Pink Eye!

There's a Cartman quote somewhere in that title...

I figured that the whites of my eyes turned bloodshot like a Christopher Lee movie from the swinging sixties was a clear hint I was spending far too much time working ... or at least what passes for working. Staring at a plasma screen anyhow. I did read something ages ago that plasma screens lower the rate your eyes blink compared to old tv/monitors.

So, eyedrops, lowering the contrast on my monitor, and a general break have been in order. The weather in Yorkshire has been kack so venturing outside was somewhat off putting. So that meant milling about the house feeling slightly under-occupied which leads to Ravenswood Zinfandel or some Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc. Or pale ale. But it was also a good time to get some planning done.

Also had a walking tour of Berlin for a weekend (mate's stag party), which was nice. Will have to return at a later date with a list of things to see instead of a list of bars to hit. Still saw plenty of the city though, and have the blisters to prove it.

When my eyes turned white again I started testing on finalizing a game level. Planned my road and rail network and built it from my previously made prefabs in Blender. Exported it as a single (HUGE) model for a test.



That all seemed to work okay, though I'll obviously have to section it down into areas so the whole thing doesn't get drawn at once in-game, which would be a tad wasteful in resources.



Then it was a case of planning out building types and game events. I'd like to prevent things from being utterly linear giving the player a little more freedom to explore, giving myself more work to do. Currently I've got 1.5km square of available gameplay area.

Next up us to add a bit of height (hills) to the transportation network, as it's currently all a bit flat and in desperate need of some undulation. Then conform the terrain to the height of the roads.

After that it's time to work out my facade buildings, followed by enterable buildings, then landscape props. After that it's triggers and gameplay. And eventually I might get round to my idea of baked shadow decals (fake lightmaps for none supported models).

It's all just the same as buying flatpack furniture: You've got all the bits, and now it's a titanic struggle to assemble it into something that you can put a cup of tea on.