Unreal Engine Drifter Prince - Development / Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Corvo Bianco
- Start date
Nice, the lighting in your levels is looking good. Are you going with static lighting or will you be doing a dynamic day night cycle?
Also something that might save you a bit of a headache - I was working with maya lt when I began my project and then when it came time to start rigging and animating I found out they don't support references which made any rigging changes became a huge headache. They might've changed things in the newer versions of lt but I was in the 2017 build.
Something else that has been saving me a ton of time with rigging were Jeremy Ernst's work.
Best of luck! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress.
Also something that might save you a bit of a headache - I was working with maya lt when I began my project and then when it came time to start rigging and animating I found out they don't support references which made any rigging changes became a huge headache. They might've changed things in the newer versions of lt but I was in the 2017 build.
Something else that has been saving me a ton of time with rigging were Jeremy Ernst's work.
You must be registered to see the links
. All of my work is currently in maya 2014 so I'm using his ARTv1 still but when I get some time I want to mess around with this new version.Best of luck! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress.
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
In the game I will use both static and dynamic lighting depending on the level. I don't really care about day-night cycle, instead I am thinking in terms of performance and memory cost. For bigger levels I guess I have to go dynamic since carrying around hundreds of lightmaps might be too much for a game that will need to be re-downloaded after each update. The size is actually one of the reasons (not the most important though) why I am going with quaterly release schedule once the game goes live.
Have you tried ARTv2? It looks very, very promising, though it is a bit scary to use beta version of the tool in production
I remember messing around with the first one and really liked the way it handled dynamic objects like simulated cloth or chains. I can't remember why exacly I have dropped the tool, might be because it doesn't support newer Maya versions?
As for now I am using Advanced Skeleton as a base before I start adding my own systems ontop of it.
For people who don't really follow discussion: there are certain tools that help you speed up character rigging process. Making rigs from scratch usually doesn't make sense because you do a lot of very simple, highly repetitive, yet extremely time consuming tasks.
Every tool has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance Advanced Skeleton is quite easy to pick up. After a couple of weeks you already are using it to its full potential. The downside is the customization is minimal, so you have to add your own stuff ontop of that if you really need something special. This is when you are doing the hardest work that requires actual rigging knowledge.
There are other tools like mGear that are being used by people in top shops like Blur Studio. They are doing a lot of top notch cinematics for games, you definitely have seen their work. The tool (or framework to be exact) allows for unlimited customization, and is in fact extremely powerful, but requires you to be professional rigger to even start using it.
Have you tried ARTv2? It looks very, very promising, though it is a bit scary to use beta version of the tool in production
I remember messing around with the first one and really liked the way it handled dynamic objects like simulated cloth or chains. I can't remember why exacly I have dropped the tool, might be because it doesn't support newer Maya versions?
As for now I am using Advanced Skeleton as a base before I start adding my own systems ontop of it.
For people who don't really follow discussion: there are certain tools that help you speed up character rigging process. Making rigs from scratch usually doesn't make sense because you do a lot of very simple, highly repetitive, yet extremely time consuming tasks.
Every tool has its advantages and disadvantages. For instance Advanced Skeleton is quite easy to pick up. After a couple of weeks you already are using it to its full potential. The downside is the customization is minimal, so you have to add your own stuff ontop of that if you really need something special. This is when you are doing the hardest work that requires actual rigging knowledge.
There are other tools like mGear that are being used by people in top shops like Blur Studio. They are doing a lot of top notch cinematics for games, you definitely have seen their work. The tool (or framework to be exact) allows for unlimited customization, and is in fact extremely powerful, but requires you to be professional rigger to even start using it.
Last edited:
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Continuing my work on the rocky location. A bit dark at times, but is good enough for now
Hope to finish the location in terms of visual design this week.
Hope to finish the location in terms of visual design this week.
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Appreciate the suggestion, I think I will join on my phone to be able to chat on my way to/from work. I would like to avoid installing one more messanger on my PC as the amount of messanger apps is getting out of hand and can be way too distracting. A man has work to do!
Talking about work, the week is coming to an end, and this is the time for another weekly report.
