Detour Update

So I delved into Detour (Our game for the Scottish Game Jam) and snapped a few pictures to show what we had done.

 

 

Some screenshots of the area shows what it looks like from the player’s perspective and a more dynamic view of the tunnel. We were going for a dark and foggy night to give tension to the game as it would be difficult to tell where an enemy was (In the initial idea anyway) and some of the tree models appeared to look like enemies which added to atmosphere.

 

This is the UDK view of the level. It takes about 1 minute and a half to cross if you go full speed. This seems short but we had planned to put in five levels though we only got two “completed” in time.

 

Though I’m very disappointed in the fact we didn’t get the proper models in, this still feels fun to play. Enemy AI gets into vehicles as soon as it can and will follow the player. Unfortunately only one AI spawned when the judges came round so the effect was ruined.

To download Detour go to https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9mcjm8ciwdn8cdc/wFYMvxPVGC and run the install file.

 

And here we are! From left to right;

Sean Mayle
(Top) Me
(Bottom) Fraser Gillespie
Craig Campbell

 

Scottish Game Jam Update #5

So the judges came round just in time for us to get the game up and running with the Oculus Rift and Xbox controller. Unfortunately though, the AI decided to be a dick and only spawn one guy instead of twenty. A lackluster experience but they seemed to enjoy the headtracking with the turret and the environment we had made.

With the lack of music and voice acting in-game I can say I’m disappointed but proud of what we have accomplished. We managed to show them an example of the music and voice acting which they enjoyed.

The final game turned out to be very different to our original idea.

Original
Co-op
Spotlight use to see road and enemies
Driver / Railshooter
1920’s

Final
Single Player
Vehicular combat
2120’s (We couldn’t import models properly so we were forced to use UDK assets)

Though it wasn’t what we had expected to make I’m happy with what we have accomplished and it provides a solid basis for driving games that we might make in the future.

Thanks to all those who I worked with, lets not do this again for a long while…

www.ultravioletgaming.blogspot.co.uk
www.youtube.com/Strap256

The Jam has been an awesome, stressful, funny and terrible time all at once and even if we don’t win anything. I’m glad I took part… Also I won a signed Helghast Helmet so that has soothed me over.

 

Update #4

We unfortunately hit a huge snag with the AI and had to pull out huge chunks of the code to figure out how to work around it. The solution? Drop the racing code and script the camera into first person.

We now have two seats in the one vehicle, AI spawning (But not doing anything) and the secondary turret firing. Once Fraser manages to get the AI moving I’ll be back to scripting and designing levels.

Shaun has been bored as he is waiting for us to give him some video to make a trailer with and Craig is to thank for the two seat code.

We are still at the point where we have nothing worth showing to the public as we are still using UDK assets until we get the chance to implement the models and make something unique.

From what I’ve seen around the jam, many ideas are taking form and many are starting to fall as people are realising what they can and can’t do. Unfortunately there hasn’t been much chance to talk to people about their ideas as they are all too busy.

I’ll try and speak to some people tomorrow once they’ve submitted their games and are calming down.

Scottish Game Jam Update #2 (6 Hours late)

US

So I’ve spent most of the morning (7-2) working on getting the camera into the driver’s seat in UDK. After a steep learning curve where I learned that Unreal Code has a “Last one, Final say” policy I learned that instead of changing it at the source, I had to change it at the last destination. Thanks to Craig for his help with that.

I’ve had fours hours sleep as my team were nice enough to let me crash after staying up all night working on modelling the first level only to have it crash on me and lose an hours work.
Programs (Unreal Development Kit and its coding language)

Fraser has modeled Player2’s tommy gun and will probably upload pictures later on tonight on his blog (Blogs and Channels).
Programs (3DS Max)

Sean has made some kickass music that should really help the game stand out from the crowd which you’ll be able to hear later on tonight on his Youtube Channel (Blogs and Channels).
Programs (Guitar Pro 6 for Composition, Garage Band for Arrangement)
Equipment (Yamaha Bass, Westfield Stratocaster, Casio Keyboard)

And we also got our female voice actress back to record some dialogue.

Craig has been working on helping me with the Camera code and writing up the dialogue between the two characters. Once we’ve got that finalised its onto recording!
Programs (Open Office)

The game is starting to shape up and once we implement the jeep model and put constraints on the Oculus Rift Head Tracking, the driver’s part of the controls will be finished and its onto making the rail shooter player.

———————-
The Jam

The Game Jam has been going strong with lots of great looking games from a lot of teams. Most games are still in the early stages so it is difficult to really discern much.
One game I have played is a card game called “Good News!” where you play as an information enhancer in Soviet Russia. The concept of the game is that you are given pre-approved corrections to fix news articles in time for their printing. If you like Cards Against Humanity, Papers Please or Soviet Era Propaganda you’ll love Good News.

