Making Stuff

Warcry Terrain Build Part 3

2019-09-15T10:45:00.003-07:00

Warcry terrain build, part 2

2019-09-13T12:29:00.004-07:00

Quick update: Built out the main walls and worked on the terrain board. The holes in the walls will be covered with...something... but I was trying to cut down on weight.

Warcry Terrain Experiments

2019-09-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

I'm experimenting with various materials to create terrain for Warcry, the new game from Games Workshop. The game seems to have inspired quite a lot of people's creativity, including mine.

Instead of buying the boxed set I just purchased the rule book and some of the card decks, which is fine except that I am left jealous of that sweet sweet terrain that comes in the box. So let's see what we can do to recreate the same layouts while spending as little money as possible.

Here is what I have so far:

Using photos and the terrain layout cards as a reference I've come up with a basic guide to laying out the walls. There are 2cm square pilllars joined by 3x1cm walls that have arched features.

The simplest option is cardboard. I have a lot of this laying around because I just moved house, so it was pretty easy to mock up one of the sections:

And joined them with glue stick. The flat rooftop section is made from the cheap vinyl floor tiles that you can find at most pound shops here in the UK. The result actually looks pretty tidy for a quick solution, but you'll see that when I applied paint things went a bit pearshaped.

Next up is some scrap wood that I have in the garage. The height was close enough to what I needed, and the wood is soft enough to work with one of those cool spade bits (30mm.) The technique is to drill out a circle and then use a saw to cut out the rest.

This could be a good option.

This is a nice surprise. I managed to get a big chunk of plasterboard from the local building supply store for one pound, and it's more than enough to make a lot of terrain.

This stuff is made in the same way as foamcore board, but using plaster as the stuff in the center of the cookie. It drills easily and saws well. Don't be too rough with it when sawing, as it is a bit brittle. However any craft glue will bring it back together easily.

One advantage of the plasterboard is the easy creation of cool looking rubble.

Wear a dust mask and eye protection when sawing this stuff, you'll be working in a cloud in no time.

Here are all three test builds with a coat of paint. The cardboard didn't hold up to scrutiny very well, but the other materials are just fine. I'll probably continue with the plasterboard because the dust and debris created while sawing looks like it will be useful as ground cover.

Yes the sides are pretty bland, I'm looking at different kinds of wooden mouldings from the hardware store to add details. Sprue, bits, etc will go on there as well.

This is a big piece of 18mm MDF that I'm using to create a game board. The dimensions of a Warcry board are 22"x30".
I used the objective cards to mark out the places where objectives will appear and will base a layout around it.

I sketched out a basic layout and will now set upon it with various tools, chisels, and foul language.

So that's where things stand, I'll continue the project and post results as they happen.

I love Mudbox.

2014-02-26T07:37:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with Mudbox to update my portfolio. It's fantastic, here's something I sketched a long time ago that is finally making it to the screen. I hope to costume this and do a 3D print.

New projects, Raspberry Pi !

2013-05-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

Here I am again with a new start on some DIY goodness with a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino. Will it be synthy? Will it be noisy? Will it be tabletop gamey? Subscribe and find out with me!

Armored Grav Car 3D print result 1

2013-02-12T15:02:00.001-08:00

Here's the first pass print result of the armored car. I've had these for a while but work and life got busy so I haven't posted on the blog in a while.

I'm pretty happy with the overall size and I am getting some great feedback from the community about how I can refine the turret design. Generally I'm going to make the weapons a bit larger to have a stronger profile.

What do you think?

3D Print Beginnings

2012-11-17T00:49:00.001-08:00

armoredgravcar-ip002
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Trying to get back into the groove of posting and making stuff. This is an armored grav-car thing that I'm working on. The scale is 15mm, so that means that the human here is 15mm tall from his toes to his eyes. Based loosely on the Daimler Ferret and the Stuar light tank, this piece is going to be my first attempt at a useful 3D print using the Shapeways service. If you're curious about my shapeways page you can check it out at http://www.shapeways.com/model/778184/gravcartest07combo.html

I have already placed the order and should have it in about three weeks. It's a tiny thing so I hope it looks decent. The print was only $10 but the shipping out here to NZ was $20...

Elderly Alien

2012-09-25T17:11:00.001-07:00

elderlyAlien
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Another daily sketch based on an idea from the Conceptart.org forums.

NaGaDeMo is Over! Play Pipe Cleaner

2012-06-29T19:28:00.001-07:00

Well the month is now over and I've decided that Pipe Cleaner is at a great stopping point.

I feel great about the experience in general. I heard about National Game Development Month a day or two into the month but quickly decided on an idea and got to work planning things out. The workflow between Maya and Unity was smooth and my effort in recent months to level up in coding is paying off.

Please play the game and let me know what you think!

http://droffset.com/games/pipecleaner/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html

I'll create a new post soon with a post-mortem. The basic idea is that I would probably redo this project from the beginning making use of a lot of techniques I've learned along the way. I also have some other projects that demand attention.

Tunnel Crawler Texture

2012-06-22T16:28:00.001-07:00

Tunnel Crawler Texture
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Via Flickr:
In-progress work for a game called Pipe Cleaner that I am creating for the National Game Development Month.

