Cardboard kingdom

Community Forums/Graphic Chat/Cardboard kingdom

Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#1]
I've not written a game in years and I'm getting itchy to write one...

I appreciate my recent track record has been somewhat sketchy... well... ok... I've not actually finished anything for ages...

I've concluded that the best blitz stuff seems to be heavily stylised...

So... I'm going to at least start to write a simple racing game... Probably won't finish it, but at least the media should be relatively easy to do!



I'm thinking I need to add depth to a few of the uprights as it doesn't really look quite right... but not that bothered at the moment.


Mortiis(Posted 2008) [#2]
If you have kids;

Let them draw something then scan their drawings to use as references and
textures.That would fit the style better and as it's an experimental game as
I understood, it would be also special for you and your kids.


Vorderman(Posted 2008) [#3]
Hah, that's excellent!

Make sure you have some coloured cars that look like they're badly scribbled in with felt pens or crayons.


Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#4]
Mortiis: That's the style I'm going for, I don't think I need to use kids as my artistic ability is on a par with a 4 year old.
Vorderman: That's exactly what I was I was thinking of doing!


QuickSilva(Posted 2008) [#5]
Looks great! I always wanted to play your helicopter game. What became of that? You have had some really promising stuff in the past and I`m sure that this will be no different. Just make sure you finish it ;) Looks fun!

Jason.


Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#6]
I always wanted to play your helicopter game. What became of that?
Um... Well... Personal nonsense happened and then 2 years later after the dust settled and I got back to looking at it I thought it looked rubbish so I let it rot... Hmmm... Cardboard helicopter!!...


scribbla(Posted 2008) [#7]
i think the idea of a crardboard world is great

cardboard/kid scribbled trees and such


D4NM4N(Posted 2008) [#8]
lol cool.


Beaker(Posted 2008) [#9]
Some inspiration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTAhglvnKic&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzD2egIdB28&feature=related


puki(Posted 2008) [#10]
Heh, cardboard stuff.

I hate chewing cardboard - tastes horrible after a while.


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#11]
someone had a toonshaded black and white world (not grey scale B&W) ages ago ... that had a good look and feel for a game of some sorts, sometimes thats all thats needed is a different gfx take on an old genre


Stevie G(Posted 2008) [#12]
Love the look!! I think stylised graphics are the way to go with Blitz, especially if ( like me ) your drawing skills suck!! At least you can make all the media consistent without too much effort.

Are you planning on having cardboard tracks too? Only one comment - I realise it's a first effort but I think the wheels may look better with less detail - like just colouring the hub cap dark brown?

Good luck with it.


Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#13]
A Tree!


New fierce paintwork and tripped out rims:



Sauer(Posted 2008) [#14]
Wow, its amazing how realistic it looks. I think its a great idea.


Gabriel(Posted 2008) [#15]
Looks great.

Some more inspiration ( I don't think anyone mentioned this before, but apologies if they did )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5NrJr6tic


josk(Posted 2008) [#16]
Hope you are not adding any rain effects to your game.

Looking good.


Pongo(Posted 2008) [#17]
Awesome!

The only thing I would change would be to make the wheels a single circle cutout.


Nate the Great(Posted 2008) [#18]
LOL

Rain effects would be funny. :)


Ked(Posted 2008) [#19]
Looks very good.


JoeGr(Posted 2008) [#20]
'Cardboard City' might be a better name. :)

Its a good idea - I've often thought of doing something similar myself but never quite got around to it. My own plan was to physically build a simple, blocky city environment out of corrugated cardboard, photograph every surface, shadows and all, then recreate it virtually taking measurements from the cardboard model. Each face would have its own unique texture created from a photo of the corresponding surface on the physical model, which I imagine would look very realistic.

The only downside to doing this right now is that its going to look a lot less unique once Little Big Planet comes out and people may well assume you copied the idea from that.

One other thing - if you have access to Photoshop CS3 Extended, you can create simple (textured) 3D models in 3ds format very quickly straight from photos of cardboard boxes etc using the Vanishing Point' Tool.

You should also try to watch 'The Science of Sleep' if you haven't already seen it.


Stevie G(Posted 2008) [#21]

The only downside to doing this right now is that its going to look a lot less unique once Little Big Planet comes out and people may well assume you copied the idea from that.



Don't be silly. Last I looked LBP was a 2d physics based platformer / sandbox game and has nothing to do with racing cardboard cars in a 3d environment.


Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#22]
Cardboard Kingdom is the name of the post, nothing more, it is a play on words of Concrete Kingdom.

