Posts by Minos

  • Pirates of New Horizons

    wow guys!! This is just a prototype but what is there already I can see as a great start for something huge. I loved exploring the island, not many games these days let you explore the world on your on pace and this is very nice! I also love how the city has different areas and stuff, that will allow to some nice NPC interactions in the future. You should definitely check out The Misadventures of Flapjack, it's my favorite cartoon atm and could steal a lot of ideas!

    At first I thought the camera movement was a bit weird but I got used to it quickly. I didn't play the game with a 360 controller though, I'm not at home now. The game sorft of reminds me of Mini Ninjas, and I don't know, perhaps this is the structure Mini Ninjas needed to be more fun? I mean, having a hub where you can go back to anytime a-la mario galaxy?

    Areas that need improvement imo:

    - The text boxes/NPC conversation system look a bit ugly. I think you could try something akin to Animal Crossing: The camera zooms in showing both the player and the NPC facing each other with text balloons on the bottom of the screen:

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    - I missed some atmospheric effects on the city. Fog, volumetric effects on the distance, wind gusts etc... the city itself feels a bit sterile because of the lack of such effects.

    Congrats again you guys are hugely talented and games like that renew the faith that I picked the right career for my life! I can't wait to see where you guys are going to take this!

  • nDo - Normal creation toolkit

    Quote from PhilipK

    Might as well post a new example I made for the tutorial here as well.Added another example .PSD to the tutorial. Just a photo based one this time where I used hand masking a bit together with my nDo-generated normals (strangely the .PSD is ver large in filesize. I had originally planned to release it in it's full res (1024x1024) but then it'd be around 200MB...)

    [Blocked Image: http://philipk.net/tutorials/ndo/tools_example_03.jpg]

    PSD: http://philipk.net/tutorials/ndo/Example_03.psd

    Tutorial: http://philipk.net/tutorials/ndo/ndo.html

    Wow that's impressive!!

  • Ubisoft confirms closure of Brazil studios

    Quote from 2d-chris

    Get your ass to europe M~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    why not

    I'll probably be doing the one prop a day thingy and maybe a realistic environment before I apply to all places though. The application of a friend of mine to a AAA studio in canada got turned down because he didn't have any realistic pieces in his portfolio... and he's incredibly talented and experienced. Go figure.

  • Sci-Fi Spaceship w/tileable texture elements workflow

    Tiling textures ftw!

    Some things you can do to improve your model:

    - Bake AO to vertex colors or to a separate map using the 2nd uv channel

    - Use vertex colors for color variation

    - You could add some trims here and there because it looks rather obvious where the tiling texture ends in some places, specially in the inner part of the ship

    - Create a second texture for decals. Stuff as signs, texts or maybe even windows with an emissive map to add that extra layer of detail

    - Texture maps could use some polish. The edges are too bright on the diffuse, the specular has way too much contrast and the glossiness too much variation. That doesnt make much sense, since every metal tile is supposed to be made from the same type of metal so more uniform spec/gloss maps are expected.

    Here's some good reference on the same subject.

  • Ubisoft confirms closure of Brazil studios

    Quote from Buddy

    Is that the reason for that little portfolio piece you've done awhile ago?It's sad to hear that its closing down especially that it feels like it opened like a week ago.

    I saw it coming months ago when Ubisoft announced the company would focus on core franchises only. We had just jumped from a casual project to another and that didn't smell good so I began to save money and started that UDK scene to have something up-to-date with my current skill level in case something bad happened.

    When I was officially told the studio was closing down I gave my udk level that extra boost and put a new portfolio site together. I'm still working on it, that's why I haven't posted on mapcore yet but you guys can check it out on http://www.thiagoklafke.com.

    It's really a shame this studio is being shut down. I worked with amazingly talented people during the past 2 years who unfortunately didn't have a chance to shine due to the nature of the projects and other things I can't talk about now.

    But yeah, life goes on. I'm glad I wasn't caught off guard on this one.

  • Ubisoft confirms closure of Brazil studios

    Quote

    Ubisoft has confirmed to Joystiq that "development activities in its Brazilian studios will ramp down by the end of this year." The publisher states that due to the current market conditions, it can't "achieve the goals initially set for the studios." There is no set date when the Brazil shops will close, but it will be before the end of the calendar year.There are currently 25 people working between the two studios in Brazil, who are "finishing DS and PSP projects which they will see to completion." The company could not confirm the official number of layoffs, as "some" team members may take positions at other Ubi studios.

    The Brazil studios had worked on the casual Imagine series, which doesn't currently fit in with the company's focus on major franchises -- a priority for the major, new (subsidized) Toronto studio.

    Ubisoft plans to continue its business presence in Brazil and is "currently evaluating opportunities." Overall, the publisher states that its "production headcount" should remain stable this year.

    http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/30/ubiso ... alendar-y/

    Yep I'll lose my job soon. If anyone knows of any regular environment art openings in Canada or Europe please let me know

  • Minecraft

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    o___O

  • KotH_Switcheroo Beta 4

    Massive bump here but I wanted to say this is one of the best KOTH maps ever!! It has become everyone's favorite KOTH map here at the office.

    However I noticed we were playing an old version (beta2) and I think the atmosphere is much better in beta2 than in beta3 so you should definitely return to that.

    On another note, offblast is everyone's favourite arena map so that means you are a kickass level designer

    insta for president~