Okay.
While I haven't really had much time this week, here's what I have done:
http://www.cineris.org/online/Shot0006.jpg
http://www.cineris.org/online/Shot0007.jpg
http://www.cineris.org/online/Shot0008.jpg
Thoughts on the look of these objects? (The gamma's a little off so they're darker than in-game.) I'm not totally pleased with the box in the center and left (Shot0007), but they don't look really bad either. I still need to do some editing overall because some of the meshes turned out with texture alignment issues.
(a)
Overview:
3 "access card" type deco meshes
2 "marathon book" deco meshes
4 "marathon box" deco meshes
1 "cd" deco mesh
6 "terminal" mesh borders
Total size: approx 100kb.
Right now, all of these are in their own separate .u files. The goal is to incorporate them all into a single "MarathonDeco.u" file for simplicity's sake (I don't know how to do this at this time, but I'm sure it can't be too difficult.)
Also, currently, all of these meshes are completely static. The books, the CD, the cards, all of those should bounce around. The boxes should be pushable. After I figure out how to combine them all into a single .u file I'll get their default settings correct to allow this behavior direct from placement without having to edit settings.
(b)
Animated "UESC Marathon" terminal texture. Two versions of the texture, one with a rather subtle static effect and one with a more noticeable static effect. Haven't had much of a chance to try and use Bright (Epic utility that exports high quality BMPs to .utx quality BMPs) to merge their color palettes. Once I figure this out I may post up the demo map I'm using so the animated effect can be seen.
(c)
Planned:
Pattern Buffer animated texture
Static Paper textures (for debris meshes (and posters?))
More monitor textures
(d)
I'm going to work on (a) and (b) tomorrow, and if I finish those, start on Smells Like Napalm. After I get the basics of that map finished and I start getting tired of looking at the level I'll probably try to accomplish more of (c).
Hopefully by the time I finish Smells Like Napalm I'll have completed most everything I want/need in terms of textures and meshes. At that point I'm going to take a look at pathing in some of the Unreal Single Player levels that I've downloaded for reference, see how the Unreal levels handle monster behavior, then head back to Colony Ship.
With Colony Ship I'm going to try and clean it up, deal with errors and such, remove the UT-style boxes place in Marathon style boxes and other Decorations, and try to get monster behavior a bit more like it ought to be.
Couch Fishing is really in better shape than Colony Ship in terms of what I need to do to it. All it needs is a few ambient sounds here and there and some attention to the monster pathing.
I realize that it may seem like I'm not making progress, with two weeks and not much to show for it, and that dwelling on Colony Ship and Couch Fishing is unnecessary. I agree to the extent that I want to start on Smells Like Napalm as soon as possible. Still, they have issues that I ought to resolve, and it's good to revist them, and good to take a break from whatever else I'm working on. If I get everything done on them in this next pass I'll be able to forget them entirely.
*NT*
