Game engines

So this time I will talk a little bit about game engines. The use and differences of some of them. Unfortunately there's too many to go into all of them but I will keep it about a few big ones.
So what is a game engine ? The game engine much like the name suggest is the engine behind the game.
It puts all the little pieces together and directs them to the final outcome. The place where assets, sound, Coding, effects like particles and game-play blend into the game it's supposed to be.

So it's safe to say that game engines themselves do not make good games but simply provide the tools to create master pieces. Often when getting an engine the developers ( of the engine) have already set-up some tools that they think will commonly used by the user however here also comes a big difference.

Some game engines will have a component based architecture. This means that certain elements can be replaced by other components like Havoc for physics  or Blink for video's which could potentially make a game stand out a lot better on certain area's. However not all engines allow this. Some game companies have decided to make their own engine a few of those are ( Valve,Crytech,Square, ID) and others prefer to use the already existing engines such as for example Bioware, Trion and NCSoft.

So what would be some of the differences of the engines then ?

basically different engines work in a different way. For the current project i'm working on I had to do some research into UDK and Crytech to decide what would be best suited for the goal we're trying to achieve. This was a pretty difficult task because there's a lot of shallow discussions going on by people that use the standard assets rather than the functionality and pro's and cons of using the engine itself.

A good discussion I found on this topic was:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86377

Where most people say UDK and Cry engine are fairly the same. Apparently the license for the Cryengine is a lot more expensive than the UDK and obviously UDK has been around a lot longer so there's a lot more documentation/help to find for UDK. However Cry engine is a lot easier to use. A lot easier to use at the cost of less customisation though. So trying to read this all and figure out a solution i noticed how every single tutorial for Cry engine was for exterior levels rather than interior like we we're trying. This kind of pulled me over to one side and made me choose UDK ( and in the end we all agreed on this) Where UDK would be more made for " corridor" shooters Cry engine is more made for outdoor shooters. This doesn't mean you won't be able to do the other with it but it would be a lot more effort and struggle to achieve the same thing. Another few good engines that I'm definitely interested in would be the Luminus Square engine from Square enix or the Hammer engine from Valve.
Unfortunately I haven't had the time to look at either yet but I'm looking forward to the summer holidays to spend some time messing around with both.

The last engine i would like to mention is Unity.  Visually this might be the weakest engine of the ones mentioned before however the freedom and customization far surpasses the others and has a cheaper license too. The con could be that coding is a lot more important in this engine than the others as there's no real basic gameplay/set-up for this engine however because of this and the freedom to use different coding languages it's easier to make quick and visual changed to the gameplay style/shaders and add effects in.

Official website for UDK - http://www.unrealengine.com/udk/
Official website for Cryengine - http://www.crytek.com/
Official website for unity - http://unity3d.com/


-- edit -- i just read that square enix will not release the luminus engine to the public :(.
Source:  Luminus not open for public..

Documentation in games

Documentation is an important (and annoying) part of the games industry. The reason there's documentation is for employees to be able and read up on guide lines , do and don't and idea's, plannings and goals.

And yet documentation is the most boring part of game development ! 

Depending on what department uses the document it can be referred to in different ways. One of them is: " Design document" . Each branch has its own document ( animation, art, programming, game design, level design etc) It's often the lead that keeps track of the document and makes sure everything is up to date. This is so the lead can keep track of progress , possible issues, limitations and such.



My idea for a game:

I would like to create a Community project before leaving university where people of different courses work together. It's something I've been thinking about for ages but so far haven't worked out yet.
This Assignment/post Could proof part of the foundation for this idea and i will there for treat it that way.

The way I would like to set it up is to give everyone a challenge yet make something achievable.
As I'm living with several games programmers i interact with them on a daily basis. Same so during the summer where one of them had his summer project making a simple 2D game. While thinking of game-play i mentioned how Super Smash Brothers has last it's time due to its appealing game play and being a "pick up and leave" game ( a game you can play for 10 minutes and then leave again )
Also working on a game like that would mean an easy set-up with plenty of opportunity to expand if there's time left as long as the basic is set where as with some other genre's this is not always the case.

