Diabetic 101

Tutorial

2008-09-12T09:10:00.001-07:00

The tutorial is all finished. I am currently in the process of adding int he food items to the game. We will see how that goes. I will have everything done on Tuesday so our team and we can ask the other team to take a look at it and see what they say. After Tuesday I hope i'm done.

Update

2008-09-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, Well after fighting all day in class on trying to get the tutorial audio working. I finally got a start and have been running with it. I have the first part of the tutorial audio working and will be finishing the tutorial set up tonight along with the food layout in the level. Got Dr.Scribbles in the game last night. Other then that i'm done.

Finishing Touches

2008-09-11T11:01:00.001-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. We are wrapping up the game and the final touches are being done. I finished the Art Style Guide and Chris is working that into the Game Design Document. Jamaal is finished with the voice over for Dr. Scribbles and has passed it off to Chaz. Dave just finished his coloring book today and is preparing to be our speaker for our presentation on Thursday. Chaz finished the level layout and is putting the final touches into the game. As far as the presentation goes; we will be setting up a mock presentation on Saturday and we will work out any bugs then so we don't run into the same ones for the final on Thursday. Our goal is to have a presentation that has a nice flow to it and doesn't run too long. Bye for now, I will be back Tuesday to let you know how everything ends.

Coloring Book DONE!!!!!!

2008-09-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

All I need to do is print up copies for the presentation and we are ready to GO.....

I will have them printed and ready to go by Tuesdays class...The Mexican out!!!!

Working better under pressure...Jalapeno Style!!!!

2008-09-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Well here we are, just one week until presentation and we are very optimistic about our presentations. I have completed the box art and the front and back of the coloring book as well. Going to be finalizing the inside of the book for release on Tuesday printed and ready to go.

It was made known to me today that I will be the key speaker for the game presentation because it was expressed to the group as well as myself that I was thew most motivated for the lead, anything to do and help kids I am always first in line, for the simple fact that I have 3 of my own and they always are first on my responsibility list.

Well have a GREAT WEEKEND....and enjoy.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
-Walt Disney
If you can dream it, you can do it.
-Walt Disney
It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
-Walt Disney

I like to see the finish line

2008-09-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is the night before the deadline that I set for everyone to be done with everything for me. I kept on putting stress for everything to have all this for me by the end of the day tomorrow, so that I can have the last couple of days for checking everything by going over and over. Plus by having it done so early I can work on other projects. So far everything is good. I just need 3 peoples things: Jamaal with the sound sheet, Chaz with the game engine code and Rob with the art style guide. Once I have those things I can make sure everything is in the right size font then to the Table of Contents then be done. I can sooooo see he finish line I am excited.

Recent Developments

2008-09-10T11:25:00.001-07:00

OK, well I'm back on track. After being sick last week I've lost alot of ground but I'm back and on the ball. As of yesterday everything that I had slated for the game is completed. I finished the voice overs for the tutorial level and gave that to Chaz. I also collected the sound for picking up items in the game; I gave that to Chaz as well. As far as I know, Chaz is finishing up the look for the level and now all that is left to do is to finish up the document, which Chris has been working timelessly on. My only concern is finding the information for doing my part of the document correctly, which I have no idea or no possibility of help with. When asking Chris how would I go about doing my part he laughed and said, "I don't know, figure it out; Have it by Thursday." That's it! Just figure it out! It's so simple, I'm surprised that I didn't think of that earlier. Thank you Game Document guy! Thank you for making my life so much easier! Are you kidding me!!! I guess I'm just going to have to wing it and hope that it works, because we just can't leave things blank, that wouldn't be professional at all, now would it? I mean why would we show even more weakness than we already have?? If you couldn't tell, I am being extremely sarcastic...

One more week, Jamaal....just one more week...

Level Layout

2008-09-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I have been working on the level. All the houses are layed out. Trees have been placed everywhere. I am now working on exporting Dr.Scribbles so we can have him in the tutorial. I still need to add in Telephone poles, lamp poles and mailboxes in the level to finish the layout. The final thing that needs to be compelted. Is the food layout which Rob and I will be doing on Thursday. I will have the entire food done before Thursday that way Rob and I can work on any balance issues.

GUI Update and Level Design

2008-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

Today I reworked the gui's for the game. Here's some new screens for the GUI's

This is what I have so far for the GUI's. Jamaal gave me the audio files for the tutorial, which i exported into ogg format and set them up for the game. Now I just need to start setting up the tutorial level. Today I plan to finish the level with Rob before our zbrush class. See you later

I like to work the weekend of my birthday

2008-09-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, another year has come and gone for me. On Saturday I turned 24. That did not stop me from burning the midnight oil this weekend. I sent a copy of what I had to Kim and giving is going fine. I copied more of the marketing stuff from the pictures that are posted on this blog for the marketing section. I also filled in a couple of more information in the sections that are left. There is one week really left and I am crusing. I would love to have this thing offically finished by Thursday and that means more night staying up just to get this done and with a couple of more classes. But I gotta stay busy. Until next time.

Crunch Time!!

2008-09-05T09:35:00.001-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. I have been finished with my all of my milestones for a week now and since then; the things that I anticipated on happening have begun. There were some things wrong with some of the assets that had to be replaced, fixed, or duplicated. I have been working on the Art Bible and I will be helping with the Game Design Document and the level build. Everyone else is on pace and finishing their milestones. I know that Jamaal was sick and he is behind on the voice overs for the tutorial, but I know he will have that finished. Other than that, we just need to put the assets into the game and plot out the course.

Update...

2008-09-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Finishing up my part, trying to finalize ther coloring book so I can get a copy of it to class by Tues. no later than Thurs. Also giving Chris the art section of the design doc., Rob had mentioned he is doing an Art Bible, with mine and his art work both 2d and 3d. Chris asked for my story boards that I had done and will be sending themm via email before Mon.

Took the night of and stayed home to work on this project, I want to sell the game with the sense of urgency from a "Marketing point of view", I will update on a day to day basis to try to keep up with the requirements for the remaindeer of the class. Pictures, facts, etc.

Level and Coding

2008-09-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Well as of right now i am trying to finish up the level. Rob was working on another school sign that had the arrow going in a different direction and he also changed the color of the school. I almost have all the houses in the game, just need to spread them out some more and add a few more. I gave the flow charts to Chris and have started to work on the coding samples for the games. I will be giving them to him shortly. Once I finish laying out the level Rob, Chris (if we can get him away from the doc) and I will be working on setting up the food for level. Two weeks and counting......

Updates from a busy weekend

2008-09-04T05:08:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone,
Here are updates from last week up until now. I've completed the textures for the three objects that needed to be wrapped. Also I have finished the new meter for the GUI. I made it bigger so the numbers can be a little bit more legible. As for my milestones this week. I had a very busy weekend. The past 5 days have been very strenuous for me and I had no time to complete my milestones for this week. I've been sick for the past 4 days. I know that sickness wouldn't be a valid excuse, especially when we have a game to finish, but, I needed my rest so I gladly took it. The only thing that I have left to do is finish the voice over for the tutorial level and update my portion of the game document, which I can try to finish today. Everything will have to be done by next week, but I am confident that I can pull it off, granted that everyone else is doing what they need to do.

Until next week,
Jamaal

Web slinger

2008-09-04T05:08:00.001-07:00

Just finishing up the web site. Have one area that I am iffy on though. Trying to find out the legality of putting information on the site about Diabetes and the ramifications that might incur.

I like to blow the wind of change in

2008-09-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

I took the idea of one class and used it for this one. Of course this relates to the document. I looked at the section of what was required for the document in that class and compared it with it from another class. Then I created a monster..... A very good monster. I also added the the flowcharts to it right now it is 17 pages and missing a couple of sections(since I had to also used the information from the pitch document) and this is without the table of contents. Kim told me I was at 40%, which is a big jump from 10% that it was at last semister.... I want it all so, I have to go back on the grind. Until next time.

