Final Stages

Final aspects of the game have come together and it all looks great. The flash HUD that I worked on this week has been completely finalized and works to perfection. The timer was surprisingly pretty easy to integrate and interact with UDK from flash. The fuel gauge for the weapon ammo information was a tedious task, but causing it to scale required some research through old files from previous work.
The most troubling thing to work with was the score aspect of the HUD. Calculations and increments were working fine on the player's HUD, but I was having trouble carrying that score over to the other flash file that opens up after the time expires. I finally resolved the issue by incorporating the final flash file and the HUD into the same file which made carrying over the variable data much easier.
We could have added some more elements such as more bugs, but it came to a time where we just had to stop. Another issue that I regret not researching more and resolving was increasing the amount of points each bug rewards the player with. In the current version, all bugs just reward the player with one point.
All in all, the game turned out pretty well and I'm extremely happy with the final build of the game. Xtreme Xtermination is one for the books now!

Finalized Production...One More to Go!

This week I finalized production on my level that I've been working on. Had to add some last finishing touches to really make the level playable and interactive. I incorporated some AI scripts for the enemies in the level. So now they don't just stand there. If you happen to get near them, then you will get hurt and getting surrounded by three or four enemies is not a good idea.
Also added in my own weapon. I created a model of a pistol in 3DS Max and imported it into UDK. After adjusting some scripts files, I have my own weapon in the level now as well. Along with my own weapon, I've also imported a custom vehicle into the level as well. I had some issues with the wheels for the vehicle for a bit but that was easily solved by changing the rotation axis.
After all of that, the game was ready to be packaged and set up as an executable. It has officially been finalized and everything is complete. I can always go back and add/delete things, but for now, this level is complete.

As for Xtreme Xtermination, production is now being 100% focused on all team members. We've divided up the work to get the Alpha build ready for Tuesday June 12. I have lots of work to do for the main menus, restart screen and the HUD. Flash here I come.....

UDK Mod? No, this is my OWN creation

We're trying to tear ourselves away from just modding UDK to giving our level our own look and feel instead of what UDK provides. That involved some of our own menus, scripts, game-types, audio, and camera set ups is what will help us achieve that.
Creating a menu for the level proved harder that I thought, as far as creativity goes. I didn't want just the title of the game and some plain buttons, but also a graphic or more interactivity for the user. In the end I sort of settled for just that, the title of the game and some buttons. It had been a while since I worked with flash and scaleform menus so it was a good refreshment for me in that area. The incorporation and implementing the UDK and flash "handshake" was relatively simple to set up.
The game type and camera scripts that needed to be set up were simple to use, but hard to turn into my own. For the camera scripts, I had trouble trying to set it up to my own third-person view. The rotation of the camera wasn't being handled correctly and I eventually found out that I was using the wrong variables to tweak its location. The audio scripts are the only ones left to customize for me.
As a designer/programmer modeling isn't something I'm great at, but that's what is expected of me this week. We have to start creating some of the enemy models for our level and I've been tasked with the stage one level enemies: ants and cockroaches. This is going to be fun...

Optimizing Levels

I did not think that setting up level streaming would be so difficult. I guess it was mainly my fault for the way my floor plan was created, and as well as how I set up my exterior level. The biggest concern for me was how seamlessly I could set up the level stream. Once I unloaded my interior level, and if I was in my exterior level, then the player would be able to see that the building they just came out of disappeared! That was the biggest issue for me. Eventually I set up the outer walls of the building and placed in my exterior level so that from the player's perspective the building is still there. Setting up the cameras were pretty simple. I set up a typical third person camera and also an optional over-the-shoulder view similar to the Gears of War series.
As far as Xtreme Xtermination is going we've begun grey-boxing the levels. I'm in charge of the first level so I'll be starting on it soon. Have to make sure everything is according to the initial floor plan otherwise we could run into some problems when we combine the levels.

The Outside Environment

I have been working on the exterior portion of the game level. My initial thought for my exterior was going to be just a parking lot, but due to some of the requirements that are needed, I decided that expanding it a bit further would be more beneficial. The terrain for the parking lot will be mainly flat, and the pond area that will accompany will have the more of an increase and decrease in its geographic properties. I found three simple materials for the terrain: asphalt, grass, and cement. I cut out some bsp for doors and garages so the player can enter the exterior area. After adding the fog, all that is left to add this week are particles, clouds, and my own tree.

Second Week: Adding Life to the Level

I have decided that it would be easiest for me to use my week one lab and continue on with it in this week's lab. I have already incorporated interp actors and matinee in my level, so that is taken care of. I also applied a multi-layered material to my floor in my level. I still need to add some k-actors, get the physical material, incorporate sound, animate lighting, and set AI paths. There's still a lot to do over the weekend because I spent the majority of this week trying to scale my character to the correct length which still hasn't worked out the way I need it to.
The course project is well under way. Justin, Zach, and I decided to divide the photos for the asset list evenly. Justin will be taking photos regarding the level design. Zach will handle photos for the enemy in our game. I will be finding photos for our main character, his clothing, and weapons.

First Week

I have begun working on the first week lab. It did not take too long to figure out what type of level I wanted to create. The game that this level is planned for is a third person action adventure similar to the Mafia or Godfather games. Choosing a warehouse for the level seemed like the best way to go for my idea. After this was decided, I completed the floor plan for the level in which the major elements include 2 floors and an elevator. Finding materials/textures is proving to be tedious but is definitely adding life to the environment that I have so far. I have also begun using 3DS Max to create an elevator that I could place in my elevator shaft in the UDK level. I still need to rig my character and create some more static meshes to incorporate into the level.

As far as the course project is concerned, the group has been decided. Justin, Zach, and myself have decided to work together. We've already gotten our idea down, so we just need to start documenting it.