Hello everyone! I hope you’re all having a great weekend! My week has been going great with the release of the tech demo. I’m trying to address my recent burn out by taking it easy for a little while. The remainder of the year will likely be pretty stressful with holiday planning and gatherings anyway.

This weekend I’m spending my development time working on project management and design stuff. In particular, I want to have at least a rough idea of the layout of the island the game will take place on. I need to open up the Unreal Editor and put together a couple terrains of the sizes I’m considering and see how long it would take the player to run from one end to the other. If it’s too large, I’ll have to use a smaller sized terrain. I was originally considering an 8km x 8km island, but I’ll probably make it a more manageable 2km x 2km island instead if the traversal is too tedious. The game’s design includes a fast travel system, so traversal really would only have to happen once then the player could warp around, but I still need to see what it feels like. No matter what the size, I need to make sure there are plenty of things to do so the world doesn’t feel too boring. But all that is later. Today is simply planning some ideas on what the basic shape of the world will be.

For that task, I’m using Concepts. #NotSponsored. It’s a great art tool. There are a bunch of cool features, but I’m primarily using it for it’s amazing “infinite canvas.” I love just sketching out what I want to sketch out, zooming in or panning around and continuing to work. I tend to work “outside in” with it. I start zoomed out a bit so I can just draw an outline then zoom in and start adding details. I use it on my PC then sync the drawings to my phone and tablet (externally; I don’t think there’s a free option in the app) and continue working on them there when I’m on the go and particularly bored. It’s free. I suggest giving it a shot if it sounds like something that interests you. There are a lot of purchase options including new tools and brushes, but I’m perfectly satisfied with the free options for now.

I also need to do some server work today. I want to get some configuration done on a new server I picked up. I have the PowerEdge R630 downstairs, but I picked up a PowerEdge R730xd to sit with it. Since I got into backing up my movies and series to Plex, my server has filled up pretty quickly. It’s a great thing to have, but it’s kinda expensive, too. ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Anyway, I’ll let you all get back to whatever lovely plans you have for the weekend and I’m going to get back to work. You little lovelies sure work me hard sometimes. 😊 Until next time, everyone, thanks for tuning in and have a great weekend. Keep on gaming!