Personal Inspirations and Beach Screenshots

Hello everyone!
Time for another update :)

We are hard at work rebuilding XING in UE4, and are still extremely happy with the decision to switch engines. We just finished up most of the level re-design work for our beach environment, so check out some of the in-progress shots:

Note: When first blocking out an area without having the correct meshes, we take meshes we have already imported for other levels (in this case the Rainforest) and figure out the basics of where we want later structures to go. Also, that green water just means that we hadn't finished building the ocean material shader with reflectivity and transparency yet. We still haven't finished it actually, but at least the one we have now is a lot more Palette-able. Har har.

And where we are now:

~ Koriel: Working with Inspiration ~

When I'm building a level in editor (from broad strokes to minute details), I like to have some inspiration while I work. That usually comes in the form of images from the internet, music, and TV Shows/Movies on Netflix. These past couple weeks of working on the beach lead me to be simultaneously watching Cast Away, as well as re-watching the first 2 seasons of LOST on my extra monitor. I'm a multi-tasker and like to have several things going on at once; just don't be surprised when you find Game/TV Show/ Movie references in XING. And for all of you LOST aficionados, no, there is no Hatch...

~ John: My Personal Soundtrack for Working on XING ~

While Koriel might be able to multitask, I lose my train of thought the moment a fly enters the room. My personal working strategy when it comes to inspiration is to listen to a favorite video game soundtrack that has to do with the environment or theme I am working on. Lately, I've been enjoying Dave Wise's work on the Donkey Kong Country series, as well as his latest tracks on DKC: Tropical Freeze (which has some absolutely stunning rearrangements of some of his previous work). I've always thought one of the strongest elements of Donkey Kong's music was it's ability to sell the nature of the environment or level you are in by the music alone, while still remaining unique and musically interesting. And for all you Donkey Kong lovers, there might be a banana or two in XING...

~ James: Spirited Away to XING ~

One of my favorite ways to prepare for a run or bike ride is to prepare an inspiring playlist. Similarly, I have an assortment of “XING Inspiration” playlists sitting in my library. Some of my favorite game soundtracks include Golden Sun, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Journey. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the work of composer Joe Hisaishi, a collaborator of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. In the opening of Spirited Away (my favorite Miyazaki film scored by Hisaishi), the music sets the tone for a breezy Japanese suburban interstate - which escalates into adventure as the protagonist’s vehicle veers off into the trees, and approaches the entrance of a mysterious temple. Listening to the music of that scene immediately brings back the visuals and sense of wonder, and all in only three minutes!

Bonus Mini-Tutorial:

Cheers!

We made the switch to Unreal Engine 4!!

TL:DR 
Unreal Engine 4 is awesome. Just scroll down for screenshots...we know that's what you want.

It has been just about 3 weeks since we got back from GDC...and this whole time we have been nose deep in learning the ins and outs of Unreal Engine 4. In those 3 weeks, we have accomplished a crazy amount of work, transferring and recreating the XING Rainforest Level.

Why did we do it?

There are several reasons why we decided to make the switch:

Being on the Cutting Edge

• Now we can count on Oculus support for certain when the game is released
• We can keep up with the times and continue to push for incredible graphics
• Constant support from Epic for their new engine

UE4 is a more User-Friendly Engine to Use

•  Blueprints makes coding far more enjoyable
•  Workflow and speed have been amped up!
• More streamlined import process
• Better material editing
• Art integration with Blueprints
• We can implement things now we had only dreamed of before

We are trying out new ways of displaying text. In the first screenshot from UDK, we used a system of displaying text we created with Flash, Scaleform , ActionScript and UnrealScript. In the 2nd screenshot, we only used Blueprints, and a Built-in Text-In-Editor display.

Refocusing our Art Style

• It's not just "better graphics" we are concerned with, we want to continue to make sure XING has consistent and visually rich environments
• We walk a line between fantasy and realism with our art direction, and UE4 has made that even easier and  - more fun to implement (and more affordable graphics wise)
• Better dynamic lighting built in = less compromises we have to make

We can better achieve what we picture in our heads

Creative Potential

• The things we have learned in the past 3 weeks of using UE4 have been tremendous
• It has shown us the true potential of XING - whether it be implementing mechanics, creating level-specific gameplay moments, or even making basic AI

UE4 Screenshot from the New Rainforest Level

Licensing

• Instead of our previous deal of  $100 for the Dev Kit and 25% of our Net income after 50k, UE4 is only $19/mo. for the entire engine, source code included, with 5% of gross income going to Epic (they deserve it!)
• The source code makes it so that, in the future if (when!) XING becomes popular, we can potentially port it to other platforms ;)

Using UE4 feels like using the future

Switching to UE4 was kind of like switching from a 2002 Toyota Prius to a 2013 Tesla Model S. The Prius was a great step in the right direction for efficiency and got you where you needed to go, but sometimes couldn't get past a certain speed. The Model S gets you where you need to go in modern style and more efficiently, and comes standard with navigation and smooth controls.

What does that mean for the release time?

Hopefully it shouldn't make too much of a difference! At first we decided to spend 4 days seeing how much we could learn and accomplish on the new engine. If we made our set goal after those 4 days, we agreed we would make the switch.

We almost met our goal, and decided to play with the engine some more. After recreating things in blueprints in minutes (that it took us hours to do previously in unrealscript+kismet), we decided that the time it took us to make the switch would most likely be made up by how fast we could get a lot of our mechanics back up and running. What that also means is that mechanics we hadn't yet figured out are also now closer within our grasp :)

According to the clock in XING, we are right on schedule...

Actually Making the Switch:

We're not going to lie, switching from UDK (UE3) to UE4 after about a year of development is a blessing and a curse...

• The Cons
• Having to relearn how to make the game work...
• Epic's new "Blueprints" has replaced Unrealscript and Kismet
• Recreating the map
• Almost nothing transfers over...the landscape sort of can, but you have to re-size it and repaint it
• To be honest at one point, staring at a blank map again with incorrect lighting, no painting and only 5 meshes in my arsenal,  I wanted to cry
• Importing every mesh and texture again...
• Recreating Materials (combining different texture layers to make a surface look correct in the world)
• Now that we have so much more freedom and power at our command, it's easy to get caught up in "what if's"...which sometimes make it into the game. Is that really a con? Pro? Probably a little of both...

• The Pros:
• Better user interface!
• Blueprints are a fun way to code and make things happen per level, or consistently throughout the whole game
• Awesome light rendering - we can put in more static lights even though we have a dynamic sky system
• Particles everywhere!
• Source code (though we haven't touched it yet)
• Constant support from Epic for their new engine
• The new engine makes working on the game feel fresh again

*If you are a developer and have any questions about how we made the switch, feel free to email us at info@xingthegame.com

Screenshot Comparisons Galore!

The first level we have decided to tackle is the rain forest, since it was freshly viewed and tested at GDC. Check out the Results:

You can A-B them if you click on them :)

Rainforest Day

Rainforest Rain

Rainforest Night

Thanks for looking and please let us know any of your questions/comments/concerns and general feedback :)

We are still taking Pre-Orders too ;)