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[zede05]

We've got Aakaash Rao to do the music for Planet Explorers, here's the grassland area theme.

http://www.pathea.net/images/web/PE_Grassland.mp3

[zede05]

This week, we got the multimaterial working properly, including shadows through hlsl...but due to the limitations of DX9 (Unity), we going to have to choose having normals or having procedural textures. We are gonna pick normals and try to do the procedural stuff some other way through shader.



The world map is sorta done, still needs some tweaks. I'm just waiting for an order of 16g ram to come in, since World Machine takes a lot of ram to render.

Also started on the effects for this game, I think we're going to go with the more flashy type of effects as seen in FF13 rather than the more realistic as seen in Skyrim.

[Franklins Ghost]

Really like the look of those textures and colours.

[tha_Chiller]

The menu/item GUI is very pleasing & soft on the eyes. Its awesome & very pro, & not messy like a lot of games.

We need more open-world games like this with different theme directions & style/swagger. Orcs & Elves, dungeons & caves...stuff like this is boring me to death.

Def tracking, its something about its style that gets to me.

[zede05]

Thanks. Yeah, we're aiming for a sorta realistic setting and backstory with some sorta realistic science, but with less shiny metal compared to stuff like Mass Effect, that's the niche we're trying to carve. 

This week, we've made some huge strides in efficiency, I think it's realistic now for Planet Explores to have a draw distance of at least 512 meters or more and still run at great speeds. The world editor is also coming together nicely.

Another part we've been advancing are the AIs, especially the way for them to attack the player's defense structures. Due to the AIs being so different in the way they attack, the player will really need to be strategic about how he uses his resources and the placement of his weapons...if we can hopefully pull off this aspect, it'll be a good game.

This is an example of some creature with the ability to climb the walls.





On the art side, more creatures are being modeled, and more outfits for characters, also started on the forest trees.

[zede05]

Finally got the world map done, sweet justice!  Now we can finally start parking all the assets somewhere in the game world. Speaking of assets, here's a concept of the forest area, we're about 1/3 way through making the models for that area.

[peous]

Nice artwork ! Very Avatar-like (that is a good thing) !
Di you have "glowing" things everywhere also ?

[zede05]

Nice artwork ! Very Avatar-like (that is a good thing) !
Di you have "glowing" things everywhere also ?

Thanks! Avatar is a great inspiration for us, since they pulled off another evolutionary path flawlessly. But we're not going to have too many glowing plants...above ground anyway. We can't really afford too many environment light sources especially since we have to leave enough rendering room for when the player places his own lights in the scene.

[eigenbom]

nice concept art, tho how can you get any work done when there are chicks running around in undies?

[peous]

But we're not going to have too many glowing plants...above ground anyway. We can't really afford too many environment light sources especially since we have to leave enough rendering room for when the player places his own lights in the scene.

Ok, looks nice without glows anyway !
FYI usually glow is rendered as a post-effect pass, and so does not costs as much as lights (but I don't know if it exists in Unity).

[zede05]

nice concept art, tho how can you get any work done when there are chicks running around in undies?

I feel that I can actually get more work done this way! 

FYI usually glow is rendered as a post-effect pass, and so does not costs as much as lights (but I don't know if it exists in Unity).

Yeah, but you'll also need light sources to light up the area around it, and that'll take resources. We will probably have some of the self glow elements though.

Lots of stuff were done in the last 2 weeks, first we're making progress on the voxel build placement system. This is still a work in progress, probably will be done in the next 2 weeks.





Also work is being done with the weapons/vehicle building system. This editor will include some really cool ideas, wait and see in a bit. 



And we redid the UI to be more...futuristic.



Finally, I'm working hard on the world map, we'll probably be able to show everything together ingame in about 2 weeks (fingers crossed!), with NPCs, AI, minerals, crafting, creating, etc. We're trying to make it into IndieCade afterall.

We'll do a closed alpha in late May, I'll post a alpha signup here sometimes in mid-May.

[Evan McClane]

This is looking really nice, I'll definitely be looking for that alpha.

[zede05]

Not much to say this week other than we're getting close to the alpha, and boy, all the bugs are out in force now. Still, check out the new screens.





The ocean is pretty much useless right now, we don't have time to do anything with water for the alpha, since we're focusing on ai, player controls, and building/creating. These screens will hopefully look better by next week once we add in all the elements such as ambient particles, effects, and a lot more assets.

That detach camera button is the editor, that's not gonna be in game, heh.

The alpha will only include the grassland area with a view distance of 256m, .the beta version should expanding into forest and desert areas of the continent as well as having a view distance of 1.3km with lod.

[peous]

Looks awesome; mix with vegetation seems really nice!

Is there some alpha test planned where we could participate ?
If so, when it is planned ? When it's done ?

[zede05]

Looks awesome; mix with vegetation seems really nice!

Is there some alpha test planned where we could participate ?
If so, when it is planned ? When it's done ?

Thanks! The closed alpha will be later this month, hopefully. And yes, if you're interested in play testing it, just state you're interested in this thread and I'll send you an email about how to get into the alpha when the time comes.