fitting it to Dwynwen's size. Found it hard to get to grips with it but i think as characters go she's ok. The mission is now the get her moving in Torque so hopefully everything will flow nicely even though things seem to be getting caught. After she is complete the Gladiator can be worked on and then the horse for our mini game where Dwynwen frees them from the stables as a distraction from the Roman Guards.

Level Design and Documents

So far the pre-production seems to have gone ok, towards the end of week two our game document came togther. This is a document to see how our game is going to take shape. Our level is based in the ancient Caerleon or Isca as it was then- http://groups.google.com/group/cgd4b/web/game-concept-document?hl=en-GB .

Gladiator and Horse

These are images for our Gladiator and for the horses in the garrison stable.

More Dwynwen