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[Crimsontide]

Long time lurker 1st time poster here.  Just reserving a spot for my 'as of yet un-named' entry.

Currently I'm thinking something along the lines of a pseudo 3D platformer with a voxel engine.  Though at this point I really have no idea exactly how/what form.  Here's all I have so far, resolution, scaling, and quality will probably have to change drastically.  Btw, any idea on what the 'average' TIG user is running hardware wise?

update:

Current build:
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/Stompem/Preview1.jpg
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/Stompem/Preview2.jpg
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/Stompem/Preview3.jpg
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/Stompem/Preview4.jpg

Current assests used:
pgil - http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8796.0
   - main tile set (others are loaded, but never got around to using them)
RhysD - http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8835.0
   - loaded, but not used in the level
Arachne - http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9147.0
   - used coins
   - didn't get a chance to use underground tile set, but it is loaded
yokomeshi - http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8962.30
   - used cow-girl sprites
meadowsweet - http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9381.0
   - used background image

Download: The Sunset Strider
32-bit build (exe only, requires the files above): http://www.sendspace.com/file/hazgjp
Preview:



- requires 64-bit Windows OS (XP, Vista, Win7)
- uses a gamepad and/or joystick
- left joystick controls ur character, right (optional) controls the camera
- button 1 is jump, button 2 is 'action' button (use at doors / ledges / ect...)

[Sos]

Btw, any idea on what the 'average' TIG user is running hardware wise?

We're all running Commodore 64, except for some of those Atari freaks...

This voxel-stuff looks reaaaly nice, is it generated directly from tiles?

[Perrin]

Like this style a lot. Been thinking about doing something similar ever since I saw 3D Dot Heroes.

[Crimsontide]

Ya, those are just pgil's tiles extruded (currently just the top left corner of his 1st tile map).  The final quality of the product will probably be less depending on the range of systems ppl use.  That and I'm hoping I can do all the rendering on the CPU (just for fun, to see if I can), so that too will impact final quality.  Getting that to run a Commodore 64 is gonna be... a challenge.

[saluk]

I've upgraded from Commodore 64 to Amiga 500. So I should be able to run it, if no one else can.

I've even seen a voxel demo running on it before, so you're golden.

Voxels are the best graphics invention ever. Your shot looks great already!

[bluescrn]

That looks sweet!

Have you got some sort of editing tool to control the depth, or edit the 'voxels' for the tiles extruded from the bitmap?

Software rendering seems an odd choice, when 3D hardware would give you cheap antialiasing?

You can probably shift a heck of a lot of untextured polys on even a mid-range 3D card, if you batch the data nicely and it's all static data in vertex buffers?

(Hmmm... tempted to give something a go myself... Guess it depends what the Ludum Dare theme is at the weekend, whether I have a go at that, or go for starting an Assemblee game instead...)

Or as an 'experimental tech' idea... it might just be possible to store the voxels in a 3D texture, render the faces of the tile, using a shader to raycast into the texture...

[Sos]

easier to make a vertex shader, that will make gl_quad vertices into voxels(input=1 vertex, output=1 cube), and faster too.

[pgil]

This is so cool
It's fun seeing my tiles being used in unexpected ways. Can't wait to see it in motion.

[Crimsontide]

That looks sweet!

Have you got some sort of editing tool to control the depth, or edit the 'voxels' for the tiles extruded from the bitmap?

Software rendering seems an odd choice, when 3D hardware would give you cheap antialiasing?

You can probably shift a heck of a lot of untextured polys on even a mid-range 3D card, if you batch the data nicely and it's all static data in vertex buffers?

(Hmmm... tempted to give something a go myself... Guess it depends what the Ludum Dare theme is at the weekend, whether I have a go at that, or go for starting an Assemblee game instead...)

Or as an 'experimental tech' idea... it might just be possible to store the voxels in a 3D texture, render the faces of the tile, using a shader to raycast into the texture...

