Posts by JamesKing3d

  • Borderlands 2

    rage knockoff? rage knockedoff!

    in all seriousness though, they need to come up with a better ending. I loved the first one, but the ending SUCKED BALLS! where the HELL is my vault full of insanely awesome weapons? bleh... the DLC secret armory kind of fixed that, but still.... it was lame that the

    Quote

    cross dimensional gate that only opens once every 2000 years or whatever (the WHOLE point of single player campaign...) didn't give any good weapons, but some mech-lovin old fat general dude had droves and droves of weapons locked up in his bedroom...

    (a bit too real-life for me, i want the lsd induced alien to provide me my blastola, not an old white marine..)

  • [WIP] Modular assets testing

    other than reducing the scale on that gold texture, it's much better. perhaps go for the same scale as before.

    I would suggest looking into tv shows or movies that did the modern sci-fi thing right, to get an idea for lighting. Moon, Firefly, even going as far as Fifth Element. thats the first flick I thought of when I saw that gold gaudy color reigning over your map. super dark corridors in space usually mean horror. (Alien, Advent Horizon.)

    if you want calming chilled out feel, try to keep more white tones, with lots of light bounce. Moon did this, as did alot of 2001:A Space Odyssey (space station interiors.)

    James

  • MapCore Challenge Discussion

    Quote from Campaignjunkie

    Sound challenge: given a base map, add ambient sounds to it. Use Audacity and stuff from freesound.org for example, and learn how to make soundscapes and add new soundscripts in Source (or the equivalent for UDK)... you can do anything except add new level geometry or re-texture it.

    Particle system challenge: given a base map, make custom particle systems and populate the map with it. Don't add any architecture or re-texture it.

    Lighting challenge: given a base map, re-light the thing. Don't add any architecture or re-texture it, except if it's to do lightmap uvs or something. Bonus for creative colors / compositions. Engines with radiosity (Source, UDK) are recommended.

    I love these three. I'm up for any extra challenges added to a map challenge, but would love to work with ambient sound and/or lighting or particles.. that would be fantastic. (especially since I know next to nothing about particles and sound in UDK.)

  • totally random texture thread

    3Dnj - fantastic subway floor textures. knew asap what it was. (if thats not what it's based on, then ohh well.)

    anyhow, here are 4 textures i'm working on, and their use on modular environment pieces for a game called Radiant Escape.

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/XfXFJ.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/jAQc5.jpg]

    render from maya, roughly the lighting we want.

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/xygI5.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/ePYeM.jpg]

    2 screen caps from Unity, with point lights dropped in to show spec and normals.

    James

    * EDIT: these are still WIP, alot of the UVs are not quite lined up correctly, and subsequently the diffuse/normals sometimes look weird....

  • Your advice . . .

    also, I don't know what age this pot is supposed to be represented as, but I think older pots are alot less reflective, so perhaps adjust the spec based on the ink/paint, or based on crack location.

    if it's an ancient pot that has been re-assembled, you could add a tiny sliver of specular in the middle of the cracks, as the adhesive would darken the terracotta and be glossy,

    or make the pieces more specular the farther from the cracks, as the cracked areas would probably get more damage.

    *edit, also look at how much ceramic material is lost when some-thing is re-assembled:

    [Blocked Image: http://www.ohioarchaeology.org/joomla/images/stories/figures/research2005/Redmond_Fig6.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://heritage-key.com/medialink/files/lion-relief-tell-halaf-pro-destruction-post-reconstruction.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://www.amarnaproject.com/images/recent_projects/material_culture/new_kingdom/8.jpg]

    (I worked for a summer @ an archeological firm, putting vases like this together sucks! heh (personal opinion, props to anyone who loves to work with this stuff. ))

  • THE DOOR CHALLENGE: Voting

    hey all, thanks for the Crit! this was my first real attempt at any type of scripting/interaction in UDK, and I feel that I learned quite a bit, and I'm not at all displeased with how my little scene turned out. I actually haven't played any of the God Of War series, as I don't have a ps3, and I traded my ps2 before those games came out... so I never have gotten around to playing them. I do love that a series has taken advantage of the rich and gory details of those old classic myths using todays tech though.

