Something a little different

So Unvanquished alpha 4 has been released and my tyrant model is running amok.  Its good to see!
If your interested you can find out more information and a link to download the alpha itself here.

I've been working on a lot of things recently but here is something a little different.  A revamped book cover for my grandfather's 'Lindy Grey' detective novels to be published on Amazon Kindle.  I'm honored to be given the opportunity to create these covers and I'm pretty pleased with the result.  Its a nice way for me to pay tribute to my grandfather's memory.

Unvanquished Alpha 3

So 'Unvanquished' the open source game I've been working on has just had its 3rd alpha test released.
You can download it here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/unvanquished/files/
Just to note: the image featured was not created by me, its the new interface/menu, Shiny!


The team has worked hard on this and its great to see the progress we've made already.  This build includes the new 'Dretch' model which I created the high poly and texture maps for.  It should also contain 2 of my other models previously featured on this blog: The 'Trapper' and 'Acidtube.'


I look forward to seeing the Tyrant in future builds, the animations are already looking great (thanks to Gavlig) :)


New in this release:

• The finished dretch! Fully textured and animated.
• A new interface! The main screen has been redone, along with the menus and the map loading screen.
• Players with older hardware can turn off the new models for increased performance, using these three cvars:
  cg_highPolyWeaponModels
  cg_highPolyBuildableModels
  cg_highPolyPlayerModels
• In regards to gameplay, we've added anti-spawnblocking, as well as a few tweaks to the lucifer cannon, pulse rifle, and flamethrower. The tweaks are off by default, and may be enabled on a hosted server for testing.
• We've cleaned up the voting code, and in addition to some changes, we've added two new vote types. Spectate votes will force players onto the spectator team, and function as a lighter kick. Polls, an old favorite, have been implemented too! To enable them, use g_pollVotesPercentage, with the value set to the winning percentage.
• For in-game administrators, troublesome players can be locked onto the spectator team for a little while, using the speclock andspecunlock commands. In addition, you can now warn players.
• For HUD designers, you can now use health bars and build timer progress bars.
• A GLSL shader cache allows for faster loading times for those using the new renderer.
• The console, for those running from a terminal, now has support for 256 colors.

Animation examples

Here's a taste of current animation tests for the Tyrant and Dretch.

These animations feature my models and textures but the animations themselves were not created by myself.All animation shown here is the work of Gavlig. The guy churns out animations like a beast so I'm sure there will be more to show soon.

Also Unvanquished alpha 3 should feature mine and Gregsteins Dretch model as well as my Acidtube model, which has been animated by Velociostrich.

Tyrant

9.7k Tris. Low Poly Render of a playable alien creature I created for the 'Unvanquished' dev team. The Tyrant is the ultimate alien creature within the game and by far the most deadly.

This Tyrant is very much an evolution of the original version seen in 'Tremulous.' Overall I'm happy with the balance of new and familiar features I've managed to achieve.

"The alien that was to become the tyrant originally inhabited the grassy plains and savannas of its homeworld, where it subsisted on a mostly herbivorous diet. Its powerful legs allowed it to accelerate its enormous body into short bursts of terrifying speed, not only easily sending potential predators flying for a great distance, but also providing a means to challenge rivals prior to courtship displays. Packs of tyrants roamed the grasslands freely, the very earth trembling beneath them at every step. Endless conflicts between family groups kept the species strong, and the number of tyrants at a sustainable level, much to the relief of other inhabitants of their world.

Unlike many of the other alien forms, the tyrant was not encountered until several decades after the invasions began. Many other civilizations had fallen to the overwhelming swarms the hivemind was capable of mustering, but humanity, with its highly developed technology and usage of artificial intelligence in combat roles, proved too strong of an opponent. Something larger was needed, a creature capable of taking blows the lesser aliens would find lethal and returning them with even greater force.

The first encounter between humanity and the tyrant occurred during a boarding action, a battle from which only a single distress call survives. It is from the terrified words of the human captain that we learn shotguns and painsaws, standard fare among crewmen, were nothing against its toughened hide. A few loud stomps drowned out the captain’s screams, followed by a bloodcurdling roar and the sound of the ship’s computer being torn into shreds.

Typically encountered towards the end of an assault, the tyrant towers above all other aliens, its weaponized arms longer than the bodies of most of its fellow creatures. There is no subtlety behind the tyrant, no thought behind the sheer force it is capable of utilizing. Armor is torn apart as if it was paper, and entire skeletons are fractured within moments when the tyrant slams its opponent against a wall. As if mocking the thought of its enormous body being easy to aim at, the very same bulk crushes anything unfortunate enough to be underneath it. To go alone against a tyrant is suicide, at best." 

- Chief science officer 'Kharnov.'

Acidtube

The 'Acidtube' I created for 'Unvanquised' and 'TremZ' dev teams. Both are open source games, separations from a prior project and aim to be spiritual successors to the popular 2006 Quake 3 MOD 'Tremulous.'

The Acidtube is an alien structure that attacks human players which come within range by spraying them with corrosive acid. They can be 'constructed' on walls. This incarnation of the Acidtube is a complete overhaul of the original, favoring a much more sentient design. I had a lot of fun with it.

6.5k tris.
1024x1024 Diffuse, Spec, Emissive and Normal.

Created in 3Dmax and Zbrush.
Maps Baked via Xnormal.
Textured in Zbrush and Photoshop.

BIG UPDATE - The Trapper

I've spent most of my free time working on a open-source multi-player game which blends first person shooter mechanics, with real time strategy elements and team based game-play. At its core its a continuation of the 2006 quake 3 mod 'Tremulous.'
I'm currently working as an environment artist in charge of creating alien buildables and re-texturing current alien models. Its a really exciting project and I can't wait to play the end result.

I've also updated my Portfolio Website please take a look!  any feedback is more than welcome.

The problem with being so busy is that I've forgotten to update the blog!  I've just added an entry to show the finished book prop but I'm afraid a further image spam is on its way.

The Trapper 'buildable'
The Trapper is a small alien defensive structure, it spits adhesive goo at opposing human players which come within range.  If hit and unless the human player is wearing a battle-suit, their turning speed will be drastically reduced, making them a vulnerable target to other alien buildables and/or alien players.

The old Trapper seen in Tremulous (2006):

Initial Concept:
Something we've tried to do with a lot of the updated alien buildables is to make them look more sentient.  I did a lot of different designs but settled on one of my later concepts.  I attempted to incorporate the old Trapper in to the new designs tail.  I like the idea that its evolved but kept some of its old identity.  Of course some of the development team like to joke that maybe it was just hiding under the ground before...  Little do they know that was one of the founding ideas that influenced my designs, hence why it looks like some sort of subterranean worm (The Graboids from the film Tremours were used as reference - awesome.)  I'm fond of the idea that maybe it was just cocooned under the surface awaiting its unholy metamorphosis!

High Poly Zbrush Sculpts and Polypaint texturing:

Final Low Poly Model, Renders and Breakdown.

Zbrush - Book (Incantartum Dragonomicon) - Low Poly

I've been busy working on another project but I found time to finish the low poly book I was working on. I'm happy with the way it came out. If I come back to it I think maybe adding some variations with a little extra damage on the cover might be interesting.

I used Maya for creating the low poly, Zbrush for high poly detailing and Xnormal to bake out the maps.