Welcome to Friday Update #15!
 
This week we continue our behind the scenes look at how Models are created. This isn't meant to be a tutorial, but hopefully will serve to give you all a little more insight and even maybe a little inspiration to try this for yourselves! The best thing to do before starting a model is to gather reference images. Front and side images are ideal for proper proportion.

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Now that you have your images you need a modeling program! There are MANY programs out there to choose from and they are all very different. If you are looking into making game design into a career you really only have two choices, 3D Studio Max or Maya. If you are looking to just get your feet wet I would recommend checking out Blender (free) or Milkshape ($35 USD). Since each program works differently you will need to find tutorials online to teach you their tool-sets. Most Half-Life modeling is done with either Box Modeling, or Poly by Poly modeling. Finding tutorials shouldn't be too hard but be sure to read a few and get comfortable with the tools before starting on your first model.

Everbodys first models will be pretty bad, so try not to get discouraged. Stop by the forums and post your work. The members will be able to tell you things you should change to improve and really help show you how to fix things up. If you look at some work from other artists it can help to show you how a model is properly constructed. The average NNK model is between 1500-2200 triangles so keep that in mind if you plan to try an add-on for any half-life mod.

Now that you have your reference images and are familiar with your programs tool-set you can get started modeling. If you have good references it can help to lay them in the back of the viewport and trace over them. With every triangle you place try to think if it helps the shape of the object you are working on and how much. Many beginning modelers will start with objects that have many wasted triangles, and ones that don't really help the shape of the object. It's also very important to keep in mind where your model will be seen. If it's an object that is right up in the players view often you will want to maybe use a few more triangles to get the shapes looking right as opposed to an object that is off in a corner and doesn't take up much screen space where you can use less.

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One of the things you might have noticed if you have a keen eye is that on all of our models we reuse the same feet, hands, and headbands. This not only makes animating easier, but also adds a clean streamlined look to all of our work making it much more visually pleasing.

A good thing to consider when modeling is how the object will move as well. This is mainly for characters, but even objects sometimes have movement. Maybe sure you put enough triangles in the right places so that the object will deform properly. For characters this would be places like the elbows, knees, shoulders, neck, waist, fingers, etc. What is the right amount of triangles? Well it mostly depends on your budget of course. There are small tips and tricks to make things deform well with very few triangles if you need them like for a DS game, or you can pump a lot into those areas to be safe for more high tech stuff like UT3.

The best thing to do is keep at it. Modeling is not something you can pick up in a week and be good at, it will take time and practice so keep trying. Also, posting your work on forums can really help a lot. There are many artists out there that are willing to help you and give you advice on how to improve your work. Keep an open mind and try to take criticism as best as you can. Just be sure to NEVER post someone else's work as your own! If you have used someone else's work as a base and edited it, give credit to the original artist or ask for their permission depending on the use. Most of all just try and have fun, make something that interest you and enjoy messing around with it in 3D!

Now we couldn't just go a couple of weeks without any real updates for you guys, so enjoy these three new screenshots! (Posted above)

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Come back next week when we'll have in-game videos showing off some of our intricately detailed maps!

- The NNK team

Welcome to Friday Update #14!
 
We've been having alot of fun showing what our mod is going to be like when you get your grubby little hands on it. For the next couple of weeks we thought that we'd give you a little more in-depth look on what goes on behind the scenes and how we actually make the mod. This week we decided to start off with our Texturing department. 

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Texturing a character is a very important part of game design. A good texture can make or break the mesh it's applied to. An engine like half-life has limits in how high poly and detailed the mesh itself can be, so alot of the detail relies on the texture of that mesh. A good texture artist should be able to skin on little details and have them look just as good as if they had been modelled on adding a high level of detail to where there previously was none.

But I get ahead of myself. The first step to a good skin is a good skinmap. What's a skinmap? Well think of it this way. Remember in grade school when you had those pieces of paper with shapes that you cut out and then folded into 3-D cubes and triangles? Skinmapping is doing the exact opposite of that. We take a 3-D object, and then 'unwrap' it so that it's laid out flat on a surface that makes it alot easier for us to draw on.

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So now you have your most important pieces done. It's time to move onto texturing. The biggest mistake that texture artists just starting out have is that they find a reference that they like and then use it to skin their model. When texturing it's important to find at least 5 different references of your character, because depending on the angle or artist drawing that character they will more than likely look different.

In the first example above you can see two pictures of Sakura's face. Each picture has decidedly different eyestyles but both are of the same character. The job of the texture artist is to take both of this refs (and any more they may be able to find) and find a happy medium that always conveys the character no matter what angle they are being viewed at.

