Hoverbikes
by Matt Fairfax · 08/21/2001 (9:57 pm) · 1 comments
Been a while since I've posted a plan so I figured it was about time =)
I've been very busy since the release of the v12 (as you might have guessed =). I finished up my first tutorial on using the 3dsmax exporter this past Sunday and I am about to begin on a second tutorial on creating mountable and animated objects sometime in the next few days. I got my little example box spinning away in the dts viewer (v12Test.exe -show) last night. I just need to figure out how Character Studio relates to the animations and I'll be ready to start the tutorial.
I think that it is very funny that all of these artists are looking to me for help with the exporter when I am such a programmer =) I used to be into art a long time ago doing mostly pencil and ink sketches but I got away from that and got into programming. I've been thinking about spending some serious time developing my 3D modelling skills and seeing where it leads me. If nothing else it would improve my programmer's art.
On the programming side I have a few things going on. First, I've been working my way through the dts format with the intention of improving the max exporter and maybe writing some plugins for some other 3d modelling programs. I had intended on releasing documentation on the dts format but the guy who created the Milkshape exporter seems to be quite a bit ahead of me. I just got to the point where I can read in all of the data accurately and am about to start into deciphering the mesh data. We'll see what happens there. I am also stil working on the UnrealEd t3d to map exporter but I haven't touched it in a week or two b/c I've been busy. I will probably get back into that soon. I may also set aside some time to work through the dif format and to work on making map2dif more user friendly and adding better complex geometry support. However, that may have to wait a while.
I am also working on my first game with the v12. It is a simple project to help get our team's feet wet with the v12 and to work out all the bugs and details in the development process. We have a very nice little team:
David Byttow, who was a v12 beta tester and just released Beta 2 of his first game (Ire Sequence)
Ryan J. Parker, who as many know ported the v12 to Linux and OpenBSD (getting close on having the clients done I believe =)
Dr. Invisible, our nameless much experienced game programmer with quite a few titles under his belt
Ben Risbeck, a very talented 2D artist (Digital Mekka)
Kory Lewis, another very talented 2D artist who is just getting into computer art (www.dragonlairstudios.com/kory)
Scott Stewart, extrememly talented if very busy 3D artist (www.scott3d.com)
and me, programmer, scriptor, game designer, sometime level designer, and beginner 3d artist.
We have also received a lot of great help from Josh Albrecht and Harold Brown (aka LabRat) and many thanks go out to them =)
What our team really needs is one or two more very dedicated 3D modellers. When we announce our game (won't be long), I will start advertising in the GG Help Wanted Ads and start beating the bushes at game modelling websites but I thought I'd extend this informal offer to any artists interested. Just email me and we'll see how things work out =)
I've been very busy since the release of the v12 (as you might have guessed =). I finished up my first tutorial on using the 3dsmax exporter this past Sunday and I am about to begin on a second tutorial on creating mountable and animated objects sometime in the next few days. I got my little example box spinning away in the dts viewer (v12Test.exe -show) last night. I just need to figure out how Character Studio relates to the animations and I'll be ready to start the tutorial.
I think that it is very funny that all of these artists are looking to me for help with the exporter when I am such a programmer =) I used to be into art a long time ago doing mostly pencil and ink sketches but I got away from that and got into programming. I've been thinking about spending some serious time developing my 3D modelling skills and seeing where it leads me. If nothing else it would improve my programmer's art.
On the programming side I have a few things going on. First, I've been working my way through the dts format with the intention of improving the max exporter and maybe writing some plugins for some other 3d modelling programs. I had intended on releasing documentation on the dts format but the guy who created the Milkshape exporter seems to be quite a bit ahead of me. I just got to the point where I can read in all of the data accurately and am about to start into deciphering the mesh data. We'll see what happens there. I am also stil working on the UnrealEd t3d to map exporter but I haven't touched it in a week or two b/c I've been busy. I will probably get back into that soon. I may also set aside some time to work through the dif format and to work on making map2dif more user friendly and adding better complex geometry support. However, that may have to wait a while.
I am also working on my first game with the v12. It is a simple project to help get our team's feet wet with the v12 and to work out all the bugs and details in the development process. We have a very nice little team:
David Byttow, who was a v12 beta tester and just released Beta 2 of his first game (Ire Sequence)
Ryan J. Parker, who as many know ported the v12 to Linux and OpenBSD (getting close on having the clients done I believe =)
Dr. Invisible, our nameless much experienced game programmer with quite a few titles under his belt
Ben Risbeck, a very talented 2D artist (Digital Mekka)
Kory Lewis, another very talented 2D artist who is just getting into computer art (www.dragonlairstudios.com/kory)
Scott Stewart, extrememly talented if very busy 3D artist (www.scott3d.com)
and me, programmer, scriptor, game designer, sometime level designer, and beginner 3d artist.
We have also received a lot of great help from Josh Albrecht and Harold Brown (aka LabRat) and many thanks go out to them =)
What our team really needs is one or two more very dedicated 3D modellers. When we announce our game (won't be long), I will start advertising in the GG Help Wanted Ads and start beating the bushes at game modelling websites but I thought I'd extend this informal offer to any artists interested. Just email me and we'll see how things work out =)
About the author
I am a Game Designer at PopCap who has worked on PvZ Adventures, PvZ2, Peggle Blast, and Bejeweled Skies. I am an ex-GarageGames employee who helped ship TGE, TGEA, Torque 3D, and Constructor.
Torque 3D Owner Jose Luis Cebrian