Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411279 Posts in 69323 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: bob1029

March 28, 2024, 05:47:32 PM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsDestructoPod - High action trench flying demolition extravaganza
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5
Print
Author Topic: DestructoPod - High action trench flying demolition extravaganza  (Read 11876 times)
popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #60 on: October 04, 2017, 04:40:42 PM »

Hi Everyone,

Slowly putting together the levels. Here are 4 of them:



As you fly the course, the pod will slowly increase in speed. The plan is to have the player fly the course twice for completion.

To create the course, I use three curves. The primary center curve is use to track where the pod is on the course. While two outer curves create the canyon walls. By moving all these independently, I can easily adjust the width of the canyon creating narrow slots or larger open areas. Canyon steepness is adjustable too.

For the easier levels, I want to use more straightaways, but I run in to a problem. Assets are turned on and off as you fly around the course. The further forward you can see means the more assets need to be turned on. Have to be careful here, because turning on too many assets at once can really drop the frame rate.

Once the outlines are done, I can adjust the terrain heights. You will never be able to fly higher than the canyon walls, so by increasing the height of the terrain relative to the canyon wall, I can limit the flight area and squeeze the player a bit.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!

« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:55:13 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #61 on: October 07, 2017, 06:21:06 AM »

Hi Everyone,

Ive been working on creating bridge assets.



The green cubes are ammo boxes that need to be grabbed up as you fly by. These bridges are much more difficult to destroy because they mainly consist of girders and trusses. A cannon ball can easily fly right between them and miss.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:55:24 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #62 on: October 18, 2017, 04:44:44 PM »

Hi Everyone,

Here is a shot of the scene that acts as my asset yard.



I use simple blocks as templates for more complicated structures.

Using separate scenes to maintain assets and levels has worked out great. It's now really easy to swap different objects in and out of the environment. I think this is probably typical of most workflows too.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:55:35 AM by popawheelie » Logged

Zireael
Level 4
****


View Profile
« Reply #63 on: October 19, 2017, 01:57:07 AM »

The game looks incredible (especially the fx), what engine are you using?

Also, what happens if you hit the canyon walls?
Logged
popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #64 on: October 19, 2017, 07:47:51 AM »

Thanks Zireael,

Im using a home made engine at the moment. I need a lot of help with the visuals so I want to port the destruction component to Unreal or Unity. Get access to better shaders, lights etc.

With the exception of the ground, running in to anything will damage the pod. When your pod’s health reaches zero, it blows up. You can run the pod in to the sandy ground to slow down. At some point, I want to make it so you can jump out and run around. Than jump back in and fly off.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #65 on: October 21, 2017, 07:54:51 AM »

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to dress up the environment a bit by placing lights along the course.



I'll also use lights to highlight obstacles and sentinels. I noticed that I can have about 40 active lights in a scene before performance degrades too much.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:55:55 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #66 on: October 25, 2017, 02:47:24 PM »

Hi Everyone,

In DestructoPod, you grab up ammo as you fly the course. I'm fiddling with the idea of automatically selecting the weapon that uses the ammo the player just grabbed up. I can see pros and cons to doing this. I can't say that I've seen this in other games so I'm really on the fence.

Typically the ammo need to defeat an obstacle is placed just before the obstacle, so it makes sense to select the weapon that uses it. But it could be jarring to the player to have the weapon selection suddenly change.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #67 on: October 26, 2017, 06:47:07 PM »

Decided to kill the idea of auto selecting the weapon. Was dumb.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #68 on: November 17, 2017, 07:47:17 AM »

Hi Everyone,

Working with more particle f/x these days. I added an exhaust plume to the pod:



An idea Ive been toying with is letting the player crash in to the ground and jump out and run around. The player can than jump back in any time and continue on. This would be ideal for areas that contain a lot of treasure that could not be picked up easily with a fly by.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:56:16 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #69 on: November 18, 2017, 06:49:43 AM »

Hi,

Blowing up bridges today.



I think the blast needs to emit a lot more light.

Im also working on a tool that helps generate small geometry parts. I noticed that adding small detail parts to generic concrete and wood debris really improves the destruction a lot. Your eye zeros in on them making for a more interesting look. Producing this type of geo can be time consuming so hopefully this tool will speed that up.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:56:27 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #70 on: November 19, 2017, 09:05:19 AM »

Hi Everyone,

In the following shot, you can see how small details objects have been attached to the tower on the left:



The main problems is that they seem to be floating and not attached. This can be remedied by adding some dirt, shadow, or even ambient occlusion to the attachment area. I'm not able to do that so Im considering a dirt projection system that darkens the attachment area. Dirt could than be blurred downwards to give a runny rust look.

The method would be similar to how I handle sand deformation. Instead of doing distance calculations using an upward pointed orthographic camera, Id just switch the orientation to the grid plane normal and measure the attachment area from the plane's perspective.

Of course, simply just drawing it on to the surface would be easiest. How I wish I knew an artist.

Cheers,
 Beer!
H
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:56:40 AM by popawheelie » Logged

Zireael
Level 4
****


View Profile
« Reply #71 on: November 20, 2017, 01:57:43 AM »

Really nice visual improvements  Hand Thumbs Up Left
Logged
popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #72 on: November 20, 2017, 07:59:42 PM »

Really nice visual improvements  Hand Thumbs Up Left

Thanks. It's slowly coming together.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #73 on: November 27, 2017, 03:08:54 PM »

Hi Everyone,

Back from the holidays and working on my next cannon.



This thing is created almost entirely out of the pipe routine I put together. It has become a really handy tool to produce all sorts of shapes. When I first wrote it, I was only considering pipe, but now think it's worth adding a few more bells and whistles. One issue that is probably very noticeable is that some of the cannon parts are smooth when they should be faceted. This is because pipes are typically smooth so adding extra normals was not necessary at the time. Now Ill add them.

Cheers,
H
 Beer!
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:56:59 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #74 on: October 22, 2018, 06:26:36 AM »

Hi, I made a little video over the weekend.





Cheers,
H
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #75 on: November 19, 2018, 04:38:10 PM »

Hi, I recently got a new computer and noticed that I can go much bigger with my models. Should have bought a new machine long ago. Here is a walk through of a fully destructible barn. It's still a work in progress, but most of the parts are there.





Cheers,
H
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #76 on: November 20, 2018, 11:25:39 AM »

Hi, Here is quick destruction test. Nice fail at the end.

https://gfycat.com/ColorfulBoldDutchsmoushond

Have been trying to figure out how to embed this, but no luck.

Cheers,
H
« Last Edit: November 20, 2018, 11:32:24 AM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #77 on: December 12, 2018, 04:27:36 PM »

Hi, Here's a more lengthy destruction test video. Ill be using this in the beginning sequence where the player gets abducted by the aliens. This is the largest model Ive tested to date, and the strain on my new computer is already starting to show. It's going to need a lot of fine tuning.





Cheers,
H
« Last Edit: December 13, 2018, 06:36:14 PM by popawheelie » Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #78 on: December 18, 2018, 07:01:13 PM »

Hi,

I started work on the final level. I want to create some more elaborate towers for this. Here is one of them. Almost finished with the modeling and started with the demolition tests.





Cheers,
H
Logged

popawheelie
Level 0
***


View Profile
« Reply #79 on: December 21, 2018, 08:38:53 AM »

Hi, a friend of mine has a 3D printer so I set him a model as a test. This is a small hut with the roof rupturing. It turned out pretty cool. Going to try a larger model next.



Cheers,
 Beer!
H
« Last Edit: May 05, 2019, 05:57:23 AM by popawheelie » Logged

Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic