Abegayle Elmes

Having finished creating the Dalmatian dog rig and animating it. I needed to import it into the game and figure out how I was going to make it an AI character. This AI wasn’t going to chase the character like the white dog does but as soon as the mug was sensed the Dalmatian would to a rotation action so create a more complicated obstacle for the mug to pass by.

I mad a blend space for the Dalmatian from idle to a rotation movement.

The way the ceramics was made, it looks like the Dalmatian only makes sense when perching off one of the blocks in the scene set. This actually works because it makes the Dalmatian more threatening to the mug to pass by as there is only a limited amount of space so the mug needs to time the movement correctly.

Another element I wanted to include was sound effects for different situations with in the game. I found a website which contained thousand of free clips to suit whatever sound effects one would need. I browsed through the website to find sounds that I needed for my game.

This included:

• Small barking dog for when the dog notices the mug and chases.
• Collecting coins
• Flowing water for the cup and the sea
• Water drop sound for the shooting of water balls

For my main character, I wanted the super power to shoot water balls so that the mug could water the plants. I didn’t want to make it a destruction power like stunning the dogs. I thought this was what all the games did I had researched. All the tutorials was about shooting and killing the AI. I had to use these tutorials and adapt them to fit the concept of my game.

I decided to use the rock throwing tutorial as it seemed like it was easy to adapt to the water ball, I just needed to learn how to make the water texture instead of the rock texture.

This was my final material built so that it was translucent and also continuously moving like water would. I did this by using textures and an image of water I found on the internet together. Then using a material expression panner so that the image was constantly moving in a direction to give the aesthetic it was a real water moving.

I am really happy with how this came out. This gave the illusion that it was a real world water.

I need to build the scene of the game and want to use the techniques I have learnt about when researching. I used the landscaping tool of the plane which was actually fairly easy to navigate and create.

I wanted to create clouds for the sky to keep in theme of the mug skin pattern. I tried moulding my own version of a cloud but I felt like it was a missed opportunity not to create them in unreal engine as there are some really interesting tutorial of constantly changing clouds.

This tutorial below was easy to follow along and make the material of a fluffy cloud.

This was the final out come from following the tutorial. I needed to create the material differently than previously so that there was a atmospheric style to the cloud.

Next, I wanted to add grass to my landscape. I used this tutorial where I downloaded free foliage files from the Epic Games app, to then apply it to my scene. I loved the idea of having a mixture of foliage to create this realistic setting out in the wild with my flower rigs.

This is the final grass field I made. I am really happy with it but unfortunately because my laptop doesn’t have enough space, the whole game was running so slowly which made it impossible to continue working at a fast pace. I will have to wait until I have better facilities to use this part of the Unreal Engine programme.

To continue making the scene, I took stills from Pey Chi instagram of back of back drops she used to create patterns to texture the different shapes and obstacles my character would have to pass through. As you can see I have used illustrator to formulate these textures and converted them into a material in Unreal Engine.

Due to the lack of space on my mac, I changed the lay out to a simple strip of A to B. This way I can continue with designing the rest of the game.

I am now starting to build up the level design using the colours and patterns used by Pey Chi. I have also added in a Navigation Mesh Bound Volume for the AI characters I have build to roam around.

I am not totally happy with the sacrifices I have made to the scene but I have to do what is necessary to complete this game with the laptop I have. I am however grateful I have tested so I now know how to create ore extravagant scenes.

I wanted to include my Houdini skills in the game as I know it is possible to convert simulations and import it to Unreal Engine. I found this FLIP tutorial to explain how to make a water fall simulation. I followed the tutorial in Houdini to make it myself.

I have now successfully finished making this simulation but I will need to figure out how I will transfer this into Unreal.

Next I wanted to create a simulation of the mug breaking when the character dies in the game. I used this simple destruction video to refresh myself with how to correctly complete this simulation.

Just as I have done in a previous project, I used the RBD bullet solver. This meant that I have more control in how I wanted to breakup this up.

I was having issues with the geometry spreadsheet and understanding it so I watched this really useful tutorial so that I could tighten up my knowledge.

Whilst I am applying for jobs, as it is getting to the end of my Masters, I wanted to update my showreel as I went so that I could make sure my FMP was considered in my application.

I had noticed over Summer that most of the VFX jobs were surrounding the gaming industry so I wanted to help my chances as much as possible. I am actively looking for a job so that I can jump start my career ASAP. I screen recorded my game so far to show that I am capable of using Unreal Engine and that I have done this purely through my own research and adaptation to a game I am designing and building on my own.

I had notice that Pey-Chi has included a lot of dog designs in her work. As a dog lover, it kills me to make them the villain in the game but I will keep them looking aesthetically cute as she does.

I used Maya to build the basic shapes of the dog before taking the model into Zbrush. I used the sphere shape in various different ways to build up the dog as shown in the images above.

As I did with the mug rig, I used the clay and clay build up tool to mould the dog to have the fluffy curles that this breed of dog has. I assume its a Bechon Frise.

I now have taken the model back to Maya and added materials to make sure that I can assign their materials in Unreal engine. Then I rigged the character so I can animate the walk and idle.

For an added aesthetic, I modelled a tongue so that the dog would look as though it was panting.

This is the final model completed.

I found this online walk cycle of a dog to then use as my animation reference. This is obviously a different breed of dog so they wont look exactly the same. However, the general concept of movement .

As part of my games aim is to collect coins to win points. I found this tutorial on YouTube which was simple to follow.

I used a similar style smiley face for the coins as Pey-Chi uses smile faces a lot in her designs. I took this image and built it in maya.

Here is the smiley face blue print so that I could collect the coins when the mug overlaps the collision boxes you can see above in the scene. I also made the coins continuously rotate like coins usually do in games. This rotation makes it noticeable for the player to find and initiate the collection.

Now that I have complete this, I will need to create a widget and an icon that will tally the amount of coins collected.

Now that I have completed rigging the flower, I need to focus on modeling other ceramics that Pey-Chi has made to fill out the storyline of the game. There are several examples of dogs being used which I wanted to be the villain a character that would dig up and ruin the flowers which was the main objective of the game. I am going to try and make a rig like this illustration.

Just like with the flower, I added in where the joins would be.

I will take this rig into Zbrush to try and mould this dog but I then decided it was better to use another reference as this dog didn’t feel like a main character of her designs and I could use a better wont from her portfolio.

I decided to use the Dalmatian ceramic dog to mould.

As I did the dog previous. I used selection of shapes to build up this dog which I will then take it

I have now finished modelling, so I have added the colour to where I can. I need to use the topology tool so that I can assign a texture to the model.

I used the UV mapping workspace so I could stitch together sections of the model so that the dots of the Dalmatian would look even.

I am only needed to but the texture in certain parts of the model skin. This mean I need to