Texturing a body in an engine like half-life is also a challenge. You have to skin the mesh in such a way that lighting will always be properly hitting it. Usually the best way to do this is just to set the light source above the mesh, and ingame it comes out nicely. Remember to skin on smaller items that wouldn't need to be modelled, as outlined in the second example.

The rest is up to practice and keeping at it. If you're looking to get seriously involved in the texturing scene search up on google for some real tutorials, and not just a rough break down of what I did here, best of luck to all of you!

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Stay tuned for even more updates next week!

- The NNK team

Welcome to Friday Update #13!
 
It's been long rewarding road for the NNK team working on this project as the chemistry working together is phenomenal.  Everything for this project is coming together very nicely not only visually but the gameplay mechanics as well.

We would like to introduce you to one of the major footholds for NNK and that is our Jutsu System.  We also want to provide another character render and wallpaper as well as an interview with one of our recent, yet very awesome, programmer, GlassShine!

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The Jutsu System designed for NNK is one of the three major gameplay elements in the project.  The jutsu system will allow the player to perform seals that will perform a certain jutsu.  Each character will have generic jutsus as well as their own character-specific jutsus.

The jutsu system is performed by holding the "Jutsu Key", default being "shift".  While holding shift, the player is able to input a "Seal" (which the player is animated to perform) with any of the four directions pressed of "WASD".  Pressing the correct seal combinations will by signified and the player will then perform the respective technique.  Each jutsu planned will consist of only a few keys and not be lengthy as that can cause more of a headache than rewarding to play.

Some techniques will be automatic while other techniques will have temporary control.  For those that are automatic, the technique will execute right after the correct seals have been inputted.  For those jutsus that need temporary control, the attack icon in the hud will show the respective jutsu there.  When the attack has been completed or does not need control anymore, the attack icon will automatically switch back to the previous weapon selected.

Jutsus that are still in effect will be indicated through the use of the hud.

Performing jutsus are very simple, easy, and very rewarding to do.  Through hard training one can efficiently perform each technique and utilize these techniques stealthy and effectively against his or her opponent!

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"All I've been doing is watching you two from behind... now, get a good look at my back!" - Haruno Sakura

Sakura does little to contribute to the battles that take place early in the Team 7 missions. Instead, Sakura watches the backs of her teammates to protect her and to defeat their opponents. Sakura realizes then that relying on others to fight her battles has been unwise and resolves her ninja abilities once again.  This badass girl is coming straight at you while the rest of her teammates watch her back!  Enjoy this render and wallpaper prepared for you especially by SV.

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And now for our interview with one of our recent, yet very talented programmer, GlassShine!

Ok, so tell us about yourself?
My name is Ling Zhen, I am 19 years old and I am currently living in San Francisco, and I am working my way into the game/movie industry.  I've been in the modding scene for about as long as Enix.

How long have you been following Naruto and do you only read the manga, watch the anime or both?
I started watching naruto around the time where a lot of people were posting naruto models at the esf forums.  I remember someone modeled the half shukaku/gaara, and described a bit of the anime in that thread, and I though, "hmm... sounds interesting", and that's pretty much when I started watching Naruto.  After I caught up in the anime, I started reading the manga.

Are there any other animes you watch or mangas you read?
My current favorite manga is One Piece, and my favorite anime is Code Geass.  Current mangas I follow are Naruto, Bleach(sorta),One Piece, D Grayman, Fairy Tail, Hunter x Hunter, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.

So how did you get into modding anyways?
Hmm... a long time ago I was heavily addicted to starcraft, and I realized, I was wasting my life by playing this game, so in order to stop playing sc, I ended up cutting my cd in half, and uninstalled the game from my hd.  After about a week of starcraft withdrawal, I was like, "now what?", and as I layed in bed experiencing the symptoms of withdrawal, such as reality dragon kicking me in my face, or omg I have homework syndrome, and I started thinking about what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.  Somewhere along my thought process, I thought games, movies, entertainment, and so I googled and did my research.  It went from installing new weapon models for cs, to reskinning models, to making my own billion poly models, to flash actionscript, then back to billion poly models.  Then I got into DBZ, and I really wanted to find a good DBZ game and came across ESF.  From there I registered on the ESF forum, and immediately got absorbed into the modeling/skinning section.  It was a very awesome time to get into modeling because the section was very active, and it's where I met a lot of the team member such as Enix/SV back when we were all noobs, and nuttzy was there to pwn us into shape.

