Long time, no post, let's do something about that...

The major downside to having this as a personal hobby project is that just about everything else comes first priority-wise, leading to some long breaks in the action if the perfect storm of life events and daily workload hits.  Blah.  Here's the latest:

Resource packages can now contain shader objects as well as geometry data, so now I'm one step closer to a fully-featured material system being in place.  That'll make materials themselves very lightweight objects, basically named references to individual shaders, textures, and tune-able values.  The renderer is prepped to use a material-based sorting process for minimizing changes to the render pipeline, so the sooner I finish up with the material system's pre-reqs, the happier I'll be with the graphics side (which currently just draws everything out in a linear fashion, oblivious to shared material properties).  Not a lot of impact on the current system right now because the asset count is so low, but it'll be mandatory with a full scene of objects, players, and effects.

I've escaped from the jungles of dynamic mesh topology algorithms with a fairly efficient means for rebuilding local mesh patches on the fly (to respond to new intersection events), which came about as part of the process for getting the automatic Navigational Mesh generator tool up and running in my level editor.  The idea there is that anyone building a level won't have to custom-paint their own navmesh polygons, because the editor will be able to analyze the geometry of the entire terrain and build a navmesh with minimal polygons as part of the "compile" process for the map.  It really deserves its own post soon, I had a lot of fun (and learned a lot) getting it working.  The next step is going to be hooking the patch re-triangulation portion up to the in-game world manager so that the mesh gets rebuilt as players drop in structures or walls get destroyed, etc.

Also, work is progressing well on Cryamore, if anyone was able to check out the demo at GDC last month, here's hoping you enjoyed it!

Behind the Scenes :: Critter Exploration

Life's been...well...life, as is often the case, but I have managed to put in a little time recently for some concept development.  Thought it might be fun to share, so here we go.

I've had a running idea in my head of the various kinds of bugs that will assail the player(s) as they try and reap the rewards of the planet's mineralogy, but none of the concepts were very fine-tuned.  I'm sure of the behaviors I want them to express, but their actual appearance is in that "perfect in my head, undefined on paper" kind of state.

The following, therefore, is what my visual exploration and refinement process looks like for one of the first bug types the player will meet.

(click to enlarge)

 
I knew that I wanted a pack-critter, something that roamed in small-to-large groups and harassed the players due to their speed and melee preference.  I had initially thought to try and model the bug off a dog's anatomy, but those all channeled a little too much Skagg (of Borderlands fame) so I kept digging.  The end result was more of a rabbit-insect hybrid, and I've been happy with how that's coming out.

As these are all roughs, I'll put up a "final pass" of this fella in a more formal spotlighting post, much like our heroes and any supporting cast.  I'll make sure to save the bigger/rarer creatures' reveal for the game itself, but these guys will be roaming around on the intro level, so guilt-free: it's not much of a spoiler. :)

Other rumblings in the indie development scene

I've been picked up as a programmer for an old-school action RPG that some of you may have heard of, it's been pitched around various twitter/tumblr feeds for the last few months:

The team has some awesome talent involved, check out the trailer through the link for more!

(Work will still continue on this project, no worries)

Meet the Cast: Episode 1

Meet Nero:

Half of the two-person team that take us through the game's storyline, and one of the playable options.  I wanted to post both of the playable characters as a pair, but her cohort is still half-finished, and since I made mention of the fact that I'd have some art to show people, I'll just leave her solo for now.

What she's wearing is part of the standard-issue gear for all new employees of the RATE (Resource Acquisition & Territorial Expansion) program, the meal ticket that brings both of our heroes to the shores of the game's home planet.  If you're familiar with US history, it's similar to the deals handed out to homesteaders that pushed westward from the Mississippi, only...in space.

Stay tuned for Episode 2, where we meet her cavalier red-headed team mate, and learn more about what waits for players in this backwoods corner of the galaxy!

New year, new focus

Not much to add, just throwing a quick post up that says the project is still in progress, albeit recovering from the slowdown that the holidays bring.  All christmanewyears revelry being finished, and with life attempting to resume its normal, 10%-less-hectic pace, I've picked back up on getting this game to a playable, demo-able state.

I think 2013 is going to be a good, fun year.