New Level

2008-09-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with the level today with rob. We came up with a simple layout. Since we had a lot of alignment issues in torque. We decided to create the layout in max and export it into torque. Well when we started to do that everything was going fine until it was time to import into the engine. When the object was imported into the game we kept getting an error. "Convex Hulls detected" Or something like that. Around 8pm finally decided to export the streets with just 1 collision mesh that is at the same height as the streets in general. Here's a simple screen of what the level is starting to look like with out any trees and very few houses.

I would work on it some more but its time to go play some hockey... Peace out.

Time is creeping up on us fast!!

2008-09-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. I have been so busy, I completely forgot about you last week. Here is a recap of what has happended in the past couple of weeks. Kim has taken over our group as producer, she set up milestones for us to hit by the end of the semester. My tasks were to unwrap all the environment assets, texture them and create two more animations for the game. The animations consist of a failure and a celebration for the characters. If the character succeeds with the game, it plays the celebration animation, if he/she fails, the failure animation plays. As of today I am ahead of schedule; I am finished with all three tasks. Now, I am working on the Art Style Guide, and helping out with whatever that I can (level).

Chaz has all of my assets and is putting them into the game. Chris and Chaz are putting the level together, Jamaal is working on the tutorial, and Dave is working on the coloring book and the marketing. Dustin and Chaz are going back and forth with the website. As of now, everyone seems to be on track. From here we just need to stay focused because we only have two weeks to work on the game before the last week, which is presentations. We had the critique last week; there were good criticisms, the only bad part was that it was things that we already knew. The problem is; we have most of the assets done, but they are not in the game yet. The other team saw the game that we had since interfaces, the only thing that changed was the textures. So, everything that the other group commented on, we already knew. But it did reinforce the things that we knew we needed to fix.

I like to update Part III(Labor Day Edition)

2008-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, this is the first week in the two weeks for the Design Doc. I have somethings that I want to give to Kim so that she can look over. I am hoping since I got everyone a copy that needed a copy of the Doc last week that I will start receiving emails this week so that I can keep on updating it in order to get it right.

The tutorial level was made bigger and also as a part of what the room needed I started creating those things. Only there is a couple of things that are off that I may need help on if Rob can not help me. That is the texture size is not right. I have 128 by 128 square to try to fit things into except it has to be look right for an adult to use it. However, it does not look right into Photoshop. Also, I am having the same issue with the window. I guess I will have to see about it tomorrow.

I like to design(?)

2008-08-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

So, over the past two days I did something that really needed to be done, but no one really had time to or did not want to do. This was remake the level. I had to put the document on hold in order to do this. I took the streets and all the models that we have both textured and untextured to put it all together. Last night instead of going to the meeting I worked on it and showed Chaz and Rob what I had. Both aggreed it was a good start.

They also made a couple of suggestions that I did today. However, with that I will need a couple of more street direction models. I also had to export a couple of things that was already modeled and textured. In a couple of hours I will place the food in a couple of places in the level so that chaz can program them so that it can be crited tomorrow.

Back to the document I will take out all the sections that we do not need and get the TOC reflecting what we have now and the two appendixes from Dave and Chaz with the concept part and programming part resecptivily. Also, I am hoping that Dustin will be finished with the corrections that he made so they can be implemented. That will not be until tomorrow(the Dustin part) the rest should hopefully be finished tomorrow. So, in other words there is alot still to do.

Judy

2008-08-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Judy has been completed and everything is working fine with her. I will be uploading photos of her later. Chris has been working on the new level design and so far it has been a good start. We need to make more room for the new school and set up a few physical zones to not allow the player to leave the side walk or street area.

Streets and Judy

2008-08-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

I took the streets and got them exported and in the game. I also spent some time working on getting Judy in the game. I finally fixed all her issues with camera and facing. So now I will be working on getting all of her animations exported correctly. I also took Chris's tutorial level and placed that in the game.

New Website Look....Jalapeno Corner!!!!!

2008-08-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

We went a whole NEW look and feel, taking images from the original design in Game Project 1 - the board game look, we took the elements giving the excess ability a more relaxing feel. Dustin and I both have a version similar but different, both of us drew out what the site would look like and we are just backing each other up. Box Art finally coming together, got one screen shot from Chris and waiting for some character renders from "Big" Rob, need some in game shots just waiting for those.

I gave Rob some gestures for "Happy animations" for the win part of the character animations, going to scan those.

I may or may not be here on Thurs. I gave my art to Dustin as well as Jamaal. Jamaal will be presenting on my behalf. All my art is in there from Character Concepts, web site art new and old, colored art of character concepts, buttons, T-Shirt design front and back, character gestures, the only thing not on there are animation cells. Art that I had modeled also on there, sign and flag pole.

Thank you and stay spicy......

I like to give stuff to Chaz

2008-08-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

The tutorial level that I made is pretty much finished. I have enclosed my first picture for the semester with a picture of it. There is a couple of things that needs to be added like the food once it is finalized and Dr Scribbles. So, today I will give it to him.

2008-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

We have a major problem with the way the game and website look. We need to figure out how to pull them together. We can either change the website or the game. This is an example of the website that I made a prototype for.

You can see the full size version here.
HERE

Still here

2008-08-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

I may have given the impression that I had given up when I asked Kim when the next time the class would run. That was not my intention. What I was trying to do was to bring it to the for front of everyones mind that if we fail we will have to wait until April to retake this class and we will be dropped in with a group that we have no idea what is going on. We do not get to start over at the beginning we start over in the middle which is a horrible thing. You are lost and have to figure out where every one is coming from. What the people are like. What the goals are. Everything is harder.

I have not given up. I know we can do this and I apologies to the group for not being a better leader. I got caught in a trap of my own design. I was not trying to be a Marine and give orders all the time, however, I was trying to treat you like adults and let you do what you guys do best in your specific areas. It failed.

Chaz: if you want to do the web site because you think I gave up or because you think I am incapable of doing it you are wrong. I have not given up and I am capable of doing it on time and on task. I first web site was (black and gray flat blaa) was my design. I am not a designer. I am a developer. The second one that you saw in class on Thursday was one that I had gotten the art from Dave from. I did not know that it did not match the rest of the promo stuff. I built the site so it could be re-skinned on the fly that way it would save time. It has a dynamic button array that will add buttons as you need them and all you have to do is change some parameters (very few) to resize and align them.

I am going to continue to work on the website even if you build one too. It is one of my mile stones that we agreed on with Kim.

I am also working on the GDD again agreed on with Kim.

If I can model anything that will be useful let me know I will.

I want us to succeed not fail. Not because I don't want to have to take the class again (I don't) but because I know we can do this it is not easy but how many others get to say.... I make games for a living. WE will get to say that! That is incredible for me it is like some awesome dream come true. It is hard work but hey it is something that I love. I have waited years for this. To be able to have a job I love. I have sacrificed so much for my wife and kids to make sure that they had a roof, food, clothes, and everything else that I could provide for them working as a mechanic. I hate being a mechanic, I am good at it but it hurts and I am always looked down on by others and that part is ok because I know better. Still everyday I go into work is hell and I finally found a safe job (physically) that I can use my brain and not my brawn in. No one will take that away.

I will not fail you guys. I will do everything I can even if I have to get fired from my job to make this happen.

I may not agree with everyone in the group all the time but I do respect you guys and like you.

I would never intentionally sabotage the group.

Thanks for giving me a chance to lead, even though I failed I learned a lot from it. I need to develop my non Marine leadership skills more. Hell after we get done here maybe I will enroll in a leadership class at WCCC. Who knows we write our own destiny.

