Community Spotlight
A XNA Meeting Point, nous voulons savoir ce que vous créez avec XNA !
Tout le monde peut soumettre un petit texte avec une image pour décrire son projet. Vous pouvez aussi inclure un lien vers un site de développement. Lisez les consignes et envoyez le votre maintenant !
Tout le monde peut soumettre un petit texte avec une image pour décrire son projet. Vous pouvez aussi inclure un lien vers un site de développement. Lisez les consignes et envoyez le votre maintenant !
June 2011:
Aqualibrium
_Introduction
– Aqualibrium is the product of a team of four students (Team Dysania)
at Digital arts and entertainment, Howest University. The goal was to
compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011, and to find hi-tech solutions
to the problems we face to reach the millennium goals.
Aqualibrium takes you ahead in time, to a scenario where we did not manage to save the earth’s coral reefs. In these coral reefs live algae, producing up to 70% of the daily oxygen on earth. Without coral reefs, most life on the surface will be impossible save for a few very forested areas.
Team Dysania stranded in the second round but has now more or less finished up. After some polishing, a free version will be downloadable from the marketplace at the end of the summer.
The Story – As said before, Aqualibrium takes a look into the future without coral reefs. Some of the last humans have escaped and gone underwater in a giant domed city. For several decades humanity managed to stay alive under the mostly ruined surface of the earth. But the oxygen is running out! Like most solutions of our tie it was not built to endure and a solution must be found!
A team of scientists meet the challenge and designs a robot to go out into the ocean, called 5QU1D, also known as the squid. 5QU1D has a mission and a grappling hook to complete it! With his hook, 5QU1D can gather seeds and with those, new coral reefs can be grown.
You must venture out into the maze of the ocean to find and gather seeds, but you will lose them to hungry fish and the spiky walls if you’re not careful. Also, you have to fight time, if you don’t produce enough oxygen by the time the city surfaces, you lose!
Aqualibrium takes you ahead in time, to a scenario where we did not manage to save the earth’s coral reefs. In these coral reefs live algae, producing up to 70% of the daily oxygen on earth. Without coral reefs, most life on the surface will be impossible save for a few very forested areas.
Team Dysania stranded in the second round but has now more or less finished up. After some polishing, a free version will be downloadable from the marketplace at the end of the summer.
The Story – As said before, Aqualibrium takes a look into the future without coral reefs. Some of the last humans have escaped and gone underwater in a giant domed city. For several decades humanity managed to stay alive under the mostly ruined surface of the earth. But the oxygen is running out! Like most solutions of our tie it was not built to endure and a solution must be found!
A team of scientists meet the challenge and designs a robot to go out into the ocean, called 5QU1D, also known as the squid. 5QU1D has a mission and a grappling hook to complete it! With his hook, 5QU1D can gather seeds and with those, new coral reefs can be grown.
You must venture out into the maze of the ocean to find and gather seeds, but you will lose them to hungry fish and the spiky walls if you’re not careful. Also, you have to fight time, if you don’t produce enough oxygen by the time the city surfaces, you lose!
_About the development
– Mixed with the rest of their studies, one Major Arts (Jeroen Van
Hoorebeke) and 3 Majors Game Development (Seppe Rousseau, Jasper Kort
and myself Jacco Goris) started nearly from scratch. To get a distinct
look and feel to the game 3D graphics were used in combination with the
free 2D farseer physics engine.
Soon – The behavior of the fishes will be improved, and the overall performance too. Generally a complete polishing up will be done.
XNA Tutorials – During this polishing I will continually figure out stuff and write tutorials about it to help out the community, if I can find some sponsors to keep a closed Team foundation server up and running. Students are poor!
Soon – The behavior of the fishes will be improved, and the overall performance too. Generally a complete polishing up will be done.
XNA Tutorials – During this polishing I will continually figure out stuff and write tutorials about it to help out the community, if I can find some sponsors to keep a closed Team foundation server up and running. Students are poor!
_Be sure to check the development blog: http://teamdysania.blogspot.com/
Or any of their personal blogs:
Jeroen Van Hoorebeke: http://killtimedreams.blogspot.com/
Jacco Goris: http://jaccog.blogspot.com/
Jasper Kort: http://www.jasperkortfolio.nl/
and Seppe Rousseau, well, he doesn’t have a blog, contact the others if you need him :D
Or any of their personal blogs:
Jeroen Van Hoorebeke: http://killtimedreams.blogspot.com/
Jacco Goris: http://jaccog.blogspot.com/
Jasper Kort: http://www.jasperkortfolio.nl/
and Seppe Rousseau, well, he doesn’t have a blog, contact the others if you need him :D
_Last
but not least, a gameplay video has been made, sadly, for exam
purposes, this has been made in Dutch. We are working on an English and
possibly French dub though! This will be updated in due time, so don’t
forget to check back!
May 2011:
_Because in
the XNA Community, most of us are Indie Game Creators (whether hobbyists
or not), there is a real need for models and animations at reasonable
price.
