Introduction
This week marked the third sprint in our term-long group project. This sprint ran from Wednesday, January 29th until Tuesday, February 5th, and consisted mainly of preliminary work towards the setup of our game environment in A-Frame.
The main focus for this week's sprint was to work on preparing our A-Frame environment to allow for testing and to ensure that the game's functionality was developed to a degree that is acceptable for our Alpha submission at the end of next week.
For this sprint, I was responsible for modelling proxy geometry for the main features of our game, and for placing this geometry into our A-Frame environment. The proxy models I created for this sprint were the training dummy, the Shinai (training sword), and the Dojo interior.
Challenges and Successes
During this sprint, the biggest challenge that I faced was determining the measurements to apply to each piece of proxy geometry to ensure that they were sized accurately both according to history and in relation to the "height" of our user within the game. A-Frame environments use metres as a unit of measure, so I decided to create each proxy model in Maya using metres as their unit of measure.
Determining the size of each proxy model depended on two conditions: The size of what each model would traditionally be in a real-world situation, and the "height" of our user in the game environment. For the Shinai, I was able to find several resources that detailed the measurement requirements for a Shinai of a human of approximately six feet in height. I had similar success in creating the proxy model for the training dummy, as there were several documents that listed the measurement requirements of a dummy for an individual of a specific size.
I unfortunately was unable to find concrete measurement requirements for a Kendo dojo, as the size of a dojo traditionally depends on its location and the number of students occupying it. Instead of using traditional measurements, I therefore used an average six-foot-tall individual as a method of determining how large the room should be. Because of this, it is unclear whether the dojo is a comfortable size for the user to be in, however further testing will determine if and how those dimensions will need to be changed.
Tasks Completed, Hours Spent
Throughout this past week, I have been working mostly on modelling proxy geometry and placing it within our A-Frame environment.
Up to this point, I have spent approximately 5-6 hours working on these models and their implementation. Visual examples of the proxy models created can be seen in the three images below.
Conclusion
Overall, I think that I was successful in creating accurately sized models and placing them in our environment. With the size of the Dojo interior as a question mark, I will be experimenting with different room dimensions going forward to ensure that the game environment conveys the feeling that we are striving for in Kendo Gakko.
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