LOCATIONS
This week I was mostly working on the rocky location. I have finished the visuals for now. Later I plan on adding some dry foliage and props to liven it up, but it can wait. Besides visuals I did some work on optimization, especially lighting optimization, in order to keep the map's size on disk reasonable. I also carefully adjusted collision to be sure the player never gets anywhere they shouldn't be at.
I thought it all would take me one more week to finish, but I made it happen, and it seems I need to catch up with the sleep now, hehe
Made some changes to the lighting meanwhile, since the location felt dark af.
CHARACTERS
The production of 2-nd female character has finally started. With my 3d artist we have sorted out all formalities and got to work. The artist is working on the sculpt now. Next week I plan on spending some time on shader research so we will have better looking cloth materials when it comes to that.
I don't want you guys to forget that this is an adult game after all, so here's a little WIP teaser:
NEXT WEEK
As you have seen this week was mostly about the rocky location. The next week will be dedicated to writing. I will focus on writing comics, which will be used as one of the storytelling tools the game relies on. Another important task I need to do is to collect my notes from various places in one spot, and then sort everything. The notes contain a lot of information and ideas about the game's lore and mechanics.
There is a benefit in working on totally different things each week: it helps with avoiding burnout, and generally keeps creative juices flowing. Though I will probably still do some level design work as it is easier for me to pick up after a long day at my job.
DEV LIFE
I managed to spill coffee on my good ol' keyboard, and had to buy a replacement. I always wanted a mechanical keyboard, but didn't have a chance to get one. Well, the time has come. I have decided to splurge and treat myself with something nice. I've gotten myself a Leopold keyboard with MX Red switches.
I tried different switch types at work (some guys have quiet mechanical keyboards at the office) and at a shop. I ended up with Red switches. I liked how light they are to press and how silent they are compared to some other types of mechanical switches. For some reason I hate clicky buttons when working in a game engine or 3d editor, it is just way too distracting for my liking. Anyway, the keyboard has a very nice feeling to it, and I feel good typing and working on it
Talking about work, the week is coming to an end, and this is the time for another weekly report.
LOCATIONS
This week I was mostly working on the rocky location. I have finished the visuals for now. Later I plan on adding some dry foliage and props to liven it up, but it can wait. Besides visuals I did some work on optimization, especially lighting optimization, in order to keep the map's size on disk reasonable. I also carefully adjusted collision to be sure the player never gets anywhere they shouldn't be at.
I thought it all would take me one more week to finish, but I made it happen, and it seems I need to catch up with the sleep now, hehe
Made some changes to the lighting meanwhile, since the location felt dark af.
CHARACTERS
The production of 2-nd female character has finally started. With my 3d artist we have sorted out all formalities and got to work. The artist is working on the sculpt now. Next week I plan on spending some time on shader research so we will have better looking cloth materials when it comes to that.
I don't want you guys to forget that this is an adult game after all, so here's a little WIP teaser:
NEXT WEEK
As you have seen this week was mostly about the rocky location. The next week will be dedicated to writing. I will focus on writing comics, which will be used as one of the storytelling tools the game relies on. Another important task I need to do is to collect my notes from various places in one spot, and then sort everything. The notes contain a lot of information and ideas about the game's lore and mechanics.
There is a benefit in working on totally different things each week: it helps with avoiding burnout, and generally keeps creative juices flowing. Though I will probably still do some level design work as it is easier for me to pick up after a long day at my job.
DEV LIFE
I managed to spill coffee on my good ol' keyboard, and had to buy a replacement. I always wanted a mechanical keyboard, but didn't have a chance to get one. Well, the time has come. I have decided to splurge and treat myself with something nice. I've gotten myself a Leopold keyboard with MX Red switches.
I tried different switch types at work (some guys have quiet mechanical keyboards at the office) and at a shop. I ended up with Red switches. I liked how light they are to press and how silent they are compared to some other types of mechanical switches. For some reason I hate clicky buttons when working in a game engine or 3d editor, it is just way too distracting for my liking. Anyway, the keyboard has a very nice feeling to it, and I feel good typing and working on it
Last edited:
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Hello again! Another work week ends soon, and it is the time for game progress report In terms of screenshots I don't have much to show as I was focused on writing, however I made this gif, so...
