Project Update

The Alterations

After having a meeting with my supervisor I have made some decisions regarding my project. 

• I will be sticking with 1 theme; due to the amount of time I have spent on the prison I will stick with that one. My supervisor felt that doing more than 1 completely different themes was a bit too ambitious for 1 person in the time frame I have. Although this does mean I can put more time into the prison.
• I aiming to have a second level based in the prison where the collectibles are harder to find and The Tormented is faster.
• I will also be designing different collectibles for the level so they fit in with the new game concept.

The Tormented

Here is a rough sketch of how I picture The Tormented to look.

He will have disfigurations where the scientists have added and taken away body parts and internal organs. For example he will have an ear missing and a distorted skull where they have taken out part of his brain and put something else in it's place. 

Over the next week I will be focusing on one room; both modelling and texturing. Then designing the entire body of The Tormented for modelling in 3ds Max and Mudbox.

Thanks for reading. X

AutoCAD and 3d Modelling: 1st Floor

The Layout

Here is the AutoCAD version of the layout, I left the middle line in to ensure I kept the measurements exact when I started modelling 3ds Max.

The Model

The top view of the model.

It was fairly simple but I did run into a problem, which I will explain next to the last image.

The lines in the centre of each cell block represents the walkway and the stairs, which will be put in when I connect all the floors together.

The measurements for these cells are 1.8 m by 1.8 m by 1.8 m.

This is why there was a problem; I needed to keep the overall length and width of the block the same as the one below it but the cells on this floor are bigger.

You can see here what I did to solve this; there was some space in the corner so I pushed some of the cell into the wall. 
This means that even though the cell has the same measurements as the others it has a slice of wall where a couple of the bars would have been at the front of the cell.

Next time I will be connecting the floors together.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Prison Underground

The Underground

After crossing pitfalls on the ground floor this one was a lot easier and only ran into a couple of problems that were easy to solve.
I used separate lines for each section like the first one.
I spoke to a demonstrator at University on Friday and he said it's better to keep them separate like this as it makes them easier to texture and saves rendering time within the game.







Here you can see all where some of the doors are and get a better idea of how everything looks together.

The Entrance and Cells

Here we have the entrance including a section where the stairs would be. Then as you walk forwards you will see 5 pit cells on either side then to the left and right you have 10 3rd grade cells.

The Torture Chamber

I wanted the torture chamber to be big, 10 m  x 15 m, so I can include lots of apparatus that will play with the users imagination. There will be a lot of gore in this room.
The small square at the bottom of the image is an office for the main torturer to keep track of each patient's progress.
There are 10 3rd grade cells along the back wall.

The Laboratory

The laboratory is slightly smaller than the torture chamber but still pretty big at 10 m x 10 m. In here will be lots of strange-looking science related equipment along with mutilated limbs and jars of eye balls.
There is also a small office at the front for the scientist to keep his notes and spend his time when he isn't performing his operations.
There are 5 3rd grade cells along the back wall.

The Back Section

This back section provides a nice dead end for the player, they will really have to be careful in this area.
This section consists of 10 pit cells and 5 3rd grade cells.

Thanks for reading. X

AutoCad: Prison Layout - Underground

The Next AutoCAD Piece

I can't say enough how much AutoCAD has helped me, I love the program. I have saved so much time and have been able to get all the measurements exact, which is good because I am a perfectionist with this sort of thing.

The Layout

So here we have 40 3rd grade cells, 20 pit cells, 2 offices, a laboratory and a torture chamber.

I've tried to make it as symmetrical as possible to make it easy to get lost. 

I wanted to include a lot of corridors to get the feeling of claustrophobia but also so if you stop The Tormented you have to double back. 

There is also dead end at the back so you definitely want to be quick when you're in that section.  

A Closer Look

Here you can see the dead end section; the circles represent the pit cells and the squares show the 3rd grade cells.

The next step is importing this into 3ds Max and modelling it.

Thanks for reading. X

Project Update

Some Alterations

After talking to my supervisor about two important changes to my project idea I now have a clear idea of my project and how I will be creating the game.

