See Thru Ville

FREAKIN AWESOME!

2005-05-14T23:51:00.000+10:00

Hi all. Congratulations on an outstanding effort that resulted in a spectacular project. You should be very proud of The Invisible City. You worked enthusiastically and deserve much praise. It was a pleasure working with you. Good luck with your minors... See you in the lab... Ben.

16hrs left

2005-05-12T23:56:00.000+10:00

and the train station doesn't work :D
everything works.. but the frikkin train station.. bsps (somehow (weak attempt to transfer blame)) all messed up.. render times a horrendous 10 mins on the beast..

must....

not....

let....

mud....

kill....

us....

too.....

Only engine left

2005-05-09T14:52:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to the design team and art team, and belatedly to the narrative/Sound team. Only 1 week to go! We are having the launch on Friday at 4pm- be there! There is a party at Ange's place on Saturday night- be there too!
We are trying to get as many people as possible to the launch- invite anyone you think would be relevant or interested. We are also sending out a press release for the launch, and are keen for anyone with contacts or suggestions to let us know. Thanks again to everyone for their tireless efforts.
Andy

Beta?

2005-05-01T16:03:00.000+10:00

Anyone have any thoughts about the idea of having something up to show the architecture guys on thursday arvo? It might be good to have some fresh eyes on it before we have no time at all left if we have missed something? This question may answer itself over the next couple of days...
A

Monday meeting

2005-05-01T15:57:00.000+10:00

We will try to have a meeting with everyone on monday morning(ish) to discuss the current status of the project. The focus will be on optimising the workflow between the art/ design team and the engine team.
A revised town plan has been generated and this will be blocked out using buildings with dummy textures as a next step for the engine team.
See you all on monday,
Andy

WAIT!

2005-04-27T23:47:00.000+10:00

OK, I've been told you WANT a meeting? What!? You got nothing better to do?... OK, the meeting will be at midday for Andy, Yeap, Darren and the Execs. Everyone else, just keep on rockin on.

B

Meeting on Thursday...

2005-04-27T23:18:00.000+10:00

Hey all!

We'd like to have a 10 minute meeting with every member of the team, individually to discuss how you think the project is going. I have also written up a team evaluation and time sheet which everyone will need to fill out every day for the remainder of the project...

HA! Just kidding. There are no meetings on Thursday. Nice work on the sound recording... Keep up the OUTSTANDING work crew.

B

Running Spooky Shadows!

2005-04-27T14:31:00.000+10:00

The running shadow figures have been brought into unreal engine and tested. its looks pretty good!

Yeap

Soundz

2005-04-27T13:12:00.000+10:00

Big ups to the sound crew.
All of the sounds are now recorded for the project, and the sound crew are on track to finish up on Friday. Today we had someone come in and record the main part, and it sounds like it will work well.
Go team, GO!
Andy

Updates

2005-04-25T16:13:00.000+10:00

Hi all. I'm looking forward to seeing the Terra Nulius. I hope you're all actually enjoying this project, too. It will all be worth the blood sweat and tears you put into it when you see it all come together in the end.

Sometime on tuesday morning, we would like a short show and tell from each team. Yeap, Darren and Andy have been telling us that you're a bunch of slackers. Prove them WRONG!

Seriously though... As time is of the essence, we don't want a minute by minute run down of everything you've done, we just want you to show us the coolest thing your team has done to date, what you're doing now and what you're going to be doing next. 10 minutes at the most! Impress they who shall be assessing ye...

Cheers crew. B.

Terra Nulius

2005-04-21T19:01:00.000+10:00

Im not sure of my spelling there...
Edition one of the the terrain has been built in the engine. There is some tweaking to do, but its looking good. Anyone who feels they'd like to have a run around in the space to get a feel for any of their tasks should sweet talk someone in the engine team.
This is a very encouraging step I think, its well worth checking out.
Cheers to hafiz and John and co for this!
andfy

2005-04-20T20:53:00.000+10:00

Hey everyone.

I just want to congratulate my team for working such long and tedious hours on this F*******g project!!! None of us are town planners, nor architects, nor interior designersand i think they're are doing a fabuluos job. They are working really really hard! I love you guys! Rock on with the enthusiasm.

