Blog

Find out a little about me and my stuff - updates will be sporadic.

Monthly Update Feb to March (with Game Jam Images)

Hey hey! it's that time again.

What I've done:

Global Game Jam 2016 & Friends:

Went to the global game jam in Brighton.

It. Was. Awesome.

The group I was with, 123Squid (Jules, Joel and Michael) created a game called Dances with the Elder Gods. Lots and lots of fun, you should download it, grab 3 other friends and play it. It's free!. The word was ritual and you have to figure out what the ritual/pattern is before everyone else. Or face the wrath of the Elder God. 

I also helped out with Brituals (even got a hot chocolate and brownies as thanks) and Notify.

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Lunch crunches and Fan Art

I've been working during my lunch time at Plugin on some more fan art for Critical Role. I really want the episodes to come out faster to Youtube because the internet is full of spoilers. This is my progress so far. I had put the 3D printing on hold at the moment because of the contract I've had but now I have time to play catch up. 

Here's the current stage of Trinket and Vex. Still aiming for the Disney Infinity Style so there won't be too much detail to anything really. Lots of smooth shapes and vague detail.

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TEFL Course

The TEFL course is under way. Nothing much to talk about there. 

Taj Packs

Not really worked on this just a bit here and there, nothing much to show at the moment. But now I have time. Sort of

Plugin Media

Plugin Media has taken up most of the time this month. It's been an amazing time and I have amazing friends. I got to join a few of them in the game making GGJ challenge. Lots of fun and they really are lovely.

Keep an eye out for the game I helped create! 

D&D Campaign

Oh man being a DM is hard and there are so many holes in my plot (haha). We're having fun though and no-one has complained so far. The troupe has met the Ambassador and made a few 'friends' and a bunch of enemies... that they killed or maimed. 

What I'm going to do

Hospital Trips

I have a trip to the hospital soon and we'll see how my week goes. All in all I think I'm fine. So as long as the tests go well I'll have time to visit family and then it's heads down, tails up for the rest of the week. 

Pom

I'm not talking about people in the UK. I'm talking about the Pomodoro Technique. 

  1. Decide on the task to be done
  2. Set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally n = 25)
  3. Work on the task until the timer rings. If a distraction pops into your head, write it down, but immediately get back on task.
  4. After the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper
  5. If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 1
  6. Else (i.e. after four pomodoros) take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1

So yea, we'll see how it goes. I should get more work done if I keep changing what I'm thinking on. 

Taj Packs

Taj Packs will probably be on the backburner this month but I might have something to show as I chip at it for like an hour a day. 

Invisibit 

I've not done anything on this last month but now I have a new contract to help out and I have a list of animations to be done by me and my group.

Studio Blimp

A friend of mine from Studio Blimp is trying to get a game out there and so I've offered my rigging expertise. I've done one character so we'll see how many more they need. It looks like an awesome game and it's something I'll definitely talk about when we have screenshots

Freelance Stuff

I have that contract to fulfill. I'll be working on it throughout the month. 

Difficulties

Nothing to speak of at the moment

Yay!  I suppose I should play some games at some point.

So yea, next time. :)

Monthly Update & Yearly Update - Dec2015 to Jan2016

Recap - 2015 december to jan and Feb 2016

Read More

Taj Pack Progress update

Just quickly, today’s progress. 

I lose myself when I’m modelling environment props. 2 hours goes by so quickly. I still need to make a chandelier and the three or so candles for them. On the plus side this will be the second last item for my Taj Packs Dungeon Magic Pack.

I know I planned to have this done by the end of the month but I’ve been busy working on animations for a job application and figuring out freelance quotes. But I’m back to it, same schedule as I previously had give or take a few catch up sessions. At least until I get to hear back about the freelance and animation job. 

Note to self: get into the habit of posting from the website blog. Everything is connected. -.- 

Time to show you Monday’s Progress!

Admittedly, it’s not much but that’s cause I’m still trying to master wax like lighting/textures. It’s interesting and yet irritating. I’ve managed to go over these textures twice figuring out how to lay down the colours. Just as I typed that sentence I realised there was another way I could have gone about it -.-

Next time I shall start with the bottom up and use ‘layers’ like I do on my Warhammer paintings. *facepalm* it’s so obvious!

Also side note, today's stream was nice but very quite. I did however manage to snag me another follower so that's pretty awesome. I also have a potential offer coming up that could see me getting paid (I hope it all works out!)

Since Thursday (not including Saturday) I've been working on my schedule, cleaned up my digital work-space and applied all my to do things to Asana. I've now given myself times for working on certain things and times for just doing whatever the heck I want. This will stay this way until I get a job offer (I job search on Saturdays and Sundays now) or until we can no longer afford to stay in the UK (I've got until about April next year - the rate things are going (and that means a lot of ramen noodles).

You can probably see that by the image the red portion is called Bumbabee! Games. It's something that my husband and I are trying to get off the ground. We're hoping to get a small game out as soon as we can. We can only work on it one day a week so far but hopefully as the teaching term progresses and Mouse catches up on the work needed to be done, we'll have more time in the week to work on the games 'studio' together. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm going to work on my motivation. Well I've had a thought on that over the weekend and I've realised I don't need motivation, I need dedication. So I'm going to work on my projects, motivation or not. I'm going to get these done and they are going to be done well. 

