Voice-overs are also being added to the game and cut-scenes animated and finalized.
Since we do have voiceovers and quite a few cut-scenes in Oliver&Spike we developed a system to deal more efficiently with voiceover files in a unity project. Our way if implementing different ground textures and blending them is also very unique. We will be adding specific and more technical posts about how we achieve this at a later point in time.

If you happen to be in San Francisco for GDC and Game Connection, make sure to let us know! We don’t bite

Let’s take our Oliver and see how he matured during the process:

The first step, obviously, is to come up with a good background story and a good general description of the character for the concept artists to have an idea where to start. That’s the base a concept artist has to work with. Here is the very first concept we had for Oliver:

He didn’t feel right at this point, so Davide created more suggestions to choose from:

A more intellectual Harry Potter Look:

We sent the first version to the hair dresser and ended up with a slightly more mischievous Oliver with cute Beanie (just missing a snowboard, isn’t he? ) A bit too rebel maybe?

Here is a slightly more inventor-y type of kid (after all, being raised by the McSplices should leave some lasting impact, no?). We really liked the longer hair but those heavy eyebrows had to go. Reminded us a bit of Syndrome!

We finally settled for this combination: He’s got a longer body, longer hair, lighter eyebrows and a sweet, loveable feel about him.

In order to be able to start modeling, a so-called character sheet of the actual concept has to be drawn, showing the character from different angles. This makes it much easier for the 3D artists to create a model which is based on to the actual concept:

It is, however, often necessary to tweak and adjust the actual 3D Model as well. As you can see the first 3D model has some differences from the 2D Concept:

Last but not least the current version of Oliver. What do you think?

San Francisco here we come

REGARDING WABAS

The tribe we’ve taken to calling the Wabas, are a race of bipedal, mono-ocular lagomorphs. In layman’s terms, a waba is a big ol’ fluffy one-eyed bunny-rabbit.

They reside right here. Their dimension and everything within it is superimposed on ours, but it resonates at a wildly different frequency. I have named their dimension FIRMA. Similarly, I have taken to calling our own dimension TERRA. After all, Terra Firma is our home. We’ve just been sharing it all along without knowing our neighbours. Between Terra and Firma lies AQUALA, however. A dimension I still know very little about. But I digress!

A grown male waba stands anywhere from 50cm to 120cm tall, covered in drab-colored fur, and usually garbed in a loincloth or similar attire. The females usually wear shawls and cover themselves the way humans do.

They live together in a tribal community, where gender seems irrelevant when it comes to tasks. Individual wabas are selected for their jobs based on their particular skill sets, instead of the gender stereotype we humans have seen over the years. Interesting… I must ask Oliver to query about their social structures further!

The Wabas also have a flat hierarchy. What this means is, just because you’re the chief, you’re no better than anybody else in the tribe. The position of ‘chief’ is just another task selected by skillset. Waba warriors have many tasks to perform; They’re the tribe’s protectors, hunters, scouts and messengers. They fight primarily with crude bows and arrows, as well as shield and spear.

From what Oliver tells me, they also carve large stone facsimiles of themselves to record their history. I dream of one day seeing such sights for myself.

Careful if you try this. Rock Pocket Games cannot be hold responsible for burned fingers or any other body parts that might get hurt in the process! Try this at your own risk

• One raw egg
• 2 radicchio rosso leaves or any other big leafed salad
• One slice of Toast
• round cookie cutter or glass
• Spices to taste (Salt, Pepper)
• napkin

Choose the right pan. The best pan for making fried eggs is a heavy iron cast skillet

Steps:

1. Use a round big cookie cutter to cut out the middle of the toast (or you can use a big drinking glass and use it’s opening to get the round shape.
2. Add the butter or oil into the frying pan and set to high heat. The butter has the right temperature if a drop of water sizzles if you drop it into the butter (careful with this test).
3. Place the toast into the pan and press it down with a spatula to make sure the toast lies firmly on the bottom of the frying pan.
4. Break the Egg carefully in two and let it gently drop in the middle of the toast opening. Lower the heat to medium to make sure your egg doesn’t burn.
5. Season the egg with salt and pepper as you see fit.
6. Let the egg fry in the pan until it’s to your liking
7. Take the toast and egg out of the pan with a spatula and place it on a plate.
8. Decorate with the two radicchio leaves and a napkin.