Tunnel Crawler

2012-06-22T00:33:00.001-07:00

tunnelCrawler01
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Progress shot of a model I'm creating for Pipe Cleaner, my national Game Development Month entry.

The tunnel crawler is a fairly simple robotic organism created to infiltrate unsuspecting space vessels via exhaust ducts.

This model weighs in at 580 triangles and is Ready for UV unwrapping, texturing and rigging.

It's the same physical size as my low res proxy but the joint structure will be slightly different, so I don't know if I'll have to redo the spawning prefab. Shouldn't be too bad though.

#NaGaDeMo

NaGaDeMo Mid Month Progress

2012-06-16T04:03:00.001-07:00

This month is flying by but I do think some good progress has been made. The game is in a working state and while it sill has issues most of the core parts are there.

It has to be said, you can read about game design and development as long as you like but I'm learning so many things by actually doing it that I never saw coming. Dealing with UI, managing the flow of the game, and sequencing the specific order of enemy spawns...

There are still many features to implement, mainly powerups and a lot more levels. A pause screen would be nice.

I would like to go back and rewrite the thing from scratch now that I understand a bit more about the process but I think that might get me bogged down in looking backwards. The strategy at this point is to get a complete experience done so that I can make the 3D characters and animate.

Pipe cleaner is a game inspired by the classic game Tempest. This game has only one level, and your task is to stop hordes of aliens from getting into your ship through a tunnel.

You're here for the game, so here it is!

http://droffset.com/games/pipecleaner/WebPlayer/WebPlayer.html

Please leave comments.

National Game Development Month

2012-06-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you have to just get started and do it.
There comes a time when you have to realize that yes, you are ready to make a video game. Enough tutorials, enough planning. Time to do something about it.

Too Deep? Not really, just psyching myself up for the National Game Development Month taking place right now.

Similar to National Novel Writing Month, this event is all about making the best game you possibly can during the month of June. It's not a contest, there are no prizes. The winners are the people who complete their game.

And that's the trick, isn't it? Completing the game.

It's one thing to get a demo prototype up and running, I've done a lot of that, but there's a fair bit more involved in completing the game. Main menu, scoring, proper level design and flow.

I'm using the beautiful Unity3D platform for this. I work in Maya for a living and if you take Maya and add a game engine to it, you have Unity. Love it.

By the way I'm available for freelance 3D work...

It's like a game jam, but you don't have to kill yourself for a weekend to get something out. It's similar to the fantastic 48 Hour Film festival which I have been a part of twice. I had a great time and then slept for two days because it's a freaking ton of work to smash into a weekend.

This time I have a month. I like this. I'm making great progress too, but that's a story for the next article.

For more info about the event check this link.

You can see plenty of Twitter buzz about this event with this link.

Adding bits and pieces

2012-02-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

A bit more detail and a coat of primer, more to come as time goes on.

A scope/range finder on one side(random bit-box pieces) and some decorative panels on the other made from cut up gift card.

Some added parts to get a bit of height into the center area, making it just big enough for one or two drivers.

The white keys of that toy keyboard combine to make a 6mm hover tank thingy. Small nails, a washer, a nut and the obligatory connector for the gun.

Scratch Building some 15mm Vehicles from random junk.

2012-02-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

I'm putting together some 15mm scale sci-fi vehicles to play Gruntz with. Money is tight these days so I raided the bits box for ideas. Here are some works in progress. The figure is from Rebelminis.com

Here's a spiderbot made from a thumbtack, an electronic connector, a plastic fork and a button from a toy music keyboard.

This was my first attempt at a grav tank. Plastic knives, a plastic picture hanging hook, and a flat bottomed spoon meant for wontons I think. Two weapon options, a big cannon made from some tubing thing I found and a dual laser made from an electronic connector and bits from an irrigation system.

This is a nice little fast attack grav thing, mostly surplus electronics bits and connectors. I like connectors. The wings are made from the black keys on that toy keyboard.

These aren't dont yet but I'll show them anyway. More electronics bits, I'm hoping that with a lot more bits and some grey spray primer it will all come together.

The way i'm approaching it is to glue together bit chunky bits that give an overall look, then smaller bits for details. Next I'll glue on paneling and some really tiny bits for more detail.

I'll be using the white keys to make a 15mm APC and some 6mm scale tanks, more later.

Uniherd Concept art

2012-01-09T00:27:00.001-08:00

Uniherd Concept art
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Way back in 2010 Privateer Press released some playtest rules for a new faction in their game Warmachine. I did these sketches that week but never shared them. It's a new year so here you go, some Uniherd proxy minis.

Here's the original post so you know where this all comes from.
privateerpress.com/community/privateer-insider/insider-4/...

Adding grass

2011-12-01T17:50:00.001-08:00

Just playing it by ear at this point. I've gone through two things of green static grass making some irregular patches of grass, and then you can see on the left where I've gone over it with a spray bottle of watered down blue-green paint and then a darker shade of it. There's still some space to add more, so I'll do that and then spray the rest, then after it dries reapply the original grass to bits here and there to bring it back up a bit.

