Priest

The Priest! My magnum opus aside from my Maestro game. She went through the same pipeline as the Maestro minus the high-quality sculpt part. Also this time around is a much more advanced rig. At first the rig was just the unreal engine rig for her body and a separate custom rig for the book. However, I started thinking ahead at how I wanted the book to interact with the priest. It wouldn't be easy to have a free floating object doing spinning, flying, and orbiting actions without a skeletal system that's rooted to something that CAN spin/fly/orbit off of the priest aka a root bone. So the whole rig was remade under the Unreal Engine rig tools since its a tone easier that way. As a result, the book is part of the priest skeletal system so its technically not a separate object anymore. Otherwise I would have a good amount of trouble attaching and detaching the book for certain animations. I do realize that games in general have the book or weapon as a separate object from the character skeleton and attach it afterwards, but I just found it easier for my purposes to do it this way. If I ever wanted to hide the book, I would just make the material on the book not render-able or transparent, which is what I did with an angel character I did for fun in my practice level that you may see in the distance on my animation videos.

This character also has something that none of the others have: Facial animation! Every animation she has has some form of facial animation. I made my own rig tools to work alongside the bones managed by Unreal Engine's bone system. Works wonderfully, better than I thought. I figured blendshapes would be more troublesome so I kept everything under a bone system instead.

Also I used a basic physics asset in Unreal on the ponytail, bangs, and cape. I need to learn more on the physics asset though cause they keep clipping through her whole body :(

Priestess by Infinidium on Sketchfab

She is designed as a holy character, a combat healer of sorts. She has some self defense but mostly engages as a support.

Anyways, she plays different from the other chibi characters, and has 3 modes. The first default mode is the town mode, or no combat mode. This stance is for peaceful strolling through towns. Not many animations in that form and I highly regret not changing the animation for "jumping" in that form. Its quite lazy and it was early in animation development anyway so I was eager to do more of the action moves.

Priestess Animation 1 by Infinidium on Sketchfab

In her combat form she brings out her book. She runs a little faster and thankfully her jump is better. She doesn't have a 2 button combat system like the chibi characters, but more like the Maestro. She has a repeatable basic attack combo X+X+X, an alternate spell, and 3 additional abilities.
Her alternate is Sing. In a small radius she heals herself and others.
Second spell is Smite. She must stand still and strike an area in front of her with holy lightning.
Her third spell is Holy Nova. After a long cast time, she explodes with holy power, healing and damaging those around her.
Her 4th spell can only be done in the combat form (more on the final form later...). Its a simple Escape. She throws down a ball of energy to blast herself back and others away.

Priestess Animation 2 by Infinidium on Sketchfab

Press T for a unique taunt animation in combat form!

Her best part is her burst mode, or limit break, or whatever you want to call it. At maximum power, she can go into an Angel form. (I do not have an example on Sketchfab QQ)

The priest gains wings of an angel! I really love the concept of "energy" wings, or living ethereal wings. Blizzard did amazingly with that concept with their vision of angels in Diablo. Some of their "energy tentacle" wings are amazing to see, most notably on Tyrael. I tried to recreate it with some help I found (which was done in unreal engine, how convenient) while making my own effect.
In this form she gains a ton of...everything really. She is able to perform her basic attack while moving freely.
Her Sing ability is no different. Maybe lower cooldown or something but nothing visually different.
Her Smite ability calls down help from the heavens in the form of a rain of holy swords, striking and stay in the ground, sanctifying the area for a short time. Smite has no cast time so it can be done almost instantly as well.
Holy Nova comes in 2 parts, in the first casting part, she can move freely. When she casts the spell, she stays put at her location but the effect is much grander in Angel form. Visually I don't think there is much difference.
As she has gained wings, she can double jump very high! Pressing jump again makes her glide! Gliding is very difficult to make in Unreal engine I found. No one seems to have done it in blueprint form at least. Thinking about it right now, there may have been some options I might have looked over.
Since she has wings and can glide, she doesn't have an Escape spell cause that would be overpowered more than she probably already is.
Basic attack while in the air! She will shoot a maximum of 3 holy blades from her book at an angle to the ground. Let's say they heal and damage cause why not? Press Y to go into an awesome nose dive that blows things away!
Press T for a unique taunt animation in Angel form again!

Honestly animating this character was immensely fun. I really hope to do more like this. Perhaps I could turn the chibi characters into this type? Who knows? But I am very proud of my work here.

The Chibi Game

Return of the chibi characters! This time I focused a lot on an action-RPG, hack and slash gameplay style, which means a ton of animation and effects. These games tend to be very character focused with plenty of action and movement going on. One thing I have learned is that games like this and fighting games have to come up with so many, MANY animations. My animations are just the tip of the iceberg compared to fighting games or games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. Even games like MegaTagmension Blanc + Neptune Vs Zombies (mouthful of a name) have a ton of wild animations.