1. I have decided to take out the website side and focus solely on the game as I believe the quality would be diminished if I attempted both in the time I have. My supervisor agrees with this. I want to create an amazing game that I can be truly proud of.
2. After deciding to use the Unreal Game Engine to create my game I wanted to run it by my supervisor, he also agrees with this. So I am now waiting for the company to give out the license I need to use the program.

What's next?

I will be watching tutorials and buying books on using the Unreal engine so that when I am able to use it I have a good foundation to start with. I won't actually need the game engine till November as the focus for this month is asset production in 3ds Max etc.

Thanks for reading. X

Game Engine: Unity vs Unreal

Which is better for my project?

I have been debating for many months which game engine would be best for my project. My initial decision to use Unity was based on the fact they use it at university but after hearing about other options I have now done some research.Below are the pros and cons of each, some are based from reading and watching online sources, my own observations and general thoughts that relate to my project. The highlighted points are ones that are important to me as the address my situation, my weaknesses and strengths.

Unreal

Pros

• Quick reply to issues, like fixing bugs.
• A variety of good example projects
• An active and helpful online community.
• Amazing visuals (Compared to Unity)
• Good documentation online and pop up tutorials if you want to learn more.
• Key areas, like moving transforms, better than Unity (Seems to be similar to 3ds Max)
• Ability to ‘play’ the game at any time to see faults (easier and less time-consuming than unity)
• Everything is open; Epic wants the community to send updates and fixes to help with debugging.
• More user friendly interface
• Interface is similar to Photoshop and Adobe products, which is good for me
• Wizards and plugins – make it easy to create a 1^st person shooter without importing characters and objects
• Less scripting
• Real-time rendering
• More successful games created using it e.g. Gears of War, Batman: Arkham City, Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Mass Effect.
• Advanced dynamic lighting capabilities
• New particle system; can handle up to a million particles at 1 time.
• Use a blueprint system, which is good for designers that aren't strong at coding.
• I can either get it free as a student or pay just under £12

Cons

• Unstable on MAC, Windows is better
• Less streamlined workflow than unity, may take a while for new user to get to grips with.
• You have to recompile and relaunch if you rebuild your C++ code. It doesn't pick up the changes automatically straightaway.

 

Unity

Pros

• Good for games for tablets and smartphones
• Possible to create games for consoles, PS3 and Xbox
• Good, easy to use plugins.
• Large asset library
• Great for 2D games
• Some popular games created e.g. Slender, Temple Run and Angry Birds
• Support will be available at University since they teach with the program
• The Jennison computers have Unity Pro

Cons

• The graphics aren't as good as unreal.
• No real modelling or building features
• The free version doesn't include all the features

Conclusion

After looking at the pros and cons I have decided that I want to use Unreal for my project, I will be talking to my supervisor about my decision to get a second opinion.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Prison Buildings

The Prison Model

So here it is from the top view. 

I underestimated the difficulty of modelling this. I used the spline method with snap to vertex to ensure everything was to the same measurements as on AutoCAD but unfortunately I kept running into pitfalls. An example of this is when I used one spline for pretty much the entire main building but when I extruded the line the polygons and lines didn't behave as I thought they would. It was going to be to difficult and time-consuming to fix so I just started again.

In the end I used the same method but did each section with a different line, then extruded them straight after to make sure it was working before I moved to the next section, which is why all the areas are different colours.

To get a better idea of how everything comes together here are the buildings from a different angle.

The Living Quarters

This is for the members of staff to stay, there are 5 of these buildings. Each have 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a dining area.

My first thought for this was army barracks but I wanted them to seem luxurious to contrast with the inmates living conditions. 

The Cell Block

The cell block you see on the left has 10 cells along one wall then 5 along the adjacent walls.

These are the 2nd grade cells so are 1.8 m by 1.5 m by 1.8 m.

There will be a staircase in the centre to get to the 1st grade cells, which will be directly above.

The Offices and The Infirmary

The room on the right of the image is the infirmary. The small room on the left is the office for the head scientist, the bigger room around it will include desks for the other scientists and staff members. 