Keep moving forward.

Jalapeno Corner is on Point.......Spicy!!!!

2008-08-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

Just keeping up my end of the bargin....Flag and Sign delivered, now working on the Win/Lose animation with "Big" Rob. I will be making a video of my kids several of a "Lose" feeling animation and also a "Win" animation and be sending them to Rob via email before Sat. Also sending a level video walk through of level mechanic to get the game play and level on point. (Forgot at home)

2 out of 4 milestones completed, continuing animations, (showed to Kim what I had so far) web Site, and Coloring book, F-U-N!!!!!

Time to get crackin'.......

Tres Goals Por Mi.....Jalapeno Corner

2008-08-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

3 Goals yto be met over the next few weeks in no particular order, just that they will be getting done in a timely yet professional manner.

1. Finish animations- Regardless if used at this current stage in time. For the sense of game tutorial direction.

2. Make contacts - 1 out of 4. Continue to try and sell the game/idea/concept through words and turn them into action

3. Marketing - * T-Shirts - Done
* Box Art - Finalize
* Logo - Done/Finalize
* Web Site - Work with Dustin to make site film like, cartoony, easy to navigate, etc.
* Coloring Book - Continue to work on a 3-5 page mini-coloring book to give to the child tester(s) when the game is ready to be played and/or tested.

***Enclosed Pictures of the Logo, Box Art......(TOP)

Animation scenes still need smoothness work, going to go "OLD SCHOOL" and go Disney Style draw, clean, picture, animate!!!! Enough said!!!!!!!

My part to finish this game on time....

2008-08-21T04:45:00.000-07:00

Today is another day, after another disappointing run this week, we were given a very simple but very thought provoking assignment: come up with three tasks every week that you will do to contribute to the game. After deliberating with the team, I've decided that this is what I will do for the remaining 4 weeks of this class.

Week 7:
This week is mainly for me to correct some issues that have a need to be corrected. The first thing that I will do is correct the texture on the cupcake. There were some issues that needed to be addressed. The second thing that I need to do is redo the texture for the canned corn. The corn logo is too small and need to be resized. The last thing that I need to do for this week is to start unwrapping the last asset that we need which is the examination table for Dr. Scribble's office.

Week 8:
This week I'm going to switch gears. The first thing that I want to do is to finish texturing the examination table. The second thing that I want to do is begin collecting more sounds for the game. Mainly I need some more sound effects that need to be implemented into the game. We need a sound for collecting the items and the end of the game when you get to the school. Lastly for this week I want to start writing for a voice over that will be recorded for the tutorial.

Week 9: This week first of all, I want to go over the style color sheet for the document. Secondly, I want to start to correct the errors in the sound list for the document. Thirdly, I want to have the tutorial voice over finished and recorded.

Week 10:
This is the last week for work. This week I want to have the sound list corrected and completed. Secondly, I want to have the style sheet finished and ready for the document. And finally, I want to check and triple check my documents to make sure that they are all perfect for the final book.

I like to update Part II

2008-08-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

OK after we had that talk on Tuesday I put a list of stuff that I believe should be done first.

The tutorial level and the document. I do need a third so....

For the next two weeks I will be working on getting the tutorial up and running and using the document.

In a previous post I wrote what I needed for everyone in the document. I will tell people what I need in class and in week 9 I want everything for the document to be in to me so that I can get it looked over and make the corrections to it. So that by week 10 I can keep on giving Kim the drafts so it can be perfect. By week 11 everything with the document should be done.

Level Design

2008-08-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Rob, Jamaal and I took the level to show Amanda today. She has given us some very good feedback about the level and some good ideas we could use for the game. Some ideas include

Creating a bigger school and placing it on a hill
Adding in street signs that show the direction to the school
Having a flag pole to show that there is a school
Better defined path. Like streets and side walks.
The biggest issue was with the Open ended level. Need to make it smaller
Prevent the player from walking off the street and the sidewalk.

These are a few of the ideas that the we are planning on doing. These ideas will help to give our game some more gameplay values.

The New Beginning

2008-08-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today might have been a breakthrough, but once again it wasn't our group that started it. Kim has taken over the group as our new producer. Honestly, I see this as a good thing because Kim will be on our backs constantly, and that is what we need. With the group, we have very specific skills and we naturally like to work individually; that results in us getting too comfortable and being relaxed. Being relaxed is what has gotten us in trouble. Kim will make sure we stay on task, it is unfortunate, but it is what it is and we need to learn from this and move on. With that said, this weeks goals are to finish the unwrapping and texturing of the assets for the game. By next week, I will be working on everything else, pieces at a time. I want to help out with everything by the time we finish with this project. I feel that I can add more to the team than just the 3D aspect of design. I also believe that it is going to take everyone to finish this game, and by that I mean that everyone needs to help out with every part to get us to the end. Chaz is reworking some of the food assets, some are not big enough and some don't have collisions. Jamaal is redoing some of the textures to make them more legible, and he is redoing the Insulin meter; making that more legible. Dave is reworking the box art for the game and is tying in the logo into the website and game. Chris and Dustin are still working on the Game Design Document, and Dustin is helping with the website. By Thursday we, as a group will get together and go over our milestones for the following week.

If you build it they will come......

2008-08-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Update.....

As written earlier I contacted some one at the D.M.C. (Diane Scanlon) Waiting for her call ever so patiently not thinking she would call back right away, she called.

I spoke to her briefly about testing the game on children patience and talking to daoctors in the diabetic section of the children's hospital. Her response was very positive, it wasn' t a yes and it wasn't a no it was a simple call back. The fact she took some time out of her scheduale to call me back. I expressed much thanks to her. Just from speaking to her about our teams intentions on our games direction and that we wanted to get some feed back from those who have diabetis, as well as talk to doctors and get our information and research down to a "T".

She had also said she has to do some research of her own for the fact that she had never recieved a call for such a request to "educate" children through a video game and a team wanting and devoting time to help KIDS.

So we have to be positive and keep our heads up, and knock down any obsticles that get in our way, the name is out there, and like anything good it will spread like wildfire....All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

To be continued........

Light at the end of the tunnel.....

2008-08-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

Made a call to the Detroit Children's Hospital, left a message with Diane Scanlon #313-745-5364. I left a detailed message and stated my purpose for our game. I am just waiting for a call back from her. I am also working on a few other facilities to get the ball rolling. "Leave No doubts...."

More possibles:

C.S. Mott Children's Hospital (734) 764-6874
Helen DeVos Children's Hospital (616) 391-9000
Bronson Methodist Hospital (269) 341-7654

To Be Continued....

8-18-08...Jalapeno Corner, Time to Reflect

2008-08-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Updates....

Working steadily on the 2d animations and it's taking longer than I would like with other projects for other classes in the way of me finishing what I need to get done. Not an excuse just a fact.

Still working on getting us a a hospital to test on, but coming up a little short on that department at this time. As of right now I am searching from my home and work to get us some sort of connection to work with. But we have nothing for them to play, we have to TEST!!!!!!

I was a bit disappointed about all of last week, and that bothers me. We as a group set goals that we needed to reach at certain times for this class, and we have not met any of them. Why, may be the drive of the team may be falling short, either as a group or individually, don't know.

Reflection....Kim hit it on the head, and we still ain't getting it done. No matter what she tells us some of us don't get it. We are not little kids, and I stress it again some of us need this and I REFUSE TO FAIL. It is not in my nature to do so.

So we will see on Tuesday.......

