CAGD 470: Sprint 2
ePortfolio
Blog Post 2: Propageden!
Publication - 9/27/26
The Goal
By mid-December, my team, Monkey Business, will display to the world a shipped PC title called Banananauts. The development of this game has no real restrictions, meaning that our team has creative freedom as long as it passes the code of conduct that our major enforces. Monkey Business is comprised of six members; each of us will be tested in our knowledge of the production process, agile development, and iterative game design.
Vision Statement
Banananauts is a comedic first-person construction simulation game about a monkey building a spaceship to get to the Sun.
Game Summary
A goofy first-person monkey-to-the-sun simulator. Players scavenge junk to build a rocket, then attempt to survive a launch. Players will make chaos-inducing choices, refill rockets, put out fires, and climb around a failing ship to keep it moving.
The Role
During the course of development, I am Monkey Business' 3D technical artist. Despite this being my first official role as such, I have had experience doing these tasks before during a game's production. However, this is my first time creating assets that are assigned to me; in all instances before, I was the one choosing all assets that would be made. Thankfully, this transition has been smooth for me, with my designer compiling lists of reference art for me to use as a base, and my producer directing me to the explicit areas that each model should focus on. This asset production pipeline was first created in Sprint 1 and is now fully functional in Sprint 2 with little issue, something that I am thankful for.
The Sprint
The start of Sprint 2 was smooth; each person had tasks that were carried over seamlessly from Sprint 1 while new cards were added to the assigned category. With Sprint 1's card count running lower than anticipated, enthusiasm was high to get those points higher by the end of Sprint 2. With all necessary documentation created at this point, there were few to no bottlenecks in any of the production pipelines. Each person was getting tasks done with marginal issues, and the points kept adding up. With me having all reference images at my disposal, I had no issue getting started on my new batch of props.
Props
Banananauts continues to be a very prop-heavy game, with them being essential to constructing the rocket used to reach the sun. Following the production process that I used during Sprint 1: 1) easily identifiable, 2) topologically optimized, and 3) accurate to the references given, I quickly started to work on my set of assigned cards for the sprint. After the completion of each asset, I had to ensure that it retained the same visual art style as the others to ensure none stood out in a negative way. With these props coming closer to texturing, I've started to consult with my producer about texturing ahead of time to ensure I will have a smooth transition into that production process.
Interactables
The first set of props that I worked on during this sprint was a series of interactive props. Each of these props is unique, with distinct silhouettes, levels of detail, and interactability. The fire extinguisher is a very important prop, as it'll be used to extinguish the fires aboard the rocket ship. This meant that it needed to be easily identifiable, as in its use case the player will be very stressed, so they need to recognize it fast if they want to save the ship with it. Next to that is a rework of the special sauce; the designer approached me and wanted a spout on the lid to ensure that the player understood that it was a fuel source. This wasn't a difficult task to do, but it showed me that in my initial creation of assets, I need to better ensure that it fits the designer's vision. Doing this will prevent reworks that use up time that I could've used on brand new assets. The gasoline can is another fuel source, so that was made similar to the real-world counterpart to ensure it was easily recognized. The ape-hesive glue will be used during construction, so that was made similar to traditional super glue. The bomb juice was an interesting experience to create, with me relying heavily on the reference image since there was nothing realistic that I could wrap my head around for assistance. The bag of fertilizer was created using Maya's soft vertex selection, which was a really fun experience to do. The vending machine was probably the most tedious thing to make this sprint, with my designer asking me to recreate a Dole Vending Machine while still ensuring that the prop was game-optimization-ready.
These are the current UV shells for these interactive props; this won't be the final layout; this currently serves as a placeholder to indicate these props are texture-ready.
Walls
The second section of props that I worked on was a series of modular walls that would be placed on the exterior of the rocket. These modular walls required strict sizing parameters to ensure that all would fit on the craft. These all conform to a 1.2 m x 1.2 m shape. The first three walls constructed were metal sheeting with varying levels of damage. I also created a cardboard wall using a similar process. There's also a wall with a mysterious button on it. Along with a manhole cover and a Dance Dance Revolution board, which will be interesting to texture. These props are all unique but still had to meet the rigid parameters set by my designer.
These are the UV shells for the walls; these will also not be the final layout, with this serving as an indication that these props are also ready for texturing.
Miscellaneous
Something that was simple and fun to model during this sprint was the pickle jar. My designer was adamant about the creation of a pickle jar to go along with the lone pickle I created last sprint. I think it came out great, with me drawing expertise from the sap jar I created last sprint as well. Towards the end of the sprint, I was able to get ahold of the rocket's shell that my teammate was working on, so I was able to resize all my assets to the correct dimensions, saving time for later down the line.
The Wrap
This sprint was an improvement in all regards that I can deem imaginable. Our total point count nearly multiplied, with all members being all hands on deck, getting cards done left and right. All of our team is happy with our work and is hoping this progress will continue. I think we're only going to improve with all of us now being fully back into our workflows after returning from summer.
The Path Ahead
Heading into the next sprint, I'll continue the same tasks of modeling a variety of props with different purposes. I'm continuing my goal of increasing overall output to speed up the transition from modeling to texturing. While increasing my output, I'll make sure that the quality and completeness don't drop. With the progress my team's been making, it's only motivated me more to work harder.
The first set of props that I worked on during this sprint was a series of interactive props. Each of these props is unique, with distinct silhouettes, levels of detail, and interactability. The fire extinguisher is a very important prop, as it'll be used to extinguish the fires aboard the rocket ship. This meant that it needed to be easily identifiable, as in its use case the player will be very stressed, so they need to recognize it fast if they want to save the ship with it. Next to that is a rework of the special sauce; the designer approached me and wanted a spout on the lid to ensure that the player understood that it was a fuel source. This wasn't a difficult task to do, but it showed me that in my initial creation of assets, I need to better ensure that it fits the designer's vision. Doing this will prevent reworks that use up time that I could've used on brand new assets.
The gasoline can is another fuel source, so that was made similar to the real-world counterpart to ensure it was easily recognized. The ape-hesive glue will be used during construction, so that was made similar to traditional super glue. The bomb juice was an interesting experience to create, with me relying heavily on the reference image since there was nothing realistic that I could wrap my head around for assistance. The bag of fertilizer was created using Maya's soft vertex selection, which was a really fun experience to do. The vending machine was probably the most tedious thing to make this sprint, with my designer asking me to recreate a Dole Vending Machine while still ensuring that the prop was game-optimization-ready.
These are the current UV shells for these interactive props; this won't be the final layout; this currently serves as a placeholder to indicate these props are texture-ready.
Walls
The second section of props that I worked on was a series of modular walls that would be placed on the exterior of the rocket. These modular walls required strict sizing parameters to ensure that all would fit on the craft. These all conform to a 1.2 m x 1.2 m shape. The first three walls constructed were metal sheeting with varying levels of damage. I also created a cardboard wall using a similar process. There's also a wall with a mysterious button on it. Along with a manhole cover and a Dance Dance Revolution board, which will be interesting to texture. These props are all unique but still had to meet the rigid parameters set by my designer.
These are the UV shells for the walls; these will also not be the final layout, with this serving as an indication that these props are also ready for texturing.
Miscellaneous
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