New Toy Factory Art Assets

So over the weekend, I pretty much just made a bunch of new art assets to replace the old ones for the new theme:

 

I also added some details to the"cupid" turret, now it's a baby doll that shoots plunger arrows at you:

Here is the new MelterMan Logo:

As you can see, the background stone tiles are now a blue-gray instead of having a purple tint.  Also, I got some new brushes for photoshop that look more like graffiti.

I still have to work on making new graffiti images that will replace the hearts.  I'm thinking gears and some factory signs.  I also need to make an asset that will replace the curtains.  I'm going to try to make some lamps that will tile nicely and hopefully look good.  We want to get this all done before GDC, so we have about a week left to get it all in.  I'm also going to work with our programmer Austin today to set up the scene for the start menu.  We will have the new logo and the menu buttons to the left, and on the right we will have a conveyor belt dumping toys into a pile.  After some time, red goo will spray onto the toys and melt them.  I think this will look great and be something interesting going on in the start menu.

Theme Overhaul!

Since we are shooting for an E ESRB rating, we have decided to completely change the theme of our game.  We know we have a fun mechanic and game play, that don't really hing on the theme.  To avoid any interpretation of a sexual theme, and to re-purpose as many art assets as possible, we have decided to set the game in a toy factory.  The idea is that MelterMan must restore order to a toy factory that has been taken over by evil toys.  In order to show the rest of the artists how we can change the theme with some of what we have, I quickly  made the scene below.

We should have a lot of the new assets done this weekend, so I will post some actual screen shots soon.  I plan to make rubber duckies to replace the candles, a toy box to replace the couch, the heart graffiti with gears, the teddy bears will remain.  We haven't quite figured out what to make to replace the curtains, but were thinking industrial lighting of some kind.  We will also incorporate conveyor belts, which should add some fun to the game play.

Textured MelterMan!

So we got the main character in the game and he's all textured.  Turns out the animations from Miximo aren't going to work for what we need him to do ie: hold a gun and shoot.  So Brandi, our animator has started making animations in Unity.  This is very new to her so it might take a while to get them done.  As far as the texture goes, we realized that his hair color is too dark and blends in with the background.  To fix this I made him a red head.  I think I might try making him blonde and changing his shirt to green instead of yellow.  I also upped the saturation on the rest of him to make him pop against the background even more.

The programmers are also having to completely change the controller for the character.  I think once that's done he will at least move fluidly and we'll have a good sense of how he will play in the game.  Our designer is also figuring out what size he should be to keep the feel of the game the same as with the Spelunky character.  Adding this 3D model has pretty much broken the game for now, but I think once we get it done, it will be great.

Back at it!

Over the break our modelers made both 3D models for the game.  I started texturing them and we hope to get them in the game soon.  Now we just have to get the textures done, the gun modeled and textured and all the animations done.  We're using Miximo's auto rigger and some of their basic animations, but there will be some custom animations we have to make.

Here are some screen shots of them without the textures, in T-poses:

Great Success!

EAE day went pretty well.  We had a lot of interest in our game, and practically had to pry people away from it to allow others a chance to play.  We got a lot of positive feedback, and the negative feedback was very helpful.  Mostly we need to refine the tutorial levels and the controls, but that's about it.

Here is a candid photo of the team setting up:

During winter break we will be getting our 3D models textured and have them ready for the game by the beginning of next semester.  I will also be working on some new art assets and the programmers will be prepping for next semester also so we can just jump back in.  We will have the new build up on the website this week, so please go play it and send us feedback via the form on the site.  Thanks!

www.melterman.com

EAE Day!!

Today is EAE day at the University of Utah where we get to show off our games!  I was up late last night getting some new art assets ready.  I made 350 business cards to hand out.  Here's what they look like:

I also made a new and updated Start Menu for the game:

New screenshots and a game play trailer to come soon!

For more about EAE Day check out: 

http://www.coe.utah.edu/blog/2014/12/08/u-students-to-show-off-latest-video-game-projects/

Alpha Prep

This week and next we will be getting ready for Alpha!  Friday December 12th is EAE day at the University of Utah from 4pm-7pm.  We will be showing our game and we want to make sure it's as polished and playable as possible.  Our first attempt at tutorial levels didn't go over well.  We figured out that we really need to simplify and slow down the learning curve.  We also discussed ways to make our complex controls more streamline and easy to pick up.

My job is to make all the tutorial UI that will be needed.  The idea is to make it look like graffiti on the walls.  Below is an example of what that will look like.

As soon as we have the alpha build ready, I will post a link so people can start play testing!