End of Week 6

2008-08-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today was not good. I was on the assumption that we had a game for Kim to play, but we didn't. It seems like we were sprinting at the beginning of the term, now we are running out of gas and our speed is slowing down. To take care of this game, we need to all sit down and work out the level and make it work and have it be a fun game to play. If we can agree on that, I think we can start testing it with others and it should be fine. All the assets are done on my end, I gave them to Jamaal to texture. The characters are done and Chaz has those and they are finished and working in game. Dave is finishing the 2D animations and the box art and Chris is finishing up the Game Design Document. The website is finished, it is just being updated with our info, which by the way; here it is:

My name is Robert Reiterman, I am the lead 3D artist for Diabetes 101. My job on the game was asset creation; mainly the character creation. I took Dave’s character concepts and made them playable. I modeled and textured the characters, environment assets, and I modeled the food assets while Jamaal textured them. For the characters, I built the rig and made the animation cycles as well.

Models

2008-08-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, Well for today I was given the Judy Model from Rob which I have been working on exporting and getting in the game. Right now she is in the game but for some reason her eye is looking in the wrong direction. I'm not 100% sure as to why that is happening but I think I can fix it. The way I plan on fixing it is taking all of JOhnny's animations and exporting the bip and importing into Judy. I also am almost done with the new flow charts. Chris has had the old ones. He will be given the new flow charts on tuesday or saturday.

I like to texture

2008-08-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

I finished working on something that was mentioned in the beginning, the tutorial level. All it really needed was a couple of textures. Those textures I made myself and put them into constructor so see how they looked. The next step is to give the file and all the textures to Chaz so he can program them into the game world as well and change that map to the starting map and after a set time or a couple of task to exit that map and load in the map of the neighborhood. Now, I must go back to the document work.

Updates

2008-08-14T05:26:00.000-07:00

So, this is what's happening in the world of me. Things are running smoothly for the most part. Everyone is doing their part to get this game completed. Rob gave me some more assets to texture and i gave some assets to Dustin to texture and pick up some of the slack. With the addition of 2 more houses from rob, all of the assets for the game will be done, but the most important part of the game is still yet to come: The Path. Chaz gave me the game file and I am working on the path for the gameplay that the character will walk on and collect the food. That should be done by today if I buckle down on it!

So everything seems to be in order, although I am a little bit nervous at this point because i want everything to work out. I am trusting in my team to make sure all the pieces are placed and put together.

More to come....

I like to change stuff

2008-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

So... by stuff I mean the concept document. In starting to put all the stuff for the document together in seeing what I have left to write I went back to what is suppose to be in the document from the first semester of this project and I saw that the concept is suppose to be apart of it. However, there was one problem with the concept it is the fact that the concept changed. When I say changed I mean change with all caps so CHANGED. Maybe it should be bolded too, but I wont go that far at least for right now. At this moment I have been updating that concept document so it will cover what version 2 of the game is about. That should be done in the next 30 minutes maybe less. Once that is done then I will see what section should be completed next.

Look back.....
The following sections are done and needs to be put together:
Concept Sketches
Model Descriptions
World Descriptions
Gameplay Descriptions
Version Differences

Week 6

2008-08-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today is Tuesday and our game is coming together. We have been running into a bit of a slowdown lately. I did run into a bit of a problem myself. I had my computer crash when I finished the the girl character, when that happened, the whole file was corrupt. Somehow, I was able to open up an older version of the file in Max 09. I got lucky and was able to load the old UV map to save myself from re-mapping. All I had to redo was the skeleton and skin weights. Later today, I will be giving Chaz the new model to see if we can reuse Johnny's animations, if we can then I will have a lot of free time on my hands for other endeavors. If we can't, I will have to do animations for her, which could take a week to do all the same types of animations. I am concerned about this game. Today there were some who were not working on the game. This is a problem because we are behind schedule and we need every minute to pull off a successful game. This is week 6 and we set our deadline for week 9 so we can debug and work on our final presentation. The Game Design Document needs to be finished, but the webpage is almost finished which is good, and the box art is almost done. Hopefully we will figure out the rest of the term on Thursday.

Moving

2008-08-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Over this weekend I didn't work on the game at all because I was moving. Since I didn't do anything on the game the paths were not mapped. I just finished the Group aspect for the game. So when the player walks into a food object anything in its group will also disappear. I am still working on a few little bugs that I found with the players speed mod, but that will all come in time. I plan on giving Chris the flow charts for the game and information about the modified game engine and a few coding samples to show what I have done for this game. Other then what Chris and Rob are working on I have no idea what the rest of the group is doing.

I like to update

2008-08-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well, me and Dustin talked a bit over the document. He is looking over what I wrote so far and I am continuing to write on the game world, since there is alot of models. Tomorrow during class, I plan on giving the group the update and by tonight I should be done with writing everything about the gameworld. The next section I plan on writing will be about gameplay. That is the next major section that changed. Other then that everything is going smoothly with the document.

In case people forgot: Chaz needs to redo the flowchart and write a couple of pages about the programming aspect of the game. Jamaal needs to give me a detailed sheet of the sounds. David please give me a little something and by little I mean a page or two about the concept art.

Jalapeno Corner....At it again.

2008-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

Art and research go good together like refried beans and rice in a combination plate.

Well working on the game case, just waiting for some screen shots in the game to put it all together, working hard on the animation as well. Hard work but getting it done. Doing research on hospitals to test the game at, trying to focus on the children's section from the games point of view. T-shirts have been ordered and will be ready in a week or so. Asked if the teamed had anymore set backs from getting the game ready for testing this week, they said no. So we will wait and see, leave no doubts.

I will be making calls all day to hospitals trying to get us in to test on some of the children there.

**Note to team: Will not be in class tomorrow, have to take my boys to the dentist in the morning(appointment was made 4 months ago), I will see you all in Z-Brush, if anything you guys need anything let me know and I will have it for A.S.A.P.**

On Point

2008-08-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today we had another get together. We seem to be coming along as scheduled. I finished the texturing of both characters and I will be starting the models of the school and hospital. Chaz has been working on the race path for the game play. He now has the two characters that he can use with all the finished food items. Dave finished the layout of the website and is working on the box art. Chris and Dustin are finishing the Game Design Document; Jamaal is working on the textures for the environment assets. I don't see anything that can stop us from hitting our goals, as long as we keep up the pace we should finish on time. Next week we are scheduled for a play testing of the game. It will be a rough play test, the finished game will have special effects when the character accomplishes the tasks at hand. I'm not sure if we will have all of that ready for next week. We did have an issue with the UV maps of the food items, save and reloading them wouldn't work, and we had minor issues re-exporting the characters because their normals were flipped. We took care of that, and the food items will be remapped and exported.

BIO

2008-08-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Im not really good at this but this is what I have for my bio.

Charles Hengesbach 'Chaz' is the programmer for Diabetic 101. While working on this project Chaz helped the modelers with getting all the elements exported and engine ready.

updated color palette

2008-08-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

Bio

2008-08-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

Jamaal Hines; Sound Design/Texture Artist

I was responsible for all of the sound for the game. I also did textures for the food and some for the environment; I did the color schemes as well. I really enjoyed working on this game and I hope that people will become educated on this topic. I hope to work on many more games in the future.

I like to write Bios

2008-08-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

Christopher J. Thurman
Level Designer/Assistant Producer
I try to have fun and bring comedy to all game projects. However, keep a state of being on task for every project.

Developments

2008-08-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Well, I finished the food assets for the game, and I'll be helping Rob with textures for some more of the environment like the houses and the school. The color palette is completed; I placed it in an earlier post. I gave the colors to rob and he's begun to use them in his textures for the characters. Things seem to be moving along smoothly. I gave Chaz the food assets and he's beginning to place them into the game. Also, Chaz will start getting the path for the game set in stone. I need to redo the music list to give to Chris and I also need to give him a detailed list of the colors.

More to come.....

