Models, Music and Mischief.

Hello and welcome back....wait....we're back...not you.  Welcome back us!

Lots to talk about so let's jump right in:

Models:
We're trying something new here at Skyride Studios.....more videos,  That's right, you read correctly unless you can't read then obviously you didn't.  We are going to start adding more videos of behind the scenes stuff just for you.

Up first is this timelapse we'd like to share.  After we model our buildings, we then go and add textures to the buildings, add collision proxies so that you can't run through the walls and then apply it in-game and tweak the textures until they look like whatever we set out to make them look like, I.E. concrete, glass, wood,etc.

 To do these last two steps it took us a hour and a half for just one building (City of Rain has something like 90-100 buildings) and in a attempt to keep you from watching the whole 90 minutes, we sped up the footage to 2 mins and 30 seconds. (You're welcome).  We also added a new unheard track to the timelapse so you can enjoy some music while it goes.  So here's that:




In the future expect to see these types of videos from our composer Luis and our concept artist Leandro.  These talented SOB's are still working on those videos for you as we speak...or type...or whatever.

In addition to exteriors we are also working on interiors.  Here's a screenshot of reference art and the final in-game art:

There will be final tweaks later on but the first run looks pretty good we have to admit.


In other news, I don't know how many of you went/knew about it/missed it but the amazing Los Angeles GameSoundCon happened this week and Skyride Studios sent Luis to attend.  Crazy enough the event sold out this year.  Over 300 composers/sound designers attended and Luis came back with mountains of knowledge and smiles.  Here are a few pictures he took of the event:

If anything the experience has made us want to work even harder on the game and we can't wait to attend next year.  If you end up attending the next one, hit us up at: will@skyridestudios.com and let us know.  We'd love to meet up and hang out.

As a final note, I wanted to share some of Leandro's concept art (still a work in progress).  After we completed Willow we moved on to Willows counterpart Winter.   Winter is the brains to Willow's brawn.  We first started with a few variations.

We then move on to a rough, refined draft:

And then finally the detailed finalized version we then give to our character modeler:

This time around we even gave a detailed version of his gadgets and toys:

After Winter was complete we started work on our first female character (Lielah).  Lielah is Epios's sister and the whole reason Epios goes to Rain is to look for her. (She's been kidnapped and it's your job to find out where and by who).  We chose #3, #4 and #6 as different costumes she'll have on throughout the game depending on what's happening within the story.

Just the other day Leandro sent me the rough draft of #6 Lielah:

Probably by the end of the month or so this character's concept will be completed and we will move on to the next which I'm hoping will be Metis.  Metis is one of my personal favorites and here's a little sneak peak at his description:

  

Hope that was worth the wait.  Hopefully we will be updating more frequently as we get closer to the end of the year.  Thanks for everyone's kind words and support.  It means a lot to us and please spread the word if you like what you see.  Talk care, talk soon.

Graveyards and Gardens

Well hello again.  Sorry for the long wait, it's been a crazy month (as always).  You're probably itching to know what's been new, so here's what I got for ya: (keep in mind all of the photo's have not been altered.  It's all in game screen caps, the only thing I added was the Skyride logo.)

So I wanted to start from the beginning and get the feel of the game set up the best I could.  I drew inspiration from games like the new Tomb Raider game which has GREAT production design.  All these really pretty sections of the game you see as you go through the level.  So I did my best to try to capture that kind of feel: (really, if you haven't played the game, go rent it. It's masterful.)

Tomb Raider:

City of Rain:

In the story, someone dies (I don't want to give away who) and the main character takes their body up on a hill that overlooks Rain.  This is the spot where he buries that body:

Notice how I'm not trying to give away where the location is. :-p

Also somewhere on the hill is a cemetery I've been working on.  It's still a work in progress but I'll show you a sneak peak of what it looks like at night:

I've just started today on it, so give it another week and I should be done.  I'm slowly working my way back to the city.
1. Because these small area's are super important and need to get done
and
2. Because I have SO many more buildings to texture and I don't want to do them. (^_^)

If pictures aren't your thing, you can always watch this gameplay video of the intro and park area I had made a few days ago.  Bonus is the music track will be in the game and has been composed by my talented composer L.A.Z.

