Games Project Lazarus

When are we going to see gameplay? Seems like the game has been running a while and its just art at the moment.

 

I wish I knew how to program... and I am alone on this project... I will be setting up some tests for controls and fight system soon... just been really busy on other projects and...life...

 

Looking great! I look forward to seeing more.

 

Thanks... will take a break on the art and start prototyping...

 

If you do not have a team get one lol!

 

What Shader or shader settings are you using on Xaviers cloak to get that effect?

 

I am using a custom made shader that has layered specular and Fresnel on it...

 

nice modeling man. keep the good work. hopefully the gameplay will be as good.

 

I am doing some testing this weekend on fight controls and pacing... to me, pacing and fluidity is very important...

 

Hey everyone, I have been away for awhile on my work, to focus on other endeavours (like my novel which I am glad i finally finish), but I am back with some new progress on this model (I love when time away gives you a new perspective) with a lot of drastic changes to make this model more appealing. Instead of a flak jacket, I took him to more of a street cop feel... which for me allows more freedom of movement... (note some of these are a week old)





And here is a secondary version of this character (still very WIP and may end up changing it if I don't like it). And I also modelled his gun.











Desert Eagle in Unity using a custom made reflective shader



Here are some textured renders from xNormal. The gloss and specular textures look much different in Unity then here...and the texture work is not finished on this one...








Looking forward to feedback and suggestions... thanks.

 

Looks good, Kashif. The only thing about it that is a bit odd is that the shirt is really tight-fitting other than one part at the bottom which seems the be somewhat loose.

 

Will fix that thanks

 

Maybe a few wrinkles here and there would help it a bit.

 

Yup... i will get right on it... needed a few more eyes on this...

 

Hey guys,

I am bumping this topic right now, because I have been working on improving my understanding of anatomy and also improving the quality of my models. And with Unity 4 around the corner, why not improve what I can now and make it better... so here is a list of things I have to work on for this project:

-- Work on character models (They are going to be quite high in detail so that is why it takes so long to make them). There are going to be 9 playable characters and 2 End Bosses (i'm about half way through the roster but some of the models will need some rework toward my quality level.)

-- Test out rigging for Mecanim. I will need to figure out how to make sure all of the models are animation friendly and set up a prototype for movement and mechanics. And learn scripting along the way. i also have characters that use weapons and projectiles that grab opponents.

-- Plan out levels for the game...Beast is going to be instrumental in the quality and appearance of each level so everything has to be modular and well planned

And TEST TEST and TEST.

 

How's this baby going ?
Blade's looking awesome, do you have some animations of him yet ?

 

Not yet... I've slowed down a bit sick I've been dealing with sickness and a day job... I'm also waiting until Unity 4 releases to do any serious animation work... so I can use Mecanim to it's full extent. the old models of trident and xavier will need to be reworked to adhere to my quality.

As for Blade, I am planning his alternate outfit to suit a more futuristic feel...

 

Nice work on the project thus far, I know the feeling of having too many "other" things going on to focus properly on your personal projects.

If you aren't a great programmer/scripter I HIGHLY recommend looking into Playmaker. I only know basic programming and never done much of any real game programming, and had some very good results using Playmaker's FSM setup to do almost anything imaginable without actually writing code. You just need some good logic planning and understand the concepts of programming and not have to worry so much about the syntax.

 

hey man, I do have playmaker and love the hell out of it... and this game is going to rock when I finish it... trying to ease my way back into it, since I am working on publishing my novel . And I am working on the roster of 11 characters and carefully planning everything... i also have to go back and redo some of the older models to make them animation friendly, especially for Mecanim which I can attest of its flexibility and power. I am having some issues with Trident (don't know if you have ever played Eternal Champions) especially since with mecanim, he doesn't have a right hand...

 

Damn 0_0

 

Looks like you like it...

 

@Neptune_Imaging,

Helpful advice:

- You should pay per script, final results and make sure they do it well and without errors. Do not ever consider paying per-hour as those people would go for off-line holidays and do nothing. Then claim they did US$2,000 of work for very little work.


If you have doubts about pricing for custom-script prices, do consider asking for advice.


Since you have PlayMaker, you can use that to prototype your game very quickly without needing a developer.


