Rathmor News 19/08/2011 - 28/02/2013

[Verdite]

28/2/13

Another mentally exhausting haul this month with SOM, heavy modelling sessions, creating BGM, texturing, animating...

But ive loved it! Anyway enough about me "where are the pictures" you're asking ‎  i have pictures, and ill explain whats in them...

So heres a new menu i made...



Armour in the works... So far its just body armour and boots.



Custom enemy completed and imported... Stabs you with its tail.



Another custom enemy?! Or rather "enemy"... Im creating everything from scratch, of course.



And whats this? A WHOLE NEW MAP SET?! Yep. 54 pieces. Time consuming yeah, but... I love how its turned out.



Okay, and finally i can hint at a skeleton enemy remake. Hes not finished, so ill show off next month. ‎ 

17/1/13

GOOD GREIF



I say... Ive been working alone on my assets for the most part, and ive made alot of area effecting objects, map pieces, and two brand new levels! Can you believe it. I usually draw out a rough plan of my maps on paper before going into SOM_MAP and placing everything. Instead, i went with a somewhat chaotic approach ‎  of designing the levels from scratch in SOM_MAP and the final effect has turned out well.

After wasting so_much_time looking for a decent stock image of a pine tree branch online, i gave up and designed my own pine branch, wood, pine needles and all using only a simple template and knowledge of nature! ‎  ... As a guide.

Whilst on the subject of trees, id like to inform all you bush ‎  enthusiasts ‎  that i have made some nice, low poly bushes for use in SOM and they will of course be available for download in the future. They dont have any nasty black pixels on them either.

Two new enemies entered the fray... One brave rat, and one insectoid.



The dragonfly has had a HEAVY rehaul, textures, animations are all improved... The dragonfly will ambush you, so be careful when wandering in the forest.

Brand new 'blunt' items have been made, ill share one of them... Rather than go for a medieval steel bashing mace, i decided to go primitive, with a heavy (monster) bone club. Feel free to make club jokes.
Ive made similiar, devastatingly looking weapons but... You'l have to wait and see them in the game.



For those who gave up exploring my demo because of the enemies HP, attacks, and so on, you'l be happy to know that ive reduced the HP and damage dealt by them, some monsters have had their HP halved, and the like. I had assumed that people would have ventured into the caves equipped with the better armour you can buy in town, but alas... ‎ 

Final bit of news is that ive redone the whole item parameter, balanced the weapons and!!
This will cheer you up...

Ive made proper healing items after the ‎  i recieved over the sea roots. Sorry, guys. Maybe ive played too many hardcore games!
Please, have a look and revel in the fact that you might not be getting rolled on and beaten or buzzed at and scared as much in the final game.



Thanks for all the feedback guys! If you havent tried my demo you can get it from the below link.

https://www.swordofmoonlight.com/bbs/ind...opic=630.0


16/10/12

Exactly a month has passed since the last news post. Im happy to announce that SOM soaked up alot of time over that month, and rather than sitting around loafing and being counter productive on the ps3 or psp all day, i decided to delve, and delve some more, resulting in a full set of map pieces for the first level and numerous new assets.

16 new map pieces.
New enemy.
New items.
Around 40 new objects.
Map development, first level almost complete.

Not bad for a months work eh?

Oh forgot to mention... Took a ton of screenies too.








This shell looks nice.

Oh good greif what is that thing emerging from its prescipice!

Its a wee beastie!

Grab that loot!



16/9/12

Recently got back to grips with working on my game, been working on and finishing up greatswords, clubs and a new 'large weapon' swing which has come out nicely. It is limited to one hand.
Hwtvlf has been helping me test certain new enemies and NPCs, and fix up bone structures which shouldnt go without a mention, thanks alot for your constructive criticism and help!
Mimic enemy was finished a while ago... Though i dont want to fully reveal him right now.
How about this though? Im reavealing one of the bosses from my game, and i recently began animating it. Its based around a crocodile, though it will be alot larger and have some dragon-like qualities.
Also made an entirely new set of bone armour, including helm, plate and gauntlets which need a bit more work.









KFTAC anyone? ‎ 

21/7/12
Been working on Rathmor alot, made three npcs.
Some new items ready to use...

New skybox.
Fixed alot of models' textures.
Constructing a forest and cliff area - which will be one of the few outdoor areas in Rathmor. Ill probably be making about 7 outdoor maps only.

Screenshots explain more.








20/6/12

Had a massive retexturing of my map pieces, choosing map pieces and modifying MHM, improving old textures and old models, and im happy to anounce that

CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN!

After i decided to create an all custom game, i knew that it would be a long time until i started constructing the game. Now that will be a main focus. Its good to get down to making the game finally.

Ive also rethought and planned out the story and level progression. While i can only see to about 40% so far, ideas keep coming for environments and implementation of the main story and characters. Ive finally got settled on an environment setting and progression for my game.

More good news - after spending a while working on a spear animation for weapons, i made what looks like a good spear thrust. After doing so, i started making spear weapons, which now amount to around 9 or 10.

