Trailer Up

Here is the trailer I made for the capstone presentation at the University of Baltimore. It was made using Adobe Premiere.

Jeremy Reid - Week 12 Milestone

Visual Enhancements, Optimizations, and Animations

This week I played around with lighting, fog effects, shadow effects, tree-vibrancy, and other visual changes or optimizations. The result is a much more aesthetically pleasing environment. Not only does the fog effect create a feeling of depth and distance in the environment, but it also serves to optimize the game because of the reduced draw distance.

Another a big change: I got animations working correctly in-game now! All of the structures that have animating components to them now work in-game. It was really simple: all I had to do was change the animation import settings to "legacy" and then check "loop". The result really brings new life to the racetrack and environment.

Another big change that might or might not be apparent: the trees are much more vibrant and they actually cast shadows now! I finally got them to cast shadows correctly by applying the "nature- soft occlusion" shaders on the leaves and trunks.

Colter Hasfurter - Week 12 Milestone

This week, I spent time working in 3ds-max again to tweak, and add to, the power-ups so that they would better suit a regular race which the team has decided to switch to. I also made a few additions to the heaven clutter to fill up the level.

Redone Power-Ups

Box, Sphere, and Pyramid(new) versions of the Power-Ups

Notice the swapped colors due to the race no longer being about wanting to lose the race. You want to gather the lightning bolts, and stay away from the oil buckets.

Swapped Powerslides

Same as above, you want to drive over the lightning plane, and stay away from the oil plane

Heaven Staircases

Short/Long Stairwells

Heaven Pillars

Pillar Parts

Nothing too major here, I just broke off the parts I used from the tunnels and stairwells and put them together for cluttering as solo pieces.

Detail Doodad

Detail Part for Heaven Architecture

Pots

Objects for Cluttering

Future: Final touches to heaven doodads, continued search for sound effects, and perhaps a return to the hell architecture. There "may" be a final finish-line room that could be used as a hell area. It's being discussed if it can be done or not with the remaining two weeks left.

Jeremy Reid - Week 11 Milestone

This week I cluttered the level with power-ups that I was able to script to move back and forth repeatedly all over the track. I also scripted in some particle effects that would initiate upon collision with the obstacles. I

The screenshot below showcases Amanda's newest kart - Grim.

Since the Hell area was cut, I also added this little area at the end of the level. Your doom awaits...

I also played around with the menus and added a new "loading screen" that gives players information about the controls and goal of the game. I scripted some stuff for the loading screen and essentially told it to wait 5 seconds before loading the next screen so that players will have enough time to read the information on it and prepare. In this way it gives off the illusion to players that it's actually taking a couple of seconds to load the level.

I revamped both the player select screen and the character select screen in an effort to make them more interesting.

The karts for the character select screen below actually revolve. A simple script was all that was needed.

Amanda Hammack, Week 11 Milestone

Every kart is complete and the base materials have been applied, including the Grim kart that I have finished this week. When we begin the polish phase next week I will add more detailed textures and perhaps give better lighting effects to the orbs.  

Colter Hasfurter - Week 11 Milestone

Level Sound Effects

Basically, I spent most of this week looking around the internet, and gathering different sound clips that can be applied to the level. The lone exception being a music track that would play in the background of the game. Sounds include:

• Car engine loop (3)
• Car brake (2)
• Car acceleration
• Car initial rev-up before cars start moving
• Car gun fire (3)
• Car ammo pick-up
• Car bumping into wall/car (2)

Some of the sounds have multiple choices to choose from for variety as noted by the (#) mark.

Additional 3ds-Max Objects

The first two objects are the ammo pick-ups for the car bullets that cars would pick-up as they move along the track.

Accelerate and Break ammo

The second two objects are the power slides that would be on the road along the track that the player would try to aim for or avoid.

Accelerate and Break road-slides

The third two objects are actual tunnel pieces for the heaven level.

Short and Long Heaven tunnels

Amanda Hammack, Week 10 Milestone

I am nearly finished with Grim's kart. To construct this kart I would need a thorough knowledge of anatomy, which is not easy to attain within a week. I also spent some time in Unity and found out how to create a traveling bon fire attached to the kart. I am having difficulty figuring out how to keep it from passing through other objects, though. I might need to skip the cloak in order to finish the most important features in time. It is not the most detailed kart in the series, but it is the most difficult and the most rewarding.