Cart CGD

As you all know I was not present at the last meeting when it was decided that a vote would pass over to pick a person for the art director position. When I found out, I had only expressed my irritation at the entire situation to a few people. Now I’m ready to say what needs to be said.

I understand the need for an artistic director, I understand the importance of the position to the project and to the group, and how it will give some much needed focus to the game and be key to the success there of. And I want to be clear to everyone else that this is no small deal; Whoever is the artistic director will be making go/no-go decisions in an autocratic manner for the rest of the project. Some of us only have enough time to focus on 1 project over the summer and it’s this one, and when I say that I am thinking specifically about everyone who is not doing this for credit, who have a lot less to gain from this even from a potentially successful standpoint. This is why it’s important that the artistic director be able to generate really exciting ideas, so exciting that the rest of the team is excited to follow through and pave the concepts laid out by the artistic director.

Now, the crux of this post is here, so let me be clear: If I was at that meeting, this vote would not have happened. There are some things we can vote on, and there are other things we don’t. Nobody, I say again, NOBODY, is actually qualified to take on a position such as this. There are many risks associated to this project, success isn’t easy and after a month, we don’t have much to show for it in terms of a game. This project is a huge risk that we all share together, and willingly so. For one, there was no real point for me to read the 3 CV/portfolios posted earlier, and if you think about it, it’s ridiculous to even imagine that there would be such a thing involved in the project considering, secondly, that this project was never founded on a qualification basis, simply on a willingness basis.

Time is valuable for all of us and I need someone to put a strong lens and focus the ideas that have been floating around for a month now. Because if you didn’t notice, we don’t even have a game on paper, we have game elements floating around. More than focusing the project even, I need someone to manage and take care of the creative group because I can’t do it alone, I need a focal point for whom I can build this game engine for, and I can’t look after 2 extremely opposite points of production at the same time.

My job, as I see it, it to see to it that this project is successful by creating a game close to CART values and allow everyone involved to learn a significant amount about game production, management (self and/or others), working in a team, etc on the simple basis of “I want to learn X”. Oh, and write a game and game engine for it. When I started this I had this idea of a flat hierarchy with this very simple pipeline of production. That idea got shat on and has quite evidently changed meeting after meeting as different people in the group stepped into different directions. Although these are idealistic construct for a production team, they don’t happen to be realistic ones. But i digress.

Voting on such an important issue based on things that have absolutely nothing to do with what the project is about is all around pointless. I am calling for a no vote, and I am putting my foot down on this. Art direction is too important and I will not allow it to be deliberated on at the expense of success, to vote on irrelevant data that bears no meaning to what this project tries to accomplish: It’s not happening.

I know everyone in CCGD is excited to make a full fledged game, and the prospect of success is an extremely tangible career boost. The value that our collective effort makes is great, and I’m happy for that, but we are all a team and this decision will affect a very core group, one I can’t afford to loose in terms of cohesion. teams like that work like alchemy, and I can’t have that rely on a vote based on irrelevant data that could create scenarios we are not ready to deal with.

June 14th, General Meeting 3

Concept Art show and tell:

Little girl – short hair, small barrette holding hair behind ears, orange/red hair, black tunic w/ lace slip, mandarin collar with lace on neck and sleeves, mary jane shoes, high socks, . Headphones,

Woman – (Gloria) Looney-long hair (past but), long black roots with brown hair, sweatshirt with collar cut off, fishnet stockings under flood pants.

Man – (think Edward Norton from fight club) geeky but strong. Suit and tie. Has an office pass around neck, nice sweater vest, watch, dress shoes black. Beige pants, blue plaid tie.

ENVIRONMENT: The City of Gaud

HEART FOUNTAIN (see concept art)

Surrealist style but also composed of pieces from the past. Pieces of temples/churches embedded in the other buildings. ie: swings that have stained glass windows on the bottom.

The city is their ‘minds’. Its messed up (surrealist – they see what they think something should look like)and pieced together of things that used to be important from their past.

