Dev. Diary #1 - Filming & Pitching

Well as you may or may not know this week is an incredibly big week in the development of The Lawless Online. So much so that I have started to label these dev. posts as... Dev. Diaries :O! Just to add a touch of class ;)

Earlier this week Philip Roozendaal the lead programmer of this project came all the way from the Netherlands to my "Office" here in the UK. He is staying until Saturday morning and so much work has already been done.


After the near 12-hour journey from Holland to the UK, I met Philip at the hotel that is literally 5 or so minute's drive from my house, had our introductions and headed over to my house that currently holds The Lawless HQ.

If you are reading this and are working in an international team I highly recommending putting in the effort to meet in person. We have been working on The Lawless properly for around 6 months now and just being able to talk about it's future together, in-person has really made a difference, let alone the work we have both been putting in.

Yesterday was a big, big day for many reasons. For a start we have a website online at the moment. It's not anyway near the shape of the final website, but it is great to finally have a web presence after so long and it's a great tool for re-directing visitors to the numerous ways of support our campaign. Please, if you have the time, check it out at www.TheLawlessOnline.com and give us a bit of feedback. There are a few buttons that don't work, such as the buttons to lead you to our indiegogo project page, but we don't have one of those yet so when we do, it will be updated.

We also completed all the filming for our IndieGoGo pitch video, thanks to Ed Southwell, the absolute lad behind the camera. Although now the daunting task of editing it all is looming over us... Here are a few pictures from the shoot.

But it's really good to see everything coming together and the final pieces being put into the level editor and ironed out.

As things are coming along you shall hopefully be seeing a lot more from us on the developer's blog. Everything is about to kick off now like I had always hoped!

Please help it by spreading the word!
Thank you,
Jack

Deadlines and Checkpoints

Well it has been a long time since I have written a post on here, but that doesn't mean that work isn't still going on every day. There have been a lot of things going on and a lot of progress has been made. Especially as our goal to reach a state where we can start our funding campaign is drawing closer (First week of July!). At that point we should have the first version of the website up where you will be able to create an account and start creating your first characters. The level editor will be finalised and all our efforts will be on making it into an actual game.

We now have a substantial library of buildings and objects all composited and ready for the final game. We have also started work on the first, "test" character model and is ready to be rigged and animated.

(Head mesh thanks to Jamie Bakewell)

Got to love scary UV maps... Well I do anyway... Hopefully I will be able to upload some videos of the character animated some time soon.

In terms of the website, a lot of the vital graphical elements are done and finished, and we're now just working on those lovely time-consuming little pieces that are vital, but that no one notices - Gun descriptions, skill icons and level badges.

Well that's all for this quick update, but the next post should be when the website is up and running. (yay!)

Hope to see you all soon!

-Jack Bromhead

Tour of Gameplay!

Oh hey, didn't see there!

Check out our new Facebook page! Yaaay, and be sure to Like (if you want... Please :) )

Well as you are here, I guess I'll take you through the basics of how the game works! (Shocked face!)

Let's start with the basics. The Lawless Online is a free (FREE) Online, Multiplayer-Only Role Playing Tactical Strategy... As a way to help get your lovely heads around the concept, imagine Diablo but with the gameplay similar to the old Commando games (or Desperados) and based around objectives like Company of Heroes... all set in the world of the Old West.

Make sense? Didn't think so. But if it did then that's excellent and we'll continue.


CHARACTER CREATION

Everyone starts by creating an account on our website (which is still under construction). From the Account pages on the website the Player, you, can create a new Character. This Character is the main Character in your game. He or She can be anything you want... A Bank clerk who is seeking revenge for the violence against his family... Or a General Store owner who is tired of being harassed by bands of Outlaws, or just a bat-Schmidt crazy Outlaw hellbent on killing everything and everyone  - Whatever you want, it's up to you! The more creative the better and these stories will help build the world of The Lawless Online with it's own user-created history and culture.

Once all the information has been set up about your Character and chosen what he/she looks like, you can start playing the game via a downloadable game client!

Let's say you have joined a game and it's a 3-player free-for-all match.

Each Player in the game starts with one unit - their Character they created on the website. They also have two resources - Notoriety Points and Cash.

Cash is the main resource. With Cash you can purchase Units, Equipment, Tech and maintain a healthy economy.