Food Testing

2008-08-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, So I took all the food items that I got from rob and inserted them into the game to test to see if they would work. Everything was working fine. I also got the UI working with the new food. I am currently testing out the schedule function to try and get the player to speed back up after a certain period of time. Dave sent me two images for the UI. A back and a next button. I dont know what im supposed to do with them because the sizes for the font do not match. I am also still waiting on a quit or exit button.

This is what was given to me.

this is what I needed.

I plan on re-exporting all the models for the food with textures and add them into the game.

2008-08-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today, I think the group has finally come together, and is now firing on all cylinders. We went over what we have left for the game, and I feel very confident that we will complete the game on time. This project has differently meanings for most people. From the start of the term, I wanted something that could be considered a playable game, and I wanted to complete it on time. Being able to hit deadlines is very important to me. If I can't complete the task at hand on a reasonable time table, then I am going to have nothing but problems in the future. I believe that we will have this game finished by our originally scheduled deadline, that excites me. Dave finished the layout of the web page, we just need to collect things to put into the web page. Chris and Dustin have been working on the Game Design Document, that should be finished by the end of the week. We gave Chaz some more items to put into the game, I will be finishing up the characters for him. Jamaal has textured the food items and he is helping me with the textures of the environmental pieces. I will be modeling two more houses and a school. After that, we should have a game ready for testing.

Color Palette

2008-08-05T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the color palette for the game:

Sharing a Bowl of Jalapenos.......

2008-08-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is the story of the video game I had mentioned, the text was taken from WXYZ.com

The link for the game site is at the end of the piece. Read, look, discover and imagine the possibilities.....

Video Game Fights Cancer

17-year-old Kyle Robinson is playing a game called Re-Mission. It has flashy visuals, lots of action, and a robot hero named Roxxi who goes around administering chemotherapy to cancer patients.

“It gets across the message if you don’t take your medicine your cancer could come back,” said Kyle.

Kyle was part of a research project designed to measure the effectiveness of the Re-Mission video game. It was given to young patients at cancer centers throughout the country – including the Van Elslander center at St. John Hospital.

Teens and young adults are notorious for missing doses of their medication, so it’s important to make patients realize that compliance will improve their chances for survival.

Researchers found patients who played the game had higher levels of chemotherapy drugs in their blood. They took their antibiotics more consistently and the learned important cancer-related information faster and they felt more in-control of their health.

Kyle says he learned some things while he was having fun with the game.

“I didn’t know the cancer could come back if you didn’t take your medicine,” he said.

Kyle’s chemotherapy included taking a pill once a day.

“I’d be like I’ll do it later and put it off. After the game, I took it as soon as I could,” he said.

Kyle was the perfect candidate for a game like this because if he had been given the information in a book, he says, he wouldn’t have read it.

If it had been a movie, he would have gotten bored and turned it off or a class…he wouldn’t have gone.

But in a video game...

“I played the game and learned quite a bit. I think the video game is probably the best way,” said Kyle.

For more information about Re-Mission visit www.re-mission.net

"Doing the impossible is kind of fun" -Walt Disney

Another Day with a Pepper, Jalapeno Peppers...

2008-08-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

Another Entry...

Still working on the animation, timing is everything. Wanting them to be smooth for the children, I was watching the news today and noticed a game that was put out there for cancer patience of around 12 and up if I am not mistaken and it was a success, it helped the player who is taken medication and or kemo to HELP him to remember, they asked if other methods of help would guide him like: DVD child said he would turn it off, classes he would fall asleep or not pay attention, books he would not bother to read them....

My thoughts and concerns for us are not the game but getting it up and running and testing it on the children with this sickness, guiding them to remember to watch what they it and inform them properly while having fun, I believe if testing is taking place we need to be testing on subjects who are dealing with this sickness first as they did for the cancer game, not just random individuals as we are. We CAN make it happen and we need to pull out all the stops, no more B.S. This is not just a grade it is the future for some of us, there is no more time for delay and if it is myself that is falling short I need to be let know. Reading the blog form Rob kind of hit me because will make it work, "WE MUST LEAVE NO DOUBTS, LET THEM ALWAYS REMEMBER NEW MEDIA REVOLUTION". It is long over due are mark should be set in stone.

I will be working with Dustin(he doesn't know it yet) on trying to get the game tested at area hospitals with children effected by diabetes, that is how I feel it should be tested on first, if the knock it we can improve, make it better, overcome any and all boundaries to be successful, GUARANTEED!!! "Doing the impossible is kind of fun" -Walt Disney

Enough said it has been and is time to do and do strong, we will not fail, positive attitude and taking it in stride, being a team......It's not over til the fat lady sings, and you know what form my perspective she is over seas and no where to be found!!!!!!!!!!
-THE MEXICAN with PRIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Quotes I live by and that's why I stay SPICY...

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it.
Walt Disney

I never called my work an 'art' It's part of show business, the business of building entertainment.
Walt Disney

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

I set goals high for a reason, because there is know doubt in my mind I CAN REACH THEM.....

Week 4.....I think

2008-08-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today was not a good day. As a group we really didn't do much of anything. This is what worries me. As the weeks are going by it seems like we are doing less and less, even though we don't have much left to do with the game, I would prefer if we couldn't finish early so we had time to work out all the kinks. Chaz found away to create a map hud for the character to follow, Jamaal finished the texturing of the food items and I continued the work on the characters. I don't know what has been done with the website or box art, but I was told that the web page should be done this weekend. The Game Design Document is still not finished (It should have been already). We need to finish this game within the next couple of weeks so we can have real time for play testing and adding any extra pieces to the game to jazz it up. On Tuesday we will have a team meeting to go over what has been done and what needs to be done; it will be our midterm milestone summary. Just to see if we hit our goals from the beginning and to readjust the milestones for the rest of the term.

I like to eat....(breakfast)

2008-07-31T16:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that we did the group activity. It was food. Of course I mentioned it because food is always the best thing to get people together. We ate at big boys for breakfast. It was alright, the only thing that we discussed is jokes. Nothing really related to the project. I believe that we tried to get our mind off of everything that we had to do. It was really a good time. I am hoping that after this game is made that we can all get together for a BBQ. I believe that it will be another fun time.

Today

2008-07-31T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today I showed everyone the game with the map. The response seemed to be ok. Other then that I really didnt do much except export all the food for the game. Every item of food that Chris and Rob created has now been exported and added to the game folder. The next major task that needs to be done is adding the Food items to the game. I will be setting up the Datablocks for the food and then give the items to our level designer so he can add them to our level.

Jalapeno Corner...Spicin' it Up!!!!!

2008-07-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

Week 4....Got Milk, White Milk????

Group Activity:
Today was an interesting day, we all went to Big Boy for breakfast. We ate breakfast as a team, and took a quick break from "Diabetes 101" to re-energize ourselves for the long haul. Funny but we all were placed at the table in the back behind the salad bar. Ha Ha Ha....

I ordered the french toast, scrambled eggs, sausage and coffee...yum.
Jamaal ordered southern omelette, biscuits and gravy with a chocolate milk, Dustin had a wild cherry Pepsi, and a blue Burger, cooked hockey puck. Rob, now Rob had white milk 2%, and the blockbuster. Chaz ordered chocolate milk, and a Belgium waffle (I don't think he ate it all though, wasteful) and then there is Chris Thurman. Talk about ghetto he made a sandwich, wheat toast, eggs, bacon and GRAPE JELLY. Oh and a glass of water.

Nice little break and now its time to get back to work, I have made a few calls and waiting for a price for t-shirts, company logo with team members as well as game logo...nice.

Also working on the game box for marketing purposes, web site was handed of to Dustin and is being worked on. Next continuing 2d animations and doing a bio on myself for the web site.........

to be continued.....

