By WoC | November 30, 2020 at 08:44 PM EST | No Comments
Went off the grid and built myself a small base deep in the woods with generator and using my phone as hotspot. Worked out well with a bit of struggle. Takes an effort to build even a simple thing like a box out in the woods. Its pretty quiet now I think the plan is working well so far. I built the box from fiber board because its the best way to absorb sound waves and its cheap. Even with using cheap crap like fiber board it still cost me $56 total just for the wood. Foam interestingly enough is only good for absorbing higher frequency sound waves. Fiber board or plywood best. I didn't get plywood because its heavy as fuck to carry and also more expensive. But yeah now I have a nicely ventilated wooden box for my generator with at least one foot of breathing space all around it inside and a fan built in too.
I am hoping to finish up with WindQuest by end of the year then back on Escape from Mill Stationn.
By WoC | June 21, 2020 at 07:20 PM EDT | No Comments
Said goodbye to an old friend of mine. A true friend who stuck with me all the way through the building of my Escape from Mill Station prototype game. Uninstalled Blender 2.79 for the last time. Onward with Blender 2.83.
By WoC | May 25, 2020 at 07:23 PM EDT | No Comments
Early 2020 / late 2019 I decided to break away from EfMS and develop smaller games in the hope that one or more of them would sell so I could raise money from EfMS. I have sold a few copies of EyeRoll but not nearly enough funding of course. WindQuest is the last short game project I am currently finishing up before swinging back to EfMS. I have been writing more detailed progress reports on my Discord. Then my beloved Asus ROG laptop broke down. Took the whole machine apart but couldn't find the problem. Then bought an Acer Nitro 5 which I am currently on and very happy with.
My ability to work out of a Starbucks of course blew up in my face with the CVOD19 drama going on.
Way behind schedule with game development now but just waiting now for things to open up again and lockdown to blow over so I can resume work on my games.
By WoC | September 03, 2019 at 10:33 AM EDT | No Comments
Decided last night its a better strategy to try get EyeRoll selling and focus on its marketing rather than trying to build more small games. Then focus on Escape from Mill Station. I enjoy building the little games but there is no point really unless I can at least one of them selling. They are supposed to carry EfMS and if they dont then they are just a waste of time really.
I have another possible visual effects shot coming in today and then I am doing backups online. My power cord for my Seagate backup drive broke so I am forced to move all my backups online.
Otherwise everything good.
Looking forward to getting back on the horse with Escape from Mill Station.
By WoC | August 17, 2019 at 04:10 PM EDT | No Comments
I am about 3 days away from finishing up a little game project called "EyeRoll". Its a little maze game with puzzles. After that one I want to finish "The little drone 3" and then I will swing back to "Escape from Mill Station". The series of little games is an attempt to get something selling to raise funds for EfMS. We will see how it goes.
Both EyeRoll and The little drone 3 is on this website.
By WoC | June 06, 2019 at 08:07 PM EDT | No Comments
So I decided to swing over to the left a little and bang out a few very short "little" games. I want to see if I can get them to sell to help with funding for the EfMS game project. So The little drone was the first one. I finished that one in about a week. I am doing a sequel now that will take just a little longer since I am adding to the first one a bit. We will see how these little games do and if they will help with the EfMS game project.
By WoC | April 26, 2019 at 09:08 PM EDT | No Comments
… on all the characters.
So I will have to step up.
Not too bad. I am hoping to finish end of September now. Hopefully I can hit that target date. I am working on Iritiree's locket and then tomorrow I am kicking off on the next character.
By WoC | April 25, 2019 at 10:19 PM EDT | No Comments
Completed the time lapse breakdown of the full body concept design for Iritiree yesterday. I have her locket design to do now that's all. Then its the next character in line. I am cleaning up and rescheduling my target dates for final concept designs.
By WoC | April 23, 2019 at 05:33 PM EDT | No Comments
Easter weekend just passed.
I uninstalled Apex Legends not interested in that game anymore.
Cleaned up my bookmarks on my Edge browser that was really getting cluttered.
I am almost done with Roy's leather jacket revisit, just to get the wrinkled look out.
I moved the side pockets up a bit as well as the name tag / pin.
I also improved the reflective surface of the G-1 jacket.
I think it looks better now and I am almost ready to bounce back onto Iritiree's full body concept design. I am also almost done with that and plan to publish a time lapse of her full body concept design right after I am done with it.
I do plan on keeping the concept design for the other characters a little looser so I can get then done quicker. I plan to do more "conceptual thinking" in the 3D modeling phase which I think makes sense since it wont result in double work.
As far as gaming goes I am pretty much down to Titanfall 2 and Warframe at the moment. Blacklight is really kinda dead for me now. Even Tango Down.
By WoC | April 15, 2019 at 06:01 PM EDT | No Comments
Making my image files on my web pages smaller and editing them a bit. My website is starting to load a little slow.
Then I am ironing out Roy's G-1 jacket and clothing a bit. The wrinkles are bothering me now. Then I am continuing on with the concept designs for Iritiree which is coming along nicely. I just have a little trouble deciding what her dress should look like.
Other than that the summer is here along with rain which is annoying but long pants is stored away and shorts is out.
