Questions Thread

[Scott_TallChair]

Hello everyone!

This is Scott from Tall Chair, and I just wanted to start this thread to make myself available in one centralized location to answer questions and provide general feedback on the Zombies! contest.

Use this thread to post your questions, and either Doug or myself will answer them as soon as we can.

In addition, we will be looking at the threads and work that is up as often as possible and giving you guys detailed feedback on your work so far.

From what I've seen already, I'm excited by the quality of work and attention that is already starting to surface on these guys. Rock on!

[Scott_TallChair]

Hello,

I've seen a question come up on a couple threads about alphas, so I want to post the answer to the alpha question here in addition to elsewhere so new users can find it easier.

We're not going to be using an alpha channel for these zombies.

While it is possible to do alphas on an iPhone, we are choosing not to for the zombies for this product because of the resources that it calls - a single alpha'd character on screen uses up the resources that could go towards putting an additional 3 or 4 more zombies on screen, and I'd rather have more zombies so we're skipping the alphas on these guys.

Thanks!

[spurn]

Is the mood of the game supposed to be more humorous? Do you want more comical characters, serious, or a range?

[dabu]

I think the keyword was "Playful"...

[JClark]

By the way, I'm assuming we are rigging/painting weights on these ourselves right?

[dabu]

I dunno if we are rigging our own models. Id like to know if TC wants more of a ghoul approach, or more of a zombie approach. Also, would they be wielding weapons? Or just shuffling through mindlessly...

[spurn]

ooo if you have a universal rig, it'd be good to have to model to, for proportion's sake

[Scott_TallChair]

Hi guys,

All good questions!

For starters, don't worry about rigging or animating your models. We will be doing that, but we are going to take care of that on our end - we just want you to worry about creating the most kick-ass model that you can for this.

Next up, the mood - definitely playful, cartoon, and silly - not very serious at all.

I'm not against the zombies having props (such as weapons), but any props that you create for your model will share both your tri count (no more than 1000) and your texture space. We cannot make separate models and maps for the props. If they have rifles, they will not be firing them, but you know - the rifles haven't yet been pried from their "cold, dead hands".

[spurn]

So I know Unity, but now how things get compiled to the iPhone, do you have a certain pixel buffer for the 1024 map, or is it just "as long as there's no break?"

[Scott_TallChair]

No pixel buffers to worry about as far as I know - though I'm not 100% clear I understand your question. Any standard image format (.png, .tga, .jpg, etc...) that conforms to your UV map will be well represented in Unity and the iPhone.

While we don't want to have grossly visible seams all over the model, we're not having to deal with the precision necessary for normal maps and all that business, so I wouldn't knock yourself out diving too deeply into the technical matrix of exactly how the texture is being calculated.

I hope that's helpful...

[IanPhipps]

Are we talking about Adult Swim playful, Nickelodeon playful, or somewhere in between? For instance, would it be in keeping with the tone of the game to do a hooker zombie or a slave zombie or something like that?

[spurn]

Yea that cleared it up, thanks Scott. It was more for resizing the textures and then having those seams bortched, but I understand what you're saying.

Ian I know in another thread they suggested "slave" be more of an indentured servant, to ease any critical subject-matter. Maybe an "escort" vs. "prostitute" would work for your idea... and it can come out in her composure.
Just my thoughts on that.

[Scott_TallChair]

Hi Ian,

Spurn has guessed correctly that rather than having "slaves" we'd be more comfortable with "Indentured Servants". Keep in mind that we'll be releasing this product to a wide audience on the iPhone, and we want to steer clear of any content that can be considered racist, sexist, homophobic, or insulting to any group of people.

[spurn]

I've been thinking about the model designs as having no holes, is there room for leaving holes - say in a covered spot, unlikely viewing angle?

Also, what is the actual viewable distance of these zombies on the iphone? Are you planning on a wide camera that is more top down or zooming in and such?

[Scott_TallChair]

Hi Spurn,

We'd prefer the models to be air tight, but I'd really have to see what you were talking about to be able to give you a definitive answer as to whether or not the hole you are experiencing in your model will ultimately be visible.

As far as point of view, you will be seeing the zombies from a balcony point of view, as well as possibly straight top-down. The back of the zombies is probably not as important as the front, but should still be given some attention due to the possibility of the back being revealed in animations.

[spurn]

is there any way to allow multiple maps? say 4x256 instead of 1x512 (for the final settings)?

reason is because it'd be cool to make my models modular so you can mix-match, so things such as armor can be on maps that change, while skin/bones are on maps that don't change UV location... unless it's not that big a deal to have modular pieces?

[Scott_TallChair]

Hi Spurn,

Having modular modeling pieces is totally fine, but rather than having multiple maps that will be called out, it is better to put all of the modular textures on the same map. So in your example, it is better to have one 512 map than 4 256 maps, even if we don't utilize the whole 512 map for every model. So go for it as far as modular models, that is a great solution - just put all of the textures for them on the same 512 map.

The reason for this is draw calls. Having multiple maps for a single mesh means that the device will be looking for multiple textures. We want to limit the number of draw calls for each level for this game in order to optimize the capabilities of the iPhone. It is far better for us to have fewer draw calls, even if the textures that are being called are larger in size.

[vayufox]

I just wanted to make sure, but will making 2 sided shells to solve backface culling problems with one sided geo create a large issue with rigging?

[Scott_TallChair]

It should be okay, as long as the faces aren't too close to each other. It will make rigging a little difficult, but we should be able to handle it all right.

[Scott_TallChair]

Hello Everyone!


I just wanted to make it official that we ARE going to be using 512x512 texture maps for all of the zombies. I know we started this saying 1024 maps, and if that is what you are working with that will still be accepted - but we will be reducing all 1024 maps to 512 in the game so you could save us a step by submitting your zombie with a 512 map.

[dabu]

psd and targa?

[Scott_TallChair]

This brings up a good point - submission requirements.

Final candidates for submission must include the following files:

The mesh in it's native file format (.ma for Maya, .max for Max) as well as .obj (in case there are any version control problems with the software).

The texture files - both .psd as well as .tga. Do not collapse your layers on your .psd.

So you should be submitting 4 files:

1. original mesh
2. exported .obj
3. texture .psd
4. texture .tga

[bmilos420]

should we email you those?

[Scott_TallChair]

I think what I'd rather do is set the winners up with a password protected delivery space when the time comes, either on GameStepper or Tall Chair's own forum.

[Scott_TallChair]

Hello,

I've been getting a few new questions about showing the work here, so I'm posting my answer in the Questions thread as well for everyone:

We're asking that everyone in this contest wait to post anything until the game launches on the iTunes App Store. We're aiming for a mid-January submit, so that should put this out on the store sometime in February if there aren't any problems. However, to be safe we did put March 1 in the Read Me thread. This means that we're asking everyone involved to hold off on showing the work you did here until March 1st unless we post a new thread on this forum that lets you know our game is on the App Store before then.

Winning entries will be getting full credit for their work in game, and I will distribute our logo and the copy that we would like to accompany the image in your portfolios to the winners.

Thanks - and by the way there is a tremendous amount of great work here!

[spurn]

hey wondering if anyone's been able to find this game on iTunes. iirc it was to come out March 1, but maybe not? can't wait to check it out!

[dabu]

It will be out soon, Scott can weigh in on specifics...