Final rush

Good evening, dear readers.

This last week has been, well. It’s been stressful. Our code is a mess, the collision still doesn’t work, there’s no feedback when the Aquila takes damage, barely any special effects, like sparks from the damaged hull or fire from the thrusters, are implemented despite having existed for weeks. I don’t even know if our sound works yet. It’s a mess, and we’re supposed to be done at this point.

What affects me more personally is the fact that the background was unfinished still, and so, I had to complete it. Twice, because I apparently got it wrong the first time around, thanks to misunderstood (imprecise!) instructions.

I could talk for hours about my issues with the way we did the background, but that would mostly consist of ranting and whining, and that’s not what these posts are for. But, I am going to summarise it, while keeping the salt-levels manageable. Hopefully.

As you may have noticed from previous posts, my main job in this project has been to create environmental assets. A different team member took on the task of designing the level itself. From the very beginning of the project, I had been designing the assets for a tile-based system, (not square tiles, but the same principle) as we had agreed that was how we would do it at the start of the project. Unfortunately, that changed somewhere along the lines (entierly without my input), probably due to code issues and the other team member having closer communication with the programmers. And I was never properly notified.

The end result was… frustrating. I was forced to hastily overhaul about a third of my assets, many of which had been greenlit weeks ago, and scrap another third, all to adjust to the sudden change in artstyle and method. I was then to place them all within the level, as well as draw about half of the assets now added to the background by hand, right on the canvas, from scratch right then and there. And I only had one single evening to do so.

Ranty paranthesis: (I was only alerted to this need on the Wednesday at 18:00, and that evening was spent working on version 1, which was scrapped pretty much entierly. Of which I was alerted late Thursday afternoon. And yet, I’ve been having trouble finding enough tasks to fill up my schedule for two weeks. I could have done this a while ago, had I only been told. This could have been way more detailed! Looked way better! I’ve been asking for stuff to do this entire time, dammit! )

In the end, this is what the level ended up looking like.

All of the plants and most of the crystals are what I added this week. One of our original concepts for the level was that it would start of bright, being close to the surface, and grow progressively darker as the Aquila descends. However, due to aforementioned technical issues, that could never be implemented. In a wish to stay true to our original vision in at least some way, I decorated the level with this idea in mind.

The level starts with moss creeping in from between the rocks, and there are some level of green vegetation in the first few rooms. Gradually, greens recede to make way for crystals. I tried to also give each room its own colour, to make them more distinct from one another. Towards the very end, different kind of plants appear: purplish-red vines, dangling roots and a flowering tree with spiral branches. These are meant to look more subterranean and “alien”. The spiral-tree was, blissfully enough, an asset I’d made earlier, but the others I made on the spot, including the roots grasping the crystals. The reddish colour of the vines was inspired by the red kelp that often grow where very little sunlight can reach the sea floor. Since so little light would reach those vines, it only stood to reason that they would also be red.

All in all, I’m still okay with how the background turned out in the end. I’m just bitter about the proceedings that led up to it. Suffice to say, I grew even more bitter when I found out that our programmers hadn’t managed to implement it in time for the showing on Friday.

Oh, well. Live and learn. Better luck with the Themepark, I suppose.

Inspirational strolls and an obstructing headache

Good evening

This week has been… inconsistent might be the best word for it. Every day has been either nothing at all or everything at once, with very little in between. This inconsistency has not been kind to my mental state and the stress buildup has led to the mildly put fierce headache I am suffering from today. It has rendered me entierly unable to work on the project for the day, as looking at a computer screen makes it even worse. My head is pounding even as I write this. Painkillers have not helped at all. These headaches have plagued me on and off for several years, and they always crop up when I am at my most stressed. Hopefully, it will be gone by tomorrow. I want to work!

One of the things I have managed to create this week is the rest of the decorative assets. These being a set of spiderwebs and a couple of more plants. The asset in particular I am going to focus on is this spirally little tree.

(Yes, I know it’s a bit on the fuzzy side. Stop yelling. I was in a hurry and was working on five other assets at the same time. If there is time for it, I will fix it.)

It may look a bit on he alien side, but I assure you: this is based on a real shrub. The species is known as Corylus avellana ‘Contorta, which is a type of hazel with twisted branches. I got the inspiration to draw one of these from taking a walk in DBW’s botanical garden in northern Visby earlier that day, a walk that had been prompted by spotting a slew of blooming crocus that same morning. It gave me a good slew of inspiration for plants to draw.

The tree drawing consists of five layers: Base branch colour, shade and highlight, followed by the base of the buds and their shade.

I did not face any major challenges in the drawing of this shrub. I do very much enjoy drawing swirls and spirals, after all. But, I admit, getting the branches to look wholesome was a bit of a challenge. Sketching up the shape is easy. Translating that sketch into a solid drawing and still keping the swirls looking good is always a challenge, whether it be branches, hair or something entierly different.

