The point is that this challenge doesn’t take much time at all. There are a lot of us here that would love to enter some of the bigger challenges, but we are so caught up with work and other projects that we just don’t have the time to invest in doing them. I’ll probably enter this one just cause I can take a break from everything else for an evening or two and do something different.
Game Art Mini Challenge #2 - Gate to a Tomb
noon
#22
ZeroNeuro :
Seeing your image I was wondering why you added all those faces on the top. (see the modified image). Is is to make deformations, or because PS2 is not able to tile texture without spliting the mesh ? I think that engines like renderware split the mesh during a PS2 export if the UVs are outside of [0,1].
If it is true, which I’m not sure, it makes a lot of differences on the faces number if someone tile his texture without adding faces.
terraarc
#24
I loved the idea from the moment it came up yesterday. Actually I’ve already concepted out 2 Gates and modelled 1, hopefully heading for the texture today…
Nice Idea Dargon!!
Good start to everyone, happy brainstorming! 
Bigglzee
#25
Well I started on mine and Im having trouble reaching 600 tris without going to overboard on the gate theme…
All the little planes will be alpha mapped grass. I will be putting the dirt textures for the base on the 128x128 as well as the portal, the grass and steps will be put on a 64x64, and on the other one I will put the rock for the structures and spikes.
Dang, even when Im making things for RTS games I dont have this sort of limitation 
452 Tris;
Ter-o
#26
What’s the deal with the 128x128 bmp? Why .bmp? Even when the other 2 textures are .tga, I don’t see a point here Could someone explain me why it should be .bmp?
dkm_fr
#27
600 polys is definitely very harsh. Today’s games can deal with many more polys, even on Ps2. Currently working on a ps2 title, I guess I know what I’m talking about
Anyway, I might enter the challenge just for fun, but I still think a higher limit would have been more than welcome 
Supervlieg
#28
Just a quick question… (multiple questions actually)
Will the gate have to be visible from all angles? If for example the main character isnt that long and there isn’t a cutscene camera or whatever thats high up in the air, you can delete some unseen polies from the top and use them elsewhere. Whats the way to go with this one.
How about rendering? Is a shadowmap allowed or do we get to submit a GI lighted final render?
Is the a seperate alpha map for the bmp allowed as well?
Phase1: While one 128² bmp is smallish (dont forget the two tga’s) Its usually all you get for a standard game prop that isn’t a big feature in the game. Learning to work with limitations is what its about most of the time in video game art. I dont think it matters that much for this comp, I guess you could change it into a tif or whatever you like. But I guess the final word on that is with Dargon.
Prs-Phil
#29
Count me in as judge.
Nice, quick challenge with low specs, really looking forward to what you make of it.
Hexodam
#30
by the bitmap I think they mean one normal texture, as in a 128x128 texture with no alpha (any format since its easy to convert anyway), the two 64x64 textures are tga because tga has alpha, I guess we could also use any texture format that has alpha… after all easy to convert
But hell, I’m in, sounds like fun and I havent done any texture work in a loooong time now
Dargon
#31
Hey great! Lots of response! Sorry about the time differences, all your questions came while I was asleep! Now I’ll make an attempt to answer what I can, and if I miss you, PM me.
hi great i wanna join how do i entre do i need to fill out a forum or what are the steps i never entred a mini contest
No form, no hard set rules. This isn’t an official comp, so no worries. All you have to do is post your final, in this thread. If you want, you can create a thread in the Unofficial Game Art Challenges forum to show your work in progress.
Just my opinion but pretty lame challenge …how come it’s never something like ( Dragon Rider )… gate to a tomb ??? …:sad: …and the specs ? I think most people look to put challenge pieces in there portfolio but this does not come off as a good portfolio piece …anyways
Fair enough, you’re entitled to your opinion. There are often things like Dragon Rider in the main competition. This is a mini comp designed to make you stretch yourself as an artist, and take a small challenge to do something new. Most people who apply for environment art positions without experience, tend not to have any environment art in their portfolio. I want to give people the advantage of having some, if not by this competition, then at least by inspiration.
just a note,
the technical limitations on this one seem a bit harsh for todays game engines…
Nope. I’ve just finished making a PS2 title, working on environment art, and I’ve been generous. You have to remember the PS2 is underpowered in comparison to other formats. It’s also a manner of the brief, we’re trying to make a game that has some AI and emmersive environments. There’s room for multiple 256’s on a game with 2 characters on the screen, but the majority of games are going to be using counts of this, or lower. Actual count in our game would’ve been 2 64’s for colour, and 1 alpha, with about 300 tris. Try this out, push your imagination, figure out ways to push the limitations beyond what they should be able to do.
