So here’s what I’ve been working on recently. I finally finished the Core Fighter mod for Sky Rogue:
Gundam sold separately.
The workshop page for it is located here. I’ve wanted to do a video but unfortunately my days off have been filled with doctor’s visits. Nothing serious, but time consuming nonetheless.
I also got back into my low-poly fighter project, separate from Sky Rogue (though possibly something I could mod in later)
I decided to move a bit away from the LEGO aesthetic the ship had first been built in all those years ago, making it less blocky by adding some angles to the Fuselage. Then I UV textured it and, after grappling a lot with the Rendering plugins for Wings3D, I had some sort of result:
With this paint job I was trying to go for a Chris Foss/Homeworld inspired livery. I don’t think I quite pulled it off though, but oh well. It’s still a valuable learning experience about a good many things and I plan to try to make this look better as well as maybe one day import it into Sky Rogue as a completely original craft.
So uh…it’s been a while. Again I apologize for my lack of online presence. I know a lot of people don’t read this but the ones that do should at least know what I’m up to.
The texture/material pack I did for submission to the Unity Asset Store was rejected. I know what I need to do to fix it though so that isn’t a huge deal. However retail work being what it is I wasn’t exactly prepared or had the time to fix the issues, so I instead started on another project.
After making the Sea Vixen mod for Sky Rogue I had thought for a while on what I wanted to make next. I knew I wanted something that was a bit less ambitious than the Sea Vixen’s asymmetry and dual-tail design, but at the same time I didn’t want something too simple. Fortunately the Core Fighter from the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series fit the niche perfectly.
The project also gave me an opportunity to get better acquainted with how Wings3D works and I gotta say I might like it better than Blender, at least for generalized low-poly modeling and texturing. In addition, the symmetry of the ship also allowed me to do the UV mapping quicker by mapping half of the ship and then mirroring it. Not something you do a lot of the time nowadays but it’s perfect for the mid-90s Sega Arcade aesthetic the game goes for (and probably was done back then too for the sake of saving memory, unless all the graphics were done in code).
Granted I did have to make a lot more adjustments even afterwards to get everything to line up, but I think the end result was definetely worth it. I should be uploading the finished mod in a day or two, once I’m free enough from my retail obligations (and also once this cold stops kicking my ass).
Super Mario Maker came out two weeks ago and I’ve been having an absolute blast with it. The Mario Paint influence can be felt throughout the game; from the title screen having the same “mess with the letters to see things happen”, the Rocket eraser to clear a level, and a somewhat well-hidden Gnat Attack/Coffee Break minigame that even unlocks another version of Mario for you to mess around with via the Mystery Mushroom. There’s other stuff there of course (sound effects you can add also coming from Mario Paint in some ways) but if I went on and on about that we’d be here all day.
I could try to explain this, but I don’t think you’d believe me.
Super Mario Maker is a very comprehensive level editor so people can make their own Mario levels in one of four styles (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. U). Players can place blocks, enemies, powerups, hidden powerups, coins, etc. etc. etc. to make their own take on Mario’s adventures or just make something really unfair and vicious if they want to keep making Expert mode really impossible . After you’ve made a level you then have to beat it before it can be uploaded for the masses to stumble through.
One of the neat things Nintendo did was go back and add things to game styles that didn’t necessarily have certain enemies when the game came out (example: Thwomps and Wigglers in the original SMB, as well as Airship tilesets for SMB and SMW, stuff like that). Another neat thing is that you are not necessarily limited by what Nintendo would do. After all, Nintendo levels didn’t have things like Spiny’s riding giant Goombas, or Bullet Bill Launchers that shoot Coins at you, or The ability to jump into a Koopa Clown Car and terrorize enemies from above. It’s this sort of expanded innovation that allows the formulas of Mario to stay grounded yet with room for expansion.
There are some downsides, of course. Nintendo doesn’t really have a good grip on curating all this user-generated content so popular level makers/YouTube personalities will always be at the top of the list while the rest of us struggle for attention. In addition, the Expert Mode of the 100 Mario Challenge (beat 16 levels with 100 lives) is nearly impossible at this point, with most of the levels in there being the kind of Kaizo-level insanity that only the obsessive can beat. That said, I’d imagine over time as people get more accustomed to what makes a good level, we’ll see less and less impossible stuff and more just plain challenging stuff.
