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Team C: Production thread

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I currently work for

Submitted by souri on
Forum

Ok, I'm starting a production thread for Team C. This thread is where we will list current team members, frequently update what they're currently assigned to do, and any posts regarding who is or should be doing what, and what else the project needs in terms of content and resources.

Active team members, please check this thread regularly.

17/5/2009

Current Team members

kthuynh86, Project manager, game design (missing in action)
mulletdulla, Game design (Game Design document refining, simple flash prototype of ideas and GUI)
Roger, Programmer (Engine research and prototyping)
Sugo, Programmer (Engine research and prototyping)
CopyRay, 3D
ussmc2, Character animation
MattD, 3D
Briefcase, 3D
HemantD, 3D
OverActive-Imagination, Sound design
JohnN, Concept Artist (developing and refining concepts)
Souri, UI designer (acquiring engine licenses)

Submitted by mulletdulla on Tue, 12/05/09 - 10:39 PM Permalink

Its good to see a totaled list of all participants on the project, but who of these are still showing interest?

These forums have been rather dead as of the last 2 weeks. No one has replied to the design changes and we still don't know about the engine licenses. I understand that they make take time and I'm fine with that. I'm more worried that the project is losing momentum and beginning to stagnant.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/05/09 - 11:21 PM Permalink

Currently we need a few things done before we can make any progress. The licenses need to get purchased, and this will happen soon. I'm waiting on sponsorship dollars, and as soon as I get that, the programmers will get their licenses. This may take another week or two, but it's definitely coming. In the meantime, they can research and prepare for the time being.

The concept art needs to be finalised and given to the 3D artists to model and texture. I'm pretty much happy with John's work so far, and if anyone wants to chime in on anything regarding the design, feel free to provide some input, otherwise, he can get onto some front/side art for the artists.

We'll delegate the job to the artists, if they're not around, I'll just message them each to let them know.

I know you're refining some of the design related stuff, and doing a mockup in flash for things - I will be using that for referencing when doing the UI and menus etc.. I've been hunting around for some tutorials on making awesome gaseous nebulae, but the ones I've found so far are pretty lame. I remember bookmarking an incredible planet surface texturing tutorial yonks ago, but I will have to hunt for it again. It was a pretty damn cool tutorial on creating some really unique looking planets. If anyone has some tutorials handy, free to post it.

I guess we can nudge OverActive-Imagination for the sound effects and ambient music etc once we have a basic demo..

Submitted by designerwatts on Tue, 12/05/09 - 11:24 PM Permalink

If I may make a suggestion. :)

You should do a headcount of people still interested. And in order to do that you should get all team members e-mails and directly notify them to respond to your e-mail to vest continued interest in the project.

People can sometimes forget to visit site and it's forums for months at a time. :) You need to contact your team-members in a more directed fashion.

Cheers.

Submitted by Johnn on Wed, 13/05/09 - 12:18 AM Permalink

I've been checking in periodically. Unfortunately I recently hit crisis point on the work front, as in I have none, so fixing that has taken priority. I'm hoping to get a better balance on the work front soon and should be back on board with regular updates then.

In the mean time any/all feedback or ideas on game themes and visuals would be helpful, especially over-arcing themes... actually I'll go and post in the concept art thread to encourage some responses and ideas there.

Submitted by Briefcase on Wed, 13/05/09 - 12:29 AM Permalink

I've been lurking around waiting to see if i have to spring into action. i could probably warm up my pencil arm and contribute some concept sketches of my own if that would help push the arty side of things forward.

Submitted by CopyRay on Wed, 13/05/09 - 6:22 AM Permalink

Hey Guys, sorry i haven't showed up in the last couple of weeks since I was busy with the VFX submission thing. So I guess we already have some concept drawings and stuff. I am free to work on it if you guys need any help with modeling or 3D animatic. Send me an email and i will reply within 24 hrs. Cheers!