Basing off of the simple combo system the Maestro had, I made these characters have a rudimentary 2 button combo system. Unfortunately, I am not skilled enough to make very complex combos with even just 2 buttons, so the combos that exist tend to just be after a certain number of valid key presses.

The controls were based on the Xbox controller, but they can be played on the keyboard and mouse. Each character has basic attack combos and an alternate attack that can change up how the character attacks in another combo (more info for individual characters). They can all fight on the ground or up in the air, they all have double jump, they can dash forward on the ground or in the air (Maestro had a directional dash but it was very difficult to get it done smoothly) and have class specific traits to them.

This project consisted of various classes of RPG characters. Back in the original chibi character project, I had already made the different classes but the only one that made it entirely through that project was the female Rogue. The other characters were the male and female Knight, male and female Wizard, male and female Ranger, and a male Rogue. Since all they need is a bit of a tuneup in topology and textures, they could easily be used. In this game project, I made 2 more chibi characters (minus the opposite sex versions).

This project consisted of 3 characters: the female Rogue, the female Technomage, and the male Berserker.

Rogue

The Rogue was the first character to be finished. She is made to be a quick and agile assassin. She has daggers so she is short ranged and cannot easily take on multiple targets. However, her move set gives her the ability to attack single targets efficiently and move across the battlefield as well. Her basic attack combo is X+X+X+X+X... etc. Just spam it...

Her alternate attack are thrown daggers. Her alternate attack combo is Y+Y+Y. 

Her air attacks are pretty fun and "ninja"-like as well and are done with the alternate attack button Y. If you were to just jump in the air and mash Y, you would be unable to fully access the air combo. To get the full experience, you must first press X then Y mash. X+Y+Y+Y+Y is the combo. How it goes is a simple stab forward into a kick upwards, launching enemies into the sky where the Rogue can then dispatch an area in the air with ease and finish it with a Down attack, forcing her enemies towards the ground. 

Due to some unfortunate programming and my noob skillz, it is possible to do air attacks on the ground by simply pressing Y early in the basic attack combo and you will do the air attack which is numerically ordered next. For example, attacks are done in an attack order. X+X+X+X is 1+2+3+4. X+Y+Y+Y is 1+2+3+4 still. Its easy to do something like X+X+Y+Y. However, you cannot go back to the X combo after that. So I guess its kinda cool that you can easily switch combos albeit only a one-way transfer, but it was unintended.

She has a down attack, done at the end of the air combo, but can be done anytime in the air by pressing X instead of Y.

Technomage

The Technomage is the 2nd character. Learning from some mistakes in the Rogue, I enhanced the blueprint from the Technomage. Her rig was also pretty fun to do and as a result, her animations were awesome. Intended as a mixture of magic and technology (hence her class name) she controls 2 drones that can channel her power. Her wide attacks can destroy hordes of enemies with ease, but she is not as fast and nimble as the Rogue. 

Her basic attack combo gets better as it goes. As her combo progresses, her power dispensed is increased, her range is larger, and she gains the ability to move. She can easily keep enemies at bay. Her final basic attack is a large powerful beam she fires while standing still. You can slowly rotate her. 

Her alternate attack is using the drones to fire a bolt each and one from her. 3 shots total from one Y input. This is a spammable attack and she is able to keep moving. 

Same as the rogue air combo, the technomage combo is X+Y+Y+Y. But instead of fighting in the air, she opts to fight from the ground in a large area. The end of her combo is a devastating hammer attack with her drone bringing enemies from the air down to the ground in a destructive energy shockwave. 

Her down attack is similar to her final basic attack in that she will fire a large beam downwards at an angle to the ground. 

One problem she has in terms of programming is that her down attack can be used at any time during an air combo. Her air combo occurs on the ground instead so doing her down attack on the ground looks like she is extremely angry at the ground 5 feet away from her and insists on exacting vengeance upon that poor ground. Rip in pieces. 

Berserker

The Berserker is the final character. There isn't too much difference in the basic programming behind this guy and the technomage but he does have an ability the others don't: Block. This old war veteran thrives upon the fields of battle and is still able to swing his massive 2 handed axe with ease. Enemies in number or single imps will stand no match against his wide swinging arcs and blade storms. In terms of animation this guy is very unique in that he always has a "cooldown" animation. After every attack, if there is no further input, he has a unique animation to replace his axe upon his shoulder.

His basic attack is unique in that once he starts his blade storm, he doesn't have to ever stop. Until he has to move at least. His spinning blade storm gains attack speed and damage with the loss of movement speed the longer he is spinning. Very quickly he will come to maximum spin and come to a standstill as a result. He has 2 ways of finishing this combo. Pressing no buttons result in him making a final spin into a large arcing forward lunge. Pressing Y will launch him and his enemies into the air and be brought down to the ground in a devastating explosion, probably in half too. 