Speaking of swing anims, i also created a new diagonally down slash swing for lighter weapons, and made four new quick weapons.

Also made some new trees and BGM for Rathmor and some BGM for the Dragon king (hwtvlfs game)

New sky texture and model.

In the following screenshots you can see the training room at the start of Rathmor along with the mess hall and checkpoint castle you need to pass through. The training dummies are destroyable, along with the barrels.

(can you spot the skeleton?)














20/5/12

Been over a month, ive created two new npcs and nine ring items.

Npcs took a long time, modelling didnt take too long - texturing and tweaking as usual is a lengthy process.

Imported and balanced some items, compiled around 200 enemies into the parameter, and tested at length to get my npc's textures aligned properly.






17/4/12

Had a marathon importing armour into SoM last week, got two full, matching armour sets in game, thats eight pieces.
New sword imported to SoM too.

Massive work texturing and modelling, animating and tweaking my latest enemy - the bandit. Ths guy will likely be a boss, and ill have variant (and equally disturbing) masks etc for generic bandit enemies.

New type of attack - inspired by kftac... The FIST. Partaking in fisticuffs in SoM is alot of fun. And wearing different arm armour changes the animation appearance, but not the attack damage of the fist.










07/4/12

I finally completed my latest custom enemy, a humanoid 'undead knight' of a sort. The character is based all on my own design and im pleased with how unique the helmet looks. I had to do alot of tweaking especially with CP TRIANGLES ‎  which took me about 2 hours to fix up correctly, just so he can throw balls of dark lightning 'atcha. So this is what ive been working on since the last update... Nothing more, really. The model was made quickly, but the texture, animations, and proportions (including hiding of the joints - tin man stuff... ‎  ) took a long time to fix.

Im not sure how many hours ive put in so far but it has been a long road to getting my assets how id like them. I really hope it pays off. Id appreciate it if people didnt steal my ideas and designs, too... Not that anyones that evil around here... ‎ 










Big spoiler below.
https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/5228/bonesword.jpg


25/03/12

Made a new arm model along with rigging and animations, able to add spears but at the moment the swing is proving to be difficult, i tested two or three swing anims with the spear and none were desirable. So i started working on some other models, mostly bone weapons...Some UV corrections on enemies, along with new animations for older enemies like the Alkarg. Ive also done alot of compiling with items, enemies and maps. Next i want to get my custom npcs into the game, and a few bosses.

I made some boss music recently too which turned out really nice.
So theres four fairly tough bone weapons in the game at present.
(I said i'd include a weapon in the screens, so enjoy! )

The inventory interface is visible in the last screen.
I wonder if anyone noticed the title change... :)








01/03/12

So ive been flicking between map making and item making, and of course making the dragonfly... I also made two new music tracks which should be enough now. Next ill be focusing on finishing off npcs and enemy variants, then ill be moving into the outdoor areas and creating walk-up-able hills and vertical cliffs... I also need to make some wells, and a few doors for houses, then hopefully i can start constructing the game.

Imported about four or five new weapons
Probably about four pieces of new armour
Loads of new msm for housing, with matching mhm. Mhm now mastered! ‎ 
New ‎  'treasure' chests.
One extra extra large dragonfly.




Oh...... I also need to add a new swing type for my spear (s).
AND a new generic swing arm.








12/12/11

So the two axe slasher skeleton was made. Hes quite formidable - and unlike other skeletons, he runs at you. He's also got a unique trigger animation.
The skeletons axe is available too. I got fond of this idea so i made a skeleton with a sword, whose sword you can take also. Holy Diver reminded me that i hadnt re-activated SomEx, so i reactivated it, to find some really nice lighting pickups on my enemies.

Heres where the lighting normals are best used i guess. I'll be compiling my game with SomEx, it has alot of potential and really improves the graphics, here ive got alot of functions running, such as the dither and high colour.

If you're struggling to notice any differences, ill name a few - the nasty 'fuzz' in the distance isnt present, and the dither removes any noise around the models.






05/12/11

Ok... So things didnt go to plan with the demo. Sorry guys. If i keep on pushing for my game and story you'l get the first few levels to enjoy before the rest is up, if i rush things ill not be able to present Rathmor properly. The games story is fixed now, so all future assets will be focused around that, wheras before i made assets and tried to fit them into a story.

More music has been made too.






21/11/11

So ive been seriously slogging away at custom enemies for Rathmor, i think i spent about three full days worth of free time focusing on three new enemies - the Lamprey, which is like an eel, and two armoured skeleton knights. One knight wields a greatsword while the other holds a spear. I also made a new 'bare' skeleton who uses a curved greatsword. Each of these has a unique set of attacks, all having three except for the lamprey.
Thanks to John who patiently addressed my questions regarding bone structure.

I've also started work on custom arm models. I intend to make a unique swing for the more unique weapons.
Beyond that ive been making map sets too. I know i intended to post a new exhibition mid nov but it might be more late nov now. More importantly, ill be sending the download link only to members who have helped me so far (most people in this thread), if you'd like to be on the 'mailing list' please say...