Another minor challenge was the placements of the buds. Did you know it can be quite difficult to keep a plant-proper balance between ordered and random, especially when the branches spiral? Well, it is. But, with a bit of patience and effort, I believe I managed to do at least a decent job of it.

It is a pity that it is now a bit on the late side to add any further environmental assets. The witch-hazel (Hamamelis) was blooming in the garden as well, and it bore quite interesting flowers. Drawing some for the game would have been quite enjoyable, and I really should have thought of it sooner.

Tomorrow, maybe I’ll finally be able to get to those last few sound effects I’m suposed to be looking for. I would have searched for them today, but alas. Headache got a terrible lot in the way. I’ll be going to sleep early tonight.

Canopy, shining ever brilliant

Good evening, dear readers!

This week has been a rather strange one. Being the week leading up to the Beta deadline, it would make sense for it to be a crunch-week, no? And yet, this is the calmest week I have had in two months. Sure, there is still work to be done, but almost all remaining tasks are code-related. As the environmental artist, I can now count the tasks left in this entire project for me to do on one hand, and none are left that are at Beta priority.

So, this week I have mostly been working on stuff for the 2D2 course that I have been lagging behind on. Making progress on those things have been alleviating that stress somewhat. Alas, as I am still not properly registered on the course, I cannot actually access the hgo course page, where the assignments are posted, it is very difficult to progress at full efficiency even on those matters.

Something I have done for the project this week is looking for ambient sound effects, but considering that I have not been doing any modification work on them, it leaves me with very little to talk about on that front.

What I can show off stuff about that would be, ah, a bit more on the side of the photogenetic, would be one of the plant assets I started making, even if they are at Final priority.

It looks like this:

To make this, I started by sketching out the thin tree limbs in a mid-dark shade of brown. I wanted the tree to be thin, sprawling and a bit askew, as if leaning off from the edge of a cliff, which would make the most sense in the cavernous setting.

Working off from these limbs, I drew out a dotty canopy in yellow so as to further shape the tree silhouette.

My team have been pretty strict with me in regards to my production speed, so as I went on to shading, I decided to keep it very simple. A quick lining and a mere hint of texture on the thin tree limbs, and as for the canopy, I decided to, instead of shading individual leaves, layer the canopy. Having looked at a number of reference pictures on how tree canopies look like when the sun shines through them for a different assignment in the past, I have found that this is usually how it looks like.

And finally, the finishing touch that of an airbrush-wrought glow. Because bioluminecent plants are cool, and this tree is supposed to glow. I used the same general technique for this as I did with the crystals from last week, but to a less smoky effect.

The group will be having a proper meeting tomorrow, at which point we will properly distribute the remaining tasks for the project. As pleasant as it has been to have this lowered pressure upon me this week, it has also been very frustrating to be so aimless. I suppose I can only blame myself for not being direct enough in my queries.

Shinier stones

Another week gone by in what seems like the blink of an eye. It took a while, but I have now finally, blissfully, finished shading the set of stones needed. There is a small issue I have with the illustrating program I use where it turns transparent pixels into black pixels, which is a problem. Fortunately, one of my teammates uses the same program and knows how to fix it. She is going to show me how tomorrow, so that is going to be sorted before the week is up.

Being free from the tyranny of the Granite Slabs, I started working on something a bit more interesting. Shinier stones!

That being the glowing crystal formations that are to dot the cavern walls. I have already finished all three that are needed, and have taken snapshots of the process of the first one I made, so I am going to take the opportunity to walk you guys through my process.

I start off by sketching out the rough shape of the formation on a black background. The caves are going to be near pitch black, so it is better to use a black background straight off the bat.

Next, I fill in the shapes with the base colour of the crystal and add some basic gradients for a bit of volume.

This is when I decide the position of the light source. Now, considering that the ship will be the main light source in the game, doing this accurately is an impossible task. However, as this crystal will also be its own lightsource, it won’t be super important, or even that visible. This is just so that the crystal gains a sense of volume. I add in light at the apropriate fields and draw new lines. Bright lines, to evoke a sense of reflected light. I removed the sketch lines as soon as I had added the bright ones, as there was no longer any need for them.

Up next was a fun part. I added some irregular, chaotic inner shadows, making the crystal seem more transparent and “alive”, as it were. Now, I’m a person who enjoys working in a ton of layers, and have been using one for each section. One for sketch, one for flats, one for gradients, one for highlights, etc. This shadow-layer is third furthest back, in front of only the background black and the flat colour. This is because these shadows are supposed to be “inside” the crystal. I use a slightly textured airbrush-type brush for the shadowy shapes and add some light with the same brush right on top of it on the same layer to give it more shifts.

