Week 4: Getting ready for 3D and Delegating Tasks

Hey guys, it's Adam here with another update.

As you may have seen from the sneak peek yesterday, the 3D modelling stage of this project has finally begun. Whilst Christie's chicken model shown is still not the final one we'll be using, we hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

The farmer and a single tree have also been modelled by Nerys, however they are both subject to change as well, so look forward to that going forwards.

The rest of our assets are being drawn up in 2D ready to be translated into 3D models this coming week, and I should be able to show you more come next week.

Jeric's cow and Christie's sheep are the stars of the show, but even the simple objects like crates and silos need to be drawn up, to make sure the style is preserved within the dimensional jump. Here's my take on a silo for example.

The work has all been divvied up at this point, and next to people's names below is a list of what they will be doing which, just like everything, is subject to change.

Adam - Barn; Silo, Crate (concept).
Christie - Chicken, Cow.
Hendrick - Hay-bale; Fence, Trees/Bushes.
Jeric - Egg; Crate (model), Rocks.
Nerys - Sheep; Farmer, Trees/Bushes.

On the prototype front, all is also progressing well. Christie has made it so that the players now drop the picked up chicken upon colliding with one another, and the chicken gains a brief moment of invincibility. Also a boundary has been placed around the level, so animals can no longer be thrown out of bounds.

As usual, I hope you've all enjoyed this small look into the development of our game. We'll be sure to have lots more to show next week.

Thank you!

Sneak Peek

Week 3: Finalizing Concepts and the Beginnings of the Game

Hey guys, Adam here, giving you an update on how the game is progressing.

Firstly, this week we met up with Jordan; our sound lead for this project, and let him know our ideas for the sounds and music for the game. We'll be hearing from him in the next few weeks to see how that's going, but feel free to check out his introduction post if you wanted to know a little bit about him.

This week we managed to finalize the concept art for the player characters, and the NPC animals. Working from the solid base previously established, and with a visual style finally pinned down, everyone went away to finalize their designs. Which is the art included in everyone's introduction posts.

We finally settled on a rounded, cutesy vibe, with block colours and very large features, so they would stand out from the high camera angle the game will employ. Also we decided to have the legs attached to the bodies of the animals, in order to make the designs more coherent; as well as realizing that the detached limbs would be hard to notice based on the amount going on and the camera angle.

We managed to pin down some possible designs for other assets outside of the player characters and animals. Specifically, man made objects such as silos and hay bales; as well as a few more natural designs.

As well, we had some more ideas for possible barns to serve as player spawns, however the design is still up in the air with them.

Nerys and Christie also drew up some possible level layouts, which will be refined once the prototype has all the assets required for level development.

Speaking of the prototype, Christie has been hard at work on it, and we should have more to show you on that front in the weeks to come.

I hope you've enjoyed this quick look into our third week of development guys, more to come in the coming days and weeks.

Thank you!

Introduction: Jordan

Hey. My name is Jordan Tuffin and I am the Lead Sound Designer for the party game, Outstanding in the Field. I am currently majoring in both Sound and Radio at Murdoch university. I started doing sound and radio in 2016 after I had finished high school and I host my own radio show over on Radio Fremantle 107.9FM with a couple of others known as “The Midday Sesh”. I am also big on Tabletop Roleplaying Games like Dungeons and Dragons, as well as strategic games like Dawn of War, and multiplayer cooperative games like Destiny. It is my pleasure to work with this creative team of game designers on “Outstanding in the Field” and hope to bring the best sound to the table for such an amazing game.

Week 2: Initial Concepting and Prototype

Hey guys, Adam here again to tell you about the initial concept work and prototype for our game.

So, after heading home, the lot of us all began to draw our ideas for concept art (shown in each person's introduction) in an attempt to gather a general visual idea for the game, so we could refine our designs. All of us took part in this part of the process, with myself also creating a mood-board and style guide for the game; Hendrick, Jeric and Nerys creating primarily concept art, and Christie also working on the prototype

After compiling some images of games we wanted to attempts to emulate the visual style of, we began to come up with some general guidelines for designs.

