Alex Chandler: CAGD 470

 Sprint 5 went well very smoothly. It was by our far our most stress free sprint yet, with the majority of the team being on track. As always, the majority of my time was spent on modeling, in fact; besides the singular particle I did, this is the first time since Sprint 1 where I didn't do anything else but modeling. The first thing I tackled this sprint was resolving a issue with the clairvoyance item model. The compass was originally a single modeler, as I assumed it would be static in design, and instead simply rotate towards the indicated area. After speaking with the programmer, they indicated they needed part of the mesh to be static, while the needle would rotate. This was different then what the designer had asked for, but in theory should accomplish the same goal, so I redid the compass to be two separate objects. This was done first, so that the programmer would have the entirety of the sprint in order to animate the compass, if they chose to do it during this sprint. An...

 Sprint 4 has concluded, and everything is still on track. There were no major issues this sprint, but a few speed bumps that took some extra horsepower to get over. Similar to Sprint 3, my time was equally divided between creating models as well as making particle affects. This sprint though two of those models were larger, and more or so centerpieces. The Chicken Coop was the first of the larger models. This is where the player is intended to spawn in, and provides a safe area where the Maze Keeper is not capable of reaching them. The UVs were also pretty clean, and they should provide ample surface area for the texture artist to work off of. After this, I also worked on a tractor. It follows a similar low poly art style as the rest of the game, and should fit in nicely with the other assets. The tractor is meant to be broken down, and not operable in any form; it provides no function. It's simply a asset to help fill in a otherwise empty maze. Due to its size and level of detail...

 This was sprint was both productive and exciting. I am the modeler for my team, but I cant say I enjoy modeling all too much, it was not my preferred role. Of course, I will do it to the best of my abilities. This sprint though, I was given some non modeling tasks which brought me great joy. One of the big focuses for me during Sprint 3 was regarding the powerups. I modeled them, as well as created animated particles to indicate to the player that they are pick ups, and help hint at what the power ups do. Going from left to right, we have: Lightning particles, which are intended for the speed boost powerup Ice particles, for the freeze powerup that stuns the Mazekeeper Strength particles, For the similarly strength powerup, allows the player to break walls Invisibility particles, for the Invisibility powerup that hides the player from the Maze keeper. I was very happy with how they all turned out. I had worked with Unity particles before, but a lot o these used new elements that I...

 Sprint 2 went by very smoothly, and there were far less issues compared to are original kick off from Sprint 1. The biggest difference, was that no one was blocked day one. Work was assigned in a manner that anyone could start their individual tasks, without requiring work created by others first. The first thing I tacked this sprint, was the Maze Keeper model Now I will be honest, he does not look particularly great. I ended up scrapping and restarting a total of 4 times. The biggest issue is that I have never done natural models before, let alone a humanoid. I'm great when it comes to mechanical and structural objects, but smooth and curvy things is not something I have experience in. This was the first character I have ever modeled that wasn't just a primitive pill, so by those standards, I think the first iteration is pretty solid. The Maze Keeper will be further improved during Sprint 3. I should also note that he is built modularly. The set legs, set of arms, torso, and ...

 We have finally completed the first sprint for our game, which also now has a name: Chicken Scramble! The working title during the sprint was "Maze Party", but we wanted something the correlated more with the story/gameplay on our actual game. I wont lie, this was a very hectic sprint, but based on my previous experience, it always seem like the first and last sprint are usually the most chaotic. As the offical modeler of my group you can most likely guess what the majority of my points were. That's right, modeling! Being the the game takes place in a maze, building those components first were very high priority. Since mazes are rather repetitive in the building blocks they use, I decided it would be best if I took a modular modeling route towards this challenge. The bottom portion in the image above shows a very very small mock up of a maze built of modular components, it was a proof of concept to ensure that all the components actually work with each other. As of right...