ChrisV

Yups, tried that. Shadmar uses a skydome (half sphere model), which isn't the same as the skybox method I want to do. There is an option to set any texture to a cubemap in the editor, such as for skyboxes, but I can't get it to work properly. Yeah, an important feature that should get implemented asap.

Hey all, Been trying severall days now getting a skybox working in LE 3 (trial version), without luck. My idea is to create a bunch of free (and probably also a few non-free) skies (skyboxes) for LE 3 to go into the asset store, but...if I can't get them to work inside the editor, it's no use uploading them, not knowing if they'll work at all. Josh told me that the trial version had/has a bug displaying skyboxes. It would be nice if someone had a working example of a skybox (not a skydome) to send, so that I can look at how things are done/setup. Or, if possible, fix the bug in LE 3 trial. Thanks!

Interesting...interesting indeed! Would be great to have some kinda road/river tool in the editor. Maybe even an option to attach sounds to terrain texture materials? Any plans for that, Josh? ?

Yup, same here. 3D Coat really rocks! Probably the best 3D modeling software I've ever bought.

This is just a wild guess, but is your texture by any change non power of two, or square, Rick? I remember having the same kinda 'white texture' issue a while back when I was developing a game with a good friend of mine. Best to keep your textures powers of two (64x64, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, etc...) and in some cases even not rectangular. Depends on the device, I think.

I think they both serve the same purpose or goal...which is to make game interactions (or any other action that happens in the game/program). The big difference between them, is the fact that non-coders can use the flowgraph or visual programming tools to create game interactions, just the same as a programmer would do by writing code. Non-coders do understand logic too, just as a programmer. They only lack the knowledge to convert this logic interaction into something useful through code. That's the whole purpose of a visual programming tool, or flowgraphs. Complex interactions are quite possible with a visual programming 'language'. Personnaly, I think both a programming language and a visual programming tool should be an option in a good game engine. It can help a lot to develop games faster and also test games while creating them. Programmers can use the programming language, and for the non-programmers (or those who have less programming knowledge) they can use the visual programming tools. But, I'm sure everyone has their own opinion about this.

Not sure what to think about this, but the two links you gave there, are links to 'adult' (=p**n) adds. Unless you made these 'games'?

The ADN material editor only loads .gmf files (which works as expected ), as far as I know. UU3D is indeed worth it's price, very useful program for uv mapping, etc...

That's exactly what it's all about. Having a good team, respect for one another, and having a good agreement goes a long way. It might sound weird, but if you look at it, it's almost the same as in a marriage. I think some people will always have a harder time learning to program, than do art, and vice versa. It's usually a case of with which part of the brain a person thinks, left or right. There are also persons who are good at both. I can program and also make art, but my coding skills are less good. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't 'see' or 'think' the way a great programmer 'sees' or 'thinks'. But, I do admit, that the more you do something, the better you get at it. And, everyone is capable of learning. The only difference is that some have less problems to learn something than others.

Welcome to the LE forum, Hodgey! I hope you enjoy your stay here. Cheers!

The world where all takes place, is a modern world with a fantasy twist. ;-) The 'red' pickups in the vid, are hearts for health, and the blue ones are 'power' pickups (the shape of the model is a simple sphere atm, but that will most probably change to something better suited). Crystals are teh most important items in this game, as the player needs to collect all seven of them to unlock the final level and destroy the Elder God Chronos. There will be special fx when the player picks up an item (either particles, or animated sprite, or some other kinda effect). ;-) Normally, there will be no swimming at all, as Celly (the main character) can't swim...which is also used to make it a bit harder on the player. Heheheh! Thanks for the suggestions, man!

No problem, Pixel! A lot of the instruments in Native Instruments are samples from authentic instruments with various parameters that can be changed to shape the sound more to your liking. There's a pretty nice symphonic strings section, plus lots more. Not to forget the endless possibilities you can get from Guitar Rig. The pro version has a lot more. Might buy it some day. ;-) I usually use either my PC keyboard to play, or my old Casio keyboard, but it's getting rather old. Should get me a new one. Heheheh!

Very nice work, Pixel! The facial animation seems to work pretty good! You've done a good job there, keep it up! I think doing the rigging for the face is as hard as teh rest of the body, especially since you have to deal with other muscles and get the weightmapping right. So, well done! The magical weapon animation is also very nice to look at! Lovely! The impact should be more impressive, but I'm sure you're working on that. Just not too sure about the cursor, though. Doesn't seem to fit the game, I think. Other than that, I really like where this is going. More of this if you like!

I might make it a bit longer, but not too much. The song should already loop seamless. Played (looped) it in Audacity, and didn't notice any seams. Hum, hard to tell really. It all depends on different factors, such as CPU, memory and hard disk access speed, your operating system, and also your soundcard and drivers. Also on the complexity of your compositions, and usuage of fx/plugins. If you have a decent machine, up to date drivers, then the latency should be minimal, I think. There's a Latency slider to set the size of the playback buffer, so you'd have to play around with that a bit for optimal performance. And, read the documentation of your soundcard to see whether there's possibility to access the buffer via alternate driver architecture, and have more efficient low-level access to the hardware. So far, I haven't had any latency at all, and my soundcard is an onboard Realtek HD. You're interested in the software?

Woooow guys, I'm surprised to see all these great comments! Didn't expect this at all. Thank you soo much! I appreciate your suggestions, Daimour! The drums at the beginning (and end) are mainly there to have a more fluent loop, but I see your point. Thanks. Will experiment a bit with other sounds (such as the wind) for the intro, and try out a few 'scary' sounds. Not sure about the lenght of the song, though. Should the song be a bit longer?

