Autodesk Maya: Rigging

So for the past week I've taken a break from making games, playing games and overall being social. I focused primarily on rigging. I've learned A LOT since I started. I know how to set up constraints, set-up IKs, set controls, restrictions, paint weights, and a proper way to compose a skeleton, etc.

I took a break from rigging my monster and started rigging my friend's because, yes I'm a cheater, his was already weight painted. It's undoubtedly the most important thing in rigging, but I don't really like it. It takes patience and a lot of troubleshooting, which I did not want to do just so that I can cram other techniques into this study session. Here's a shot from his rig setup mid-walk animation.

The model has 2 Foot IKs to act as a goat's leg and keep it from messing up and the hands have full finger controls!

This was my first full on rig and although it has some issues, I learned a lot from it and will now go on to rig MY monster, Tank. Not too soon, I think it's time to rest and play some games at least until the new year hits :D

ZBrush SNHU Final

With school finally done this semester I have free time to work on learning new stuff, freelancing and play some games! Steam winter sale wooo!!! Anyway, I'm learning rigging this holiday season thanks to free time and some help from a friend. Before I go on about what I'm learning here's a picture of my Zbrush final.

His name is Tank and he is a  high poly render. The game model version is just under 20k polys

Out with the old, in with the new. I'm teaching myself rigging and animation in Autodesk Maya. Why not? Sounds like a lot of fun and it's not everyday I hear someone picking up rigging. So far I've learned the inverse toe setup. If you've never heard of it, look it up. It's phenomenal and ingenious!

SNHU Finals Week / Zbrush Project

With the finals week right around the corner, I've been mad busy. Assuming no one is ever going to care : [
The flash game my buddy and I have been working on is almost "complete" with the necessary gameplay stripping that would allow the game to have a definite end. We decided to call it "Zeruda: The Game" for obvious reasons. In a couple of weeks or so we will  release to the public, but the game is nowhere near acceptable industry standards. We will not work on it, rather we will just upload it as it is.

Anyway, I have also been working on my final project for Zbrush class. We had to draw orthographic views of our monsters and then put them in Zbrush and start modeling. We are given more or less 3 weeks to complete it which sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn't. Here's how much I've done!

Here's how much better his back got in just one day...maybe like 2-3 hours of work.

Yeah those arms are much better too! They used to be just blobby, but after a few hours I was able to shape them up pretty well. I plan to texture and pose this as a game model in UDK for my portfolio. All that will be done these 2 weeks...lots to do!

Racing Game

Hello again.

This past week I've working on a racing game HUD. I don't think I can give out any information on this since it's not my project so I will not provide any pictures quite yet. It was very good practice doing UI again after awhile.

As my semester end slowly creeps, I will be working more on that Flash game called Zeruda. We have not made any progress on it in quite sometime. In addition, I will finally be able to work on world 3 levels! WOO! This is just a small update so no pictures I guess : [

Friday Night SNHU Game Jam 2012

This Friday-Saturday I entered a 24 Hour Game Jam with my buddy Jon at our school, SNHU. We were given the theme "Water" so we had our little spin on it. In our game, Thirsty, you take control of a boy in search of water. Your well has dried out so you go into a nearby temple to retrieve a pure water source. We came in last, but every little bit of experience was totally worth it, plus we love our game! As usual I did most of the level design as well as cinematics and the particles. Yeah, we had 2 cinematics. Check out a couple of in-game shots...

Running

You reached your goal

After 24 hours this game was perhaps the prettiest of the bunch, but lacking the significant amounts of water and gameplay demonstrated by any other game (most being underwater or about controlling water). Sometime in the near future Jon and I will release the .exe for anyone who wants to try this out.

Sound Design

Hello :D
Recently, William Mueller of 38 Studios came to give a speech about Sound Effects at my school, SNHU. His experience and his effects were both nothing short of amazing. He was actually so good that he inspired me to do something about my experience...and that is to expand it. So it feels like every week I'm experimenting with new stuff, learning more tools and more ways to do the same exact thing. So, this week, I mastered FL Studio, edited sounds with Audacity, and I even started a new song for my band VORSE!

As for visuals (you know...the billion images I keep posting) here are some updates of my Zbrush class monster, but before I do that let me explain what we did and what we are supposed to do. We finished the monster's chest, arms, tail, back, head and its hands. Now for Wednesday we are supposed to finish its abdomen area as well as its legs (not the feet yet). Next week we will start our own unique monster which will be due as our final, WOOO!!!

ABS!!!

In other news, I might be working on a racing game, but that's all the info I can give out. In yet more other news, I just saw the new Bond movie...WOW. Skyfall was the best movie I've seen in awhile, I even dare say this year.

WIP

'Ello again Internet.

I've been busy watching a Greek television show known as "Sto Para 5" and eating sunflower seeds. I mean I've been keeping busy with schoolwork, tests, work...yes! There's nothing much, but some designs for a level I'm designing and building with my buddy for our game. I'll give you a quick screenshot and explain the process. So here, enjoy this!

Here's the 1st floor of the level's 2nd half. It has a left and a right side.

The way we're building this level is by design and development as soon as one piece gets done. I've been designing these ideas on paper and then I go in UDK and try to put them into a basic layout for Jon (my buddy). He then takes my sketches along with my explanations of what the areas look and he builds the props.

We then sit down together, review the design, check what ideas and gameplay was intended and if any props get in the way of playability. Even recently we found out a cool way to reduce foreground interference and have even more foreground props.

Anyway, that's all folks. I haven't worked on any actual game stuff lately other than this level...and homework. AAAaaalright. I'm going picture crazy! Why not? Here's tomorrow's homework.

YAY! Zbrush homework...

The Blacksmith

So I've been working on this flash game as my main focus since production on Bacon Man has been slow. I did do some AI theory work on the enemies of Bacon Man, but that was not my main focus the past few weeks. Below is a character I came up with just this evening. He is the only NPC is the flash game so far, and he gives you a quest to retrieve his hammer so he may smith again!

This is the Blacksmith :-]

I am very content with the way he came out, but I may have to adjust his little aura animation as it seems a bit too sudden. I wish I could have a better resolution animation for you, but unfortunately this is the best I got.

Oh, also...here's the updated dungeon map since I didn't post it on Sunday as I said I would >_>

Yay! As you can see...the dungeon is the purple stuff.

An Introduction

Hello Internet.

This is my first real and serious post about Game Design and Development. My name is Angelos Dardagiannopoulos, and I am a hardcore indie game developer. I will be posting a lot about games I love, games I love playing, games I love watching being played, and games I love making. This isn't just a place to read about what I think, but a place to learn about different things about video games. While I have a very peculiar taste in games and game companies, I will try not to bash on any :D

Without further introductions...here's a few things I'm working on. DARK SOULS. Oh my FFFfffuuu... what a game. Also, making games! I'm currently working on a Zelda-like game (think of the 2D ones if you can) for my Flash class. Yes, it's like a flash game. No, actually...it IS a Flash Game. You don't believe me?

Here's a screen!

The game's title is a WIP so I'm not going to disclose it just yet.

This is just the "world" map with the dungeon above it. It's extremely critical that you understand that this game is not my main concern and it's strictly just in its rough planning stages still. Now that you know, judge it all you want D:

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**I will update this blog at least once weekly. Updates will happen later on Sundays so you can check out my shtuffz by Monday morning. Ideally I would love to update you guys all I can :D

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