Genesis Development Blog

Finals are finished

2006-06-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the super-huge lack of updates.

The summer-time push begins today. I will post the gamedev help-wanted ad shortly.

In other news:
-Kwakkie has disappeared. Literally.
-Scott's taking care of his younglings.
-I'll be modeling and texturing the Gates of Heaven today

And by the way: Oasis is nearly finished. :D

You can thank GamesExtract for the skybox--It looks damn near incredible.

GOH Nearly Finished

2006-05-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

When I get this model I'll hit up the game development forums and work some PR magic.

I've been assured by Kwakkie that he'll work on it over this weekend.

Africa Begins Development

2006-05-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

We're building the Earth level off of Africa. Here are some early designs.

As you can see, we've improved the look of the water by 100 fold thanks to a resource in the GG community.

We've added our first tree (With collision and alpha), 2 non-seamless sand textures as well as a grass type (which will be replaced later on by a 3d version).

I'll be purchasing the lighting kit before the level's finished so HDRL will definately be in it.

Unwrapped Seraph

2006-05-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

The seraph model is unwrapped... it may still undergo some changes before texturing begins.

If you see any glaring problems with it, comment. :D

*Edit: The unwrap will be redone.

A New Hope

2006-05-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start up Genesis again.

Scott's still busy as all hell, preparing for the baby, and I have to hunt down Kwakkie to collect the model and texture he made (Timezones. Grr.)

Organization is first, followed by an unwrap and texturing frenzy by myself. Even if they don't get used in the final demo (On account of my texturing skills, or lack thereof), it'd be nice to get a unit in-game.

Sorry for the delay

2006-04-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay... We're gonna put this in the recruiting post when it's finished.

Modeled and textured by Kwakkie.

I've been having family troubles that I predict to last for about the rest of the month, and Scott's wife is giving birth to their 3rd baby. Congrats Scott!

I expect the project to slow down greatly, at least for the time being. We'll pick it back up when our lives exit hell. :P

Recruiting Post READY

2006-04-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

I am just waiting for Kwakkie's Gates of Heaven model and texture, and then I'll get us a Programmer and Animator/Exporter. :}

I just hope I get that approving nod from the moderators.

It'd be nice if I could contact Justin before then, too.

These are the recruiting places:

-Gamedev
-Garagegames
-CGTalk

Comment below if you'd like to see someplace else searched out.

I thought I had a Mission Statement...

2006-04-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I never wrote one up... or even a description.

What are we doing here? Simply put, having fun. It's a fun project to work on, and there's really no pressure. Do things when you have the time, and don't worry about anything else. Its taken us this far, and has expanded the team from 1 to 3 people. L'est we forget, we're LEARNING. Game development isn't easy, and we're all beginners at it, so we're learning the ropes. And last but certainly not least, helping others. After all of this hard work, the game will be released, giving every single asset to the public for use on their own projects.

Where are we going? At the moment, we're aiming for a tiny, basic, first release. Some people would see it as a prototype, but I like to see it as a demo. From there on, who knows? We may stick together, heading onto another project or continuing this'n. We may just break apart as a team and go on our seperate ways.

Kwakkie Joins

2006-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Another member of the former SLO team has joined us.

As one of the best texturists on the team of ~25 people, we're looking forward to seeing what he produces. It's sure to be awesome.

1.4 COMPILED

2006-04-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Sexy.

In other news, the programmer said he was too busy, so we'll plug away without 'im... That said, he was a huge help to the project, and I never could have compiled it without him.

Unacceptable....

2006-04-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

Alright... These long delays without updates are starting to look pathetic. It's completely my fault, too. Here's the finished model for the good-bridge, more or less, and is now being prepared for export. The evil bridge is being worked on, as seen below.

The monk texture is what I'll request next, so we can get a unit in-game. :}
I contacted a programmer about helping out a bit, so we'll see where that takes us.

Not much progress

2006-04-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've been pushing myself more and more in school, trying to get that GPA up to around 3.7 unweighted, and I haven't had nearly as much time on the computer. I'm still waiting for a response that solves the porting issue. Scott is working on the texture for the evil bridge and should be sending me the files (for the good bridge) shortly.

Coding Progress

2006-03-27T12:44:00.001-08:00

I bought the RTS pack and got the 1.3 version of it to compile. I'm having a lot of trouble porting it to 1.4, but at this point I've narrowed it down to a single error and I've asked for help on the GG.com forums. I've started to strip the GUI, but I'd like to wait until I slap it into 1.4 before I continue/finish. I hope I can get this coding issue out of the way by the end of the week.

