Month: December 2023

SUMMARY

Role

Level Artist

Intention (SMART Goal) for the Session

By Jan. 12, as a solo dev, I will create a shader that mixes textures using the vertex colors and a tileable mask, by following a CatLikeCoding guide for my Session 3.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Chris Avellone

Chris Avellone worked on Fallout 2, and the art assets in it are incredibly good looking and clear.

Training Source(s)

CatLikeCoding

• Mixing Textures : The first texture is now modulated by the splat map. To complete the interpolation, we have to multiply the other texture with 1 – R.
• Gamma Space: Gamma space refers to gamma-corrected colors. Gamma correction is an adjustment of the intensity of light. The simplest approach is to raise the original value to some power, so value^gamma. A gamma of 1 means that there is no change. A gamma of 2 means that the original value is squared.

Evidence of Team Planning and Decisions

PRODUCTION – ACTION

Skills Commentary

Slideshow with the stuff I did

I made the texture mixer from the vertex shader and a mask.

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

I wrote the code myself, and tried to problem solve what came up by myself.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

I found sites that contain definitions for CGPROGRAM that I can use in my code.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

In the industry it is important to be able to create things without the help of a guide, and this project helped me use critical thinking outside of someone else’s code.

Reactions to the Final Version

“The Texture Mixing Seems like a useful tool” – a student in the class.

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

The texture mixing seems functional, but I worry about memory management as I create a bunch of unnecessary variables.

Grammar and Spelling

Grammarly

Editor

Odin

Summary

My Goal for this week was to create a shader that could mix two Textures using the vertex colors to decide where the textures should be, and the texture’s height map to add more detail to the mixing

What I Did This Week

I have made the texture’s mix with the vertex colors and some influence from one of the texture’s height map.

How I Did It

I followed CatLikeCoding’s Tutorial until I thought I understood the concept, then went off on my own to figure the rest out, and only returned if I needed a refresher on the specifics of a function.

What I Learned

I learned how to better structure code for expand-ability.

Problems I Solved

Most of the functions that I tried would create a very blurry result, or would have the mixing effect be placed across the entire texture poorly. I resolved this by using the desmos graphing calculator to visualize how functions would affect the end result so that I could quickly iterate on the concept.

What Was the Result

How on/off Track Was I?

I am on track with what I intended to do this week

PROTAGONIST

The player character is a blank slate and will express only from what the player wants to express.

PROTAGONIST CORE WOUND / MOTIVATION 

The primary motivator is getting enough money to keep racing, the secondary motivator is not dying on the rally stage, and the tertiary motivator is getting first place.

GENRE

The genre is Racing in line with Dirt 2.0

Long Term Game Play Loop

At the start of the game the player will have very little money and will struggle to survive. At the end they will have the economic strength to win the Races.

Short Term Game Play Loop

The player creates their car and goes racing, if the car survives they fix and upgrade it, then go racing. If the car is destroyed they restart the loop.

INFLUENCES and EXAMPLES

The primary influence is Dirt Rally 2.0, because of the tuning mechanics and rally.

The secondary influence is FrostPunk because of the difficult economy and the long term negatives from early choices.