Big spanish kisses

Ange*

style statement

2005-04-20T20:47:00.000+10:00

Images seen with this statement can be seen on kate's srcipt computer.

DESIGN TEAM – STYLE STATEMENT

The style for the Invisible City will be based on Mediterranean/ Arabic architecture. Winding cobble narrow streets and alleyway, arched shaped entrances and windows frames, low level buildings (no higher than four or five stories), dome shaped rooftops, curving staircases, sand washed walls, lead-lighted window panes, terracotta pots and wooden furniture will all be featured in the City. The gondola at the beginning of the story won’t be too elaborate; more a workingman’s gondola used as mere transportation. The pier will be a simple wooden jetty surrounded by a fortified sandstone wall. The journey through the first part of the city is quite hilly, leading the player up and down through alleyways and smaller plazas before reaching the main plaza. The size of the buildings themselves will also get taller as the player makes his/her way to the main plaza, resembling residential buildings on the outskirts and more important buildings towards the centre. The main plaza itself is not too elaborate, more like the central plaza of a town than a city. It will be an open bluestone square with a central tree or fountain. The butcher’s shop will be just a rectangular room with a large wooden table as the counter. Large chopping knives and large carcases of meat can be seen hanging in the shop. The train station will use a staircase for the player to get to the lower floor. It will have a large dome shaped roof that acts like a huge skylight and multiple arch shapes separated by marble columns. The train track will be made of rusted metal. The bridge will be made of bricks to with an archway structural support. The forest will be burnt blackened trees with a misty fog layering the ground. The lighthouse itself won’t be too big, octagon in shape, made of wood or sandstone and only two or three stories high.
Once the player has reached the lighthouse they’ll be able to look over the entire island. There will be some fog and/or smoke obstructing the complete view.

Change to naming conventions

2005-04-20T17:37:00.000+10:00

yo,
a slight change to the example Yeap has posted. There are now 3 digits in the alphanumeric grid ref section of the file name.
example: a1h2_bridgeA01.jpeg will now actually be...
example: a1h02_bridgeA01.jpeg
Thanks, I hope this isn't too confusing.
andy

File Naming Conventions

2005-04-20T15:27:00.001+10:00

Hi kids ,

this is the post of the file naming convention that we just discuss, for those of you that missed it.

example: a1h2_bridgeA01.jpeg
a/1/h2_/bridge/A01/JPEG
team/act/grid/subject/version/extension

Folders have been set up in the student drive in Bashful and Grumpy and in MY DOCUMENTS in The Beast. I hope it is all clear. Thanks for your time...Take care

YEap

WACOM update

2005-04-20T10:45:00.000+10:00

ART TEAM

I spoke to Jeremy about the Wacom updates. He will get on it this arvo...so its all cool!
Good Luck

Yeap

Looking good!

2005-04-20T00:23:00.000+10:00

And now a word from last year's producer, who STILL has the occasional nightmare about the HOP project :)

Our (Justin's, Darren's and my own) observations at this point are that you are doing an aweome job. There is absolutely no lack of creative energy and enthusiasm in the crew and for that you should be congratulated. But before you pat yourselves on the back too much, I'd like to switch into broken record mode for a moment...

KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!
KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!

The concept and the map of Paledia look fantastic but refer to the previous comment for my opinion on it's creation. There's nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, but you need to make sure you're aiming properly. It's FAR better to construct something that works and then dress it up than it is to construct something complex and run the risk of having it look average because it takes so long to make and test it.

You are in the second week of production. By THURSDAY the co-producers and the director need to have in their hands...

a) a COMPLETE list of assets to be made/modelled/included/implemented within the city (ART TEAM)
b) an accurately measured schematic of the city including all buildings, paths, hallways, traintracks etc etc (DESIGN TEAM) that the engine team can begin to plan and build as much as possible.
c) a FINAL FINAL FINAL script/narrative walkthrough of the game (NARRATIVE TEAM) I can't stress this one enough

A few notes...

