Greetings. it's time for a dev log so i can track my progress and make note of what has happened in Gnar World. I do these Dev logs because it helps me clear my mind and kind of look back and give myself a pat on the back, even though there could be years ahead of me before Gnar World gets finished.
The first thing I decided to tackle was to apply this grass shader to one of my unique grass or tree models in the game.
i found this in my godot project because it came with the Proton Scatter Add on. Shaders are crazy- as an artist i need to learn more about them but they are quite scientific. they don't use any cpu/gpu energy and they can really add flare to the in-game scene.
It took me a while to figure it out. it was not as easy as dragging and dropping in a GLTF model. I couldnt get the UV maps to line up with a custom model for whatever reason. i copied the shader from the example and re named it and backwards engineered it. basically i took my grass texture and simply applied it to the already working grass shader and it worked.
It adds a super nice touch to the game.
So then, I took a step back and decided to actually make sure the game made sense. so i started at the beginning and did a play-through. Gnar world is a metroid-vania game so it needs to progress in a very very clever and creative way. this is super hard to make. as an artist my strengths are not- being able to step back and visualize the end result. i am good at locking in and entering a flow state- to meticulously make art.
So, thats what I did, i decided to make a bunch of Shipyard assets because shipyards are cool and so are shipping containers. I decided I was going to build out the little asphalt area in on the east side of the nature area, into a shipyard area.
So i jumped in Pro Create.
with this UV map i was able to hop into Crocotile and begin building.
Actually i am just now remembering, and this is probably what I am going to do today, is I made one of those Oil derrics that you see in california and texas. I always liked those as a kid and I think they would be super iconic in the game.
With each moving part as its own object with a specific origin point, i will be able to bring them into Godot and animate them using simple Rotation and Position animation tracks using the Animation Player.
I thought the Crane Object turned out super cool. the shaft and the arm are different objects but I should have not left a Gap in the shaft so that the little cabin thing with the could move up and down, even though, im not sure if they actually move like that.
so now, i have a pretty crazy shipyard section started but i need to tie it together in that the player can go through it and collect something, and then backtrack to proceed on the main path of the game towards chinatown i think.
I also put to use the tollbooth i made a while back. i think this is where it should go but im not really sure.
thanks for letting me log my progress here so i can step back and look at it. now i feel hyped to go back in and kinda finish it. with me luck! i want to combine the crane and the forklifts to make a kickflip + grind only section that feels fun.
i forgot to mention that i also painted some parking lot textures...
