The Platform

In this first part, I will be creating the terrain on which the games will be played on. For various reasons, but mainly due to the simplicity of the region, I will begin with the Red Sea region.

The area has a beautiful route with mountains, dunes and some historical landmarks. This will make testing and deploying future regions easier, as I get to test the majority of 3D models and coding, without worrying about too much detail.

First step.....getting the Digital Terrain into a 3D application to add details and setup the 'platform' for the game.....

The main applications I will be using are:

• Global Mapper - This will be used for getting the digital terrain model and the GIS layers ready for import and editing into the 3D application.
• 3D Studion Max 2012 - The further provide terrain editing and sculpting, from basic rivers and wadies to mountains and rock formations. Will also be used to model the cars, props, buildings and characters in the game.
• MotionBuilder 2012 - To animate the characters and provide animation baking.
• Photoshop CS 5.5 - The edit the splat maps and various textures for the 3D terrain and models.
• JScript - I'm not familiar with C# the BEST game coding script, but.....i will do with what i know :(

SO...back to the terrain....

Below are images from the various layers used in Global Mapper to get terrain details ready.

This is how the terrain initially looks using only the elevation and colour layers...

Adding the other layers and testing 3D Max....

All the data besides the watershed, satellite and elevation model, were collected by myself using a Garmin GPS and plotted in ArcGIS and Global Mapper.

I will be providing 'how to' tutorials and links on the other blog soon...