PRODUCERS/DIRECTOR - You need to organise file naming conventions and set aside one of the macs in the lab as a spot for saving all the files to. This mac will need to be in contact with the PC's once the engine team are looking for assets. You should also make backups of your work as you go. Files get corrupted and lost etc etc... Don't think it can't happen, just ask Justin about his minor project! Murphy's law of animation... Anything that CAN fuck up, WILL, when there's about 20 minutes until your deadline.

NARRATIVE TEAM - Sound sound sound... Ever watched TV with the sound off? Notice how it loses a lot of it's impact? There is a box of CDs in the studio with many many sounds on them which if you decide to use you will have to PAINSTAKINGLY search through and source everything from footsteps to creaking doors to wind blowing to running water. IT TAKES A LONG TIME!!!! Plus the engine team needs to implement every sound into the city one at a time.

You're having voice over!?! That's AWESOME but get onto it NOW! Take it from me, IT TAKES A LONG TIME. I spent 3 weeks in the sound booth recording and sampling all the voice work for my major production. That does not include any of the foley (Sound effects) or music which took about another 2 weeks to finalise. That's FIVE weeks. How long is this project again?

DESIGN AND ART - Please talk to your team leaders and your producing/directing team or myself or Justin or any of the lecturers if there is ANY confusion about your roles. Working together will inevitably mean tasks will get passed around but make sure you're not doing someone else's work for them as well as your own.

ENGINE TEAM - Get some sleep this week. You'll be getting less and less over the next few weeks and whether you like it or not it will ALL come down on your shoulders in the last week!

OK. That's enough from me for now. Remember...

COMMUNICATION... and... KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!! YOU'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ALREADY!!!!

Design team task

2005-04-18T14:09:00.000+10:00

Hello,

This are some of the task that the design team has to set out to do..

1) floor plan
2) logo type

Structure Design

1) jetty
2) gondola
3) clock tower
4) butcher shop
5) umbrella
6) Light House
7) Forest
8) Fountains

all this are key elements to the game play so..we need this to materialise really soon, so the art team can get to work.
If you guys are needing to swap task with the design team, please let me know or Andy know and we will sort it out..

Yeap

Proof of concept list

2005-04-18T13:42:00.000+10:00

This list is for the engine team. Ideally, we'd love to see a space containing these elements around Thursday 21st so we can show everyone the limitations for varios devices.

Teleport to mover and trigger on land
Show a photo in hand (get art from art team)
Trigger text instructions on screen
Breakable geometry
Triggered opening door
Test building reveals using animated alphas or movers to build (get art from art team to test drawn textures)
A door which requires a key (maybe a trapdoor on top of a ladder
A human sprite (animated)- get art from art team
Deadly mud
remove guns but keep mouse click as action trigger
A mover with camera shake
rain
text appearing on screen after a period of inactivity instructing the user to press a certain key to return to the beginning of the 'game'. (this is for abandoned games in public spaces)

*consider how to trigger a different or extended ending*

Thanks guys, let us know any problems as they arrive so we can tell relevant teams by replying to this post.
a

fps experiments

2005-04-17T19:07:00.000+10:00

Hello,
I've been conducting mini experiments to see how polygon count affects the fps (frames per second). The following were done on my home machine so will have to conduct similar tests on various ones to come to a reliable conclusion.
Basically, I made a room the size we're going to be working with i.e. (2^14 x 2^15 x 2^16 UU) and plugged in the polys with the glass texture. (first column is # of glass textured polys)
0001 - 280fps
0385 - 084fps - 130(with blocking vol.)
0770 - 060fps - 090(with blocking vol.)
1540 - 030fps

The fps depends on how many are drawn on the screen, i.e. where the player is looking, so you could have 10,000 glass textures in the level but if the player is not looking in their direction they won't take any resources. Coupled with zones, I think we can work with a fairly large number of glass textured polygons.
Surprisingly, adding blocking volumes to each of the glass textures slightly increases the fps! I have absolutely no idea why this is happening, will confirm after further testing on other machines. For those who don't know, blocking volume acts as a collider for the player or projectile, so that you don't walk through the glass.
Just to compare the difference in using glass and solid textures I plugged in 1540 non-glass polygons and the framerate was a solid 280 (and this while the player was looking at all of them)
Thats all for now

