Sartorium Studio Development Blog

After tracking down and gaining insight into how to create a 1st person controller I’ve detected a glitch with the environment/object set up in my project. As I applied a rigid body collider to a capsule object with gravity turned on, It became clear that the gravity wasn’t working correctly or the environment was orientated incorrectly. I checked all the object settings, the project gravity settings and changed the variables on the x,y and z axis on both objects and the project... but nothing seemed to make any difference. The capsule continued to fly off into space. I downloaded a simple environment and capsule in which the gravity worked and compared the settings in my project and the other environment. All the settings were identical. With this issue unresolved I have been unable to proceed with the project interaction such as doors opening and other interactions. It is essential at this time to create a navigatable game.I have have videoed and screen shot the issue ...

I want the player to be able to navigate the world, smoothly and easily. This video, produced by holistic3D.com explained the process simply. https://youtu.be/blO039OzUZc Basically you need to do the following: Create a capsule object  Fix the X and Z axis gravity (so you don’t fall over!!)  Move the main camera inside the capsule.  Under the capsule in the object hierarchy, Move the camera object beneath it.  Set the camera motion so that the player can look around.  Make sure the objects in the environment have colliders set otherwise the capsule could fall through the scene. The player needs to feel that the capsule drops as the floor drops/rises etc.  The video shared a couple of c# scripts which will help to create great first person navigation. 

To set up the environment I needed to import all the artwork I had produced, into unity. I had exported them at png Files with some transparency so that all I needed to do was to map the material to white boxes. It took a little research to discover that this can be done in a number of ways, 1) by modelling entirely in Maya using AV maps, 2) by exporting the image as a PNG then dragging the image into the materials file in Unity and then dragging the material onto the object. This will show the object material and doesn’t reveal the transparent sections until the material is set as a cutout, 3) use a TGA file and export with an alpha channel (This is not the best way to get a transparent effect). I have added an in-game TV screen which will Film the spinning of the fairground arena and will reveal the oracle card (special skill card) when the wheel stop. I followed these instructions to do this. https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-can-i-add-a-camera-to-the-game-window-like-a-previe...

Concept Mock Ups Ringmaster Interaction The Ringmaster will explain the game objective to the player   Fairground Arena Exploration The player can explore the arena and enter the small game tents in any order.  Fairground Stall Game : Knock Em Out The Player meets the fairground worker and is invited to spin the wheel to gain a special skill.   Wheel of Fortune The player is presented with a plan view of the fairground arena/wheel of fortune.  Stop the Wheel The player must catch a button to stop the wheel.   The 'Press' buttons, together with oscillating sounds from left to right,  are designed to try to disorientate the player Once the button is pressed the wheel will slow down.  Special Skill The card will represent the players special skill and will affect the game play in the fairground game.    Knock Em Out Ga...

I have been working through the animation, rigging, sound and narrative tutorials but I am really struggling with the most complex part of my game app, the environment spinning ‘wheel of fortune’. My objective is to code some game interaction in my app prototype so I’m simplifying the problem for the purpose of the MPV with a view to continue to work on the problem in the next phase of development. I may take this project forward as my final project and link it to the development fo Fizhogg world but I am unsure at this time. It was my intention to show the wheel cards on a seperate camera and really spin the environment but given the limitations of my Mac I am concerned that the processor might fail. To avoid this, and t save further time, I am going to simplify the problem. Simplifying the wheel as a standard wheel of fortune spin game might be a good starting point. I could then work on having the winning card projected on to the big top in the centre of the arena. I can then ...

Firstly, to ease into the process I am going to model a 2D cut out set object and place it into Unity using the mapping tutorial (as Below) I am then going to rig a character,  for which I have designed cut-out effect material maps and then export that to Unity. ✔️ Edit PNG’s to square dimensions as this will be the standard format for Maya. ✔️ Create a flat square plane ✔️ Import PNG to Plane ✔️ Cut up plane into puppet components. ✔️ Tidy components to fit planes tightly ✔️ Start Rigging (if Modelling a puppet) Tutorials Falmouth Rigging and Animation Tutorial Maya 2.5D puppet modelling by NickZuck (YouTube) Mapping https://youtu.be/LSsbvgvjGDE Rigging https://youtu.be/2QNUsYtCC_I Edit PNG’s to square material map dimensions (One for each Character)

Below, I have created texture maps for the wheels set and characters. Maya Texture Map Tutorial Page  https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/Maya-LightingShading/files/GUID-DC60577E-1A09-4D51-BD6E-6400F4F5EFD7-htm.html The Unity manual is helpful in explaining how material mapping works in unity.  https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2018/ENU/Maya-LightingShading/files/GUID-DC60577E-1A09-4D51-BD6E-6400F4F5EFD7-htm.html I am okay with 3Ds Max and so Unity feels familiar. 

I approached this project in the spirit of experimentation however, Week 10 saw the commencement of the final sprint and so, rather than suffer from the 90% Done syndrome, I am pushing towards a MVP which can be delivered at the end of this sprint. Given that many aspects of videogame making comprise of specialists honing their skills over many years, I am realistic in what can be achieved.  With this in mind, I am editing the Trello project board with the following deliverables. This MPV should deliver a proof on concept that touches on the various disciplines I have engaged with during the last 11 weeks of this module.  These are the deliverables: ✔️ Live Event Concept Images (JPG’s)  ✔️ Wheels Game Concept Development Portfolio (JPG’s & PNG’s)  ✔️ Wheels Game Assets - Puppet Illustration Maps, Set Illustration Maps (PNG’s)  ✔️ Fairground Entrance Scene (Unity Prototype)  ✔️ Fairground Doorway Interaction (Unity Prototype)...

This week we were shown how to use Maya to create animation and characters in Maya so that these can be exported into Unity. The demos were 3D animated character rigs. I have been thinking about how to develop an aesthetic that links my Fizhogg world apps. I am reflecting on the advice given in the webinar to create 2D illustrative characters and I have constructed a physical paper Brad puppet. I have also watched a demo for the RPG game Sorcery and feel confident that this is the best solution to my aesthetic problem. Although I have watched the Rigging videos that work with 3D objects, I have conducted a wider search on Unity and Maya to track down 2D puppet Rigging in Maya. Instead of using polygon 3D objects it is possible to construct 2D Nurb surfaces. These can then be mapped with 2D illustrations and connected together using bones and boxes. This is effectively a 2.5D animation and rigging solution. I am currently separating my illustrated drawings into puppet components s...