That is the reason why I decided to write a Community Spotlight on Mixamo.
Mixamo is an online animator. You need to create an account, and then upload an .fbx file, and you can apply any motion they have (some are free, some are not), customize it and then re-download it. What's more, if you're not much of a 3D artist, you can use one of their “Mixamo Characters” or use one of their services to create your character and dress him or her.
That is the reason why I decided to write a Community Spotlight on Mixamo.
Mixamo is an online animator. You need to create an account, and then upload an .fbx file, and you can apply any motion they have (some are free, some are not), customize it and then re-download it. What's more, if you're not much of a 3D artist, you can use one of their “Mixamo Characters” or use one of their services to create your character and dress him or her.
_Of course, the free
version is much more limited than the priced one, but then again,
nothing prevents you from modifying the mesh in your 3D app. You can
even animate the mouth for an additional fee.
But the reason I’m writing this article is because they are currently making a public beta of an Auto-Rigger. Anyone who ever had to rig a model knows this sure isn’t easy. Even in Max, applying Skin or Physique takes time.
So, I’m going to show you how to use this rigger. It’s actually fairly guided. First, create an account. Then, go to the upload page and click the upload button:
But the reason I’m writing this article is because they are currently making a public beta of an Auto-Rigger. Anyone who ever had to rig a model knows this sure isn’t easy. Even in Max, applying Skin or Physique takes time.
So, I’m going to show you how to use this rigger. It’s actually fairly guided. First, create an account. Then, go to the upload page and click the upload button:
_Then, select your model file
(.fbx or .obj). You’ll be asked to install the Unity PlugIn and then,
the website will verify the viewer:
_Then, follow the different steps, everything is explained on the right. You can move the model around using the controls:
_Place the joints on the model. The zoom window will help you place them precisely:
_Then, verify the rig was made properly by selecting different animations:
March 2011:
_Saga of the Void
(MMORTS in Space)
(MMORTS in Space)
_Introduction
– This huge project is based on the video game HomeWorld. HomeWorld was
a real time strategy game released in 1999 published by Sierra. The
game is actually the result of two different projects merging. Travis
has been striving after his dream child for about 12 years. Jon on the
other hand started his project about a year ago (Nebulon Wars). Six
months ago, they decided to team up and use XNA to launch the
development of this ambitious game.
The Story – “The story is a very important part to the universe, it makes it livable, interesting and playable. […] YOU will take part in the story, and form the game!”
The game is a rich universe the player is invited to explore. In this universe, several species and factions are evolving. Each faction has a stronghold in the universe and controls some hyperspace routes. Each faction has a different technology, and feature special tactics. Through missions, large scale combat tactic or diplomacy, the player will influence the course of the universe and therefore the course of his species by his very existence and actions.
The Story – “The story is a very important part to the universe, it makes it livable, interesting and playable. […] YOU will take part in the story, and form the game!”
The game is a rich universe the player is invited to explore. In this universe, several species and factions are evolving. Each faction has a stronghold in the universe and controls some hyperspace routes. Each faction has a different technology, and feature special tactics. Through missions, large scale combat tactic or diplomacy, the player will influence the course of the universe and therefore the course of his species by his very existence and actions.
_About the development
– This project is really ambitious and the graphics are quite amazing.
The different screenshots you can see in this article are pure random.
Several issues/challenges had to be overcome, such as double precision
cameras. Note that the camera is set at a fixed position, the objects
and lights are the ones actually moving. Travis – “The deal here is that our engine will be using completely random systems based on perlin noise.
Soon – Chances are a space simulation will be included in a later version. Also, other planets will probably be added so the players may interact with them. They also work on more creative AIs.
XNA Tutorials – What’s great is that the developers of this project are going to release a lot of tutorials describing the techniques they used (some articles are already available). Coming soon, an article about how they fixed Z fighting.
The Team – Programmers: Travis, Jon and Adeeb. Artist: Andy. Musician: Nathan.
Be sure to check their development blog: www.sagaofthevoid.com/
Soon – Chances are a space simulation will be included in a later version. Also, other planets will probably be added so the players may interact with them. They also work on more creative AIs.
XNA Tutorials – What’s great is that the developers of this project are going to release a lot of tutorials describing the techniques they used (some articles are already available). Coming soon, an article about how they fixed Z fighting.
The Team – Programmers: Travis, Jon and Adeeb. Artist: Andy. Musician: Nathan.
Be sure to check their development blog: www.sagaofthevoid.com/
September 2010:
_Results of the XNA Tutorial Contest on XNA Meeting Point (XTC 2010)
And here ends the XTC 2010, thanks for taking up the challenge!
And here ends the XTC 2010, thanks for taking up the challenge!
- At the first place: Agustin Rosso for his 15 video-tutorials entry about 2D programming from the start.
- At the second place: Lance Zimmerman for his tutorial about how to make an asteroid game using XNA and FRB.
- At the third place: Ayush Chaudhary for his light scattering shader.
July 2010:
_XNA Tutorial Contest on XNA Meeting Point (XTC 2010)