G-Force front end

Posted by oddbob on December 11, 2006 · Lovingly Filed Under Development Log 
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…or “this is bloody torture”.

Yes, I’ll freely admit, I absolutely detest writing front ends of any shape or sort - they’re just so boring and unrewarding to code and so, I normally tend to try and avoid adding them if possible… but time to get my act together and after a fortnight of no time to work on stuff, got to get my head down and get this sorted out. I wanted this out the door 3 weeks ago and its really starting to bug me that its not done now.

The main stickler has been the opening loading screen and layout, I’ve been half heartedly attempting to pixel something up but really, my hearts just not been in it. So this morning, I bit the bullet and decided to make my first attempt at 3d.

I am, completely and utterly a spackard when it comes to 3d. I have barely a clue on what I’m doing, but I’ve been attempting to chip away with Cinema4d for a month or so and making incredibly slow progress with it. But given that I’m just going to spend hours starting images, getting halfway through pixelling and thinking “nah, its shit” I’d ran out of options.

Now, I know my compadre Mr Smila could have knocked something out in about 15 minutes if I’d have asked very nicely, but as with all the sound effects/music etc… I’m determinded to do all this off my own back (with a little begging for pointers along the way if I’ve gotten stuck) and so, it took me 5 hours to get some very basic geometry into a scene and textured up enough that it reasonably covers the cracks of how overwhelmingly incompetant I am with 3d.

The end result is far from fantastic, but with a quick flick into Photoshop after I’ve had some food - I reckon I’ll have something passable on my hands. Then its onto writing up a new scroller routine (I’ve been discussing some techniques with DrDerekDoctors tonight after a few things went wrong when I attempted it with Beast Invaders 2 - a long story and probably for another time) and basically, just stop fannying around and get this bugger out there before I get fed up with it.

Essentially, I really need to get this done and start on the next shooter I’ve got lined up, as thats got a deadline of May to be completed (yes, there is a hint what it is and what its for in that iddy bit of text).

Luckily, the guy I’m writing it for has sent me huge documents on how he’d like it to turn out and with the stuff I’ve learnt shouldn’t be too difficult an undertaking now I’ve got lots of code I can reuse. Gonna have some fun with the graphics on that too.

Really looking forward to cracking on with it - and thats the main drive for finishing G-Force right now…well, aside from the fact that I play it with the music and new sound effects in and I get a broad “I did that” grin.

First draft of the title screen

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Speak your brains

4 Responses to “G-Force front end”

  1. tim on December 11th, 2006 10:32 am

    can’t wait. :)

  2. Richard Phipps on December 11th, 2006 12:40 pm

    I like it! Looks much better than anything I could do. :)

  3. Wiebo on December 15th, 2006 3:36 pm

    That sure looks nice. Well done, it pays off to stick to your guns! :)

  4. Barrie on December 15th, 2006 6:39 pm

    That’s pretty shit-hot for a first go. I like it.

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