World Wide Cobweb

Website updated! The UI/UX is more modern but still nothing special. Click a picture, play a song, read a post... It's all still here.

I start a TTTC program next month. That means there will be slow progress here through 2027. Penning the story and greyboxing levels might fill that hole. However, during my final project at TTTC (where I work one on one with a mentor) I plan to create the vertical slice environment. After that I can pull in character movement, systems, and create the UI/UX. I checked the TTTC mentor list and saw that folks at Remedy, Striking Distance, Larian, and other studios I respect give their time to the program. Super!

All Bad Things End Badly

Staying in a hotel has been a roadblock to modeling, so I have spent it 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 silhouette things, a phantom relic, some vermin, and the Jenola House herself is a bit of a character, too. The only other thing I'll say is the thematic focus is: developing our "will" instead of becoming more wishful nature.

I am writing the story with the idea that there are events that unfold after the final scene. Maybe this way of writing will avoid a conclusive ending to these arcs. That is not my experience of life and is also a terrible horror story ending. There is always residue left, a loose end or two, something unresolved that completes later. A mystery unsolved and questions, there are always questions.

Sugar, Spice, Leather, and Lightbulbs

I wrapped up a short introductory TTTC course and used Maya for the first time, but I'm looking forward to settling back into the work I'm doing here. I know I have more modular environmental assets to make, but a prop is next in the shoot. It will be a weapon, so I guess now is as good a time as any to mention Trent's arsenal.

Trent will find objects occassionally that stand out against the other litter strewn about the environment. Some of these are ordinary while others are exceptional; some are hidden while others he will find regardless. Trent can combine the former and the latter to create something new or ruin something that already was. This leads him into the upcoming situations with a handicap determined by the player, but whatever the outcome the combat will be fun. So have fun.

Sharpen Your Mouse and Lube Your Monitor

This project's atmosphere is paramount. Areas are haunted by something beyond human, reflected in gradients of decay and spectrality. Therefore, I should spend time on a few additional environmental textures. The first of these is the mundane interior of an antiquated house, 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 in a structured environment. Nonetheless, they are hosting a 14 day character course on Monday, so I'll have a clearer picture if I'll attend at course's end.

Eye of the Beholder

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 I'll hire whatever sleeps under my bed at night to help with that.

A Recipe for Success

My goal has been to use the least amount of software possible. Moreover, I only want to use software I can buy and own. Even though Blender is great, and I do not use it to its full potential, its not a tool for everything. Therefore, moving forward baking and texturing will be done in Marmoset Toolbag. There will be other software to be sure (I'm looking at you Houdini). I plan to bring everything back into Blender to animate cutscenes and develop vignettes.

The Start of Something Alright

White knuckled, I leapt.