Creating 3d Objects for Star Fantasy

Creating Star Fantasy Unlimited is a lot of work ofcourse. We want to give you a great game experience, and one of the most important aspects to make that happen is to spend a lot of work on the graphics. We want the game to have lots of details, a great atmosphere and memorable locations. My job is to make 3D models. With so many things to model it's usually hard to choose what to model first, but with Mikey telling me what to make next, I don't have to worry about that.

My first assignment was to make the ores which can be mined ingame. Without asking too many questions I started working on the rock.

Then I added basic ore shapes to the rock. I wasn't sure if this was the shape I was looking for, but I was getting closer.

Shortly after this, Mikey contacted me and told me he came up with a better idea. He wanted to place the ores directly into the rock. This would create more diversity and realism. I agreed and started working on the new design of the ore. Mikey told me he wanted a more realistic design for the ores instead of the crystal-shaped ones. After trying some things out we came up with the final design. This is the design for the copper ore, but all the ore types ingame have a different color to them.

This was my first Dev Blog post. I enjoy informing everyone about my progress and I hope I'll be able to post better models in the future.

Gathering Professions

There are currently 5 gathering professions: Woodcutting, Fishing, Mining, Skinning, and Wildcrafting. A gathering profession is a profession that does not need a prerequisite from another profession in order to function. I will go into a brief description of how each of the gathering professions will work in game as well as some examples of how they tie into other professions.

Woodcutting is the art of cutting down and assessing each tree. Any player can cut down a tree, but only a person with the required woodcutting mastery for the wood will be able to appraise it and tell you what it is. This means that if you use the wood without appraising it, you will not be able to use it for anything other then Firemaking and even then, you won't get the benefits of using that wood because you don't know what it is. Cutting down a tree will raise your Woodcutting experience and allow you to cut them down in a shorter amount of time, appraise more accurately (meaning the stats of the trees will be more beneficial), and they will always create logs. The player will have to hold and release the targeting reticule in the center to hit the tree's weak spot and cut it down faster. The more Woodcutting experience you have, the less weak spots needed to hit. Woodcutting will be used in Construction, Woodworking, and Firemaking.

Fishing will require the player to actually have the skill and patience to catch fish. Everyone will have the same chance of catching fish, the main difference however, will be in what bait you use on the end of your line. Depending on what bait you use, you will have a high probability of catching that particular fish. Once you hooked the fish you must tap the fishing button as rapidly as you can until you've finally caught the fish. The less experience you have in fishing, the more button mashing you will need to do in order to catch the fish. You will also need a certain amount of experience to appraise the size and type of fish you caught. The size and type will dictate the stats on the fish as well as how long it will take for you to catch it. The bigger ones will take longer to catch however, the more experience you have, the better the chance of catching a bigger fish. Fishing will be used in Cooking and Alchemy.

Mining can be seen in a wide variety of games and this is no different. You will be able to see the ores of a gem or metal inside of caves and rocks all over Ellia. They will be easy to spot due to how they stick out as well as the particle effects on top of them. In order to mine a rock successfully you will need to find where the rock's being detained and slowly pick at it until the ore comes free. The more experience you have in Mining the less amount of swings that are required to get the ores free. Also, the rarer metals will require you to have an enchanted pick axe so as not to damage them during extraction. The more rare a metal is, the longer it will take to to extract it due to the delicate nature of it and not wanting to warp it on impact. Mining will be used in Construction, Blacksmithing, Bladesmithing, Armorsmithing, Jewelcrafting, Bowyer, and Alchemy.

Skinning allows the player to acquire a fiend or animal's skin or innards that can then be used for various professions. There really is not much experience to skinning other then being able to specify where to skin. At higher levels you will be able to skin more parts without completely mutilating the animal or fiend. You will also be able to skin things at a faster rate but other then that its a pretty bare but useful skill. Skinning will be used in Leatherworking, Cooking, Tailoring, Fletching, and Alchemy.

Wildcrafting is a profession that studies plants. You will be able to assess what the different types of plants are and what their use is through appraisal similar to Woodcutting. You can pick them, however, you will not be able to tell exactly what it is or what it is used for until it is appraised. The more experience you have in Wildcrafting the more accurate your appraisals are. Also, you will shorten the time needed to harvest them. The amount of materials gained from picking a particular plant will also scale with the amount of experience you have in your profession as well due to being able to spot the necessary portions and pick out the unnecessary ones to maximize your efficiency. Wildcrafting is used in Herbalism, Cooking, and Tailoring.