The Reception, The Mess Hall and The Staff Room

The title for this image shows the order from left to right what all the rooms are.
Part of the reception wall is connected to the cell block element at the moment which is why the gap is really big at the top of the image. 

Final Thoughts

I found it challenging working with such a large scale model, when moving the view around to see certain sections I could really feel the difference in comparison to other modelling I have done. Even though it was difficult and was frustrating at times I stuck with it because getting all the measurements exact is very important to me. 
I was worried that if I scaled the building down to make it easier to work on then scaled it back up when I was finished I may end up with more problems; so for now I will continue to work on it with the real-life measurements I decided on when working in AutoCAD.

Thanks for reading. X

AutoCAD: Prison Layout - Ground Floor

AutoCAD is Amazing

I've spent the past few days trying to properly layout the prison using old fashioned pen and paper and Photoshop but it wasn't going according to plan. I wanted to put exact measurements, down to the wall thickness, but Photoshop wasn't efficient for this because it isn't what it's designed for. Then I found AutoCAD from Autodesk! It took me most of today to get to grips with it but I finally produced what you see below. Once you know how to use the tools you need it becomes fairly easy. 

The Layout

So here is a very zoomed out version of the layout so you can see everything.

Once I have completed this blueprint I will import it into 3ds Max and it will make life so much easier modelling the building itself.

The Prison

So here we have the layout of the prison building, Cell Blocks on either side (10 on each), Mess Hall, Reception Area, Infirmary, Office Area and the Head Scientist's Office.

The lines that aren't connected, in the reception area, represent the stair case to the underground.

The Staff Living Quarters

There is something I have missed out in this section, I haven't put the door spaces in yet but that is next on my agenda.

The rectangle you see closest to the bottom is the staff room, which connects to the main prison building via a corridor.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: Another Table

Props for the Prison Level

The Mess Hall Props

There will be 2 of these in the dining hall for the guards to sit at. The table top is 1 m by 1 m and the height overall is around 0.8 m.


The polygon count is 206.
The vertex count is 264. 

I started with a box for the table top, inset the bottom polygon, created the stand then extruded out four polygons along the middle to get the seat parts which I connected cylinders to. I used the bevel, extrude and welding tools to create this.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Table

Prop for the Prison Level

The Mess Hall Props

There will be 6 of these within the mess hall for the prisoners to eat at. The table would fit 10 inmates, it is 3.2 m long and 1.2 m wide with an overall height of around 0.82 m.

The polygon count is 126.

The vertex count is 136.

This was fairly easy to model once I started. I wanted to have the seats attached to the table in some way so this is what I ended up with.

I started with a box and just kept connecting edges and extruding to get the shape you see.




Next up will be another table for the mess hall.

Thanks for reading. X

Level Planning: The Prison - The Mess Hall

Planning for the Prison Level

The Mess Hall

The room will include 6 tables with chairs that will be either attached to the floor or the table itself. There will also be a serving area that will have the grills down. In one corner there will be a different type of table for the guards to sit on whilst keeping an eye on the inmates.

The dining hall will be 15m x 15m x 5m, the image on the left is the box with those measurements that I will be starting with.

I wanted the ceiling to be pretty high as most dining halls I've been to have rather high ceilings and it will make a change for the gamer as he goes through the prison as a lot of the spaces will be small.

Next up will be the tables for the inmates.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Pit Cell

Props for the Prison Level

There will be 5 of these in an alcove and possibly more than one alcove with them in the underground area. The diameter is 1 m and the height is 4 m, only a small amount of that will be seen above the ground.





The polygon count is 1,023.
The vertex count is 1,250.

This was fairly easy to model just a cylinder with a couple of extrusions. The grill is just a plane with the lattice modifier, which I played around with after applying it.

Texturing

I am planning to texture this with a old grey brick for the cylinder and a worn out metal texture for the grill.

Thanks for reading. X

Level Planning: The Prison - The Pit Cell

Planning for the Prison Level

The Pit Cell

There will be 5 pit cells, which are cylinder cells that go 4 meters into the ground, covered by a heavy metal grill so the inmates can't get out even if they manage to climb to the top, unless the guards let them out. 