His alternate attack is a simple fire slice. The flaming projectile travels slowly but grows larger as it travels for a long distance. 

Pressing B will make him Block. Block is intended to prevent any damage coming from in front of him as he shelters himself behind his massive axe. 

The Berserker scoffs at the notion of fighting in the air with his massive heavy axe, so instead his only air attack is a slice into down attack. He will fall straight down from his position and cause a large explosion upon landing. Brutal. 

Due to him not having an air combo, the berserker is surprisingly bug free. Hooray!

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Originally this project was going to have a 4th chibi character, a Priest. But I figured I had enough practice with that body type and wanted to try something harder. The next post is my most recent, and and my new favorite project: the Priest.

The Wraith and the Minion

Short post here, this is just dedicated to the Wraith and Maestro pet minion animations.

Wraith by Infinidium on Sketchfab

The Wraith was especially fun to do due to the fact that he has no lower body. I wanted to really embody him to being inhuman, with a ghost-like movement to him as well as saying boldly "I am evil." His presence meant a lot so he was made to be large with long skeletal limbs. I tried to also make it as anatomically accurate as I could aside from his spine. Originally his spine was going to be used as sort of like a scorpion tail, but my rigging skills limited me unfortunately. If and when I get better, he may make his dark return...

The Minion was pretty easy to do honestly. My rig allowed me to squash and stretch his mouth to how I wanted, but one sure limit was how I rigged his legs. This rig was made before the Wraith or the Unreal Engine rigs so it has some mistakes here and there. 

Note Minion by Infinidium on Sketchfab

Maestro

The Maestro

This character, the Maestro, is one of my best portfolio pieces. Its an original character I have made that combines a conductor character with music itself into the design. From the more obvious musical notes on her crown, her head and ponytail are shaped into a musical note itself. She would be like a musical mage or summoner. Her abilities include utilizing sound waves to do damage or protect her, summoning instruments to help her, and even having her music coalesce into small but numerous minions.  This character has gone through the whole pipeline: From concept drawing to modelling to sculpting to rigging to posing and high quality renders to being animated and integrated into an Unreal Engine project.

The Maestro High Poly Sculpt

I have also made little minion characters to go along with her. There are 3 types, but only the simplest one made it into the game.

Disclaimer: The little legs on these guys have been removed in the final version. They do look a little dumb...

Behold! The Maestro!

Her gameplay demo (recommend playing it on Youtube directly):

And in her actual game:

The Chibi Project

As part of my final project for school, I had built a low-poly base mesh that would be used in anime-style JRPG games. It is very easy to make new characters quickly out of this mesh, and just modifying a couple edge loops can make a female or male character. As they are the same base mesh, they were able to inherit bits of the skeleton rig of the base mesh and therefore inherit some animations to make things easier. I did have to learn how to rig a bow and arrow, which came out beautifully.

The final project was a few minute long animation done in Maya with an asian Ninja theme. I had to create the environment, the characters, rigs, lighting, and had a little bit of help on textures (only on some characters and weapons) as I was short on time. Unfortunately, I didn't account for rendering as it would take many, many, many, MANY, hours to render and I could not find worth in making my computer or several of the school computers to render it out. Instead I opted for recording the viewport. It is a definite loss of quality, but time constraints forced me and I am glad for the alternative either way.

Here are some characters of the animation.

The Archer

Wireframe

The Minion

Wireframe

The Boss

Wireframe

The Rogue

Wireframe

The Rogue went on to join 2 other characters in a major project that used the recently publicly released Unreal Engine. More on that in the upcoming posts...

Sundress

Sundress was a short project I did on a whim. Using another modified female mesh base, I quickly modeled a dress and other accessories, posed her, and went into Zbrush. The hair was done in Zbrush, by the draw tubes method I believe.

Scylla

During school, I played games. Who doesn't? And like many people my age, I played MOBAs. If you don't know what a MOBA is, think League of Legends or DOTA2. However, my MOBA game was Smite, a game that featured a 3rd person perspective, a MOBA style gametype with other gametypes, using the pantheons of gods from cultures around the world (No, you can't play as Jesus...*yet*)
While I have moved on from Smite to playing other current games like Overwatch, I have spent a good amount of time on a fan art project of one of the gods I played in Smite: Scylla. She was shown to be a little girl with a bad temper and a concept that was closer to Lovecraft with her wolf...snake things...to be a part of her lower body, similar to other half-human races of the Greek mythology.

I submitted this to the Smite Community Art contest (?) and it was so well received that...

It became Fan Art of the Year 2014!!!!!