Project Update: 29 July 2011

Hello all,

I'm posting to let you know that I am starting a new job in September in IT, and a part of this is I need to complete some exams in my first year in the post.  Therefore, if I'm not at work, I'll more than likely be studying!

I am therefore stepping back from the project, but I would like to ask if anyone would be interested in taking over and co-ordinating the project?  I certainly don't want to see this stop, and will contribute as and when I can, but I can't have the full involvement that I've had up until now.

Please let me know if anyone would like to take the reigns.  If not, the project may have to be put onto the back burner for the forseeable future.

Best,

Andy

Concept Story - Part 2 - written by Zack Sparks

The lift was never fast enough. Especially when it knew Gage was late for work.  It was all Gage could do—keep waving over the scanner pad on the wall. The lift knew he was there—it had switched green on the first swipe. All he could hear was the low, soft hum of the lift elsewhere in Caldoria, sliding here and there, echoing its machine-like call through the reverberating, hollow tube behind this door.

Gage's earpiece slid around in front of him and the screen deployed over his right eye. An advertisement for some new furniture came on. Air chairs. Because this is what mattered right now.

“No, thank you,” Gage intoned.

The ad changed, becoming brighter and more interactive. A person appeared on the screen, pleading with the viewer.

“No.”

The earpiece screen slid back up and collapsed into the device, which retreated back into Gage's ear.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

The lift tone sounded. “Roof access,” a robotic female voice said from the scanner pad's speaker. Gage was one floor down from the roof, so this was a good sign. Another short hum later, and the tone sounded again, louder and fuller. The door slid open, and Gage stepped on. “Lobby,” he said. His body shifted with the movement of the lift.

Gage sighed. And stared.

He had to start getting to bed earlier. Either that, or find another job. Usually, he didn't care, but the message that read on his earpiece this morning was a little morbid. Termination. Maybe his soul would remain. It just sounded so final. They weren't exactly handing out jobs on Caldoria. Especially jobs like this one. Bleary-eyed, he promised himself it wouldn't happen again. Just like he did the week prior.

The lift stopped, and the door slid back. Gage stepped out into the lobby of his apartment building and looked around. The scene was agreeable to everyone. Except Gage, because he saw through the layer of calm that shone from the light pastel furniture and desks. On the wall behind the front counter, the logo of the building was mounted and backlit in some brushed metal; some abstract, sculpted metal that was the brainchild of either a marketing engineer who had been staring at data too long or a bored five-year old.

Blues, purples, and hints of yellow dominated the color patterns on the walls, sweeping up and around the smooth, sliding corners of the walls. Projections were rotating around the center of the lobby, around a sitting area with a few tables and chairs. The lobby was designed by someone who didn't believe in the concept of angles; everything swam into something else smoothly and without interruption.

The information kiosk sat at Gage's right, while the front desk at left was currently not staffed. It was probably too early for staff to man the desk; the information kiosk had all but eliminated most of the typical apartment trappings. There were a few fellow tenants in the lobby. A man was in the corner reading a book, facing Caldoria Gardens. A younger woman was walking to the first floor rooms from the main entrance, while a child (perhaps of the woman's) was catching up. Gage turned the corner to his right and walked to the fixture to the right of the kiosk.

The Global Transporter seemed to glow in the soft, artificial morning light. It stood in stark contrast to the lobby itself. There were many calculated angles defining the structure of the object. It was clearly an object that was designed for efficiency; the only arc on the device appeared to be the circular Global Transport logo featured large and on the front of the device.

There were three primary parts of the transporter. Two equal arms, each a dark bluish-gray in color, bent across the cover of the object. Meanwhile, a double-hinged slab of metal sat, covering the interior of the object itself, bending at neck and knee level. Gage crossed to the object and waved across its scanner pad. A voice greeted him. “Global Transporter, Caldoria Heights Apartments, Sector Three. Searching for transport route now.” A pause. “Route accessed. Upon entering, transport card will be required. Thank you for using Global Transport.” A chime followed the message, rather cheerful and musical, almost like an apology or a statement of gratitude.

Gage sighed again. He felt his earpiece begin to slide around again. He knew the message, this time. There would be that word again—termination.

As Gage stood in front of the device, the blue-gray arms motorized, first moving toward Gage and then opening wide as if they were offering a hug to the user. After they had slid back, the lower hinge of the top folded up, reached its final position, and then lifted up again—this time with the middle section as well, as if it were peeling itself away to reveal a chair that appeared to be made out of some sort of clear metal or lucite material. The chair slid forward, offering itself to Gage. He obliged.

