Tech Floor Test Images

Hi Neil.....the pipe work looks incredible!!!

Thanks for sharing!

You've got an impressive portfolio, I really enjoyed looking at your work.

The third image seems quite a bit more complex than the first two (with the curves and radiating lines in the lower left)- did it take a significantly longer time to create than the other two styles?

wow.. i absolutely love his!!!!!
i can only imagine how long it took you to develope this..
wow!!!
any chance you post a screenshot that shows the complexity of the FF "network"?

Those images, and Corvus's "Space Station", so makes me wanna do and oldshool top down space shooter game

angelboiii, the FF networks were actually quite simple, I took a lot of the basis functions, rendered them out and then painted on top in photoshop. So much of the complexity you're seeing is in fact hand painted. Basically, I used the procedurals to do the heavy lifting of adding detail, and then used hand painting to add variety and an organic quality. And I agree, I'd also love to work on an oldschool topdown shooter like Truxton or Raiden Sadly, there's only a small market for games like that these days, and the only companies producing such games are in Japan. Play Ikaruga BTW if you haven't checked it out.

CorvusCroax, thanks! The pipes are 3d, I have built a lot of pipes in my time, and then I use a maxscript I wrote for 3dsmax called wirebundler to place the pipes. If you own max, you can check out the script at my homepage http://www.neilblevins.com.

Mike Blackney, thanks, but for god sakes, pull your your pants back up!

- Neil

Hey Everyone,

Neil,
Truly Awesome work! I love it!!

Have a GREAT day!

Ron

Thanks ronjonnie!

CorvusCroax, I'm sure they COULD be made entirely in ff, I just think it would take a really long time, and as a production guy, I've been trained to look for the fast shortcuts If anyone wants to take up the challenge, I'd love to see it. I have seen some pretty impressive filters out there. And yes, worked for blur back 8 years ago when it was a small shop. Now it's HUGE

- Neil

They are very cool Neil

Neil, welcome to the forums, glad to see you posting here!

Quote
Neil Blevins wrote: And I agree, I'd also love to work on an oldschool topdown shooter like Truxton or Raiden Sadly, there's only a small market for games like that these days, and the only companies producing such games are in Japan. Play Ikaruga BTW if you haven't checked it out.

Hell, I even wrote one (actually a barely playable prototype, not a full game) about 15 years ago! It was a vertical scroller, and it had pipes and hull-like stuff for the level background! I modeled it in the first version of 3DS Max (or perhaps it was the DOS version of original 3D Studio.) Now if only I could find a machine that can run it so I could take a screenshot.

As for Ikaruga, I considered buying a Nintendo console just for that single game

Edit: Uh, looks like the CSS style for forum quotes is missing, probably due to the server upgrade. We'll look into this next monday.

The new ones look great Neil. Hope I get to see what you do with them.
I spent all of last weekend and most of this one on my greeble project. Nothing to show for it yet but it’s been a lot of fun.

ronviers, glad you like em.

angelboiii, yup, that element was made in 3d. the filterforge stuff is more the panelwork on the surface. And glad you've enjoyed my work!

I've actually had similar thoughts to you on the possibility of doing a oldschool shooter on something like an iphone or ipad. Those platforms have created a whole new style of game, the casual game. The main issue I see is this. Right now gamers are being split into two groups, the hardcore gamers who primarily play first person shooters on their suped up computers or videogame consoles, and the casual gamers who are playing puzzle and social games on their iphone or on facebook. The problem with a shooter is it sort of crosses between both worlds. It's not a casual game in that it's not the general sort of theme that a casual game tends to be. But it's not a hardcore gamer's game because it follows a 2d paradigm. In fact, I've read a number of articles about the few companies left making top-down or sidescrolling shooters, and how difficult it is to fund the games because the market for such games is so small. In fact, that's forced them to make a lot of sequels to existing shooters (just like in the film industry). So the idea of an ipad top-down shooter I think is great, I'm just not sure that funding would be easy because it's sort of a game concept that doesn't follow the two main trends. Maybe one day I'll do some research and see if a project like that woould be feasible here in the states.

Here's two more images for your viewing pleasure.





- Neil

Thanks Redcap. There may be the hope for some project like that in the future, I certainly know I'd love to create a game like that, in fact, I have a number on concepts floating around in a half state of finished.

I'd love to give a tutorial, but alas, life is about too get in the way. Work is starting to heat up, I expect to start 70-80 hour weeks soon, and my wife is giving birth to out first child. So my freetime is about to hit a big 0 for the forseeable future. It's a difficult choice, I'm either going to try and keep up my current level of web involvement, which will lead to my early death (I already have chronic health problems due to stress), or I'm going to basically disappear for several years from almost all online activity, and live with missing all the art, tutorials and script writing that I enjoy so much. #2 is the obvious answer, but I sure am gonna miss my current life

- Neil

Neil: Last images are sick!!!! You rule, would be a shame to "loose you" for few years like you said I understand you, i have a 10m/o boy, family life is great, but i miss the free time to do all the freelancing i was doing before.. but the other side, the parenthood is sooooo great that i dont really think about it all that much good side of it is that the kid goes to sleep at 8, so i have few hours to relax and just do my things with a laptop in a sofa
As far as the game goes, it sure would be for the HC players, that's for sure, at least the way i see it, would be more of a casual, pick up your iphone, shoot some stuff, pick up some rewards, gain some powerups, then put your phone in your pocket and cotinue for another 10minutes during your break kind of game.. those are the games that sell i think and i see how that would be a fun game to make..
i LOVE fieldrunners just for that - load it up, put up some towers, play a few rounds, then just save and continue later for another few rounds LOVE it.. and its top game, but thinkig about it as a TD game you could easyli say that it will not be that popular, since its basicaly simple RTS

anyway, LOVE the panels