The pit cells won't technically be in a room they'll be in an alcove under the prison near the 3rd grade cells and the torture chamber.

They'll hear all the screaming from the torture chamber and the moans from the 3rd grade cells. They are designed for severe solitary confinement so that the inmates are very cooperative when they are taken out.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The 3 Cells

Props for the Prison Level

The 3 Cell Types

There will be at least 20 of each cell type throughout the prison.
There will be variances in every cell within the level whether it be with differences in texturing or a couple of extra props like shackles or remains.



The 1st and 2nd grade cells have air vents at the back to allow for air circulation whereas the 3rd grade cells will not resulting in further diminished living conditions (e.g bad smell, humidity and no fresh air).

1st Grade Cell

1.8m x 1.8m x 1.8m        2nd Floor
Props: Bed Frame, Mattress and 2 buckets.

The inmates in here have special treatment they are allowed a frame and mattress so are fairly comfortable along with a wash bucket and a waste bucket.

The idea behind this cell is to hold inmates that are important to research in some way. They have space to stand, lay and even pace.

2nd Grade Cell

1.8m x 1.5m x 1.8m     Ground Floor
Props: Mattress and 1 bucket.

The inmates in here have a certain amount of civilized treatment they are allowed a mattress so have some comfort and a bucket for waste.

The idea behind this cell is to hold inmates that are useful in some way but aren't important enough for an upgrade. Space is limited but not too drastically compared to the 3rd grade cell.

Since the 1.8m side is facing the front I was able to use the same front section of the 1st grade cell by copying the polygons over and welding the vertices to the ceiling and floor.

3rd Grade Cell

1m x 1m x 1.5m          Underground

Prop: 1 bucket.

The inmates in here won't get any special or even civilized treatment so they are only allocated a bucket for waste nothing more. 

The idea behind this cell is to make the inmate feel as uncomfortable as possible, it would be impossible for them to stand up or lay flat so most of the time they'll be in a fetal position.

I had to model the bars and front section from scratch for this cell as the proportions were different from the other two cells. I wanted to keep as many similarities as possible so the style was the same. For example the bars have the same diameter and number of sides, also the sizes of the frames are very similar as well. 

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Cell with Bars

Prop for the Prison Level

The 1st Cell

Front View

This cell is for valuable inmates, it's bigger than the others at 1.8 x 1.8 x 1.8.
These images show the basic cell without any props/objects inside. 
(Note: Backface Cull is on so certain parts in the images may look a bit weird.)

The Entire Cell (In these images)

The polygon count is 1,390.
The vertex count is 1,806.

                                                             

The Blue Bars (All you see)                                                The Grey Section

The polygon count is 956.                                                      The polygon count is 190.
The vertex count is 1260.                                                       The vertex count is 242.                             

Side-Angled View

I used lots of reference images of cells in actual prisons, I also researched sizes so I knew the norm and could play around with it to fit my ideas.
I didn't run into many problems but it was still time-consuming as I spent ages making sure all the lines were in all the right places, even resulting in calculating the numbers to get the most precise lines.

The Keyhole

One particular problem I faced was making the keyhole. I used procutter to create it. Firstly, creating a keyhole shape with splines, turning it into a 3d shape the placing it into the place the keyhole needs to be and using the procutter tool to create the shaped hole. Unfortunately when I did this directly on to the cuboid connected to the rest of the cell it caused all other lines in the cell to change direction and look generally messy.
After much contemplation and attempts to achieve the desired result I found a way that worked. I created a completely separate box that was exactly the same size, used the above method to get the keyhole-shaped hole then attached and welded the vertices to the cell, this meant the other lines within the cell weren't affected.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Bed

Prop for the Prison Level

The Bed and Mattress

In each of the first grade cells there will be this bed and mattress, the second grade cells will just have the mattress. 

The Mattress                                                      The Bed Frame

The polygon count is 616.                                   The polygon count is 484.
The vertices count is 310.                                   The vertices count is 208.