P.s. If any other engine boys have done tests post them up as comments or edit this post with new pseudo-tables :)

the four narravtive slaves

2005-04-16T01:20:00.000+10:00

Hi all. .... FrienDsss.
Its past midnight and we are still in this lil lecture room slaving out details of the Invisible City story. (burp!.. sorry too00 mch carlton draught & smirnoffs). We're aiming to finish EVERY INSY bit of the story TODAAAy.... NIiiightMorrnnnning...wATVErrrr!bygft yu....yeaAAAAa....zZzz.zzzz..z.z.. What hav we been doing all nightt? hmmm...We went to Safgeway, snakced on timtams... played ouji board...to find a link to our massacre (BrrrrRrWWWww OH! its the chainsaw doom..running wilD!)RUNNN!!! Aiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!! story... we ran out of ideas... it was our only help...

Aloha!
Tim Tams and Beer are really good at making the brain churn out really fantastical stories. ( i blame the timtams tho, not the beer- ALCOHOL CAN DO NO WRONG!) we have finalised the story .... well... sorta.... In the midst of typing it out now. BIG NOTE TO DESIGN/ ART TEAM : GO VISIT THE ZOO... Trust me on this one XD You will need to check out a few queer-looking animals... well... they look queer to me... but then it's probably the timtams talking again. So... uhmm... yeah... like... go to the zoo.... and Timtams are 3B1L!!!!! 3B1L I TELL YOu!!!!! 7H3Y M4K3 U 7H1NK FR34K3HZ0R5 7H1NG135 JUMPING OUT OF D4 5CR33N AT U 4ND F#CKZ0R55 W17H UR M1NDZ0R5

!!!!!5555!!!!! *************

zzzzzz...dreaming... :::::::::::::::::^^^^^^

Time Tracking

2005-04-15T10:58:00.000+10:00

As discussed with the director, co-producers and team leaders yesterday, Yeap will be printing out timesheets for everyone of you to keep track of the amount of time you guys take to do your tasks (Research, EPOCS, writing, doodling etc). Again, this is not to keep track of how much work you're NOT doing so don't worry. It's just to serve as a guideline later on down the track as to what can be accomplished and what can't.

We liked the way the story was heading but work still needs to be done to trim it down to fit into our ridiculously short timeline. We're anxious to see what you guys come up with!

Team Engine update

2005-04-13T19:35:00.000+10:00

Hi,
We (the team) had a meeting on Tuesday and wrote down a list of things that we can do and those which we're working on. We request that the narrative team go through the list and if you guys need any proof of concepts (poc) for things which aren't mentioned, do let us know as soon as possible. Since there will be a slight gap between your asking for a poc and us giving it, we suggest that you fork your narritive at that point (the new branch in case the concept cannot be realized).
Things we can do at this time:

Skybox
Triggers (using lights, sound, proximity, bump)
Movers (e.g. lifts, these can be used through buttons or other triggers (shoot at some other object)). Movers can be lethal or non-lethal, so we can have moving spikes that kill when the player steps in their path. Objects can also be given 'instant kill' properties which would be used for static spikes or pool of acid.
Particle systems (e.g. waterfalls, torch (and larger scale) flames). Particles can also collide with other objects, so you could have a waterfall which behaves like a bouncing ball
Texture shaders - For effects like glass and liquid surfaces
Blocking volumes - These allow us to set localized physics. E.g. Have reverse gravity in a particular area/spot (water geyser), reduce/increase friction on the ground in a certain area (simulate ice/deep mud), simulate movement underwater.
Static meshes - We can make our own static meshes (currently using SoftimageXSI, working on plugins for 3DS Max and Maya). Please keep in mind we're operating in a realtime environment so high poly-count models will slow things down. KISS applies :)
Jump pads (player gets kicked into the air)
Teleporter
Terrain creation - Other than a regular terrain (hills, plains, cliffs, ravine etc.) we can also dig into the terrain, this would be suitable for caves, underground tunnels/fortresses etc.

