Khopesh

Much better! And best of all, you have extra edge loops for the elbow/knee joints! If the poly-limit allows for it, could you do the same for the ankle, wrist, and torso (see below). This will help greatly for skinning and animating. Thanks.

Here are a few orthographic shots. It's really hard to find any good photo-reference ones but I think these are pretty good (we use these at my uni). Looking at these and the model above, I'd say the torso is too far back (making the centre of gravity wrong and the character would be off-balance). The upper legs are too narrow (from the front and side views), and they should be positioned a little further forwards (so the butt stands out a bit more). Also, when modelling the hand it's usually best to have it palm-down (rather than forwards). But in an RTS game with low poly characters, it might be best just to model the hand in a gripping position. All the fingers are usually one mesh (like a mitt - although some have the index finger separate if needed). And finally, it's good practice for the edge loops to follow the curvature of the muscles where possible. This makes it easy to skin the character and makes it look more natural at a lower poly count. http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4930/steveprofileref.jpg

So some elephants will attack, while others will just use the mounted archers to attack? I guess the archers can just use the standard biped attack animations, but I will still need to animate an elephant attacking.

Yeah, Maya is so user-friendly and the UI is very clear and uncluttered. I started out using 3Ds Max but wasn't too keen on that one. Opening up Blender for the first time was mind-boggling. I'm not a big tech-head, so the easier something is to use the better. I should be fine once I learn how to navigate Blender and set it up to my needs.

Blender's UI is not very user-friendly, but I really should learn how to use it. Thanks.

So would this be a ranged unit (bow/javelin)? Or does it have both ranged and melee attack? Also, would it be possible to the programmers to make the archer face in the direction they were firing, while the rest of the chariot continues to face the way it was. The same question would apply to other mounted units (having them aim towards a specific target without having to rotate the mount too). This way we could have mounted archers firing and moving at the same time (that is if you want that in game). I think that in the AoE games (even the newer ones) they just rotate the whole unit and always have the unit firing forwards from a standing position. It's a lot easier doing it this way, but doesn't look as natural.

2 Archers per elephant? Does the elephant itself actually attack too?

Would it not be best to use orthographics shot of real humans as reference? Once you have the basic shape you can take some liberties with it and adjust it to your needs. Also, if possible could you post a pic with the mesh (edge loops) so I can get an idea of how things are going to go for skinning the rig (as well as an idea of poly count). Thanks.

Am I actually allowed to use Maya? I was under the impression we were to use only free software that doesn't require a licence, lke Blender or GIMP. I only have a student copy of Maya at the moment which will probably run out at the end of the year anyway.

Having more bones (joints) depends on memory/compression. It's usually best to have as little joints as possible as to not overload the game, and end up with lag. For a game like this (with low-poly mesh and MANY uinits on screen at once) it's usually best to cut as many corners as possible with joints. I haven't had chance to look at the current rig yet (will do that sometime this week), but it might be a good idea to figure out why it's not working, so we don't end up running into the same problem in the future.

Thanks for the info Enrique, I will look into those and check out the current rig. It's just to help with timing mostly. I figured the engine will rescale the timing for certain tasks depending on the units stats (attack speed etc), but there are other animations that wouldn't get scaled and would be best if working on the correct frame-rate. The Art Design Document that Erique linked me to says 30 fps. All good. If the current animations (that were made in Blender) work properly in the game then I guess Z-up is the way to go. I think I read somewhere that some female villagers were to have an attack (for the Greek civs?). Not sure if this is still the case. Also, what kind of attack would they use when hunting/slaughtering animals? Would they use a bow for hunting and a knife for herdables (chicken, sheep, etc)? But the ships themselves will need animating.

I like your front cover Sbot. But I would probably have sky behind the hero concepts instead of it being blank/white. As for the back-cover blurbs, I'm not too fond of listing ALL the civs. I would mention about 3-4 max. Something like: "Choose from a selection of ancient civilizations including: The Roman, Carthaginian and Persian Empires, and various Celtic and Grecian tribes. Each with their own unique artwork, technologies and civilization bonuses." Putting the civs in bold to make them stand out from the sentance (instead of having a list). Also, the colour of the heading "History is yours for the taking" doesn't stand out enough. Maybe use the same bronze that is used for the "0 A.D." logo, or some other dark-ish colour.

Thanks for the warm welcoming. As I mentioned, I will not be able to do much until December - but in the mean time I guess I can figure out what needs doing and help with things around the forums. Since I'm new here and not sure how you guys do things, I did have a few questions: 1. Frame rate - I think I read somewhere this was to be 30 fps? 2. Axis orientation (some game engines have Z pointing up rather than Y). Maya is set to Y-up by default, but Blender seems to be Z-up. Am I correct to assume this game will also use Z-up. 3. Do the animations need to be done in one file, seperate files, or does it not matter? I have not used collada before and I'm unsure as to how you guy have gone about putting animations into your game. (I have made animations for a game that was made in Unity - the animations were in a signle file and that was simply imported straight into Unity). 4. Asset lists, including: a list of unit types (bowmen, spearmen, types of ships, types of siege weapons, etc) and animations. I've made a couple of lists below - feel free to add anything. --Biped-- Idle (I was thinking of making a "relaxed" and "ready" pose for out of / in combat) Walk cycle – walking with resources? Run cycle Foraging – berry bushes; fruit trees; Mining Logging – Just simply cutting standing trees, or cutting fallen trees too? (horizontal and vertical swings) Farming – Plowing with a hoe; Carving up animals; Attack (with a few variations) – spear; sword; bow; crossbow?; sling; javelin; (how do the villegers hunt? do they have a unique attack?). Death (with a few variations) --Cavalry-- Same as above, minus villager tasks. --Ships-- Idle – bobbing in water? Sails up / down? Oar movement --Siege-- Idle – bipeds idling Walking cycle – 2(?) bipeds pushing Attack and reload Death – siege machine breaks; bipeds use biped death animation Sorry for so many questions.