Where to, Gage? Come in the front way, and risk the boss seeing you? Sure, the system would know he was late, but he would at least avoid a lecture. It would take more time to take the maintenance transport, though. The system kept an actual time of Gage's arrival, but the question remained if his boss would find a large difference between 7 minutes late and 9 minutes late. As the top replaced itself over Gage, sitting now in the glowing chair, he decided to enter through the front door. Just to be safe. Those two minutes may save his job. The screen slid open on the underside of the Transporter's top. A thin panel folded down onto Gage's lap with a card reader to the right, a green arrow pulsating gently at it's mouth. Gage put his card into the slot.

Great, more speaking. “Preparing for transport. Recording passenger's organic substratum.” Blah, blah, blah. Gage had the entire speech memorized by now. It was the same one, every single day, for the last four years.

“Prepare for molecular disintegration.” At least it was better than termination.

Thursday, June 30: Project Update

Hello!

I'm writing this to reassure you that the project is still ongoing.  Myself (and I'm sure the rest of the team too) have other things going on that take up free time - personally I've had a lot of things come along at once that have sapped my free time into a temporal vortex.

To reiterate, the project is still ongoing.  Updates will be posted as things happen - I've got an update on the concept story side to post in the next day or two, so stay tuned for that :)

Thanks for your patience!

Andy

June 22 Project Update

Hello!

Another short update - work is progressing on the project; currently we're expanding the concept story, working on Norad concepts, inventory items, the TSA and outlying areas etc.  There's an awful lot happening and an awful lot to do, but again I want to thank you for taking the time to visit and support the project - it means a great deal, both to me and the team.  We all love Journeyman, and I hope that shines through in our work!

I hope to post again next week with some rendered updates.

Andy

Project Update: 15 June 2011

Hello!

Since it's almost a week since I last posted, I thought I'd put this up to reassure you that I'm a) still here and b) myself and the team are still working on the project.

We're heavily into the concepting/scriptwriting part of the project now, and things are moving along apace.  However, there are elements of the project that I don't want to reveal before release, therefore posts might be a little more sporadic from now on.  There's a few surprises in the pipeline that I don't want to give away, and that's what we're working on at the moment.

As/when I can put images/story sections up on here, I will :)

I'd also just like to say a big thanks for sticking with the project so far, I really appreciate the support!

Andy

Scanner: Microdetailing

Hello!

I've started microdetailing the scanner area, adding bolts, panels and other small details which, hopefully, will add to the realism and immersion in each shot.

Below is a promotional shot from this effort so far.  This is taking a lot of time to do, but I believe that the final visuals will be worth it.  Not only that, but Presto did such an amazing job of detailing their worlds that I don't want to let Journeyman down by kicking out a sub-par effort.

Enjoy!

Concept Story - Part 1 - written by Zack Sparks

Hello!

A special treat today :)  Zack recently came onboard as the project concept writer, and sent me the following section.  I find this incredibly useful; while reading it I can get concepts for new objects etc (see the clock below).

Enjoy!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

One moment, everything was fine. Gage sat on a beach chair, scanning through the tablet book in front of him, sipping something saucy and listening to waves lap and soak the sand. The wind rustled, and he looked up across the ocean.

There was nothing on the horizon. Nothing but clear, light blue above an undulating dark blue, cresting gently with the horizon line. His sunshield visor slid up, accommodating for Gage's viewing angle into the sun. He sighed. “Shield off,” he uttered. The shield slid back. Gage wanted to view the world in all its majesty for a moment. 
Just a brief moment.  Because in the next moment, everything was not fine. It started simply enough—just a droning buzz in the forest behind him. He turned and looked behind him, into the tropical trees. He saw nothing.

But still, the buzz grew. It was droning, like a child blowing on a noisemaker, growing louder and steadier. The sound almost reminded Gage of a lasersaw cutting something very large.  A structure sat to the right of Gage's peripheral. Whatever the buzz was, it was shaking the brushed metal structure; it was vibrating as if in an earthquake.


Gage removed the visor piece from his ear completely and sat it on the table next to the chair. The pieces that formed over Gage's brow retreated into the earpiece, and Gage wished he could retreat as well. Whatever it was back there, it sounded evil. He stood up and turned fully to face the noise when he heard something else. 
This time, it was a child. At least, it looked like a child. She was walking in a hurried pace out of the forest, moving quickly to Gage's position. 

“What's that noise? Is everything okay?” Gage asked instinctively.

The child's speech became clearer as she approached Gage's position. “...should really go with the Global Transport solution. It saves time and energy from the usage of the fusion car.”  Gage was puzzled for a moment.


