mkb3/28/25

Su. 3/23/2025

Today I tried to do the Substances assignment for Texturing, using Substance Designer. I couldn't figure out how to make the material apply to the plane/cylinder, nor how to make it 3D. I wanted to get some progress on my Seminar project, so I will go back to Texturing tomorrow.

I went into Unreal and attempted to create a workspace and repository for the Viewfinder mechanic replication project, but apparently only a few people in my program have the ability to create new repositories. I messaged one such person, requesting that he create one, and add me to it.

It was already getting a bit late (it's 9:03pm now writing this), so I couldn't afford to get into a big part of any project. So, I wrote and submitted an application for the Epic Megagrant! It wasn't that involved. And while I don't have a demo to share— since it's still in the concept phase— I think I provided as good an application as possible without a demo!

Elevator pitch: I am developing the core mechanic for my larger thesis project in which the player can "smear" the 2D image of the 3D environment with a weapon refraction trail, in a painterly, whimsical adventure setting.

Full project details: It's a bit hard to grasp, and I do not have a demo of it yet, unfortunately. My plan was to replicate the photograph mechanic of Viewfinder (2023) and pair it with the refraction weapon trail of the player character, which is seen from an intimate 3rd person perspective, similar in position to God of War (2018). I'm still working on replicating the Viewfinder mechanic— I found a tutorial series on YouTube for doing so in UE5, and I'm just troubleshooting some errors that came up in its development. I did recently create the refraction weapon trail— though I will be altering it more to look less gelatinous and more like brush strokes. The weapon trail functions with a series of screen-facing planes. I experimented, and found that 16 planes (the maximum) creates the minimum amount of visible lines between planes. Since the Viewfinder mechanic uses vectors to outline a rectangle— cutting where the edges of that rectangle come in contact with the 3D environment, and then superimposing the procedural elements captured in the "photo" back in another spot of the map— I am planning to simply make the planes of the weapon trail as the rectangles of the "lens". They will "cut" and "place" almost instantaneously. The biggest challenge of the mechanic is factoring in the refraction aspect, so that the colors, shadows, and shapes caught in the trail are "smeared", like wet paint— creating new geometry. This will take significantly more effort and research, but I am certain that it is possible.

A clear example of the functionality of this mechanic is as follows: You are controlling the pumpkin-headed warrior through an environment combining rainforest and swamp, and come across an impassable cliff face. To reach the objective, you will need to scale this smooth surface. There are trees to the right. Using this mechanic— called "alla prima" after the Italian term for wet-on-wet painting— you swing your giant honeypot stirrer club so that the refraction weapon trail starts on the trees and ends on the cliff face. It "smears" the colors of the trees onto the cliff face, creating handholds for you to use to scale.

"Alla prima" will also be used in combat. Boss-level enemies, titled "Formidables" will be invincible until you, as the player, accrue enough "Inspiration" to power "alla prima", swinging your club, and dis-integrating the enemy.

The next steps of the project are troubleshooting the Viewfinder mechanic, then deconstructing it to "capture" through the "lens" of the weapon trail, and then making it "place" the "photos" after an infinitesimal pause. After that comes the real challenge— making the refraction of the weapon trail actually alter the geometry of the environment.

I intend to work over the summer on developing this mechanic, as well as doing the 3D modeling of key characters, including Sir Babbage, the pumpkin-headed warrior. (He has honeycomb arms and heirloom carrots for fingers.)

Next school year, I will be leading a Studio team in taking the characters and "alla prima" mechanic, and implementing them in a functional demo. I am also designing a 3D spatial inventory system— like 3D Tetris— where the player has to efficiently place items in the space of the player character's rucksack; there won't be quantitative stats, instead, a "tag" system (like "poison") tied to objects in the character's possession will grant qualitative buffs (like the aforementioned "poison" tag of a toxic mushroom buffing the character's attacks, imposing a poisoned condition upon those struck). The 3D spatial inventory is the functional limit to the player character's abilities.

How do you plan to use the funds for the project?

The majority of the funds will go towards living expenses of myself and a prospective team, so that we can continue to work on the project during the summer. At this time, only I am included in those expenses. I am applying to live on campus over the summer, which will cost $3,500 for June through August. I am also requesting $94.99 for the EnGore Procedural Dismemberment product on Fab— in the larger project, there won't be health points; instead, every enemy will fight as long as they have the limbs to allow for it.

So, I am requesting a total of $3,594.99. Since I do not have a concrete team, outside of myself, this is as specific as I can get with the current information.

Now, the website for the Megagrant says that I'll hear back in mid-June, which is a bit late— after the summer will have already started— but I've been saving up my school refund and I should be able to pay at least the first month's rent for on-campus housing over the summer. I will be applying to other grants, as well. I'd love to be over-funded. That'd be cool. And then, I could pay my peers to help with the project, as well! Griff has expressed interest, but he never gave me a price for his labor— and I didn't want to sleep on grant apps— so I only factored in myself for the Megagrant application. Dillon says that he can rig any models I make, and that he doesn't need funding— at least, for during the summer. And Daniel has also expressed interest in helping with the UI/UX aspect— I have not received any funding requests from him, either.

I had an idea of a UI indication of the "Inspiration" resource! I'm going to pitch it to Daniel and see if he can make it a reality. I'm thinking that there'll be a circular vignette around the center of the screen (centered on the player character)— but instead of being dark (like most vignettes are), it'll be a luminous, pulsing aura of light, that will fill around the circumference and become more apparent as the player accrues "Inspiration". I think it's a cool metaphor for the creative process; the world will become more well-lit the more inspired the character is. I also don't think that it'll be overly-busy, visually. Oddly, I'm thinking of a rhythm game at a Barcade in town— it's circular, and you have to touch the rim of the circle in time with specific notes.

I think I'm going to brainstorm for my D&D oneshot for, maybe, 20 minutes? I definitely want to bring that into my daily work— I'd love to run the session before summer, so that maybe we could have more sessions, continuing the story, during the summer.

F. 3/28/2025

I went to MACD today to meet with an undergraduate interested in my Praxis project, and to work on my overdue Texturing assignment. Both endeavors were successful! I made these— a janky old wood material and a jank gnome's brick material. I am pleased with both! And I only spent like three hours today on it! I did start the brick one last night.

"Janky Gnome's Bricks"

"Janky Wood"

I also have been messaging with Kaylin, the professor leading Thesis next year, because I had an idea about expanding my thesis. This is what I sent her regarding it:

Ok so it's a lot. I want to research how to optimize a creative lifestyle for neurodivergent people. BUT I want to convey that information through prose— in the form of a gamebook (like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book, but with more complex mechanics), which I want to print and bind myself using traditional bookbinding practices.

She's waiting to hear back from Amanda and the dean— the people who will ultimately decide if I can graduate— regarding the gamebook aspect. Something that I did not know, that Kaylin informed me of, is that our theses are supposed to connect to our praxis projects. Mine definitely will— I just had to explain how:

Well I've struggled this year with creative productivity as a neurodivergent student, and my Studio project is more ambitious than anything I've done this year, so I'd be applying my research to the process of creating my Studio project.

If the gamebook aspect is approved, I will start research this term (when I have time), and intend to complete said research early in the summer.