Well, I had planned on working on some database problems with Pharmacium today, but my internet connection dropped dead right after I created this blog(it came back at around 7pm). No net = change of plans, and I instead worked on finishing up the cleaning process on the medieval level assets for Maximum Chaos.
Why cleaning assets you ask? Well, for as much fun as it is working with another 35 or so students on a big project it does come with some hazards, mostly stemming from... inexperience. While I was heading up the programming team and trying to learn how to be a leader that didn't completely suck, my fellow team leaders over in the art department were silently suffering with massive technical integration and organization problems. Had they been more forthcoming with their struggles, or had I been more on top of the whole communication thing, a lot of head aches could have been avoided. Alas, it was late in the game when I discovered the horror of all horrors in the asset department, and we were forced to do a pretty hack job of making things function in time for the semester deadline.
That said, the teams did pull together in the end and we all grew a heck of a lot, but my inner technical artist pleaded that the asset issue be addressed.
As such, the handful of students that have dedicated themselves to bringing Maximum Chaos to the next level began the summer by sorting out the most up to date versions of the assets from the older ones, scaling them to proper proportions, centering the meshes, fixing uv problems, optimizing smoothing groups and generally trying to straiten out the assets as much as possible without completely redoing them from scratch. Many assets require little to no attention, but many others require rather a lot. A few even have n-gons that would frighten just about anyone, but they are passable and I will have to ignore my inner technical artist complaints on such depths and move forward.
It is rather exciting to announce the completion of the medieval asset cleanings as it is the first collection to be ready for use in building new levels for the game. The other asset collections are not far behind and all in all things are going pretty darn well on the Maximum Chaos Project.
If you happen to own an x-box controller that you can plug into your computer, you can play the version of Maximum Chaos that was put together for the end of the semester on my web page: http://gemwhite.com/MaximumChaos/index.html
Just make sure you have that controller in before you load the game.
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