Halloween Scare!
Happy Halloween! Well, it's the first of November here, but it's still Halloween across the pond. So, I received the biggest Halloween scare of all: knowing that M.I.A will be released today! Well, I'm happy with it, but there is always that last minute rush, and that nagging feeling that there will be an over looked bug that no one ever found during testing stages. But yet, Goldeneye 64 was full of bugs, and that was an epic game (I'm a 90s kid, so it will always hold a special place in my heart!).
We entered this project with a grandiose vision of multiple buildings, an outdoor area, and a cat (yes, there always needs to be a cat!). But as Hofstadter's law states:
"It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law"
We were constantly scaling back our project, but for three months worth of work, it's not too bad. I learned the wonders of Mudbox. I love you Autodesk... most of the time. K.I.S.S - KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! I always see people wasting days (even weeks) trying to figure out how to use Mari, and 3D coat, and all of these intricate programs to texture an object which will barely even be seen. Sure, not every studio has Mudbox, but when you have something due, just get it done which ever way possible, and worry about arsing around trying to learn programs later.
Oh, 'dat seat topology! I should have optimised the chair a bit better. Looking at the tri count makes me uneasy. This chair was made early on in the project. I used nurbs to create the wood-turned legs, then was left with an obnoxious amount of edge loops when I converted it to polygons. Even after spending a long time cleaning it up, I still feel like I could have removed a few more loops.
I'm creating another apartment complex in my own (lack of) spare time, which is about the diversity of a community. I'll recycle the assets that I made in M.I.A, re-texture most of them, and build some more. Of course, I'm not going to use anyone else's work, since it belongs to them, and I am a very VERY big stickler for copyright.
