Armageddon
Teapot
I'm no expert but i have used these same eyes for almost 28 years and this is what i caught... and some clipping.
Question About Game Development
- Thread starter GameDevMich
- Start date
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
I only work on the programming side, but I interact with artists on a daily basis. I like the design a lot. I'm always fan of a female model that is not disproportionate and doesn't feature cleavage =)
Interesting choice on the hair style. I'd like to see what it would look like if you were to use a hair shader or tool of some kind. What are you using for the modeling? Maya? Blender? Max?
I'm seeing some clipping in various spots. Also, looks like there is some hard-snapping of verts, creating a very rigid line at the joints. Depending on your tool, I would render out a different lighting scheme too.
I wish I had better feedback, but as a programmer it's 1,000 times better than anything I could come up with. Looks good overall.
curser656
Member
The shadow on the arm is because this is unrendered and in the viewport. Idk what's wrong with the nose, anything shadow related cleans up in rendered form. I'm trying to work on the clipping and hard verts. And I work in 3ds max.
Thanks Mich. I've never used hair shaders before so...Idk what to say, some of the hair looks weird because it's supposed to be transparent at points, but...it doesn't want to work for me...
Thanks Mich. I've never used hair shaders before so...Idk what to say, some of the hair looks weird because it's supposed to be transparent at points, but...it doesn't want to work for me...
Armageddon
Teapot
I spotted a booger.
Dacil
Member
for transparency, did you use alpha mapping? not the most realistic thing, but it should work
Dacil
Member
did you change the settings of the alpha mapping? (the gradient and such)
edit: i'll stop replying to this 3D post stuff on this thread, as its a bit off topic XD
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
I'm surprised no one has asked about marketing or community outreach yet, so I'll try to stimulate that discussion. As I mentioned in previous posts, GarageGames has a tight relationship with its customers. Over 10 years, we have built up a community which was key to our success. For better or worse, Torque is eternally tied to the GarageGames community.
Aside from the social aspects, leveraging a community (be it those who play games or developers) can be very useful for evangelizing your products. We do get re-tweets and various blog posts of our content, so you have to make sure the information is useful and entertaining. I have been working on the next release of our 2D iOS engine, iTorque 2D v1.5.
We took a new approach with this version by uploading preview builds of the engine to existing licensees. Because they were rough versions with new features (not thoroughly QA'd), I did not put a big marketing spin on them. Check out these two:
iTorque 2D v1.5 Preview 1
iTorque 2D v1.5 Preview 2
We just entered the release cycle, which means we are code complete. The remaining work is focused on QA and documentation. With all our features in, it was time to spin up the hype machine and create blogs focused on the final release. When I blog, I tend to retain my personality and general community presence. I see our users as people, not faceless entities on a forum. A product blog with a personal touch is my effort to remind them that the GarageGames crew are just like them. However, with the more official release blogs, I try to rework the tone to be a bit more marketing and feature a voice that is GarageGames (not Mich).
The first two release blogs were posted (one last week and one yesterday). They are shorter, more polished and feature-benefit specific:
iTorque 2D v1.5 - Home Stretch
iTorque 2D v1.5 - Universal App Support
Those are the kind of blogs we want our community members to spread the word about. If those posts make their way to other game development sites, viewers are reading about a pending engine update being described by the product manager (not the "down in the trenches" programmer).
What am I getting at? Know your audience.
Blogs aimed at existing users: casual, inside jokes, work with assumptions.
Blogs aimed outside of your users: more hype, don't assume existing knowledge, short and to the point.
Press releases: Fairly rigid, as professional as possible, post as much detail as you can about the company and product (not yourself)
Aside from the social aspects, leveraging a community (be it those who play games or developers) can be very useful for evangelizing your products. We do get re-tweets and various blog posts of our content, so you have to make sure the information is useful and entertaining. I have been working on the next release of our 2D iOS engine, iTorque 2D v1.5.
We took a new approach with this version by uploading preview builds of the engine to existing licensees. Because they were rough versions with new features (not thoroughly QA'd), I did not put a big marketing spin on them. Check out these two:
iTorque 2D v1.5 Preview 1
iTorque 2D v1.5 Preview 2
We just entered the release cycle, which means we are code complete. The remaining work is focused on QA and documentation. With all our features in, it was time to spin up the hype machine and create blogs focused on the final release. When I blog, I tend to retain my personality and general community presence. I see our users as people, not faceless entities on a forum. A product blog with a personal touch is my effort to remind them that the GarageGames crew are just like them. However, with the more official release blogs, I try to rework the tone to be a bit more marketing and feature a voice that is GarageGames (not Mich).
