What's with the name? Reference to Philip Larkin, or something else?

Pretty sure it's an homage to Barry Larkin, one of the greatest shortstops of all time.

forgot about GMax. GMax is a free, discontinued product from Discreet/Autodesk aimed at the modding community as a stripped down version of 3DS Max. It's incredibly limited and missing a good amount of the features that make Max what it is (the lack of edge loop tools is a huge minus), but as a starter tool and simple modeling/animation program, it may prove worthwhile to someone.

And it's great to know it's written in a language closest to my heart, Blitz.

Did you check out the announcement about the new Blitz3D in development?!

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm def going for a look similar to ERH, but a bit darker and moodier. Maybe somewhat Tron-ish for the environment. The big problem I faced with ERH was how long and ultimately resource heavy that look took to create so I'm trying to find a way to implement something similar but WAY more economical.

Still have a long way to go with the PG stuff but I'm glad everyone is digging the visuals. More chunky goodness to come!

I've been using 3DS Max since version 2, so I might be a bit biased, but I still feel that Max is the easiest 3D app to just pickup and start using. The Max community is enormous and there are a ton of tutorials online to help learn the app. In terms of just modeling tho, max is probably overkill unless you intend to do other things with it. It's also $3500 :/

You may want to check out dedicated modelers like Modo or Silo if you want to focus on learning just how to model well. The modo community in particular is really strong.

If money is an issue, apps like Wings, Milkshape, or Blender would suffice but I never really cared for any of them personally. They are all dedicated modelers and have some decent features but all felt kinda limited to me. That being said, the advice I give to anyone starting out in 3D is to pickup something cheap and then grow out of it. Rather than drop $3500 now on end up overwhelmed, grab one of the free apps, use it until you find that X is so limiting that you need to upgrade, then move into a more powerful app. That way, you are making the decision based on necessity.

def check out the big forums cgtalk and cgchat and dig through the threads. Another great resource is Polycount, altho most the guys there are experts and it can be kind intimidating to the newb. I think there's still a massive thread there dedicated soley to lowpoly models.

whatever you do, expect to suck for awhile until you are comfortable using the application. Eventually, it'll become second nature and the art portion will be much easier to focus on.

So here's some early screens from the game:





Really haven't had the kinda time I hoped for, so the chance of me finishing this by the deadline is more none than slim. I really like the game concept tho, so I'll just stick with it past the deadline until it's done.

Anyway, this shows one of the bots in game and some simple shooting. It's taken longer than expected to get the PG levels working and I'm still having some issues with aligning my 3D tiles (the gray ones work, the yellow and white not yet). I still haven't touched texture and lighting so everything is kinda flat and bland. I'm hoping next week will be less compressed than the previous 2 have been and I'll be able to show off some more of the game

Time permitting, Murderbots will be a squad based, overhead shooter with procedurally generated levels, enemy AI that adapts to your tactics, and chunky 3D graphics. The emphasis of the game will be on action and highscores but I'd also like to create a PG storyline for each level set.

Also, a PG cussing engine because Murderbots have foul, creative voice synthesizers.

[I'm the real hot dog yo, hold the bun!]

you guys are so jaded, I thought it looked GREAT!
I'm the real hot dog yo, hold the bun! I mean cmon, that's fucking brilliant.

Cas, this game is fantastic, played it last night and had tons of fun with it. This is a definite buy, you guys keep outdoing yourselves! 

Loving it, but much like Vice City I make so little progress in the storyline because I have so much fun just driving around and committing the occasional crime. Seriously, if they took the entire shooting aspect out of the game, it would still be really fun as a driving/police chase game. The amount of havoc you can unleash by driving a Patriot way too fast through a busy intersection is incredible I spend entirely too much time throwing on the e-brake at full speed and fishtailing into the sidewalk, taking out the newspaper stands, parked cars, pedestrians and whatever else has the misfortune of being in my way.

very cool, I like the demo version you have posted on your site a lot, but I haven't tried the engine yet. I started prototyping an rpg in Flash as well so I can appreciate where you're going with it. Will keep an eye out for this one

Stage 8: Anxiety Quest
Leaving for school in the morning, you narrowly miss your bus. So you have to run. When you finally get to school, late, you can’t remember your locker combination. Without your books, you walk into class where an exam is underway. But you haven’t studied at all! And your pencil is blunt! And it isn’t a 1B pencil, it’s 5B! And you’re naked from the waist down! And everyone has noticed! And you could swear your front teeth are coming loose!

