日本の冒険
Fortnightly Progress Diary
Everything from start to Finish...
Week 1 & 2
Initially thinking of creating a Feudal Japan Fighting game upon hearing a classmate was also interested in developing something game related. With a early proposal we eventually teamed up and started an online ideas board by the end of the 1st week.
The scope was quickly realised by Ryan after some investigation on his part and decided it would be better to create a more manageable concept that kept the initial theme at heart. A Japanese walk around environment, which may evolve in a historical reenactment village experience or something of similar likeness as the term progresses.
Week 3 & 4
Digging into Unreal had initially a slow start, as finding a tutorial with usable assets that were up to date was difficult.
However with the results were rather nice, unfortunately the packaging of the levels failed on Jordan's map leaving a corrupted file behind. See the remnant images here
For making the focus on the quality of everything visual, it was collectively decided that an observatory interface, with the player traversing a flat mid-size platform would suffice in term of UI. Whereas modelling, texturing, LOD optimization, lighting, composition take priority.
This sets our current goal of making a high detail showpiece with all the initial themes in mind.
Week 5 & 6
These two weeks were pulling large amounts Japanese Architecture, Asian-Nature and anything important and related to the "Ancient Japan Aesthetic" we had in mind as references for creating a culturally consistent and informed game.
Japan is known for its contrasts between infrastructure and nature, two of which have proven difficult to follow when modelling while keeping things relatively conservative on detail. How can the roof trusses of a pagoda or temple be optimised for a game? - By having two separate extrusions with stripped normal detail it can give an illusion of having many complex rungs as seen in our references.
Week 7 & 8
Desiring two separate levels/rooms Ryan went to construct a cave system where a Buddhist or Shinto Shrine would be situated, as a means of contrast between both interior and exterior game design. But unfortunately later found that time constraints would impact on the end quality, so a collaborative with Jordan on the 1st environment (inspiration image above) would be the goal, using models produce prior to add to the atmosphere without impact on schedule
Beginning constructing on pagoda, and researching methods of creating/plotting game functional trees using SpeedTree are the next steps for the following fortnight.
Week 7 & 8
Desiring two separate levels/rooms Ryan went to construct a cave system where a Buddhist or Shinto Shrine would be situated, as a means of contrast between both interior and exterior game design. But unfortunately later found that time constraints would impact on the end quality, so a collaborative with Jordan on the 1st environment (inspiration image above) would be the goal, using models produce prior to add to the atmosphere without impact on schedule
Beginning constructing on pagoda, and researching methods of creating/plotting game functional trees using SpeedTree are the next steps for the following fortnight.
Week 9 & 10
Over these two weeks the World Engine map was produced and added to Unreal, Ryan went to work with a nature asset pack along with the assets I had created to start putting the scene together. Together we thought up an idea of creating a pond with a feature and building Japanese bridges into that to make it more culturally aligned.
Jordan went to learn world engine for a more visually interesting map. Then learnt some basic visual scripting for a spline controlled mesh generator node. This would have been used for making the road a ropes for the lanterns to hang from but their was a repeating error where the was only one instance of the road mesh being added so it was dropped for the moment being.
Week 11 & 12
Ryan added grass, rocks and trees to Unreal scene, using SpeedTree didn't end up happening as there was a delay in issuing the license to Ryan. Using a few atmospheric and colour corrective filters Ryan was able to create some extra depth to the scene.
Conceptualising together briefly on the next steps like where ropes lines would branch off from the pagoda holding lanterns. Jordan made lanterns with fairly conventional design features in Maya and textured those, along with a firepit made by Ryan. To show how the game has been made, one step to the next, Jordan made a timelapse video which is in both the photo gallery and his page.
The next stages most likely entail creating various characters, and the use of scripting to create certain events like attacking and jumping. As the goal is to slowly develop the VR game in both its interactivity and narrative over the next 5 or so months.
