08-01-2018 02:28 PM
08-03-2018 01:23 AM
08-03-2018 12:15 PM
08-04-2018 11:58 AM
Week 5: VR Sea Legs
This week we continued to focus on developing our first areas.
We settled on a basic look and feel for the Conversion Area, and made final decisions on how the player converts from a digital projection. The basic idea here is that the player will need to build a pattern enhancer (yes, I do love Star Trek - why do you ask?). Once the player assembles the pattern enhancer, it will be clear to the player that they should step into the triangle. At this point, the pattern enhancer converts them into their game state, and they end up at the Laboratory.
The Laboratory received upgrades to the hub room - a new portal!
So fancy!
A fellow OLP member, Skye Shark, completed this work for us and it’s absolutely perfect. Thanks, Skye!
Seaside Town now has craft areas set up for completing quests. I completed the first draft for the music, placed it in the scene, and so far I’m happy with the results.
On the overall game, we also focused on character voicing requirements. I plan to record the main character in 2 weeks’ time.
Content Unlocked!
The area we are unlocking this week uses the basic flight mechanic in space. We’re calling this area SpaceDragon: First Flight. We will use some assets (namely the dragons) from our game SpaceDragon to create this prequel story for how our hatchling space dragons learned to fly.
So then... let’s talk about flight:
VR’s greatest advantage is the ability to experience situations outside real life. Everyone dreams of flying, so let’s talk about flying in VR!
In reality, all of us have a wealth of experience moving on the ground and (most of us) zero experience flying without the aid of an airplane. Because of this, many people feel discomfort when they perceive they have left the ground. Those with vertigo or fear of heights experience increased discomfort. What does this mean for flight in VR?
Movement intention to the rescue! We split our flight systems into Hand-guided and Rubberband, and now we’ll talk about the difference.
In Hand-guided movement, you point the controller and press the movement button. That’s where you go. For flight, you can point at any location in an orb, a full 360 degrees around you... well, until you run into a planet or an asteroid.
With Rubberband, you set an anchor point by holding down a trigger or button, and then pull your controller in the direction you want to travel. The direction and distance you pull the controller from the anchor point determines both your direction and your speed, and it gives you a granular control over your motion and velocity.
Team update:
Robin Moulder - Production, Music, Audio Engineer
Colin McComb - Production, Story, Narrative Design
Chris Castaldi - Programming, Systems and Game Design
Cordelia Wolf - 3D Art, Animation, Level Design, FX
Christina Irwin - 2D Graphics, UI, Marketing Design, Website
We have several other amazing people lined up for voice acting: Maureen Honoré and O (yes, he goes by O).
Next week we will focus on grounded FPS and unlock a new area!
08-04-2018 02:37 PM
We are celebrating
an exciting milestone this week… we have a very, very early prototype! Yay!
What a great feeling
to go into our vision in VR, even if it is a super early version.
So many emotions and
passion that go into a project like this. I am sure we can all relate to the
blood, sweat and tears that is inevitable when you put your all into something,
when you spend every minute on one goal. It's both exhausting and exhilarating.
Hang Ten!
Keith Patterson
"Make Every Day A Beach Day!"
08-04-2018 02:51 PM
08-04-2018 04:44 PM
This past week I
made a decision to purchase a Rylo 360 video camera and a Zoom H2n portable
recorder. I am traveling to Slovenia to visit my family and friends this
Monday, and I decided to get this portable equipment. My goal is to familiarize
myself with the possibilities and challenges of 360 filming. I know my sound
equipment is most likely not going to enable me to experiment much, but, I do
want to figure out how to combine sound and image to enable the user of my VR
project to “enter” the micro-space of the plants, trees, water, and so on.
Basically, if I’m
trying to enable the user to feel an emotional proximity (and empathy) with her
environment, images are definitely not going to accomplish it. I want the sound
to allow the user to inhabit that plant, tree, etc. An example of the effective
use of sound to move from outside inward is the opening sequence of David
Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986). Lynch is
well known for his experimentation with sound and the importance he gives it in
creating that visceral atmosphere in his films (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwuzI8Y0uW0).
His soundscapes manage to represent the interiority either of the viscera or,
the psyche. Of course, in his films, those spaces are most often troubled,
reprehensible and/or terrifying.
I, on the other
hand, want to create a similar sense of interiority, but with an opposite
effect: it should be soothing, pleasant, beautiful – and different. I want the
soundscape that the user enters to be something distinctly different from what
we are used to and what we know how to “read” automatically.
My overall plan is
to go into the mountains and forests in Slovenia and film a 360 moment that
could work well as a rich VR experience.
08-04-2018 07:23 PM
We also worked on options for our logo.
We'd love to hear which of the two options you like more.
The top one is inspired by the the movements component of Emovji and the bottom one is inspired by the smily emoji
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08-04-2018 08:08 PM
08-05-2018 11:40 AM
Hello all,
Hard to believe we're almost to the half way point.
This past week I've continued on the prototype, but it feels like
progress was slow going. Hoping to pick up speed again soon.
I finally completed the initial art pass on the hub level, called
"Mulberry Market." It's still very rough, but the buildings and foliage
are now blocked in, and I've established the color scheme and basic
lighting. The player will be situated in the middle (the big brown area
in this pic :P) and the terrain sits a little below eye level as they
guide Post through the town.
The environment artist in me wants
to keep working on it, but there's more important programming tasks to
move onto for now. Time permitting, it will be getting a second pass
when the main gameplay systems are all in place.
Signing off for now!