And how did you end up at NNK and what exactly do you do on the team?
Well Kong has asked me to join as a coder for a pretty long time, but I wasn't very confident in my coding abilities back then.  However, I revisted our discussion around June of this year, and agreed to attempt at coding their melee system if they helped with 2 maps for a new version of naruto roleplay.  After about 3 days of coding the melee, I felt that I would probably have a lot more fun working on NNK then anything else, and I was right.  As of right now, I am mostly a gameplay programmer, and I take care of the stuff that needs to get done asap for maximum motivational team boost, and Ryokeen takes care of the hard stuff.  Though, I'm starting to run out of things to do *hint hint*  Or am I?

Are there any other projects you worked on in the past or that you are currently working on you would like to mention?
Ninetails Power,Bleach: Soul Candy, Naruto Roleplay, Basilisk RO.  The rest I don't really want to mention. Though I do have plenty of future projects planned, that I will be forced to work on for school. 

Any last words you want to add to this before we bring this to an end?
This is the best team I've ever worked with in my entire life.  There's so much chemistry amongst the team members, it's almost like getting payed a million dollars a day to work on the team.

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That's it for this week's updates.  NNK team is out.

- The NNK team

Welcome to Friday update #12!

This week we finally take a look at our Kawamiri system followed by our Shading system plus a interview with Enix!

When we set out to make a Naruto mod we decided that it had to be fast action oriented gameplay. It's not easy to pull off a skill like Kawamiri in that kind of environment. We went through a couple of rough builds but it didn't feel right. Finally we took some time to look over the system and completely revamp it. We finally came to what we have now and we believe it is the perfect way to pull it off in our game. We are excited to share it with you!

Kawamiri isn't used as a jutsu in NNK. That is to say it isn't used by entering jutsu mode and inputting seals. We decided that having to stop mid-fight to enter seals to dodge an attack slows down the gameplay too much. When blocking normally if you take a hit it drains your stamina. However if you are blocking and at the same time hold down the 'move backwards' key, you enter Kawamiri-block mode.

On the outside there is no visible change to the block so opponents will not know what is about to occur. While in kawamiri-block mode if you block an attack from the front you will enter 'Kawamiri-ghost mode'. While in this mode, you are invisible to every player except yourself. You have a short amount of time to run, jump, or crawl to a destination of your choice before you reappear!

We realised we needed Kawamiri not only to work fast in tight spots, but also to give the player a good amount of control over where they appear afterwards so enemies couldn't always predict their landing spot.

Don't worry though guys, you are unable to attack or cast jutsus while in ghost-mode so there will be no cheap shots. However you can use the time to either run to a good distance to start casting a jutsu, or use it to pop up right beside them and try to get in a good melee combo if they aren't quick enough!

Be careful though, using kawamiri takes a good amount of chakra and you don't want to be caught off guard with a low chakra pool!

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You've seen it in our screenshots, but we havn't really taken the time to introduce you to our Shading system.

You all know that we are the first HL mod to truly cellshade our models. Now we're going to tell you a bit about what's possible with this system. Each map can have an .lgt file. What is that you say? It's a simple text file which stores some overwrite values for the shading of the models. In it you can specify the ambient and shade strength, as well as the lightcolor and which shademap to use. A shademap is a simple 1-D bitmap which stores the solid shades that are used to create the cellshading effect. 

But that isn't the only use it has. We can also change the style of the shading for special attacks and cinematic effects. It's also a really useful tool for mappers. Using it they can tweak the shading of their maps within seconds to change the mood entirely.

And the best part is anyone can learn to do it easily.

Another feature we want to introduce are the player shadows. You may have noticed on a few of our screens there are shadows. They work by using the principle of shadowmapping and are using the same lightsource that illuminates the map. This way it works on all maps. They are also influenced by the overwrite settings of our celshading shader so everything fits nicely.

There are two modes for the shadows depending on your system performance. You can let them cast on solid geometry or solid geometry including selfshadowing such as the players arm casting a shadow on the body..

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And this week's interview, Enix!

Ok, so tell us about yourself?
My name is Brent Crockett, I am 18 years old and currently live in Ohio. I have been doing mod related work for about 4 years now.

How long have you been following Naruto and do you only read the manga, watch the anime or both?
I started watching naruto right after I heard about it in 2004 and just couldn't stop watching it. I did stop watching for a bit when I heard about the horrible and disgusting things we know as fillers. I only read the manga now.

Are there any other animes you watch or mangas you read?
I love anime and I have seen so much of it, but to name a few of my favorites: Full Metal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Death Note, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Mushishi and Bleach.