With that said, I'm off. 

I'll post more later.

Monthly Update Time!

Warning this post is long, with many images. Enjoy the shineys.

What I've done:

 Ok. So what have I done this past month (or so)? I've had a few really productive days where I've finished up all zombie-like (it's the best feeling in the world for me). I've signed up with a TEFL course and am getting my Teach English as a Foreign Language qualification - which as far as I know is nearly lifetime qualification, so all in all a good investment. I had that job interview like I previously talked about and sadly didn't get the job :( but I'm still looking for more jobs and have steadily been applying to as many temp and part time jobs I can find. I've been working on my unpaid internship with Invisibit Studios. I've also somehow created skeleton of a company Bumbabee! Games with my husband and am making a game in his spare time (cause I seem to have a bunch of 'spare' time) - I even got to design most of it. AND I've managed to complete the following things:

Donate here:

Donations:

I've organised donations for myself. I finally have a way for people to pay me for stuff they like!  So there's two options: Gumroad donations and Paypal donations. Every penny helps!

Scrolls:

Here's the scrolls showsheet. It comes with 3 scroll bases and 3 scroll ends to give multiple options of scroll types. I've placed it up on Gumroad. Take a look here,  only $8 USD for the entire pack. 

Character_Showsheets.png

Potions:

The potions you've seen before but here's the showsheet and WIP shots anyway. Take a look here, $8 USD for the entire pack. 

More Potions:

These potions you haven't seen before. They were lots of fun to create. It's difficult to make a skull without a nose - but I think I pulled it off. You can purchase them here for now. I will be placing them up in the Unity Store along with the other packs as soon as this major pack is completed.

Potions2_Showsheets.png

and a Closed Magic Book:

Originally I was going to make an open magic book and a closed magic book but the pack because quite large and I needed to collapse it down a bit. So here's the finished closed book. The writing is translateable but you don't need to actually know whar's in there. You can purchase them here. Happy shopping!

AND a scale:

I have realised all too late that I require a scale. Not an eyeballed scale - which is what I already have. A scale for Unity that is ideally something represented in Unity i.e 1m = 1 unit in game. So I've taken all of the current assets and I've re-scaled them to translate better into Unity. This is going on my checklist.

Scale

So yea, I think I've been rather productive this month. I've managed to get back into working and I'm loving it.

What I'm going to do this month:

uhhhhm.....
1. Make Models
2. ???
3. PROFIT!

This month I'm going to be:

Finishing work on Dungeon Magic Pack:

I'll be completing the Candles (Single) the Candles Chandelier and Candelabra, and the Skull (magical things always require skulls) 

Sketching out creatures and objects from other Packs

I've been thinking about how the other creatures and characters look in my artistic vision. I have a few sketches already but when the other guys in my D&D group take charge (they have very strong character personalities and good ideas) I generally take a backseat and start sketching while I'm listening to the story - don't worry I'm absolutely listening and I definitely speak up when they do something my character wouldn't appreciate.

Making a Macro for folder creation with standardised naming conventions

I'm going to look up ways of making Macros in Windows - I used to have a program but I might look into macro recorders and see if they're a thing that Windows does. That would make my folder structure faster and definitely all the same. I'm also going to make sure my Asana page (which the company updated and I'm going to have a look at the new features) is up to date. I am working off schedule and it's becoming a small problem. 

Finishing work on Human Character for Character Base Pack:

I'll be getting myself together and complete working on my human character model and 3D sculpt. Assuming I keep my motivation and my standardisation day (or days) don't take too long I will have at least started work on my Halfling character before Halloween. 

Reviewing my work

There have been many things that I just didn't foresee being an issue with my process. Now I have to review them and find a better way. I'll be setting aside a day or two to really get this down so I don't have to do it again. Or if I do have to (to futureproof myself) I'm make sure it's much easier next time.
I'll be reviewing my meshes to make sure they are to scale (the characters are exempt from this due to the character rig I'll be making. They will all the same sizes and this will only happen when all characters are completed.) I will also be checking my colour palettes are solid and not to distracting. While I'm reviewing my art work I'll probably have to make a wiki to keep colours, techniques and ideas consistent. At the very least I'll be writing it down in my book.

Making another recap

I really feel that making recaps are important, and even though I don't work with anyone (at the moment) I should still write down in a slightly SCRUM style format. This should give me direction, motivation and  a sort of checklist on what I need to do.

What I'm having issues with:

Motivation:

I'll definitely say I'm having issues with motivation to complete the character pack. I've got due dates for all of that pack and I'm procrastinating with working on other packs. I have a good reason for doing those packs but if I keep going the way I'm going, I won't be finished in time for my holidays. I am giving myself a working schedule and it's important to me that I maintain it. Starting work at 9:30 and finishing at 5:30 is important to continue. There are days that just don't turn out like that, but I do try to make the most of those days by updating social media, hanging out with contacts and friends or even just making sure I have food in the fridge/freezer for dinner and lunch.

