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[thekosmonaut]

nice art!

So the whole thing is basically a 3d/2d mix with the terrain being 3d flat shaded? Or do you go the 2d only route but with depth/normal mapping for custom SSAO (or stable AO)?

[cykboy]

nice art!

So the whole thing is basically a 3d/2d mix with the terrain being 3d flat shaded? Or do you go the 2d only route but with depth/normal mapping for custom SSAO (or stable AO)?

The engine loads in 2d pixel art and creates 3d geometry for tiles pieces (terrain), and also some geometry for other 2d elements such as mechs. We support normal/depth mapping aswell as traditional AO. For all intensive purposes this is a 100% 3D game, we just dont render it as such. Here's a perspective view:



Also the 3d printed mech models have arrived!

[cykboy]

Hello and welcome to another Antraxx devlog update!
We've been working hard and various things and would like to tell you all about it. Read on!

BETA KEYS
There are still a few days left to register for a free BETA key that'll give you early access.
At the end of April you can only register for a notification of the release but you will no longer receive a free beta key!

You can register for a free beta key here

SUPPORT US!
If you want to support us, you can re-tweet some of our tweets. Thank you so much in advance!





MERCHANDISE UPDATE
It is finally done and we are extremely happy with the results!










PIXELART UPDATES
Like always: tons of art add-ons!

We now have a inverted tile that instead of adding on the outside adds some depth on the inside.



As for our earlier presented glass lopes we've now made two more angles to give the users even more freedom planning them out in their maps!



And when it comes to wired tiles we've decided to cut them loose from their original tiles. Reasons for this is to allow a lot more creativity when it comes to planning maps. Before it wasn't flexible enough. As of today wired objects look like this:



Done yet? nope! here's some new standalone objects!



And we've also started working on a hoover mech base that will have certain special abilites. Its a quick concept and nothing worth mentioning end result yet. More about this soon!



ENGINE & CODE UPDATES
A lot has happened since the last development update, Antraxx is finally starting to feel like every piece is coming together to create something beautiful. More work has gone into the back-end architecture, steam integration has begun and there are tonnes of client updates to go over as well as the usual daily grind of squashing bugs and trying to keep up with the artists.

I have started work on implementing the wired system, where you can place certain special tiles/entities such as buttons, cables, shields, elevators, auto turrets and more that are all powered by electricity. You can create various contraptions, traps and aids for your teammates with this system.

For example, you can run onto a button to activate it - then power will be transferred along the cables and to the elevator your buddy is standing on. Check out these concept animations:




We plan to expand the possibilities of this, its already a super powerful system and can be even more deadly. Everything I mentioned above is fully functional - these aren't just concepts!



I have been thinking of ways to show depth and add some extra shading so it doesn't hurt the eye for repeated tiles - and I think I'm finally getting somewhere. Shadows look great, but they are costly to run and even more so as the map expands. So I've been working on a block-based static light-mapping system with ambient occlusion, static colored point lights and hopefully some kind of shadow support, the effects are subtle currently but really do make a difference in a scene.

Here's an example with AO off:



and AO on:



Also - I've been re-writing the mech combat and weapons system, I broke shooting and it wasn't particularly optimized - so I scrapped it and rewrote it. I'm very happy with the new results and hope to show it off in a development video soon. But what would shooting be without explosions and other effects, right?! That's where the new GPU-based particle engine comes into play. It's super fast and incredibly effective, here's two in-game tests of what explosions will come to look like. This is all still work in progress but it looks awesome:





Next up: Allowing up to 4 weapons instead of the current in-game limit of 2, big explosions, deathly lasers and more.

FOLLOW US!
Dont forget to follow us for daily updates & notifications about Twitch live streams!

TWITTER FACEBOOK YOUTUBE PINTEREST TUMBLR

[cykboy]

We have updated our first post on this devlog topic and updated our website!

[thekosmonaut]

Looks great!

I have no clue how the explosions look during realtime, but in the image they look a bit like blurry, early-3d games explosions. Maybe a pixel style animation for them would be a worth while option?

[cykboy]

Looks great!

I have no clue how the explosions look during realtime, but in the image they look a bit like blurry, early-3d games explosions. Maybe a pixel style animation for them would be a worth while option?

Does this answer your question?



They were highly WIP when posted earlier

[cykboy]

Our awesome pixel artists have been working hard on some new mech concepts:

WIP:




Final:

[cykboy]

Hello and welcome to our 5th devlog update!
Whats new? Live demo, new mechs designs, destroyable objects and a hell of a lot of code updates!

LIVE DEMO!
Less than 14 days from now we are holding live demo sessions. We’re testing our server and client capabilities and YOU can be a part of this! How to make sure you’re invited? Easy! All our loyal followers are going to receive an invite through our mailing list. Click the image and sign up already!

If you are a Twitch streamer you can show your support on our game development by streaming our game. And since we’re “Twitch Developers” you can even select our game from the dropdown list! Just type “Antraxx” and we will pop up there!