Notoriety Points are an in-match level system. So the more Notoriety Points you gain from killing people, capturing buildings etc. the more buildings, equipment and techs you have access to/

MAPS & BUILDINGS

Every map in the game contains one or more Towns and each player's objective is to have Persuasion over the whole Town by securing the Town's important buildings such as:

HOUSE
Houses are the staple to the Towns. Although they are common they are extremely useful. It is up to each player to "capture" these Houses to gain territory and gain Notoriety Points.


OR you can choose to Rob the building and get a quick injection of Cash but you make the building inactive for a set amount of time.

SALOON
Saloons can either be Captured or Robbed like every other building. 


A Saloon generates Cash per minute, capturing buildings like Saloons are vital to secure a good stream of income to fund your efforts. It is important to protect the ownership of these buildings and fight to capture other player's Saloons.


The Saloon also allows you to Hire Men. Once a unit has been hired, the unit costs per minute. But the unit is under your control until you sack him, he gets killed or you run out of Cash.

GUNSMITHS
Gunsmiths can be Captured and Robbed like every other building, but they also generate Cash per minute.


Another benefit is items can be purchased (using Cash collected in the game) from these types of buildings and you can equip your Hired Units or your Character with them.



There are many other buildings but it would be a waste of time to go through them all, so imagine a map that has a town that consists of these important buildings and you and the other opposing players have spawned in different areas of the map.

It is every player's objective to capture the town and fight for possession of buildings and land that may tip the balance of power.

UNITS & COMBAT

Ok, so now time to discuss combat! Each unit in the game has certain abilities and stances (depending on items and weapons you have equipped them with). It is important to learn the different attributes a certain weapon or item bestows on the selected unit.
For example a unit with a rifle has better accuracy and reload time when in a crouched firing position than when running around, although a unit equipped with a revolver isn't affected much by a crouched position but gains a fire rate boost when running around or charging.

Along with the changing attributes of items and equipment, the whole map is divided into areas of effect. So if your unit is, for example, standing in the middle of a road in the open, he/she suffers a dramatic decrease in their ability to take damage and can easily be surrounded. Although a unit perched on a hill gains a Range and Damage bonus which can prove useful when covering other units that are capturing a building.

Due to the constant cost of the units and shifting building ownerships, each player would only be able to reach a unit count of around 6 or 7. This means that each man counts and it is vital for the Player to choose equipment, weapons and tactics carefully in order to win fights that may break out.

XP, SKILLS & MASTERIES


The difference between a good player and a great player will be about who has learnt how to use the terrain to their advantage and equips each unit with the best set of stuff. But that's not everything. Everything you do in-game is recorded and translated into XP. At the end of the game, this XP is transferred to your account on our website and you can use the Account panel to "Spend" earned points.

Each Character has a choice of several Masteries. As an example, one of these Masteries is Attack, another is Business. These Masteries then contain a set number of skills and abilities - some passive and some deployable and are unlocked when Characters reach a certain level.

Each level awards the player with one skill point. For example, at a high enough level a skill in the Attack mastery is Charge. Once a skill point has been added to Charge - the unit can use the Charge ability. The Charge ability has a recharge time, but the more skill points you add to Charge, lower the re-charge time and add Speed for example.

Very much like Diablo!

Win.

That's all of the basic gameplay elements. Check back for updates and for more details or if you have any questions, leave a comment! or follow us on our Facebook page and ask us there foor allll to seeeee.

Jack Bromhead

Terrain time

Again, perhaps not the most imaginative of titles, but imagination isn't meant to be my thing.. Oh wait!

Both Philip and I have been working our way through the never-ending list of jobs to do but it's really coming along. Work on the tools (level editor etc.) vital to making the game is hitting a steady pace, so much so that elements of the GUI are being produced! Which is incredibly exciting as you can imagine.

Yesterday also saw the first day of our intern, Rory Tatton! Who helped us out a lot and will hopefully be helping us out even more in the near future. Thankkks Roorry!


In terms of my side of the job, I have been working hard on the terrain. Worked out a standard terrain tile and now working on all the little decals to bring it all together. To make my point, I will attach a selection of pictures showing the progress.

