Author Topic: A Valley Without Wind Pre-Alpha #7 -- Lighting, Lava, Deserts, and Interiors  (Read 13072 times)

Offline Zhaine

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It's intended to restrict visibility some, like blowing sand (except that it's blowing heat waves), so it's doing pretty much what it's intended to do.  We wouldn't normally go with an effect that restricts visibility in quite this sort of manner, but this is one of the most hostile environments, and it's meant to be one of many things there to put players a bit more off-balance than normal.

Mmmm I'm fine with things obstructing visibility if that's intended, eg the dark or the trees. I just don't think it's so pretty when it's that bright (although I like the effect in principal). The way the glow bleeds into the other objects is cool, just a little too much for me atm. . . But it's a minor point and others might disagree, so I'm not going to go on about it :)

With the lighting. . . Well if there's nothing you can do there's nothing you can do. I think the moving spells look kinda cool and stylized, but stationery light sources are going to look pretty horrid aliased like that, I wont lie, especially when the rest of the game is starting to look so stylish and pretty.

If (if) it's CPU intensive but not a ridiculous amount of work, couldn't you AA the edges of stationery sources, just so they don't have the jagged pixelated edges? This could then be optional, as people who turn the option off wont be able to see any more or less, they just wont have smooth edges to their light radii. I'll hush now as I know much too little about programming or graphics to make sensible suggestions beyond this!!

Edit: Just noticed something else. On the AVWW page on the main site, I believe the tree graphics posted down the side are the old versions with the white pixels at the edges. Not a big deal but as the game gets more exposure it's probably an idea to change them for the newer ones and/or some more interesting stuff like cars or enemies  :)
« Last Edit: March 28, 2011, 02:18:13 pm by Zhaine »

Offline x4000

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Yep, I need to update the art assets on that page, for sure.

In terms of the antialiasing, it doesn't really work like that -- this is the z buffer, not a polygon, and so AA isn't a feature there. 

Thinking about this more, its possible that in the future I might be able to do two versions of lighting, one based on the z buffer for older cards and giant screens, and another version that uses render textures or something along those lines for newer cards with reasonable monitor sizes.  Right now it's just going to be the z buffer version, though.

I'd also note that we have no stationary light sources in the game -- even those that are sitting still have a "pulsing" effect, such that every light source is always moving its borders at least somewhat.
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Offline Zhaine

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Yep, I need to update the art assets on that page, for sure.

In terms of the antialiasing, it doesn't really work like that -- this is the z buffer, not a polygon, and so AA isn't a feature there. 

Thinking about this more, its possible that in the future I might be able to do two versions of lighting, one based on the z buffer for older cards and giant screens, and another version that uses render textures or something along those lines for newer cards with reasonable monitor sizes.  Right now it's just going to be the z buffer version, though.

Sounds sensible to me, get the thing working for alpha then see what people think and hopefully get this in for beta or 1.0. . .

I'd also note that we have no stationary light sources in the game -- even those that are sitting still have a "pulsing" effect, such that every light source is always moving its borders at least somewhat.

Hah, thought you might call me up on that. OK replace stationery with not-rapidly-moving (or with-a-stationery-source-object)  ;D

Offline x4000

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All good. :)
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Offline Echo35

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Stop teasing us already and give us the darn game! :D

Looks awesome so far. I seriously can't wait for this one. Keep up the awesome work!

EDIT: Also, I just saw the article over on  RPS. I'd say this game is off to a good start coverage wise.
« Last Edit: March 29, 2011, 09:45:55 am by Echo35 »

Offline x4000

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Thanks!  It's discouraging to read some of the negative stuff on the art over there, but I guess these are the same folks that would agree that Crysis 2 had graphics that were so bad they were hard to look at. ???
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Offline tigersfan

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Thanks!  It's discouraging to read some of the negative stuff on the art over there, but I guess these are the same folks that would agree that Crysis 2 had graphics that were so bad they were hard to look at. ???

I'm not an artist, and I don't even to pretend to understand all of that article you posted, but, I say feel free to go ahead and ignore those ^^^ guys. Looking at Crysis 2 makes you literally sick? That's just.... wow. So yeah, ignore the snobs. You've got a good thing going here, keep it up.

Offline x4000

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Much appreciated.  That was my conclusion, too. :)
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Offline Echo35

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Thanks!  It's discouraging to read some of the negative stuff on the art over there, but I guess these are the same folks that would agree that Crysis 2 had graphics that were so bad they were hard to look at. ???

I'm not an artist, and I don't even to pretend to understand all of that article you posted, but, I say feel free to go ahead and ignore those ^^^ guys. Looking at Crysis 2 makes you literally sick? That's just.... wow. So yeah, ignore the snobs. You've got a good thing going here, keep it up.

That was a parody article actually, MAKING FUN OF those people that complain Crysys 2 is ugly simply because it has a console port. Don't take that article seriously.

Offline x4000

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Thank god.  ;D

But yeah, I guess they are parodying some real people, anyway, which is scary enough.  :P
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Offline Echo35

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But yeah, I guess they are parodying some real people, anyway, which is scary enough.  :P

Oh yeah, you should read the comments. Some of the people in there are scary.

Offline x4000

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Some of the people in there are scary.

This has been my general experience with comment threads.
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Offline stblr

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I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss those comments. RPS is one of the best PC-centric sites out there with a very literate and informed community. I will be first in line to buy this game because I think the concept sounds unbelievable and I'm a fan of your other games, but I think it says something that almost every single comment over there--made by people who may very well be your target audience--is something to the effect of, "game could be great, graphics are offputting."

Offline x4000

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I think it's telling that they are looking at incredibly downsampled images.  We've been through this same cycle in past weeks, and when people see our actual screens or watch the video at HD resolution, the reaction is really quite good overall.
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Offline x4000

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For those interested, I've actually put together a new lighting model that looks awesome, using just image techniques.  It's sort of vaguely inspired by the stuff eRe4s3r was talking about.  It's a little heavier on the CPU/GPU, but not all that much really, and it's like night and day the difference.  I'm putting this in as the default, but making it so that either the new method or the older z buffer ones can be used, depending on player preference and the capabilities of their machine.  And the z buffer stuff is still being used to great effect to keep shadows behaving, too.

More details and a video later today. :)
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