On January 19th, 2011, Eric Preisz made the announcement of the year this year. It’s not just the fact that Garage Games is bringing back their engines at an affordable price, or that their going back to their old tried and true brand, or even that they are staying in Vegas, but they are also hiring new staff in their bigger location!

“We are committed to delivering you a full source solution without royalties at a price that indies can afford,

We are committed to a better out of the box experience: more intuitive tools focused on design, better tutorials and documentation, and web-site updates that support our most valuable feature…our community,

We are committed to bringing in more talent that can help us execute reliable processes, provide better quality, and set higher standards that exceed your expectation ( btw…we are hiring ).”

According to BusinessWire and Joystiq, The New and Improved Garage Games is being funded by Graham Software Development.

As experienced torque developers ourselves, we look forward to the changes and growth of this company coming down the pipe. What does that mean for our Overlord? It’s staying. We will be ramping up support requests and taking a look at our development roadmap for it to find the best possible solution for our indie developers that use our product.

“Apple’s App Store is the most vibrant market for mobile gaming,” said Epic Chief Executive Mark Rein. “If you’re going to make a game for a mobile device, and you want to make the most money, you’re nuts not to make it for iOS.”

It was stated back in 2009 Game Developer that the Unreal Engine was the most widely used engine in the video games industry. Now there’s no doubt who holds the title for best in class middleware product.

Apple has sold more than 125 million devices using the iOS. Epic has also had their own success on the iOS with their release of “Infinity Blade,” with sales estimated at more than 1.5 million in its first four days on the market. WIth a price tag of $5.99, Apple’s Game Center social network lists more than 300,00 playing users.

UDK is free to use for educational or non-commercial purposes. However, if as a developer you were interested in going commercial epic allows a royalty based business model. As a developer if you’d like to sell your app, there is a $99 USD licensing fee and 25% royalties after the first $5,000 USD in sales.

“Today, InstantAction informed employees that it will be winding down operations. While we are shutting down the InstantAction.com website and Instant Jam game, Torquepowered.com will continue to operate while InstantAction explores opportunities with potential buyers for Torque. We thank all of our past and current customers for their support.”

Though it looks like they will be looking for a buyer for Torque to perhaps continuing the legacy that the former technology leader played in Indie games development, it’s too early to tell what the future holds. For the moment torquepowered.com, instantaction.com, and operations will continue while they begin the process of finding a buyer and shut things down.

Torque was used in published game titles such as Tribes 2, the Penny Arcade Adventures series, and upcoming Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.

What does this mean for Zensoft Studios? As some may know we currently offer our Overlord Project Management system for game developers through their online store. We will continue to exclusively distribute the product through torquepowered.com until their operations change. After such time Overlord will continue to be available and supported regardless of where it is distributed. We will be sending more updates as we have them.

Until then, don’t give up hope. Keep Indie Games alive, and hold a place in your heart for a true leader on our industry!

They are, “looking to hear from other digital media professionals who have expressed an interest in, and a passion for digital media and interactive content.”

For those of you who’ve never heard of 49 Pixels before, since May 2010, Justin and his team have embarked on an ongoing research and awareness program. Their goal, through defining, monitoring, and promoting the digital media industry in Canada, is to create a classification system for the digital media industry.

We encourage your participation in their efforts. If you are interested in supporting them, contact (justin {at} 49pixels(.)ca) so that they can add your name to their feedback loop. Your participation and support is pertinent to the accuracy of their cause.

For more information check out the 49 Pixels website, facebook page, and follow them on twitter.

Let’s keep the content rolling!

Earlier this month Indie Game: The Movie featured our first trailer on their site. Our next trailer is well on its way and should be completed later this month. The Blinkworks team will also be featuring our trailer in their upcoming movie!

Oh, that’s not all! We’ve been invited by the gents at Game Camp Edmonton to show our demo at their next event! Those of you in the Edmonton, Alberta area and would like the chance to meet other industry, people we invite you to take the afternoon off and join the fun!

What: Game Camp Edmonton – for Drinks, Demo’s, & Creativity!
Where: Original Joe’s Varsity location
When: 6:30pm

More updates to come soon!!

In their own words:
“The Calgary XNA User Group is an association of people in and around the greater Calgary area who are interested in developing games, tools and applications for Windows, Xbox 360, Zune, Zune HD and Windows Phone 7 Series using the XNA 4.0 Framework and Visual Studio 2010 for Windows Phone technologies. In 2010 the user group is proud to include Silverlight 4.0 to the topics of discussion.”

