Its Been A While, But I've Been Busy!

Okay, since its been quite a while since I posted anything here on the blog... a long while. So I thought I'd get everyone (anyone out there) caught up to speed on what I've been busy with. I've putting all my freetime into supporting the Game Guru community. Game Guru being a 3D video game engined developed by The Game Creators (TGC).

I've previously used their FPSCreator engine which is essientally the earlier incarnation of Game Guru. I'm busy putting together awesome scripts and playing around with making 3D Models that people can use within their very own games.

I think a lot of Indie Game Developers or any artist really might be able to relate to this problem I've been having for as long as I can remember. You get an idea and half impliment it and then quickly become teased into another completely different idea. Finding yourself swimming in 20+ unfinished projects without a single goal insight. This is something I've been struggling with every since I was quite young and got into game development.

So I've decided to actually can dozens upon dozens of projects so I can at the least focus on a more managable number.

For those that may not know, i've been the sole developer behind the Fallout New Ronto (Fallout 4) Mod. I completely underestimated the amount of work invovled in creating something similar to the sale of a full Bethesda produced Fallout DLC. While I made a lot of progress, I find my personal life started to clash a lot with the project. So I've decided to take a "break" from the entire project. I've received a lot of messages for people interesting in taking a lead on the project and contining it in their own way. However I feel personally attached to what I have started and while it may never get completed I'd like to respect my original vision. Who knows? I might change my mind some other day. But I know I just dont have time for a project of that scale.

With that said, I have decided to jump back into the indie game dev scene and start work on some more lesser ambitious projects and filter out to see which could actually see its end of production and be ready for a public release.

I started working on a winter surival game called Nuclear Winter, of which I've been working on every day for about 3 to 4 hours. Doesn't seem like a lot of time in the programming world, but its about all I got these days in my busy life. I'd love to share some of the work I've been doing on this project and if you give this Blog a follow, like, subscribe, bookmark, or whatever its called these days; I'd greatly appreiate it and id love to see you back as I share with you what I've been so passionately working on in the past few months.

Take care for now!

New Mod In Development - Fallout New Ronto

Been a long time since I made a blog and since the last one was about my Fallout and Skyrim mods, I figured it would be best to point people to my latest mod development project. One of which may be a bit too ambitious but some may find interesting to follow.

Its a worldspace mod for Fallout 4. Which means its a whole new location the player can travel to. The location of interest is Toronto, Ontario. Better known in this Fallout Universe as Ronto.

You can follow its progress here on its very own blog!

http://falloutnewronto.blogspot.com/

Mods for Fallout and Skyrim

As of recently I have started to roll out some mods for Fallout (3 and New Vegas) and Skyrim. I've been having a lot of fun with the Creation Kit as I get to really use all my experience in creating textures, 3d modeling and mild scripting.

Here is a list of the latest ones I have worked on:

FALLOUT 3


Super Mutant Conqueror:
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21433/?

Bottle and Cans:
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21455/?

Roach King Improvements:
http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21388/?

SKYRIM

Pickpocket Giants:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67242/?

Game Guru Assets

Over the past recent years I've been working on shaping models for use in Game Guru. Designed to work within Game Guru games seamlessly. Ever since the development of Game Guru I've taken a step back and started redoing some old models and designing some new ones with larger textures. Since Game Guru can support better graphics, I decided to really focus on each model and make them that much more detailed.

Click the image below to check out my items over at the TGC Store:

Modeling a Raptor

As FPSC Reloaded continues to evolve in its beta stages, I've been encouraged to consider starting some character models. Although I'm prioritizing my time towards static objects. Because I tend to always think nontraditional, I've decided to start work on a dinosaur rather than a human being model. In reference to the classic Jurassic Park styled raptors.

Here is a very early screenshot of the work in process. A smoothing tool has been applied though keeping the poly to a fair minimum.

I intend to have a movable lower jaw so it can be animated to bite and screech. Prior to working on this model I used an exisiting JP model and threw it into 3D Studio Max to apply some of my own custom animations to it. This was to get a feel of what could be done to a raptor model I intend to create myself. The below video is an example of some custom animations I did. It even worked when I brought it into FPSCx9 (FPSC Classic).

For more information about FPSC Reloaded, go to www.fpscreator.com

Mr. Sloth

I've been toying around with the idea for quite some time; A video game about a sloth. Not just any sloth but Mr. Sloth, a curious adventurous mammal with a desire to explore places he's never been before.


A completely vector based graphics game which would will in hopes stand out among other RPG styled top down games.

I will be creating various maps of different terrain with many different kinds of animals you may encounter and engage with.

Moon - Survial Horror Game

I've been quietly working in the background on an First Person Survival game taking place on our neighboring rock, the Moon. I figured it be an interesting concept and vastly different from the first person shooter type games we are used to, often set on Earth.

The basic premise for "Moon" is a team of astronauts are sent out to check on a colony of workers on the Moon that have lost transmission for over a couple months. You are one of the rescue teams sent out to access the issue, re-align the equipment to fix the communications and discover what has become of the lunar workers.

The Above screenshot is from FPSC-Classic, which I originally intended to create the game in. However since I got my hands on the BETA of FPSC-Reloaded I was able to play around with the new terrain editor it comes with. I was able to use the same textures as before that I had created and the same skybox (space with earth in distance). Here is a quick video of me throwing together a test to see how well the new engine will be able to help create a better lunar experience.

3D Modeling Journey

Upon completing an intro coarse at to 3D Design at George Brown College, I set out to rapidly learn how to model in 3D Studio Max, texture the models, animate and even make them game ready with scripts and shaders. The following will be a series of videos in timeline to show how quickly I have developed my knowledge of 3D Modeling.


In this video we have a model that I've textured in wood, motioning with the Bone tool.

In this video you will see my first attempt at using 3D Studio Max's character studio tool with footsteps. Additionally I attempt to create weight distribution with each step. However... i think this attempt was a fail and the character just looks a wee bit drunk.

In the following video you will see my attempt at applying an image to my 3d Model and animating it. For reference the image is of Button-Face from the movie Nightbreed.

What is FPS Creator?

The engine I primary use to produce the video game projects,  under the FPS genre is called FPSC. Its an engine made by The Game Creators from the UK. What i really enjoy about using FPSC is the fact that you can fully customize your game. You can important models you made in 3D Studio Max with their animations and even script them to run AI. You can even import your own music and sound effects and even video/cut scenes.

Prior to using FPSC (First Person Shooter Creator) I was using The Game Creators product known as Dark Basic. Which was primary just code to produce your games. I took to FPSC when I realized you can generate your own games with 80% less code and more visual constructing of the game.

There were a few other products of The Game Creators I tried out that I quickly moved off from. Some of which were "3D Game Maker" and "Doddle". My issue with both programs is you cannot produce a stand-alone game, with either.

What makes FPSC stand out from all GCS (Game Creation Systems) is that it graphically looks fantastic for the price-tag. Its very affordable. Keep in mind though that all the assets in the game you will have to purchase separately. These assets are known as "Model Packs" where as they contain entities and segments which are characters, items and even just wall textures and structures. However this is a fantastic resource since you can pretty much create any game of any theme you desire.

If you are interested in seeing what model packs The Game Creators has to offer for FPSC check out the link here: http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2001&page=ModelPacks

What I found that was really interesting about the Model Packs that The Game Creators was providing was that most of the models were generated by the community that uses FPSC. FPSC now actually has what is called "The Game Creators Store" which is built into the software of FPSC. It gives you a huge library of models and media you can download right from the program and start using them right away. Most of the models in this library are for sale but at a very affordable price. In most cases nothing is over 2 dollars.