Game mat WIP

2011-11-29T16:59:00.001-08:00

Working a bit more, I got a fleece blanket from the big box store for $4, perfect to try to make a game mat out of it. Here's where it is so far. It will get some grass added to it but I'm not sure whether to paint it on like a drybrush or to actually glue patches of static grass onto it. Some of the grey patches will be painted up to look more like stone or clay.

Untitled by drOffset, on Flickr

Untitled by drOffset, on Flickr

Building some new terrain bits

2011-11-27T19:01:00.001-08:00

I've started building terrain again in preparation for SR2012. I'd like to design some terrain specifically for scenarios so to get into the feel of it I'm starting with some bits and pieces.

Here are some boulders for the recent Domination release events. Aluminium foil plastered and painted. They came out so-so, I'm happy with them. Some standing stone monuments would be good to do this way for obstructions.

Untitled by drOffset, on Flickr

Here are some crates and barrels, the crates are 3/4 inch tall. The barrels will look better when painted(I hope.) Cardboard and sculpey.

Untitled by drOffset, on Flickr

Finally a building made out of foamcore board. I peeled off the paper on the front and sculpted in the detail into the foam. I like it but might try a different approach. It's based off of a picture in Prime MKII.

Untitled by drOffset, on Flickr

So yeah, i'll eventually do a sort of urban styled table with an eye towards the scenario measurements. So if there's an 8" circle as part of the scenario I'll have some terrain bits modeled up on an 8" circular base of a fountain or oil derrek or something.

Here's what the SR2011 field looks like all together. I see sidewalks and fountains in it, maybe some park areas, still thinking about it.

Warmachine Steamroller 2011 scenario thing by drOffset, on Flickr

Free Download - 15mm Corridor Tiles!

2011-11-16T18:08:00.001-08:00

Because I'd love to see the 15mm scale sci-fi community grow I decided to go ahead and share this file for free.

Here is the eps file that you can use to laser cut the full set of 15mm scale corridors.

The file is in their system and it's all ready to send to cut, just set your preferred cutting location in your account settings and material and it's ready to go. Cutting/material/shipping/tax comes to about 100 US dollars.

I've optimized the file as much as possible but it's quite a lot of cutting lines and it attempts to make use of all of the real estate. I couldn't make it any cheaper but the file is there if you have your own way to do it.

Here's a video about it!
...

...

I'm releasing this file with a Creative Commons licence in the hope that people will customize the design and share it along for everyone. The file lives on the Ponoko website because they have a great service that is availlable in the US, Europe, and here in New Zealand. No I don't work for them.

I'll repost the previous images so that you can see what you get.

The door stand-ups are constructed from three easy bits.

Here's a layout using almost all of the tiles except a few of the straight ones.

Let me know what you think!

If you have it in your heart to donate minis or moneys to me I'd appreciate it.

http://www.ponoko.com/design-your-own/products/15mm-scale-corridor-tiles-full-set-nz-6718

Enjoy!

The miniature shown in these images are by Rebel Minis. I did not create this miniature, no IP infringement is intended.

Flip Lip

2011-10-05T16:28:00.001-07:00

Flip Lip
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Flip Lip

Siren

2011-09-30T00:45:00.001-07:00

Siren
Originally uploaded by drOffset

Siren

XL Star + 8 bit A/D Converter Part 1 of 3

2011-09-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

I found this really nifty device on a local auction site and decided to integrate it into my larger synth setup.

The box has 8 analog inputs that run through an ADC0809 chip. This is an analog-digital converter that will send its output, an 8-bit digital word, to a serial port on the other end.

What I'm planning to do is use the XL-Star as a control device for the A/D converter by attaching LDRs to each of the 8 legs of the star. Hopefully this will produce an interesting data stream for my shift registers to chew on.

15mm Sci-Fi corridor system

2011-08-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

I was happy with the results I got from Ponoko with the laser cut gaming proxies and decided to take it a step further.

This is a set of modular corridor tiles for 15mm scale gaming. The tiles are transparent with 20mm squares laser etched into the surface creating just enough contrast and texture to set the spaces apart. Fantasy, scifi, doesn't matter. You can adapt these pieces to any setting.

I plan to adapt the Gruntz rules into a close quarters sci-fi exploration game where brave Grunty dudes have to defend themselves against rogue robots and aggressive aliens.

This set contains all the tiles you need to recreate your favorite game scenarios with plenty of extras.

The tiles can be painted but you can see that I need a bit of practice!

The door stand-ups are constructed from three easy bits.

Here's a layout using almost all of the tiles except a few of the straight ones.

Let me know what you think! Is this something you would find fun to use for gaming? I already have a plan for an expansion set based on wider hallways.

The Cult of Done Manifesto

2011-07-30T20:44:00.001-07:00

From http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html

The Cult of Done Manifesto

There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
There is no editing stage.
Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
Once you're done you can throw it away.
Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
Destruction is a variant of done.
If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
Done is the engine of more.

From http://www.brepettis.com/blog/2009/3/3/the-cult-of-done-manifesto.html