Artistic Director Votes – Send email for nominations. Will have poll vote on the forum.

Next meeting: Artists next week. General the week after next. Try to include JOS into artists meeting (set up new doodle).

Jos technical drawings. Comic style – realistically proportioned but “chunky” hair (that can have bones) and stylized faces.

South Park quotation of the day: “Are you sure?” “I’m HIV positive”.

ALEXIS’ NOTES

Finalize character design!

Charlotte drew the little girl.
Cute @ 1st, but mischeavous, skulls on the dress. All in black.

Nancy drew the girl in boys & girls clothing. The man has lots of accoutrements : buttons, happy faces on his tie.

Sean wants more lace. Sekcs.

Nic’s girl wears a tank top & a skirt. Also drew the crack addict. She is old, hairy lip, fat, sandals, shirt w/ “Hot Stuff”.

Sean : The girl walks you to the graveyard. Imagines her as introvert. Likes the idea of short hair.
Crack addict : failure of nature. Shit rots.

Crack addict : ~30s, she sees crazy shit.

Playground is about Dilly Dali-ing. City of Gaud.

Truck is an …. ambulance? tanker truck?

June 7th, Visual Artists Meeting
Sharah, Charlotte, Nick, Moh, Nancy, Alexis

Nick: Shows comics examples. Brings up the ideal of surrealism. Real things get mangled ie: a lamppost vs. a twisted lamppost with veins.
• We enjoy complex toon/cell shading (think afro samurai, prince of Persia – the most recent). This works the best for all three characters.
• Can we, in ogre, get the black outline?

Moh: Wants a stylized reality. Real but something is off. Shows paintings – white and washed out.
• Materials look real, but angles are off, plus cell shaded outline.
• The style itself can have visual meaning, humans into endangered animals. It’s the environment’s way of adapting. We are the parasite and the circle of life is trying to bring us backwards.

Opening scene: The same event witnessed by all three characters. Ie: a truck crashing into a school
• Man: sees truck out of control crashing into school through window
• Child: a truck crashes into her school
• Woman: wandering through the street and CAUSES the truck to go out of control
• ALL: People scream, the sky goes dark suddenly. Even though it is midday.
This game has to end somehow. WRITER’s THOUGHTS?
• Different endings: all die or all take the truck and drive into the sunset.

Note: all these people are dying. City is crumbling all around them. Just try to avoid it, but can’t. Escaping the city = escaping death. Can you? Perhaps…(psst. Take the truck!)

Who would you statutory rape? Male: Kid who plays Jacob in Twilight? Female: Miley Cyrus – Alexis’ choice, minus the accent.

CHARACTER DETAILS:
Man:
• Typical, boring business man. Implied in his intro that something is off about him. Maybe he’s stealing from the company? Maybe he’s suicidal? Never know.
• Vision: everything is washed out white and grey. Certain key things are slightly more colorful.
• Otaku. Plain and pasty. Looks like he hasn’t slept in a while.
• SKILL: Stronger than the other characters. Can move things than the child and woman can’t.

Child:
• Little Girl is “gothic” and listening to headphones. Her entire scene she is listening to music no matter what horror happens. Avoid voice acting, yes!
• Vision: She sees things dark in more extremely colors of, for example, an warm palette of oranges, reds and blacks.
• Remember, she is around 8. So no extreme goth. She wouldn’t be wearing makeup or have dyed hair. Just looking like she is on her way there with dark clothes .
• A little overweight perhaps.
• BELIEVES IN VAMPIRES!
• Sees everything from a ‘looking-up’ perspective.
• SKILL: Tiny. Can get into places that the other characters can’t.

Woman:
• Vision: Multicolored, bright. Overexposed.
• Deterity is off. She trips and wobbles. You can’t control her sometimes.
• Asian junkie around 30 years old. Skinny (gaunt. Messy hair.
• Coke whore makeup perhaps? Over the lines lipstick in a gaudish pink
• SKILL: She’s a thief. Can pick locks and get into places the others can’t/ won’t. Like homes and cabinets.

