WR - General Chit-Chatter/Tidbits

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Sounds nice. I always missed that kind of stuff when playing Fallout.

 

[Surf Solar]

I am not at home for 2 weeks, and all I can do here is rendering stuff and messing around in photoshop.
Came up with this, this "castle" is something I have sleeping on the hd for ages already, but never really made it. Now that I'm a bit more experienced with shadows etc. I tried it again.

Do you think, some areas would benefit from some "lightning" like you've seen it in the IE games for example, when it's night, the (habitated) houses radiate some light aura around the windows etc. It's not very hard to add, but I wonder if it goes farther and farther away of original fallout graphics...

Also, before someone whines that I waste my time with stuff like that - I can't do anything else at the moment, as already mentionend.

(hang on to each other )

EDIT: I mean effects like in this mockup gif:

 

[anus_pounder]

So, this is definitely alive then ? Can't wait for moar.

 

[Excidium]

I think it's ok for buildings that you enter through "transition zones", but I think it would look weird on normal buildings.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah, this is the bane of the engine, I can't render an entire new area one the same single map as that "castle" is, it has to load a new map... :/ Sorry bro, I would do it the other way if I could..

On normal and "unimportant" or "not so important" maps however, ofcourse you can just open a door and the building opens without loading a new map.

Ofcourse I could just do all buildings with default tile/wall sets, but then everythign would look the same. Honestly, I prefer the way I am trying it. Loading times are a non issue, if you go from one to the other map, 1-2 seconds are maximum time to load, so it's really not a biggie.


BTW - now that I am doing some maps I have yet not an use for it (will most likely "end" as encounter maps) - I have already mentionend the "small hills/dunes" PE modifier. Do you guys have any other ideas/suggestions to make area more important in combat?

 

[Surf Solar]

Because a video says more than a thousand words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-StNhCyJhJ4

If the lights are on, there are one of the biggest "villian" but yet "normal" (in this setting) people in. :>
FOR ME, alone the thought of arriving there and seeing some lit windows from afar is creepy.

 

[Jaesun]

Gee, thanks alot Surf. I really needed more cum all over my monitor.

 

[shihonage]

Really atmospheric stuff

 

[Excidium]

Surf Solar is the ambience master.

 

[Surf Solar]

Really atmospheric stuff

Nice! That's (for me) the most important thing a game can ever achieve. Games like Amnesia are fucking atmospheric, to a point where people stop to play because they feel the atmosphere is too intense. There are people who "read" stuff into all kinds of background ambiences and *gasp* - immerse themselves better. This coupled with Choices&Consequences and some ( I think) more fun combat system than Fallout is - this is What Remains. So I am glad I achieve all my goals when people post very positive feedback here.



I am still looking for people looking into combat encounters and tweaking them btw. This also helps me improving maps, to give player/enemy tactical boni. So if someone feels (s)he wants to help, I always engage newcomers with open arms.

Surf Solar is the ambience master.

This "feels" very good and I appreciate it a lot, but it almost sometimes feels like a circlejerk. Don't hesistate to be harsh, suggest stuff you always wanted in Fallout etc., pleayse.

EDIT: random animated gif

 

[Lexx]

Yeah, this is the bane of the engine, I can't render an entire new area one the same single map as that "castle" is, it has to load a new map... :/ Sorry bro, I would do it the other way if I could..

What exactly do you mean? Entering the big building without loading a new map? Technically, that's pretty much possible. You would need to make the bottom part wall scenery and then build the interior like always. The upper part of the building then will be made as roof tile. Now when you enter the map, the whole upper part will be hidden for as long as you are inside. It would pretty much work like my old cathedral wip.

@the light: I don't think it fits. You would need to add this to every house / window / door or the style isn't coherent.

I have tried a similar light glow effect for generic lamp posts already, but it's very hard to hit the right tone, if it should be used everywhere. My tries just ended in the maps looking like christmas trees, so I scrapped it for now.

 

[shihonage]

I have tried a similar light glow effect for generic lamp posts already, but it's very hard to hit the right tone, if it should be used everywhere. My tries just ended in the maps looking like christmas trees, so I scrapped it for now.

I ran into this problem with "wall terminal glow" effect because terminals came in different sizes and colors. Having a generic "glow color" didn't work - the glow had to be close to the terminal's color.

My solution lied in tying a set of configuration values to a specific terminal bitmap. Those values define the positioning and color of the effect just for that terminal, automatically, whenever it's being drawn.

Similar effect has also been used in lampposts and the like.

 

[Quilty]

The lights should maybe be toned down a bit, but otherwise it looks fucking amazing. Even the fact that you're still plugging away at this project makes my pants fill with sweet, sweet cum.



One thing that stood out to me was the fact that the castle looked a bit too perfect, most angles were intact, and the smaller area in front of the castle was also very geometric, perfectly shaped. Maybe the building would benefit from some evidence of ruination, degradation, just to reflect the fact that it exists in a world of ruins, if you know what I mean. But this is just a minor niggle.

Onwards, comrade!

 

[curry]

Looks good. The hanged people don't fit though.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Looking amazing, I can't say it enough, it is rare to see great graphics these days IMO. Good shit, would not know where to criticize. Too bad that Turkish tranny is not around anymore, true gfxfag. Can't remember the nick.

Would be amazing to see some animated weather effects, you already had the rain, maybe some dust (wind) or a tumbleweed passing by heh something in that direction.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah, this is the bane of the engine, I can't render an entire new area one the same single map as that "castle" is, it has to load a new map... :/ Sorry bro, I would do it the other way if I could..