By WoC | March 21, 2019 at 01:22 PM EDT | No Comments
There are only 3 or 4 Legends or characters in Apex Legends. Each one has a little intro he or she does and lines to go with it. Its all chosen by the game program and the players have so say in the choices. In BLR there are many different characters that can be further customized both with lines and gear that reflects the player's personality, style and level of play. If you have only 3 or 4 Legends and there are hundreds of players what is the point in having different Legends in the first place? You see duplicates of the same Legends or characters very soon and there is no connection with the player who chooses to play that character. Also the player is the character and not the writer of the game. The Legends are given personalities by the writers and not the players. Big mistake. Also each Legend does his or her intro with animations while the selection by the player is happening at the start of each match. Funny thing is they do the same animations over and over again but the lines are different and have different beats to them. Sometimes whole different tones. The player has no control over the animation of his or her character while it seems it just says what it wants to not feel at that given moment. Its also completely disconnected from the other players / enemies or team mates. So there is no indication how the player feels and what the player is trying to convey to the enemy or the team mate. It just random "machine talk". Besides the fact that it makes the Legends or characters look completely fake and "forced" it alienates the player completely from his or her character. So you might as well be playing against not only AI but fake AI. Double wrong. In BLR the player chooses when the character says what and what actions the character are doing while the lines are spoken. Also the enemy can hear those lines so he or she can "speak directly" to the enemy and make a personal connection. In Apex Legends the enemy only hears a kill line which is random and not chosen by the player and only after the player is killed and no longer interested anyways. Plus his team mates cant hear that kill line which makes it further pointless.
BLR was a social event. A place you could go where you share your downs and ups, talk about your life, complain about your girlfriend who dumped you, discuss politics. In Apex Legends you can barely keep up with this silly and hectic schedule of trying to find a weapon and gear up before you suddenly run into the enemy and not to mention trying to keep up with your team mates that before you realize it are on the other side of the map already. There is no time to type anything in chat or even think about anything to say. Only during the intro you can try and make a little small talk and connect with your fellow team mates but then there is so much overpowering dialogue of the "machine characters" and drum roll announcements that you can barely hear anything. The machine simply tells you the player to be quiet I am talking now. So the machine takes the spot light and not the players.
In BLR you can chat with the enemy and your team mates. This adds another dynamic to the personal relationships you have during gameplay because you get to know the enemy and what the enemy says is just as important as what your team mates are saying. When two boxers are in a ring, they each get to know each other's fighting styles and they each adapt and attempt to out maneuver the other one's personal style of fighting. This also counts as a personal relationship and it develops and is fully dynamic. In Apex Legends you suddenly see the enemy after what seems years of opening the same doors and closing them. Then there is a brief encounter where you fight to win and then they are gone. No time to learn about their style, maybe just get a glimpse of it but then you see a character or Legend that looks exactly like your team mate but with different make up on the nose or something. That is not only confusing it also renders any personal or emotional impact of the enemy on you totally powerless.
The HRV brings both boxers in front of each other at all times while in Apex Legends you need this silly ring to close in tighter all the time as the squads are thinned out in numbers. Since you cant see the enemy move and interact with your movements, just like 2 boxers can see each other move, there is a complete disconnect between you and the enemy. It makes the encounter and experience a lot less personal. In BLR everything is personal and that is the great power of the game.
Just a few thoughts. :-)
I want to add one more thing. I almost feel as if Apex Legends strips away the identity of the player from the character to make the player feel better about committing murder. It really feels that way to me. Maybe that is a battle royale thing I don't know but when I walk away from Apex Legends I don't really feel very good or that I had fun but more like I have blood on my hands. I also think it attracts a more abusive and darker kind of player than BLR. I ran into a few of them while playing Apex Legends. In BLR you switch sides and players get shuffled around between the two opposing teams between matches. That is very clever because now you are on the same side with a player you were shooting at in the previous match. So the game makes it very clear that it has a very playful intent. Not this ssssh lets go kill a little today that Apex Legends feels like. Just my feeling anyways.
I am also just quietly wondering if the real sickos who are attracted to shooter games are not in fact turned off my BLR's playfulness and the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously. To a real diabolical and narcistic mind not to be taken seriously is a huge insult. Wondering if that is part of the reason why BLR failed …
By WoC | March 16, 2019 at 12:54 PM EDT | No Comments
… is coming along fine. I made the crown and hair on top of the head a little thinner which in a way echoes the head injury Roy gets during crash landing.
Then I think I have a pretty final look on her head now. I want to move on now and do alternative angles on her head and then full body.
I uninstalled Warframe and Apex Legends they just don't do it for me.
By WoC | March 07, 2019 at 09:12 PM EST | No Comments
I have only the wet and dirty look left to design on the fully dressed Roy Stratik character then its the female lead's turn. Looking forward to finishing up with the main character and be working on a different character for a change.
By WoC | March 06, 2019 at 04:18 PM EST | No Comments
I got a few more comments on the amount of wrinkles in the Roy Stratik Character's khaki pants so I decided to revisit the modeling on it and smooth out the wrinkles. I adopted a faster style of painting this time and finished it quickly. It looks better now, less complex actually works in this case. Then I have about a day left on the Roy Stratik character. I will be starting the design work on the Iritiree character very soon. I am really looking forward to work on a new character. My gaming is still ongoing and in some way getting in the way of working on my own game project. But I am having fun and Blacklight: Retribution is shutting down soon so I am enjoying it while it lasts. Apex Legends is growing on me. It more intense and not really that much fun than BLR and I also notice you keep wanting to play another match to see if you can do better. But you cant really because so much depends on luck. No wonder the game companies love this arena style games because they are very addictive and just like drugs keep pulling you back in.
By WoC | February 28, 2019 at 04:24 PM EST | No Comments
Last time I tried to draw up a schedule for my final character concept designs was right before December and that got torn to pieces pretty quickly.
I want to try scheduling again and see if I can stick to it this time.
I am almost done with the lead character and getting ready to move on to the female lead for the story.
I want to do fewer versions with the other characters since they don't really change their looks that much in the game. Hopefully that will speed things up.
By WoC | February 27, 2019 at 08:14 PM EST | No Comments
Been playing Apex Legends, Blacklight: Tango Down, Blacklight: Retribution and Warframe. Finished 2 freelance graphics jobs and now getting back to the game project.
