Making a Race Car Game in Unity3D

I've started work on a racing game to get myself to learn Blender, GIMP, and brush up on Unity3D. Here's the proposal document I wrote to myself:

Fancy looking document to help Developer Me persuade Publisher Me...

So far I've been following the Unity Car Tutorial for an "arcade-style race car set-up" and have gotten through section 1. I took it for a test drive and it definitely needs some tweaking, which is where the second section comes into it.

I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to make my own car after going through only this, so I'll have to have a look around to figure out what all different parts of the Car Game Object are meant to be.

EDIT: I found an even better tutorial for making a really basic car from scratch.

Glossy Buttons

I've been doing a spot of 2D texture work for a friend's game.

I've never done glossy before! It's quite exciting.

New Project: Chav City

A short while ago I asked my housemates to give me a game brief to work on. Here are some of the current details:

Chav City [working title] is a turn-based strategy game inspired by the Harry Brown film and a turn-based strategy game that I unfortunately don't remember the name of right now [should have written it down...].
There are three teams to choose from; the Chavs, the OAPs, and the Police, and there are three kinds of unit; Melee, Ranged, and Heavy.
Each team has a base [Council Estates, Retirement Home and Police Station], and the aim of the game is to take over an opponents base.

I'm pretty sure it would be easier to just make it as a board game, but the point of the project for me is just to see what it takes to make one of these kinds of games digitally.

~

I've learned a tiny bit of Blender by watching the videos here: http://www.blendercookie.com/getting-started-with-blender/ It feels a bit odd learning something from the start again, but it will be good once I know how to use Blender as well as Maya.

I've also just discovered that there is a new version of Unity3D or something, it's been that long since I opened the program last. Not sure yet what has changed, so I will have to find out in a bit.

Fuck it, I'm in.

Okay. I know. I've ranted and raved and then gone back on my word and then gone back on it again about whether or not I wanted to make games. But after the challenges, the expected failures but also the surprise successes of working on this final project, I'm up for it. I have been extremely inspired by the success of Q.U.B.E., but I have no idea where I want what I will do to go. Probably into my collection of stuff I have done for myself.

Over the next month I'm going to work on the mechanics and the code we used in our final major project and make myself a new game. It won't be FP[3], but it will come out of that. It won't be all fancy and story and AAA style animations and look beautifully like real life. It will be extremely simplified, extremely basic, it will not try to be arty; it will just be a game. A tidy, efficient, well executed game. Maybe with some funky colours and a feel of abstractness about it. Maybe. Who cares. I'm in charge on this project and the only one grading it will be me.

Do I sound angry? I think I sound angry. I'm not angry... Just very, very determined to do what I want, and get what I want, when I want it.

... Although, I have also been listening to Queen's I Want It All all day, which may have something to do with it.

FireBENCH!

This is a little something I made last night, for fun:

... I call it "FireBENCH!"

When you click, you fire benches that are on fire at the targets on the wall.*

... The targets are flammable.

Each time you click, the word, "Fire!" can just about be heard over the background music of a version of Firestarter that had Eric Cartman dubbed in as singing along to it.


* The targets' faces originally looked like a slightly modified version of the "troll face" that I've seen around the Internet, except with pink skin, brown hair added and an orange hoodie. I believe the picture was drawn by Frodey [or Frody?] in the year below me, but I hadn't asked to use it so I've got some more standard targets in for these screenshots. Also, I started feeling a bit creeped out by the fact that I had made this game when all those faces were looking at me, so I thought I'd better change it anyway...

Paper Production Grades, and Minecraft

Got my grades back for the Paper Production module today.

Post Mortem/Diary:
Creativity = B12
Research = B13
Development = B13
Overall = B13

Design Portfolio:
Creativity = B12
Research = B12
Development = B11
Overall = B12

Presentation:
Creativity = C10
Research = C10
Development = B11
Overall = C10

Overall grade = B12

Nice.


Minecraft

I played Minecraft for the first time last night, and I think I probably shouldn't buy it. It seems like the kind of game I would waste a lot of time and attention on. That said, I might end up buying it anyway, because I had a play on the free version on their site and got annoyed that I couldn't craft things from the stuff I found, only place blocks and destroy blocks...

Did I say might? I kind of... just did...

Gyland: "Strange Stone Home Discovered"

If Gyland had newspapers, that's probably what they would have reported today.

Taking a little inspiration from some of the articles I read on dornob about modular buildings and other articles about modular dollhouses, I've added a building to Gyland made of 6 identical pieces.

