User blog:Seabmoby/The First Steps

For the very first entry to this blog, I want to preface all following blog posts by describing how this blog will proceed. Because of the nature of the project, there is both a technical and artistic side. The development of the application, Plane Gate, is being handled by one half of the team, while the development of Ardoth, the world within the application, is being built by the other half of the team. I act as the glue holding the two halves together while guiding and working with both halves of the team.

Without further delay, update number one.

Plane Gate Development
On the programming front, Zach has undertaken the task of developing the application in the Unity Engine. The beginnings of the development stage are mainly backend features that will allow for realtime functionality throughout the application; a necessary first step. This will allow users see realtime updates to the contents of a dungeon in realtime, the same way a multiplayer game operates. This feature is expected to be complete within the following week, allowing us to continue into developing the shell of the application, such as placing objects and walls onto the grid.



In the technical art department, Steve has been working on modeling some of the assets that will go into the dungeons, along with creating a shader that will allow for ajoining walls to have a seemless, non-repetitive texture on them. This will help create an immersive experience and is a foundation for many other art features in the future.

Ardoth Development
Within the application, I have developed the world of Ardoth which will serve as the primary world for all of our users. Though this world has already been in slow development over the last year, organization of ideas and notes has been lacking. I have tasked two team members, Andy and Brandon, to undertake the task of filling the world out with different cultures, historical events, landmasses, geology, races, and much more. Though a daunting task, the job lies primarily on writing which is very easy to munipulate and edit. The purpose of this wiki in fact, was to help the development of Ardoth be more organized and efficient.

A lot of the ground work is now being filled out, such as exploring existing wikipedia entries and applying them to pages such as landmasses to make sure we cover as much information as possible without having to work too hard figuring out what to include or not.

We are off to a great start on both Plane Gate and Ardoth fronts. In the coming week, I hope to begin to lay the ground work for some of the upcoming features, such as the sound board, 3D map of Ardoth, and dungeon building.

Until next time,

Sean