If you like the bread crusty you can let it sit and get brown a bit before you add the egg and turn down the heat to medium.
Maybe you can come up with additional decoration ideas. Give it a headband and teeth?

Enjoy your meal!

Once again, Davide is responsible for bringing the design to paper first (in this case Xinis are already trying to take over the car!):

Henning then took the concept and gave it shape form and color (using 3D Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop once more) to create the actual in-game car:

What do you think? Should we call Ford and ask for it to be made into a real car
If we Wabas could drive, I would definitely get one! I am sure it still runs better than the Professor’s Toaster!

CLUSTER
A collection of dimensions that are connected to each other

CLUSTER RIG
A cluster rig is machine designed by the alchemist Chyme derived from the schematics of a cluster teleporter. Unlike a teleporter, which opens a path between clusters, a rig operates like a big vacuum-cleaner, sucking up balance energy within the dimension it is localed in. Since the area around the Cluster Rig is lacking balance energy, all living creatures that gets to close are transformed into Mudimos.

CLUSTER TELEPORTER
A machine that lets you teleport to another dimension cluster.

DIMENSIONS
Different versions of the same world within a cluster

DIMENSION ENERGY
Dimension energy manifests in the form of crystals. Each crystal gives you one dimension jump. The color of the crystal are linked to the dimension it leads to. (i.e White Balance Crystals, Black Chaos Crystals, Colored Energy Crystal)

DIMENSION GUARDIANS
A member of The Order – a dimension jumper who has dedicated his or her life to maintaining the balance and order.

DIMENSION JUMPER
Creatures who live in a certain dimension only exist in that particular location because their frequency is in tune with that specific dimension. Some selected individuals (or a specific species) have the power to alter their frequency with the help of Dimensional Energy. Since all the dimensions in a Dimension Cluster occupy the same space, they can ‘travel’ between the parallel universes at will by altering their own frequency.

DIMENSION JUMPING
The ability to jump between parallel universes (clusters).

MULTIVERSE
The overarching connection of universes (clusters) and their parallels (dimensions).

GLOWGHOST
Glowghosts live in the space of the Multiverse. Their main purpose is to help keep the balance, much like the Dimension Jumpers, but on a much lower scale. Much like bacteria, they feed on balance and chaos energy. Glowghost’s seek out imbalances between the dimensions. They also seek out Dimension Jumpers and can enable them to dimension jump without dimension energy crystals.

MODIMO
A creature that has been in contact with pure chaos energy, and therefore mutated to a hideous freak of nature. These creatures often guard areas of interest to Nox. Modimos are multi-dimensional, so you can’t simply get past them by jumping to another dimension.

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL
Multi-dimensional object exist in all the dimensions (in a cluster) at the same time. This means that if you move it in one dimension, it also moves in the other dimensions.

TEAR
A hole, either natural or created, between two or more dimensions

THE ORDER
A sect of Dimension Jumpers who are dedicated to upholding balance and order within the multiverse.

WABAS
One eyed creatures that look like rabbits. They live in the dimension of Firma.

XINIS
A slime like creature, bred by the alchemist Chyme. The Xini’s are parasites who can take control of other living creatures. Chime uses the Xinis to take control of a dimension by infecting the ruling people first. Infected people start to work on setting up a Cluster Rig, in order to transfer that Dimensions energy back to Nox.

Davide created beautiful concept art of the exterior of the Professor‘s house as can be seen here:

Based on the Concept Art, Constantine used 3D Studio Max to create the base model and  Henning then took over also using 3D Studio Max and Adobe Photoshop for texture work. The normal maps are created using a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Mudbox. The Render below is a screenshot of the actual in-game model without shadows. Keep in mind that the art, look and feel of the game may change during development.