What exactly do you mean? Entering the big building without loading a new map? Technically, that's pretty much possible. You would need to make the bottom part wall scenery and then build the interior like always. The upper part of the building then will be made as roof tile. Now when you enter the map, the whole upper part will be hidden for as long as you are inside. It would pretty much work like my old cathedral wip.

But with your method, I would a) need to cut those graphics into lots of tiles which is cumbersome and I want to avoid that as I am aiming for rather Infinity Engine-like detailed maps. Besides, it would clash with the way I decided to do my maps. It also b) wouldn't allow me to place critterrs on there who patrol around and so on.

Furthermore, it allows me to make the interior as big as I want and I can introduce unique surrounding/cave walls. I don't think it's a biggie to load a new map, I would do this always if it allows me to do something more sophisticated than the normal graphics are, especially when loading time issues are non existant. To put in short - it would only limit the things I want to do, that's why I said it is not an option to do for me here.

@the light: I don't think it fits. You would need to add this to every house / window / door or the style isn't coherent.

That's pretty cool that you don't like that (who would've thought) - I'll still be doing it. I don't see what's the issue to put that glow to all houses which are inhabitated, all other houses will still be dark. It's not a big deal either as creating the glow to the houses is a matter of a few seconds to define the glow area.

I agree with Quilty however that it can be toned down a bit.

I have tried a similar light glow effect for generic lamp posts already, but it's very hard to hit the right tone, if it should be used everywhere. My tries just ended in the maps looking like christmas trees, so I scrapped it for now.

It gets not so hard if you study how other 2d top down games do such an affect.

Would be amazing to see some animated weather effects, you already had the rain, maybe some dust (wind) or a tumbleweed passing by heh something in that direction.

I've already did some dust/sand "storm" effect and uploaded it, but it looks pretty crappy and choppy here. Ingame it's more fluent.

One thing that stood out to me was the fact that the castle looked a bit too perfect, most angles were intact, and the smaller area in front of the castle was also very geometric, perfectly shaped. Maybe the building would benefit from some evidence of ruination, degradation, just to reflect the fact that it exists in a world of ruins, if you know what I mean. But this is just a minor niggle.

You are right, once I am done making this damn mountain/cliffs, I will add more decay etc. to it. Maybe if I feel fancy I add another even more decayed version after a certain point in the game is reached (like those hanged people are not originally there and so on).

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Quilty]

Yeah, after that last link I'm pretty much sure I want you to cum all over my man tits while I play this game.

 

[curry]

Yeah, after that last link I'm pretty much sure I want you to cum all over my man tits while I play this game.

True bromance

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Fucking awesome.

 

[Davaris]

Damn... That looks good.

It would be more codexian if it was people trolling the roofs etc.

 

[SCO]

Strange, i'm thinking that the corpses are too large for the building.

Look at the door/stairway at the roof.
For the ladders/windows it look ok, but that opening, those people (if not dead) would need to bend over to pass it, and it goes up (stairs).

Since the last image doesn't have the corpses, maybe you think so too.

BTW, i'd never build a fortress/bunker with large doors and windows.

I'd probably have small killing holes, snipper nests in the roof, a moat, a ramp that can be dismounted/taken in quickly to supplies to access the roof entrance, and no floor access at all.

If you're adjacent to a mountain, make sure it they can't starve you by demolishing rock on top of you or raid from the top (carved int mountain, though in this case, you'd need some entrances in the bottom.

 

[Surf Solar]

Yeah, all the sizes are a bit weird, it needs re-adjusting, the entire "castle" seems a wee bit too small.
It reminds me of my fail when I tried to import new trees the first time, they are either not fitting or too huge (omfg maybe they be mutated!11 ).

etc etc

About why the area is relatively prone to be "conquered" and not very well fortified there is a reason you will see ingame.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

should be fun reading at least
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle

or if you like there's a documentary series called 'castles'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvqMqUtd2Gc

I watched the whole series all a while back, excellent and should help set back the release of this mod for a few more hours

and finally why have a 2D castle when you can have one in modern graphics

 

[Surf Solar]

and should help set back the release of this mod for a few more hours

:D

Nah, it was more a fault of mine for calling it a "castle" in the first place.. I can't tell much else I'd spoiler a wee bit, I hope the wall of textes ingame will remedy the typical codexers worries about the usefulness of such a "castle". ;P


Was merely working on mapping today.. Here's some (outdated) artwork for one of the maps in a certain part of the worldmap. (it's fully rendered and touched with 2d editing later on - mainly the sky and the further horizon which was not modeled, so I drew it - quite visible on the right side of the second picture, but who cares, you'll not gonna see the sky in an iso-game ). Missing are the ruined cities in the "northwest" (skyscrapers looking out of the snow) and some dirt/ash mixed with snow- textures.

Again, as already mentionend, I would be glad if some bro would like to work on encounter tables for the different areas on the map(s) and the worldmap. If someone is willing to help ('s not much ) then just PM me.

 

[Surf Solar]

Just came up with some idea, what about to further establish the mechanic of "hunting" (like receiving the gecko hunter perk in FO2 which allowed you to skin them properly). You could basically learn about how to efficently skin animals/"monsters", through books, NPC, or training via staggering those "perks" (I'd say from 1 to 3 for each animal species) - like it was in the witcher. You could use it to go hunting on the worldmap (the higher the outdoorsman skill, the higher the chance to meet worthwhile critters) - you could then use the raw materials as food (an alternative to first aid) or sell the stuff (alternative to barter). It would also mean more use for the traps skill.

Do you think this adds something, or feels rather like MMO-like grinding? Ofcourse it would only be an option, nothing forced upon you.