Submitted by souri on Sun, 17/05/09 - 11:34 PM Permalink

We have the funds to purchase two engine licenses for Roger and Suggo, and we are ready to roll in that department.

Concerning the licenses costs, since this is coming out of my pocket, the agreement is that what ever money we make out of this game, the costs of the licenses will have to be paid back first. I can't cover a third license for mulletd, unfortunately, so if he is purchasing a license out of his own pocket for one, then that also will need to be paid back with the proceeds made from the game.

Currently, we're looking to the new refined concept art from JohnN for the artists to work from.

At this time, we will ask our 3D artists to volunteer which specific area of work they want to do. I would imagine they could be split up into spaceship and craft modelling/texturing, planet/nebular texturing and special effects, and miscellaneous.

Mulletdulla to work on some really simple flash prototypes to show off some of the gui and ideas (nothing too fancy).

Submitted by ussmc on Mon, 18/05/09 - 4:08 PM Permalink

I would like to volunteer in modelling/texturing spaceship. I ‘ve been busy at work, and working on my animation reel - will focus more on this project than on my animation reel. I can start modelling anytime.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Tue, 26/05/09 - 3:54 PM Permalink

Aaah this is really exciting! We get to start really digging our teeth into this project.

I will probably end up getting my own license so I can gt stuck into the work of this project.

I'd love to hear from Roger and Suggo when they have their engines up and running so we can discuss what they have for us so far, where to begin and what priorities need to be made to get this behemoth on a roll.

I still owe you some gui prototypes but unfortunately I dont have a working flash license on this computer. I will storyboard the major elements in photo shop however and get a doc rolling out with that over the coming week.

I also added to the design brief a reference doc to Sins of a Solar Empire. It outlines a lot of the major elements of that game I think are important for ours. Its more to do with the functionality and user interface both 2d and 3d rather than straight GUI. But when I story board up our interface I will reference aspects from both defcon and sins.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 26/05/09 - 4:21 PM Permalink

The programmers have the funds for their licenses, so you should be hearing about the engine stuff real soon. They can start implementing things straight away, and will have to put in primitives as placements for the ships etc while the concept art is getting sorted out then modelled.

The gui stuff - some pictures would suffice if you don't flash. Just some diagrams on the menus and ingame gui etc.

Submitted by suggo on Wed, 27/05/09 - 9:39 AM Permalink

Yes it is getting exciting. Hopefully I will be purchasing my license when I get home from work today. I'll let you know when I'm up and running.

Submitted by suggo on Mon, 01/06/09 - 8:21 AM Permalink

Just thought I would let you all know I have the engine running and I'm in the process of looking at how it all works.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Wed, 03/06/09 - 2:58 PM Permalink

Nice Suggo

How are you finding it? Let us know when you are ready to rumble with it. Any word from Roger on his license? I haven't seen him post in a while.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 03/06/09 - 3:35 PM Permalink

Thanks for keeping us updated. You will have to correspond with Roger to see what part of development you both will be working on. Please use place holders for the art for the time being while the concept art and models get worked on.

Submitted by suggo on Fri, 05/06/09 - 7:28 PM Permalink

Cool, Placeholders for the art is no problem. I'm still doing some learning at the moment looking at the demos etc. I've been a bit slack this week but hopefully the long weekend will give me some time to get my hands dirty.

Also, I would like to try and put together some sort of technical design document outlining the exact structure of the code for our game. It will detail how different classes in the engine need to be used and/or extended and a general overview of how it all works together. This way Roger and I will be on the same page.

Roger, if you have any ideas let us know or put them in a document. Hopefully I can get a good start on it this weekend and we can compare notes and come up with a solid structure.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 18/06/09 - 4:51 PM Permalink

So, it comes at no surprise that without any communication, projects appear to stay at a stand still. We could get some response from Roger on how the engine work is progressing? We really need to get some concept art finalised to get the artists to work on something as well.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Thu, 18/06/09 - 8:19 PM Permalink

Hey guys,

I've been on a bit of a hiatus sorry. Last weekend I took a trip to sydney and I just got back yesterday. Now next week I am moving to Melbourne for a 3 month contract with Studio Moshi. Unfortunately this will chew a lot of my free time but I am still committed to this project. It just may be another week or so till you see some more big posts from me.

