[h2]Challenging but Exciting Times[/h2] Most of you will, I’m sure, have been hit in one way or another by the current pandemic that is sweeping the globe. I am pleased to report that the Deadstick team is all safe and well! However, it has certainly presented its fair share of logistical challenges! As a studio, we have always embraced working from home and so, in many respects, the day to day running of has remained much the same as it was. It has always been our goal however, to ramp up production on the sim and bring in more experienced hands at the right time, to add the finishing touches to Deadstick. Finding the right talent in this new world, which doesn’t include face to face meetings, has certainly forced us to adapt. Whilst we may all work from home, we have tried to keep the team reasonably nearby as there’s nothing quite like a face to face get together to solve a particular problem, brainstorm a new idea or, in the case of a new start, just showing them the ropes. We have had to however abandon that idea and search further afield this time around, which I’m pleased to say has allowed us to find our two latest additions to the team, Conrad and Lee. [h3]Introducing Conrad[/h3] Conrad is a self-confessed destruction expert (fitting after observing his early attempts at flying in Deadstick!) and joins us as a Senior VFX Artist, to help bridge the gap between the aircraft and its environment. Whether it’s exhaust smoke from a cold engine firing up for the first time of the day, dirt being kicked up from a muddy off airport landing and ruining an otherwise sparkly clean aircraft, or sparks and smoke being emitted as the landing gear unceremoniously removes itself from the aircraft in a harder than anticipated landing, Conrad is the man to make it happen! Having worked in the games industry for about 5 years, most recently at nDreams focusing on VR, Conrad specializes in destruction, Houdini and shader work, and came to the video game industry after a spell living, sailing, and working as a motion graphics artist in South East Asia. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/b50bffc55171af3ef6c7dbb519ffb909bc808e20.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/dfcc091a105ceceb772e2f332f6adeaa3213135d.png[/img] [h3]Introducing Lee[/h3] Lee joins the ranks of 3D Environment Artist on the Deadstick team - no small feat! Working in the industry for over 5 years now, with his last role as Senior Art Generalist at Hammerhead VR, and with numerous clients under his belt, including the likes of Jaguar, Whirlpool, Sky and the BBC, Lee is tasked with all things airport and settlement related. Bridging the gap between the natural and man made elements within the game and adding the next level of detail to our airports to make them pop and shine. Given the first person nature of Deadstick and the ability to explore all locations on foot, this is no easy task, but we’re already seeing impressive levels of detail being added to our airport buildings to really add to the immersion of the sim. Lee can currently be found finessing dirt and grime on our airfield hangars to make them truly feel like they are part of the harsh and unforgiving environment that is our Deadstick world. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/14cf97e2772ce0c9c9c4b09a3afe8f530e85ba4b.png[/img] [h3]The Search Goes On[/h3] It’s great to see fresh blood and new momentum on the Deadstick team. However, the search still goes on and, over the coming weeks, we are looking to hire two additional Environment Artists and a Senior Programmer - so if you think you might have the relevant skills, or know someone who does, please visit the website and get in touch - you might be just what we’re looking for! And now to the progress! [h2]Maintenance & Customisation in Deadstick[/h2] A huge part of real life bush piloting is maintaining and customising your aircraft, so obviously we want to reflect this in Deadstick. [h3]Maintenance[/h3] In Deadstick (as in real life), there are two main reasons for maintenance: wear and tear. Wear is just the inevitable damage that occurs as a component gets old and moves towards the end of its lifetime. Older parts may become less effective or even fail suddenly and (if you’re in the air) catastrophically. Tear is damage incurred abnormally - most obviously when you hit something! Every component of the aircraft simulates these two aspects of damage. When you need to address problems, you go to a maintenance facility… If you can’t make it yourself (e.g. you don’t have an undercarriage any more), you can salvage your aircraft to get there. Normally you’ll go to the facility by choice, but periodically you will need to go for scheduled maintenance to avoid fines. [h3]Customisation[/h3] A pilot needs to fit the