Maverick's Workshop

Well its official guys we are using CryEngine 3 for our upcoming game in college. We decided because its a new engine and hasnt been played a lot with too. We will be using the free SDK version that is availabe for download here: www.crydev.net. Today we had discussion with Jai sir and told him about the things we were going to do. But we stuck to some problems. Image Courtesy of:  http://gaming.operationreality.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cryengine3.jpg Image Courtesy of:  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/....AION-Wallpaper-Screenshot-PC-Game-Online-7.jpg  This is Aion, an MMORPG game created by NCSOFT this is done with CryEngine... Image Courtesy of: http://www.technama.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/crysis2-wallpaper-1.jpg This is Crysis 2, the game that propelled CryEngine to internation fame... The thing is there cannot be two designers in a single game and me and sanjay are both game designers and well both of us cant do it as designers so i dec...

Met sanjay after a long time, for all these days there was no call, no blog update no skype and so i got a bit worried and then today he called me and told that last friday, his laptop got drenched in the rain and now it has been given for repair. It would cost him around 12k for the repairs. I hope he gets it back soon as we are seriously laggin in our work. I explained to him about the engine and he liked it too so we are now shifting from Unity to this engine and hopefully it will pay off. Starting to install the plugins for this engine it has one for 3ds Max and one for photoshop so i need to do that properly. Same day in chennai, raining and cold. Cleaned the room today, the hotel people are going to put EB(Electricity Bill) now along with our rent and that is because they increased the current charge by double and well they were paying nearly 1 Lakh before and now it was going to be 2 Lakh, i guess we cant complain. Stupid government increasing all the prices even the bus ti...

Well if someone asks my friends on what i am famous for will be amount of tutorials for different programs i will be having. Its not my hobby or anything, when i see a good program i tend to learn more about and finally end up getting tutorials for them, the only problem i face is that when i watch them i tend to fall asleep, i dont know why. image courtesy of: upload.wikimedia.org Image Courtesg of:  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3199895 Change of plans for the game we are doing. We decided to change road from the one at Guindy to Santhome high-road and Marina beach, as it is closer by and getting references will be very easy. Today most proabably i will start with a very noticable landmark of Marina beach being the light house. But before this can be done i need to understand my modelling restrictions for the new engine and so i will take some time before i start to model this. The climate in chennai is really cold, its raining too. Cant sleep without blanket.

As many would know i have been using keyshot for quite sometime and well lately we got the new version of keyshot which is available for trail. Me and Vivian were excited to know that it was released and downloaded the latest version, i re-rendered my Audi-R8 in it again and this is how it looks... Re-rendered version of my audi r-8 Keyshot 3 also supports animation, well not like the ones in 3ds max or Maya but a more simpler one. There is also a animation wizard that helps in creating simple animations. Image Courtesy of: blog.keyshot.com There are some new and interesting features for the camera, and the perspective camera mode really brings out the perspective in the scene. For those intersted to know more about keyshot this is the website: www.keyshot.com We learned about keyshot when i was doing my diploma at that time there was the software hypershot, its similar in many ways. At a glance keyshot and hypershot will look the same (...

Conidering what has happened for the past few days, i think i am in a state of confusion and i am disoriented in many ways. But things are now kinda falling into place. To start things off i have had a change of perspectives on game design and well many of the older ideas are now getting replaced with better ones. With help from a few good sites and a friend i made i am now set with a strong base in my head. Image Courtesy of: http://www.chaoskids.org/site/images/stories/feature/022010/UDK_title_image.jpg Image Courtesy of: http://lucasmeijer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/unitylogo.jpg Well as you might have read in the earlier blogs, we were going to use unity which is a free SDK(Software Development Kit) for creating games, its good and well sanjay brought up the idea of using a different software than UDK(Unreal Development Kit) as it was already taught to us at college. Well as an act of god or something i dont know i stumbled upon something that gave me ...

Well after the intro round i started to work on the question and answers round. As i mentioned yesterday i said that it will look like a notebook, i made it for an animation too i dont know what the dev team is going to think... Initial design for the Q&A round most probably i will change the font This desing is kinda different for me and there can be animation for the pencil and stuff, i will try to make it better... This the second design i tried to make it more simple and lets see... Well for the intro screen it was close shut in may face, thing was there was nothing related to the game,hmm well i tried to put somethings from my old files and made this... This is the modified version of the first intro screen from yesterday, i did this really fast as there was no electricity so its bound for comments... Version 2 of the first QandA screen This is a modified version of the first Qand A screen i tried to put the officer there and it kinda looks like he is ...

