{"id":1207,"date":"2010-06-11T20:09:58","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T20:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/luxregina.com\/portfolio\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2018-09-04T13:12:54","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T13:12:54","slug":"ragged-edge-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/luxregina.com\/portfolio\/ragged-edge-post-mortem\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragged Edge Post Mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post mortem is an archive from my 2010 blog post on my previous site<\/h4>\n

\"\"As some of you might already know, Ragged Edge has won the phase one of the Samsung developer competition. YAY! we made the top ten of our category! ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s the tough part: we have to try our best for phase2! please everyone crosses a few fingers for us!<\/p>\n

For those of you that don\u2019t know Ragged Edge yet, let me present you the game (I posted some screenshots at the end of this post<\/strong>):<\/p>\n

Ragged Edge is a space racing game<\/strong>, in which you pilot ships going on some loops-crazy tracks, at insane speeds (with the right power-up, you can reach 600 MPH).
\nThe game plays really fast, and is a lot of fun so far! (more on the game itself in a few weeks, once the final product is released)<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ragged Edge is a long time project of French Coder, Christophe Kohler<\/strong>, at DK-Games<\/strong><\/a>. Christophe is a veteran Playstation\/Playstation2 developer, turned cross-platform specialist<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He originally approached me to take care of the User Interface, and everything 2D in the game, and I offered him to give a shot at also creating the 3D assets. That was definitely a risky move, as I barely ever touched a 3D program in my life, aside the 14 years old modeler AMAPI (and now long gone and unsupported).<\/p>\n

3D assets<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I will spare you the details of \u201clearning\u201d 3D Studio Max (although, it is definitely easier and more logical than I was expecting it to be \u2013 at least, for what I needed to do).<\/p>\n

Let me just say I was happy it was a space-themed game, and not a pony-racing game, for example, as I can imagine that it is way easier to model spaceships from cubes than it would have been with any organic shape.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the space elements were rather easy to model, once I understood the tricks. Most of the models are actually very simple combination and extrusions of 3D primitives<\/strong>, such as cubes, spheres, tubes and planes.<\/p>\n

The Face extrusion tool<\/strong> was intensively used in the process, as well as Boolean combination<\/strong>, to arrive to the final shapes of each asset.<\/p>\n

Each model has a very low poly count (albeit, not as low as a real 3D pro would have certainly achieved \u2013 I still need to learn the trade).<\/p>\n

The next phase was the dreaded UVs unfolding<\/strong>. For someone that never really worked in any 3D package, it was quite something to engage.<\/p>\n

Few trials and errors later, I was finally able to unfold my textures flat, and get ready for texture painting: that\u2019s where the real fun begins! ?<\/p>\n

Texture Work<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"If I learned one thing of importance in the whole process, it is how important is the texture painting. Some of my ships went through various texture tryouts, and I believe the later, final work really makes the simple models shine. A good texture allows you to bring much needed complexity and details in very simple shapes, and helps make them interesting on-screen.<\/p>\n

Luckily, texture work is pure 2D work, which is something I know better ?
\n\"\"I approached the textures the same way I usually do with flat pixel work: a combination of photographic textures heavily edited<\/strong>, with a lot of little details baked within<\/strong>. I tried to also bake a lot of lighting<\/strong> in the textures, to help reveal the various volumes in game (even the ones that are purely baked in the textures, and not part of the model itself).<\/p>\n

\"\"I know that this section is certainly very generic and boring for people that work with, and know, various 3D packages \u2013 but for me, it was a true discovery \u2013 and I enjoyed every minute of it (to a point I had to force myself to put the program down in order to get moving on other projects, etc)<\/p>\n

3D is truly addictive, and I can see myself playing with it more in the future!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Level Design<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I said previously, the game was a long-time project of Christophe, so he had a lot of ideas, and wish-list for the level design. Christophe built the levels using a custom MAX plugin he developed.<\/p>\n

His original idea was to keep all the tracks in space<\/strong>, but have them built around visual landmarks<\/strong>. We decided that our first track would be built around a huge space station<\/strong>, and that the track would unwind thought various thematic sections, around the Station.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I made a quick \u201csuggestion\u201d mock-up in Max, and Christophe build the circuit, making sure that it was long enough to provide a significant racing experience<\/strong>, that the track would always go through, or around something visually interesting for the player<\/strong>, and that the various curves and loops stayed playable at high speed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The final result is quite close to the original idea, and very fun to play.<\/p>\n

Finalizing the track also meant having a few different road textures<\/strong> that make the road a true actor in the game, and always interesting to watch.<\/p>\n

There again, like the ship textures, I used Photoshop <\/strong>to create various tracks, some of them \u201cposition-themed<\/strong>\u201d (starting track, warning areas before tight curves, etc).
\nI also used a lot of different lighting effects, to give rhythm to the track, make it visually interesting, and enhance the sentiment of speed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Creating the Splash screen<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to have a very visual \u201csplash screen\u201d to set the mood of the game: an illustration that had a lot of energy, crazy angles and over-the-top action, to catch the player as soon as he\/she starts the game.<\/p>\n

Brandon Moore <\/strong><\/a>is a young, but extremely promising Illustrator<\/strong>. He studies at SCAD, and also work with me on various \u201cportfolio\u201d material projects (you will definitely see more of his work in this blog ? )<\/p>\n

After receiving his brief, and some screenshots\/models, Brandon provided some rough proposition thumbnails.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We agreed to pick the bottom right corner proposition for the final illustration, while adding the starting station<\/strong> (can\u2019t help, I love that model :))<\/p>\n

Brandon final illustration is extremely polished, and completely captures the essence of the game<\/strong>: I believe it\u2019s a very good introduction asset to our product: Well played, Brandon!!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And now, the screenshots!<\/strong><\/p>\n

These screens illustrate our first delivery to to competition. As we get closer to the final delivery, our product will be polished, more track will be added, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

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