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[Joshua]

Trying to visualize what 3D geometry might look like in a primarily sprite based game.

[Alec S.]

Trying to visualize what 3D geometry might look like in a primarily sprite based game.

 

[sigfarter]

need some lighting and shadows and fog and shit

[SolarLune]

Trying to visualize what 3D geometry might look like in a primarily sprite based game.

Looks pretty good. Nice. I think the chest's side bands should stick out a tad on the front, and there could be a shadow, but it looks pretty nice so far.

[_Madk]

Trying to visualize what 3D geometry might look like in a primarily sprite based game.

I feel like it doesn't fit in with the rest. maybe if it were a wooden chest and was a cube apart from a small taper at the top, like so:

[Joshua]

@SIGVATR
..and bloom and chromatic aberration.    I don't have access to the game engine, so I was just mocking the concept up in a 3D modelling package.

@SolarLune
I agree. I think the baked in lighting is a bit too strong here. Honestly I just threw in an old model I had laying around, so I haven't done much/any work on the chest texture for this scene.

@_Madk
I understand what you are saying. I agree that a wooden chest would work better, but this was just a quick test. I'm not sure how I feel about the taper.

Aesthetically, everything thing in the scene is fairly lo-fi and has a pixelly/90-degree feel. I'm worried that introducing non-orthogonal geometry would disturb the visual flow/feel. Thoughts on this?

[sergiocornaga]

I'm worried that introducing non-orthogonal geometry would disturb the visual flow/feel. Thoughts on this?

I think it would.

[_Madk]

The origin of the style you're using is the early raycasting rendering engines (e.g. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom 1&2). What you've got is kind of a bastard child between the two - Wolfenstein 3D didn't allow horizontal surfaces at varied elevations (there was a floor and a ceiling and that was it), but Doom 1&2 did allow angled walls. (And no raycaster can allow looking up/down except clever distortion of the render) While sloped horizontal surfaces can't be rendered in a raycaster, I think it would fit much better than what you've got now. I circled all the bits that are impossible in any raycasting engine below. The reason I wouldn't say use only cubes is because then you're starting to look a bit like Minecraft and there are just too many clones of that to be able to present a similar graphical style without putting people off.



Images for your referencing convenience:

Wolfenstein 3D



Doom



Minecraft

[Joshua]

@_Madk
I do understand that early id tech raycasting engines couldn't render 3d models, but there were some that could. Ultima Underworld 1/2 and later incarnations of the Build engine, for example. The exercise here isn't to adhere strictly to a particular technical limit, but explore the possibilities from mixing styles.

I admit that it might be too complex for the particular scene it is in, and I think your graphic illustrates those areas in particular. Is it similar enough to Minecraft to be off putting?

[_Madk]

If the chest were a cube, I personally think that it would look a bit too close to Minecraft's style.

Also, correct me if I'm mistaken because I can't seem to find it stated outright, but I don't believe Ultima Underworld 1/2 used raycasting. (Looks like it could possibly be raytracing, maybe? Which is actually quite different despite the similarity in name.) It is, in fact, impossible to (properly) render 3D models using a raycasting engine because a raycasting engine is a 3D render of 2D data.

[SolarLune]

I think a cube would look similar to Minecraft's style, but I think that would pretty much be the only way to express a 3D object in as few polies as possible while also keeping the pixelized feel. Maybe you could make up the chest out of cross-sections of sprites?

@Thread - Cross-post of an animation showing progress at coding in a patrolling robot guard for Soldier Of.

[AlwaysGeeky]

Programming... always programming, if only there was some way to make a living out of it....

[SodiumEyes]

Right now I'm doing a final-pass over the levels of my puzzle game. Cleaning up the design, finding and fixing possible exploits, then adding background tiles.



In game view:

[Xion]

Trying to visualize what 3D geometry might look like in a primarily sprite based game.

Looks interesting, but if you're gonna have small indented details like you have on the chest you gotta make it global: recess the door into the frame a bit and let its handle stick out, bring the torch sconce away from the wall and let it spew some chunky pixel particles, and maybe even play with indenting brick brick bricks in the wall (though that may be too much). Also the texture on the chest is much simpler than everything else, which is also making it stand out.

[sublinimal]

Less than 10 days for Assembly 2012, which features a gamedev compo. And I'm still trying to get my core game mechanics right. Your primary method of movement is a shotgun with ridiculous kickback, but I'm afraid it's not going to be as fun as it sounds.

//PANIC//