Developments

2008-07-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

We are continuing to work on the game. As of right now, I'm working on texturing food objects for the game. For our group activity we went to Big Boy for breakfast. Rob ordered a tall glass of white milk; Chris ordered a glass of water and made a sandwich of bacon, eggs, and grape jelly; Dustin ordered a blue cheese burger; Dave ordered French Toast; Chaz ordered waffles and didn't eat it all; I ordered an omelette.

Hate being sick

2008-07-31T04:49:00.000-07:00

Being sick throws me off big time. I have gotten up with Dave and almost have the site finished. It will be done before Monday. (using his design and my code) I am going to enjoy the group activity for today ( having breakfast with the team) I need to relax before today goes on. Lots of personal stuff happening in my life.
We have a little slippage with the web site (My fault) and some lag in the game but it keeps going forward which is good.
Chris and I are working on the GDD. I fear it will end up biting us if we don't catch up with it soon and get ahead of it. Rob and Dave are working on the art part of the GDD and Chaz is working on his programming part.
Still tiered from being ill and still dragging but am forcing my self to work instead of sleep. Hope everyone is doing better than me.

I like to make levels

2008-07-31T04:29:00.000-07:00

While I was starting on the document I was handed down another task by Chaz that was more important. This task was to design the level. We gave him the models so they can be exported and then Chaz change all the bad collision models with the good collision models with code. (...Very amazing btw...) However, there was one problem with this, it was the fact that everything wasn't looking right. The houses were too close together and they all were turned wrong. So, I spent the day making sure everything was turned the right way and a good distance away from one another.

The next step is to get everything textured so it can be in the game and start putting in all those wonderfully modelled food items that Robert and I modeled for the game so that Chaz can get all of those working.

There was one error that I saw and that was with the school. That building needs to be remodeled so I told Robert this and he said that he was going to start working on it along with some other houses. He apparently does not like the fact that all the houses look alike.

Map hud

2008-07-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have the map hud up and running. I will need to test it more on a better pc. It seems to be kinda laggy but we will see what happens. Here is a screen shot on how it is looking. The icon on the map will need to be changed.

Today's Update

2008-07-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. Today we went over what we had left to do. The three main items for the rest of the term are; the revision of the GDD, the finish of the game, and the web page. Dave is finishing the web page and box art, I finished the characters and the rest of the assets, Jamaal is texturing the assets and doing the color selection page, Chaz has the finished models and has exported them, Chris is working out the level with the assets and Dustin is reworking the GDD. By Thursday we should have the level worked out with some of the assets to go, I am finishing the rigs and finishing the animations on the last two characters and Chaz is working on the paths for the collection race. We will get together Thursday to go over the next couple of weeks.
We had set out to finish the game by week 8 so we could debug the game and make changes for weeks 9 and 10, and go over our presentation for week 11. My concerns are that we as a team might be getting too comfortable where we are at and we might slack up and fall behind. If that happens, we might not be able to fulfill our deadlines. My ultimate goal is to finish the game early and not end up like last term; staying up late cramming everything in at the last moment. That is not what I want for this term, even if the game doesn't end up like we sought out for; as long as we have a working level, and we finish up on time, we look professional and that means a lot to me.

Programming

2008-07-29T09:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, So today I got a few models from Rob and Chris. These models were the new house, light pole, telephone pole, mailbox, fence and a few trees. I took this models and exported them and added them to the game. Now that they are in the game, the new houses are to close togeather. Also there is an issue with the fence that Chris gave me. The fence's that were in the game were part underground and when you added in the new fence's to the game there were completly underground. So I had to go through the level and pull up the fence to make them level with the ground. I gave the new level to Chris so he can go through and fix the issue with the houses being to close and rearrange the level to make it playable. Im going to get the fruit from Rob and export them with collision and add them to the game as well. The last thing that I am working on, is the possibility of having a map in the game, like an RTS map. I know the RTS starter kit has a map gui item which I will be looking at to see how they created it and got it working.

I like to write(?)

2008-07-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

It looks as though the environment is finished being modelled and we are(by we I mean Jamaal) is working on texturing the models. We have a couple of things left to do to get our new look and feel of the game finished. We really have came a long way from when we first started. It is really good.

Now, the next thing that has to be tackled is the document. Last semister I almost died trying to do this basically at the last minute with noones real input. This semister it will be different we all are going to do apart of it and it will be better then before. Dustin and I are going to start on it today.

Spicy and Hot....The Jalapeno Corner

2008-07-27T10:25:00.001-07:00

Welcome.....

Just doing my job, working hard and efficiently on the project. I am doing the web page, box layout and anything else that comes my way, I have been also working on the 2d animations for Dr. Scribbles and it is coming along, lots of work.

Trying to focus on one thing at a time but its time that I don't have to waste it is all full of Diabetes 101. Will be delivering a box prototype in the next few classes, trying to make it pop and look CRISPY. I will be posting pictures of Doc Scribbles in the exam room as soon as no later than Thursday, until then Mexican Incredible is back to the drawing table, and keeping true to my motivation....

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
-Walt Disney

As Walt put it, it is an adrenaline rush.....

Week 3

2008-07-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. I am a little late on this post, but I have been working diligently on this project. We had to start over on some of the models today because of collision problems. But that is okay because it gave us a chance to make the environment a little more cartoony and wild. I did the new house for the main characters, and a few variations of trees. Chris did some new street lamps and telephone polls, and Jamaal did the new mailboxes for our houses. Dave has been working out the layout and design for the web page, and he has been putting out some good work which is directly in line with the look of the game. I finished the modeling of the final two characters and the rig has been built, I just need to skin them and work on a few animations; then I will be able to work on other things (textures). As of right now, it is hard to tell where we are at on this project, everyone has been working, but there has been very little communication amongst ourselves. That has been worrying me for the past week now. We really need to hammer out the Game Design Document, and we need to focus on the website and box art. Everything else with respect to the structure for the game is going well, we just need to communicate more if we plan on completing the project on time.

Keepin' it Spicy....The Jalapeno Corner

2008-07-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well here you go keeping true to the game, the web site layout. I stuck with the theme of New Media Revolution, staying with the film strip. Though I used black and grey the main heading of the company is red, the other pages can be the same feel as if the user was going through the film, or frame.

Colors

2008-07-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Ok I am trying to re-skin the site and make it look good. My kids say that the colors for the site that have been chosen are not good they don't look right. We have a lot of red, black and white in the screens for the game in the beginning. The question for the art department is, "Do we want to make a site that has the feel and visuals of a medical alert bracelet?"

Web site

2008-07-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

Chaz ok I will get up with Dave. The Idea that I had was a corporate site that would open the game site. I will redesign the site to be all about the game. Thanks for the feed back.

Web site rough

2008-07-24T06:12:00.000-07:00

Dustin,
Dont worry about the models. Everyone is working on them now. As for the website. This will not work. It does not match the feel of the game and it just does not look good. You and Dave need to get together and hammer out a look/feel of the website asap.

web site rough

2008-07-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the website rough I designed it in black and white to give it an old movie feel.

The design is a cross between a movie sound clapper and a movie screen.

The concept for it is that when you mouse over an object that it will colorize.

All items that appear in the large white screen area will be in color to make them pop.

The buttons on the left are hidden in the gradient they will change to a sepia tone

when moused over.

Developments

2008-07-24T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
In the past week I finished the color schemes for the world, the website, and the user interface. Like I stated in a previous post, the colors for the world will be colorful and lively; like a cartoon. Primary and Secondary colors will be used for the world. The colors for the website and U.I. will be reds and it's complements. The next phase is to get with Dave and Rob and come up with a concept for the layout of the website and U.I. I also finished the fonts for the game as well. Our Decorative Font will be Porky's and our Regular Type Font will be Century Gothic with a spacing of 1.5.
This week I will be working on textures for the food in the game and other objects that we will be using. More information to come...

blacked out

2008-07-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

I blacked out after the last post that I did at 11 ish sorry (sleeping a lot) .

