Hello citizens,
With the month of July coming to an end, it is time for a
quick update on what is going on and what you will see going into August. We hope you enjoyed participating and earning
the awards from this year’s July 4th event. Statistics from our weapon testing district
are still coming in strong and of course we thank you all for providing
feedback over the last few months as we get closer to the Unreal Update. With that said, we have some information to
provide regarding some elements we will be adding to the main game, and others
we will be removing.
THE REMOVAL
Weapon Pick-up/Drop Mechanic
As most of you know, we implemented a weapon pick-up/drop system
over the last few months, which was implemented with our previous season events
as well as being used in our weapon test districts. We will still see it being used in the
testing districts but as was commented previously that we would potentially be
adding the drop mechanic to the main game.
After reviewing all the feedback and comments provided, the decision to
implement this mechanic into the main game has been shelved.
THE ADDITIONS
Engine Update Video
Many of you (if not all J)
have been asking for some video footage to be shown of the latest update work
being done to the game. We are happy to
provide the first of a few videos highlighting the difference between the
present APB and what it will look like running with the upgraded engine. Below is a video clip of the Social District
where we reveal the differences between old and new. We are excited with the possibilities and
feel you will appreciate them as well.
TTK Test District
During my vacation time, I reviewed most of the forum
threads regarding the TTK in APB (those most recent and going back a
few years). I will admit that I have
been having in-office debates regarding this topic and with the present
feedback, I feel it is time we give it a good old, once over review. We will therefore be setting up a TTK
district to test out some numbers as well as provide you all with the chance to
see how the game feels with some modified stats. I personally am pro increase of TTK, but I
will add that I am also a fan of implementing a stamina system to coincide with
any TTK changes. My view on adding
stamina (if any) will be addressed at a later date following the results we
acquire from this test district.
Since I am not married nor steadfast on the idea of adding a
stamina mechanic, feel free to leave your feedback and comments as it will help
decide if this is a good addition to the main game.
IO: GROWL
We are excited to try some new things with APB and
the creation of new vehicles was a perfect start. We wanted to introduce not only new vehicles
but to also prepare for the introduction of new lore, future content as well as
allowing us with options for new gameplay elements. The aim is to have a more varied feel between
each vehicle model, with very visible advantages and disadvantages between
them. Moving forward we will attempt to
create more mods as well as provide gameplay reasons for specific vehicles
being used in relation to the tasks the players require to complete in
mission.
Therefore, in the next few weeks we will be unveiling the
first of two new auto manufactures and their vehicles. The first to be unveiled is the IO: GROWL, a
new sports car to hit the streets of San Paro in a very long time. This will be the first, of hopefully many new
models that the players can purchase, earn or unlock. With an opportunity for us to show something
new, I figured a good way to promote this new addition would be to have (drum
roll) BeardyD, the artist
responsible for the GROWL to discuss the process of creating and implementing
vehicles into the game.
Take it away BeardyD :-D
A BASIC OVERVIEW OF
VEHICLE ART DEVELOPMENT IN APB: RELOADED
Hey there, my name is BeardyD, I am one of the artists at
Reloaded Productions. With the IO: Growl now unveiled, we thought it might be
interesting if we discussed some of the procedures involved with creating it.
DESIGN AND MOCK-UP
Our first step was coming up with the vehicle we wanted to
create. When MoK came into the office and proclaimed “What we need is a new
vehicle (arm stretched and finger pointing), that can allow us to create
something different for the future” and then doing his “sales pitch” for what
the new car(s) should be and why we needed them that way. My response was, “this guy is crazy” but he
actually made sense.
Once we had decided on an initial design, we started with
setting up a proxy for the new car. This consisted of a fully rigged asset that
had a proxy mesh in place for each individual component. We started with this
so we could test that the vehicle’s design would work within APB’s animation
constraints, and also so that our design team could begin immediately on
setting up some basic handling for the new car.
Before long we had a drivable asset in the game.
CREATING THE MAIN
MESHES
After some initial testing and tweaks for the proxy, the
next step was to create the main in-game asset (or LOD-0 as it’s referred to
internally).
The LOD-0 started as an exterior shell, which was built as
one mesh, smoothed out, optimized and then separated in to the various
components required for the customization system. These components were then
unwrapped and assigned a paint mask to support colour customization and decal
projection. Anything that doesn’t support colour customization is mirrored to
save on texture space, which is even more important in APB as our unwrap
procedure differs from most as it needs to support our component mask system,
which allows players to literally cut out and piece together various textures
as custom components get added.
Smoothing groups are also set up to allow for a better
normal map (which we’ll get to later).
After these new meshes have been imported in, the interior,
base structure and wheels were then created in a similar manner.
HIGH POLY AND TEXTURE
CREATION
With these meshes in and working as intended, the next step
is to create the high poly mesh. We use a high poly mesh to generate normal and
ambient occlusion maps (a procedure called “texture baking”). This helps smooth
out surface shading and also provides the illusion of more texture detail.
With the base textures now generated, a final detail pass is
done in Photoshop. It’s during this time that the specular map for the vehicle
is also created.
EMISSIVE LIGHTING
With the main models now textured, the next step is to
create the emissive maps and masks. The emissive maps are texture maps that are
used to simulate lighting on the vehicle. We use one for the exterior (covering
headlights, taillights, etc.) and one for the interior (covering interior
lighting and dashboard panels). We also use masks for both so the lights can
operate independently from one another.
LEVEL OF DETAIL
At this stage, the LOD0 model is now considered complete and
it’s now time to move on to creating the LOD1 meshes. The LOD1 meshes are low
detail meshes that are assigned to each of the car’s individual components.
These appear when the player is a certain distance from the vehicle so that we
can prioritize detail whilst cutting down render costs.
DAMAGE MORPHS AND
TEXTURES
The final stage for the main vehicle is the creation of
damage morphs. Damage morphs are meshes which each component of the main
vehicle references when damage occurs. We use multiple directions for vehicle
damage in APB (Front-Left, Front-Right, Side-Left, Side-Right, Back-Left,
Back-Right and Top) so there are a lot of meshes to create. We also have to
ensure that there is no clipping with the base structure of the vehicle and
that certain components are still snapped together correctly.
This entire procedure then has to be repeated for the LOD1
meshes.
We also use an overlay normal map and scratch texture that
becomes more visible as the vehicle takes more damage. A dirt mask is also
applied for when the car gets dirty.
EXTRAS AND
FINALISATION
With the main vehicle now ready to go, we then begin adding
extras such as more components, or in the case of Enforcers, police lights. All
of which have to go through the same processes as described before.
We have to be careful when adding these components that they
don’t add too many restrictions for any future content. As an example, Enforcer
light positions restrict any future kit design we may do in the future, as all
new versions of a component now have to support them.
With these added, the art development for the IO: Growl is
now complete.
I hope you enjoyed the write-up from BeardyD and I thank him for the insight he has provided here.
That is all I have for today folks, till next time citizens,
That is all I have for today folks, till next time citizens,
MoK
