Week 7 Update: Jordan

The playtests this last week went quite well, and I gladly will be taking up the reigns on the lighting and collisions, possibly with some more level work I would like to throw in. I haven't had much time with everything going on the past few days, hopefully tomorrow and the next day I can get something substantial done. I am pleased with the project thus far and these weeks have really blown by! With very little time left I can say that I am excited to hammer out the rest of the level; we have done a very good job of staying within scope and I am very pleased with this. Scope is a huge issue in our department and knowing that we are closer to understanding what we can and cannot do is an amazing thing. Our group is so lucky to have the flow that we have without all of the stress. Overall we have had a lot of positive energy and I believe that is feeding off into our project. I am very happy at this stage! Looking forward to tightening up the level.

I do see that there is still a good chunk of work to be done but I am fully confident in our abilities to see it through. Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving break!

Week 7 Blog: Angie Gomez

Like James has previously blogged, the level is really turning out for the best. The playtest on Tuesday went rather well. The testers seemed to like it, despite us missing key elements due to them being Kismet animations, and that's a good sign. We still have a lot to add to the level, but we've made some great progress. I've handed off the actual level file to Jordan who is going to work on the collision and lighting. I'm working on finishing my assets and helping with the texturing. After all that, I don't believe there's much to do besides add the Kismet triggers and animations. I'm hoping that won't be too difficult. I have a general idea on what to do, so I think it should go pretty smoothly. I'm very happy with where we're currently at, and I believe we're making good time.

Blog 7: James Henderson Jr

I am so proud of the group and what we have accomplished the last 6 weeks. Our project turned out really good. On Tuesday we play test the game and got some interesting results from the people who played it. Most of everyone who played the game really liked it. We realized that there are still some problems with the game that can easily be fixed. All of our assets went into the game, but there are still a few more we need to put into it. The next time the group meet I hope to put the sea monster into the cave. Once we put all the Assets and give its textures we will be close to being done with the project. Throughout the course of this project we never had any problems and we still going strong. Some of the models were a pain to make, but it worked out good. I hope to get screen shots of the level when it is done and remember what a great design it turned out to be. We are still working on it, but it will be done on the final day. I hope to finish some of my assets turning break, and put them in the game. I hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving.

Week 6 Blog: Angie Gomez

I've been forgetting to keep up with my blog, it seems. A lot has been happening in the past couple weeks. The team has really been putting out some awesome models. Almost all of the assets have been placed into the level. There's still quite a bit of work to be done, texture wise, but the level is ready to be playtested. I utilized the Unreal static meshes as much as possible when I was blocking in the level to fill it out and keep it from being too empty and boring. Collision and lighting still need a lot of work, but all that will come once the assets are finalized in the level. I will also start working on the Kismet triggers and animations soon. Everything is coming together quite nicely though, and I'm thankful to have a hardworking team.

blog 6: James Henderson Jr.

Its been a rough week for me and I feel a lot of stress right now, especially with my personal life, Despite it all I still feel that I have a awesome group. We have gotten a lot done on Thursday and most of the assets are in the level, so I believe we are ready for testing. We have a awesome level with most of our assets in it. As I said before, Everybody has been doing there part and making this project look good. I still have been modeling the sea monster and some of the lighthouse which had been difficult, so those would be my only problems. I do want these designs to come out right and working to a point where I can put them into the game.

Pirates of the Unreal is turning out better then I suspected and I am happy with it, just like the group. Time is short and the level has to be done and now I see the team work is strong as well. We are determined to get this done in the end. I believe that putting assets and the textures on the level really brought it to life and it is so a full success. I can wait to play test the game and see what others think about it. Pirates of The Unreal is going to be awesome.

blog 5: James Henderson Jr.

The last five weeks have been great. I feel that I have a awesome group. We have gotten a lot done and the assets are looking great. Most of our assets are ready to go into the game, and thanks to Angie the level looks really great, also Mike has made a nice pirate ship, and Jordan is making great assets for the game. Everybody has been doing there part and making this project look real good. There really hasn't been any problems with the project, but I believe that designing the sea monster was a pain to do. I had recently lost my files and lost everything I had did Wednesday night so I had to redo my work. Making the sea monster was a challenge for me considering I am a environment modeler.

The project is turning out great and I feel that everybody has been working well as a team. Now that the level is looking good and complete we can start putting all our assets into the game and get ready for the play test. I am looking forward to the play test to see how our project goes. I hope that once the assets are in they work well with the game. My only fear is the sea monster which I am still working on. I am very proud of my group and the hard work we been doing. Pirates of The Unreal is going to be awesome. Great job everybody.

Random.