Standardisation and Future Proofing:

I have to sit down and figure out a check list. Something I actually check every time I make something, not something I make and then discard =,= (I'm looking at you Past Kylie.) I have the skeleton of a system down. But I really need to take the time to make sure I create folders correctly, fill them with the appropriate files and make sure I back them up online. My main downfall is remembering to rename objects within the program i'm working on. Instead of Cylinder 01 and Cylinder 02 I should have Scroll_Base_1 and Scroll_Ends_A that sort of thing.

Ok, that's it. Time to rest up and then work as hard as I can tomorrow.

Kylie 

Forever twirling, twirling toward the future.

Hey guys, warning long post ahead.

I've had to take some personal time off recently due to unforeseen circumstances but I'm back now and ready to produce some amazing stuff.

I've been back to the drawing board with my D&D Taj Packs and there are a lot more things to do than I thought. Initially it was just going to be a character pack but ever since playing 5ed I've been adding to the pack and it's grown monstrously. 

I have plans to release the following packs: Base Character Pack, 2nd Character Pack, Travelers Pack, Base Dungeon Pack, Dungeon Magic Pack, Monsters Forest Pack, Monsters Dungeon Pack, Monsters Cave Pack, Animal Forest Pack, Animal Dungeon Pack, Animal Cave Pack, Village Base Pack, 2nd Village Pack, and a Village Street Pack. So a total of 14 packs - about 125 items in total. 

So to kick off this stupendous and horrific adventure I've made potion bottles for the Dungeon Magic Pack - which are currently available on Gumroad. I'm going to start small and work my way up from there. I still have the Elf to finish and I should have that done by the 18th if my scheduling is correct (it might change if I get a call back from a job interview I had recently - yay \o/)

Potions Showsheet

I'm pretty damn excited to see that after a bunch of time off, I've gotten back into the swing of things so quickly. This project is obviously something special.

I've also added a donations section to Gumroad with a wallpaper of 1920x1080 as a reward. I think I might change these to represent the items I've made when I have enough to create a scene. 

I've got my internship work at Invisibit Studios go check them out. They're creating a little game with a robot called BIP. He's quite cute and I'm working on animations for him and his friends - along with a fellow colleague Chris Hill (who doesn't seem to have a website).

I've bought a commercial license for license for Photoshop and after a bunch of hunting I've got myself an N52te :D for really, really cheap (20 Pounds). It has made changing programs between Max, Maya and Blender so much smoother. But I will say, there aren't enough buttons for Blender - which is seriously shortcut heavy. But it is still a blessing for changing between programs. I even use it for Photoshop. 

N52te

With this I've managed to get back into Maya animation. It's something I've been interested in but never took the time to learn. I'm quite comfortable with it all now and pressing play, going through the frames is much easier since I've bought this keyboard extension. I don't need to press Alt+. to go one frame to the right any more it's just a button press. 

I've started streaming again! Sign up and follow for email updates. I'll post on twitter when I'm streaming @tajunshadow. I like how it keeps me focused. I'm even streaming for Invisibit Studios and my Maya experimentation.

Streaming is back Follow me for updates.

Streaming is back Follow me for updates.

TL;DR:
- I've had to take time off for personal reasons. But now I'm back from Outta Space.
- Job interview last week and am waiting for a result.
- I've been working on my internship (with Invisibit Studios). 
- Got a great review from Invisibit Studios
- Still working on my Taj Packs - 14 packs - about 125 items in total. Go buy them.
- Donations section in Gumroad. Please contribute - you'll get a wallpaper.
- Now can legally sell items made with Photoshop :D I own a commercial license. 
- I think my designing has grown stronger with the Taj Packs project.
- I'm learning Maya animation. It seems to be going well.
- I've started streaming again sign up and follow for email updates. 
- I'm more active on twitter @tajunshadow
- Hurray art!

Cheers guys!
- ShadowTajun

Long, Long a go - like a week and a half or so...

Hey guys, 

Sorry about not updating as recently as I had been. A lot of things have happened in the past week and a bit, it's actually really amazing that it's only been that long. 

So to recap what I've done:

Last week I completed these two assets - It took me much less time thanks to the Orc and I'm happy I spent that month or so testing and sculpting. It gave be a good base to work off. 

These characters are not scaled comparatively. They are just one size fits all at the moment. I wanted to leave the size scale up to the buyer - which can be adjusted in game. - I will be considering height changes with the physical prints though.

And tonight, I completed this Fire Pillar. I'm thinking of having it in different colours but at the moment, blue bricks were the only things that would make seeing the characters easier to spot. 

I also went to a digital design show, I got news from my sister, I got news from myself, I got news about my Aunts and Uncles, I hung out with my Cousin and her family, I downloaded and tested a program called MeshMixer for 3D printing,  I managed to go see Jurrasic World and I played at least 1 game (8+hrs) of D&D 5th ed. I'm tired and I think I'm going to go to bed now. 

These assets are going to be available on Gumroad in a matter of days. Base meshes and textures only. All added features will be updated accordingly. 

Good night, and sleep tight all.

Kylie Out.