ARCHITECTURE:
Think GAUDI. Think GIGER. Think Paris metro signs. This world is ‘art-deco’ composed mainly of organic shapes. This implies the city can be in the future, can be Barcelona-esque, can be alien. A see-saw for example will be a twisty curve instead of a straight bench linking the two seats.

hey everyone, i scanned the spawn issue with the 4 horsemen, so you can get an idea of what i was referencing too. the left and bottom sides of the page are clipped a bit.

http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=51
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=52
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=53
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=54
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=55
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=56
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=57
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=58
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=59
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=60
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=61
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=62
http://cartcgd.org/blog/?attachment_id=63

CART CGD meeting May 31st, 2009

Everybody please add their name, email and phone contact information of the google document CART CDG contacts list in google docs.

- New doodle with ‘yes, no or maybe’ for having a creative concept meeting. Must decide style so that artists can move forward. Concept art and examples should be posted to blog and/or forum.
*Can Nancy have access to modify/moderate forum? SHADI? All artists have to share their work to discuss specifics at a separate meeting.

- Programming team is done. All have libraries, just need to get things to start working. We can now have water, video textures for cut scenes are now possible (if pre-rendered – SHOULD be pre-rendered since it is easier).

Organization: start a mailing list for JUST the artists.

Moh shows concept art of wheelchair-fat man in Zbrush. Freaky!

Discussion INTERACTION?:
• Concept is so far very story intensive – like myst. Must develop interaction. Programmers will begin to design puzzle/interaction and the story will be written accordingly.
• We like the concept of scale (really big or really small – not necessarily physical size. Think being a general vs. being a random little foot soldier). Mix of action and puzzles, physical puzzles are of interest.
• Option of Interactive Cinema? No goal, just experience the world. Think Heavy Rain, think flower. Is this a good option?

Discussion: The game – adjusting the theme the address the issue of lack of game dynamics.
- We all like interactive cinema with focus on design and story with ONE really neat and interesting interactive twist.
Thought: Playing the same event, the same game, through the eyes of several different people. As individuals, you can change things. You can, perhaps, work together?
- Something is attacking is world. You never see it. It’s your mind, your world, crumbling.
- Something neat but almost impossible! – - You play the game as several characters and as you change characters, your original actions are recorded and you can watch, as this new character, the actions you have already done. See your deaths!

SINGLE PLAYER CO-OP : play as three characters, all within the same 4 blocks during a disaster, they see each other within each others . They all experience the world differently, they all have different goals: to find family members (parents/loved one), to survive, to save the world, to have fun in your last minutes? They all see a different threat: war, creatures, random breakdown of society within itself?

What is the disaster? Assume it is the apocalypse – the four horsemen. Mid-day, the world darkens, things explode with green fire etc. You have no idea. You’re mind is crumbling.

What is the goal? All three characters have interactions AND they can die at any time.
First person is important to be immersive. But third is needed cause you have to recognize the people later. Chosen 3rd person but with recognizable traits (can look down and see hands and body) AND a small introductory movie.
Three opening sets: School (for kid), Office/Homeless (for man), Starbucks (for woman). Non typical characters.

Joke of the day (South Park): “Do you like fish sticks?” “Yes…” “What are you, a gay fish?”

Gameplay: goal – to survive. Characters can help or hinder. The exact same situations can be solved differently ie: kids can get into smaller spaces (vents), the men is stronger and can push things, woman is both mid strong and mid small (?). Everything will be physical can carry things in hands to use or move one at a time. Puzzle will be solved through moving things, exploring things, avoiding things, breaking things.

Elements that are of use will be subtly highlighted by either sound or slightly lighter color – think Half Life (a creaking see-saw? A pile of bricks? Perhaps I could use them…). You can almost pick up everything. All will have mass stat. Need to break a window? Anything will heavy enough mass will work – note, all characters can handle different mass.
Think of puzzles that happen school, office, street, starbucks…a city. Level design is crucial.

