Digging up my past. Three years old models !

As a result of some recent lucrative freelancing, i just bought myself a new system J (specs) and transitioned from the old pc to the new one. So, going back to the subject: in the process of transferring the data, I’ve found some three years old models. I feel a bit nostalgic but also ashamed about the quality. I am aware of the fact that they suck ( not that i've changed alot), but they bring back nice memories about the old days. Here goes nothing:

ps I would also like to thank the people who had helped/motivated me since then. If you’re reading this, I’m just sorry for not being more of anything .

3D interactive museum, featuring the early history of Nintendo

There are two things that i really like about the classic video game consoles. The first one is the rudimentary design, showcasing primitive technology, that you can pick it apart and put it back together by yourself. The simplicity of the construction makes me feel in charge, so that i am the one using the machine, and not vice versa. From the perspective of a tech-guy, you can learn lots of things just by studying the case. They don't make them like in the old days. The second thing is the gamplay. These days, it's all about graphics, fancy CGI, big explosions and giant robots. Back in the day, they had to compensate for visuals with engaging playability. They also had to use simplified graphic elements and rough animations to convey emotions, taking advantage of the fact that the human brain needs very few pixels of information to recognize a character. Games like pong, pac-man, donkey kong, space invaders or tetris will always be interesting because of the pure gameplay, representing the golden era of video games. These days, they are still very popular on portable devices and they represent a great source of inspiration.

tip: press "P" to save screenshot

easter egg: press ctrl + shift + W to transform the NES into a movie poster.

use WASD and mouse to move around, thanks tutorialsforblender.com for the mouseloook script

i can't guarantee the contrast, saturation etc, as i am away from home and it's very hard to output it out on a decent monitor. I will fix it in time and also provide better screenshots.

Work sample.

Here are some different company textures on B757 and ATR72. The models are done in Blender and the Ogre settings in Max, as usual. Textures in Photoshop, currently learning Gimp. (still wip, needs more polishing)

Space Invaders Remake

This rough scene is my own take on the classic arcade game Space Invaders.

Gameplay elements:

-you can move the defending blocks by left clicking and dragging them with the mouse, to form new strategic arrangements, or just to group them when they become isolated.
-you move your ship on two axis using the mouse. as a result, you can dodge between enemy fire and also choose the firing distance(which is important, due to spacing/timing)
-you have limmited ammo
-once you hit the UFO you get an extra life

Graphics:

- i did my best to keep the classic proportions for the ships and the feel of the old game.
-the ship's gears are animated using bones (also, as you are being hit, you will see the rotating gears stopping one by one)
-the menu is added with alpha planes over the background
-the blocks have four lives each - as they loose one life, they become reddish. also, they are not affected by your fire!

Hard surface practice in XSI.

No polycount limit, just trying to replicate the models the best I can.

Enterprise Fun

This is a fun one, as I am a big fan of the classic series.

The geometry of the ship respects the blueprints, but I took the freedom to add my own twist to the textures, by making it cartoonish. It's the kind of ship you would want inside an arcade game, popping out of the background in an eye candy fashion.

I keep it very rough, no GLSL. The original UVW texture is baked on the AO(smart UVW)map to save space. I only used the simple default Mist Effect to get the planet depth feel.


Sky-Dome Method:

I use an extra scene with a flipped normals sphere(skymap texture) and a camera in the center.

GameLogic.camor = own.getOrientation() - for the original scene camera

own.setOrientation(GameLogic.camor) - for the background scene camera

As a result:
1. the sky is not affected by Mist.
2. no matter how far they are positioned relative to the camera, the objects will always be in front of the background.


Collision system:

The ship is set to No Collision and parented to a collision box(triangle mesh bounds).


Camera Rig and Ship Movement:

I used a mouselook script from here.
You have the possibility the look at the ship from any angle by moving the mouse. Once you left click, the ship will move in your "sight" direction. There is no need to use the keyboard, it just goes forward by using the camera's local orientation.


Camera Wall Collision Detection:

A ray is sent to the player, if it encounters a surface with the property "wall", it places the camera at the last location.


Direction, Horizon:

The ship will track to the horizon line all the time, to keep a sense of equilibrium, orientation.
Both direction and horizon are done gradually.


There are 8 small "planets".

Don't mind the average 35 FPS from the screenshots, it's on a laptop with integrated video.







I plan to add more visual diversity into the enviorment. I still need to learn texture painting with nodes( a new feature in BGE, similar to BP3d) to create seamless maps, and maybe implement a laser firing system.