Started some character art for the Star Blazers RPG.  Most of the time they will be scene from the back at their consoles.  This should actually make things easier to animate in game.  Also the heads might be able to double as the little in game dialogue images but im not ready to start putting that in yet.

Not sure how i feel about the flat color, i might have to add some shading on them.

Characters:
Wildstar, Nova, Dr. Sane, Venture, Sandor

 

Reference

Current Render

So i am almost done with my environment.  All of my modeling is finished and Ive got a good general sense of the lighting but i still need to get that blown out white light coming from the ceiling to work. 


Ceiling light fix

Floor fog maybe?

Fix textures on throne

Shrink waterfall width

Chains

Make fabric move (if time)


Not sure if ill have time to finish all this but the ceiling light is first priority.  I might be able to accomplish alot of it with post processing to but there definitely needs to be more light or maybe just turn up the ones i already have.
Also i just wanted to mention what a bitch this flooring was.  I did it in two parts.  The first was this circular design which is made with lots of photoshop rotation and some dDo.  The second part is that center design which i placed with a mask but i had to recreate the entire design by hand to get it to fit the environment.
 
I also set up three HealthBars.  One for the ship's crew, one for the ship's shield, and one for the enemy's health.  All are running already and are set up to a health/shield variable on the sprite.

Next i just need to figure out how to get a really simple AI that chooses the enemy's attacks and some code that slows things down. (right now actions occur instantly one after the other)
Ok, new screenshot.  I completely revamped how i was setting up the menus  Now its based off of set visibility instead of pulling from arrays. This feels more like the long hand way of programing out menus because each character needed its own independent menu scripts but i guess its better in the long run because im not to familiar with construct yet. 

At the moment each of the four characters i have in game pop up with a menu with their battle moves and if you select one, it will close the window.  There is also a max number of characters that select will let you use and then it shuts down  (intentionally programed this to transition to the enemy's turn which ill be adding next)
 
my group liked the crystals i made for them so i made some more that were easier to place or to utilize as very large singular assets.  I also finished off the textures for the slug and made emissive masks for both him and Snotty

Finally i redid the parallax i made before to have specular masks and normals so that the parallax can match the new rock textures we have.

 
I have been tweaking lots of things in Starsnott lately, so i haven't really been posting NEW things, more just slight modifications to make things fit together better

I used the same model and rig we had for Snotty (yes as we have no official name i have elected to refer to him as Snotty) and edited his textures.  As we made new characters like the frog people were wanting everything to be more and more cute.  SO, i edited his eye to be super big.  I edited the mesh a little to make this work too, but i don't think it will break the rig we already have.

Our level designers also asked for just more assets of things you might find in caves that we could use for either decoration or as intractable objects, so i made them a few crystal clusters.  I completely unwrapped them but I'm thinking a procedural transparent texture will do better then a diffuse.
 
Also i didnt realize untill after my selection of this image that it was from World of Warcraft
New Project for 3D  envionments class.  We have two weeks to model an environment.  I think i can do this concept art in 3D inthat amount of time.  with minor variations, it should be mirrorable anyways.

Im thinking of modeling EVERYTHING in max and then doing particles and lighting in Unreal UDK.  There is a chance ill do the fabric in UDK as well, but i think ill be more comfortable modeling out the folds with soft select or something.
Here is my start, untextured of course for now. the arch still needs some work but i think im happy with the fabric, espescially when i get some textures on it.
 
First i have set up an array for each of the three characters so that i can change a menu to fit their own attacks if you click on them in battle
Next i need code that will implement each of these arrays  into the text box when the characters are clicked.
COntinuing work on the Starblazers RPG

ive started by trying top get the basic battle system working.  for starters ive made three characters

Venture - green
Wildstar - red
Nova - yellow

The ship they are fighting will be the blue box when i get around to getting it working.  But for now im starting with the characters.
Finally, the code to make the menu appear.  I followed a little of a tutorial, but it wasnt quite what i needed, it was for a screen that would allow you to pause and such, it wasnt meant for in game selections. 
There is something wrong with my code, i think individually it all works but that there is something about event order i dont understand.  I need to consult poeple who are more familiar with construct.  Im pretty sure im supposed to have one of my functions looping to make this work but im not sure what.
 
The bigdog model is finished and so it his CAT rig and animation.  There were not many references that didnt have shells besides the main detail outline i had, so the back side of him isnt nearly as detailed.  But this robot doesnt really have a symmetric body/cage to begin with

i have made him his own detailed page on the Tech object page  
CLICK HERE  the animation is also there
 
Construct 2 screen cap
(with place holder art from the series)
FInally decided on a theme and program for my RPG game that i intend to make
Starblazers Space battle RPG
I have chosen to use COnstruct 2. I looked at several RPG makers but all of them seem rather limited and force you to stay in set formats.  Initial programming for just the basic game play shouldnt be to hard anyways so i feel comfortable that i can make my own initial battle sequence even without things like RPG Maker
The initial battles will be based with all the crew in the control room of the yamato.  Characters will have have varying powers based on their jobs in the series.  for now all im going to try and tackle is this fighting mechanic (as seen in the construct image above)  but as i finish more i want to expand it more to the RPG aspects where you level up your party, choose which crew members to battle with, and even a world map.  But first things first.  In the long run i think construct to will give me more of the feature editing freedom i want.

Also i havent decided yet on the art style.  if i have time i might model out the bridge in 3D and render out 2D images.  For right now as place holders i am using screencaps from the show.
 
Bigdog robot model has been completed and i have begun animating it with Max's Cat rig.  My first render seems to have lost its lighting however.  The model itself walks a little strangly because the legs get to close to each other in compariston to actual video of the robot moving.  If i have the time i might broaden the stride before i render out findal animations.