Well today i worked on some things for my intern game. They wanted a quiz level so i started to design. I had many ideas but none of them were useful. So i thought of making two things one was the introdution sceen that would welcome the players to the final level of the game. This is what is done so far. I tried to replicate something i had seen a long time back, i used some brushes that i got from my old collection and did a collage and this is what it now looks like i dont know whether the dev team will like it but this is one of my first concpets for that. This is the first one i did, its kinda messed up but also simple in a way... This i based on a city and is kinda influenced by the game... After this i need to make the screen for the questions, i am thinking of making it like a notepad and things like that lets see...

There are days when we feel like the world is against you and you are alone in the world, well today was not that day. Got up early only to know that Sanjay wont be coming to college so decided not to go. Harish sir gave a model to do was is no mood to do modelling and there are some other works pending for the intern game. After i came back eating i felt someone drill into my head and so got some meds and slept for sometime and got up at 9pm and went to eat again and the headache was gone. Now trying to work...

Well my laptop is now officially named as Battlestation EDGE. Today went to college and got my portable back and started to install some needed software and stuff. Well now will start work tomorrow and most probably finish em soon. We are kinda lagging behind but we hope to catch up soon.

Well today was a wierd day, got up to the irritating sounds made by deepak, i felt sorry for the poor guy. He is not well since last week and will be leaving to kerala this thurday. Well made some improvements today and got ready to go to college only to know that my team mate wont be coming to college so i thought not to go too.   The Latest condition of my laptop desktop Ont may think that putting all these on the screen will eat my ram or process but no. It stays quiet with only 50K memeory and not touching the processor, i am really happy with the new look of my laptop. It now really stands out as a gaming laptop. And all the things that are in there is working and not VFX or Images...

Well today too me and deepak were in a state of physical illness and aftersome time i started to play a concert of Linkin Park and after that we started to listen to coldplay, for the time we were listening we felt so relaxed i didnt feel anything, i was in a state of peace. Lovely music by coldplay, thier performance in Madrid was awesome, will start anew from tomorrow at college. All the works are currently pending hope we can catch up to current things... And its officially a month since i started my blog, thanks to all the viewers of my blog and followers too, thanks for your support.... 

Well sadly today nothing happened worth mentioning. I was mostly sleeping thanks to the meds i am taking and my body feels real bad about the way it is now. Its really cold nowadays and it seems to be getting worse, hope my body will be better tomorrow...

Well the climate in chennai is now cold, and sadly my body is reacting badly to it. My throat is sore and body pain is also there, today i was sneezing like anything and was having running nose, literally my body is tired, i tried to sleep but no use. Well got some glucose and an inhaler let see... SPIC Building, Guindy (Image Courtesy of: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TmzNfUVP1n7TswzO19i0-A) This is the current building under work for our game, i will try to finish the base mesh by tomorrow and give it to sanjay for unwrapping and then start the next model. We have been asked to give the schedule of how things will be completed so will be preparing that too.

Well today i had a weird wake up call, i think it was almost 4am in the morining when i heard someone cry as if they got stabbed. I thought it was deepak, as he was sick, then i saw deepak also woke up and it was vivian who made the weird noise. Well i lost sleep after that and then at 6 went downstairs to get coffee and started to read the newspaper. Suddenly i saw something that made my heart pound in elation. An article called, "Guru of games" in The Hindu newspaper. It was an interview with the lifetime president of Eidos Interactive. Ian Livingstone a legend in the gaming industry, his interview was somwthing that gave me more hope i am posting the link here. Ian Livnigstone, Image Courtesy of : www.theHindu.com http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2632856.ece “There are three parts involved in making a game — the design, art and animation, and technology. I think game design in its mechanics and replay is the reason why people play. The t...

Well today was not great, got up in the morning when sanjay called and told that he wont be coming to college and well then i got up very late. Deepak is sick, his condition looks bad, he gets sick often too. Tried to get some good images for the doors and windows of the house i am doing. But then thought to give a rest to my laptop and head as it has been working for quite some time so both were shut down for a long time. Game Snaps... As promised concept art is today's topic, sadly i have done really bad concpet arts and its really not worth mentioning here but as explained before here visually everything is done here in a 2D or 3D perpspective and these include all the things ranging from characters to entire sets. The following is some concpet art i have collected for quite some time. Image Courtesy of : www.joshnizzi.com  Image Courtesy of : www.joshnizzi.com Image Courtesy of : www.joshnizzi.com Image Courtesy of : www.joshnizzi.com Image Courtes...

