Author: jasprtz

raccoon model (test?)

by jasprtz, posted in 3D, Commentary, Game Development, Raccoon

i wanted to test if the style we wanted for the game would work in 3D, and i wanted to test my blender skills some more. so i made a raccoon model! for now its just a test until we decide on permanent assets.

first, i sculpted a basic shape in zbrush, then re-topologized that and imported it into blender. i lowered the poly count as much as i could without destroying the whole shape (which was just under 900 polys or so) and added eyes and a nose.

then, i textured the model using the material editor in blender, and the knife tool to get the shape i wanted. this allowed me to colour different faces with different materials, so i could get a good texture without having to use any uv editing. this also allowed me to easily make shiny eyes (made a black material with loads of specular and metallic effect, and no roughness.)

next came the rigging! this one took me a while to figure out, as after i created the initial armature, i had an issue where the eyes and nose didn’t interact properly with the mesh and the armature. i eventually fixed this but merging the eyes + nose with the initial mesh, and creating armature after that. i also edited the armature slightly.

and, voila! this is my finished test model so far, and an idea of the art direction for the models in game.

– ellie

level idea

by jasprtz, posted in 2D, Art, Commentary, Game Development, Raccoon

brainstorming ideas for potential levels! here’s an example sketch (i’ll walk you through my though process here)

the idea is for a park. the raccoon (player) would spawn from the bin next to the bench. there’s two trees which can be climbed and perched upon, a usable slide and swings. a cooler with food inside that can be dragged around. picnic tables with food and other items (soup flasks, phones, etc.) the bench and tables are climbable.
these red dots represent people. there would be children npcs and adult npcs. they’d each have one of the behavior types documented earlier, and there would be a mix of children and adults. generally, they would stick to their default places, but would move around depending on interaction with the player.
the green Fs show food. food would be an important item in the game, and many tasks would center around the collection/theft of food. there would be a number of tasks each level, for example;
– have a picnic (would require player to scare off people at picnic blanket and then sit on it)
– ruin everyone’s lunch (steal all the food on the level and place it in bin.
– have fun on the slide (scare off child on slide, climb it, then go down the slide)
– have fun on the swings (same as above, except by pressing the movement keys back and forth perhaps you could swing?)
– reenact the discovery of gravity (lure a human to under a tree, and drop an apple on them)

these are all examples and concepts, and need to be further developed, but give a general gist of the total plan.

– ellie

concepts and sketches

by jasprtz, posted in 2D, Art, Raccoon

while thinking of ideas and styles, I had to teach myself how to draw raccoons and figure out a style for them. here are my sketches from that! a lot of raccoons doing raccoon things. I settled eventually on a pillow-shaped raccoon! they’re soft and cute and fit the overall vibe of the game i’m aiming for.

– ellie

welcome to raccoon… 2!

Featured by jasprtz, posted in Commentary, Game Development, Raccoon

hi!

originally, when given a project brief about an untitled goose game-inspired mischief game, I immediately thought about raccoons. little hands and a penchant for mischief makes for a fun idea! the direction I hope this project goes to is a ways similar to untitled goose, but with its own raccoon spin to make it separate enough to be somewhat standalone. we’re aiming for a number of unique mechanics that make use of the raccoons particular skillset, like their little hands and climbing skills.

overall, making a fun raccoon experience is top priority for this project, and its still very early in development, so the details are subject to change.

happy raccooning!

-ellie