Actually its not a polygonal / scanline engine.  Its a true voxel engine.  It doesn't convert to polys at any time.  The source map is (currently) a 256 x 128 x 16 map of 3d tiles, each of 16 x 16 x 16 size.  Instead of the usual step / sample / add ray casting/tracing algorithm used in most voxel renderers, this sets up a bunch of axially aligned planes and steps through the map calculating the intersection.  This allows a really precise result and gets u that sharp voxelated feel.

Granted it could be done entirely in a pixel shader, but doing something almost entirely on the cpu was my original goal (we'll so how long that lasts  

Now its time to fire up MASM and see what sort of frame rate I can get out of it.

[Loren Schmidt]

Hey, I'm just posting to wish you the best. I have a huge soft spot for voxels, and this looks pretty interesting. I'll definitely be following the thread.

[Tesse]

Btw, any idea on what the 'average' TIG user is running hardware wise?

Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small. Think small.

[HanClinto]

Looks fantastic!

[Andrius]

Awesooooome!   

[Crimsontide]

Just a quick post. 

I haven't forgotten or given up.  Rather been hard at work getting things to run smoothly.  The 1 pic I've shown so far was in C code (just to get the look/feel/math right) and very slow (about 0.25 fps for what was shown).  I've since re-written it in assembly, and then re-wrote it again in HLSL for DirectX, I'm up to a solid 60 fps at 960 x 720 rez on my 9800 gtx, which is around what I was shooting for. 

Sadly my original intentions were to have the entire thing run on the CPU... but I guess that won't be happening ;(  After hand optimizing the code (for 3 friggin days... SSE is retarded, makes me miss arm assembly) I was able to get it to run at just under 10fps on my 3.0ghz Phenom II.  Even multi threaded across 4 cores, that'd still be under 40 fps with no time left for other stuff.

[Crimsontide]

Finished some camera code, ironed out a few bugs, converted some tiles, and did a whole bunch of other necessary but mundane tasks.  Uploaded another picture.  A few more tiles displayed but nothing special.  Only real difference is this one is running in real time (as opposed to the 1st which wasn't).

Next up, characters and animation, ect...  That and various bugs to iron out.

[Crimsontide]

1st off I've decided to name it, The Sunset Strider, simply because she (main cahracter) pretty much just runs around.

Ok, didn't get as much done as I had hoped.  In the end it seems to be more of a pretty tech demo than an actual game.  Still a few things to add but I thought I'd post what I have so far to make sure there aren't any silly bugs I have overlooked.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/439ug5

It requires 64-bit XP or better (should work fine on vista or Win 7 but don't have either to test sadly), a decent video card (8800 or equivalent or better) GPU, and preferably at least a dual core.  There are 2 executables provided, the SSLo is a 640x480 version which should run on even low end systems, and the SSHi runs at 960 x 720.  It can take a min or 2 to load as well.

Controls are currently joystick and/or gamepad only.  Left joystick controls ur character, button 1 is jump, button 2 is action button, right joystick (if u have one, isn't required) controls the camera.  Currently the only action available is to 'step into' doorways or ledges (u'll see what I mean once u try it).

I'll probably just add a few coins (or something) to collect and clean up the 1st level tomorrow and that'll be it.  Sadly no enemies to shoot ;(

I'll post a little more when I get a chance, so thats all for now...

[Mikademus]

64-bit? That rules me (or my Windows install) out... Hmm, have you tried if it will run under Linux w. WINE?

[Crimsontide]

Not yet, I will though when I get the chance.  Sadly it'd take me a while to rework my build enviroment to support 32-bit builds.  I didn't want to do it early on (because if I broke it and had to do a full re-install it'd leave me pretty screwed), and I don't quite have the time before sunday.

[Crimsontide]

Ok, unless there are errors/bugs, this should be my last update.  Cleaned up a few things, and added coins scattered throughout the level to collect.  Link is here:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/jwizjw

If anyone wants to give it a try and lemme know if it works I'd appreciate it.

[Kekskiller]

why the double
such a guy with no name
you did serious end user trouble
on my gaming machine