So far ive got on my list...

- The great white wolf
- dmpdesign
- scott
- sirtuftcat
- guyra



11/11/11

Just a quick update, i made a nice new custom enemy. Heres a screen of them lurking underwater.
Also made alot of hidden counters that will track how you play the game. You're personality will develop as you play the game naturally.



BOSS!:
Dare you wander in search of him?! Hes a septic one!



29/10/11

I've been making a nice adjoining map set that consists mostly of a medieval waterway style of design. I worked hard at an archway, something that would have took me ages if not for my method. I used a plane and 'cut' bricks out of it with a knife in metaseq. I then double sided and extruded the whole lot, then moved each to new object. Then i corrected the UVs on each brick, then rotated / scaled them as needed for an arch.





Oh, also... Im thinking to add a nice side demo which will demonstrate some new features in Rathmor including a proper mining system, and ill add some custom enemies for fun. Probably be available mid november.


21/10/11

Okay so today i went hammer and tong on a new map set. Took me about 4 or 5 hours to finish 21 map pieces along with new MHM which i have finally mastered.


This passage will lead you to...



Another room! ‎ 

I've made a slope fit with MHM data which works perfectly along with a corner piece again with perfect MHM.
So all those 21 pieces are for one map set. More to come!



14/10/11

So after a marathon session with blender this evening i have pretty much finished my guard. The past three few days were 3d free, but prior to that i made three weapons in a night. One is especially nice and creative - so much so that i created a new swing sound effect for it. Last night i fixed up a new menu sound effect set. Sounds nice. Ive also made three more songs for my game but i'm debating about one of them.




07/10/11

I realise that its been a while since i posted! Almost a month.
Up until recently i havent been as active in the forum. Mainly because i'd been getting my head down to SoM asset work.
Actually make that one asset. I've been building a guard and its taken me a while. I thought starting on a base model for custom npcs would be good. After making some decent armour i made the head and face. This part took about 3 days of free time... I wanted the head to look not entirely real - that'd be scary.
That said i didnt go for a comic look either. The guard isnt finished yet - neck, helm, gauntlets, weapon to finish.
Finally ive made a ton of music. People seem to like it.






17/9/11 (GMT)

News flash! Greetings Rathmor fans present and future...

Alot has happened since my last news post. Mainly new animated enemies; one of them being the Alkarg, a kftac style crawling creature.
Alot of skeleton variants. New helmets, new textures...
New armour. Ive been working on about 5 different boots and a helm - they are all finished.
Alot of new ideas for 'drops' off enemies. I'll introduce that in the next post i hope.
New non-violent creature. Wait and see. ‎ 







30/8/11 (GMT)

Ok news!

New skeleton type (greatsword) meaning skeleton variant models should end up being at around 10 or 11 now (more coming!).

New monster idea (see sketch.)

New enemy - gargoyle. Two types of gargoyle.

Gargoyles prf fixed thanks to hwtvlf's editor. Lots of fun. See picture for 'Gargoyle gas.'

Testing in SomEx... Long time ... Problems ironing out... (see pic.)








(someones let rip!)

19/8/11 (GMT)

A quick update on Rathmor. Firstly, no progress has been made making (or remaking) maps, events and so on. The major progress has been put into making the custom skeleton model, which is now complete. Further progress has been made making assets (helms, armour, weapons etc) for a 'boss' skeleton.

New ideas for Rathmor will include:

Brand new higher resolution npcs and enemies.

'Boss' enemies depending on the situation (for example defeat 30 gargoyles and the boss would show)

Choices. Youre actions will affect you and yield advantages or disadvantages depending on your approach. Destroying too many of one plant may have a culmulative effect on the environment.

Refined item system.

Less crafting, more finding.

Unique npcs that show when you least expect it.

Tools, traps and other animated works that can be repaired or destroyed.

New 'save' system. No longer will you need to search everywhere for a save stone, or save in the menu. Wait and see.

Random treasure spawing on each play through.

Dens, where thieves stash their treasure.

More level spawns, depending on your level or strength more monsters may show in varied ways...

Differences upon returning to an area - upon re entering a cave, dungeon or field you may very well find that things have changed.

More to come.

[HwitVlf]

Looks REALLY great!

[sirtuftcat]

ohh exciting xdd!!!!

[scott]

Thousand upon thousands of events! lol, Rathmor may be the best game made with SoM. (sorry everyone else) In my personal opinion, the skeleton in the middle looks like it would make a great lich type enemy.

[Verdite]

BIG UPDATE KINDA please have a look!

[HwitVlf]

Looks extremely good!

[Creatura]

Good Job Ben:) congrats

[scott]

I love how the game is almost all customs, it gives the game a unique feel to it. Can't wait to see more. ‎ 

[Verdite]

Just to clarify Scott, i intend to use no SoM stock in my game, if possible!

[airflamesred]

If theres anything I can contribute just let me know Ben.