I literally just plonked them together with one of the textures already in the Standard Assets, paying only a little attention towards making sure they were lined up vertically, and that access to each room was possible. I think I'm going to have to make a few modifications to the module to make each piece link up better, and I'll probably look into creating some linking stair-modules so you can reach the upper modules from the lower ones.

The model of the house is kinda starting to take shape aswell. I've got the basic roof shape modelled, but the upstairs internal walls need to be shrunk down vertically so that they don't stick out from it. And then there's still all the UV mapping to do... Good thing this is just a side project.

The real world roof is getting there too, dad is aiming to get it finished for the end of the month. Here's mum and dad working on it. I did take some funny shots of a local cat chilling out and licking it's bottom while the parents worked on the roof in the background, but apparently mum didn't find them funny enough to display on her FB album...

As for the annoying sister situation: they're all annoying me a little less now. It could be because I'm starting to feel less distressed in general about life... or it could be because it's nearly 2 weeks until I get to go back to Uni...

It's probably both.

New House: First Floor and Stairs

Showed my sister Yvette and her friend Shannon what I've done so far.

Yvette used to love play Tomb Raider when she was little, and she is loving seeing our house take shape on a computer. Haha.

I haven't actually done any UV maps yet, and there aren't any windows. I've just applied a texture in Unity to help you see where the walls are as you wander around. Gotta say, it's looking a lot tidier than my actual house.

We have a lot of random stuff in our house, this shot doesn't really do it justice..

I think Yvette said she wants me to put Lara Croft into it, so she can run around shooting stuff in a place that looks like our house. Cough... although... I don't think I can really deny the fun in the idea..

New House: Ground Floor

Here's how the ground floor looks so far:

The First Floor will probably be trickier because of the angles of the roof.. I'm thinking I'll model the First Floor separately then put them together later. Haven't actually finished modelling the ground floor, still need to raise the internal walls, do the windows, the actual floor and the ceiling. And then after the modelling there's the UV map... and then texturing...

I wonder who will finish the place first, me virtually or my dad for real.

Gyland: Fire Oranges

The sky is pink again, and I've now got those fire oranges in. Giant ones.


Next addition could be giant snails with fireworks attached, inspired by Ollie Elliott...

Like a Headless Chicken

You may be wondering about the title of this post. Or maybe you're not. In any case, you probably won't be by the end of it.

Gyland: Oh, has it only been a day since yesterday's post?

So, what happened was this:

Which then turned into this:

Which then... uh.. became this...

Which inevitably resulted in this:

That's red biro hand-drawn circles on a scrap bit of paper painted with watercolour paints. Apparently there are only so many straight lines a girl can handle in one go.

In other news, I haven't developed the Morse Code game idea any further since I last thought about it. One of the WOF programmers, Dan Wynne, sent a few of us a message a few days ago about a game he wants to make based on a town like Dudleytown. Not sure what's going on with that right now, I think Dan's on holiday so I'll have to ask Pete what plans is.

I felt a little zap of inspiration today when someone I know posted on Facebook that Tetris is the reason kids drop bricks off of bridges. Made me laugh. I was thinking of a game based on the 'lives of Tetris block characters when they're not busy being dropped', but I don't know how long that idea is going to hang around for.

I also watched this recently:


Reminded me of a request made of me by a friend to make an inspirational martial arts film over summer... Except I don't know how I'd even begin...

I guess I'd have to start with baby steps. Maybe I'll watch some of the old Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers for inspiration, since it was a childhood favourite... Or I could use one of my friend's own fight scene films as reference for choreography and recreate it with some snazzy cartoon characters in place of the human fighters. Haha. Ooh! Maybe I'll use some of the old flash characters me and Ben were working on. Maybe Squeak and Headphone Jack...

I don't think this is going to be quite what Mr Ware meant when he requested an inspirational martial arts film.

Gyland: Skylines

I've been searching for a tutorial online for creating your own skyboxes by hand. The results were horrendous. Tons of pre-made [and probably really good quality] skyboxes, plenty of instruction on how to implement them, a few that show you how to make them by taking images within 3D software of terrain you've modeled yourself [but less good due to lack of distortion]... But absolutely nothing along the anamorphic distortion or warping of 2d images to create seamless boxes that don't look boxy.

I even saw someone post on a forum that it was basically impossible. Is this what we've come to? Tools created for the masses to make things easier for them, stripping them of the need to work things out for themselves, resulting in masses who seem to believe that working it out humanly is impossible and that it can only be done by computers? Ridiculous!