I still havent seen any feedback on my interface design yet souri? any questions for it from you or chris?

Submitted by suggo on Sat, 20/06/09 - 10:44 AM Permalink

I have been a little busy with other things lately and haven't found time to get a good move on but I'm still checking out the examples and documentation. not much to report.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 07/07/09 - 1:07 PM Permalink

Has anyone heard from Roger? He seems to have gone missing....

Submitted by suggo on Tue, 07/07/09 - 8:20 PM Permalink

Haven't heard from him, I've been a little lazy and if he has done any planning it would be great to hear about it. I'm a little lacking in motivation at the moment because I have been very busy at work.

Submitted by vordu on Wed, 08/07/09 - 4:44 PM Permalink

Hi Peeps. Sorry for posting this here, but its hard to figure out where all the participation is happening with these indie projects.

Basically I'm interested in doing an indie project with a good group of committed people. I can see that there are a couple of people that post/communicate regularly, but it appears that most of the projects have come to a stand still.

I'm a software team lead in my day job, free lance at night with some personal indie projects of my own. I've got about 11 years experience in the game/graphics industry. I have already licensed Unity 3D Pro and iPhone so would be keen to work on a project utilising that engine. Some of the artwork I have seen here I especially like, but I would prefer to work on a smaller project that has a quick time to completion. Talking Beta version in months not years.

Is this a suitable place for me to be hanging out? :)

Cheers.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 13/07/09 - 4:09 PM Permalink

Ok, it looks like we will making a shift in engine choice to Unity 3D, and it would be great to get the programmers who have shown interest in this project to discuss what part of the game they'd want to tackle.

So far, the programmers we have interested are:

Suggo
fuedone
vordu

Let me know which area of the game you want to be responsible for, thanks.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 13/07/09 - 4:13 PM Permalink

Hi Vordu,
If you are interested in taking on smaller projects, you should consider joining Team B. The current project is at a stand still, but I'm keen on getting another small scaled game going. I have made some suggestions on the type of game we could do, but feel free to provide input there.

Submitted by fuedone on Mon, 13/07/09 - 10:50 PM Permalink

i dont know how quick i can afford unity indie license, i suppose i can just re-use the 30 day trial for a 2 months, i am saving up to go to freeplay first lol.

after that ill probably save up for unity indie license and basic iphone license.

i don't really mind which section, i have done a bit of everything before..

edit: just downloaded unity, its pretty awesome and simple to use lol

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178/fuedone/unity.jpg

Submitted by suggo on Tue, 14/07/09 - 9:18 AM Permalink

I'll get my copy of unity some time in the next week. As for areas to work on i'm not picky although my weakest areas are probably networking and AI.
I think we should use the design document to break the game up into parts and look at how we are going to structure the game, I have been making some notes about the game objects involved, I will try and get it into a post when I get home tonight.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 14/07/09 - 1:30 PM Permalink

ah sweet,

sounds like we got some momentum back. I'm still MIA a tad, I don't have internet in my apartment yet but that should be resolved quickly.

It'll be good to see some of your notes Suggo as well as any techincal designs you can write out in terms of using unity and deliverying to a PC platform as well as possibly the iphone

Porting to iphone is definately an area to explore, it may be something we can look into now as well if it is the desired platform. However there remains the issue there of the added costs for the iphone liscence and publishing.

Taking a look at the objectives of the Game Design Document is certainly the the next step in our production. We will need to outline a first pass priority list of what needs to be developed to get the ball rolling. I'll start taking a look at this over the next week now that I am settled in and hopefully deliver some notes into next weekend.

Its also good to have you on board fuedone!