…or because PS2 is not able to tile texture without spliting the mesh ? I think that engines like renderware split the mesh during a PS2 export if the UVs are outside of [0,1].
PS2 has no problem with going over the 0, 1 coordinates. To give you an idea, our game engine didn’t like over 8x8 repeats, but I’m not going to hold you to that, it’s just too technical.
What’s the deal with the 128x128 bmp? Why .bmp? Even when the other 2 textures are .tga, I don’t see a point here
Could someone explain me why it should be .bmp?
We use .bmp because it can be indexed quite easily. Without indexing, it is a lossless format. I’m suggesting it because we use it, and because it can’t support an alpha channel, not for transparency, or bump or anything. The various 3d softwares seem to not have any problems with .bmp either. .tiffs can sometimes cause problems, and some hardware shading has trouble with .tgas. Bitmaps are safe.
Just a quick question… (multiple questions actually)
Will the gate have to be visible from all angles? If for example the main character isnt that long and there isn’t a cutscene camera or whatever thats high up in the air, you can delete some unseen polies from the top and use them elsewhere. Whats the way to go with this one.
How about rendering? Is a shadowmap allowed or do we get to submit a GI lighted final render?
Is the a seperate alpha map for the bmp allowed as well?
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Up to you. Decide what’s needed for your gate. I think you could easily assume that if you don’t see it, don’t add it. I think in the case of what Bigglzee showed, you’d want to keep the top faces, in case you saw it from a cliff face or something, but if it was in a tunnel, you certainly wouldn’t need them.
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Shadowmap, no. Prelighting yes. For people who don’t know about prelighting, the engine will store a colour value per vertex, which can look like proper lighting. If you want sharper shadows, you could cut them in, or you could be clever with your tgas…
Also, remember that mental ray can be used to do prelighting. So you can get nice GI in game environments…
Make a beauty render if you want with the trimmings (no reflection, bump or spec though) if you wish, but you must show the model in a basic form as well.
If it’s of interest to anyone, I’ll post a tutorial on how to prelight using Maya.
Count me in as judge.
Great!
Hexodam
#35
when you say prelight tutorial for maya do you mean mental ray? ( dont remember what maya uses )
I’m a max user so a general mental ray prelight tutorial would be great, no idea how to do it:)
Dargon
#36
Could we be naughty and split the 128 into 4?
Um, not exactly. If you want to tile different textures on the same 128, you’ll have to be clever on how you split up the mesh, and how you lay out the textures on your map. (I suggest putting tileable sections all the way across one side, for example, so that there’s a part you wouldn’t have to split if you tiled)
when you say prelight tutorial for maya do you mean mental ray? ( dont remember what maya uses )
I’m a max user so a general mental ray prelight tutorial would be great, no idea how to do it:)
I was thinking about a more specific tutorial to Maya, which would include the Mental ray way. There might be a bit in there that would be software unspecific…
If anyone wants to volunteer a Max or XSI or whatever prelighting tutorial, that’d be cool too!
We’ll see how that goes, I’ll look into it this evening.
DustinBrown
#37
Im trying to learn more about creating content for games. Based on what was said in the original post, concerning the specs, it seems as though standards such as those for the PS2 give you a cap on the ammount of memory the game can consume. Im also going to assume that AI’s are artificial intelligences, which controll things like your enemies reactions as well as dynamics (batmans’s cape). I dont know, Im just making presumptions. How can I find out what the current engines are and what their standards are?
Thanks,
Dustin Brown
_0_Roidy_0
#38
OK this challenge is as good as any to get my feet wet. This is my first attempt at low poly work. Hell I only got LW8 4 days ago.
Um… Just messing around I guess.
johweedee
#39
dargon, i am definately interested in such a tutorial. i don’t know if i will have time to do this challenge, but i’d love a tutorial. i like the idea of this one, definately sounds reasonable to me, and fun! :bounce:
Vertizor
#40
If you have a sick sense of humor like I do you’ll understand this pic. It’s not my official entry, I just did it for fun and it made me smile when the idea popped into my head.
It’s suppose to be those heavy metal cellar doors found in older houses.
