Final Update

This is my last update so first of I'll explain what objectives I managed to achieve from the last milestone.

I extended my map by adding a cave area to the end which I filled with fog and enemies to create a disorientating and difficult final battle. I also improved the lighting and added a smoke particle effect to give the level a little more life. I then packaged the game, installed it and recorded the game play video.
On the other hand I failed a few of my milestone objectives namely; updating my 2D game to include enemies and a title screen. When I came to opening my project in visual studio I found that my Xna assembly references had somehow corrupted since the last time I had opened it. I tried multiple versions of the project and got the same error message. I then tried re-installing visual studios and Xna but got no where. At the last minute I decided to try loading the file on Seans PC which worked so I ended up simply compiling what I had into an executable file for Chris and leaving it at that. This was disappointing but I just couldn't find a way to fix this error and I had already wasted too much time on it. Either way I managed to get my 3D demo finished to a reasonable standard and I'm happy with the result there.

Objectives #4

My melee weapon has been fully coded and textured. It works on a collision detection system making it very accurate, if a little resource intensive. I used the unreal X editor to generate the classes and then tweaked them to behave like a melee weapon following this tutorial http://forums.epicgames.com/threads/915761-UDK-Melee-Weapon-Video-Tutorial

I've also sorted the lighting out and added a little more detail to the environment. Sadly I haven't finished the map but it's time to move onto the XNA because I'm not sure how long it's going to take to implement the features I have planned. If I have time afterwards I'll add some polish to the level before I package it.

To reiterate my final milestone is:

Final Milestone 30th
Enemies, score and menu added to 2D game and then complied into an exe.
UDK level cooked and packaged (hopefully with a little more polish)

I think the sword's a little too big

Objectives #3

Final Week

Here is a screen showing some of the new static meshes I've added to make the level less bare, provide some cover and tell a story. The barracades show that this was some kind of military checkpoint or stronghold. I added the girders to the roof to break up all the empty space that existed there. One of these has snapped, probably due to a stray rocket, and come crashing down. The bullet-proof glass of the door is blackened and so is the area around it indicating someone tried to blow it up. Both the glass and the soot decal are pre-made UDK materials.

Above is a screen shot of a kismet sequence that spawns and controls some simple unreal tournament bots. It spawns them when the level is loaded, works out whether they should shoot or not based on a trace of the path between player and bot for obstructions and allows them to randomly move between pathnodes. I followed the tutorial below to create this.
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/wold-members-tutorials/petebottomley/udk-01-how-to-spawn-bots-in-kismet.php
Unfortunately the system only seems to work flawlessly for one bot. After selecting multiple bots to be spawned by the actor factory I have found that roughly half of the bots behave as intended while the others either stay where they spawn or move to one pathnode and remain there without firing. Disappointing although as long as I spawn plenty of bots the level should still be challenging.

UDK

Implement sword weapon!
Try and fix AI
Finish lighting

Xna

Enemy
Score

Next Milestone 28th
Sword weapon implemented, AI fixed, Level polished

Final Milestone 30th
Enemies, score and menu added to 2D game. UDK level cooked and packaged

Objectives #2

UDK
Animate doors
Concrete barricades
Better lights
Fog
Barrel
Particle fire
Blood and soot decals
Enemy spawns

XNA
Menu implemented

Next milestone 25th
Semi finished map with most assets, off the list, imported. Enemy spawns set up to trigger and doors animated.

Objectives Last 3 Weeks #1

UDK

Environment mapped out with BSP brushes
Concrete and tile textures for general surfaces
Crate
Animated glass blast doors and archway
Animated metal door
Static metal blast doors

Next milestone 18th
Roughly laid out map with textures and some static meshes. Doors imported to be animated with matinee.

Fresh Start

After spending three days trying to salvage my puppet model from my own poor workflow (moving it to and from max and mudbox and generally screwing up the UV's) I finally gave up. I realized that three days was all it took to sculpt my model in the first place so I just went ahead and sculpted a new model. Here it is all nicely painted with the boots, horns and belt from the previous model. I've left out the armor due to clipping issues when I tested some animation.

Messy Textures

Well not only are the normal map errors persisting but after importing my fully painted model into 3ds max I found that the textures display completely wrong. After searching online and talking to Gin about it I've realised that the UV's were ruined when I imported it to 3ds Max and then back into mudbox. My objective for this week is to try and repair it or set up new UV's for the model so that I can go ahead and texture it. Gin suggested I take the UV's from the base human model or create new ones inside max using pelt mapping.

Dripping Pit Stains

Weirdest bump map error ever. Not sure what that is but it doesn't look good...

Flesh Puppet

My concept for the basic enemies in my game is called the Flesh Puppet. These are human bodies that have been possessed (either before or after death) by the soul of a Demon. As my game will be played in first person I've decided to focus on modelling a flesh puppet rather than a human character. I can then use this in my game demo and 3D animation.

I started with the default human model in Mudbox. I started by messing around with the face and went for a kind of distorted scream mask look with burnt out eyes; a result of demonic possession. I cocked his head to one side though I've now realized this may cause problems with animation later down the line.

This puppet was a human soldier so I decided I wanted to dress him in a trimmed down Shadik military uniform consisting of: a Kevlar vest with a cotton vest underneath, trousers and combat boots. I sculpted the under-vest and trousers onto the model and decided to make the Kevlar and boots in max. I also sculpted the muscles to be bigger and look messy, as if the possession had grown the puppet unnaturally. You can see that I also messed around sculpting wounds onto the flesh of the arm and ribs.

Sculpted model without additional gear

Now on to max to make some combat gear for my inhuman soldier. My first design for the vest was a once piece Kevlar vest similar to real military but I changed my mind and decided to go for something vaguely resembling the imperial guard flak jackets from Warhammer 40k. Had a lot of problems with bad topology while making this vest but eventually managed to clean it up.

This is a working version of the vest and I'm aiming to improve it soon. 

For the boots I started with a rough outline hoping that subdividing it in mudbox would add improve the look.

Well that didn't work out =(
I tried messing about with the mesh in max again but eventually scrapped it. Starting again I decided I needed some references and after searching the internet for motorbike and military boots I found two concepts that helped me model my new armored combat boot. The first was a set of trails motocross boots that looked both lightweight and armored. These are primarily what I want my boots to look like, especially with the padding folded over the front and strapped in place.

The second image is a concept for a set of armored military boots. I took inspiration from this and used the side blueprint inside max as a reference. Tabi Tact boot concept

The boots are unfinished but here's a quick render to show the difference in shape and detail compared to my old ones.

All I've got left to show is the latest textured version of my model but I'll save that for when I've finished texturing it and added gear.

The Cities of Chaos

Time to let you know what I've been working on for my game concept tentatively titled:

Cities of Chaos

So welcome back to the Realm of Chaos. Over the next few weeks I'll be uploading screenshots of all my working and finished 3d models including: a demon infested soldier and an animated vibro-blade. I'm also going to post some bits and bobs from my GDD including a few menu mock-ups and what have you.