aircraft to its purpose. In Deadstick, you can buy a range of customisation options that let you optimise the performance of your aircraft to what you’re planning to do. For example, if you’re delivering to improvised strips, you might want to add wing slats to decrease your take off distance or, if you were flying to the frozen north, you might install tundra tyres to increase your grip on ice. There’s also a plethora of visual options just for bragging rights: paint jobs, liveries and even dash ornaments! [h3](Re)designing the UI/UX[/h3] In games, we distinguish between user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). These terms aren’t totally distinct but, broadly speaking, UI is what the user sees on screen and UX is how they interact with it. UI is whether a button is attractive and intuitive (e.g. looks like a button), while UX is where the button is and whether the user knows what it does. If you’ve played Deadstick at a show, you may have seen a prototype version of the UI for maintenance and customisation. For those who haven’t, here’s a flavour of how it looked: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/af10d8e3e2982a7ab969c446f3b929a8a93ecb1b.png[/img] This UI was very functional, but maybe not the most attractive. It also didn’t reflect some mechanics that have been added to the game since - the main change being that repairs and refits now take in-game time. That means you now build up a manifest of changes before ordering them to be made. So we’ve recently been through a process to make sure it works mechanically and has a more attractive look that’s consistent with the rest of the UI screens. Typically, we approach this in a standard way. Once we have the abstract design, we mock up “on paper” (we work remotely, it’s not actually paper) a rough idea of how the screen works. We will then get it working in-game using placeholder graphics. The intention is to nail the UX before we start implementing UI. This is a bit like making sure you finish building a house before decorating. If we realise we need a new button somewhere after the Artists have produced a beautiful layout, there may not be space for it without rearranging everything. So once we have a UX we’re happy with, we pass it on to the Artist who makes it beautiful… (read about that in the next section). Once we’re happy with the design, the Artist decomposes the mock-ups into assets we can use in Unity. For example, here’s a texture page for the manifest window: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/4821e58721ef399fdaa8ca416fa60a4f81f5a9eb.png[/img] Once it’s implemented, we pass the UI back to the Artist to review and check it matches his vision with no omissions, etc. [h3]Artistic Notes[/h3] The overall aim with the Deadstick front-end is to give an edgy look but still manage to keep a level of simplicity and usability. It’s important that the game feels believable to both casual gamers and the more serious flight sim fans. With the above in mind, I’ve kept the buttons simple and, in many cases, they are just white text on a slightly distressed background plate. The grunge helps to tie in with the whole ‘bush flight’ element of the game. The Maintenance screen has been one of the most challenging areas to design with a lot of important information to display. I’ve tried to keep this as clean as possible. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/aaa1bcd78f81cdc35c84d6f0a3c065250bff5fda.jpg[/img] With Deadstick being a simulator, it’s really important that the menus actually reflect their real-world counterparts and a perfect example of this is the Aircraft inspection pop-up. The design is based on a real Inspection Sheet and the slightly grungy edges help it sit comfortably with the rest of the UI. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/950775d9b8b4c0efb9985f629b9463c326e87983.jpg[/img] The customisation screens have the same level of complexity as Maintenance and, once again, it’s vital that there is enough space to highlight the relevant areas on the aircraft. Again, the text is clean and there is a subtle grunge level added to all of the background bars. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/96b5bba674ad2837c8323e4156f32fd91dc3e7f8.jpg[/img] [h3]In-Game Shots[/h3] Bringing it all together, we end up with this in-game: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/8dad1281286d91f3f6bbfd596f64ec63e9b8cc68.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/10a15397ca12d185e59c80df46ff44ee81fbc1c2.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/4297b8c72cef92ba30fdf9797e2c1cf5d87774c9.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32753672/050e69708c7ce285e6b5044fe00a780cdae38ae1.png[/img] Stay tuned for the next update where we shall be revealing more!