The park you will see is actually inside of the city and is about 75% done.  I have to add a few more special spots here and there but you'll get the idea.  It's suppose to look abandoned and forgotten with overgrowing trees.  Watch it in HD for great detail.  

Enjoy:

Well, that's all I got for now.  If you like what you see, I'd love to hear about it.  Or even if you don't.  Also, I'm currently looking for someone who'd be interested in character design/animation/implementation.  If you or someone you know would like to work on this video game with me, shoot me a email at: will@skyridestudios.com and we'll talk.  Thanks a lot.  Later, Screen Slavers.

Pics and clicks

Hey all, been busy as usual. Lots of interesting things happening on this front. So far a few set backs. Firstly, we've updated our game engine (still Cryengine 3) but since they restructured the innards, we are doing a rehaul on the level. Cleaning things up and making them look better than ever. I've managed to start the opening first level out in a forest during sunset and as you follow the trail over to a overlook, the sun starts to go down and by the time you reach the city at the bottom, it will be nighttime and the city will be thriving with people/stores/etc. Since they've upgraded the engine, that means more better features and beautiful scenery so here is a screenshot (untouched in photoshop or anything) of the lookout point where you will see the whole city at the start of the game:

As of now, the new engine supports flares (lighting and sun) which is awesome for us cause we will have plenty in the game (not as many as JJ Abrams or anything but subtle and mostly used in a color correction sort of way.......you'll see.)

Also our composer Luis has been hard at work still making some BEAUTIFUL music for the game.  Here is a new song and one you will hear a lot in different variations throughout the game.  It's the main characters theme song:



We are super excited and have a few surprises for 2014 so keep a eye out and we will keep working hard on our end.  Happy Holidays from all of us here at Skyride Studios and we hope you all will have a fantastic new year!

City of Rain Music

Recently my composer has finished mixing and master our first song which is a ambient track that will play when you are exploring around the city.  Here is a short video showing the pre-alpha visuals along with part of the song:

COR Music from City of Rain on Vimeo.

We are both continuing to work hard on the video game and I will have new updates before the end of the year.  Have a great 11/12/13!

Oculus Rift and Music

Hello crazies, how's it going?  Long time no talk and yes, it's my fault.  Lots of new developments and progress.  So here is what has been going on since my last update:

I've recently got my hands on a developers kit of the Oculus Rift.  If you don't know what it is, you can visit their page here and find out more:

http://www.oculusvr.com/

So now that everyone knows what it is, you can image how excited I am to have this fine piece of equipment even though it was purchased by a client of mine so that I could develop some software specific idea's for him.  This has taken a lot of my free time away from the video game but I am still pushing on none the less.


I've also had the pleasure of having a meeting with some super creatives over at http://in2itentertainment.com/
who have expressed interest in Skyride Studios and might partner with me in the video game world.

Since it's almost Halloween, I'd figured since my trick of not posting as often as I'd like has happened, I owe everyone some treats.  So here are two songs (works in progress) my amazing composer has been working on for me.  The first is a soothing song for the love interest of the main character:

https://soundcloud.com/skyride-studios/ateh/s-DNtuI

This next song will be in one of the shops called the Garden of Weeden we showed in a older post that you can find here:

http://skyridestudios.blogspot.com/2013/03/shop-til-you-drop.html

And here is the song:

https://soundcloud.com/skyride-studios/garden-of-nature-spirits/s-vpRXI

So there you have it at the moment.  Lot's of fun things coming along the way as they get finished.  Keep a eye out for some side projects that will be posted here as the video game continues on.  Thanks for reading!