Let me think...

Fonts:

Decorative font is

Porky's

Main font is

Century Gothic (spacing: expanded 1.5)

Website/UI colors:

Red R:191 G:2 B:34

Maroon R:100 G:2 B:22

Violet R:135 G:1 B:108

Pink R:240 G:117 B:142

Gold R:228 G:175 B:52

White R:255 G:255 B:255

Johnny:

Sneakers;

Red R:191 G:2 B:34

White R:255 G:255 B:255

T-shirt;

White R:255 G:255 B:255

Shorts;

Blue R:43 G:10 B:177

World:

Primary and Secondary Colors.

Red R:191 G:2 B:34

Orange R:255 G:102 B:0

Yellow R:255 G:204 B:0

Green R:51 G:153 B:51

Blue R:43 G:10 B:177

Purple R:109 G:1 B:109

Thank you Jamaal for the list.

Thinking about this as I entered it however I think we need to also add more shades of Green along with two shades of Brown and a Gray Black for the cement that will be used on the roads and such.

I like to go to the doctor's

2008-07-23T21:07:00.001-07:00

I have finished the doctors office in constructor. That is finished and ready to be textured. I have also modelled the examination table, cabinets and drawers, and I also modeled a doctors desk. They are all ready to be textured. The next thing I will do is model a couple more food items for the group tomorrow. My guess is that we will need a nice variety. Until next time.

sick...

2008-07-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

I left school early on Tuesday because I did not feel "right" half way home I found out why. Had to pull over several times on the way home because I was ill. I am not doing very well and I will not be in on Thursday. However I will be posting most of my files that I have to my download site so that they can be down loaded by the team. I have been working on the web site, the collision on the houses and such so Chaz can put them in. Jamaal has given me the color palate and the fonts for the game I will post them in the next post to follow this. I am going to the doctors in the afternoon. Please give me feed back on the web site when you get it from the site. The collision I am sorry to say is not coming along well. I will talk to Chaz about it Thursday. I have to recreate some of the assets because they have been lost. Thanks for your understanding. Kim I will have stuff for you too.

GUI Update

2008-07-22T18:47:00.001-07:00

Hello Again,

I got an email from dave with the updated images for the gui. I took the new images and added them into the game. This is what I have as of right now.

The next step is to scale down the images and add in the background as well as DR. Scribbles. Till next time.

Up to Date

2008-07-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Rob here. As of today we have the game going in the right direction. Dave is working on the UI and Chaz is working out the buttons on that. Chris has built the doctor's office in constructor and Jamal is working on the textures for it. He is also putting together the fonts and palette reference sheet. I finished the modeling on the female character and I am almost done with the doctor. I will be doing the rig and animations next. We haven't started working on the website or box art which is worrying me. I don't want to get behind because if we do, I am not sure if we can get caught up. Dave had his kids test the game thus far, and they seemed pretty interested in what we have. Next, we are going to texture the doctor's office, and finish the GUI and UI. I should have the finished characters ready by then. Chaz is working on the new camera system to have less movement so the kids that are playing the game don't have to worry too much about the extra movements of the camera. Basically we are making it easier for the character. By Thursday, we will know where we stand. We will go over everything that we have done so far and go over are milestones to see if we are still on track.

Playing and GUI Layout

2008-07-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today Dave gave me the GUI images but it was not what I needed. I still need the text for the buttons and the images for the rest of the intro screen and the other screens. I will need text for the following words

Start
Help
Quit
Diabetes
101
Character
Select
Character not playable in demo

Today, I also implemented the advanced camera into the project. So instead of having a camera that is right on top of the player. We now have a camera that is hanging back and restricts movement of the camera. The player is no longer able to move the camera up and down. They can only move it to the left or right. I am still waiting on the models for the game so I can fix the collision on them. Peace Till thursday.

I like to eat the junk food edition

2008-07-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

The candybar is finished again, but Rob was having a backward cability problem. I had to redo it, which is now complete. Also I was have a hamburger too many polygon problem which is now solved the hamburger is now 96 polys.

on track

2008-07-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I will get the color schemes and fonts. The web will be done by Thursday as per the mile stones. I have read the updates from my team..... Rob where are you??? What have you done? Have you gotten the stuff you need from Dave? Tuesday I will repost the mile stones that I will flesh out more. Iconography is the word for the day my friends look it up. :)

Thank you for reading.

I like to eat and drink (Remix)

2008-07-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I gave the food and drin models to Rob in class. There is a couple that he told me to redo because it did not work which is the candy bar model. I want to try to add a couple more to the mix just to have some more variety. I still need the textures for the office so that I can do that. I hae the models that Chaz did last term for the hospital and I will add those to them. That is all for now.

Welcome Again to the Jalapeno Corner...

2008-07-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

SPICY....

Well we are going on to week 3. I have spent an equal amount of time on this game and other classes. I am eating , sleeping, thinking, and dreaming this game I am Diabetes 101.

I gave the finished level to Chaz on Thursday, Rob got model sheets for Dr. Scribbles and Judy Beads. Character select screen is done and ready to be handed of to Chaz on Tues. Game buttons are being re-done and will be given to Chaz also on Tues.

I also over the last few days did some test on the blocked out level without character and the character select screen, the people envoled were my sons Andrew (7) and Malik (6) and neighbor Rasheed (10). There feedback was very positive, wanted to play more of the game with characters and like the layout and design of the game. Liked the design of the characters as well as the character select screen and logo.

This week I will be working heavy on the animation cut scenes in flash and cranking them out as soon as humanly possible.

Level Given

2008-07-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

Today Dave gave me the level. It looked good but I found a few issues with it that needs to be fixed asap. The collision on the trees seems to be like the bounding box's, if that's the case we should set up the collision box's to be just the trunk of the tree. The fence and the power poles did not have any collision's on them. I asked Dave to give me the max files so i can fix the issues, which I should have done later. I also took the level and organized it a little bit more. I added simgroups for the items in the game for tree's, house's, pole's and other objects. I was also give the new intro screen and start screen from Dave, but they were in a flash file. I can not convert the files from flash to photoshop. So I asked Dave to break down the elements into png's for the button background and png's for the words on the buttons. That is all for now.

Developments

2008-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
My project for right now is getting the fonts for the game, the color scheme for the game, and the color scheme for the website. Tuesday after class I reviewed a color concept for Johnny (our main character) with Dave and Rob. He will be an average looking kid with red and white sneakers, blue shorts, and a white T-Shirt. The color scheme I came up with for the website is red and it's complements. Because this is a game for children, I want to have bold warm and cool colors for the world. I don't want anything complicated in the color scheme. Things sould be simple and it should flow. I've collected some fonts for the directions and the buttons. They just need to be reviewed by the team. The color template will be posted soon.

insomnia

2008-07-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

I am awake ..... VERY AWAKE for 11:42PM!!! I have no idea why. I keep thinking of things for games. Ours and others. Dave has the level blocked out ready to hand off to Chaz on Thursday. The Web site is coming along I still need the color lay out and fonts from Jamaal, Dave, and Rob. I have read the blog well I have read the last two that have been posted. Thanks guys for the feed back. I too am a little apprehensive right now, we are all on the same page which is great however I feel like we are not advancing a quickly as we should be. We need to step up the pace and get get this going. The team members that are not posting need to start posting.