LOCATIONS
As it was expected, I did some work on level design, but it was not a priority this week. In the teaser video on my Patreon page there was one more rocky location, different from the one I have finished last week. It is in its early stages now, and there is a lot of work to be done, so I keep chipping away at it when I have some spare time.
The player will be required to gather resources to help him / her advance the story. Different resources will be available in different locations. I don't want the players to visit the same place too many times for resources, because at some point it kills any sense of exploration. This is why I am planning on making multiple locations for each "biome".
CODE / BLUEPRINTS
For gameplay scripting in UE4 I use Blueprints, which is visual node-based programming tool. Not as powerful as C++, obviously, but it gets work done for smaller projects like my game. This week I have started working on the world map and timed missions. If you have played "Dragon Age: Inquisition", you might remember the War Table where you could send your troops to gather some loot for you. Hours later they return and bring you the riches!
I will be working on this mechanic for a few weeks on and off. It isn't the priority now, but I want to slowly build it from the ground up.
CHARACTERS
Things are going smooth. The sculpt is getting sculpted, and is looking pretty But I am not going to show it until much later to not to spoil the surprise.
LORE
The game is based on complex lore I've spent a lot of time developing. Creative ideas can come to you anywhere any time. I have various notes on my phone, on my work PC and on my home PC. I even have simple paper notebook I like to write at some days, because there is just something cool in the feeling of writing on paper instead of mashing buttons and staring at the screen of your computer.
This week I finally took my time to collect everything in one Scrivener app project. I have started editing and structuring stuff, but to be honest I have overestimated how much lore I have written, and I didn't have enough time to sort and edit all of THAT. My document is almost 40k words. For comparison anything over 50,000 words is considered a novel. Crazy, huh?
COMICS
When writing comics you always have to think about how stuff will look when the artist draws it. It's like you have written this cool dialogue, and then you realize your characters and just standing there, talking, and basically nothing happens. Boring! Sometimes it is hard to keep this in mind when you are in the flow of writing
Anyway, I've spent quite a bit of time on this during last couple of days, and written one new script for a "side quest" comic. My story contains many "side quests", which are not really optional, but still feel like glorified side quests, so, yeah, I just call them side quests.
It seems to me we will start drawing comics sometime near the end of the year simply because all my funds now go towards making new 3d models, and I can't afford doing so much different stuff at the same time, since I pay the artists from my own salary.
NEXT WEEK
Next week I think I will balance 50/50 level design and animation. I have animation rig ready for the first girl, it is time to make some animations for her!
In terms of screenshots I don't have much to show as I was focused on writing, however I made this gif, so...
LOCATIONS
As it was expected, I did some work on level design, but it was not a priority this week. In the teaser video on my Patreon page there was one more rocky location, different from the one I have finished last week. It is in its early stages now, and there is a lot of work to be done, so I keep chipping away at it when I have some spare time.
The player will be required to gather resources to help him / her advance the story. Different resources will be available in different locations. I don't want the players to visit the same place too many times for resources, because at some point it kills any sense of exploration. This is why I am planning on making multiple locations for each "biome".
CODE / BLUEPRINTS
For gameplay scripting in UE4 I use Blueprints, which is visual node-based programming tool. Not as powerful as C++, obviously, but it gets work done for smaller projects like my game. This week I have started working on the world map and timed missions. If you have played "Dragon Age: Inquisition", you might remember the War Table where you could send your troops to gather some loot for you. Hours later they return and bring you the riches!
I will be working on this mechanic for a few weeks on and off. It isn't the priority now, but I want to slowly build it from the ground up.
CHARACTERS
Things are going smooth. The sculpt is getting sculpted, and is looking pretty
But I am not going to show it until much later to not to spoil the surprise.LORE
The game is based on complex lore I've spent a lot of time developing. Creative ideas can come to you anywhere any time. I have various notes on my phone, on my work PC and on my home PC. I even have simple paper notebook I like to write at some days, because there is just something cool in the feeling of writing on paper instead of mashing buttons and staring at the screen of your computer.
This week I finally took my time to collect everything in one Scrivener app project. I have started editing and structuring stuff, but to be honest I have overestimated how much lore I have written, and I didn't have enough time to sort and edit all of THAT. My document is almost 40k words. For comparison anything over 50,000 words is considered a novel. Crazy, huh?