Also we still don’t quite have everything from the four Mario games listed. Inclined surfaces like in Mario 3 and World aren’t in, nor is the Angry Sun from SMB3. But there’s already rumors of (hopefully free) DLC to add this kind of stuff, and Nintendo has expressed interest in expanding the toolset. I hope the game continues to do well so that it does.
I’ve also been playing, and modding, Sky Rogue, which is an Arcade flight sim that seems to mix a bunch of styles together, like Nintendo’s Star Fox, and Sega’s Wing War, as well as adding a slight Roguelike twist on it.
In Sky Rogue you select a plane, select your weapons, and embark on an increasingly dangerous series of missions launched from a SHIELD-esque floating aircraft carrier in an effort to defeat enemies controlling an archipelago of islands. It’s tough but a lot of fun, and I’m a big fan of the retro, low-poly aesthetic, reminding me of Sega’s mid 90s arcade games like Virtua Racing, the aforementioned Wing War, and so on.Combat is pretty tense, with players having to frequently dodge missiles while firing off their own on a variety of targets both ground and air-based; and of course since this has a roguelike element, if you die not only do you start back at day 1 but you also just might lose some of the new weapons you researched, so you have to weigh the risks and the benefits of taking such weapons with you.
The game recently got released on Steam in Early Access, and along with that also got Steam Workshop support, so that players can add their own planes, skins, and emblems. I took the opportunity to make a version of the de Havilland Sea Vixen jet fighter from the 1960s for the game, and because I’m a huge nerd I made a fake ad for it that you can see below:
The game still has a ways to go before it’s really complete but it’s definetely worth the $9.99 price tag and it’s a lot of fun. Feels very much like you’re in an episode of Macross or again playing something like Star Fox (specifically more like an All-Range Mode mission, but w/e)
Lastly I’ve also been getting back into doing texture works…which didn’t actually involve a lot of Stipple Effects but shut up I needed a third S for the title. I’m working on a texture and material pack for Unity which is going to be primarly of office textures. Things like carpet, cubicle desk surfaces, cubicle walls, and of course, drop ceilings
I’m especially proud of this because this is my first attempt in a long time of doing an emissive map for a texture and it came out great. Hope to have the whole thing done in a few weeks, time permitting.
I used to play a lot of Starbound when it first hit Steam. I had a few friends who were into it and we spent a lot of time exploring the stars despite the game’s jankiness. Frequent update wipes did put a damper on things for a while, but recently some of those same friends of mine got me back into it. They also suggested, as a way of dealing with my occasional bouts of developer’s block, to create a mod for it. Initially I was opposed because I wasn’t sure what to mod for it, but I eventually relented and started working. Being able to work in 2D again was a welcome change from all my more 3d-centric stuff recently, and within a month I created a mod that I just today put up on the Starbound community for anyone to download.
It’s a mod pack of WW2-era firearms, which intially was just going to be a Tommy Gun mod but my friends convinced me to go a bit farther and I’m glad they did. I had a lot of fun making the mod and I hope people enjoy it. There’s 5 guns in the pack, a Tommy Gun, an StG 44, a Sten, a Mosin-Nagant, and a Colt 1911 pistol. They’re weapons by and large for the Beta sector of space, and hopefully are balanced appropriately. If you want to check it out as well as see more screenshots, click the link here
With everyone talking about E3 this week I’ve decided to…not talk about E3 at all clearly. Instead I’m going to do a little first impressions review of what is quickly becoming my favorite Source Mod. (click to read more)
In 1995 Maxis Re-relased Sim City 2000, allowing gamers who were on Windows 95 (and beyond) to get re-acquainted with the Urban Management Sim sensation. However, that was not the only plan Maxis had in store for the product. What they did have planned was something ambitious, something that very few games have attempted since, but I think should really be attempted again: They were going to let SC2K dictate user-generated content for not one, but 3 different games (click to read more)
So for almost half a year now I’ve been working on my MQP (Major Qualifying Project) at WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) in which my group and I made a module for NWN (Neverwinter Nights) and we’re now JAD (Just About Done) and I will be RFR (Really Frakkin’ Relieved) especially since I can stop with all the GDP (Goddamn Parentheses).
Well anyway, I am glad that we are finishing up the first, and unfortunately only, round of beta testing, and are about 1 week away from releasing the module to the masses. The module’s name? Overstayed Welcome. (click to read more)
(h)EAD Games 