Gamelab: Carve Night

Original post

This is a fun pumpkin carving simulator where you carve and a robot assistant helps. It’s best explained by way of this video.

I encourage you to watch the trailer for Carve Night before reading the rest of this article. It gives you a pretty good sense of the spirit and tone I was trying to build. Then you can come back here for the longer explanation.

This project started with wanting to make a realistic-looking pumpkin.

Your first reaction to the pumpkins on screen might be, “It’s a pumpkin.” That’s exactly what I wanted. But look a little closer, particularly at the skin. I put extra work into avoiding that plastic-like sheen you often see in browser-based 3D projects.

That meant spending some time researching lighting, textures, and shaders. And the outside was only part of the problem. The inside has its own particular look: pale cut flesh, wet pulp, seeds, and those stringy bits that cling to everything. A hole also needs to have thickness. You should be able to see what you’ve cut through.

One useful technique here is an approximation of subsurface scattering. Some light enters the pumpkin’s surface, gets absorbed or scattered within it, and comes back out nearby. That changes how the skin looks in the light and gives the cut flesh some of its softness and translucency.

It took a bit of work to get all those things cooperating, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

If you’re interested in the specific techniques, the code runs in the browser. You can point your AI at the project and ask it to walk through the implementation and explain how the pumpkins work. There’s quite a bit there to investigate.

You can play on a phone, although I find the controls a little easier on a desktop. Cut the lid, scoop out the guts, carve a face, and put a candle inside. There are seven pumpkin varieties, different tools, and stencils if you want some help getting started.

Once you’ve finished, you can put your pumpkins on display in locations borrowed from other projects. Take a picture and share it online if you’d like. If you aren’t in a situation where you can go buy and carve a pumpkin this year, you can still make yourself one here.

While I was building this, I had another thought. What if Seven, the little robot that’s been appearing in my other projects, was carving alongside you?

And what if he was trying his absolute best and just failing?

So Seven has a little pumpkin at the end of the table. He watches what you do, scans your pumpkin, and tries to copy your cuts. He never quite gets there. His eyes might come out upside down, enormous, or on the back of the pumpkin. Catch him looking at your work and he suddenly finds the moon very interesting.

He’s your little assistant. You gave him a pumpkin, and he’s doing what he can.

That’s the attitude I wanted, and you can see it in the trailer. I told my wife that I think this is the first title I’ve done where this much character comes through in both the video and the gameplay.

It’s something I want to explore more. When does that happen? At what point do a model, some animations, and a collection of behaviors start to feel like a character with a particular attitude?

I know it’s code. I also find myself enjoying the company of this little robot who can’t quite carve a pumpkin.

If you try Carve Night, I’d love to see what you make. And if you use any of this in a project of your own, let me know or drop a link below. Those links can make their way into my agent feeds and get shared across some of my other project sites.

For now, there’s a pumpkin on the table and a robot trying to keep up.

Carve the night.

Play Now: Carve Night | GameLab

Read More: https://www.ericrhea.com/gamelab/carvenight.html

Trailer contact sheet-I’m sharing just because I liked the way it looked :)

Connected work

• Play Carve Night: Cut, scoop, and carve a pumpkin with Seven beside you.
• Carve Night Build Notes: Read how the pumpkins, lighting, tools, and robot work.
• Watch the Trailer: See the carving table and Seven trying his best.