~ Mulletdulla

Posted by souri on
Forum

Ok, I'm starting a production thread for Team C. This thread is where we will list current team members, frequently update what they're currently assigned to do, and any posts regarding who is or should be doing what, and what else the project needs in terms of content and resources.

Active team members, please check this thread regularly.

17/5/2009

Current Team members

kthuynh86, Project manager, game design (missing in action)
mulletdulla, Game design (Game Design document refining, simple flash prototype of ideas and GUI)
Roger, Programmer (Engine research and prototyping)
Sugo, Programmer (Engine research and prototyping)
CopyRay, 3D
ussmc2, Character animation
MattD, 3D
Briefcase, 3D
HemantD, 3D
OverActive-Imagination, Sound design
JohnN, Concept Artist (developing and refining concepts)
Souri, UI designer (acquiring engine licenses)


Submitted by mulletdulla on Tue, 12/05/09 - 10:39 PM Permalink

Its good to see a totaled list of all participants on the project, but who of these are still showing interest?

These forums have been rather dead as of the last 2 weeks. No one has replied to the design changes and we still don't know about the engine licenses. I understand that they make take time and I'm fine with that. I'm more worried that the project is losing momentum and beginning to stagnant.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 12/05/09 - 11:21 PM Permalink

Currently we need a few things done before we can make any progress. The licenses need to get purchased, and this will happen soon. I'm waiting on sponsorship dollars, and as soon as I get that, the programmers will get their licenses. This may take another week or two, but it's definitely coming. In the meantime, they can research and prepare for the time being.

The concept art needs to be finalised and given to the 3D artists to model and texture. I'm pretty much happy with John's work so far, and if anyone wants to chime in on anything regarding the design, feel free to provide some input, otherwise, he can get onto some front/side art for the artists.

We'll delegate the job to the artists, if they're not around, I'll just message them each to let them know.

I know you're refining some of the design related stuff, and doing a mockup in flash for things - I will be using that for referencing when doing the UI and menus etc.. I've been hunting around for some tutorials on making awesome gaseous nebulae, but the ones I've found so far are pretty lame. I remember bookmarking an incredible planet surface texturing tutorial yonks ago, but I will have to hunt for it again. It was a pretty damn cool tutorial on creating some really unique looking planets. If anyone has some tutorials handy, free to post it.

I guess we can nudge OverActive-Imagination for the sound effects and ambient music etc once we have a basic demo..

Submitted by designerwatts on Tue, 12/05/09 - 11:24 PM Permalink

If I may make a suggestion. :)

You should do a headcount of people still interested. And in order to do that you should get all team members e-mails and directly notify them to respond to your e-mail to vest continued interest in the project.

People can sometimes forget to visit site and it's forums for months at a time. :) You need to contact your team-members in a more directed fashion.

Cheers.

Submitted by Johnn on Wed, 13/05/09 - 12:18 AM Permalink

I've been checking in periodically. Unfortunately I recently hit crisis point on the work front, as in I have none, so fixing that has taken priority. I'm hoping to get a better balance on the work front soon and should be back on board with regular updates then.

In the mean time any/all feedback or ideas on game themes and visuals would be helpful, especially over-arcing themes... actually I'll go and post in the concept art thread to encourage some responses and ideas there.

Submitted by Briefcase on Wed, 13/05/09 - 12:29 AM Permalink

I've been lurking around waiting to see if i have to spring into action. i could probably warm up my pencil arm and contribute some concept sketches of my own if that would help push the arty side of things forward.

Submitted by CopyRay on Wed, 13/05/09 - 6:22 AM Permalink

Hey Guys, sorry i haven't showed up in the last couple of weeks since I was busy with the VFX submission thing. So I guess we already have some concept drawings and stuff. I am free to work on it if you guys need any help with modeling or 3D animatic. Send me an email and i will reply within 24 hrs. Cheers!

Submitted by souri on Sun, 17/05/09 - 11:34 PM Permalink

We have the funds to purchase two engine licenses for Roger and Suggo, and we are ready to roll in that department.

