Waystation Echo DevLog 5: Some bad video and animation updates
I tried using Open Broadcast Server to record a demo of how I am handling arm animations, and to show off a little bit of the look and feel (in alpha stage, of course) of Waystation Echo.
Some things to note in this devlog update:
- I am constantly learning new things in Blender. Since teaching myself how to use it about a month ago, I have been going full-speed at modeling, texturing, and animating. I have lots of fun ideas that are coming out with regards to style and feel for this and possibly future titles, so in addition to being a great new tool that I am getting familiar with it is also an exercise in restraint.
- Animations are a lot easier than I thought. Animating first-person arms is astronomically easier than having create and account for the spaghetti-like relationships of all the blend states and montages and state machines that existed for the third-person prototype of this game. I grew up with first-person games, too, so it feels a lot more natural to me to be working on one now.
- The concept art is really fun. I have a ton of maps and sketches I've been putting together that I want to share with you once I find a smart way to scan it all in. I am a long-hander, and as such, sometimes it's hard for me to share the enormity of notes that I take. I'll get them up eventually, though.
This update is a little smaller than most of them, mostly because I already posted a tutorial in tandem with this week's update.
For today and tomorrow--when time permits--I'll be working on the item inventory system, the animations that account for the Rsync tool (formerly the "charge tool," Rsync stands for "Remote SYnthetic Neutronian Charger"), and a few more items of visual polish.
By the end of the weekend I'm hoping to be able to:
- Pick up the Rsync
- Equip the Rsync
- Unequip the Rsync
- Use the Rsync*
Stay tuned!
JL