Keeping this in mind I wouldn't like to make a Super Smash Brothers game if there would be a team of people but more a Hack and Slash type of game.



Diiieeeeee link !!!! 

but why ?

The reason for this is just like the one states above, It's fairly easy to set up and can be expanded with all the time that is left over. In fact most of the coding has been done by myself 3 years ago ( in a horrible way and I'm sure there is plenty that should be redone)
however just for a showcase during the pitch to other people this might proof use full.
(Of course everyone would get a vote in things but to set an idea I'd start of with how I'd like to see things. Considering this would be an educational project and portfolio piece for everyone we wouldn't necessarily need funding) Also due to the set-up I have in mind if people would leave the project or not get work done this project could easily be cut short at any time after the basic is set-up.

For this project I'd prefer to start with a minimum of 3 people ( Me on art and animation, a programmer and a game/level designer) but the more people join the easier things get and the more specialized people can get. Purely because I'd like to stick to art I will write a short " document" here on a start. ( unfortunately no concept art yet and I'm sure I will work things out once this idea becomes a little bit more concrete )

I'd like the game to start off in a house where a small event takes place driving the player outside to a dark, misty & medium sized Victorian village. This is where the player will first interact with other Npc's and slowly get's familiar with the controls / game-play. This will also be the place the first combat will take place. The player would have plenty of space to run around but with clever game design not be able to leave the town till Certain events are completed ( and in our case we have decided to continue the project after) This would pretty much be the foundation of the game as most of the game play is covered in this case. After this it can be expanded with more narrative and for example adding area's to the city and new area's/environments and such more NPC's and enemies.



It would be nice to add some form of fantasy in the game to practice my artistic skills in different areas such as Icy/crystal landscapes, particles etc.

Concept art for Final fantasy 13 ( Bresha lake)
As a guideline for the art it would be: Stylized ( but only where it adds visual interest), Custom made textures ( this due to a personal preference so I can practice this but also pretty much required for some of the fantasy settings), Grim & foggy mood This not everywhere but in the Victorian street's it would be a cold early winter night, there's some fog and in generally a grim mood)


A good example of the mood/setting i'd like in the village. Image has been found on:http://www.pocketfulofbooks.com/2012/07/book-review-sweeney-todd-demon-barber.html  and is unfortunately uncredited.

The main character: A young guy in his early twenties, average Victorian  clothing, Short dark brown hair, stubbles, average body type.
Tech spec: 7k triangles, 512 Diff, Spec, Normal map with possible extra 256 map.

NPC's: Depending on what NPC this is though for the starting area their all in Victorian clothes varying from High class to child workers.
5K triangles, 512 Diff, Spec, Normal map

Vehicle(s): Carts need to be made in a way so it can be used in several ways such as a broken cart blocking the way out of the village.
3.5k triangles ( with possibility of slightly more for the small adjustments) 256 diff, spec, normal

Environment: Victorian town, Interior room/house and possible shops etc in the town.
Tech spec: Unsure. Diff, Spec, Normal.

Props: Things like crates, Stalls, Lamp posts, Road signs and such
Tech spec: 400 tri's MAX depending on the prop. 256 diff and spec / normal where needed

Engine isn't decided yet as Unity seems to support the most flexability when it comes to game-play but not the best engine for an artistic portfolio piece ( proper research on this needs to be done)

I'll leave this post with a quote i found from David brinkley: “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him”. 

This post will be continued upon in a second part once things progress a bit more.

Level design

Much like game Design I used to think of level design as an artistic process of making a level look pretty. This though got crushed early when doing the game-design course at " Ballyfermoth college of further education"  when someone working in the Industry came over and told us about his job as a level designer. After the class I had a little chat with him asking about the difference between actually making the graphics and placing the objects/making a playable level.