Check this out.

Looks messy, huh? But I know it can be done, and I'm not the only one - I'm sure there are plenty of modern artists that understand how to make it work, and it's only a matter of time before I join them... Ooh.

There's that mad-scientist feeing again. Excellent!

Gyland: PINK

Yes, I know, it's very pink. I'd like to give you a scientific explanation for it, but scientists haven't made it to the island yet.

After Pete pointed me in the direction of FBX file formats, I got all excited yesterday and made a teepee style hut in Maya, very quickly textured it, imported it into Unity and then figured out how the import scaling thing works.

Then I decided to give the place a sky, except I didn't know how, so I googled it and learned how to put on a standard sky box. But then I wanted to know how to make my own custom skyboxes, so I tried making a really basic one, but it looked boxy, so I experimented with distortion and stuff in Photoshop. It didn't turn out too great, I think I distorted the image forwards instead of backwards so the sky felt really... close.. Also it was a quick bodgey experiment jobby, so the edges didn't match up either.. haha.

Think I'll try putting a square tiled textured into the skybox and play with distortion more. I do realise that there are probably tools out there for this... they may save time, but they take all the fun out of it!

Looks like this island isn't going to be much if an SAS simulator, I think I'll get carried away with my liking of fairies and stuff [yeah, I like fairies, what of it?], and make giant plants and other pretty stuff to fill the island. I might even make the camp fire be a giant orange peel oil lamp, based on the one I made today...

Gyland: Damn it Unity, what is your problem!?

You know that thing that happens, where you try to import an asset from Maya into Unity, and it takes forever, and then it turns out it's not taking forever it's just crashing? Yeah? That keeps happening.

I'm trying to import a really basic structure made of interlocking diamond-shaped "logs" to mess with in engine and how big it ends up when imported.

It's having none of it. Wouldn't import the bunch of logs, and wouldn't import the initial single log. I won't even import a simple 10x10x10 cube.

I really don't see why. It'll probably start working after this rant is posted.

Gyland: Initial Layout Implemented

Here's a quick screenshot of the island as of last night.


Want to add more scraggly bits all round the edges and smooth out some of the shore too, probably not going to happen today since I'm going to be out socialising for most of it :)

I'm thinking of maybe starting with making the different kinds of shelter, beginning in the tropical zone seeing as Unity already has palm trees, and working more detail into each area as I work in them...

Welcome to the Gyland!

My sister bought John Wiseman's New and Updated SAS Survival Handbook while I was away at uni, and she's been laetting me read it. It's pretty cool, but also makes me really want to learn the stuff in it, like building shelters etc. You know. Just in case.

Of course, it's a bit impractical for me to visit all the different climates and make sure I don't die there while I learn how to not die there, so I've got a plan.

I make an island in Unity. I give it all the different kinds of terrain featured in the Survival Guide. Then I build the key assets that can be found and used in the different kinds of terrain to build the shelters that help you survive e.g. blocks of snow for igloo building, bamboo in the tropics, logs for log cabins. Then I build every kind of shelter shown in the book, and every kind of cooking thing found in the book, and even the latrine methods and other things that you get shown how to build.

Working title: Gyland - easy to remember as it rhymes with island. I know, I'm super creative.

I won't be a pro at survival, but at least I'll have a fair idea of what can be done if I get stuck anywhere. And I'll get in some modelling and texturing and Unity3D practice in while I'm at it. Not to mention, I like to make things. I remember when I was little, playing with Polly Pockets, then making little environments and structures out of wet sand and twigs in a massive bucket for little woodlice to run around in. I think I've just remembered one of the reasons I was ever interested in 3D modelling software in the first place! Ridiculously fun.

Get on it, girl!!

I've been checking out the blogs of fellow CGDers, and it looks like they've been good and busy - unlike me. Seems like I've been spending more time tackling an imagined problem of feeling trapped, and in the process been thinking, "Work for The Industry? Urr, no thanks, I want to work for myself!!"

While the thought itself is sound, the feelings holding up that thought aren't so good. It's like I've built up The Industry in my head to be this monster that wants to grab me, trap me and squeeze the life out of me. But a lot of deep thinking recently has made me notice that this way of thinking - Me vs The Industry [or generally speaking, The Other] - is bad. It disturbs my peace, presents a sense of conflict, and quite naturally just makes me want to run the fuck away. It's also a feeling that's been seeping into other areas of my life, which to put it lightly has been... annoying. A friend, Dave, seems pretty aware of this and has been trying to help me, which kind of amuses me. I think he's trying to get me to be more open and expressive. I don't think I need him to be doing it, I think if anything it's just making me more stubborn to hide. Probably because I like seeing him push people to do want he believes they want to.

