Messages

31

Suggestions & Requests / Re: Bigass general suggestion thread- Ideas to actually improve on the game

« on: August 27, 2013, 09:12:24 AM »

oh i didn't mean the hinge and swivel bricks would allow for total freedom of movement / rotation, i'm well aware that kind of stuff is, for all intents and purposes, impossible, haha. what I meant is that they'd work sort of like buildable doors, where activating them would make all the bricks undergo 90 degree rotation, so they'd still be aligned to the brick grid. kind of like duplicating a structure and rotating it.

i had actually made some decent progress on the paint guns, at least as far as the visuals go. the initial idea was to use a long-term explosion effect as the paint splatter, but obviously that started to lag players even with a relatively short lifetime. the compromise we came up with was to make the projectile spawn a short-term "splatter" brick, that worked sort of like a zone brick. we never did get to the point of implementing it, though.

really cool that some of these ideas have actually been tried out / worked on. at least we know that means they're feasible in some sense. though i should've figured that after-burn type stuff has already been done, kind of the most obvious one :P

32

Suggestions & Requests / Re: Bigass general suggestion thread- Ideas to actually improve on the game

« on: August 27, 2013, 07:45:22 AM »

gotta agree with all these vehicle and item suggestions. what we really need are add-ons that introduce something new and interesting to the table. unfortunately taking an idea that already exists and doing it again is easier than being creative and finding a brand new mechanic to work with (i've been guilty of this myself). i've had a few ideas that never came to light simply because my scripting knowledge is basically non-existent. i guess i'll throw some out there in case anyone with the ability to do this stuff wants to pick them up:

- Quake-style lightning gun
- Freeze ray (immobilizes target in a solid block of ice. the ice could perhaps reduce incoming damage by a certain factor while leaving the victim open to hits)
- Paint guns with Portal 2 / Tag style effects
- Hinge and swivel bricks (interactive bricks that basically act like doors, rotating / moving bricks placed atop it when activated. would need some sort of limits for performance)
- a weapon with damage-inflicting after-effects, like fire or poison

i was even working on a boomerang once! didn't get further than a spear reskin. oh well.

not sure if any of these have been done / are being worked on but there you go

33

Creativity / Re: Hands Megathread

« on: August 22, 2013, 09:55:11 PM »

that's incredible flame. I had these lying around from today, go nuts!!

34

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: August 22, 2013, 07:03:17 PM »

Um, how 'bout we not argue about hands and comment on art that was recently posted.

*Hint hint*

that's actually a pretty decent attempt! the linework is something you could look to improve on, but making more confident strokes is something that comes with practice and experience anyway. wouldn't hurt to spend a little more time on nailing down the shading, too. keep at it!

good observational drawing can be challenging but anyone can make improvements through frequent practice and the desire to develop a solid understanding in technique and your subject matter. do it right and its a great way to improve your imaginative works :)

35

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: August 21, 2013, 07:06:14 PM »

lucky for you, i've been holding out (click for full res)

36

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: August 21, 2013, 01:21:28 PM »

i just post here 'cause... well... no clue. i guess i don't have the incentive to make a new thread when i can just post some stuff here and move along. eh. :I

anyway, got around to snapping a few photos from my sketchbook, so here's a dump!

37

Modification Help / Re: How would I go about making a Brick in Blockland?

« on: August 19, 2013, 12:49:19 PM »

What modelling program are you using? Assuming Blender, the size of a standard 1x1 .blb brick is 1 unit wide and 1.2 units tall, so that should be a solid reference for you to work from.

As far as making the brick goes, your best bet is to use a converter. You could use Badspot's or General's. There's also an exporter for Blender .49.

38

Modification Help / Re: How to make a vehicle in Blender.

« on: August 19, 2013, 12:26:48 PM »

Yeah I don't use empties anymore either. The exporter seems to do the job of setting up the hierarchy itself as long as you specify the detail levels, without any noticeable ill effect in game. I think that's a practice carried over from DarkStar's old tutorial, back when the older exporter was being used?

Nevertheless, nice work, very informative. It'd be nice if we could have a tutorial one day covering all aspects of the exporter relevant to the game.

39

Suggestions & Requests / Re: i need three new bricks: a stair brick, a roofing brick, and an arch brick

« on: August 19, 2013, 11:00:04 AM »

still need to do some texture work, but here are a couple


i guess now would be a good time to request any other cool bricks while i'm at it.

40

Creativity / Re: The new and improved 3D model topic!

« on: August 17, 2013, 02:42:16 PM »

started up blender and then


so hard to sort out sports car proportions for blockland :(

41

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: August 13, 2013, 09:43:21 AM »

Even if you're drawing from reference, doing a straight-ahead drawing is, without very good observational skills, going to end up with an inaccurate, disproportionate drawing. And you aren't just born with great observational skills. There's a reason why the current atelier method teaches students to simplify lines and angles, measure, and slowly build up in complexity. These are schools led by professionals in their craft, and these methods are time-tested.

Many professionals in the industry - even those that do not rely on direct references for most of their works, still produce sketchy drawings, and will often draw the same idea many times, before committing to a final product.

You can draw straight-ahead successfully, but its something to be reserved for when you already have good drawing skills, and you're not concerned with absolute accuracy, only to produce a basic drawing. Some artists like to do this a lot - some prefer to construct their sketches instead, and some like to play with lines and rhythms. At that point it comes down to preference and the artist's own style. Straight-ahead, like any other method of drawing, can still work as a good practice exercise, but it's not the be all and end all of drawing.
   Very rarely will you ever come across an artist who is able to produce a complex, complete, full-scale piece from start to finish, without any physical reference, and without any sketching, but it does happen. This guy's probably been drawing everything he's ever seen, almost all day, every day, for his entire life. I doubt most people who have posted in this thread get by one observational drawing per week.

Basically, for mere mortals like us, it is a lot easier to maintain correct proportion, form, volume, etc with construction and simplification. These are very important concepts if you want to draw with any degree of realism.

42

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: July 14, 2013, 11:00:10 PM »

i really really hate inking but at least I'm getting noticeably better at it!

I actually started to get a bit nauseous... maybe because I shoulda gone to bed hours ago :(

43

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: July 13, 2013, 07:27:04 PM »

sweet! I need to try out oils some day. I've got a small set somewhere but I've never sought to try it out.

44

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: July 13, 2013, 03:33:35 PM »

pencils acrylics n photoshop

45

Creativity / Re: Drawings Megathread

« on: July 11, 2013, 06:30:53 PM »

fun fact: i actually repainted the entire mask several times over when i did this. i think i must've had some 20 layers just with changes to the mask at some point. and it still looks like poopoo. the eyes however were done in one go and i still don't feel the need to change anything about them.

moral of the story: if you don't get it right the first time, you done forgeted up.

if you take five steps back and squint it passes pretty well though