The sad thing is, I've been out of highschool for 13 years now and I still have a similar version of this dream on occasion.

[procedural]

procedural and demakes. 3Dmake, if you will.

very cool, I got a little one right in that age group to test it out
keep us updated

[AWESOME QUEST.]

the problem with the game industry #8470983: they reject games called AWESOME QUEST.

that's because selling the sequel AWESOMER QUEST: JOURNEY THORUGH AMAZING LAND makes the original more difficult to sell.

But that's why we make indie games, amiright?

http://www.playgreenhouse.com

The Greenhouse is a new distribution platform operated by Greenhouse Interactive, dedicated to supporting independent game development worldwide. We help indie developers get their games into the hands of gamers, and that gives gamers easy access to new and innovative games that they might otherwise have missed.

backed by the PA people, so maybe it will get some momentum?

I didn't like this game. The graphics were very good, but the blackness at the edge of the level made it look unfinished. The truck controls horribly, although I like the way you have to stop and open a menu to feed the kids. But the worst thing was that there was no ending or objective. I mean, obviously you had to feed the kids, but there's no variation in them, so you've basically seen all the game has to offer after feeding one kid.

Also, you didn't get penalized very much for being caught by the rocket house, so it didn't seem very urgent to dodge it. I think the game would have been more fun if you died instantly when the rocket house caught you, and you had to try and get a high score without dying.

thanks for the feedback, so a couple things came to mind:

First, about the truck handling horribly, I've seen this comment a few times now but I haven't really seen anyone describe what exactly is bothering them. Is it too hard/unpredictable to maneuver? Is it just not responsive enough? Does the slow acceleration annoy you? I tried to make it feel like you were driving an actual ice cream truck, so tight turning radius and anti lock brakes were never in the cards. But if you feel the truck's handling is making the game unplayable/unfun, that's a legitimate gripe. The only advice I can offer is try to better time your sales with moments you know the house can't get to you. It's possible to get into a rhythm where you're constantly one step ahead of the truck.

As for the lack of objective/ending, agreed that's a legitimate gripe and possibly something I would add to the game if I was looking to increase its longevity. However, it's still an arcade style 'highscore' game at heart so staying alive and scoring as much as possible before you die is really the only objective I ever intended

I probably should have included an in-game instructions/scoring table and not relied totally on the readme file. In regards to the urgnecy, the more enraged the house is, the more you score per sale. You are rewarded for making as many sales as quickly as you can. At the same time, the more sales you complete, the more enraged the house becomes (the upper left red bar) and the more frequently he attacks you. Also, the more enraged he is, the more damage he inflicts per hit.  That being said, if people are already complaining about the controls, I think one-hit kills would make the game completely unenjoyable. Try playing the game with the ice cream song playing (right arrow). you'll find the urgency you were missing before

again, thanks for the feedback I appreciate your comments

I messed around with them last night a bit, pretty impressive. I would need a way to efficiently work it into my code tho, gonna have to research it more I think. Would probably kill this game considering how unoptimized everything is right now  :D

Thanks!

Everything was modeled, lit, and textured in good ol 3D Studio Max 6. The base lighting is global illumination, similar to what you'd get from Giles, but I also had a sep key light to source and project the long shadows. Combined everything in photoshop then added some layering/levels magic to balance everything out. All the objects in the game are fullbright so there's no actual real time lighting or anything clever going on. In the future, I'd like to do stencil shadows or something else, because the entire process of baking shadows is a bit of a bitch

man, being marooned in space is depressing
really fun game, altho it seems my original hypothesis that someone could in fact stop the farm pioneer was true. The Farm Pioneer's true enemy is himself (and maybe that cow, something about his unblinking stare gives me the creeps)

fun game, loved the atmosphere and the music. Who knew a game about sustenance could be so enjoyable!

updated the readme file to make the instructions a little more clear...