This quarter in this class has been a trial, tribulation, and a very valuable learning experience. I must say i now have immensely more knowledge of UDK than i did before this quarter and i will certainly out all of it to good use. Admittedly, the final result did fall short of my initial vision, however, having started form scratch after my file corrupted week 6, i must say i still produced a decent result. Initially, i had a much grander scale in mind with the whole level supposed to be floating in space, orbited by stars and celestial bodies, and also with three trials to complete rather than two. Due to time constrains and just having to start from scratch i ended up cutting back on one of the trials and some of the aesthetics that i would have liked to have included. From a production standpoint i learned that some times it is unavoidable that some things will have to hit the cutting room floor and simply not make it in to the end result for one reason or another. However, that doest mean you cant still produce a good result. Like everything in life, you just need a proper balance and make sure to make your choices accordingly.

Technically, Kismet was an entirely new experience for me. It was interesting learning how robust Kismet is but how fairly straightforward it CAN be. Like any package it is an entirely new language to learn just like Max or Photoshop but once you do it becomes a sort of extension of yourself. I like how Kismet is set up using the simple rules of cause and effect, and all that is needed is to connect the nodes. Trigger—-> Event. Simple but effective and fairly fool proof. Kismet isn’t capable of EVERYTHING, but quite a lot.

Aesthetically, i intend to pursue to environment or character art so admittedly i wanted to focus primarily on an over all look of my level. Over the previous break i took it upon myself to study and learn a lot on UDK materials, particles, and effects. Just due to time i wasn’t able to implement all of them but I’m glad i was able to at least use most of them. I used vertex colors and a material setup using World Position Offset node to simulate a wind effect on part of te Malevolence mesh and i was pleased with the over all result. Also i used a lot of Multiply nodes, and opacity in order to achievecertain effects with my materials to create depth. Over all though, i really enjoyed developing my photoshop painting skills since i primarily hand painted most of my texture maps for my meshes.

Despite the trial and tribulation throughout the quarter, it was very enjoyable learning experience. I primarily learned to save in iterations in case one file gets corrupted. And i enjoyed expanding my knowledge of UDK and implementing what i have learned.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/surv1.bmp

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/surv2.gif

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/surv3.gif

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/surv4.gif

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/surv5.gif

It has been an extremely productive week and i have all but about 2 meshes completely modeled. Nearly every day for the past week for the better part of about 8 hours a day i have been slaving away at 3ds max, mostly for my level but also for one other class. And strangely enough, i have not grown weary of it at all. This past week has really cemented my conviction that modeling is my passion that that it is what i want to do as a career, regardless of my actual position. That being said, i have a screen of a few of the smaller meshes that i have completed. I also have a few that are pretty big but light weight as those meshes will help to sell the illusion of scale that i am going for. So as of now everything is right on track!!

This Assignment was quite fun and allowed me to solidify an over lying look for my level. For my concepts i went with an over all blue color scheme for one and more red for the other. Reason being, much of my level is going to revolve around a blue to red transition for the soul stones to complete the trials. So in all likelihood i will be using both color schemes at some point in my level. 

Also, after much meditation, soul searching and contemplation i have decided to cut out the second trial of spite all together (the one with the wall puzzle and stone tablets). I had some of the kismet set up before my .udk file went kaput last week and that would just be far too much to set up again, as well as set up the rest of the kismet to get the trial working in full. Also, it would push me over my mesh limit and i just dont feel the quality would be quite up to par with the rest of the level. Its a reality that comes up much in the gaming industry and so i am just nipping it in the bud before i get far too invested in the final build. Its kind of relief since now i can focus more on the more fleshed out parts of my level and make sure they will deliver the best experience possible. 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7017860/Melevolence%20Mesh%20List.xls

So i hit a major road block this week. While opening my .udk file the other day i kept getting a message saying that my file is “not a valid map file” despite being a .udk file. Since working on my file last i havent changed the location of any files, packages, or made any changes to UDK. I have done a ton of research in to the matter and can only find a thread posted three years ago by someone having the same problem than no one has responded to….. I am not sure what to do. I will stop by Celeste’s class early and see if we can trouble shoot anything. This is very discouraging seeing as how i have a LOT of time invested in to that file already. In the mean time i have updated previous posts with pictures prepared my prototype layout. Hopefully i will be able to remedy the issue some how but i am certain that i will not have ALL my Kismet and Matinee set ups ready for today. D:  <—-sadface

Taking my maps i began to build my geometry in UDK. I was a fun learning experience since i am not all that experienced using BSP brushes but i feel like i got a good handle on it. I got the basic maps massed out as well as put place holders to stand in for my meshes. Although for the actual image on Malevolence i used a full on model that will be used as my mesh. After placing everything and lighting and building it was fun to see the development thus far and im excited to move on to kismet and matinee to get everything moving in real time.

After a lot of good feedback from my paper prototype i was able to add some refining details to my level and put those in to my map layout. I realized how much i over looked the first time with the paper prototype and how clearly i need to label and code things for easy recognition. Even though my target audience would have similar tastes in my opinion (ages 17-27) i still need to make sure i communicate more clearly in my map. So i added a key legend, scale, and things like light sources and modular architectural details to clarify my maps. In my layouts i also overlaid the actual maps over a rather generic star field and thats because these chamber will literally be floating in space. I like the idea of everything being more representational that literal in my level, and so in between trials as the player passes between chambers on a floating platform they will literally be floating through a sea of stars. I also included an over all layout of the trial chambers and the chamber of Malevolence at the center of everything which the player will not have access to, but will be visible for nearly the entire level as the player progressively completes trials and lowers the seals. Ive attached the map layouts below. Keep in mind that the player will begin and end the level in the Warden’s Key Room once the 3rd trial is completed.