COMICS
When writing comics you always have to think about how stuff will look when the artist draws it. It's like you have written this cool dialogue, and then you realize your characters and just standing there, talking, and basically nothing happens. Boring! Sometimes it is hard to keep this in mind when you are in the flow of writing
Anyway, I've spent quite a bit of time on this during last couple of days, and written one new script for a "side quest" comic. My story contains many "side quests", which are not really optional, but still feel like glorified side quests, so, yeah, I just call them side quests.
It seems to me we will start drawing comics sometime near the end of the year simply because all my funds now go towards making new 3d models, and I can't afford doing so much different stuff at the same time, since I pay the artists from my own salary.
NEXT WEEK
Next week I think I will balance 50/50 level design and animation. I have animation rig ready for the first girl, it is time to make some animations for her!
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Welcome to the 4-th weekly report. It is a month already since I've started this devlog and around 7 months from the beginning of the development. Time flies
This report will be short one simply because I don't yet have anything I am ready to put on display. Well, I guess I can show a teaser for character animation...
My first animation since 2010 if I recall correctly. Feeling rusty, have to practice some more to feel comfortable doing this stuff.
LOCATIONS
Second rocky location is seeing a nice progress, but still needs a lot of work. Positioning hundreds upon hundreds of rocks by hand is quite time consuming, hehe I am glad I have decent PC, or it would lag like hell before I get to optimization phase.
ANIMATION
The game will feature some dialogues similar to the ones you've seen in Visual Novels, but in full 3d. This week I was busy making different idles and emotions for the dialogues.
CHARACTERS
While the character artist was busy with the model, I prepared a few shader presets to be used for cloth when the girl gets some clothing to cover her naked body. Not going to show the materials / shader yet as they don't look that interesting without the model.
COMICS
Finished and edited all required comic scripts for alpha version of the game. They are short and there are only 8 of them, so don't expect some Marvel or DC level shit
This report will be short one simply because I don't yet have anything I am ready to put on display. Well, I guess I can show a teaser for character animation...
My first animation since 2010 if I recall correctly. Feeling rusty, have to practice some more to feel comfortable doing this stuff.
LOCATIONS
Second rocky location is seeing a nice progress, but still needs a lot of work. Positioning hundreds upon hundreds of rocks by hand is quite time consuming, hehe
I am glad I have decent PC, or it would lag like hell before I get to optimization phase.
ANIMATION
The game will feature some dialogues similar to the ones you've seen in Visual Novels, but in full 3d. This week I was busy making different idles and emotions for the dialogues.
CHARACTERS
While the character artist was busy with the model, I prepared a few shader presets to be used for cloth when the girl gets some clothing to cover her naked body. Not going to show the materials / shader yet as they don't look that interesting without the model.
COMICS
Finished and edited all required comic scripts for alpha version of the game. They are short and there are only 8 of them, so don't expect some Marvel or DC level shit
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
By the way I made a
You must be registered to see the links
account so I can spam with stuff I am making in case you decide to follow me
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
One more week has passed, and once again it is the time for new weekly report.
LOCATIONS
I finally finished 2-nd rocky location! I think it turned out quite good and different enough from the first location. Should add some variety to the game
I don't want to give an impression that I am making the locations that fast. The thing is the location was like 60% done before I have started talking about the game in public, and I have finally found the time to finish the location during the last couple of weeks.
Did one more optimization pass on 1-st rocky location, introduced HLOD optimization technique I have never used before. If you know what LOD is, the HLOD basically does the same, but works on multiple objects at the same time instead of only one object.
ANIMATION
I've finished basic set of idle animations for the dialogues. Should be enough for the most basic version of the game. Started working on the first erotic solo scene, this will be my focus during the weekend and the next week.
WRITING
While I don't yet have the MC model, I can only make solo lewd scenes for the girl. I took the time to write a few such scenes so I can start making animations for them.
LOCATIONS
I finally finished 2-nd rocky location! I think it turned out quite good and different enough from the first location. Should add some variety to the game
I don't want to give an impression that I am making the locations that fast. The thing is the location was like 60% done before I have started talking about the game in public, and I have finally found the time to finish the location during the last couple of weeks.