I could make a rig and animate it, I just need to figure out how Blender works (I'm used to Maya). If we can get a working rig then the animation itself shouldn't take long at all (I would need a complete list of animation in order to give an estimated time-frame). The biped will be the easiest. The animals however - with such a large list, each needing a different rig and set of animations - it will take a while to work through them. Also, I'm not sure about having so many rigs in the game (each rig will have to be very limited, otherwise it could use up a lot of memory). At least with the human units they will all use the same rig.

Position: Aminator Do you understand that Wildfire Games is a non-commercial project, work for 0 A.D. is volunteer, and work is done for free? Yes Do you agree to distribute all your work for Wildfire Games under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license? Yes Name: Marc Hodgson (Khopesh) Email: hodgson.marcw (at) gmail (dot) com MSN Messenger: scorpion1813 (at) msn (dot) com Location: Ballarat, Australia (current) GMT: +10 York, England (commencing early next year) GMT: 0 Availability: Currently: 0-10 hours per week (casually on weekends) From 6th December: Full-time Age: 25 Occupation: Student (looking to get into the games industry in the future) Skills and Experience: Advanced Diploma of Screen & Media - 3D modelling, character rigging, and animation using Autodesk Maya. - Animation principles; body language; composition; cinematography. - Character animations to be used in a game engine (Unity). Introduction to MotionBuilder. - Working as part of a team; problem solving; meeting deadlines. Applied Computing (Computer Games) - Introduction to animation and 3D modelling using 3DS Max and Adobe Flash. - Games design and development with the Unreal Engine. - Basic programming using Python. National Diploma Graphic Design - Visual communication and narrative image making. - Drawing development and typographic design. GNVQ (Intermediate) Art and Design - 2D and 3D visual language. - Art and Graphic design techniques. Motivation: Always dreamt of working in the video games industry. Personality: A friendly, creative, perfectionist who'll settle for nothing but the best, or your money back (wait, this is unpaid work isn't it!?). Short Essay: I found out about WFG a few days ago when looking for a modern "replacement" for the original AoE, of which I have recently been in the mood for playing again. This is a very ambitious project, which suits me perfectly. I think most games these days are lacking in everything but pretty graphics and the game itself is seemingly forgotten about. I would love to be a part of making a difference in the industry and at the very least, have something for my resume to help me get paid work (but who's to say I couldn't continue to help with such projects as this in my free time). Interests and Hobbies: Comics (reading / creating) Video games (playing / designing) Reading books (novels and skill development) Watching films / documentaries Community: deviantART; Smackjeeves; Gamespot; Favorite Games: The Age of Empires series The Metal Gear Solid series The original Assassin's Creed Total War: Shogun 2 Anno 1404 (AKA: Dawn of Discovery) .... So basically: strategy and stealth games (although, I'm more a fan of historical / mythological / fantasy stuff than modern / Sci-fi). Work Examples: http://marchodgson.w....com/index.html A lot more work will be added soon (in the next month or two), including character animation for a student game project. Also, some illustration work: http://occasionalheroics.smackjeeves.com/comics/

It won't take too long to redo them. It just depends on if you need them before a certain date.

Haha, thanks for that

Yeah, I found just found that out after reading some stuff. Maybe I should learn more before making suggestions In my defence I didn't find it on the animal list. So assumed it wasn't in the game.

The unique effects could be done for the Campaign... but then that depends on the campaigns/story. I think all Wonders should have more than just victory conditions attached. Like someone mentioned; wonders could provide a morale boost - providing a morale system is implemented in the game (I'm still unfamiliar with exactly what this game currently contains, and what it plans to in the future). If there is no morale system then you could mimic it by increasing HP, Attack, or defense of units/buildings. I think the "victory condition" effect would be enough incentive for players to want to destroy a wonder. If not, a boost to the units/buildings would certainly help.

Don't think you can import models into Photoshop (you need to open a seperate texture file that can be applied in the modelling software like Blender, or applied in the game engine itself). Either way, I wouldn't recommend using Photoshop because it requires a licence. GIMP is a free equivalent. Sculting software sometimes had an option for painting directly onto the model (rather than using Photoshop or GIMP to paint onto UV maps). Not sure about any free software for sculting though. Sorry if this is a dead thread and you have already figured this out.

When do you need that by? I'm not familiar with Blender, but I can look into it. I have some experience making rigs in Maya - they're fairly simply to do. Skinning is usually what I struggle with, but I don't think that will be a problem for a game like this.

What about domesticated dogs - can be used for hunting/scouting? And any chance of them being able to carry (retreive) smaller animals such as fowl?

Hi, I'm new to the forums here (only discovered this game yesterday). Reading some of the comments in this thread, can I assume that you are still in need of an animator? I would be interested in helping, but I won't get any free time until December when my course finishes. After then, I should have plenty of free time to help.