There is to be a Nidhogg tournament soon with a Helghast helmet or Total War Rome 2 as the prize. Wish me luck.

I will endeavor to get a hands on experience with more games as the day progresses.

Sorry for the delay of this update.

First Update of The Scottish Game Jam

We are now 5 hours into the Scottish Game Jam at Glasgow Caledonian University and it is awesome. There are near enough 200 people here and we’ve managed to rustle up a team of 4 (Would’ve been 6 but the 2 coders left). So we have:

Myself as level designer and scripter
Fraser Gillespie (http://ultravioletgames.blogspot.co.uk/) As 3D modeler
Sean Mayle (www.youtube.com/Strap256) For sound production
Craig Campbell as script writer and voice actor

We are working on a co-operative driving/rail shooter game set in the era of Noir and Cosmic Horror where you must out run a bloodthirsty cult until sunrise lest your death spell doom for us all.

We have some of the first level detailed as we are working on implementing the player’s vehicle with a first person camera for both players. This has proven to be the most difficult part of the game so far but I’m confident I’ll have it done by 2am.

Craig and Sean are working on recording the dialogue and creating the music which will serve to expand on the narrative between the two characters and on the backstory for the game.

Fraser is working on creating the city for the final level that the players will have to navigate in the dark.

We are aiming to bring a focus on co-operation by implementing a spotlight on the jeep that the players must share in order to keep an eye on the cultists or the road, mainly because this is a time for experimentation!

We have also received an audition due to our “notice board” of positions available and now should have a female voice actor as well.

Next Update will be at 8 am with something worth showing.

Absence Update

Over the past week I’ve been taking a slight break as I recently got two pet rats and they have destroyed my hopes of sleeping. What I have managed to do though has cheered me greatly.

Those Who Play
After another round of playtesting I’ve managed to get the system working and now it seems that the core systems are solid enough to start working on polishing.

Big Badass Barbarians The Board Game
Using the Art Academy program on the Wii U I’ve managed to start drawing up card designs. I’ve also decided to simplify the stats to Strength, Toughness and Badassitude.
I will have to find an artist to help me at a later point but right now BBB is just a fun project.

Oculus Rift Game
This has been left at the side while I work on Those Who Play as I need to practice on my 3D modelling skills and coding skills.

News
Over the next two weeks I’ll be attending 2 48 Hour Game Jams (24th – 26th January and 31st – 2nd February)
I will be covering my own endeavours on this blog and, if I get time, interviewing some other teams for an article that will be posted on www.criticalindiegamer.com 

Well that’s my lot for just now and I apologise for not updating more often, I will try to rectify that.

Recap on Gamehack

(I slept for 18 hours, so yeah, go me. Also my computer broke for a while. This is the earliest I’ve had to write this)

So the gamehack at Dundee went terribly for us as a team as we encountered a bug that defied all coding logic and, collectively, cost us seven hours and all of our patience. 
This led to the team’s only programmer going to bed for the rest of the jam and the rest of us racking our brains over it. 

It was a disappointment to say the least and a major kick to the motivation to be honest. After two attempts at this game I’m not going to come back to it until some time in the future when I can have forgotten about this.

Positive note from the experience though. I have felt the experience of crunch time in relation to working in a group. So it has been a great insight into the future and I can be more prepared now.

And after two days I can say honestly that is has galvanised me to try harder and to get better at all aspects of games design. Because after Saturday night, I don’t want to ever be in a situation like that again.

(We left the game as a cloud simulator).

Hour 21

Yeaaahhhhh….

I think thats it for now. Its a simulation game where you play as a cloud and get to watch people walk back and forth. 

That’s all we’re doing, the code is too convoluted and impregnable to find out what is wrong.

Hour 19

It is nearly sun up and with five hours left, things are getting tense.

We have hit major roadblocks and are having no luck getting through them. Tension is high and people are getting grumpy.

I’ve now been awake for 24 hours, only another 12 (Roughly) before I get home. 

I’m thinking about just sleeping in the bath when I get in, wash the sweat off and rest. Just stay there for hours, turn pruny.

Thanks to those who have kept up with the blog. It sucks that everytime I get a chance to update, the current build is broken so I can’t show off what we have already.

Well, back to it then…

17th Hour

So, I’ve got nothing to do just now. Mark and Drew powered on like good soldiers whilst I slept and because of that I have nothing I can really do just now.

I suppose I’ll try polishing up some UI elements and seeing how everything is going code ways.