Weekly Report (May 3)

Yeah, finals week!

This week I made the FMZs to the main level convex using the python script.  Shea helped get the level into working order afterwards because the zones were reordered, untextured, etc.

Here's a summary of the important things I did this semester (I'm excluding things that I either think are too small, or just plain forgot about; haha, you can go back to look at the old blog posts if you want):

• I implemented a recursive next hop forwarding path generator that automatically took an fbx's contents as input through the content processor using naming conventions.
• I also implemented the convex zone classes and made my own algorithm for checking within the zones; I thought it was pretty clever.  That class was used in vector fields, Portals, and Free Move Zones.
• Made the massive terrain level, portals, and convex zones (didn't add the items to them).
• Modified a Blender 2.4 python script to work with Blender 2.6: it generates convex hulls, but it had been using horribly outdated APIs--I had to sift through the new and old APIs to get it working.
• Added non-player character factions (player enemies vs friends--though it wasn't fully utilized since there are only players and sharks!) and behaviors (such as attacking, retreating, moving to specific zones or places, etc).

Wow, the blog crashed 4+ times while I was trying to make this!  It seems to crash while using Ctrl and the arrow keys to skip over words while going backwards on the bullet list--yep, confirmed; you're welcome Blogger.

Jason out

Weekly Report

This past week I spent a great deal of time in Maya. I created several levels of terrain, that could eventually be used in the game. The part that is taking a lot of time is creating the zones for the levels within the landscape. I've found it is quite difficult to make the zone meshes match up with the terrain. The best method I've found so far is to make the mesh larger than the terrain, and then continually shrink it down until it conforms to the same shape as the landscape. It takes a lot longer than I thought it would.

I've also creating some different objects that can be placed into the scene like different varieties of plants and rocks. I also made a few objects that are meant to be diamonds or gems. They should be able to be collected throughout the level. The idea is that these objects can be sold at the store in exchange for useful items to put on the ship.

Weekly report

This week I worked on globably intergrating the water current to the levels. I had a couple problems with the normals and the direction but now it's working. We are also going to add current to the puzzle in the game.