Who we are

Team STASIS is the home of a small group of student game artists from De Montfort University tasked with creating a playable game level from absolute scratch, utilising the UDK development software.

From concepting, visual design, research, asset building, level progression and finished pieces, this blog records the progression from 19th January to 30th March 2011.

Team members include Arron Manchester, Sam Clarke, Izzy Kahn, Sai Ali, Steven Jones and Tom Edwards.

For any questions or feedback please feel free to leave comments.

P.S A run through and fly through of the finished level shall be posted soon!

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Group Meeting 03

21st Jan 2010

Attended

Tom
Sai
Sam
Steven
Izzy

Absent

Arron

Progress

By this time, the mock-up of the level was almost complete, thanks to Steven’s hard work. Scale had to be adjusted, and some place-holders and small details needed added, but the level was complete enough to help us visualise and plan better.
We had also worked out that assets may have to be scaled up by 25% to suit the level (when being played, it seemed small, despite using real-world measurements).
We had planned to have a list of assets organised on Tuesday 25th January, after we had had more time to look around and take note.

Overview of Meeting

We decided to change and refine a few ideas. Whilst Arron was working on coherent floor-plans, we decided to be sure of the areas we would be building, and thought about how the player could navigate through the level.  One idea was to change the toilet to a lift – there is a toilet on each floor in the same place, so it would be logical, and it would also offer the “killer” a way to transport the bodies to different floors. If we could get it working, it would provide a way for the player to move quickly and offers a change for us to do something to the stairs (such as water pouring down it). If we decided to leave it broken it would add to the atmosphere - a long drop down a dark narrow shaft. Perhaps a fan at the top, flickering the light?
However, first things first. The Middle floor is the main area, so this is where work will begin. After discussing technical limitations, we opted to change the water level on this floor from a few inches to a few millimetres. More like damp or a puddle instead of a shallow body of water. This would save us having to model too much dripping/ pouring water, although we will still have to have it splash as the player runs through it.

Another area to focus on is lighting. It will be very important for making our level look real and convincing. Due to all the water in the level, we have to think about dynamic lighting; how it will bounce around the level, how it will reflect off the water and how it will cast shadows.

We are unsure at the moment, but thought it would be best to have one texture sheet for each asset.

Side Notes

  • MAY BE WORTH PRACTICING WITH UDK IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR
  • TRY TO HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF VERTEX PAINTER
  • TRY TO HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF POSSIBLE EFFECTS IN UDK
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