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NWPlayer123
Posted on 09-14-13 03:31 AM (rev. 5 of 10-21-13 10:13 PM) Link | #32451
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Table of Contents
1. What the project is about
2. What needs to be done
Hello person who happened to find this thread, whether you be a New Bee or an Old Bee. I decided to make this thread to eliminate any unnecessary explaining when this will all be thought out in advance. I'll try to avoid text block as best I can since I know most people don't like to read blobs of text. This is just a way to introduce people into the project.

Content will be added and edited as needed. This is in no way finished :P



What the project is about


Super Mario Galaxy 2.5 is an extension of Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii, as the name implies. It aims to completely remake and reimagine the original game in a style that players will be familiar with, while still feeling new. There are plans for a new hub world, all 49 galaxies will be replaced with new ideas and concepts, and there will be a brand new story to boot. However, 49 galaxies is a lot of work, 242 stars, and with over a hundred planets throughout those galaxies to have enough content. That requires a decently large group of people working on it, in what way will be adjusted throughout the course of the project as needed. We need as many people willing to help as we can get, and that's what this thread is meant to introduce! So if you know anyone, send them this way!


What needs to be done


The process of a galaxy is this:
  • Gathering concepts
  • Someone with ideas making a design and art (multiple designs is best)
  • A final design is created and sent to whoever is in charge at the time to be approved
  • Modelers creating the planets and any other assets needed
  • Texturers breathing life into the models with color and shape
  • Someone who is good at creating lighting baking it onto the model
  • Someone importing the model and collision to send to the level creators
  • Level creators creating the final product with the prepared assets.

So as you can see, a lot of work is needed for even one galaxy, which brings me into my next point - what each part is expected to do (Us older folks would refer to it as some version of jobs - the responsibilities you should be able to do)

--------------------------------------------

Gathering concepts:

 Anyone who has an idea for a galaxy can post on a thread about it, and that gives us more material to work with. Though it would be ideal for it to be explained in detail, not something like “Hey, you should use the Boo mushroom because it’s awesome!!1!” Give us examples of how it could be used in the actual level: “You should use the Boo mushroom in Mirror Madness to be able to pass through certain walls to give it a puzzle aspect. You could be in a maze and you have to find the way through to escape.”


Creating designs and art:

 This is what will basically be the planning of the entire galaxy - the art should show the planets as they’d be modeled, and some basic object placement to define the concepts, and the design will explain the entire process - from landing on the first planet to collecting the star - what obstacles there will be, enemies, challenges requiring skill, or what have you, what the concepts are in the level, like collecting silver stars, opening treasure chests, destroying all the enemies, or whatever would work well for a challenge based on the world it’s in and other factors.

It would be nice for the designer(s) to also create the art since they’re the ones with the idea in their head, and they can only use words to explain it to someone else anyways if they can’t make art themselves, however if someone else has ideas on how the planets and such would look, they can incorporate concepts from a written design and wrap it all together into the basic visuals of the galaxy.


Finalizing the design:

 While several designs are being made, the rest of the team will try to leave feedback on what’s good and what’s bad in their design, and once everything seems good enough, someone should combine the good ideas from all the designs into one final design and create the art that once approved will be sent to the modelers to...well, model, for lack of a better term. Said approvers will probably vary over the course of the project, but the final decision is when cosmological approves it.


Modelers creating the assets:

 Seems pretty straightforward, right? WRONG. There are several ways one could go to approaching this. The recommended method is using blender, because it’s versatile and free. Another less recommended method is using Maya, though to be honest, it’s too complicated to be recommendable. There’s also Sketchup, but it’s lack of usability makes it really weak compared to Blender. It usually takes hours to make anything detailed in Sketchup whereas in Blender you can do it in a good half an hour.

The main point of this however is also having creative and innovative thinking. Don't just follow the design, pixel for pixel, incorporate some more into it for visual appeal so it's not just these bland deformed planets/objects. The level has to be fun to play, and the design is only one part of that.


Texturers texturing textures onto non-textured planets:

 Whereas modeling is the most tedious part of making the art assets, texturing can really be done in anything. I’ve had a really easy time texturing even in the inferior Sketchup. But whatever you decide to do it in will get the job done just as well. One nice thing is that you only have to map textures, and then the next person/you yourself can use vertex colors to bake the shading on, saving tons of time.


Baking shadows and lighting onto a model:

 As of September 24th 2013, blank has updated the model importer to be able to use vertex colors in models to reduce the filesize dramatically. As such, the requirement is Blender, as he also released a modified OBJ Exporter Plugin to allow the program to export vertex colors. The only thing to note here is the technique and consistency. They'll need to work with the level creators in phases to improve performance issues and other things that arise, and as would be obvious, most galaxies have a light source, that they need to keep consistent throughout the level using vertex colors and a sun when baking, so it doesn't look strange.


