| From the desk of
John Lindemuth, 3D Max Artist October 13-17, 1997 Monday, October 13, 1997 My mornings are the quiet kind. I rarely speak before 10:00 AM. (Or my 4th cup of coffee.) Spent most of the day watching some musician, watching me take a smoke break. (For those of you who don’t know, Ya gotta watch those ivory ticklers carefully…. you can never be too careful.) 10:30 AM: Received the new inventory designs from Tim. Altogether, we’ve got about 130 items you can pick up or find. All of them have their own little animations. A little eye candy for y’all. Anyone got an idea about a water-breathing amulet? Tuesday, October 14, 1997 Rich Powell has completed the designs for the spell icons. Now these are gonna be fun! I began the first one at around 8:30 AM. It’s the "dragon fire" spell, a silhouetted dragon in front of a fireball. I’m having a lot of trouble with this fireball. All you ever see in the movies or games, is a cut-shot of fire. You never see fire doing a cycle. Next to doing a walk cycle, this has got to be the most challenging (and frustrating) thing I have ever done. The thing is, if it’s done right you won’t even notice it. If it’s done wrong, it’ll get noticed for sure! These icons are just the images you click on to be able to cast a spell. Terry wants the players to have a major reward for gaining a spell or finding an item. It’ll really bring you into the game. They’re turning out great. Any one got any ideas how a water-breathing amulet would animate? Wednesday, October 15, 1997 Mike would like me to finish up the "disarm trap" puzzle. It’s basically a magic key that lets you open up doors, if you’ve got a good enough memory. Mike already made it in 3d Max; It’s up to me to make them animate. Change of plans. Terry has got a great idea to add in a 2D dancer to this puzzle. The dancer, a guy, (sorry fella’s) hasn’t been designed yet, let alone put down on paper and animated. Then it’s got to be approved, scanned in, cleaned up and colored, then added in to the 3D scene, rendered, taken into Autodesk and timed out. This ought to set things back at least a week. It would be nice to hear the music before I start animating him, to get a feel for what he should be doing. Come to find out, Chance is waiting for the same from me. Someone’s got to go first… This amulet is starting to bug me, any ideas? Anyone? Thursday, October 16, 1997 Pulled an all-nighter. I have got to get this disarm trap done for the demo. There are at least six different layers that Gary has got to program in and they all have to line up perfectly. This is where a person with more experience can probably finish the job easier than I. After five tries, going through all the steps; I’m kinda at the end of my chain. I’ll have to thank Mike for giving me the "opportunity" to finish this up for him… Well, it missed this version of the demo. My frustration is at a peak. I think I’ll go and work out my frustration on the court. Good news... frustration gone. Bad news... a badly sprained ankle. I’m working on a water-breathing amulet… Anyone know what one looks like? Anyone? Friday, October 17, 1997 Ready for a long weekend? I am. My hiking plans are shot, so I’m gonna work on this amulet. Hope you guys enjoy this game, ‘cause we sure have! |
|
Next >> |
|
Interviews | Design | Heroes | Macintosh | Timeline
|