All the maps are built up layers of images. For example, we start with a tiled Terrain texture -

"Horrible seams!" I hear you scream at my face, with curled back lips and teeth showing. But not to worry! That will all be masked and hidden, hooray! So let's add some buildings to make a little... street -

Bang! Ok see we have some buildings there. That's a Blacksmiths, a General Store, a cheeky Saloon and a House on the end. Looks like it's popping out a bit and is not blending. So lets add the shadows in -

Shadows in, shadows shadowing. Quite nice, makes you feel like they're actually attached to the floor. Time for some details on the ground to make it look like they've been used and the ground is actually dirt and not just a .png file tiled with a simple bump map on. Footprints and erosion at the doorways! -

And then some track marks where wagons have been churning up the ground! -

In this arid land though, it's not a great place for farming. But that doesn't mean that stuff doesn't grow! So it's time to add one of the most successful species on the planet to make an appearance. Grass :D

Then some final landscaping for underneath the grass.

Ok, so that's a quick example of how the decals can blend in the buildings and the objects around. If I was to add a fence or two or a hitching point outside some of the buildings it would bring it out even more. But I don't want to spoil you slaaaaaaaaashhh I haven't got round to those little cheeky objects. But I will do soon.

Anyway, off to work I go. Hopefully I will have another update soon.

-Jack Bromhead

Grinding through...

So it has been a month since the last post and a lot has been going on since!

It has literally all been a case of both Philip and I grinding through the huge list of things that need to be done, but as each day goes past we can feel we're getting closer to the end (which is only the beginning!)

Drawing to the end few entries on the list of buildings to be modelled, textured, rendered, composited and then all the shadow passes it's feeling good to see how its all coming together. In these pictures below you can see how they will look in-game and with their respective shadow passes. Each building has 16 angles and 16 different shadows.

All of these buildings are 'active' buildings and are available to be used by the player in-game. Almost all of them have a strategic advantage and most of the gameplay focuses on securing specific buildings in the hope of gaining an upper hand on the opponent. In future posts I'm sure I will go into further detail about how each one is used and effects the player's choices and in fact tell you a little more about the gameplay.

We are all set for a deadline in May. If we keep on with the speed we are doing at the moment, I'm sure we may be ahead of schedule. When May time comes around, we'll be spreading the word. Forums, Internet communities and other such wondrous and scary things that lurk around the darkened corners of the internet...

If by any chance you are reading this before May, then please leave a message! : D

Until next time.. Perhaps not a month this time,

Jack Bromhead

Occlusion Layers just made my life.

So here we are, two weeks into full development and now I have started cracking out the old Occlusion passes and it's rocked my world. I have been playing round with all sorts of different lighting and lighting effects and various post-production ammendments in Photoshop but it has nothing of an effect like an Occlusion pass!

Here are a few images to help you really understand the difference. The definitions that the Occlusion layer gives means that I can do a lot of Colour Correction without worrying about over-adjusting the shadows and creating washed out renders.

Those two are Occlusion layers of two separate buildings - (Left) General Store and (Right) Saloon.

In Photoshop I then load up the original render that was rendered in full texture, full colour and with HDRI lighting.

I then add another layer on top, paste over the Occlusion layer and then change the Blending mode to Overlay. The white goes and the black stays - meaning Shadows!

The definition is gives really, really makes the difference, and it's taking these models from works in progress to the finished article.

Next on the list is to build the camera rig and sooner rather than later we can start developing a little preview -  and start getting some more followers.

Until next time, my few readers!

Jack Bromhead

The Beginnings of Something Big

Well, I'm hoping the title says it all. As of about a week ago, The Lawless Online has taken a massive step in the right direction after finally acquiring a new, lead Programmer for the project! His name is Philip Roozendal and hopefully you'll be seeing some posts from him in the near future! Momentous occasion!

Interesting, I met Philip via Newgrounds.. I place that never ceases to help me out all the time! Philip was posting on the forums looking for some programming work that he can get stuck into. Sound like a man with experience so I contacted him straight away. After a few e-mails it was clear to see that this was the man for the job! We had a meeting via Skype and now the project is well under-way.

It's not only the best step forward, its also a massive source of inspiration for myself and given me the motivation to get on with all the buildings.

Hopefully the next update will be from Philip!

Until next time,
Jack Bromhead