The Calgary XNA User Group meets every second Wednesday. Their most recent sponsor is Pandell, who’s offered them space to host the group.

This month Scott Wilson, a prominent member presented the Flat Red Ball Engine and his favorite tool, Glue. We did video the presentation but it’s too large and the audio didn’t quite make it through. Next time we’ll be sure it’s working and share the inner workings of the group with you.

Scott’s presentation included a quick overview of Flat Red Ball. He followed up with a demonstration on how easy it is to set up a 2D world with characters, though he used representational balls and oblongs, within Glue with very little coding. In less than an hour, while presenting and stepping us through the process, Scott created a world with a keyboard controlled character navigating and colliding with a drawbridge, castle, and a fat green dragon. The developer, Victor Chelaru, maintains up to date support for the engine and Glue. He’s also currently working on an game title which helps the development of Flat Red Ball and associated tools.

For more information check out Flat Red Ball or the Calgary User Group. For new developers to the space check out the Microsoft XNA Developer Community to get started!

Want to get involved with XNA in your local scene? Have a look at the XNA User Group chapters in your area or contact them about starting your own.

1. DVD Video
We’re glad to announce that the project has officially hit production. The rendering of all the frames is underway and moving along smoothly. The project is being rendered in Anamorphic Widescreen DVD Format. It will be displayed on a 42″ Widescreen TV in the showroom hooked up to a DVD player. The decision to render out in DVD format vs. HD was based on time and budget.

2. Still Renders
For online and offline marketing materials we used pre-rendered orthogrphic, 1 point and 2 point perspective views. These renderings are used to create final paintovers. Below are some render shots prior to post processing.

Fig. 1 – 2 Point Perspective View

Fig. 2 – Right Side Orthographic View

Fig. 3 – Main Floor Overhead View

Fig 4. – Basement Overhead View

3. Paintovers
In this project we’re creating much of the environment and ambiance using 2D post processing techniques to save time and budget. Also since there is very little user interactivity, there is no need for a touchable, realistic interactive environment. Fig. 5 was created at 300dpi and coloured in CMYK to be ready for print. This paintover will be used on Billboard. The challenge with Othrographic paintovers is creating perspective from a view that has no perspective. Here we use 1 point perspective techniques to help create a pseudo sense of realism.

Fig. 5 – 2 Point Perspective Paintover

Fig. 6 – Right Side Orthographic Paintover

Fig. 6 – Main Floor Overhead Paintover

Fig 7. – Basement Overhead Paintover

What’s left?
Once the DVD Frames have been rendered we will be doing some post processing to give them the final touch. We will also be creating two more 1 point perspective paintovers from the front and rear orthographic views.

For more images on this project feel free to visit our Flickr and Youtube pages.

When the project was initiated with Glennstar our deliverables were 1) to create a 3D asset of the Ironwolf Communities Duplex show home, designed by Architectural Designer, Elisa, McLellan; 2) render several print ready assets for marketing materials; and 3) Create an architectural fly-through showcasing the virtual home, so that it can be deployed to DVD and the Web.

Fig 1. Duplex Show Home – Main Floor

Fig 2. Duplex Show Home – Developed Basement

I won’t get into too many technical details of the project but I’d like to highlight a few big ones.

Working on any project, especially a project with so many aesthetic components to consider, can be a daunting task. Even a small 3D home project there are thousands of bits, parts, and pieces to create and maintain. In residential construction, the client or even the clients customers can request colour changes, small tweaks, “minor” wall changes, door type changes, etc. We use a technique called file referencing.

For example, if a house has 3 windows that are exactly the same, then those windows should all be pulled into the main model from a single source file. The benefits of this are two-fold. First we only need to model the asset once and any future changes to the asset will propagate up to the composite model. Secondly, assets that aren’t complete can still be added to the composite model in proxy form. An example would be knowing the size of a new door model but not knowing the final design of the door. The artist doing the layout of the composite model can make a new file with a cube object of the same size, shape, and with the same pivot point as the final door model. They can then reference that file into the composite model and position it on the house. When the design for the door arrives from the client, that proxy file can be modified to specification and voila! The door in the composite model will have maintained the changes.