    I can't watch the videos at work, as the firewall blocks youtube, but I'll check them out this weekend and leave a bit of my thoughts for each solution, but thanks again for the crit, and for a fun, challenging challenge!

  • What are you playing now?

    xbox 360:

    picked up Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom a while back, just started it last night. although voice acting is terrible, the environments are wonderful. Much like SOTC, but with more life, as there are tons of things scattered throughout to fight. I don't know how the overall game will be, as I just started, but so far it's not too bad, if you have Voice audio turned off.

    I also finished Red Dead Redemption a few weeks back, didn't think I would like it when I got it, as i'm not the biggest western fan, but it was amazing.

    also, right at the end of Portal 2.

    for Iphone, I'm playing SEED (the first, I think there are 3 out now), one of numerous new RPGs that have the feel of old snes and genesis era rpg games. the few i've played are not too bad, only you lose some of the connection by only playing for an hour here, or a half hour there.

  • THE DOOR CHALLENGE: Submission Thread

    alright, attached is my scene for the door challenge contest, entitled "Daedalus' Revenge".

    the scene is a platform at the gates to olympus, and good old daedalus has foiled the gods' hopes of ever seeing a mere mortal again.

    anyhow, video:

    http://%7Boption%7D

    External Content www.youtube.com
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    Screens:

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/zPbtK.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/uQMDD.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/OigOl.jpg]

    map files for UDK (instructions in readme file, it's simple, just copy the directory the files are in to the Environments folder.)

    http://%7boption%7d

    good entries all around, can't wait to play some of them this coming up week.

    James

  • ITT: Post maps/scenes that never saw the light of the day.

    Quote from The Vulture

    It's just the technical side of modern engines I don't like. CryEngine is capable of realistic environments and keep it playable, even with shadows on for the majority of all objects on screen.

    I find that funny since CryEngine is the engine most average gamers laughed at a few years back because only about 1 out of 200 PC gamers could play their game, as their first game could only run on the top of the line PCs. sure, Cryengine games look great, but if you limit your audience by expecting them all to have cutting edge machines.... its kind of a joke.

    I'm all for high end graphics, and I like what I see from CryEngine, but I find it funny you say that they "keep it playable"

    I know the more recent games are much more widespread in their compatibility for PCs and consoles... so hopefully all engines can have that power one day.

    anyhow, modern engines are great, but most of whats on them will look dated in 5-6 years. just like most Xbox/PS2/GC Era titles look super dated today.

    (speaking of dated titles, anyone else waiting for Shadow of Colossus and Ico this Dec?! )

  • THE DOOR CHALLENGE: Rules and Discussion

    well, thats what caused the problem last time, when I lost all my data. the assets were all imported into the map pack file. and when I was working, it was getting slow, so I was in the middle of saving the map pack, and UDK crashed. when I tried to open the map pack the next time, there was nothing in the file. it was a blank scene. and the pack had nothing in it.

    It was one of my first heavy attempts at using UDK, and I didn't know alot about the file system.... anyhow. no biggie.

    If i have to, I'll just drop any needed packs into the .zip file along with my map.

    James

  • THE DOOR CHALLENGE: Rules and Discussion

    I'm using UDK for this challenge, and I had a question about sending files for testing, or for the final upload,

    after having issues in the past with level files corrupting, and losing all the data in that level file, I've been importing my mesh/tex/sound assets into a separate pack for each level I build. is there any easy way to implement those assets into the map file if I wanted to send it out to anyone? or would I have to send the map file and the pack file/files as well?

    does anyone else do this? i know usually any assets that will be used for only 1 map will be imported into that one maps file, but I got so pissed after I lost an old scene... (was before I figured out where the autosave was)

    I'll see if I can't drop off some screens and perhaps send a build to VIVI for testing sometime today or tomorrow.

    James

  • THE DOOR CHALLENGE: Rules and Discussion

    hows everyone coming with this challenge? I think i've got all the interactivity worked out,

    I just need to polish, and add various details

    anyone attempt anything they've never done? how well is it going?

    I've messed around with some physics stuff for mine, which is awesome, something I've never ventured into with UDK.

    I seem to have it roughed in, so I'm happy about that, but it's far from refined as of yet.

    James