Concerning the licenses costs, since this is coming out of my pocket, the agreement is that what ever money we make out of this game, the costs of the licenses will have to be paid back first. I can't cover a third license for mulletd, unfortunately, so if he is purchasing a license out of his own pocket for one, then that also will need to be paid back with the proceeds made from the game.

Currently, we're looking to the new refined concept art from JohnN for the artists to work from.

At this time, we will ask our 3D artists to volunteer which specific area of work they want to do. I would imagine they could be split up into spaceship and craft modelling/texturing, planet/nebular texturing and special effects, and miscellaneous.

Mulletdulla to work on some really simple flash prototypes to show off some of the gui and ideas (nothing too fancy).

Submitted by ussmc on Mon, 18/05/09 - 4:08 PM Permalink

I would like to volunteer in modelling/texturing spaceship. I ‘ve been busy at work, and working on my animation reel - will focus more on this project than on my animation reel. I can start modelling anytime.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Tue, 26/05/09 - 3:54 PM Permalink

Aaah this is really exciting! We get to start really digging our teeth into this project.

I will probably end up getting my own license so I can gt stuck into the work of this project.

I'd love to hear from Roger and Suggo when they have their engines up and running so we can discuss what they have for us so far, where to begin and what priorities need to be made to get this behemoth on a roll.

I still owe you some gui prototypes but unfortunately I dont have a working flash license on this computer. I will storyboard the major elements in photo shop however and get a doc rolling out with that over the coming week.

I also added to the design brief a reference doc to Sins of a Solar Empire. It outlines a lot of the major elements of that game I think are important for ours. Its more to do with the functionality and user interface both 2d and 3d rather than straight GUI. But when I story board up our interface I will reference aspects from both defcon and sins.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 26/05/09 - 4:21 PM Permalink

The programmers have the funds for their licenses, so you should be hearing about the engine stuff real soon. They can start implementing things straight away, and will have to put in primitives as placements for the ships etc while the concept art is getting sorted out then modelled.

The gui stuff - some pictures would suffice if you don't flash. Just some diagrams on the menus and ingame gui etc.

Submitted by suggo on Wed, 27/05/09 - 9:39 AM Permalink

Yes it is getting exciting. Hopefully I will be purchasing my license when I get home from work today. I'll let you know when I'm up and running.

Submitted by suggo on Mon, 01/06/09 - 8:21 AM Permalink

Just thought I would let you all know I have the engine running and I'm in the process of looking at how it all works.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Wed, 03/06/09 - 2:58 PM Permalink

Nice Suggo

How are you finding it? Let us know when you are ready to rumble with it. Any word from Roger on his license? I haven't seen him post in a while.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 03/06/09 - 3:35 PM Permalink

Thanks for keeping us updated. You will have to correspond with Roger to see what part of development you both will be working on. Please use place holders for the art for the time being while the concept art and models get worked on.

Submitted by suggo on Fri, 05/06/09 - 7:28 PM Permalink

Cool, Placeholders for the art is no problem. I'm still doing some learning at the moment looking at the demos etc. I've been a bit slack this week but hopefully the long weekend will give me some time to get my hands dirty.

Also, I would like to try and put together some sort of technical design document outlining the exact structure of the code for our game. It will detail how different classes in the engine need to be used and/or extended and a general overview of how it all works together. This way Roger and I will be on the same page.

Roger, if you have any ideas let us know or put them in a document. Hopefully I can get a good start on it this weekend and we can compare notes and come up with a solid structure.

Submitted by souri on Thu, 18/06/09 - 4:51 PM Permalink

So, it comes at no surprise that without any communication, projects appear to stay at a stand still. We could get some response from Roger on how the engine work is progressing? We really need to get some concept art finalised to get the artists to work on something as well.

