Thursday, November 15, 2012

Merged two projects and couldn't get 3D models to show

After getting through the menu screen coding and merging it with another project, I was unable to get the 3D model to show and the camera view was to high from the 'ground' (heightmap).

The heightmap was fine so I couldn't understand why the 3d model wouldn't show.



So I went and decided to ask over at the XNA forums.  I hope they get back to me soon.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

First time I've encountered this error for a mesh...

While adding some art assets to my content pipeline, I ran into an error that I haven't seen before.




My guess off the top of my head is that since this mesh was created without skeleton data and has a 'Weights vertex channel' then its causing the error since it doesn't have 'access to the skeleton data'. However, this doesn't explain why the error isn't present on other similar meshes that have been created without a skeleton. I haven't had this issue come up before with any other fbx files in my entire project so I'm curious what is causing this error. I guess I'll learn more after I investigate.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A nice cloth demo and morphing demo (Repost from my wordpress site)

This is the physics output that I think is perfect for most of the clothed garments for my characters.



Here is a pretty awesome morphing demo. If I implement content in my game that will make this concept desirable in game play, I will definitely code it in.



Also, I this animation reel is somewhat inspiring:

Been busy creating and designing art assets! (Repost from my wordpress site)

For the past few weeks now I have been busy creating and designing more 3D art assets for my game! I know I'm not the fastest at this yet (nor do I want to be) but I have molded decent geometry into very well drawn meshes.


   

After I have worked on them a bit more I may or may not post them here for the general public. I don't want to share all the good stuff, obviously! However, I will certainly show some video clips when I have progressed to that point. I have made some pretty nice banners and emblems with sketchbook as well....not exactly sure if I will use all of them. But if I do, I already have plenty to start with.

 

I'm not sure the next time I will post since I am busier at night rather during the day (my day job leaves me with plenty of mental stamina for my 'real' work ^^) so I may or may not post new art assets here depending on the free time I have left for posting on this site.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

In making a test demo... (Repost from my wordpress site)

During the weekend I began coding additional components for my test demo that I will use for internal testing. It is pretty fun learning the XNA 4.0 framework and integrating fbx data structure, bmp, png and visual studio's capabilities together. I have a few rigged characters ready to be added to the test demo as well as a few structures, houses, mobs and npcs. I haven't coded the Artificial Intelligence (AI) yet for the mobs or npcs but I'll get around to it next weekend if I have time.





Right now I've decided to stop for the time being on coding the keyframes for the animations for certain movements of the characters but I plan to get back to it this weekend. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to learn about attaching different armor pieces to fbx connection points and implementing in game icons & various player, configuration, combat menus. I'm still new to 3D game development so I'm just learning as I'm going along.


In any case, I'm really enjoying the learning curve and I plan to take as much time as I need to get the right 'feel' and desirable experience for the game, even at the expense of time. I feel that the overall game experience is what counts most in any quality produced game and all aspects of the game should be evenly weighed for quality. In short, I don't think that the storyline of the game should come at the expense of having good art assets. There are far too many games in recent years that suffer do to this and this should not be. Even more curious is the recent loss of gameplay quantity due to increased 3d game art assets. It wasn't very long ago that a $30-$40 game would allow you untold hours/days of gameplay. Alot of complaining from gamers in recent times are that the games are beatable in a day or so. Not to mention that there aren't many medieval fantasy game makers as there used to be.


I have also looked around for some wav files to add to my sound collection for additional sound effects. What most likely will happen is that I will make some of my own sound files for specific content but I'll leave most of it up to people that make a living doing that sort of thing.








Tuesday, March 20, 2012

More 3D models that I'm considering for use in my project (Repost from my wordpress site)

Alas, new 3d models that I'm considering for use in my 3d game project. I have not finished texturing/painting, sculpting or rigging them quite yet but I should have that done by the weekend. I will definately alter them at basic levels to achieve what I want, but I did not want to spend time modeling geometry for some of these basic meshes. These should do nicely.
































I also have a small lone house that is home to a hermit of sorts that I plan to add:




I'm also using the above scene with the house and a small map mesh for a demo with a few added areas and art assets. However, I am currently modifying it and it may take a while before I'm done with it. When I'm done with it, it will look more decrepit and stale (possibly with a swamp or marsh background). I am also working on creating additional content for this particular scene that will enhance the 'feel' of the scene (sound files, digital art assets, etc.).

Friday, March 2, 2012

My other site with stuff!

My first blog post!  I don't want to be redundant since I have my other blog at http://twistedgamedev.wordpress.com so I'll keep it short, sweet and to the point!

I am an independent XNA game designer/developer and somewhat of a forced, yet inspired 3d digital artist for my 3d games.

For more info, feel free to look at my other site as I will probably keep that site updated frequently.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Possible Visual game assets to be used (Repost from my wordpress site)

After creating, modifying visual assets and modding already previously created assets I have a somewhat small list of visual assets I may be adding to my content pipeline.


 


 


 


 


 

I have much more to add but I've limited space on this webpage so I'll add more interesting visual game art later.