Thats about it for the moment. We're currently working on the following things:

Texture switching using triggers (for lift buttons (red to green etc), puzzles)
Dynamic shadows (used for things like movers)
Remove default gun (subset insert own weapon/object of choice)
Change the HUD
Customized splash screen
Movement of mover along non-linear path
Moving/breaking meshes (e.g. push box from center of room to wall to climb into an airvent, break box to find objects)

Thats it.

Progress tracking

2005-04-13T13:56:00.000+10:00

Hi guys, had a conversation with Ben yesterday night and we've decided to allocate 2 meeting sessions a week with the director, co-producers and team leaders just to track the progress of the Invisible City project. We will definitely be here on Thursdays and Mondays (Monday still to be confirmed). Nothing too long, probably an hour or so on each day just to talk about stuff. Starting.....tomorrow. Shall we make it about 1.30pm? Just reply to this post to confirm. Thanks.

Also, there's a section on my website www.geocities.com/justinfoo (check under 'work in progress' - 'The house of peep' - 'Project Overview') that displays what the previous director, producer and team leaders had to say about their experience in the 2004 House of Peep project. The HOP weblog can be found at www.efesbeer.com/hop.

Justin

Meeting at ACMI

2005-04-12T18:45:00.000+10:00

HI guys,

How's it Goin!!!! I attended a meeting today with John to present the Invisible Cities and about screening possibilities at ACMI. The people we talked to Helen Stuckey who runs Games Lab and Astrid Scott content developer for memory grid showed interest in our project. Helen stressed some points based on her obvservation.

- Clear instructions ( what is it, what is the user meant to do there )
- Keep it Easy
- Ideas must be transperant
- Rigourous / Fast
- Logical

also a good book to check out too would be " Flesh & Stone " richard cinet

One thing we all forgot to address last night was our target audience. Who is our audience? Also, I think we should look into elocating time in our scedhule for User testing. Not only the finished product, but on many stages of development( exp. story, look, finish pro ) If all this issues are met, I'm sure we would have a pretty spot on piece!!!! Ok, thats all for now i guess...But I'll be back!!! Ha HA HA HA HA

YEAP

You call THIS and Idea?

2005-04-12T10:30:00.000+10:00

A call for plot ideas for the invisible city.
So you think you have a good idea, huh?
If you do then make sure you submit it to Nicola on paper before 1pm on Tuesday the 12 of april 2005.
All submissions are welcome.

Tonights Weather: Brainstorming

2005-04-12T10:00:00.000+10:00

Today's brainstorming notes

Keywords
Illusion
Relections
Memory
Patterns
Layers Old/New
High/Low
Mixed time/styles pats/present/future
Meeting place
Stacked
Memories Attached to Objects
Change of states

Brainstorm
Cultural Quarters
Fleeting memories - connections
Differing experiences - refreshing / structure change
Guide to the city
returning to the city individual experiences
Time Lost - (daylight savings, time trigger / limit)
Travel temporal
Stuck in time
memory/blurred
turning buildings on and off
toggling
before and after event
Forgetting
memento
Discovering / revisiting
memories come back
where things went wrong
changing different outcomes
objects -memories and meaning - recombined
finding objects in certain order
collectible objects like keys
combinations of items
bread crumb trail
remebering language - cultural - signs/text change

My two cents...

2005-04-11T19:04:00.000+10:00

Hi all. One thing I forgot to mention is to think outside the square. Is there even any reason why the invisible city has to be a 'CITY'? Why not....

• a series of tunnels or caves that can't be seen from above ground?
• an underwater city as seen from the POV of a fish? (ie- Atlantis) The character might only be able to breathe UNDERwater?
• a character who can fly or levitate, allowing access to doors in the ceiling or high on a wall.

Anyhoo... I'll be back in at AIM on Thursday. Good luck and enjoy!

Ben

Intial ideas

2005-04-10T07:00:00.000+10:00

These are some intial ideas. Some are group developed ideas, some aren't. I will try to credit sources for them but you must excuse if I have neglected to mention you. Some are Inspired by the book some are inspired by the Unreal engine.