It is possible to go that low and make it look higher detailed with good texturing (diffuse, bump, spec), and also depending on the model/cam distance. I think 3000 is a minimum for main characters, though. 3000 to 10000 for main characters should suffice in most cases. One of the (big) enemies in Crysis has 30000 polies. So, it all depends on the model, but in general, go as low as possible.

Hello all, For a change, no images this time. Those will come in a later blog, so don't panic. We all like music, right? Some are into Jazz, others love house, and some (like myself) love metal. Music is another way to express feelings/moods, and most games have music that matches the game/level somehow. In the previous blog about Seventh Crystal Of Theia, there was no sound in the video, and that was a shame, because there are already a bunch of environmental sounds and music in the game, which add to the overall gaming experience. That's also one of the reasons to let you guys hear the first (complete) song for the desert level(s). It's oriental with a modern touch. At least, that's how I would call it. Heheh! I'm not used to this kind of music (mostly I'm doing metal, house, electronic, ambient, horror, arcade...), but I think it worked out pretty good. I could even call it one of my best non-metal songs I did for a long time. Guess my classical music lessons at a young age came in handy for this. Also, this song was done (almost) completely with Native Instruments Komplete Elements, which is awesome! Anyways, enough talk, here's the first song for S.C.O.T., called 'Arabic'. Hope you'll like it! Comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks! Arabic.mp3

Wooooow, that's a big comment, YouGroove! Thanks. It might seem that the colours are all the same, but it's far from it. Lots of different colours being used. The sunlight and cartoon shader have some effect on the overall look. The blue teints are also being used for the power pickups, and also on the mushrooms in the cave, and in other items. The second desert level (which we'll show in a later blog) has a whole other feel than the first one. ;-) Some really good gameplay suggestions there. We plan on having some form of direction indicator or map to help find the next puzzle. There's already a bit of 3D platforming in the first desert level, and future 3D platforming is an option. ;-) The Zelda grappling hook sounds like a good idea. We will discuss it, and see where/how we could implement something similar. One fire weapons/items for activating puzzles is a good suggestion. Would love to see a parachute or other item to explore the scenes, but we'll have to discuss this. The scenes aren't that big, so it might be a problem. I also like the Natural dangers you mentioned, such as swamp, or maybe quicksand, etc... Or, the pitfalls idea. Imagine traps like in Indiana Jones, etc... ;-) Good suggestions for powerups too, man! I think lots of these suggestions could be added, one way or another. Thanks again. Good luck with your project(s).

Latest news: cartoon shader has been optimized, and makes the grass less 'dirty' now... Been composing some music now for the desert theme...oriental music. And, it sounds awesome, I think.

Thanks to all for those nice comments/suggestions! She definitly needs more variation in idle mode, and if possible played at random. Thanks for the suggestion, Ken! And, the suggestion by gordonramp is also being considered. ;-) As for weaponry/violence...we're creating non-blood type of weapons, and there will be plenty of humor also. Interesting suggestion, daimour. And, nicely done with the images! Just a question, though...do you mean that the cartoon shader makes the grass dirty? Or, is it the grass that should be removed? Cheers

Hello everyone, First of all, a Happy New Year to you all, a good health, lots of game creation, and all the rest you might desire! It seems that altering/perfectionizing is a human nature, which also happens to be mine. S.C.O.T. has gone through more changes since last time, and I can happily say, that these changes have made it soo much better. Finally got the right atmosphere/mood settings for the way it loox on screen. Roland has done a tremendous job getting the game mechanics and gameplay working, such as health/power pickups, checkpoints, damage system, inventory, etc... . Thanks, my friend! The game isn't ready to be played yet, but we're continuously working and improving all factors, getting nearer to a first demo. Speaking of changes...the main character Celly has gone through a major change! A total makeover (as you will see in the screenshots). But, her quest remains the same, though...saving the world. Heheheh! New and more animations are being created (with iCLone's help, of course), and we also have plans for weapons and other attributes to help Celly in her quest. A few props/models have been redone (uv-mapping and texturing), and it improved the framerate of the game! I altered the cartoon shader a bit, and made it working with HDR aswell. To show you guys all the changes/improvements, a small vid has been recorded with ingame footage. The framerate in that vid is practically half as low as it runs normally, which was caused by running the game AND the recording software at the same time. There's also sound added in the game, but not in the vid (small problem with the screen recording software, or some wrong settings). Sorry about that. And, the quality of the vid is also much lower than the actuall thing, so that's why I also took a few latest screenshots. So, here they are: Screenshot taken three weeks ago (old Celly model, and older atmosphere/mood settings): Another screenshot (old Celly model, improved atmosphere/visual settings): Most recent screenshot (new Celly model, and improved atmosphere/visual settings): And finally, an ingame vid of the game: All comments are appreciated. Thanks. Enjoy!

To answer your questions: First one: I don't think there is a .gmf scaling tool. Best way would be to scale them in your 3D modeling program. Once you have one model scaled at the right dimensions, you can use that model as a reference for all your other models. Regarding the collision bounds, remember to delete the .phy (collision) file that Leadwerks creates automatically, after you have scaled it up/down in your 3D program. Second one: Hold down the Ctrl key while sculpting to lower the terrain. The Ctrl key can also be used in the other terrain modes (paint, vegetation, etc...).

Did someone say 'skybox'? @Paratoxic: need an apocalyptic skybox? Send me a bit more details (sun/clouds position, cloud types (stratus, cirrus, etc...), and I'll create any type of skybox you'll need.

Got the Monstertruck working a while back. As said, it needs a dynamic .phy file, and if I remember correct, the tires need a bit of renaming.

Time for another freebie skybox (you can find it here). A dawn (or sunset) skybox with reddish sun, low hanging large cumulus clouds, distant terrain and water. Credits are appreciated. Thanks! Various sunset/dawn moods are possible with this one. Example one: Example two: Enjoy!