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Website updated! The UI/UX is more modern, but still nothing special. Click a picture, play a song, read a post... that is all still here. The audio does not stop if you explore other pages now. An unavoidable video page has been added, which will contain everything I wish I found when I was learning on my own. The catch? We only realize how much we know when we try to teach others. So, you might get pearls or you might get clams.

Speaking of learning from others, next month I start at TTTC. I guess that means I had a good time with the folks over there. Although, now there is a double-edged sword being swung. Meaning, slow progress through 2027. Penning the story and greyboxing levels could fill the dearth of content, for I plan to create the environmental vertical slice while at TTTC. This should free me to finalize character animation, systems, and UI/UX afterwards. Somewhere I heard that life is about the journey, not if you ever finish something or get anywhere specific.

Sean

340 Jenolan Street

Staying in a hotel is a roadblock to modeling, so I have spent my time here fleshing out the story. It progresses alongside the arc of three characters: Trent, Alarnus, and Beatrix. Other personalities that color the void are these amorphous silhouettes, a phantom relic, vermin, even the Jenola House (herself being a bit of a character, too). The only other thing I'll say is the storyline considers our "will" over engaging in wishful compromises.

I am writing the story with the idea that there are events that unfold after the final scene. Maybe this way of writing avoids a conclusive ending to the character arcs. That is not my experience of life and is also, in my opinion, a terrible ending for a horror story … unless characters die and the monster lives. Also in my opinion, a good ending has residue, a loose end or two, something unresolved that completes later, a mystery still lurking about.

Sean

Sugar, Spice, Leather, and Lightbulbs

Wrapping up that short introductory course where I used Maya for the first time, but now it's back to the project at hand. Maybe this is a little second wind from the course, but a prop is next in the shoot. It'll be something from Trent’s arsenal, which can be anything, really.

Trent will occasionally find objects that stand out in the litter-strewn environments. Some of these are ordinary while others are exceptional; some are hidden while others are found regardless of where you search. Trent can combine the former and the latter to create something new, or ruin something that already was. This leads him into situations with a handicap determined by the player, but the plan is to make whatever outcome entertaining.

Sean

Sharpened Mice and Lubed Monitors

An atmosphere of sound and light is paramount. Areas are haunted by them, reflected in gradients of decay and spectrality. The first trimsheet has been made (a mundane interior of an antiquated house) and the rest will depict the existential delving that is Revision's theme. Texture resolution is 4k, which I justify by saying 4m subdivides proportionally to 1m and... (insert something clever to say about texel density here).

Moving right along, yesterday I had an interview with Think Tank Training Centre. Even though it is fashionable to bad mouth educational institutions (and for good reason), it is not unreasonable to want to learn from working professionals. Nonetheless, they are hosting a 14 day character course on Monday, so I'll have a better picture if I'll attend at the end of the course.

Sean

No One Reads Your Blog

Should I continue the theme of the last entry? Sure, why not I guess. Afterall, I am beholden to no one with this website. Perhaps when this project matures, there will be something more coherent to say. At that point, this blog might transition into a roadmap of sorts. It is my intent that, out from under a stratum of digital dust, this project becomes fully realized; conveying a vertical slice of whatever may come.

...anyway, this week I began learning Toolbag and made my first trim sheet. I'll make a couple more and create a spooky hallway in Unreal where Beatrix can run down and do nothing...for now. Spooky environments need spooky sound effects, so the to-do list grows. Maybe whatever sleeps under my bed at night can help with that.

Sean

Promiscuous Software User

My goal has been to use the least amount of software possible. Moreover, I only want to use software I can buy, not rent. And even though Blender is great (I do not use it to its full potential) it is not a tool for everything. Go figure, right? So, moving forward I will bake and texture in Marmoset Toolbag. There will be other software to be sure (I'm looking at you Houdini), but I will bring everything back into Blender to animate cutscenes and develop vignettes.

Sean

The Start of Something Alright

White knuckled, I leapt.

Sean