1 Feb 2010 - Drop Your Weapons!

Today I set out to remove the default weapons in my game, and look briefly at HUD (Heads-Up Display) editing in the Unreal Development Kit.

A way to start the game without player weapons can be specified in the UDK editor, which is a refreshing change from all the script i've been trawling through over the last few weeks. To disable weapons, you must go to View > World Properties > World Info and check the box marked 'no default inventory for Player' (highlighted in green below).


This removes the weapon on startup when playing the level but in third-person view the Impact Hammer appears 'under' the player through the floor when game testing for some reason. This led me on to an unexpected problem - third person view is the default setting in my mod and I need the game to be first person only, otherwise a custom character will be required for aesthetics and that would require a substantial amount of time to create - time I do not have with the deadline for the game demo being in May of this year.

The camera view is affected by the custom MyPlayerController.uc file that is created when setting up a Mod in UDK. There is no information in the script in this file to define the camera position and so my conclusion is there must be a 'default' setting in which the UDK is referring to.

The remedy to the issue must be that I need to explicitly specify the camera view in the custom game script (MyPlayerController.uc).



However, the crosshair can be removed with a small section of Unreal Script added to this file (highlighted in green above) so I have made some progress - just not as much as i'd hoped for today.

On the topic of HUD editing, I found no hard-and-fast tutorials so far but I will continue my search for this subject. The problems encountered with the camera view dominated today's work and slowed me down somewhat, as well as tiring me out mentally. I am not a scripter and looking at code I don't understand for hours with no progress does knock my enthusiasm somewhat.

I will have to resort to harassing the UDK community again and hope some kind souls will point me in the right direction.

25 Jan 2010 - Still rough, but getting there...

Following the unexpected success of implementing XxXdanceXxX's basic Humvee into the UDK, it was time to try it with a custom vehicle of my own creation.

This was important not only because I need to have my own vehicle in the finished game, but also for getting used to setting up a vehicle in the editor, which is no quick task.

As before, this tutorial has been so useful in learning a basic step-by-step setup of wheeled vehicles in the UDK:

http://code.google.com/p/steam-punk-pirates-mod/wiki/CustomWheeledVehiclesTutorial

After a little tweaking and some initial hiccups, i'm happy to say that the vehicle worked - more or less. Compiling the code each time seems to bring up slight issues that shouldn't be possible - exiting the vehicle will crash the UDK on some occasions, but not on others (the code itself remains unchanged). Still, I have a very, very basic test vehicle running around in-game which will allow me to do some course planning and testing... once i've scaled it down a bit.

Here is the basic animTree for the test steamcar:


And here's a screengrab of the (very) basic custom vehicle in the editor.



Here's hoping some real progress can be made from now on!

21 Jan 2010 - Success! The method works!

Following tutorials to create custom vehicles in UDK have so far proved fruitless and confusing, with many methods half-finished, badly explained or outdated. However, a little tinkering and late night browsing caused me to chance across an update in this thread:

http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=27082437

Forum member XxXdanceXxX has made a basic 'Humvee' vehicle for the UDK based on the in-game Scorpion, and kindly submitted source files, found here:

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/UDK/Vehicle_Tutorial


This was a far simpler, stripped-down version of a vehicle plus its script, so it was easier to understand how vehicles function in the UDK. After an hour or two of following a tutorial from another fantastic source (http://code.google.com/p/steam-punk-pirates-mod/wiki/CustomWheeledVehiclesTutorial) I was able to get dance's Humvee working in-game.

Progress at last! And a big thank you to all those who helped on the forum along the way!

11 Jan 2010 - Urban Growth in Igford

I've spent the last week modelling scenery for Igford. It's good to get back into modelling and texturing. It's all good practice for UV mapping and these simple, symmetrical buildings will be a good introduction to getting back into a good workflow for when i'm tackling much more complex models.


I'm becoming a little more ambitious with the architecture, but more importantly, i'm getting a lot quicker. The Boiler house (top picture) was modelled, UV mapped and textured in a single evening (helped by the fact that I'm recycling textures from some of the other buildings).

8 Jan 2010 - A Place to Call Home?

Following the completion of the 3D Viaduct a few days ago i'm on a bit of a modelling/texturing binge - the first time since April of last year. These are relatively simple models with basic UV maps that took about two days to do from scratch. I'm hoping as I make more models i'll be able to improve my efficiency.

Redbrick working-class Terraced house (with extended base for uneven ground). I'm really happy with the texture on this model. The coloured brickwork was inspired by Victorian buildings around Digbeth in Birmingham.

The 'slum house' is just a slightly modified version of the redbrick house, plus new textures. both of these houses will be used

3 Jan 2010 - The Construction of Igford!

The new year has started, and as i'm not really feeling up to any heavy-duty brainwork, I thought i'd make a start on modelling some of the assets for the game. I satarted with what I thought would be a simple one, but turned out to be a little more complex than I thought: A viaduct.


I decided to make this a modular asset, so that I can build multiple viaducts of varying lengths. Making the model itself in Maya was not that difficult but I made the mistake of UV mapping the most complex part of the arch first, which involved a lot of restructuring the UV for the on/off ram sections (that have no arches). So, the drive to avoid brainwork ended up in a different kind of brainwork.

Still, it was a good way to get back into modelling and UV mapping - better to get accustomed to it now than much later on when i'm pressed for time and probably panicking!

Paused

In the past, I do surf around the net looking for ideas for my papertoys. But right now, I've got too much ideas but too little time to do them. I won't be surfing around for papertoys as much as I used to be therefore I won't be able to feature new sites in this blog.

But all is not lost. I'm still updating my other blog ( www.zakane.blogspot.com ) very frequently.. You can see alot of new updates regarding my designs and my site. I'm also adding cool videos that I find from the net and add them to the blog. Hope you like it. :)

Hey, at least I'm not deleting this blog. :P