Submitted by mulletdulla on Thu, 18/06/09 - 8:19 PM Permalink

Hey guys,

I've been on a bit of a hiatus sorry. Last weekend I took a trip to sydney and I just got back yesterday. Now next week I am moving to Melbourne for a 3 month contract with Studio Moshi. Unfortunately this will chew a lot of my free time but I am still committed to this project. It just may be another week or so till you see some more big posts from me.

I still havent seen any feedback on my interface design yet souri? any questions for it from you or chris?

Submitted by suggo on Sat, 20/06/09 - 10:44 AM Permalink

I have been a little busy with other things lately and haven't found time to get a good move on but I'm still checking out the examples and documentation. not much to report.

Submitted by souri on Tue, 07/07/09 - 1:07 PM Permalink

Has anyone heard from Roger? He seems to have gone missing....

Submitted by suggo on Tue, 07/07/09 - 8:20 PM Permalink

Haven't heard from him, I've been a little lazy and if he has done any planning it would be great to hear about it. I'm a little lacking in motivation at the moment because I have been very busy at work.

Submitted by vordu on Wed, 08/07/09 - 4:44 PM Permalink

Hi Peeps. Sorry for posting this here, but its hard to figure out where all the participation is happening with these indie projects.

Basically I'm interested in doing an indie project with a good group of committed people. I can see that there are a couple of people that post/communicate regularly, but it appears that most of the projects have come to a stand still.

I'm a software team lead in my day job, free lance at night with some personal indie projects of my own. I've got about 11 years experience in the game/graphics industry. I have already licensed Unity 3D Pro and iPhone so would be keen to work on a project utilising that engine. Some of the artwork I have seen here I especially like, but I would prefer to work on a smaller project that has a quick time to completion. Talking Beta version in months not years.

Is this a suitable place for me to be hanging out? :)

Cheers.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 13/07/09 - 4:09 PM Permalink

Ok, it looks like we will making a shift in engine choice to Unity 3D, and it would be great to get the programmers who have shown interest in this project to discuss what part of the game they'd want to tackle.

So far, the programmers we have interested are:

Suggo
fuedone
vordu

Let me know which area of the game you want to be responsible for, thanks.

Submitted by souri on Mon, 13/07/09 - 4:13 PM Permalink

Hi Vordu,
If you are interested in taking on smaller projects, you should consider joining Team B. The current project is at a stand still, but I'm keen on getting another small scaled game going. I have made some suggestions on the type of game we could do, but feel free to provide input there.

Submitted by fuedone on Mon, 13/07/09 - 10:50 PM Permalink

i dont know how quick i can afford unity indie license, i suppose i can just re-use the 30 day trial for a 2 months, i am saving up to go to freeplay first lol.

after that ill probably save up for unity indie license and basic iphone license.

i don't really mind which section, i have done a bit of everything before..

edit: just downloaded unity, its pretty awesome and simple to use lol

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r178/fuedone/unity.jpg

Submitted by suggo on Tue, 14/07/09 - 9:18 AM Permalink

I'll get my copy of unity some time in the next week. As for areas to work on i'm not picky although my weakest areas are probably networking and AI.
I think we should use the design document to break the game up into parts and look at how we are going to structure the game, I have been making some notes about the game objects involved, I will try and get it into a post when I get home tonight.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 14/07/09 - 1:30 PM Permalink

ah sweet,

sounds like we got some momentum back. I'm still MIA a tad, I don't have internet in my apartment yet but that should be resolved quickly.

It'll be good to see some of your notes Suggo as well as any techincal designs you can write out in terms of using unity and deliverying to a PC platform as well as possibly the iphone

Porting to iphone is definately an area to explore, it may be something we can look into now as well if it is the desired platform. However there remains the issue there of the added costs for the iphone liscence and publishing.

Taking a look at the objectives of the Game Design Document is certainly the the next step in our production. We will need to outline a first pass priority list of what needs to be developed to get the ball rolling. I'll start taking a look at this over the next week now that I am settled in and hopefully deliver some notes into next weekend.

Its also good to have you on board fuedone!

~ Mulletdulla