Early August 2021 Update

Prototype Complete!

So after a little more than two months, I am wrapping up my initial prototype for the game. What does that mean? It means I have all the systems for the game in and I have also sorted out how I want the art pipeline to work.

Basically, I have a version of the game that looks how I want the game to look and plays the way I want it to play. There will be a ton of polish down the road, but it’s a functional first step.

Art Pipeline

This month I focused a lot on sorting out the art pipeline for the game.

So what does that mean? Normally in AAA, there’s always a deadline and there’s never time to try out new things. Since I am making my own schedule, I am taking the time to try some things I might normally not have time to mess with.

So specifically, I have been doing a lot of stuff with VR and Megascans to see if they are useful for production. The result: For modeling, VR is amazing and saves a ton of time. I think every character artist should be using it. It’s such a natural way to work.

VR Animation/rigging on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be quite there yet. Once it does, that seems like another thing that could be a huge time saver, but sadly, it’s pretty buggy and lacking in a lot of features.

Megascans is also awesome and it’s a great way to get a lot of the baseline art in the game. For those that don’t know, it’s a library of Photogrammetry assets, which is a way to capture real world objects. So basically, I don’t have to spend a year of my life making rocks to get rocks in my game. Because guess what? A rock is a rock. This way I can spend more time on the more unique elements of the game.

The net result of all of this is that I can get a lot more content in the game using these methods!ng great games.

A Fun Nanite Test

Here’s a fun little test I did. Now that I am using Unreal Engine 5, I can push a ton of detail.

So here are two verisons of a tree. The one on the left is using the new Nanite tech and it’s millions of polys, the one on the right is your typical low poly game tree.

Instead of the bark detail being just a superficial faked thing, it’s all there. For real. Unreal Engine 5 is a game changer.

I’ll be showing more than just a tree soon. :)