If you want to make really good 2D GUI for your game, consider getting Play2D or NUGI and hook it up with PlayMaker.
(Disclaimer: Do check the Play2D or NGUI first before getting it. PlayMaker works well with Play2D toolkit and NGUI).


That will allow you to make the HUD interface and other 2D GUI items without much effort.



- Get a contract that prevents plagiarism, sub-contracting and per-milestones payment upon full completion of specifications of your work done. Also prevent them from reselling or abusing your Intellectual Property.


For example:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/154445-Level-Designer-Looking-for-work

Look at his PrionGames site as it's currently suspended:
http://priongames.com/


- Verify credentials. Do they really have a degree and skills they need to complete your game? You'll be surprised when you ask them for more details and they claim otherwise. Are they there to help you create your game, or just want your money for doing nothing?


- Since you have very high quality models, you would want to keep number of #poly down. For that, you need Unity3D pro version. You can do what we do with others -

Ask them for their Help|About and take a screenshot of it and then send it to Unity3d for a yes/no answer.
Unity3D support respond back with a helpful yes/no answer that will confirm that they actually have Unity3d Pro.


You probably don't want to deal with unlicensed Unity3D pro users who may bring down your team into dispute and disarray.


Many developers (including us) have their own Unity3D pro (with team, Android and iOS) and my artist has it too. The developers on my Skype List have Pro licenses as well.


If you need terrain created, check the number of #polygons as an average terrain would be around 20,000-50,000 poly. Anything more (like 1million) you are borderline towards a hard-time making the game work.


Hope that helps.

 

Hey, Eskimo... nice of you to drop in... I am definitely going to take all of this to heart... I am still cranking hard at work with all of the elements I need. I will definitely be working with simplified meshes for my levels, especially the island which was a pain to design with Unity terrain (using Zbrush for this now) and making sure it is of high quality. The character models are definitely on the top of my list to finish up; I only have 11 in this game so it should be no problem to design them... and I will be sure to keep the polygon count down, though, this is a 2.5D game so details shouldn't be an issue. (I gave myself a high budget so I could create.)

For in-game graphics, I have been making heavy use of Beast for lightmapping with HDR and custom shaders for characters in game, and they have a Max triangle count of 45,000 (with all of their gear combined, and it gives me room to create without hurdles). And once Unity 4 comes out, I will be making use of Mecanim; I have models of different heights.

Your advice is definitely helpful...

 

It is very helpful... I already have Unity Pro . And I am intending on staying a one man army for now... I have a visual style and having other members may deviate from that and these models took a lot of time to make.

I've done most of the work on my own . As for the terrain, definitely a good point, and I've already scrapped it and opted for a mesh terrain, unless Unity 4 has a shader for terrains that does specular, diffuse, and normals....

For a GUI, I was thinking of trying out that Photoshop to NGUI tool... forgot what it was called, but it looks good and should work perfectly into my workflow. And playmaker is definitely helping me with character control and movement... once Playmaker is able to work with Mecanim, OOOH BOY!!!

 

If you are doing terrains, do consider investing in a 3rd party package - such as World Builder or MudBox and import the heightmap to Unity3D.

There is ProFantasy Cartographer for nice looking player maps.


BTW, check out fano_linux's animation suite as that allows easy importing of animation list to Unity3D.
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/155527-RELEASED-Animation-Inspector-only-U-5.00-don-t-miss-it


Note:
Do check and review before buying. Buyer beware. It may not suit or be applicable to your situation.

 

My friend, I am already ahead of you ... I have e-on software's Vue program... it is quite powerful... I used it to create the terrains for Atlantis but I don't like painting terrains in Unity because of the stretching... if Substance wasn't so goddamn expensive, I would use that...

 

Good evening guys...

Found a bit of time to get some renders of Blade from Unity using a script that I found for rendering single screenshots from the game view... here is a video of Blade on a gimbal, showing some of his details from Unity. More to come

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/158971/Blade/BladeRenderUnity.mov

 

Looks good but is that the in-game model?

If so, I would say he has way too much polys.

 

Yes sir, that is an in game model

 

What's the tri-count?

 

42,782 without the gun... the model is not optimised yet

 

Wow, that is a lot. Even for a Beat'em Up.
But when you say it is not optimized, I guess you will lower the tri-count later on.

