This week Leap Motion (https://www.leapmotion.com/) was introduced into our project. This allows us to see our hands in VR with a fully functioning rig allowing for individual bone movement.
Hand bone tracking with Leap Motion.
Leap Motion in action within VR.
This is a huge 'leap' in VR development and within our project we hope to integrate it into game play. On the topic of game play the team further discussed ideas for the project, including UI and menus which will appear in the format of a book the character will wear on their hip. This book will be used to access hints, menus and other information relating to the mapped sites or artifacts discovered throughout the game. The book will also have the ability to teleport the player back to the museum which acts as a hub.
We have also completed our pipeline goals in the form of a collision, LOD and asset production documents. This will allow any new members to easily pick up the pipeline and ensure everybody is on the same track.
This weeks goals are to continue creation on assets. The museum is nearly at its unwrapping phase (after the creation of some doors), Akapana will be moving onto it's third level terrace, Chiripa structures are nearing completion and production on the Semi Subterranean Temple has begun.
This weeks goals are to continue creation on assets. The museum is nearly at its unwrapping phase (after the creation of some doors), Akapana will be moving onto it's third level terrace, Chiripa structures are nearing completion and production on the Semi Subterranean Temple has begun.
Progress on the second terrace of the Akapana pyramid.
We have also had discussion of Anya Jo Elvidge visiting at the end of June to talk about her work and offer feedback on the project. This leads onto our debate about which art style we want to go for. We've decided on a more stylized approach; not too exaggerated, but enough to take away from hyper realism. Due to this choice we have been looking at different artists to see how they create stylized textures, Anya being one of them. We have also looked at games like Gravity Rush which uses flat colours to keep a simple appeal.
Some of Anya's work, check out her Artstation to see more
Screenshot from Gravity Rush showing simple texturing used on the environment.
Furthermore, the team discussed introducing two animators to rig a character model for the game. This is dependent on whether we implement this character model.