Now for the final part. The, in my opinion, best part of all of this. First, additional reflections on the light facets and in the middle of some of the lines. Next, glow layer. I used an untextured airbrush with a large radius and very low opacity. More light the closer to the crystals I go. This layer is the topmost layer. I finished the whole thing off with an airbrush eraser, adding shifts and detail to the glow. It made it look very animated. Almost alive.

I must say, I am really happy with how it turned out.

The only problem is, the glow might be a little too lively. If I find the time, I may just have to sit down and animate the glow with a smoke-like effect.

Now, as soon as I have gotten the transparency working and my assets sorted out, I will spend the rest of the week looking for sound effects for the enemies. I have never done that before, so that is going to be interesting.

Stone-cold

One more week gone by in what feels like the blink of an eye, and another week where I feel I have been underperforming. A week where my problems once more has been of a personal nature rather than professional, for the most part.

I have quite learned to loathe stones this week, let me tell you. All day, every day, have been shading stones, and I am still not done. It is infuriating, as well as terribly monotonous. But alas, it has to be done. I do wonder if we truly need this many of them, however. Maybe I will bring it up next meeting.
I am shading only one, maybe two more stones this weekend. I may be able to stand doing three additional ones after that, but that may just be my limit. Why did I make so many flats again? Someone please stop me next time I get a stupid idea like that.
This is one of the rocky bits I have been working on.

Four layers of grey in different shades, sketch up up the rough shape of the shadows, doodle around until it looks natural-like.
No, it is not difficult. It is simply time consuming and infuriatingly monotonous. And as someone who most likely has ADD, I do not deal with monotony very well. As if that was not enough, sickness, depression and visits to the youth clinic has been further setting me back this week, leaving me with another week of below expectations productivity. It is not doing my depression any favours.

Yet another thing that popped up on my schedule all unwelcome-like is the old shading assignment from 2d1, which I have to do over yet again. Because my schedule simply was not packed full enough yet.

So, for next week… more stones to shade, I suppose. Maybe a bioluminecent flower or two to break up the monotony a little bit.

If anything’s good come out of this week, it’s the fact that I have just discovered a rather interesting as well as useful text editor. It is called Writer’s Block. A free little thing that is not made to make text look fancy, or anything like that. It is, in fact, extremely minimalistic – the file can only be saved as a .txt, in fact. When you open it up, you enter a parameter – it can be a time limit, a word limit or nothing at all, and the program then enters fullscreen. You then become unable to exit the program until the parameters have been met – and the copy/paste function is disabled. It is very useful in eliminating distcractions, and will hopefully help me avoid posting these entries so late in the future.

I do very much wish there was an equivalent program for drawing. It would make my job oh so much easier.

Sticks and stones. So many stones

So, it would appear I am stuck doing backgrounds again. Marvellous. This is, what, my fourth time doing this? Out of four game projects I have contributed to? It is not that I mind. I do not, really. I do like drawing backgrounds, plants in particular, and with this underground alien cave setting I get to play with a lot of interesting stone shapes, glowing crystals and bioluminescent plant life. No, I don’t mind making backgrounds. It just feels like I’ve painted myself into a set role and seem to have trouble deviating from it. Oh well. Maybe next time.

During the weekend, I finally managed to finish this picture. The environmental concept. It took me far too long. Two weeks on this is not acceptable.

At least it looks alright. That glow-effect turned out better than expected, and the crystals did not end up too shabby-looking either, if I do say so myself. Still. Two weeks. I have to speed things up.

Point of annoyance: as I was working on the background, the character concept changed, and I did not see it until after the fact. The colour-scheme had changed, removing the teal and focusing on more on dirty browns and greys with mainly orange lights. If I had known that beforehand, I would have coloured the flora differently. Oh, well. I will probably be doing the actual assets too anyway, so I can simply make them in more blue and teal colours then. It is a bit annoying, but I can work around it. Did prefer the idea of blues and greens being the dominant colours in the level anyway.

The last couple of days have been fairly productive, so there is that. I do have my days, rare though they may be. Started making general rock shapes to build the level yesterday. Only got flat colours so far, but I am proritising getting shapes enough to use for our pre-alpha that is to be demonstrated on friday morning. Shading them properly and giving them texture is secondary at the moment. Several flat-colour rocks is preferrable to a single, nicely shaded rock, at this point. At the time of writing, I have made 13 different rocks. Hopefully, that will be enough for now. I intend to spend the rest of the week adding some basic shading onto them.

Note to self: contact the Student Health Department as soon as possible. Friday, preferrably. It has become abundantly clear that I cannot properly manage my own time. To make things worse, I have been disassociating really badly lately, zoning out completely for hours at a time. There are days I can barely remember what I have been doing that entire day. I need help sorting myself out, and quickly. This is getting ridiculous.