The difference between a level designer and environment artist. The level designer only cares about volume while the artist worries about the way it looks.
The easiest way to describe the job of a level designer would be: Designing the path the player has to/ can follow to go from point  A to B.  How the environment looks like is not his job however the placements of assets, power-ups ( in any form from ammo to health etc )
Enemies, NPC'S, duration of the level are all part of his job.  A level designer often get's told what sort of level he will work on, the assets available , the purpose and story behind the level and  can then start blue boxing a level. Blue boxing is a term used for making a level out of basic shapes
to get a rough idea of where the players can go and how they will reach certain places it's much like an interactive blue print of a level. Most engines will have some easy way of  letting people blue box without having to start  3D software.(p.s people use different terms for this)

Some blue boxing i've done a long time ago.

Another possible job of a level designer could be to design certain obstacles that occur in a level. This could either be part of the Games design or part of a different reason such as slowing players down from progressing too fast through a level.
Valve is one of those companies that do their level design very well. They break levels up in arena's where players fight off monsters and switch them with puzzles to calm players down and give them some time to recover /restock. Another thing Valve has done really well when it comes to level design is in Left for Death 2. The artificial director decided when to spawn zombies to make players move faster ( or slower) what zombies to keep things interesting and challenging but is also able
To make small changes to the level by opening or closing parts of the level. this makes the level re playable and unpredictable. A good example of a game where this has been done poorly would be Diablo 3. The levels pretty much stay the same the variety in monsters is minimum after the first play through making it quite repetitive.

Depending on what sort of level is being designed there's a few things the level designer needs to keep in mind when it comes to a Single player level it's often : How hard is the level compared to the ones before / after.
What skills will the player require to complete the level ( have they been taught or do they need to be introduced), How much time does it take to complete, Is there a story involved and if so where ? is it consistent are there any glitches and if so how can they be fixed, where will the power-ups/weapons/health/items etc be and probably most important is it fun to play.

Multiplayer is equally as hard if not harder ( depending on the game) as there's a lot of balancing questions that need to be asked: Are both sides ( if there are sides) equally matched, What sort of level will this be ( in first person shooters it might be a sniper level or trying to prevent sniping in general, based on
the level design this can go either way) , is it repetitive and/or replay able, where will the power-ups/weapons/health/items etc and of course is it fun ?

It's an important thing to plan a level out carefully and do plenty of play testing to get feedback on what works and what doesn't as this often affects the end result.

Some small examples

Planetside 2 is a Free to play Masive Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter ( mmo fps)
It's an interesting example as it combines several level design decisions together.

As can be seen there's a lot of open space making it perfect for Vehicular combat ( planes/tanks etc)


And for snipers ( this guy did not have a good day )

However there's plenty of cover ( if he would have only used this) making it possible to both possible to
snipe and fight in close/medium range. these are several decisions made by the level designer.

The importance of composition


I'd like to write a bit about composition and why it is important. To start this off i asked myself a few questions: What is/Does composition, How to apply composition, what different types of composition are there ?

So first off, What is (visual) composition ? There's many different types of composition. it doesn't surprise that when looking in a dictionary tells:

"the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole."(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/composition)

"The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole" and "Arrangement of artistic parts so as to form a unified whole."  (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/composition)

"the action of putting things together; formation or construction"
(http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/composition)

but the best example was found on:  http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/c/composition.html
"The plan, placement or arrangement of the elements of art in a work. It is often useful to discuss these in reference to the principles of design, as well as to the relative weightof the composition's parts."

So why is this so important ?

Composition should be applied to get the viewers interest , whether this is a game, a cut scene, a still or concept piece. There's many ways in which this can be achieved and many things that need to be though through. Balance, Focus point, Contrast, proportion and harmony.

A well composed painting: The silver goblet by Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin 

What is important in composition ?

There's a lot of different ways composition can be applied as mentioned:

Harmony: Making sure everything fits together and nothing feels out of place.