Seeing the topic i think its clear that i am happy about something helping me out. Well i am a great fan of modelling and the tool in my arsenal and my friend for the past four years is still here to help me out, 3ds Max, Autodesk thank you for making this software... 3ds Max... Image Courtesy of: http://www.3dzin.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/3ds-max-logo.jpg  I started using 3ds max when i was doing my diploma, when it comes to modelling i think 3ds max is always ready to help me out. When i came to ICAT i learned about maya but the interface is so unwelcoming that a newbie in modelling would be overwhelmed with amount of buttons in front of him, literally scared i guess, thats how i was. I think i will give a comparison of the screenshots of interfaces in terms of 3ds max 2012 and Maya 2012. For general information maya was first created by the company Alias and then taken by Autodesk. Autodesk 3ds Max 2012: This is how the interface looks SIMPLE :) Autodes...

Well today was really good, got up at 9am and came to college at 10 with vivian and durga. Sandy came and we started to discuss more about the game. We decided for the demo we will be doing the Guindy road. The road has many iconic buildings and so a lot of modelling work is there. To get things started the hotel Le Royal Meredian is also there. Well finished the modelling on the first petrol pump. Well the render was wierd and the planes that was supposed to represent the bill boards didnt show up in the .obj i exported to Keyshot. Well today re-rendered the watch model that i did in 3ds max, i thought i lost that model when i formatted my system. Watch model done in 3ds max and rendered in keyshot, Inspired from Tag Heuer. The first petrol bunk for the game. The render didnt come out as good as i expected it would come but its ok to show how an end product would look, the render took nearly an hour and half in my laptop dang, i wonder how much time will it t...

Well today was wierd, i kept something for download yesterday and i thought of taking a little bit of rest and went to bed. I slept off, i knew that vivian and deepak (my roommates) were sleeping too, but when i opened my eyes i say Deepak playing and i thought it was a dream and again closed my eyes, again opened to see the same, wierd dream... When i got up in the morning deepak was not there and we had to learn from his blog that he had gone outside LOL. Well after that vivian came from central after seeing his aunty. Started working sadly i dont see my boss Sandy Marcus on the net and update him with things... Well today finished the petrol station for the model, now need to model the building and other stuff for the petrol pump. This model was done in 3ds Max 2012 and rendered in Keyshot This model isnt the complete one, there are a lot of things yet to be done, i need to unwrap stuff and provide textures and maps on it. The render now is just a pre-render with some...

Well today wasnt good, i completed the map design for the game and some of the roads in this map will be in the game i guess i think Sanjay will decide on the roads and other stuff. Well now we need to put a  suitable background image and then this map is over. I think i will start with the buildings and other stuff for the road.   Image Courtesy of: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9ZfFCaGA4mNWuwbn5cGtXromDxvJB7XQX_cAYPdHA4PhQZQIBbg0ducMCOzbFDRY0aHdofr53YNaOvDualfIJi_dFqrn2mlCnEpkhwO7jXpq1JtdPwzD7IzxIuPR9-D5AaK03W5hlPM/s1600/petrol+pump.jpg I think i will start with a petrol pump like this one.

Well officially i am becoming a pain the ass to sanjay i guess i wasnt able to do anything for the past two days. I mean literally i was wasting time and now i know why, i was getting sick. The doctor told that it was a mild fever but my dad doubts thats its something else because i often get sick. Well after that i got a shot in my butt from a nurse and couldnt sit for sometime. Well i feel much better now but i feel really hungry i dont know and the paracetamol makes me a wee bit drowsy too. Well in terms of work i thing i need to put things in overdrive. Thinking of doing a lot of stuff but nothing really works out. In room time moves slow and in college it moves in light speed. Well i guess i better get to work fast and do the pre-production stage of things within this month end and start with production. I have my own portfolio to do and i am thinking of making something different too but things never seem to work out. I hope things will get better eventually the sand on th...

Very bad day today got up in the morning was really tired and slept then got up at 2pm and felt like my body was not responding at all. Well after some time started to regain control. Typed some more in GDD and started the documentation for the dissertation just some basic information and stuff. 