So how did you get into modding anyways?
I was really into DBZ when I was about 12 and I came across a screenshot of a 3d dbz game online and I went crazy trying to find out what it was and how I could play it. After awhile I came across ESF and I begged and pleaded on the ESF forums for info on how to play it. So after I found out it was free and I just needed a copy of Half-Life to play I went nuts. I saw people on the forum making new models and maps and I got really curious. I started editing textures and replacing models and eventually tried to make my own. So ESF was were it all started for me. I got into photoshop and 3d modeling because of ESF and after about 3 years of practice I joined the ESF team.

And how did you end up at NNK and what exactly do you do on the team?
Most of the ESF team is working on NNK, so I was asked to join. I turned it down at first because I had already been on so many failed naruto projects I just wanted to take the wait and see approach this time because I didn't want to get my hopes up. But after watching the progress and seeing even more people from ESF join I just had to join too. I currently do character models and textures for NNK.

Are there any other projects you worked on in the past or that you are currently working on you would like to mention?
I have worked on Pokemod, Nine-Tails Power, Resident Evil: To Serve and Protect, Resident Evil: Cold Blood, and Earth's Special Forces.

Any last words you want to add to this before we bring this to an end?
I just love the NNK team. Everyone on the team is epic and I am very happy to be working with all these sexy people. <3<3<3

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Come back next week guys for another update!

- The NNK Team

Welcome to Friday Update #11!
 
Everything has been coming together perfectly for NNK like pieces of a puzzle snapping into place.  One of the important puzzle pieces for NNK is the movement mechanics.  One of the specific types of movement we'd like to introduce you to is our jumping system.  Also stay tuned for a teaser of one of the characters everyone has been screaming for over and over, as well as an interview with one of our 3d modelers, Eclipse!

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The jumping system designed for NNK gives you much freedom airborne.  The initial jump into the air is held-dependent, meaning the longer you hold the jump key, the higher you go.  There is a second type of jumping you can do after that initial jump called the spinning jump (double jump).  Basically the character will go into a spin after the first jump get more "air" with the jump.  The last feature of jumping allows characters to take a quick push off walls and structures, called the wall jump, to get more "air" as well. 

Combining and mastering this aspect of movement with the other features of gameplay is a must if you wish to stand tall against other shinobi foes you will face in the battlefield known as the internet.

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HINT #1: His family was the police of konoha.
HINT #2: Has an advance bloodline limit which allows him to copy attacks.
HINT #3: His brother killed his entire clan but him
HINT #4: He left Konoha to train with Orochimaru
HINT #5: His last name is Uchiha
HINT #6: His first name is Sasuke

If it took you to Hint #4-6 to figure out who it was, you're watching the wrong show.

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And now for our interview with one of our 3d modelers, Eclipse!

Ok, so tell us about yourself?
My name is Brandon Morris, I am 22 and currently live in Montreal, Quebec. I love video games. Go figure, like a lot of people out there it is a passion of mine.

How long have you been following Naruto and do you only read the manga, watch the anime or both?
I started kind of late in the series, a few of my friends tried to get me to start watching it at the beginning, but I said no. Eventually after enough pestering I gave it a try and really enjoy it. I currently don't do either. I started with the anime, once the fillers came I switched to the manga, then took a break for a few years to let the anime catch back up, but I haven't really got a chance to pick it back up yet.

Are there any other animes you watch or mangas you read?
No, I kind of passed my anime phase. I used to watch DBZ of course, Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist, Elfen Lied, Scrapped Princess, Airmaster, and a handful of others.

So how did you get into modding anyways?
Man is that a long story, I'll try and keep it short. I heard about this DBZ fan-site as a teen (middle school) and checked it out. While browsing I found the mod section, but had no idea what it was, so I looked into it a little, found Bid for Power was active and moving nicely. So I joined there forums after a while and saw the modeling section. Saw some work from others and it got me motivated to give it a try, so I did and I guess you can guess the rest.

And how did you end up at NNK and what exactly do you do on the team?
Kong asked, I said yes. I do models and very few textures. I did the Sakura model of course but I am also working on a few little map models and stuff.

Are there any other projects you worked on in the past or that you are currently working on you would like to mention?
There are a lot of projects in the past, but none worth too much of a mention that you haven't already heard about. I tried starting my own mod a long time ago, it failed, lol. I can't mention what I am working on at the moment, but I'll try and let you know when I can.

Any last words you want to add to this before we bring this to an end?
Yeah, A really good friend of mine is working VERY hard on a small game project that is nearing completion. If you have a chance you can check out http://www.blossomsoft.com/project_eden/. It is an RPG Maker VX game, but he has pour his heart and soul into it. If RPG's interest you, please give it a shot and maybe post on the comments or boards (blossom-soft.com). Thanks!

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That's it for this week's updates.  NNK team: signing off.

- The NNK team