Hi guys,

Ramy filled me in briefly on the new ideas for the game. (Can we get notes up pls? I’m out of the loop…)

He told me that we are dealing with a disaster in a city, and that the user plays the game through different perspectives & characters. The characters have to find a way out and use objects found to do so… I was wondering if this could mean that we are unveiling a mystery, how the disaster came about. Just something to ponder. This way we can still have a strong concept (once we figure out what the disaster is), and can come up with some really creative ideas. Maybe there is no disaster, and it’s all internal? ~ Oooh…

Anyway I was just thinking of the game play and I thought it might be a good idea to be revealing clues about the disaster through each character played, to solve some sort of mystery, even though actions will change outcomes etc etc.

what do you think?

Thanks!

Charlotte

ps this is my first post, so if it is not done ‘correctly’ I apologize!

Here is the 3D sketch I made of the obese wheelchair guy. I made it in 3D mainly because its faster than drawing for me. The entire 3D sketch took about 3 hours while the 2D drawing of the head only took 2 hours.

[click on the image twice to see it in fullsize]

Ok guys, here’s what i had come up with this weekend. I’ve been meaning to get down to work a lot more than i have had a chance to do so, but ill impart whatever i came up with and we’ll take it from there.

right.

#1:
You’ve all seen this, but ill put it up.

#2:

The little girl. I was messing around with the idea of what the little girl would be like. Im thinking that she should be a pretty big focus of the story so i gave her traits that were sort of unique (i guess?). A little girl but with eyes that display anything but young.

#3:

A partial scene drawing. Here we have another rendition of the main character (i changed the hoodie to a sort of trench coat. Im not sure what would be more preferable, but let’s say for design space, it might not be a bad idea, especially if the character has to carry objects around) and a shot of the little girl. He’s praying for her because he knows she’s about to die (the ambulance is behind, not in the drawing but you can get the gist of things with the flash of light on the page, casting the shadow of the little girl).

Another idea i’ve been messing with is the symbolism involved in stigmata. How would you guys feel about a shot of the little eyes bleeding and her looking up to the sky right before she gets hit by the ambulance??

Let me know your thoughts.

jos

Some people were having trouble with some of the OGRE tools for Maya
So this is where we get the tools, they are Operating System specific, so be sure to get the right one.
Windows
Maya 7.0
Maya 8.0
Maya 8.5
Maya 2008

Mac OSX
Maya 8.5

If you are using something other than maya, check this link for extensions:
http://www.ogre3d.org/download/tools

Once you download your package, be sure to read the instructions. Installing the extensions should only require you to put some files around your maya folder. Once that’s done, all you have to do is start up Maya and you should new menu item called OGRE next to File, Edit, etc, at the top of your window.

If you want to test out an object you exported, those on windows can get this application:
Ogre Mesh View Next Gen for windows

Here are some instructions on how to get the libHydrax.so to compile on your system. These instructions work for Ubuntu Linux and the Code::Blocks IDE.

start by getting the rar here :

wget http://modclub.rigsofrods.com/xavi/Hydrax-v0.5.rar

extracted Hydrax-v0.5.rar
open Hydrax/Hydrax.cbp

in projects->build options
	in Hydrax, compiler settings>other options
	remove -mthreads

	in Hydrax, compiler settings>#defines
	remove WIN32 and _WINDOWS

in projects->properties
	in the libraries tab
	add OGRE

added file Hydrax.cpp and removed hydrax.cpp from the project
removed Structs.cpp

removed this from linker settings:
-Wl,--enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc
-Wl,--enable-auto-image-base
-Wl,--add-stdcall-alias

apply fix from here
http://www.ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=284091&sid=ce193664e1d3d7c4af509e6f4e2718c6
it's the one where you change things from 1d to 2d etc.

build
compile
copy hydrax.so that was created from
/wherever/Hydrax-v0.5/Hydrax/bin/Release into
/usr/local/lib/ as
libHydrax.so

This should score you the library.

More to come on how to get the demo rolling.