Progress

Week Twenty-five

(or Build 3ish?)

Violent Traversal just completed our "Mech Powers" build of AIM< with the goal of testing...surprise! The mech model and a power-up. We haven't put power-ups in a map since last October, where we tested out our initial power-up designs. So this build was a pretty big deal.

It turned out to be quite successful! We didn't have as many hands test this build as the two previous versions, but our producer (and professor), Jay Little, was pleased with the progress and we got great feedback from everyone that played.

The past couple weeks I've talked about the design decisions and process behind building the UI for AIM<. One of our programmers, Chloe Terry, worked very hard to get the UI implemented for the current build and make any changes that needed to be made. It looks and functions awesomely so far! More tweaks and adjustments will continue to be made but it works very well and is tremendously helpful in testing and playing. We were able to understand much better what was happening during game play and feel less disoriented. A working UI really helps understand what's working and what needs fixed.

As you can see from the screenshot, an updated mech model made it into this build! Dan Bodunov has been hard at work turning the mech concepts into a final model for our game. Soon, he will have the animations completed and move onto texturing the completed model, creating the final, massive juggernaut that you will be able to control when the game is released.

This mech model is now correct size and replaces the placeholder being used previously. Now we are better able to understand the scale and proportion between the mech, drone(s), and level geometry, allowing for more accurate white-boxing of levels.

Speaking of levels; Steven Lindbloom designed and white-boxed the level shown in the screenshots. He used geometry created by Jon Worman and switch objects programmed by Marcus Tolbert (also used in the last build) to design a fun and engaging level focused on showcasing a power-up. Construction of the level also served as a test for a modular pipeline we are adopting to create the rest of the levels for AIM<.

The level is a lot of fun to play. Steven plans to continue working on it and refining it. I'll record some game-play footage of the next version for a future blog post.

I've mentioned a few of the developers from Violent Traversal involved in creating the "Mech Powers" build, but everyone on the team has in some way or another had a hand in creating what you see in the screenshots. Take a look at the facebook page to see blog posts by the other members and see what they're up too. Each member of the team plays an integral and irreplaceable role in creating AIM<.

Next post, I'll be talking about the power-up tested in the "Mech Powers" build. A near-future post will cover the "switch" objects and collaboration between modelers Jon Worman, Sihneng Thao, and I.

Check back soon and have a great weekend!

AIM<: Mech Powers Build Screenshots Featuring work by everyone at Violent Traversal.