This has actually been a fun development. Upon beginning laying out my initial paper prototype, i first through of the layout of the space before anything. Since my concept more or less focused around a prison for a ever powerful being, i thought of the layout of may prisons/jails and realized that many of them are circular, with the most dangerous inmates being kept in the center. So i went with that kind of design, with the middle chamber being where Malevolence is being kept, and a circluar layout for the puzzles. I broke it down in the 5 different rooms, 1 the inner prison, 1 initial key room. and 3 rooms containing the puzzles. Actually coming up with the trials took some research and experimenting, especially since we are not including enemy AI as you would expect in a retail game. Since it is the Prison of Malevolence, i wanted to theme each trial in each room around something equally as dark and foreboding so i went with Fear, Spite, and Hatred.

Fear is a labyrinthine maze in the dark with a number of deadly pitfalls that will instantly kill the player. I want to place ambient sounds and use emissive texture maps in the pitch dark to really create an ominous atmosphere that almost scares the player from moving forward. That together with the extremely limited light source, and chance for instant death i think that its a great representation of Fear.

Spite, i had a bit of trouble with and i wanted to present a mind bending puzzle to solve, i thought of an old retro Sega Genesis game called Flashback that had an elevator puzzle which involved moving an incapacitated body from one elevator to another and triggering them at different time and intervals in order to get to the end. This puzzle still needs some fine tuning as im hoping it wont break the level if the player pushed buttons in a certain order.

And for Hatred i wanted to present the player with platforming puzzles so intense that it might encourage a rage/quit. While not literally, i did want to present some frustrating obstacles and the chance for instant death if the player misses a jump. this room with require a lot of modularity, moving platforms, and clever use of texture in order to acheive but i already have that all planned out. It will definitely be intensive, but well worth the effort. I hope the class enjoys my level and the challenges is presents, and i hope to get a lot of feed back, especially having to do with the Paradox of Spite, since that puzzle has the most work left.

Cities & Memory 3

While reading invisible cities the chapter that struck me most was probably the city of Zaira, city of high bastions. While there wasnt so much as far as a physical description i like how it was described as a city of “of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past”. To me it seems like more of a mental state than a physical place which leaves a lot of room for interpretation and visual styling. Everything has a story whether its the man hanging from a noose or the rips in the fish net. To me i kind of envision something like a Keith Thompson piece, very Baroque and Gothic but also with some organic elements. 

Theme

Malevolence. The image of the hanged man, for whatever reason, really stuck with me. I want the theme to be rather morbid and focusing on the dead. Perhaps using the dead, or their souls as a resource or key to the puzzles of the level. No zombies, thats just dumb. But the theme of death in particular will be obvious.

Description

I am leaning towards some kind of catacombs or a depository of the dead, much like Keith Thompson’s image above. Something with implied scale but extensive use of modularity, of course. Perhaps itll be a place where the dead are kept in their bodies to be used as a power source

While the player will have an implied sense of scale with towering gothic arches and rows and rows of housed dead bodies, the actual play space will be much more  limited to make sure the player stays withing the bounds of the puzzles.

Emotions

My desire is for the player to feel like they are being empowered as they are playing through the level. More things are being opened up to them, more lore is revealed, they are stronger. At first they will have an objective and a purpose, a goal to achieve. But since the main resource are the souls of the dead, they are receiving this power at a great cost. I want to use effective models, textures and some particle, texture transitions, and sound effects that i have learned recently to convey souls in pain whenever the player reaches a new level or solves another part of the puzzle. They are unlocking an immense power but at a great cost, perhaps the cost of their own humanity.

Goal

Eons ago before life took form. The universe was raw emotion. Some of these emotions were so potent that they manifested bodies and walked among the stars. Due to the varying degrees of emotion these powerful beings were constantly at war with each other. The most powerful of which was Malevolence. After being deemed too dangerous to exist the embodied emotions banded together and locked malevolence away in the middle of a black hole. Now Eons later, the first beings are all but myth, life has flourished throughout. The player seeks the ultimate power and has discovered the mythical location of the prison of Malevolence, and now seeks to unleash him as a weapon of mass destruction. As the player you will venture through the prison of Malevolence, using the sorrow of souls as keys to the puzzles you will make your way through the labyrinthine prison to the center where malevolence is held to unleash him. Nothing will stop you from attaining this power, but it will be at a great cost.

Mechanics-emotional transition

The player will use the power of souls. This power bears weight and the puzzles will be focused on counter and balance, to open multiple tiers of the level. The transitions will be at first at the player is conscious of what they are doing but their purpose overshadows the thought of consequence. Each tier will be progressively darker in tone and lighting and feature more iconography of death, and will require the use of immensely more souls to unlock the next level. By the end the player will encounter the embodiment of Malevolence itself and hopefully feel a combination of accomplishment and guilt of the cost of their newly attained power. 

Assets

soul crates

soul housings

gate

arches

prison custodian

fulcrum

Malevolence

More to come as level is fleshed out more

Art Style

Keith Thompson

Baroque architecture with science fantasy elements and death iconography.