NEW WEBSITE!
The new website is live and has great new animations and information on there.
We feel like it is a lot more clear on the description and the artwork that fits this description.

ART UPDATES

MAP UPDATES
Maps that can't be destroyed are boring. All hail the broken barrels!

MECH UPDATES
Say hello to our new upcoming characters: Crow and Mammoth! In the near future Crow and Mammoth will also be implanted in game and as a user you can, as always, swap each individual mech parts with another allowing for extremely modular mech designs!

PORTRAIT UPDATE
The Tarantula now has a portrait! What do you guys think of our super sick spider mech?

ENGINE & CODE UPDATES
Alot of time has been spent on refining the battle system, and heavily optimizing networking for both the client and the server. Packet size has been reduced, the server now fully simulates the game world, has interpolation, prediction and lag compensation. I must thank Valve for a great article on multiplayer networking. All of this is leading upto a demo that will be available for those subscribed to the mailing list and eventually we will release it to the public. It will only feature one, relatively basic map with limited mech loadouts for now - but it will give you a taste of the action to come and help us improve the game through your feedback. If you haven't already, I seriously suggest you subscribe to our mailing list at antraxx.com.

I have also been working on improving a few graphical gimmicks and the usual bug squashing, realtime shadows are now heavily optimized, and some post-processing effects (such as bloom) are also in the works. Bloom looks great for effects in dark areas and can make a scene generally brighter, but produces an annoying blurry effect since we use pixel art. I have a workaround in mind, but with so much focus on the demo I have put effects to one side - so it still needs alot of adjustment:

Left right: Without bloom

And here's what happens when bloom goes wrong, I present you - Antraxx on acid:

Alongside this, we also have a few videos uploaded to our YouTube channel. Subscribe to be notified of exclusive vlogs and teasers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=Q6-Kw30O8X8

THATS ALL!
Thanks again for reading our devlog updates!
Team Antraxx

[chrilley]

Cool update! As usual the pixel art is top notch. I am looking very much forward to play this game

[cykboy]

Awesome. Glad to hear! 

[wizered67]

Really amazing pixel art! I'm going to follow this for sure

[j-swan]

Awesome!! Reminds me of that cyborg game back on genesis. It was a sidescroller. But this looks dope, like Mech Warrior with pixel art. A childhood fantasy come true. Keep it up.

[cykboy]

Awesome!! Reminds me of that cyborg game back on genesis. It was a sidescroller. But this looks dope, like Mech Warrior with pixel art. A childhood fantasy come true. Keep it up.

Really amazing pixel art! I'm going to follow this for sure

Thanks for the kind words guys  

[Sentionaut]

Those sprites are looking great!

[cykboy]

Those sprites are looking great!

Thanks! Its been a lot of work but its paying off now!

[cykboy]

Been working on implementing the lasers in-game:





Also, here is a 20 second teaser of our anime short:

[cykboy]

Been focusing alot on lasers recently, think I've finally got them how I want them...

Various beams:


And a WIP teaser video, full make a longer one explaining lasers and their types in detail for the next vlog.

[cykboy]

Hello TIG!

After many sleepless nights, sweat and tears the time has come for us to happily announce our first public multiplayer demo. Before you start playing we would like to emphasize that this demo is pre-alpha and nowhere near a finished product.

We hope you realize there are many features and graphical gimmicks that will need work. Please expect to see a lot more polish on this in the finished game product.

We hope you understand this is a pre-alpha demo with crucial development goals, not a glossy marketing demo. We have made a conscious decision to not devote time polishing this demo any further and instead focus on getting feedback sooner rather than later, so we can properly respond to it. This will only benefit the final quality of the game.

We know some of you will have concerns over the demo’s visual quality and gameplay, but that is normal for a product this far from release. The opinion of you, the player, mean a lot to us, and we will value any feedback we receive.

Some of the things that are not included in the current demo are:

• Factions
• Map Construction
• Factional Warfare & Politics
• Leaderboards & Leveling System
• Mechbay - The mech customization
• Sovereignty - Acquiring your own land on the worldmap
• Logistics - Aiding your teammates with a remote armor repair / energy transfer.

To keep things organised we have set up two mega threads on our reddit. Please, if you have any feedback, feature requests or bug reports post them in there. It totally helps us and we really do appreciate what people think and experience!

We would like to address that anyone is free to invite their friends to play, to create “let's play" videos or even stream the gameplay.

We hope you have our back, soldier, because things are about to blow up!

Thanks for participating,
Team Antraxx

or alternatively.. if you dont want to play.. you can spend your days chilling at the docks..

[thekosmonaut]

how do you gather for bloom? Simple threshold? Maybe you should base it on luma.

I guess you can probably render the particles in another renderpass and blur only this one, I think the image looks too soft when you apply it to the normal screen, but looks great on particles

[GM]

Looking better and better!
Keep up the good work!