 

This is for a fighting game and the gear adds a lot of polygons... the models in Virtua Fighter 5 are about 40,000 tris...and most of it is their gear and hair ... I gave myself a high limit so I could be focused on creating and not get bogged down in technical parts of it. And on a decent PC, i am sure this will run smoothly. I was going to lock the framerate at 30 but 60 sounds better to work with

 

Hey everyone... as another year is ready to close... I am now presenting a new version of Blade.. for this one, I wanted to have him don a nanosuit to signify the fact he is a bounty hunter. I also wanted to pay homage to his old leotard and create something far more realistic... right now the suit is only on a base level of detail and I want to add more fiber details and nanomaterial to make it look complete.

The mask is a work in progress... looking forward to finishing this

 

You been at this awhile! A year already?
I remember that Trident arm dude!

Good to see these models!

Sorry if it's been asked, but Is there some kinda webPlayer we can try?

How are you doing their animation? Are you doing it within Unity? Maya?

thanks
-Welby

 

Hello Welby

Yes, it has been a while... with school, part time job, writing a book, freelancing, etc... I am back at this FULL TIME now... and speaking of that trident arm, I am going to be rebuilding that model so he is more animation friendly and use far more detail ... And I don't have anything really programmed since alot of people's hardware may not handle what is on screen. For animation, I am waiting until I can upgrade to Unity 4 and using mecanim heavily (which is great for a fighting game). The basic anims are created inside of Softimage, using two rigs to drive the model... one detail rig for animation, and another for export to unity.

The big challenge will be pacing, and optimization (I want to keep the levels fairly small especially with the skin shaders I have acquired)...and dealing with characters that either carry weapons or in Trident's case, a trident. Also most fighting games mirror their animations... mine will not, unless there is a clean way to do it in mecanim. My focus now is to finish the characters... keep an eye on this

 

More shots of Blade (Nanosoldier)... I still need to add more detail on the model such as nano material and pouches... and his sidearm holster. Do you guys think I should have armour on his butt or leave it as is? I was thinking of making the suit with long sleeves but the primary model has sleeves.

More to come

 

Hey Neptune, good to see some advances on your project!

I write to ask you for something, in the strumpy thread you mention that you made a water shader and you were going to share it, but I don't seem to find it... maybe you could just share and image of the graph?? I'm trying to make some water but my results are not even close to yours, mine looks good enough but is not what I want.

Thanks!

 

Sure... i can do a screen cap for you... I was trying to get it to do refraction for it too but i am running into some issues with the shader... ... I will post a screenshot for you too... and try to get the graph going...

 

Thanks man, and merry christmas hahahaha.

Umm also, I've tried the refraction with the distortion example, looks good but as it uses the screen image for distortion, my character "seems" to be reflected but below itself.

Quick pic for example:



Thanks and greetings

 

A lot of my shaders for my game are pretty advanced and detailed... I am still trying to make my shaders work for Unity 4...

 

That Blade nano model is awesome , good job !

 

Thanks man... it was HARD to make though... and building the low poly will be even harder... I have to think about the plates and how they will project on a normal map... and this is also a nod to Crysis...

 

Hey guys... this has been a struggle but I am so ready to put this model into Unity... just gotta cut down the polygon count a bit more so it is manageable. With a detail pass...

Here is the near final exoskeleton... gotta add the alternate blaster and build the low poly underlayer that will be used in game... the plating will be actual geometry...

 

Wow that character's awesome!

 

A continuation of the nanosuit... I really hope this holds up in Unity with the complex surfacing and detail, the challenge will be rigging the plating so that it holds up... this will be my most detailed character to date... Stay tuned

 

Decided to change up the design of the suit a bit... and give it a more organic feel to it... now that the suit is done... I need to work on a few more small details before exporting it for baking and detailing...

 

Hey everyone, I have a question for you... I am still planning on implementing my visual damage system, and I am wondering if there is a quick way to set up the shader so that I could use UV2 for damage textures (they are primarily going to be blended on top of the clean textures...) I will be using Strumpy for this... thanks.

 

Here is some progress on Blade's Nanosuit... still laying down some base colours on the suit to get a certain feel for the material... still a work in progress. The arms have not been touched... since those will be used with a skin shader.

 

That's awesome Just by the outstanding look of this suit, it makes me want to play with Blade
Proves that good character design can do great things. Keep it up !