Did one more optimization pass on 1-st rocky location, introduced HLOD optimization technique I have never used before. If you know what LOD is, the HLOD basically does the same, but works on multiple objects at the same time instead of only one object.
ANIMATION
I've finished basic set of idle animations for the dialogues. Should be enough for the most basic version of the game. Started working on the first erotic solo scene, this will be my focus during the weekend and the next week.
WRITING
While I don't yet have the MC model, I can only make solo lewd scenes for the girl. I took the time to write a few such scenes so I can start making animations for them.
- Aug 31, 2019
- 1
- 0
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Yeah, but I think I will have to make smaller version of the game, because it will be practically impossible to optimize this content as is for VR. I will mostly make dating and sex scenes in VR mode, which is fine I guess since people will be mostly interested in this kind of content
If you can handle Unreal, stick with it. It was much better solution for single developer and this 3d adult genre game. Unreal default settings was good for natural looking 3d games. Unity has to much configuration, even just missing one trick. Your entire launch will be ruined.
And
You spend too much time with locations.
Like me.
And no body give sh*t about locations. I'm released a demo then people bury me alive. I hand crafted beatiful 12 locations and no body say nothing about them. I had very big light and skin issues and people smashed me to the wall.
First all you have to check your characters under different light conditions. Unreal much better than unity (at least for 2018 universal rendering pipeline) with default settings.
However rendering human skin one of the hardest thing ever if you want to use real time lightning (like me I had full day / night cycle) it become nightmare.
Second is animation, I see some examples in the porn sites. I simple blown it. Make sure you can at least honey select grade animation.
Locations are important for games about exploring (fallout, metro etc). We are exploring human body. Unreal own market place items are more than enough.
Good luck
And
You spend too much time with locations.
Like me.
And no body give sh*t about locations. I'm released a demo then people bury me alive. I hand crafted beatiful 12 locations and no body say nothing about them. I had very big light and skin issues and people smashed me to the wall.
First all you have to check your characters under different light conditions. Unreal much better than unity (at least for 2018 universal rendering pipeline) with default settings.
However rendering human skin one of the hardest thing ever if you want to use real time lightning (like me I had full day / night cycle) it become nightmare.
Second is animation, I see some examples in the porn sites. I simple blown it. Make sure you can at least honey select grade animation.
Locations are important for games about exploring (fallout, metro etc). We are exploring human body. Unreal own market place items are more than enough.
Good luck
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
caLTD
I know what you mean and have the same concerns and doubts. My dream is to make something that look very nice in every aspect, including locations and whatnot This is precisely why I am taking it slow to make sure the game will look as nice as possible given I am working solo with occasional contractors to fill some skill gaps.
I know what you mean and have the same concerns and doubts. My dream is to make something that look very nice in every aspect, including locations and whatnot
This is precisely why I am taking it slow to make sure the game will look as nice as possible given I am working solo with occasional contractors to fill some skill gaps.
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
The game might take place in more than one settingAt first I thought after watching the night time video that this will be based in sci-fi world but now it looks more like a fantasy setting.
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
My ultimate goal is to make story driven adventure with survival and walking simulator bits (another reason why I strive to make locations look as good as possible, or it won't be fun and interesting to traverse them). Another idea I would like to integrate is loot simulator of sorts: various items and interesting craft mechanics, but that is for the future once I have all other elements up and running
I am not planning the project to be a combat based game, though there might be some stealth elements, but I think of this as far-far away feature.
I am not planning the project to be a combat based game, though there might be some stealth elements, but I think of this as far-far away feature.
- Aug 1, 2019
- 142
- 339
Yeah, you've got the right idea
At first you will be able to unlock new locations to explore. They are relatively small separate levels. Later on I will create more open world-ish locations, but got to build some systems first before getting to that. It isn't easy thing to do from optimization point of view, so it will take some good planning and researching before I can even start working on that.
At first you will be able to unlock new locations to explore. They are relatively small separate levels. Later on I will create more open world-ish locations, but got to build some systems first before getting to that. It isn't easy thing to do from optimization point of view, so it will take some good planning and researching before I can even start working on that.