The "Invisible" of the invisible city
• A city may be invisible to those that inhabit it. If you don't take stock of the community in which you are living, the people and environment, you begin to take it for granted. Details become obscured when you see them every day. You might pass the same tree every day for years and not actually see it. You pass it so much you don't actually count it every day until you pass it and neither expect it to be there nor miss it when it's gone. In this way things become invisible to us.

Things that are forgotten are invisible to the mind. The people in the city have become invisible to you. You have forgotten them and they are gone. The still exist for each other and their world continues on without you in it. You have become invisible to them. As you forget a place or are not in it every day it slowly loses detail. It becomes simplified and abstracted, detail getting lost, whole buildings become simplified shapes and blurs of former colour leaving a shadow of what it once was. Things are completely forgotten and have become invisible or are fading into invisibility.

As you move throught the Invisible city It will become increasingly Abstract and obscured and you have to work to uncover parts of the city and reveal detail. Using memories, potentiality and reflection (all manifested as actual things) you can uncover and reconstruct the invisible city.

Through intangible means do we uncover the tangible city

•The city is becoming abstracted and invisible. like is disappearing but the humans have already gone invisible.

Towering Inferrance - general city sites
•The 'citizen' heads towards a tower at the top of the city. The highest point to take in the whole city to reveal it.
Maybe it flashes or pulses like some one shining a mirror or light directly at the 'citizen'.
•The city rises, tier upon circular tier with stairs up to different levels, alleys, ramps up to the tower. See "Cities & Memory 3", "Trading Cities 5"
•Down from the summit of the city runs the canals, Down small waterfalls to different levels, Down to the lake that surrounds it.
•A high brige over a canal and waterfall far below.
•Court yard with benches and tables around columns that hold up a latticed framework covered with ivy (or Jasmine)
•Pipes that wrap around rooms that aren't there criss crossing across non existant floors up where walls should be, here and there throughout the city. See "Thin Cities 3"
•Scaffolding here and there like the city is being built See "Cities & Memory 3", "Cities & The Sky 3"

Reach your potential
•Crystal orbs with blue models of the city inside which change geometry in the city to allow passage to the next path. They are 'potentials'. Potentialities in the city. Possiblities in the city that may exist. When you collect these they trigger the potential into being an actuality. They reveal bridges, archways, opening etc. that were not there before. See "Cities & Desire 4"
•potential geometry can be seen in reflections? - Toshi

Mirror mirror on the floor... - the upside down world
•The city has a reflected city beneath it which in not an exact mirrors but an upside down version of the city on top. Once you have made your way through sections of the city you are take to the the reflection below and run the same area (or similar) but upside down. See "Cities & Eyes 1", "Thin Cities 5", "Cities & the Sky 5"
•Water falls fall up and water stays upside down in it's canal. You can get up into the water and swim around with nothing beneath the bottom surface but the sky.
•Mirror world is night and the surface city is daytime.
•Far more jumping around in mirror world to get around. There will be ways to get up and down to different places and inverted things that stop us falling into the sky. The bottom of the jetty leads to the underside of market umbrellas undeside of balconies, awnings, beams, lattices, the sloping underside of stairs, undersides of bridges. the eaves of trees, ceilings and domes, ledges around buildings, swimming upside down through inverted canals... etc.

You don't know what you've got till it's gondola - Getting around
•Along canals and off waterfalls out into ther air float gondolas that can take you to new an unexplored places.
•If there is an upside down version then you'll have to ride on the bottom of the canopy of the floating gondolas.
•Jumping into space, off certain high places may take you somewhere unexpected (somewhere lethal?) Maybe pushes you back where you were. (maybe a punishment for suiciding?)
•Maybe following a girl you can never catch, that leads you to the next part of the city or the way out. Summer dress, long hair. White at night time and a shadow in the day See "Cities & Desire 5" - nicola