“Global Transport—contact your local representative today.”  His brow furrowed.

“6:40 this morning on a beautiful Caldoria day, just like all the others. Today is a Rainer, so remember to take a change of suit if you plan on being outdoors after noon...” the child's speech continued.

In the next moment, Gage was lying on his side in his bed, hair messed and matted down, a small puddle of saliva formed around the corner of his mouth and spilling out onto the bed. He groaned, rolling over and touching the holographic clock on the bedside table. Its task complete, the clock dissolved into the surface of the table. 
Gage lay still a moment and stared at the bland, gray ceiling. He knew, on a deeper conscious level, that there was some blue sky somewhere behind that ceiling. But there it was, obtrusive and arresting with its nonstop assault of gray stucco.

Why? Gage thought. Why is it always the good ones?

He spun, placing his feet on the ground and sitting upright a moment. His ear-length hair remained hopelessly matted to his head, and his shoulders slumped, hands resting on his thighs. Gage Blackwood was definitely not awake.

“Mmph. Light.” 

The lights in the room rose from the floor, sliding upward out of small panels in the floor on tracks mounted to the wall. They brightened, slowly, as Gage stood up and walked to the window.   The glass-domed East Garden stretched in front of Gage's window, with plants of many colors dotting the landscape. Bushes with big leaves did their best to try and hide the smaller flora, but it was of no avail—the smaller flowers were too bright and saturated with heavy color that they were almost shining through the leaves of the larger plants. Above, the glass dome curved outward and bent the perspective of the sun shining overhead.

Gage walked to his desk, extending from the corner of the room. A monitor was tucked into the corner above the desk, as news tickers slid across the bottom with some talking head on the main screen. Gage's desk was nearly empty—a couple of computer tablets were resting on the desk to the right of a small light, and the holographic projector was throwing an image of Gage's personal machine on the wall. To the left was a gray sliding door, split down the middle into two panels. The lights on the wall had reached their final position and brightness for this time of morning.

Gage stood for a moment in his shorts, staring at the desk, trying to will his brain into the thoughts of his morning routine. In its weakened state, his brain chose clothing first. 

He stepped out into the great room, through the sliding gray door. A coffee table sat in the room's center, with a circular bar rotating out from the far corner of the room. Two loungers sat along the short wall of the great room, with their angled, cushioned design calling for Gage to rest on them. A sofa of a similar style to the loungers was placed on the long wall, while a projection screen dominated the wall now at Gage's back, opposite the loungers.
Gage walked forward, into the single panel sliding door in front of him. His bathroom was the only thing he disliked about this apartment—it was just too small. Gage's size was above average, and it made everything in the bathroom feel miniscule, as if he had entered the room of a child. Everything in the room was shinier, compared to the brushed metal and dull gray and light brown look of the great room. Gage pulled his shorts down and reached in front of him, beside the mirror, to press a button.

At the touch of the button, rings on the floor surrounding the panel on which Gage stood began to turn in opposite ways, rising up with tiny holes dotting the circumference of each ring. Six rings rose out of the floor in all, with the highest stopping above Gage's head. Gage stood in the midst of the rings, head cocked to one side, wiping his eyes. The mounted wash basin in the room had retreated into the wall, and water began to spray gently from the holes in the rings.

Gage used the time to try and shake off some more cobwebs. He shook his hair around and stretched his neck from one side to another, loosening up his lateral muscles. He let the polarized water wash him, and he felt cleaner just standing in the mist.

Out in the great room, a red light began flashing on the coffee table. Shortly after, the projection screen began to flash the same red, as the words “Urgent Message” began to scroll across the projection. With his shower complete, Gage stepped back out into the great room. His eyes were now fully in realization of what the message meant.

“Dammit,” he said, almost as an utterance to himself. He crossed to the coffee table, took his earpiece in his hand, and placed it on his ear, switching it on. He felt the machinery slide into his ear canal, and the click as the connection firmed in his bio implant was jarring in his brain, as it always was. A small extension of the piece slid around Gage's brow and extended downward, with its blue screen in sharp contrast to the message it relayed:
“AGENT 5, REPORT TO THE TEMPORAL SECURITY ANNEX.”

Gage pushed the air out of his lungs, quickly and business-like. Crossing to the wall next to the sofa, he pressed a control. One of the panels on the wall slid back and a rack of suits stretched out from the wall. Gage wriggled his body into one of the suits as quickly as he could as it sealed behind him, and he crossed to the door opposite the sofa to leave for work. As he approached the door, the background and message on his eyepiece changed:
“AREN'T YOU FORGETTING SOMETHING, GAGE?”