Importing the model and collision into the game:

 Isn’t all that difficult, there are several people you can go to about this, most notably myself. The only thing is that when exporting the model to run through the program, you have to know what settings it'll need to import correctly.


Level creators creating the level:

 Skills you’ll need are a good eye for space - when something seems empty, find something to put in there - there’s a ton of shrubbery, a bunch of rewards you can put there, even enemies. However, it still needs to follow the design for the most part. This is a really vague description of how it should be like, but if you look at any galaxy in whitehole and look at things such as random pieces of stuff floating in the air for atmosphere, or any sort of decorations to make the planets not look bland and unfun, you'll figure it out pretty quickly. Of course, there's a lot of resources you have to help you as well, especially people such as myself or MrRean.


Bottom line here is this - DON'T BE AFRAID TO ADMIT DEFEAT. DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP. I'd rather someone ask for help and get an answer than spend 2 days trying and failing to figure it out. There are a lot of resources you can go to to ask for help, including myself.



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mariogalaxythree
Posted on 10-20-13 06:18 PM Link | #34058
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Last view: 2200 days ago 		Wow, great thread NWP :D Seriously, good job. This looks like it took a lot of effort to make. Hopefully, this really helps our new members :P

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mibts
Posted on 10-21-13 12:08 AM Link | #34068

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Last view: 218 days ago 		Some things I would like to add:

It is advised that the modeler textures as he goes.

Don't texture in SketchUp. You can't UV map.

Don't export collision in Blender. It glitches up. One time, it collisionized only one triangle per face. Another, it did something similar to the Sky High vertex color .obj splicing screw-up.

Skip the baking. I've seen examples and they look ugly. Use vertex colors instead. They'll look neater.

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NWPlayer123
Posted on 10-21-13 12:13 AM (rev. 3 of 10-21-13 12:17 AM) Link | #34069
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Posted by mibts
Some things I would like to add:

It is advised that the modeler textures as he goes.

Don't texture in SketchUp. You can't UV map.

Don't export collision in Blender. It glitches up. One time, it collisionized only one triangle per face. Another, it did something similar to the Sky High vertex color .obj splicing screw-up.

Skip the baking. I've seen examples and they look ugly. Use vertex colors instead. They'll look neater.
lol I can already see how little you know. It's up to them if they want to poorly texture as they model. Yes you can UV map in sketchup, you're just too ignorant to realize, and it only exported only one triangle per face because you didn't triangulate when you exported. The baking part needs to be updated now that he's released the program. That is all.
TBH I don't agree with your methods, as seen with the, in my opinion, poorly done Humongous Fungus, but you're learning /SOMETHING/ in the process, so that's one plus.

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mibts
Posted on 10-21-13 12:28 AM Link | #34070

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Posted by NWPlayer123
Posted by mibts
Some things I would like to add:

It is advised that the modeler textures as he goes.

Don't texture in SketchUp. You can't UV map.

Don't export collision in Blender. It glitches up. One time, it collisionized only one triangle per face. Another, it did something similar to the Sky High vertex color .obj splicing screw-up.

Skip the baking. I've seen examples and they look ugly. Use vertex colors instead. They'll look neater.
lol I can already see how little you know. It's up to them if they want to poorly texture as they model. Yes you can UV map in sketchup, you're just too ignorant to realize, and it only exported only one triangle per face because you didn't triangulate when you exported. The baking part needs to be updated now that he's released the program. That is all.
TBH I don't agree with your methods, as seen with the, in my opinion, poorly done Humongous Fungus, but you're learning /SOMETHING/ in the process, so that's one plus.


Very funny.

Sorry, I didn't know you could UV map in SketchUp.

What about the second screw-up, when I actually triangulated the faces?

That's because Humongous Fungus Galaxy, unlike a lot of other galaxies, doesn't take that much "hardcore" modeling.

Seriously, everyone has their opinions.

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Dodecagon
Posted on 10-21-13 03:37 AM Link | #34094
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Last view: 2817 days ago 		This thread has been around since September 14th yet nobody has noticed it until now?!? Either way, great job NWP! This will be a big help in getting any new members into the swing of things.

PaperplateismGuy
Posted on 10-30-13 04:15 AM Link | #34382
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Last view: 1594 days ago 		Very helpful. great thread (+1)

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Collin242013
Posted on 11-05-13 05:20 AM Link | #34565
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Last view: 3729 days ago 		Cool new thread ~and~ really great ideas. Really good job to NWP!


Main - SMG2.5 - General SMG2.5 talk - Introduction to the Project Hide post layouts | New reply

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