THE TRUTH
Last week I gave you all very sad news. Read this entire post. I hope you can appreciate the honesty. The campaign is horridly broken…well….WAS
Take off your “resident evil 2 goggles” and see for yourself.
And Yet, It was ‘revealed’ to you. This is ONE of MANY examples. I can’t waste too much time saying what we USED TO BE. You can find out what I mean if you really look at the old screenshots.
Bioh4zard 2 became a hugely ambitious project, that began to snowball as it picked up such great texture, model and sound talent that went out of control because I wasn’t steering it correctly. What good is a driver who can’t drive?
This brought us (well me) to a breaking point. All hell broke loose.It was becoming a point of “why is this becoming so difficult” and the reason was quite obvious. I was not good enough!
Run home little piggy! Wee wee wee! Back home!
It crossed my mind. Dropping out. Making up some scheme that the computer “exploded” or “stolen”.
So with the campaign wobbling on its last legs towards the end of 2009. 2010 is the year for change.
Did you notice there was no news in January 2010. Why was this?
I took some TIME!
If you check the http://www.ihatemountains.com bonus section, this is an excellent example of what WE DIDNT do. Granted that we don’t need full sketches of areas, since they already exist, but many of their gameplay charts, weapons, items and director flow maps are examples of how a campaign should be set out. Well thought out and a set plan.
While building the RPD, I considered it “horridly mis-proportioned” due to “capcoms fault” and I did very little to make the rooms look properly proportioned to the game, the reason for any irregularity was “not my fault”. My attitude meant time was wasted, resources wasted and hopes raised for no reason. Any models or textures I ‘attempted’ to make, ended up being horrible and was needing to be recreated. I’m sure you get the point now that It seems like for the last year I have done nothing. I’m fine to admit that.
RE-BIRTH
What did I do wrong?
- The maps weren’t planned, thought out or considered on a whole. Some of it was built “room by room” - SOLUTION - Full Layout created for Maps, plans, sketches & new technology (such as the l4d2 instancing system)
- Textures Suck - SOLUTION - I horded all the photoshop tutorials I could find and got the hang of things that I previously had little knowledge about.
- Maps off-scale - SOLUTION - I learnt full scaling & dimensions from expert max & architectural tutorials to which my grasp of 3D content creation was made 100 times more easier.
- Models Suck - SOLUTION - 3DSMAX Tutorials by the hundreds, and practice.
What’s the combined result of this?
PURE VISUAL GOLD.
Well, almost. We try to do a lot in a short amount of time. So If you see some “strange shadows” or “flat colored” textures or models, It’s because we are using a better process of development where we build environments using whatever we have, untextured or not, fully modeled or not. They serve as a good test, a good subsitute and allow me to continue working without having to worry about a certain model or texture. If you see something that you think is strange, its because it’s being done later. We are having everything assembled and coming back to these kind of things later.
Without further adue! Here it is! With a new / old comparison & EDITOR SCREENSHOTS to show what it is we are doing.
OLD VS NEW
I will show some more areas later, there are a LOT of rooms in the RPD. So be patient!
SO WHAT IS THIS PROJECT NOW?
I’m sure some information on that will come from the screenshots I provided, the editor shots showing (coach) - BUT WAIT!
Wouldn’t it be great if somehow, the charm of Left4Dead1 was re-inspired? The survivors re-grouped. Somehow using new dialogue? But what about the infected? Of course! We didn’t forget about them!
(Boomer concept by Marta)
We have a few other sketches in the making, including a little hat for him to wear. Yes, he is now so cute you will not want to shoot him. We are applying this to other infected too. Taking lessons from Valve, we ARE NOT modifiying the outline of the enemy, just providing a new look. We can show you more about our “Lunter” and “Gank” at a later date.
There is so much I can say, so much I shouldn’t say and So much I need to do. I’ve already blabbed my mouth for hours on this post, So it’s time for a little rest.
“Why are you guys taking years to make this campaign” - csta
We aren’t anymore. You know what? We built 3 maps in under 4 months. Consider it took us 1 year to get 2 maps (horridly broken) I’d say this is DAMN GOOD. As of 2010, Bioh4zard2 was born on January 24th.
Questions? Comments? FEARS? - Let us know, and I will respond to EVERY question If possible (or answer in the next main post). While I have said that there is a lot of things to be done, I also said It was on hold, but I’m hoping to announce the continuation very soon.
Many Thanks
Zac & The Bioh4zard2 Staff
Apologies if there are many mistakes in my writing, I wrote it over some different days, but It should be legible.