I also decided that for the prototype level, I'm going to simplify the design a lot. The volcano would be very difficult w/o collision. (Which I'll have to add for the bridge)

Earth Level Concept Design

2006-03-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

I've finished a rough outline of the Earth level. I'm still very open to suggestion.

I have purchased the RTS Starter Kit and am now meddling with the settings and simplifying the GUI.

Hands, Feet, and UPDATED TEXTURES

2006-03-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm super excited about getting back to work. The texture's really coming along.

The humans (and angels) now have hands and feet. I'll be purchasing the RTS Starter Pack and getting that set up imminently.

As a recap, here's what we need to do before we reach our first Milestone completion.

1)Texture 2 infantry units (1 Good, 1 Evil).
2)Get RTS Starter Kit up and running.
3)Block out the Ethereal level with untextured buildings.

I'm BACK!

2006-03-24T06:09:00.004-08:00

I'm sorry about my extended absence everyone. I had what was suspected to be Scarlet Fever or some kind of nasty virus... which was conveniently followed by midterm week. I'll be on later today and make some more updates.

Here's Scott's WIP of the good-bridge. It looks -great- IMO. (which was all Scott) <3

Sickness, meh

2006-03-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry, everyone. I've been extremely sick over the past three days, and still am. I'm going to start looking for a more dedicated texture artist soon. Scott is just far too busy to finish up this project on his own... but I do sincerely appreciate him offering his skills and talents, and he should feel free to contribute when time permits.

I remodeled the evil bridge and added in more detail to the church, but I'm not on the computer with those files. I'll upload 'em when I get a chance to get on that computer.

A New Home

2006-03-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

Altar of Sacrifice

I now have my own dedicated section of the www.lowpolycoop.com forum, so head on over there and check it out. It holds a more detailed PROCESS of developing the models, code, and levels.

Finished Monk and Necromancer

2006-03-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

The monk and necromancer have been modeled. Essentially the same model (save the skull on the necro's chest), but the texture will vary greatly in its values.

Working with LPC

2006-03-06T22:27:00.001-08:00

Did I ever mention how awesome Low Poly Coop is? No, you say? Well, they have agreed to house my project, so I can work on it with their community.

In addition: Every. Single. Asset. Will be released to the community... Free of charge.

Rock on!

:D

(Sorry, no pictures this time... Next time, I promise)

Building Progress

2006-03-06T19:06:00.000-08:00

I spent today modeling 4 various buildings. From left to right: Gates of Heaven (covered in ivy), good and evil bridges (Good: Top; Ivy walls. Evil: Bottom; Fire Particle-System Torches), and a church.

I'll work more on the humans tomorrow... and try to finish them all.

As it currently stands, this is what must be completed before the first release.

Good Unit Tree

PRAYERS are the resource

Missionary

Prays and converts enemy humans.

-Swordsman

Kills enemies.

Cherub

Converts enemy demons.

-Seraph

Kills enemies.

Evil Unit Tree

BLOOD is the resource

Necromancer

Raises dead

-Corruptor

Converts enemy humans

-Demon

Kills enemies

Tortured Soul

Kills enemies.

Good Building Tree

Gates of Heaven

-Spawns angels

Church

-Spawns missionaries, doubles prayer value when prayed near (in?)

Barracks

-Spawns swordsmen

Evil Building Tree

Gates of Hell

-Spawns demons

Altar of Sacrifice

-Spawns necromancers and corruptors

-Place a human in the altar of sacrifice to make him a tortured soul with the req. blood and time.

*Notes: - denotes that the asset should be in-game by the first demo.

As you can see, the 2 sides will play differently. Evil tries to overcome good by numbers, whereas good tries defend against evil (to prevent giving them blood) eventually giving one, fatal blow.

Thanks for looking! Here's to the first alpha.

Finished the Seraph Model

2006-03-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

"Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew". Isaiah 6:2

Genesis begins development

2006-03-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

Seraph (The strongest of the Good units with the exception of heroes) WIP:

(350 Tri-Cap; Smaller image is game-sized)

I'm the only one on the team as it stands, and I've been doing... higher-low-poly models for roughly 2 years now. It's a wierd challenge to get things down to less than 400 polygons. Fun, but difficult. When I need a programmer or a texture artist who is competent (unlike yours truly) at what he does, I'll post it up in this blog.

More info will come soon.