Seriously!

I *am* going to get back to work on Rustbot. Soon.


PROMISE.

I've been captivated lately by a late 2010 sleeper hit called Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, developed by Ninja Theory. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it (if chapter quantity is a reliable indicator) and it's an extremely well-made game. The combat might get a bit repetitive, but it's gratifying every time I smash through a mech. The real draw to the game, however, is the writing and animation. The dialogue is superbly written and delivered. What sets Enslaved apart from, say, Mass Effect in that regard is that the facial animations (and body language in general) are flat-out unparalleled thanks in large part to well-honed motion capture as directed and performed by the inimitable Andy Serkis. It has sucked me in and made me fall in love with it.

So for that reason, I've put time that would be spent on Rustbot instead toward playing Enslaved. It's a short game, but I also have not had much free time. Tonight I'm tutoring, too, so nothing will be done.

I have to change the model format I'm currently employing... dammit. But the one I want to use is giving me headaches when trying to export from Blender. You might be asking yourself "what kind of models are you making that are actually more than what we've seen so far (i.e. boxes, spheres and cylinders)?" Well... I'm making robot NPCs. Walking/talking NPCs... ok not talking, but they still walk. And they're robots.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!

What's funny is that I actually made a walking animation for one robot, but it felt kinda clunky. Having just discovered and played QWOP, though, I feel like I have gained priceless insight into how to better animate such a thing. w00t.

Soooo, once I finish Enslaved, I'll be back into working on Rustbot. And it will be awesome.

If anyone has actually legitimately been looking forward to updates, I apologize.