Fan Ages on the Gehn Shard

[Justintime9]

Hey guys, I'm sorry if this has already been discussed, but I was just curious how adding fan ages to the shard works. I realize it's meant as a showcase shard, and thus only a select few are chosen. But what is the standard of quality you guys go by? I've noticed that the ages released so far, as awesome as they are, really have no interactive functions. And if I wanted to get one of my ages to that level (most likely Tsoidahl Prad,) would there be a chance it could be included? I realize there's probably a small chance of that, but it's worth mentioning. And what exactly is the process for converting them? (I assume if it were easy there'd be more ages out. Most likely some of Whilyam and Tweek's ages.) Do they need to be imported into 3DS Max or something? I guess I just want to get more involved in the GoW and wonder how this shard works, and what it's ultimate function is.

[Tsar Hoikas]

If I had to give two definitive statements as to what makes an age appropriate for inclusion on Gehn, I would have to say good texturing and good lighting. We thumb past ages that appear to have the shadeless button toggled fairly quickly . If the age is built with PyPRP 1, we run it through libHSPlasma, which works fairly well. If you want to build with shard inclusion in mind, you should keep in mind that collision meshes are one-sided in MOUL (they are double-sided in PotS).

[Justintime9]

Ah, gotcha. Not quite sure what all that means, but I get the jist of it. I'm just curious, because I'm planning on sort of polishing up all of my ages anyway, do you think there's ever a chance Tsoidahl Prad could be included? It's probably my best age, and I'd hate for it to fade into obscurity on Deep Island. Obviously it doesn't quite stand up to Fenir's house, or Vothol Gallery, but there is quite a bit more to explore. If not, what things exactly need improving on?

[janaba]

Tsoidahl Prad is one of the most awesome ages ever created IMHO, and it very well stands up to Fehnir House and the Vothol Gallery, they're at least on the same level ... You can be very proud of it, Justin, really, this age isn't only very d'ni-ish and stylish, it is also very large with many beautiful d'ni-style places to explore ... In your age we see places every real Uru/Myst enthusiast would love to explore and fill with phantastic lore and let their imagination run free ...

Maybe you should make it independent of solving 'Shinelight Manor' and 'Zefora', though I love those ages too, and it is really fun to solve those very beautiful ages and then being absolutely surprised and stunned and thus gifted when entering and exploring Tsoidahl Prad ... I wonder how difficult and laborious it'd be to convert and implement such a huge and also interactive age, which can almost stand as a small game itself ...

[Wamduskasapa]

I agree with Janaba: Tsoidahl Prad is an awesome age, and I do thoughly enjoy exploring it. I have also wondered if it would ever be added to Ghen

[janaba]

I just thought I'd give you all a few impressions of what we're talking about here ... Besides that there's some great animated and interactive stuff, you'll hear beautiful D'ni music and sounds everywhere ... Enjoy ...

Show Spoiler

This is the entrance/linkin point picture almost everybody knows already, but a new version by me ...





















[Tweek]

Those images highlight an issue a lot of fan ages have I've noticed, which Adam mentioned previously which is lighting (I should point out my own Ages are far from perfect ).

Now, when I talk about lighting I don't just mean providing light sources. Lighting is more that a light source. When a bulb is turned on not only does it make the room brighter, but it bounces off surfaces and objects. A light next to an orange will cause an orange light under the fruit. But it also casts shadows which are not actually black.

In Uru you can pretty much get away with black shadows, sure you could be really finicky about it but often black will suffice.

The first 9 images don't look too bad, this is namely down to the use of Cyan's textures. But there is room for improvement. Objects such as chairs and desks aren't casting shadows. Nor are there gathering shadows in corners of a room. Now granted corners aren't always shadowed, it depends greatly on the light and where it is placed in a room.

For example, here is a quick before and after mockup in photoshop;

BEFORE


AFTER


Note the book which is very bright in relation to its surroundings. It is always worth checking your textures to make sure the follow a similar brightness (depending on what you're using them for of course).

Some times I'll directly paint light and shadow effects right on to a texture in photoshop if need be, a lot of the time I use lightmaps and vector painting.

The last image is definitely a good example of needing some tweaks with lighting, again a quick before and after photoshop edit;

BEFORE


AFTER


Not in anyway perfect, but it was a quick edit in photoshop to illustrate. It always pays to study the real world around you, study how light and shadow effects objects, colours and textures and it will give you a good guide when replicating within Uru.

As a side note, that last image. There is an awful lot of the same rock texture being used. You might want to look into mixing it up a bit. D'ni actually has several rock styles used a little alpha blending with some other rock textures will break up the repetitiveness going on there

Hopefully I haven't offended anyone with this, I figured I'd pass on some thoughts of how I tend to approach Age building.

[Tsar Hoikas]

The above is an excellent overview of the things we look at. How the lights affect the age and if the effects are believable are very important to me, Branan, and Deledrius. And we are the ones who call the shots on what gets in

The only other recommendation I can make is an amendment to Tweek's last statement. Remember that we're in a cavern that is known to be plagued by small tremors and was left vacant for ~200 years. This means that your age, especially if it's a city location, should look the part. There should be cracks in the rocks and stuff should generally be falling apart. There are some stock destruction textures, but they're very repetitive--be sure to use alpha and positioning magicks to make them look more unique. Or make your own destruction decals Anyway, the point is that nothing should look "perfect" or "repetitive" -- make it unique and dirty

[janaba]

Awesome!!! Thank you, Tweek and Adam ...

What a difference the right lighting/shadow casting in the appropriate colors/hue makes ... This is making all the difference, it brings the whole scenery actually to life ... Great!!! Now you have your answers impressively provided by the masters for the refinements of your beautiful gem, Justin ...

I'd like to add, besides that the quality of pictures considerably decreases when uploading them to Photobucket and then posting them somewhere else, I just had another look into the age, there are really no shadows ... it could have been that I just used the right mouse to avoid the cursor in pictures, which eliminates the shadows of the avi and objects, not the natural ones in corners etc., but that isn't the case here ... However, way to go, Justin, awesome job with everything, nonetheless ...

[Justintime9]

Wow, thanks for the great response guys! I sort of felt like this age had been forgotten, but I'm glad to see I was mistaken.

You guys have certainly raised the bar! (The mock ups definitely look a lot better.)
A few things: I do plan on making this age standalone if it's to be added to Gehn eventually. (And honestly, I've always felt it's sort of too good to just be a "reward age" for Zefora.) And Janaba, you're right there's really no avatar shadows. I hadn't really paid attention to that, but it's because of the light maps I think. I'm not quite sure how to solve that, but I'm sure I can figure it out. There could definitely be a lot more variety in the textures too. When I made this I was really aiming to make this the most "balanced" age in the D'ni Locations Contest. Having enough interactive stuff to make it interesting, and enough rooms to explore. But now I can really focus on polishing it. I'm not sure what to do with the secret cave behind the firemarble machine though... I feel like that needs to be changed a bit. (The journal in there is sort of lame.)

I'll keep all this in mind. Though I'll probably need to ask for help on doing some of these things. (I think it's been two years since I've worked on an age. ) Anyway, you've certainly given me the motivation, and I'll try my best!