The main themes we wanted to focus on were:
Cute and vibrant visuals.
Very soft shapes with no corners.
De-emphasizing the limbs of animals and player characters.
The contrast of natural and man-made objects.

Several ideas were tossed around, but overall we settled upon a low-poly style with very basic, rounded shapes for natural features; and sharper, but still basic, shapes for man-made objects.

We were also considering detached feet and hands, like in Rayman for the animals and possibly the players.

Whilst we were hard at work creating concept art, Christie was also busy getting started on the initial prototype of the game, and created a simplified version of the game where two players could move, pick up a chicken cube and score a point by returning it to their spawn point.

At this point, the game is getting well under way, and all of us are happy with the amount of progress made. We managed to nail a visual style for the game, and headed off to work on more focused concept art, and to create a more complete prototype.

I hope you guys found this look into our ideas and workflow interesting.

Thank you!

Introduction: Nerys

Hi guys, My name is Nerys. I am all about 3D modelling and animation, not just in games but in any industry. It has always been my dream to work overseas and get as much experience as possible in many areas.

My parents and my entire family are gamers so I have always been excited by games and consider them hugely social in the way my family interacts together. I'm very excited to be working on this game and look forward to not only the outcome but how people react to it and gaining feedback that can benefit me in my future. Cheers for now!

Introduction: Jeric

I am Jeric Pagkaliwagan, and I'm a student majoring in Games Art & Design.

I am currently working on the game, Outstanding in the field.

I am working on some 3D; concept art and mock-up screenshots for this game

I guess what I'm good at is 3d modelling and some 2D art. 

My hobby is to play PC Games, mostly FPS games, survival games and some MMORPGs.

Introduction: Hendrick

Hello. Hendrick, introducing myself.

Currently for Udder Nonsense I am the Concept Design co-lead along with Adam, with assistance from the team.

I am also the Test Lead at later stages for game testing, and will strive to ensure there are no issues with gameplay.

I look forward to working on the project and making it fun.

Introduction: Christie

Yo! I'm Christie and I am working as a coder and technical director for this project! I specialize in team management, Concept Art and 3D Modelling but I've taken up this prestigious position because I've had the most experience in this field.

I'm an Arts Student soo uhh- Wish me luck guys!! My dream is to make great games that enrich my audience's lives. Bring them knowledge, experiences and curiousity they would never had otherwise. I'm one of the weird ones that want to make educational games great xD

I love food and melancholic things, and my favorite game genre is Strategy and Management! City Skylines, Prison Architect, Endless Legend, you name em'! I'm guessing you already have an idea of how meticulous I can be ahaha.

Introduction: Adam

Hey guys, Adam here. PR representative and 2D art co-lead for Double Ducks Studios, on our first game "Outstanding in the Field" (working title).

I have always wanted to make games, and am fairly confident in my abilities with both 2D and 3D art, although I prefer working in 2D.

Most of the posts on here will be from me, so please do feel free to ask any questions; I'll do my best to either answer for the group, or reach out to other members to allow them to provide their own insight.

I really hope you enjoy watching our game grow; we will do our best to provide a great experience, and I will do my best to chart this game on every step of its growth.

Thanks guys!

Week 1: Introduction to Double Ducks Studios

Hey guys, welcome to Double Ducks Studios, and (more importantly) to the start of our blog which will offer insights into the creation of our first game, "Outstanding in the Field" (working title).

The game will be a party game, taking mechanical inspiration from games like Towerfall and Battlesloths, with some elements of games like Worms and Gangbeasts. The game will take place on a farm, and will involve farmers battling from sunrise to sunset to collect animals, taking them back to their own farm.

Here we will be posting anything to do with the development of the game, plus screenshots and GIFs/videos of the game and the process, once it is up and running.

We all hope you guys enjoy taking a look into our game, and look forwards to sharing every little part of development with you.

We'll introduce the group in the next couple of posts, including myself, and will be providing at least one main update per week, as well as other updates whenever new stuff is completed which is too big not to share.

Thank you so much!

- Adam, Christie, Hendrick, Jeric and Nerys.