The mattress stared out as a box, I applied the relax modifier beveled out some polygons and played around with the vertices to get what you see on the left.


The bed frame is very simple just using a box then extruding out to get what you see, I also used the connect (line), bridge and inset tools.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Buckets and The Grill

Prop for the Prison Level

The Buckets

These buckets will be in the first cell type, there will also be one in each second cell type. I felt the inmates would not be allowed to have the wire part in their cells for safety reasons so I won't be including it.

(For one bucket)
The polygon count is 1142.
The vertices count is 592.

These were fairly simple to create. I started with a chamfer cyl I then applied a taper modifier. I extruded certain areas then selected the top area and applied bevel to hollow out the inside.
I extruded the two sections at the top and used chamfer to get a rounded edge and the procutter tool to get the hole in the middle.
You can see this in the image on the left.

The Grill

This will be in every cell, after researching cells I found that they usually have them at the back of each cell.

The polygon count is around 350. (It's hard to judge as it's completely joined to the wall)

This was another simple model using the extrude, bevel and cloning tools.

It started off as a polygon on the wall, which I then beveled backwards.
I cloned a box shape to fill the gap and rotated them downwards.

The bolts were also simple using a 6-sided cylinder and extruding the polygons out.

I will be texturing all the cell props once the entire cell is completely modeled.

Thanks for reading. X

Level Planning: The Prison - Cells

Planning for the Prison Level

I am planning to focus on modelling for the prison level for the next week or so starting with the cells the inmates would've been put in.

The 3 Cells

I researched the typical size of a prison cell, which is 1.8 by 2.4 m but I've chosen to go with something a little smaller to show how badly treated and confined the inmates are, the inmates will be big and not necessarily human so will have trouble spending time in such a small space. 

There will be 3 different types of cell, one type on each floor; they will have differing furniture in them. 

1) 1.8m x 1.8m and 1.8m high for the more important inmates.
2) 1.5 x 1.5 and 1.8m high for the new inmates.
3) 1m x 1m and 1.5m high for the forgotten.

I will be modelling the bare essentials for the cells; a bed and two buckets one for washing and one for going to the toilet. There will also be an air vent on the back wall, measuring 15 cm by 23 cm, which will be covered by a metal grill.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Spear

Prop for the Roman Level

This is a pilum spear (or javelin) used by the roman army. One particular use was to disrupt enemy formations by throwing it towards them, this would result in disarray, weakening the enemies' strong barrier of men as they scattered. 

The polygon count is 156.

The vertices count is 146.


This is another prop for the roman level, this will be a weapon placed around the level.

The Tip

As you can see the weapon is a very simple shape, I started with a capsule then flattened the top and extruded and beveled the top polygon to get the form you see in the image to the left.

Thanks for reading. X

3d Modelling: The Spatha

Prop for the Roman Level

This is the roman spatha, I used the image on the left as a reference to create the 3D model.

This is a prop for the roman level, this will be a weapon the officers of the opposition would've used against Trajan.

The polygon count is 419.
The vertices count is 386.


Again, I started of with a plane for the blade and then used symmetry, I extruded out the end to get a slightly more curved, rather than sharp, point.

This sword took me a lot longer due to the complexity of the hilt, it was more complex the gladius.

The Sword Hilt

Here is a close-up of the hilt, as you can see it has a lot more going on, I started off with a box and created the curve effect that you can see on both the top and bottom of the hilt with the extrude tool, after creating one side I just used symmetry to copy it over to the other side then joined them up. I aligned the vertices on the lowest part of the curved shape so it was completely level, straight and centered and provided me with a good base to start extruding and beveling to make the handle.

I then joined the top part to the bottom part with the bridge tool.




One of the hardest parts of this sword was connecting the ball shape to the bottom of the hilt, after a lot experimenting I used roughly the same method as above. I deleted some polygons off the sphere, capped it, created some extra lines that matched up with the ones on the curved area and bridged the polygons together.

Texturing

I shall use gold metal on parts of the hilt and a silver metal for the blade, some parts of the hilt will be a very dark wood color. 

Thanks for reading. X