Okay, enough blathering about that. Enough stubbornly doing nothing but watch and think. Time to actually DO something.

Okay, so I've been reading up a little more on like, Cryptology and Steganography and stuff like that, coded message and hidden messages etc. And before I left campus to get back to the Shire, the flatmates had a time where they suddenly discovered Audiosurf for themselves. I started thinking about maybe writing my dissertation on Flow or being in the zone in games, but I also started thinking about maybe making a game myself that involved going along a track.

So, I've got got this idea of making a game that will inadvertantly teach the player a bit of morse code [something simple, gives me a bit of limitation to work with]. It'll have sound, it'll have to be fun, and the point of the game will be similar to games like DDR and Guitar Hero and stuff where you have to hit the timing right. Haven't figured out what engine or software to make it in yet. Thinking I might check out Gamemaker again to work out the mechanics or whatever.

Getting more familiar with Morse code.

Also, since Autodesk have started doing that free licences for students thing, I should probably make use of that this summer too. I've decided I've got enough cash to not bother with a usual summer job of cleaning or serving the public/guests to Pembrokeshire. This summertime is for me.

And don't worry, I'll be posting better posts with less moaning and more pretty pictures soon enough. My list of things to do this summer include buying a decent camera, and actually making some jewellery instead of hoarding my string and beads like they're the last load of string and beads on the planet. Not that anyone reading this blog should care about string or beads or jewellery...

Immersion, Escapism, Addiction

I don't think people play games just to avoid "real" life. I think they play them because they find Life in them. When I say Life, I don't think I mean many of the things that you'll probably naturally assume I mean - unless you've read and understood the same material I've read recently... and understood it in the same way I have.

This article seems to make the assertion that players falling in the Immersion category play in virtual worlds to forget their issues.

For this group, gaming is an outlet for the anguish fed to them by the world. They play to forget their issues and for the most part, are breeding a sort of addiction.

If all they wanted to do was forget their issues, there are plenty of other ways for them to do that that don't involve virtual worlds or internet gaming.. And virtual worlds provide so much more than escape when it comes to this category of "Immersion", that to say the above is waaaaay too simplistic. Tsk tsk Alexis Garrett, tsk tsk.

Cheers, Steam Sale :)

I was quite stuck on what to write my 2000 word essay on, seeing as I was going to write about how Fable 2 expresses an emotional realism and yet couldn't really remember how it went, nor could I really replay it as I don't own any form of Xbox nor the game...

Enter the Steam Holiday Sale.

I bought myself Mirror's Edge for some lovely cheap price. Never played it before but I'm liking it, despite causing Faith to die a lot because I'm not very good [yet... well, I'm playing on easy, and she's dying lots even when there's no one shooting at her... hah..]. Although I did somehow seem to get quite good when I had to chase Jacknife around the rooftops before he grabbed a loose pole [*snigger*], but that was probably because I thought that if he could do it, then it could be done.

So, I'm still answering the same question [“While photorealistic animation and gaming visuals offer a graphic realism, in what ways have contemporary titles such as Half Life 2 (Valve, 2004) succeeded or failed in expressing an emotional realism?”], but I'm now doing my essay on Mirror's Edge.

I noticed earlier today that the question says "expressing", not "creating", which might be a little trickier for me because I keep noticing the ways it creates emotion in the player [which one has to argue is probably real if the player is really experiencing things like adrenaline rushes and satisfaction from getting it right and stuff.. ? Yeah... We established in the seminar sesh's that the term "emotional realism" has to be carefully defined...]. But I don't think "expressing" and "creating" are quite the same enough for me to go too deeply into it. We'll see, maybe I can carefully word it into a loophole, cos I'm finding it quite interesting.

And yeah... If you're anything like me [constantly being told to play more games], then go check out the Steam Holiday Sale and see if anything takes your fancy :)

Bayonetta

Surman was talking about this the other day, and I hadn't heard of it. Sounded interesting..

Bayonetta

So.. she's a glasses wearing, four-guns-named-Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme-wielding, long legged, sexy, witch, mum with a British accent.. is it? Even if that's not quite right, I'm still definitely intrigued. I want to get it, play it, and then let my sisters play it and see what they say. The last badass lady they played was probably Lara Croft.