Hopefully I'll get some work done on this over the next few weeks as my girlfriend is going on holiday! ;)


Ross C(Posted 2008) [#23]
OOoo, looks nice. Please finish it this time ;o) I like the look.


Rob Farley(Posted 2008) [#24]
I'll try, I'm fairly optimistic that I will. Here's a few key ingredients of the cake;

The track will be built out of pieces (like slot racing) so building tracks should be quick and easy, further more it should make the 'best line' ai relatively straight forward to calculate.

I've written race games before so quite happy with AI programming for this sort of thing.

Media (the usual stumbling block) is quite easy to make.

I've written a few car physics pieces of code (and posted them in the showcase) so in theory large lumps of code should already be written.

So all in all once I've put those pieces together it's simply a case of popping it in the oven for 20 minutes and a Victoria sponge should pop out all yummy. Then I've just got to put the jam and cream in the middle and it'll be ready to serve... That's the plan anyway. Apologies for the cake metaphor.


D4NM4N(Posted 2008) [#25]
I think its a great idea too.
Would be cool if you can make the meshes deform/fall apart when they hit things.


InvisibleKid(Posted 2008) [#26]
i realy like the look and concept of this so far, it definately has alot of potential to be something great imho.

i also like d4nm4n's idea in that if you hit a wall or none moveable obsticle hard enough that the box car unfolds and thats that (cardboard version of blown engine i guess).

anyways gl with it, and i look forward to seeing something more concrete ah i mean cardboard ;-)


JoeGr(Posted 2008) [#27]
Don't be silly. Last I looked LBP was a 2d physics based platformer / sandbox game and has nothing to do with racing cardboard cars in a 3d environment.

There's nothing silly about what I said there. Though the gameplay essentially takes place in 2D, Little Big Planet is rendered in 3D and features cardboard scenery in much the same style as the images that Rob posted. Its one of the most highly-anticipated PS3 games in development and if Rob finishes his game I'm sure a lot of people will make that association. Whether or not LBP is a car-racing game (did I suggest that it was?) has little or nothing to do with that.


Bremer(Posted 2008) [#28]
What a great idea, and so far the models looks the part. Good luck with it, and please hurry up and make a playable alpha thingy :)


Tommo(Posted 2008) [#29]
A bright and warm lighting would make your models look sweeter.
I think maybe you can try a lighter ambient color. :-)


Foolish(Posted 2008) [#30]
Brilliant!


Doiron(Posted 2008) [#31]
Its one of the most highly-anticipated PS3 games in development and if Rob finishes his game I'm sure a lot of people will make that association.

And it's a good or a bad thing? It could also mean more exposure.


Blitzplotter(Posted 2008) [#32]
How about each car could have 3 weapons each, water gun, cannon ball and paint gun?


Madcap13(Posted 2008) [#33]
I reckon this looks pretty cool. That's my 2 cents. :D


Taron(Posted 2008) [#34]
AWESOME! Oh man, I hope you get to do this one! Love the look, love the concept! It's pretty trendy, looking at crayon games and even little big planet or what's it called. But it simply is fantastic!

GREAT STuff! 8)))


Ryudin(Posted 2008) [#35]
I love stylized stuff, but I can't do it at all!


Nate the Great(Posted 2009) [#36]
I just recently saw someone refer to this in another thread and was wondering how it is coming along? or has it been abandoned like most of my projects are :(


D4NM4N(Posted 2009) [#37]
Looks like Audi has nicked your idea :/

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=82415

Its not a game though :D


Doiron(Posted 2009) [#38]
Do you guys really think it was a novel idea? the audi spot has been discussed on the other thread too...
Sure, original, but Rob wasn't the first to think about it. :)

For example I clearly remember an old video clip entirely made out of cut cardboard, and it involved cars too... shame I don't remember the band or the song. It was far more similar to this idea then the audi spot, for what I remember.


Zethrax(Posted 2009) [#39]
You're probably thinking of this video:-

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2I5NrJr6tic

"Point of View" by DB Boulevard


Doiron(Posted 2009) [#40]
Yes that's it, Bill! Very cute videoclip by the way, nicely done. :)


Blitzplotter(Posted 2009) [#41]
@Bill, yeah very eye catching clip.

@Rob, any more media for your racer yet ??? It is seeing this knid of quality work that makes me wanna open up Wings again - incidentally what modeller do you use ?


_PJ_(Posted 2009) [#42]
Excellent!

I love the tree especially.

Shame you can';t see the driver's face on the card, but I'm hoping it'#s a simplistic smiley-face á la Lego men :D