His eyes rolled, disappointed in himself, as he darted back into his bedroom and grabbed his Global Transport card from his desk. The Global Transport solution. Sure—it was making all our lives easier.  Now, Gage thought, if only they'd invent a bio-implant to wake people up on time.

Gage tucked the card into his belt and exited the room, as the message in front of him changed one last time:
“AGENT 5, YOU ARE LATE FOR WORK. REPORT TO THE TEMPORAL SECURITY ANNEX IMMEDIATELY OR RISK TERMINATION.”

“Always something,” Gage uttered as he left his apartment behind.

Gage's Apartment - Clock Concept

Hello!

Here's a concept for the alarm clock in Gage's apartment.  I was thinking about how everything coulc be designed in order to save space - there isn't much habitable space after all, so everything would need to be compact to save both space and weight (Caldoria's anti-grav system will have a limit after all!).

Working from the idea of keyboards that can be projected onto a surface, I thought that a clock could do the same.

Enjoy!

Bryan's Dart Gun - Render 1

Hello!

Here's a render of the dart gun model created by Bryan. I'd like to go on record as saying "wow" in response to this :) Let me know what you think!

Recent Illness

Hello!

Just thought I'd put a post up regarding the lack of updates recently. Over the last week or so I haven't really been able to work on the project due to illness, and am still not feeling that great. I'm hoping to get back into it next week.

Thanks for the support!

Andy

TSA Entry: Beyond the Scanner / Lift Area

Hello!

Here's a VR of an area beyond the scanner. I wanted to expand the idea that the complex was inside a mountain, and also add more security, given what's kept there :) I therefore added this additional tunnel; the lift at the end only activates once the system verifies who you are. The lift then goes down about 50 floors to the main TSA area.



A hires version (1024 x 1024) can be downloaded here (right-click and save as).

TSA Scanner - Entryway #001

Hello!

Apologies for the lack of updates the last few days - there have been a few things going on behind the scenes ;)

Without further ado, here's the latest on the Scanner entryway!

Mars Gantry VR Test

Hello!

Here's another test of the VR idea, this time using the old model of the Mars Gantry - the remodel is still in progress.

Enjoy!

TSA Door Test: Design 1

Hello!

Below is a video of a test for a TSA door design, inspired heavily by the design in JMP3.  I really liked this design - the feeling of a vault door with a hint of "clockface" around the outside.

I'll refine and rework this as time goes on, but am happy with this as a starting point.

Enjoy!

General Update - Thursday 26th May

Hello!

Just a general update.  I've been researching the VR tech, and there are two avenues open: Quicktime VR and Flash.  At this point, I'm trying to find out how to create a VR with a clickspot which, when clicked, plays the walking animation to the next stopping point, then loads that VR.

At this point this is a "possible" in terms of being used for the final project.  I would certainly like to see this in the final version, as it offers far more freedom than the JMP style of navigation.  However, I need a system that we can use for our purposes, and which allows us to add in all the elements that we need to include.

More updates as they happen :)  If anyone has any suggestions about how this can be achieved, please post a reply!

Andy

Caldoria Lift Test

Hello!

Here's a quick test to try and reproduce the movement of the lift between floors in Caldoria.  30 minutes to render and produce the video - not textured in any way.

Enjoy!

TSA Scanner - QuickTime VR Test #001

Hello!

Ok, I was messing about last night and found a great way to produce QuickTime VR movies using Blender and the free program GoCubic.  The results, I think you will agree, are quite impressive.

I would like your thoughts on this.  While it was my intention to go with the tried and trusted method of 2d navigation i.e. front, sides and back, I was unaware at the time of just how easily the VR images could be produced, as it only requires that two more images be rendered.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.  Should Tribute stick to the 2d style, or embrace the 3d VR tech as seen in JMP3?




A hires version (1024 x 1024) can be downloaded here (right-click and save as).

Scanner "Promotional" Shot

Evening all :)

Here's a promotional shot of the scanner area - still work in progress, but coming along very nicely.  I'd estimate another week and it'll be locked down.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Scanner: HD still

A quick update,

Here's a HD still of the scanners, for a closer look ;)

TSA Scanner Navigation Test v1

Hello!

Here's a navigation test in the "new" scanner area. Fully navigable using the arrow keys - please note that once you're in the centre of the scanner you're stuck there (for the moment!). Feel free to have a play around, and as always, please let me know how you think this is going!

Please note that the flash file is around 6Mb and might take a few seconds to load, depending on your connection speed. Please be patient. Since it is the first test version, there isn't a preloader included.

Enjoy!