The Nightmare of Chris!

Monday Morning

At last most of the Production Team's fantastic models have been installed into THOR. That means it's time for a runthrough.

At 9.30 we would like everyone to be in so we can install THOR on as many computers as possible. Then we can all run through the game and see how great the objects look in 3D. Some lucky people who were in late on Friday have already had a preview of levels 1 & 3.

The Sound Team were also in on Friday and played some very spooky sounds. By Tuesday the sound should be in THOR for us all to listen to.

Fixing the Models

We cannot stress enough about the importance of good file naming and file management. We've had dedicate a small team of people today to go through the Beta Testing folders and rename all the files to a uniform format because there were issues with the models and textures not linking up. Good news is that all the files have now been renamed and the links fixed. There are now people checking through the models to fix up any errors. We would have preferred to have avoided all these fiddly bits, but as they have happened all we can do is develop a system, make it a part of the process and keep on moving forward.

New images are available in the gallery of some of the models with textures.

Message from the Executive Producers

A NOTE FROM THE EXECS

A requirement for this project is for you to put in 110 hours each. Everyone better lift their game because your not even close.

You are not meant to get the game done as quickly as possible - you are meant to produce more and more stuff and use up EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU 110 HOURS.

As a guide, the concept team has been working for 2 1/2 weeks and should have done approx 85-90 hours by now (adjust numbers for each team).

ARE YOUR HOURS ANYTHING LIKE THAT? IF NOT, GET BACK TO WORK!

Eureka!

HORRAH! The lighting problem is solved! Thanks to the brilliant minds of the Engine team!

Waiting for the IT people to come around and install the Maya plugins, which they had assured us will be ''by the end of the day''. This will ease up our current blockage and speed thing along greatly.

Week 3 Update

Hi all

We're half way into week three and things might be getting a little tense. Lets all try to breath and be focused.

Here's a summary of the progress to date.

Concept:

• All tasks of the Concept team are now completed, team members have moved on to help with production.

Production:

• All models are now complete, the only thing left now is to split up the puzzles.
• Textures are almost add defined - models will all have rough textures by the end of today

Engine

• The engine team has done a lot of research and solved a lot of problems, like importing files, sound, etc
• Part of the engine team has started setting up the levels to be ready for upload of the assets

Problems we're currently facing are mainly relating to the engine side of things.

• Need to solve the workings of the puzzles
• Need to solve lighting
• There is a bottle neck at the exporting of files from Maya to be placed in the engine as we can only perform this on one computer - need RMIT IT admin to install plugins on to the computers
  
• Testing in the engine has been hindered by the lack of ready for import models
• Refinement of models and textures are also held back as the production team is waiting for feedback after the testing

We are currently working at resolving these problems and have decided on two possible solutions. A decision will be made in the next 30 minutes:

1. Hassle the IT admin further to get the plugin installed, and find a solution to the lighting problem. If this is not achieved within the next half hour, then move onto point 2
2. Models for level 1 need to be remade in Constructor, which will be more work on production but can solve the lighting issue and ease the workload on the exporting of files from Maya

Stay tuned for the exciting outcome.

By the way, the image gallery has been updated with images of concept art and work in progress models.

There is an animation class tomorrow morning with David, can everyone please take this into consideration and put in more time this week to work on the project. I will be collecting everyone's intended working hours for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

THANKS!!!

Filenames. Filenames. Filenames.

Now that most of the files have been produced it's time to review filename conventions.

All files should have a name with a description of the file, a version number and the initials of the person working on it.

eg.
L3_Puzzle1Walls_002_KP.ma

Puzzle1_wallTexture_001_KP.jpg

If the file is a texture, please include what it is for in the description.

eg.

Incorrect file name: concrete_001.jpg

Correct file name: L3_buildingA_concreteTexture_001_KP.jpg

This makes it much easier to work out what goes with what, and which textures still need to be made.

keep up the good work
Kathryn

Week 3 Schedule

Welcome to Week 3!

You should have received a copy of the schedule for this week. There is about 20hrs of scheduled THOR work time for this week, which is actually below the quota. You are each expected to put in at least 5-8 additional hours. Please work out your extra hours and let me know today. If you're unable to do all the hours scheduled, please also make sure you reschedule your time with me and that I have a record of those changes. We will be recording your scheduled work times and checking them against your timesheet.

Attendance is important! We need everyone to be in the studio working everyday. If you are going to be absent you need to notify your team leader. From now on the producers will be ticking off attendance at the start of each day. Keep in mind that at the end of the project you will be marked by everyone else, so not being in the studio and working as a group will not be good for your mark.

Overall, everyone is being very productive. Some of you are exceptional! The producers are very aware of how everyone's coming along. Keep up the good work!

Tonight is Pizza Night! We will be working til about 8pm and enjoying pizza.


Finally, some important notes for the Production Team:

Make simple models!

Details can be added on using textures, keep models as simple as possible with minimum poly counts.

Use square shapes rather than circular shapes to keep poly counts down

Regularly check you poly count: Display → Poly Count

There should be no more than 300 polygons for large models.

DO NOT:
• Delete faces – use extrude faces instead
• Use NURBS, only use polygons – use the Create Poly Tool
• Use BOOLEAN

Be aware of where in the game the objects are placed, be aware of what the player can see – no need to be details for object that are in the background, in darkness or not close to the player’s view.

Ask Engine team for help if you’re not sure.

week 3

hello all
firstly i'd like to give a big thankyou to everyone for all your hard work esp over the last week. we made a lot of progress but there is still a long way to go

below is a brief summary of the concept brief that was given last monday and fine-tuned since then -

overall concept of the game:
a dreamscape in ruins
includes elements that draw on the six dream archetypes (associated with anxiety) - falling, flying, being chased. being unprepared for an exam, teeth falling out, naked in front of group
- illusions in space, depth and images
- nothing is quite as it seems

the levels are now as follows
start : falling
level 1 : dark, geometric, spacial, depth illusions, underground tunnels
level 2 : organic elements, graveyard at dawn,
level 3 : buildings in ruins, nature taking over, mountain head
end : wake up to discover the dreamscape outside

note: each level changes as you progress through the landscape from chaos to order, dark to light, death to life, ruins to hope

shall post a more details for each level during the week

this week we'll start the first refinement process, this is going to be a lot of work as we assess what's been done so far, how it fits within the overall concept, and what needs to be added and adjusted, atmospherics will also be added this week so we'll get a much better sense of the overall feel of the game

look forward to seeing what we can all produce over the next week
cheers
aneta

End of Week 2

We're almost wrapping up the second week! Only 3 more to go! Ideally our goal would be to have everything done and dusted by the Monday of the final week, so lets try out best to work towards that! This has been a very productive week! You guys all work so hard and produce amazing work. Thank you!!

Monday morning 9:30 will be a group meeting. Team leaders (or appointed representatives) will each give a quick presentation on their teams progress. This is expected to happen every Monday.

Marco - our sound man, will once again be attending. I have also arranged another sound producer to help out, and he will also be coming on Monday. So Concept team, please make sure you have sound design clearly defined and in a document that can be passed on. Engine team will need to be on top of the engine's capacities of handling sound files and be able to give clear instructions.

Engine team, a reminder: run through of terrain is on Monday.

Team leaders: remember to complete and return you team's production schedules to Kathryn or I asap.

I will be in on Friday and Sunday, and possibly Saturday (life? what's that?). 

Dont forget to do your timesheets. Label and name everything carefully.

Have a great weekend!