Hey guys!

Frozen State

Finally, have time to give you an update. There have been several interesting suggestions on the forum and I'm going to implement them in FS. The suggestions are mostly about re-balancing certain stuff(drops and items spawn) and adding a new crafting recipe. I'll try to make it all done by the next weekend.

"Project N"

The development of the new game is moving at a good pace. For the last couple of months, Anton has been working primarily on a pathfinding system and its editor.  If you don't know what the pathfinding is and what it does, the bast way to explain it would be a thing that helps AI (everything that isn't directly controlled by the player)  navigate on the level. In other words pathfinding is one of the most fundamental technical things in many games. Unity, like many other third-party engines, offers its own buit-in solution, and it's quiet good. However, it has some limitations that make this, pretty much a one-click solution, unusable for us. So, to make the game we want, we need to start with the tools. Anton did a great job and came up with a node-based pathfinding system. It's very cool and gives me, as a level designer, a lot of freedom and control. Instead of relying on generated navigational mesh, which to be honest isn't particularly precise, I can paint/erase the paths for AI on the level where I want. I can also edit every node and its parameters to fix problematic areas, or to simply add some variety to how enemies move around.  Besides it also allows to make paths for flying AI, which can navigate throughout any level efficiently. This is how it looks in the editor. A pathfidning layer for the ground types enemies
And another one in exactly same room for the flying types.
There are a few disadvantages though. One of the most significant is time. All paths on each level must be drawn by hands. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it takes time nonetheless. A small stress test for the system
On my side, I've been working on the visuals, designing, modeling and animating. Simple primitives like cubes and spheres are indispensable for quick prototyping and testing, but at some point you need more complex 3d assets to see how it comes together. These are our first enemies, which you'll be seeing quite a lot from now on. A Zbrush concept
And the actual in-game model inside Unity.
This fella is still in the concept stage
We intentionally chose a more stylized, cartoony look. Firstly, because it's a bit faster/simpler in production and as I'm going to make all the assets alone speed is very important. The second reason, I just really enjoy working on something like that. Saturday morning cartoons and anime are a big source of inspiration. A few guns, which I'm pretty sure change with time



I know, it's not much and everything isn't final,  but it should give some overall idea about the art direction. Don't forget to follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/Flox_Studios or reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/FLOX/ Thank you, Alex

[ 2017-03-15 20:27:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys!

Frozen State

Finally, have time to give you an update. There have been several interesting suggestions on the forum and I'm going to implement them in FS. The suggestions are mostly about re-balancing certain stuff(drops and items spawn) and adding a new crafting recipe. I'll try to make it all done by the next weekend.

"Project N"

The development of the new game is moving at a good pace. For the last couple of months, Anton has been working primarily on a pathfinding system and its editor. If you don't know what the pathfinding is and what it does, the bast way to explain it would be a thing that helps AI (everything that isn't directly controlled by the player) navigate on the level. In other words pathfinding is one of the most fundamental technical things in many games. Unity, like many other third-party engines, offers its own buit-in solution, and it's quiet good. However, it has some limitations that make this, pretty much a one-click solution, unusable for us. So, to make the game we want, we need to start with the tools. Anton did a great job and came up with a node-based pathfinding system. It's very cool and gives me, as a level designer, a lot of freedom and control. Instead of relying on generated navigational mesh, which to be honest isn't particularly precise, I can paint/erase the paths for AI on the level where I want. I can also edit every node and its parameters to fix problematic areas, or to simply add some variety to how enemies move around. Besides it also allows to make paths for flying AI, which can navigate throughout any level efficiently. This is how it looks in the editor. A pathfidning layer for the ground types enemies
And another one in exactly same room for the flying types.
There are a few disadvantages though. One of the most significant is time. All paths on each level must be drawn by hands. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it takes time nonetheless. A small stress test for the system
On my side, I've been working on the visuals, designing, modeling and animating. Simple primitives like cubes and spheres are indispensable for quick prototyping and testing, but at some point you need more complex 3d assets to see how it comes together. These are our first enemies, which you'll be seeing quite a lot from now on. A Zbrush concept
And the actual in-game model inside Unity.
This fella is still in the concept stage
We intentionally chose a more stylized, cartoony look. Firstly, because it's a bit faster/simpler in production and as I'm going to make all the assets alone speed is very important. The second reason, I just really enjoy working on something like that. Saturday morning cartoons and anime are a big source of inspiration. A few guns, which I'm pretty sure change with time



I know, it's not much and everything isn't final, but it should give some overall idea about theart direction. Don't forget to follow us on twitter https://twitter.com/Flox_Studios or reddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/FLOX/ Thank you, Alex

[ 2017-03-15 20:27:44 CET ] [ Original post ]