Plodding on. . .

So! I haven't blogged in an awfully long time and should update everyone on what's been happening. Over the Christmas break my internet was travelling at the speed of fog, leaving me physically unable to blog, e-mail, the works. It set a lot of work back and then when I got back to Ipswich I had just fallen out of the habit. Anyway! As work goes, I have been working on modelling the new Arcadian interior, mentioned in the last post. Integrating the code from the previously referenced videos into the level itself and setting up the environment. It's going well, I've already had my first jump scare from a playtester which made me incredibly happy, as it has proven to me that I'm on the right track. This is at a greybox stage as well, no textures or anything particularly fancy.
We recently had a presentation to tutors explaining the current stage of the dissertation, and Chris mentioned specifically that the lighting was too dark. He offered some really helpful, constructive advice about using lights in certain areas, and putting player goals in darker areas to balance the use of the flashlight in game for players. There's enough to be going on with so here is a revised look at the original timetable so I can better manage my time and aims for the rest of the project.

Sprint 4: February 2013

This sprint will be used to focus on finishing the Arcadian interior (ground floor). This means the reception desk, rooms and working doors will be all implemented and working in game. Depending on the method of modelling some areas of the ground floor may be textured, but that might be a tall order.

Sprint 5: March 2013

With the ground floor finished I will finish texturing it completely. This will mean that the entire 'level' is detailed, painted and up to standard. I will also implement lights and particle effects into the scene to add to the atmosphere.

Sprint 6: April 2013

With the bones of the level set and textured, I will use this sprint to model the smaller assets and 'pad out' the rooms and corridors with chairs, debris, bed, lights, lamps, tables, wardrobes etc. These will be easy enough to churn out which is why I'm leaving them until the 6th sprint as low priority assets.

This is a basic re-vamp of what I plan to achieve, which I made add to if I run into any bumps. Certainly closer to the end of the February sprint I'll know if these are realistic goals!