Planet Postmoderna Blog

Well today was a monumental day for model testing. We have a complexed two-sided model called the Foreman’s Shed. This workman’s shed is found in many places on the planet where construction is being planned and is usually surrounded by crates, tools and other objects. An avatar could walk into it but would find it rather cramped. Besides, the structure is designed to be as its name, a shed.

Foreman's Shed

The shed is constructed from various parts and resources from the pods and the surrounding area. The ribs are metal and the canvas is from pod parachute material. The doors and the handle are from pod equipment and the wood is from the nearby area.

Foreman's Shed Other Side

Although the pictures don’t reflect the trees and shrubs in the zone right now, they do exist.

The original model concept was done by one of our early team members, Matic Mirnic, a teen Blender artist from Slovenia. He had a part in many of the models and concept used in Base Camp. He was the original artist for the domes.

Jitse “Ion” Akse, our artist from Holland, is also a very talented Blender user as well as master of many other 3D and digital tools. He created the texture that is now the final for the shed model and even added its missing internal mesh. I didn’t realize it was missing until I ran my initial tests only to find that the interior was invisible.

After taking the model and creating the needed collision volumes, I made the specular texture from the Ion’s base texture and layered his normal maps for added depth.

Now when you look at the model in the Multiverse World Browser, you can see the shine on the door and bumpiness of the raised surfaces of the paint, canvas, etc. I can only imagine what this will look like using CryEngine2 within Entropia.

We have been plugging away and now producing some new additions to Postmoderna’s Base Camp.

One of our newest team members Jitse “Ion” Akse, created a few new models for the Base Camp POI in our Entropia Partner Planet Demo of Planet Postmoderna. We decided too to have a little fun with the screenshots from the Multiverse Prototype and dressed up the images using ComicLife. Testee-bub is my testing avatar.

Ion created the new models using Blender and I took the diffuse texture and made the spec and normal maps from it. Being that the model was made in Blender the units of measurement are pretty small. I had to scale up the model before I could create the collision volumes for it. After that exported the model to Collada format and converted it into a Multiverse mesh.

After playing around with it a bit more, we got this.

We also worked on a portable reactor model. This one was a little tricky with the color balance and normals but I think we got it where it needs to be. The neat thing about a project like this is, you are always bound to get feedback and that is a good thing. We then can always make changes based on that feedback.

The reactor is a portable power source for the field.

Up and coming is the foreman’s shed. This structure will be placed in areas where construction is planned. It is built from parts from the equipment pods, pod parachute material and resources from the nearby land.

One of Jitse’s Poser Models, is showcasing the concept for us in this shot. Maybe we should name her.

One thing that I have always noticed about any project or business is that you can take away product, you can take away the money, you can take away all the glitz and glamour but, when it comes down to the true value of what you are doing or working on, it is all about the people.

I am reminded about this countless times, not only from the great people I work with in my real job at Quadrant but by the interactions I have with people on this project team. It’s about people and relationships. I am not the best at managing them. That is evident when I throw my family, all my friends, the parents of my kids’ friends, the band parents at my son’s high school, my daughter’s soccer team and the members of the life group I meet with every week. The things is that no matter what, people are what matter.

This project has added a new dimension to relationships. It is now more exciting not just because of good ideas, concept and storyline, nor because some day we might be a partner planet for Entropia Universe (which I do love to play when I actually have time to do so) but it is because I have had the benefit of meeting some really neat people from around the world.

In addition to the great people on the project team I have also met people beyond the scope of this project. I have met owners and team members of other projects. I have met people from other virtual world companies and people from virtual worlds and games like Entropia. A cynic might think you can’t forge friendships that way but I am sorry, you can. You can build some pretty good relationships through the common interest of the virtual world or MMO games.

Games like Entropia, Second Life, World of Warcraft, Star Wars Galaxies, and many others, have blurred the boundries between countries and cultures and brought people together on a even playing field (pardon the pun). In times like today where anytime you turn on the tube, there is one tragedy or another one bad news or another, it is good to have small distraction like a virtual world or game or even miracle of Facebook (another subject altogether). One might think that you will never know who the RL person is behind that avatar in your game, but the truth be known, people do. They are building friendships not with imaginary characters but the real people behind them.

Not only has this project been the ultimate example of that but I think of all the great people I have met that I would not have met, had it not been for MMO Games and Virtual Worlds.

So, when I talk about plugging away at the basics, I remind myself that the “basics” are really the valuable relationships you forge. No one endeavor can ever succeed without good quality people and the relationships that you surround yourself with. I really don’t think anything on this world is meant to be done all by yourself. Well, I guess you could but, why would you want to? That’s no fun. This is especially true, when you realize that the hidden gems that make life worth living are those that come from the lives you touch and those that touch you back.

This is why I am proud that Postmoderna is a project based on people. We have so much to learn from each other and so much to give back as a result.

That’s right! Thanks to one of our talented artists, Jitse Akse (Holland) and , whom created the original New Worlds Inc, Postmoderna logo used in several concept renders, we have a new project logo. I have to tell you I love it!

Both of these artists are veterans of the MMO Game and virtual world, Entropia Universe. Jitse is one of the project’s newest volunteer members and has shown his quality talent on many occasions.

We also made a fan icon available for purchase on Entropia Planets by fans of the project and members of the Entropia Game Forum site. No real money is involved here! Just EPDs (Entropia Planet Dollars) that you earn by participating in community discussions.

Again, thanks to the team and the fans for this exciting new image. It represents the virtual world indie project, Planet Postmoderna, very well.

**Note: The did not want to be connected with the logo. Bummers really. I think it is awesome. I tired to credit him with what he did for the original logo but couldn’t find it on the forums. I think the link broke. Sorry.

We are proud to align our project with the Entropia Universe Community Site, Entropia Planets. Their site is rich with information about the Entropia Partner Planets as well as valuable news and resources related to the game.

We have teamed up with Entropia Planets to represent and promote our indie project to the Entropia Community.

Thank you for your support, Entropia Planets.

Entropia Planets