Warp factor Nine
•As the path of the city nears the end, the top or whatever, the geometry becomes increasingly warped and simplified - escher like - with stairs coming out at odd angles and leading to a door on it's side or on the ceiling. These doors might not be accessible, or if you flip a switch and the room rotates or something then you can get out.
•Maybe we can tip geometry (or shift gravity?) So you can stand on walls or ceiling to access stuff.
•Invisible objects that cast shadows and are solid. Some fade into invisible as you approach and only leave their shadow. See "Cities & Eyes 4" - Kate, Christian
•Shake a tree to drop leaves on an invisble path, bridge etc. to see it's shape. - Christian, Toshi
•Optical illusions in the style of Escher and others. "High and Low", "Relativity", "Belvedere", Ascending and Descending", "Concave and Convex"
•An alley way that looks like it leads to a building but as you advance you pass the parts that make up the image and it's not actually there. - Andy

Twinkle twinkle
•The Night time star map traces the exact plan of the city. See "Cities & the Sky 3"
•Patterns in a piaza reflect a star map of the city See "Cities & the Sky 1"
•On finishing the level you can fly. This will allow you to fly into the stars and wade through them See Unreal example - Christian

Inhabitants and Outhaditants
•Rubbish, leaves, flowers particles you can wade through (to give it real feel) in the street. - Adrian
•Invisible people with only their voices and their shadows. Walking, skipping children, a running girl all in shadows. Their voices instruct things to be done but are unseen. They might be a market full of invisible people making noise. Footsteps, tavern rabble, children singing See "Cities & Eyes 4" - Kate
•Shadows of Mythical fantastical monsters around the city. - Kate

Inspirations

2005-04-10T06:50:00.000+10:00

A list of my inspirations so far.
No visuals for this so far but they shall arrive...

Escher - buildings and optical illusion.
Roger Penrose - optical illusion
Piranesi - Architectural drawings
Mediteranean Architecture - greek islands, spanish and italian architecture, turkish architecture.
Warmth, Summer, Blue shadows, Imressionist colours, Limited palette at any given time, stark sunlight and sharp shadows, warm bright nights, crickets, fireflies, lanterns.
Art Deco - Structure style to buildings and structure

Summary of the Brief

2005-04-10T06:15:00.000+10:00

"The Invisible City" is a group project by the students of the Animation and Interactie Media course at RMIT, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Using the book "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino as inspiration the brief instructed us to make a 3D space using the Unreal Tournament - Unreal Editor Game Engine.
The complete brief is available .... online soon.

The story so far...
As director I have to guide the others creatively to make a cohesive product.
At the moment I'm collecting the Ideas from the group and amalgamating them into one idea, merging where I can and fitting others into a sort of vague structure. I've been making notes of the ideas that people have come up with and will detail them here soon.

We will endevour to create a space that is the combined ideas of the group some will be possible, some not and some will fall by the wayside. Hopefully the best ideas will be kept and used.

I get the general feeling that people are wanting to use optical illusions in the project. Things that are impossible in real life due to physical constraint. Other things like mirage. The actual project promises to be quite dream like and peculiar.

There are a lot of ideas about memory, dreams, illusion, invisiblity, imagination, surrealisim, unsettling imagery and twisted reality in the book. Some things are alluded to and then not explored, some are explored and then evolved into something else. I feel our space should inolve not just a feeling of this but an actual representation of it.

Welcome to SeeThruVille

2005-04-09T15:30:00.000+10:00

This blog is to record the production of The Invisible City project At AIM RMIT 2005.

Roles were decided this week:

Producers
• Andrew Buchanan
• Heng Shen Yeap

Director
• Darren Ballingall

Narrative Team
• Nicola Oi-Pyn Wong (lead)
• Amy Chew
• Tang Yang (Tanya)
• Eddie (Mun Hoe) Wong

Design Team
• Angela Barnett (lead)
• Mari Kim
• Patsarun Chuthapisit (Air)
• Hafiz Zamri

Art Team
• Adrian Rose (lead)
• Morag Porteous
• Kate McCartney
• Jimmy Lam
• Bryn Desmond-Jones

Engine Team
• Sajjad Amjad (lead)
• Christian Rubino
• (Daniel) Toshi Endo
• Willy Kosasih
• Gerard Mason

Team Leaders decided by team

Marketing And promotion roles to be shared between Producers, Director and Design Team
Documentation to be shared between all participants. Particularly, Team leaders, Producers and Director.

Guest Executive Producers
• Justin Foo
• Ben McEwin
• Darren Quah