Good morning, afternoon, and evening INT fans!
Even after releasing our MASSIVE “Year in Review” last week, we here at Starboard Games LLC have been working nonstop to make sure there would be something fresh to show off during this update as well. It has not been a simple task but our hard work has fortunately paid off. Before leaping into the depths of today’s material, however, there are still a couple minute details to go over first.
As was announced this past Thursday in our “Year in Review” video, the first-ever playable teaser for INT will be available at RavenCon later this year. This convention build will feature key elements from INT’s opening stage and is being specially designed to contain many of the core mechanics that we are planning to include in the game’s full release. As such, April 29th will be the world’s first opportunity to experience INT as intended. While the game will most definitely be available to those attending RavenCon, the Starboard Games team is still uncertain as to whether or not the community would like us to release this build online as well. If you would like to get your hands on a playable build of INT at the end of Spring, make certain to let your voice be heard in the comments below or message us on our Twitter, Facebook, and/or Reddit pages.
Now, with all of that out of the way, on to the news!
A few weeks ago – way back in “Weekly Update #4” – we discussed the universal rig and universal character that our animation team had developed. As you might recall, the intended purpose of these creations was to hasten the process by which our animators could create fluid motion without the prerequisite of a complete 3D-model.
From the ample progress that has been made since that last update, it is clear to see that the robotic-looking stand-in has been living up to its high expectations. Thanks to this rather simple-looking model, the Starboard Games animation team has already managed to put together an impressive collection of canned movements that can later be applied to more intricate character models as they are completed.
|| Idle Animation ||
|| Walk Animation ||
|| Run Animation ||
|| Sprint Animation ||
While these animations are nearly complete and will only require some minor tweaks once attached to their respective models, eagle-eyed followers of our updates may have noticed that something crucial is missing.
The universal character/rig has no face…
We are pleased to announce that this is a problem no longer! The animation team has finished construction on what they are calling the “universal facial rig” so as to assist them in creating more detailed expressions and facial animations for INT.
The facial rig itself is constructed with 25 unique joints that can be moved around so as to manipulate specific aspects of a character’s face and/or head. There is one neck joint and one head joint which are used in tandem to manipulate the direction/orientation of the character’s head. There is a single jaw joint as well as eight lip joints that control mouth and lip movement. Then there are also six eyebrow joints and eight eye joints that control where the character’s eyes are positioned and the expression they wear on their face.
|| Impressive... If not a touch disconcerting... ||
With the addition of the facial rig to the universal rig, therefore, there are now 90 joints per character that our team can work with as they develop a collection of intricate animations for the full-release of INT.
On the final Thursday of January, just one week before our “Year in Review” was released, the latest and greatest episode of the Rogue Space podcast was launched upon an unsuspecting populace. Ever since that fateful day, there has been a marked increase in internal discussions concerning INT-verse lore and a growing desire from the team to share this lore with the greater gaming community. That being said, efforts on constructing the “INTcyclopedia” first mentioned in “Weekly Update #1” have begun once more with a small portion of the PR, Creative Development, and PR Team working in tandem to make it a reality sooner rather than later.
On a side note, we have also begun searching for independent game developers who might be interested in joining the Rogue Space team for an episode or two to discuss their own projects and chat with other indie developers. We are hoping that Rogue Space can grow beyond simply being about INT and the projects of Starboard Games to become an arena for casual and professional discussion within the independent gaming community. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, feel free to contact our PR Lead at: JacobDeming.PR@Int-Game.net.
This week we are going to delve into the backstory of the first planet within the Sol System, Mercury.
What had once been considered a barren and uninhabitable wasteland of a planet, this lone rock managed to become the well from which many of humanity’s great industrial efforts found their beginnings. Colonized and converted into the largest metal works in the history of mankind by Fist Heavy Industries, Mercury is now the base of operations for this massive corporation’s operations due the nearly unprecedented rate at which ore is mined and refined. Due to the great wealth of materials buried deep within the planet’s crust, Mercury has arguably become one of the most important colonies in maintaining their control over much of the galaxy.