Started work on the GDD for the game. The story for the game has been done. Sadly its 3 pages long so i wont be posting it here but i will be giving a brief idea of whats happening in the game. The game as mentioned before happens in chennai. The BRC owns the night time racing, but the BRC is not one club but is a compilation of four clubs. The main character in the game is a Karthi, a car mechanic, he is a honest guy and is returning to home after work but due to some errands became late and get in the way of race and cause a driver to crash. This driver takes him to the club where he meets the boss of the club 'Muthaliyar'. He demands that the car costs 75 lakhs and Karthi has no chance of repaying the debt so the boss gives him a contessa and tells him to race for them. Karthi takes the car to his garage and fixes it and starts to race. Karthi starts to win all the races he is in an instant rise to fame. The other rival gangs try to buy him but Karthi stays with his clu...

Well got my hands on windows 8 today and installed it,sadly it was a perfect waste of time and well since its a developer preview i couldn't expect more. Things were really sleek and simple, the task manager and start menu. The thing i felt bad was there was no intro of what to do etc. Also exiting from a program was a headache. Well after that reinstalled windows 7 and decided no more formatting the system. Well system back to work more and well we will see the rest of the works tomorrow.

For those who dont know what SanLabs is, its a game company created by Sanjay 'Sandy' K. Well today was especially good, the climate was really good, only thing was that i didnt sleep yesterday night and it was affecting me at college. I reached college at 9.45am as Harish sir had some important announcements about the internship which happend to be a verbal ass kicking by Harish sir and i think it stirred enough thought to my fellow comrades who are working in the intership (virtually). We started on the map design so that we can start to assign jobs to each other and start modelling ASAP but we need things to be really orgainsed so that we dont get into a bottle neck situtation so we are taking things with the initial pre-production phase of the game. We arent gonna rush anything so that we will have smooth control till the end. Well to get things started the map extends throughout the city of chennai starting from guindy to chennai central. We are trying to include al...

Well for the time being the weather in Chennai looks normal yesterday it was literally flooding and today its as if it never rained. Weird Chennai. Well today i didnt feel like getting up from bed, seriously pissed off dont know why most probably with the things happening around me i guess. Well sat and did the inital logo for the game we are doing. Intial logo for the game The car that i have replicated here is the contessa, this is the only indian muscle car i can think of. It might play an integral part in the game too. For the game it, for now, has been decided that chennai racing will be owned by a main racing club called the BRC which is an integration of four other clubs. These four clubs control four territories in chennai and lead the racing events in those sectors. Well tomorrow we will be something about the gdd and maybe get a better picture of what we are trying to do. Sadly i dont have MS Word installed on my system and cant type anyt...

Well today was a waltz in rain. I had an Xbox that my friend had bought and a friend of his was going to kerala today so i had to take it to the shop and then to the railway station in the rain and well finally i got it there well it got a little bit wet. As for the works nothing happened today and most probably nothing more is gonna happen too i guess. Really tired will be working tomorrow most probably. 

After many days of not going to college (due to fever) today i went to college despite the rain and reached there to find that i am the only soul in the college. In the afternoon sanjay came in and we started discussing the game we were doing. After sometime we decided that we will do something about the dissertation and since my diserration was nil i decided a new topic. I thought of doing 3D HUD for new generation games, i presented it to harish sir and he wasnt quite convinced and so was i. The topic didnt have a bang to it so then i had to change it again. After sometime i met Zayed in the office and he was there for the admission of his friend and i told him that i was blank about dissertation and he told the topic, Realtime Physics in next gen games and well for a designer thats a tough topic but then i told this to Harish sir and he felt the same thing. Finally after some time with Harish sir, it was decided that i will be doing the topic- "Influence of gameplay in r...

Well as usual got up at 2pm throat hurts real bad, my head feels like its hanging on my neck. Water cold as ice. Well after a lot of starting trouble finally decided to finish up the gun model. The back was changed after a of comments that it wasnt lookin good for the gun. Gave it a twin laser dual camera sights for automated targeting and a better color scheme. Started to model the challenger there is nothing close to a screenshot to take so i will update it sooner or later. My dissertation topic is still a muck and nothing has happened in that area. Well the game, changes were made and soon we will be posting the details of the GDD maybe, due to copyright reasons XDD.

Well somethings that get started end up working out i guess. Yesterday i had my head with mounted guns did a lot of research and started modelling without any idea of what i was modelling too and finally this is what it looks like. This is a dual motor, 5 barrel mini-gun. Fully contained power BRING THE RAIN!! Modelled in 3ds Max 2012, Textures in Photoshop and rendered in Keyshot. Still more work is there the belts that connect the motor needs to be done and the back side need refinement. I just love keyshot its a worry free rendering program. Well sickness hasnt left me today too, and whenever i dont go to college something happens there and today the dissertation class happened. Great! After completing the mini-gun i will move on to something better i think. I just hope the climate in chennai gets better...