Balance:  If your main subject is on the left side of the screen do you add another object to fill up the empty space to make it more interesting ? Not doing so can give the viewer a sense of imbalance


The chess pieces are placed in the frame in a way that makes the image in balance.
(Photo found on: http://shazimalik.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/balance-in-photographic-composition/)

Focus point: The point where the viewers interest should be leading towards to

contrast: The differences between dark shades and lighter and/or the way colors are applied.

A good example of a photo with contrast made by: Siddharthan Raman

proportion: How would things be displayed, far away or really close by and how do they relate to other objects ?

Background:  a good background can make the focus point stand out more easily and/or lead the viewers eye the path it should follow.

Small tricks that can be used:

there's a few things that can help out on making a composition

Rule of thirds: In the rule of thirds it's all about the placements within frames.  The screen is divided in a grid of 3 by 3. If then the object of interest is placed aligning to either of the crossing lines it should make a much more interesting to the eye as having the object of interest in the middle looks dull and boring( even though it's called center of interest it shouldn't actually be in the center)
Counterpoint is when you place a secondary focus point on the diagonal opposite of the other  this makes an image even more interesting



A good example of how the rule of thirds is applied in a photo by:

http://prophotoguru.com/using-the-rule-of-thirds/

No time left to loose

From what I've noticed in the years of art related courses i have had is that most art students ( and maybe even professionals) have poor structure and planning. Very often ( and i won't deny i'm part of this neither) assignments get left till the last moment and suddenly you see people being online till 5 o clock in the morning. Unfortunately this often won't give the best result and obviously in a paid environment isn't very desirable.

So how could this be changed ?

Planning.. having a reasonable planning where there's a good buffer for things that might either need further investigation or things that go wrong / need improving is very important. It's fairly obvious and i'm sure i'm not saying anything world shocking here yet it's something that can best be learned by experience. With my summer project I've made several plannings only to see each of the plannings didn't work out due to unforeseen problems and/or not having enough buffer. more towards the end of the project I've started to get a better view on things and better idea on how much work i'd realistically do on a day and how much information i would be able to absorb in one go.  Also being able to look critical at my skills I've started to understand and accept that things like texturing would
Take a lot more time than i was happy to admit.

What would the best way to go be ?

My personal time distribution would most likely be different than that for other people. Mainly due to having different pipelines and things i would like to focus on in certain projects. For example we have an Environment project where there are 2 buildings premade and we have to make a matching building in between. This is without having given any limitations other than make it blend in/match the other 2 buildings.  A rough planning i made for this project was making sure the research of existing buildings / assets was done the same day. So i know what i'm dealing with. Knowing what to deal with is important as this way i understand roughly how to model and texture. This was done the same day. The next thing i wanted to do
was looking for reference pictures. So the same Tuesday and Wednesday I've spend walking around town making pictures of buildings or parts of buildings i think would match the style.
Also looking in the library and on the internet for idea's on what to do. After having a folder full of possibilities i wanted to have the modelling done within the first week. It's the easiest
And least stressing part of the whole process. Having this done my next step would be unwrapping on Tuesday and the next set of days spending texturing so i have the last week to spend on importing things in UDK. Messing around with assets and/or maybe do some tweaks here and there. It would give me a full buffer of a week as I've used UDK before and am familiar with the whole process. Even if it would give me issues having a buffer of a week seems enough to catch things up.
I expect in a professional / 8 hour work day environment to have less time and trying to improve my workflow is therefor very important to me so whenever i work on project i always tend to think things out before i start. Some little tricks I've discovered to help me are making a quick sketch( blue box) in 3D on where i want to place things and blocking out what it should be without having the intend to instantly over complicate things. while texturing i color code so i know my unwraps will be on the right places and then slowly start building up layers checking often back and forth to see if it matches my expectations. and finally depending on whether things stay in 3DS max or in an engine i use my references to see what sort of feel it should represent and if it matches.

all this helps me to get used to a better and better planning and working more and more efficient.

 A busy summer - part 1

Over the summer I've been really busy doing my summer project.
I decided to make a level. However rather than just go crazy on making a level i set myself some goals.