The first two release blogs were posted (one last week and one yesterday). They are shorter, more polished and feature-benefit specific:
iTorque 2D v1.5 - Home Stretch
iTorque 2D v1.5 - Universal App Support
Those are the kind of blogs we want our community members to spread the word about. If those posts make their way to other game development sites, viewers are reading about a pending engine update being described by the product manager (not the "down in the trenches" programmer).
What am I getting at? Know your audience.
Blogs aimed at existing users: casual, inside jokes, work with assumptions.
Blogs aimed outside of your users: more hype, don't assume existing knowledge, short and to the point.
Press releases: Fairly rigid, as professional as possible, post as much detail as you can about the company and product (not yourself)
Dacil
Member
I actually rather enjoyed reading about this when it came to marketing and making games for people...there's so much involved, things I didn't think about before...gaming personalities, generational personalities and so much more, interesting! on another note, CONGRATS!
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
Well...we shipped! iTorque 2D v1.5 Release Blog. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, mega-stress and a massive effort put forth by many people (artists, designers, programmers, QA and writers). Take a glance at that blog and compare it to the ones I posted previously. When I get a link to the press release, I will post that so you can see the full spectrum of announcements. You should find it helpful if you ever need to market your games.
Since the link I posted is a blog on our site, I took the time to make sure a "shout out" was involved. I always want to thank the GarageGames community for sticking with us and supporting each release. Going a step further, I added several individual community members to our official credit list in the actual engine. Anyone who uses iTorque 2D can open the credits and see their names, as thanks for their contributions, bug fixes, feedback and general support. This is what our customers mean to us. As someone who plays games, I always check the credits to see if other companies care about their customers and team members as much as GG does.
Since the link I posted is a blog on our site, I took the time to make sure a "shout out" was involved. I always want to thank the GarageGames community for sticking with us and supporting each release. Going a step further, I added several individual community members to our official credit list in the actual engine. Anyone who uses iTorque 2D can open the credits and see their names, as thanks for their contributions, bug fixes, feedback and general support. This is what our customers mean to us. As someone who plays games, I always check the credits to see if other companies care about their customers and team members as much as GG does.
SeymourGore
Flatulent Cherub
So, does this mean an end to your current scruffy, hobo-esque appearance? I was thinking that since it probably took you a year and a half to grow it, why not incorporate it into this year's Halloween costume then shave it afterwards?
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
Ohhhh. As they said at the old GarageGames, "sick burn". I always appreciate the unbelievable ability for you to predict my actions Seymore. Let's give the people some context before they think we have some kind of hidden relationship.
I have fully hitched myself to a new tradition at GarageGames: "No shave, till ship". We did this for Torque 3D 1.1. Think of it as a rally cry. Most everyone stopped shaving and avoided haircuts until we launched a product. These kinds of ideas are what help you get through the crunch period, which we talked about in the first page of these posts. Since iTorque 2D v1.5 was my first venture as a lead developer, I kicked it into high gear. I present "unshaven Mich":
That is the look of both derangement and pure joy of getting close to a product release. I am normally clean-shaven, with the exception of a trimmed goatee. The spirit behind it is that your first priority is your release, not shaving or sleeping or playing games or whatever.
So, Seymour my friend...normally I would shave at this point. However, I have decided to incorporate my lack of haircut and shaving into my Halloween costume. Instead of shaving bald like I did last year, I will be going the opposite route.
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
Oh. Since there are some talented artists following this thread, I have a special link for you. Earlier in this thread, I talked about Matt Ostgard. Well, he has posted his first blog on GarageGames.com (evar!). Since I am severely lacking in providing information on the art side of game development, I highly encourage any of you budding artists out there to check this out: http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21278
Dacil
Member
aw man! hoping it was maya, but it will do lol!
ewww what about the ladies!? they agreed too!? those would be some hairy legs and pits lol!
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
Ha! I didn't think of that. We only have one female at the company and she does not work on the engine team. Although, she can be surprising. I don't think I'll ask =)
Dacil
Member
hahah i wouldn't ask either XD but DANG i feel sorta bad for her =( all that testosterone
curser656
Member
I've used your plugins before, or tried to, you really need to work on that stuff. It crashes way too much along with not working with certain versions of 3ds? I still prefer unreal engine. No offense.
GameDevMich
Honored Hero
No offense taken. When I tried using the plug-ins back in 2004, I had a lot of problems. Kept crashing Maya, which drove me insane since I knew very little about it. The latest versions of the DTS exporter are really stable. However, we saw people struggling with the system. When want to pull in more artists and make your existing ones happier, it's important to introduce other formats. That's why COLLADA support was introduced to Torque 3D. COLLADA exporters are built-in and supported by the companies that make the programs (Maya, 3DS Max, etc).