We have made good progress this week. The level is blocked, sound is good for now, characters are ready to go in, programing is working and up, we have web space (Thank you Chaz for the donation)

Today we have the GDD review. I am looking forward to this. I am expecting to get a lot of good feed back on it. (We are going to get shredded! "Some times the best thing that can happen to you is a kick in the teeth." Walt Disney) I am also going to be hounding my team for the assets that I need along with the assets that everyone else needs so we can get this going.

Thanks for reading.

Demo Ready

2008-07-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

Ok, so for this week I was under the impression that we were supposed to have the level blocked out and playable on Tuesday, but I was wrong. So I am kinda on stand by waiting for everyone to get stuff to me. Last Thursday I finished the players ability to run faster or to run really really slow. This will be used for part of the game mechanic. The player will be able to pick up different foods which will increase or decrease their glycemic index. When the player eats the food it will either decrease or increase their index, which will cause them to slow down or speed up. Once I get the level from dave we will be able to start play testing the game with kids and adults alike. We will see what happens on thursday. If we do not have a playable demo then there will be problems.

Too many polys

2008-07-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Aparently, the fruit that was provided had way too many polys on them and they have to be redone. The pop bottle also had too many polys with them as well. So, it is back to the modelling board. :(

Tuesday_Week2

2008-07-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hello World,

Its Rob people. After a long and drawn out weekend, its time to get back into the jist of things. Today, the group came together and broke down what we did over the weekend and what we need by Thursday. Chaz has worked on the food system and how it will raise the characters glucose levels, Dave is just about finished with the level mock up. As soon as he is finished with that, Chaz will have it to test the game play mechanics. Chris and myself are working on the food items for the collection game, Jamaal and myself are working on the color scheme for the game and interface elements. After Dave finishes the level build, he and I will get together and put out some drafts of the other two character for the game; then I will do my character pipeline to get those finished. We haven't had any problems so far, I am a little worried that this week is going so smoothly, I feel that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we don't seem to be in panic mode like last term. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. I assumed that we were going to work 100 mph from here on out and we haven't reached that mode yet and I am feeling a little uneasy. Other than that we are working together nicely and seem to be on the same page(maybe that is why I feel uneasy, since last term we were all over the place). For now, things are good and I look forward to posting again soon.

Jobs for our team

2008-07-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

David Marquez-Concept artist/level design/UI
Jamaal Hines-Sound & Foley/level design
Chaz Hengesbach- Programmer
Chris Thurman-Level Design/Gap Filler/UI
Rob Reiterman-3D modeler/level design/UI
Dustin Zagumny-Producer /Website Desting/ gap filler

Adjusted Mile Stones

2008-07-15T04:51:00.000-07:00

Week 1 Post mile stones determine Jobs
Week 2 Testing and Adjusting/Level blocked out
Week 3 Testing and Adjusting/ Website layout done
Week 4 Testing and Adjusting/ GUI done /Record any voice over’s
Week 5 Testing and Adjusting/Mechanic refined and done
Week 6 Testing and Adjusting/Brake It!!!!!!/Start art for advertisement and packaging
Week 7 Testing and Adjusting/Advertisement art done and finalized
Week 8 Testing and Adjusting/Website up and running
Week 9 Final debugging of game/Start of prep for presentation
Week 10 Finalize pitch/practice
Week 11 Presentation/Start work on next project after short break

I like to eat

2008-07-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

There are a couple fruits that are finished modeling, they are oranges, apples, and bananas. I really don't think that I should texture them so I will pass them off to someone tomorrow so that they can do it.

Also, the more and more I think about it we need to discuss how we are going to create the street and sidewalks. I would like them not to be just a flat surface, but to look real with the curb and everything. Trying to find out the best possible way to do that.

Jalapeno Corner....More Art Work

2008-07-13T08:40:00.001-07:00

Job: Artist- Working with Rob

Here is more art for the game I have worked on between Tues. and today 7-13-08. I am responsible for blocking out the level for Tues. 7-15-08.

I have enclosed the screen shots for the tutorial screen for the player in "Dr. Scribbles" office. This is the Help or tutorial section of the game to "hold the childs hand" teaching them to maintain there bllod shugar level and the effects both good and bad for doing so.

Week 1...From the Jalapeno Corner.....DB 101

2008-07-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here it is though it is late, my blog for week 1....

What a first week though I thought we were going in a positive direction we hit a road block after day one. In regards to day 1 we had are own personal team meeting and tried to get our stuff together, we all sat and went over the feed back we received from interface. It was very constructive and that is what from a personal perspective we were on track but I was wrong we had a difference form interest in the game mechanics.

After our critique with Kim we were drilled and got a good kick in the rear and after our team meeting on Thursday we as a TEAM our on the road to success we have a GAME. We were all given our tasks to be completed by next week and we are all ready to make it happen. I still have the artist responsibilities as well as as siting in level design, box design for marketing, logo design, gui, storyboards for 2d animation, 2d animation, etc.

Lots of work to be done but it Mexi-C-A-N get done. Compared to last semester with this team we are more in tune to being a team and we are all speaking up about our ideas and direction for gaming success.

I have enclosed some screen shots for the game on an earlier post but I will post them again on here. One is the company screen "New Media Revolution" the other is the "Diabetes 101" start screen 1.

Hello once again

2008-07-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
It's that time again. This semester, we are going to try to zero in and make the game actually a game. On Tuesday, we divided the roles again. Because we lost a team member this semester, some of us took the reigns of Level Design (the role that needed to be replaced because of our team member). I'm now doing level design and have a pretty good idea how to make it better.

Updates coming soon...

Mile Stones

2008-07-10T04:56:00.000-07:00

Week 1 Post mile stones determine Jobs
Week 2 Testing and Adjusting/ Website layout
Week 3 Testing and Adjusting/Gui done
Week 4 Testing and Adjusting/Record any voice overs
Week 5 Testing and Adjusting/Mechanic refined and done
Week 6 Testing and Adjusting/Brake It!!!!!!/Start art for advertisement and packaging
Week 7 Testing and Adjusting/Advertisement art done and finalized
Week 8 Testing and Adjusting/Website up and running
Week 9 Final debugging of game/Start of prep for presintation
Week 10 Finalize pitch/practice
Week 11 Presintation/Start work on next project after short brek

Welcome

2008-07-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

Well we have gone over all the advice that we received from interface (outlined in Chazs' blog erlier) and are adjusting some things. The GUI will change along with adding more player feedback while playing.
Chaz is not on board with the idea for the game so I game him 48 hrs. to come up with his own pitch and see if he can come up with anything. If he can't we are going to run with an assault style game with intro and exit movies for the player to explain diabetes and how they did in the game.
I have assigned some people aditional jobs because they are needed (level design; Jamaal, Chris, Rob, Dave. texture artist; Rob, Dave.)

New Start

2008-07-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it is a new semester in the class and new jobs for a few same jobs for a couple. As of the meeting I am the new level designer. One of a couple actually. I do have a drawing of the level and going to start making it today. The biggest problem we had was that I put something together very last minute, like within the last two weeks. The biggest problem that I foresee is the texturing of everything in 3d. However, with everyone's help I do not think that it will be a problem.

The research that I have done so far on different streets is as follows:

sidewalks are about 3.5 feet across
streets are about 20 feet across
curbs are about 1.5 inches higher then the street
driveways are about 20 feet across
lawn sizes are the same length for each house on that side of the street

Idea's to make this simpler is to have dirt roads. They are very common in the outskirts of some towns, however not very comment in major cities.

Since we are working somewhat behind and try to go forward time is very important and everything will need to go fast. So, I will try to do everything as fast as possible.

On a side note the other people who are level designers are Jamaal and Dave. They will continue to do their other jobs as well. I will continue to do mine. Until tomorrow....

Welcome to the Revolution......

2008-07-08T19:06:00.000-07:00