Might I add that I love the fact that "Caribana" shows up right underneath our Title on this page? That's f'ing sweet. Was that planned?

Week 4: Angie Gomez

After four weeks, our idea has really solidified. We all worked together on the design document, and thanks to Google docs, the collaboration was fairly easy. I believe that the design document is well thought out and that we were able to stay in scope, but also come up with a lot of great ideas. The powerpoint is also ready to go for the presentation on Tuesday.

This week I started working on my chunk of the assets and worked on some concept art. I'm hoping to start the terrain this upcoming week, because it's never too early to get that sorted out. I'm really excited about working with the puzzle aspect of the level. I've already seen a few assets modeled from the team and everything is looking awesome so far!

Blog 4 by Michael Morgan

I'd like to start by saying I know that I have been missing the posts and I thanks James for reminding me. I think the group is progressing pretty well we are in the stages of creating or design document and creating assets. I finished modeling the skull head and I'm working on the pirate ship which is coming out pretty well. Haven't had any problems that I know of the Google Doc solves most of them.

I'm excited to see what we end up with so far lets keep it up guys and gal..

blog 4: by James Henderson Jr

o What stages of the (project) am I on and how is it progressing? How or what could I improve?

In this stage of the project we are making all of our Assets that will go into the game and so far the game idea has really grown. This is the stage where we design and put all our assets in the game.

o Did I change my (project) milestone goals? If so, why?

Our goals are a little changed up, I don't believe that the milestone goals have made anyone to happy. We have so many ideas and very little time, so the goals are hard and maybe confusing, but I'm confident that as a group we will figure this out.

o How did I deal with the problems that came up?

So far there are no problems, Honestly I do be concern with some of the group members on whether they are still enjoying the project or not. I don't want the group to be miserable, I want us all to be happy and if we were to work with each other again in the future, then I would love to work with them again.

o What is working and what is not working in the planning and implementation of the (project)?

Everything is working smoothly. Everybody has there assets that they are making and the assets are turning out great.

o Briefly describe your time spent and any problems (within the team, with a computer, etc)

I spent most of my time modeling the assets and helping design the game doc, as I said everything is running smooth and I am confident that we will get this done, also there again there are no problems.

o Evaluate the (project) as a whole including team members, if applicable

I'm sure that my group is happy and I love working with them. I am enjoying this project and I hope to get this done.

Week 4 Update -- Jordan

What stages of the project am I on & how is it progressing? How or what could I improve?

Right now it is not clear what I should and should not do as an individual, I just know that we need our design document and presentation ready for Tuesday of next week. We have all been actively creating content for the document and editing it as we see fit. My goal, personally, is to have properly researched the historical and geographical context in which we are setting our game. I have done this and have added much of said context into the Design Document under the first section.

Did I change my milestone goals? If so, why?

I feel like we don't really communicate our milestone goals as a group, we sort of just do what is assigned to us and everything seems to fall together. It seems we are working on an individual level and meld our ideas together into a pot and eventually we see what is going to work and what will not. For now this seems alright but in the near future I believe we will need to make more direct goals for each of our members (aside from the asset list).

How did I deal with the problems that came up?

Personally the only problem I feel we have had is the fact that I didn't show up last Thursday, nor did I upload the Flowchart as needed. I duly apologize for this and wish to keep future incarnations of such nature from happening again. I did have the work done ahead of time, as I am sure was witnessed. I should have been responsible and immediately uploaded the document. Aside from that, I see no immediate problems in our work toward the project. I feel that everything is simple enough that we can really focus on what we have to do, and not get caught up in things that aren't level design and "world building."

What is working and what is not working in the planning & implementation of the project?

As stated previously, what is happening right now is working thus far. But like I said, and I'm sure the group is already aware, we will have to start working more out of class as time goes on and also assign more specific tasks to individuals. Or, we will just have to meet up on off days if necessary. Currently I cannot judge exactly what will or will not work in the near future.

Briefly describe your time spent and any problems (within team, computer issues, etc.)

I feel like I have answered this mostly already, but most of my time spent thus far has been on editing the Design document, adding content, and researching our target time period with regards to the geographical context, political context, and historical context of the Caribbean in the late 16th century. I would like to add as much visual information as possible in order to help the player feel like they might actually be seeing what a fictional Caribbean pirate island might look like... if it wasn't fictional. Yah ok

Evaluate the project as a whole including team members, if applicable.

I am still satisfied with our progress, and still excited about working on the project. I'd like to get started this next week on my appointed assets, and referencing native culture and pirate culture with my work. Angie is crafting up some nice concept illustrations, and James and Mike are whippin up some stuff in 3dsmax. All's well.