Saturday, November 13, 2010

Movie!

Grab a 5 liter cola, put on your 3D goggles, and get yourselves some ear protectors to survive the noisy sound. Yes, the quality is not superb (I didn’t try the DVD recording thing yet), but at least there is finally something to look at. Now the verdict is up to you, shoot me! But please don’t kick me in the balls ;)

Well you can’t expect too much from a half finished engine + some programmer art. But since this is supposed to be a horror game, I hope this little movie gives you a few sweaty thrills. Just a little bit. The problem with being the “producer” of such a thing is that you really don’t know anymore whether your product is good, bad, scary, or just plain stupid. After programming, playing, watching and thinking about it at least 7 million times, I really don’t have a clue what others may think. Yes of course I tested it first on a big television with my girlfriend, but she is also afraid of tiny spiders, thunders 200 kilometers away, me, cheese and everything else. So that’s not a real good reference.

For that matter, I’m quite relieved its finished now. Not only because it is a first milestone, also because I can finally move on to something else. I haven’t been really programming on bigger techniques last 5 months, such as AI or a new ambient lighting system.

Don't know if it matters, but it was encoded with H.264, MP4 format. In case you can't play it or something, please let me know. I have zero experience with online movies and stuff.

In the meanwhile, let’s see what this movie does. As I have told a few times before, one of the goals with this blog and demonstration movie is to hopefully get a few talented artists. So I can focus more on the technical part, while the creative guru’s are make dreams come true. Just for a start, a mapper/modeler and concept/texture artist can make life so much easier. I’d love to see what a next movie would do with the touch of some true artistic talent.

Maybe that is wishful thinking, but you’ll never know if you don’t give it a try. One way or another, if I ever want this project to grow to something more serious, I can’t do without them. The days of programming Pac-man on the attic are over.

In case you are reading this as a programmer; yes I’ll probably need a few experts on specific matters(physics, IK, sound for example) as well, but not yet. Maybe nothing will change in the next months, but if, IF one or two artists come in touch, I’ll first want to put my energy on that. From other amateur-hobby-projects I’ve learned not to choke yourself in your own enthusiasm! Be easy, don’t rush! First things first.


Finally, is there something to say about this movie? Well those who have read this blog the last months probably have seen most of the visuals and techniques already. However, I think I should add that some of the contents were used from other games:
- Halflife 2 some of the wall and floor textures, a few footstep sounds
- Doom 3 many of the sounds, a few blood decals
- Crysis Warhead Concrete texture

To be very honest, I have no idea whether this is illegal or not. Yet another reason to search for some artists quickly, so we can replace that content (that means it also needs a sound engineer in the future)! How about the TO DO’s? Allright, here’s the 2011 plan:
• Hopefully find one or two talented artists, and create a second movie
• AI module (improving navigation mesh, task system, …)
• Realtime Ambient 2.0
• Volumetric fog & lightshafts
• Adjusting the rendering pipeline to something like Inferred Lighting
• FMOD sound, maybe
• Switching over to Newton 2.0 (still using the older one)
• And tweak about anything else

Ok, I’m going to rest for a moment. All coding and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

9 comments:

  1. Extremely creepy! I don't think I'll be able to play the game when it's completed. I don't have the nerves for it.

    BTW, are you calling this programmer art? It's looking terrific to me!

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  3. Great Movie.

    Don't be so harsh about the art, its good. And programmers can be artists too. :)

    How did you capture this video and what setup did you use?

    Once again, great work.

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  4. Very creepy! I would have wanted to investigate what/who that was under the duvet after you picked up the hour glass. Guess I'll have to do that myself when it's finished.

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  5. @Peter
    That is the best compliment a horror game can get :) When I played Resident Evil Remake or Silent Hill, I also had this feeling "Stop. Enough. Turn off that console". Playing spooky games while it rains and storms outside, why? But yet the story was so interesting that I bit my lip and played on. Sort of sadomachochism I guess.


    @Andrew
    Basically I used the setup described in the previous post:
    - FRAPS (bought the full version, its only 37$)
    - Set screen at 1280 x 720, and record only half a screen
    - 25 frames per second
    - Audio volume bars somewhat dimmed to reduce the crackles
    - Raw video files was almost 3 gigabyte
    - Used VirtualDub to paste two halfs together (I couldn't run the whole thing with a crash at the end (when looking at the fat woman for some strange reason, hehe)
    - Used H.264 encoder to compress to ~110 MB. Not sure anymore if I used the Free Studio software, or another tool for that...

    Nice to hear the artwork isn't that bad! But then again, as said I used some textures and sounds from other games as well. Programmers can be artists too indeed, but I only have two hands!


    @Andreas
    You'll have to be very patient then :) With the current manpower, I expect Duke Nukem Forever to be released earlier. But it's good to hear people get curious, that is exactly what a game like this (where the frontal action lacks) should do.

    Cheers!

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  6. @andreas
    BTW, I see you are playing around with Arduino. I love those things! Use them for work to create machine network with wireless communication (XBee). Really fun to mess around with, and for a cheap price.

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  7. Welp. that was Awesome, as soon as I saw the title I dropped every thing I was doing to watch it, kept me on my seat the whole time (pee'd my pants a little when you doubled back to see the figure in the bed).

    Any way, since I go to the Art Institute I may be able to help you get some art, I'm actually going for game programming and only have taken a few modeling/textured classes, however, I have a few game art majoring friends who's whole education is centered around making professional level video game art, which consist a lot of 3d modeling, making texture's, and concept art.

    I'll definitely being showing them this video and seeing if there interested, we are always looking for something to put in our portfolio so I'm sure they would be happy to help.

    ps. lol @ the fat chick at the end!

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  8. @Julian
    Send me over your wet pants, so my girl can wash them out for you. Apologees :)

    As for you & students who may be interested, I posted a somewhat more detailed "job" description and requirement listing on
    http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=587897
    Thank you very much in advance for your effort! I'll have to say though that I'm only looking for 2, maybe 3 guys. I simply don't have the time to manage a big team, so I'm really trying to pick a few talented & motivated boys/girls.


    The fat lady was sort of a gimmick. I found that picture from an old project, and thought "She's gotta be here". My sweet mascotte.

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  9. Hey, im just letting you know that for a video, this is superb considering your current manpower.
    I would love to join your project as a environment texturer, I have approximately 4 years in game art but i do not have much experience at textures, check my portfolio for the limited things i have it is of quality in my opinion.

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