Other advantages to using a reference pipeline can allow multiple team members to work on the same file, and build a database of reusable assets. Since developers use finishing products and materials from many different manufacturers, file referencing allow us to maintain a library of assets which include many types of metadata, such as, manufacturer, product type, product style, product color, and the list goes on.

Specializing in interactive tools like the Unreal 3 Engine, that which most Arch Viz companies wouldn’t even consider, not only do we need to take into account how our assets are constructed but also their performance abilities in real-time. All assets that we develop are created using the latest in rendering technology such as Parallax mapping, giving final assets that photorealistic shine without hindering engine performance. The benefit is that all of our houses can be used in interactive simulation software like Project Carma, without a lot of extra customization.

One last consideration which requires both experience, patience, and proper planning, is the pre-rendered fly-through. Creating a video of a camera moving throughout a virtual house is more than just hitting the easy button. your home television outputs approximately 24fps, which is 24 frames (images) per second. If a video is 3 minutes and 30 seconds long, the number of frames that will make up that video is 5040 frames. First of all creating assets with game development practices helps with this process. Today’s rendering technology doesn’t impede visual quality by using lower poly assets. The time required to create each frame is determined by a number of variables that the computer needs to calcuclate. This process is called rendering. These factors can include number of polygons, visual objects, light sources, resolution of the frame, shadows, reflections, refractions, and camera depth. Any minor changes to any of these variables and settings can drastically increase or decrease the time it will take to render each frame. In our process we do a number of tests before a scene will enter final production. These tests include camera flow, lighting, resolution, and production quality to name a few. The trick is to get the scene as perfect as possible before hitting the production cue.

Below is an example of camera test #22.

In summary, the only challenges that we’ve faced in this project thus far have been the lighting design of the project. Ensuring that the lighting is set just right to give not only realistic illumination but enough ambiance enabling the proper mood for both the video and still renderings.

1. Cost Effective – Recent recession aside, the cost of materials is expensive. For any builder, small, medium, and large, the cost of doing business is more than just human resources, and adequate labor. The cost of materials used, and wasted and shipped can be staggering when setting up in new development sections. As well as the risk of sitting on show properties that burn a hole into any business budget with furniture, staff, and marketing materials, business loans, etc. At the cost of one average middle class show home (approx. 2500-3000sq ft @ $400k/unit ), depending on your service provider, almost 100 3D rendered homes could be built and textured.

2. Green Technology – In our day and age, with considerations like environmental impact, on site and in the office. 3D Arch Viz can take the paper away from trash bins. these technologies can be applied to various creative media inside your show-centers as well as your customers homes. Video fly-through’s and interactive home customizing tools such as Zensoft’s Project “Carma” can be deployed to HD TV’s web browsers, and kisok computers. 3D assets can be reused, re-textured, and even modified. Can you do that with scale physical models?

3. Customer Simplicity – Buying a home is stressful enough for your customers. Remember when you purchased your first, second or third home? Worrying about the mortgage, moving, location & social impacts, paint colors, etc? Not to mention that most customers have trouble visualizing their new space before it’s built. No more trying to interpret 2′ of space off the dining room sketched out on a pre-printed 36″x24″ blueprint. CG Architecture can help them visualize their new home, from interior design decisions, floor plan, and whether their stuff will even fit!

4. Customer Engagement – have you ever had a customer walk into your show center while you were busy with another customer? Did they walk in and walk out in less than 5 minutes without really saying much to you and than venture to your competitions show center across the street? There could be a number of reasons for this, but aesthetically, everyone is different. Neutral colours, the latest interior design fads, and modern contemporary furnishings don’t appeal to everyone. 3D assets can be a cost effective way of displaying the same spaces with a variety of options, that may be more attractive to potential home buyers. Being able to relate to your customers needs, likes, and dislikes of a home may be the one thing missing from your game plan.

There are many other reasons why CG technology can help you build your business. The above mentioned are a just a few topics that we can help with.

Fig 1. Kitchen 1 light test with dark wood cabinets.

Fig 2. Kitchen 2 light test with light wood cabinets.

Zensoft Studios uses it’s knowledge of game industry workflow, pipeline, and technology to create realistic, stunning, 3d architectural renderings. All 3D assets are produced game engine ready, optimized, and ready for Unreal Technology and Torque 3D Engine pipelines. The teams work with their architectural partners will help the development of their the upcoming proprietary software, Project Carma.

For more images of Zensoft’s 3D Architectural Renderings please visit our Flickr collection.