- Get better in texturing
- Learn how to bake textures properly
- Get a decent and playable level
- Aim for the current texture quality in games
- export the level into UDK.

Unfortunately the last point didn't work out due to the complex shapes of the level and struggle to make a bounding box for it and getting the texturing right. But a lot has been learned through this. If I were to make a level again I would make this in a more modular approach making small chunks and separate assets so I can puzzle it all together in UDK. However the brief said it had to be handed in in a max file so this wasn't an option to start with.

At the start of this project I decided i would really like to make a level inspired by the Half-Life 2 level called Nova Prospekt. This is an abandoned prison which is now being used by the Combine and through the level it get's over run by ant lions ( spoiler ?? )

So the first step was gathering inspiration. Coincidentally the steam sales were coming out and this gave me a good opportunity to buy some new games that could set the standard for my texturing.
a few games I decided to buy and look at were: Max payne 3, Bioshock 2 and Rage. I already owned all of the Half-Life games but decided to do a quick play through and make several screenshots.

After researching these games i started listening to the developer documentary of half-life learning how they have done their level design and why they made certain decisions.  Because the tri limit was amazingly low I'd have to be very efficient with scene's / game play and optimalize the assets as much as I could so looking at these games i notice how scenes were being re used quite often. Making the player walk back and forth over the same area. After writing down plenty of notes and little sketches i started up UDK only to figure out that the program has changed quite a lot since I've last used it ( 3 years ago ? ) removing the option to make subtractive levels. After looking things up on the internet people recommend making the level first in max and then bringing it into UDK. So much for blue boxing in UDK then..


Once in 3DS max I've started lay-ing out a path puzzling what would be an interesting route and how i would like to make things. When I was satisfied with the lay-out I've started modeling this process took long and was pretty difficult due to the low triangle budget and high expectations I've had. A lot of assets and plans had to be scrapped because of it and will unfortunately not see the light of day. However the difficult part had yet to come.


Part - 2 soon

Reflection of year one , and ambition for year two.

Last year it was all about the fundamentals. For those who had never used 3DS Max to get familiar to the program, for those who hadn't had a background with drawing .. oh wait.. let's not go there. This year however things will go a step further., with trying to enhance what has been learned and trying to reach a decent level of expertise in the area desired. For me it is still unchanged... 3D is my thing and becoming an environment artist is my aim/dream. As I'm currently writing and will continue to write in my blog through the summer I have spent quite some time improving my skills, and even now I'm still working on things. so what has been improved last year and what would I like to improve this year ?

 Last year I learned how to unwrap properly, I already knew how to make normal maps but I've learned how to make them more efficiently and apply them. I also like to think my modelling has improved slightly as in a little bit more efficient and a better idea of distribution.

Then through the summer with help of websites such as: WWW.3dmotive.com , www.eat3d.com and good old www.3dtotal.com I've improved my texturing, learned how to make better specular maps and bake textures.

Baking textures...

I think this year I would like to keep improving on my texturing, get a more efficient/faster pipeline, learn about lighting scenes ( no ! not just the skylight !!!! ) and get a good idea of triangle/texture budgets for assets. I hope this year will give us a little bit of freedom to make stylized and/or different assets/content for the area we would like to work in, in the future, as I can already imagine my future employer sitting behind his desk seeing 400 darleks / transit vans etc, etc.

Darlecs from the tv serie DR Who


To reach all this my first goal would be to finish my second summer project: "The decimator" The Decimator is a project based on the character with the same name of Privateer press Warmachine. I set it up as a project to improve my texture baking and texturing but haven't had the time to finish it yet. The baking has worked out quite well however there is still plenty that needs doing. and through the year I'm planning on working on it every time I improve in key areas. For now it's these small little projects that set me apart from other people and will hopefully get me noticed in the industry.

Sources:

www.eat3d.com

www.3dmotive.com
www.3dtotal.com
Privateer press: http://privateerpress.com/
warmachine: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine
Decimator: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/khador/warjacks/decimator