ART DIRECTION
This is not snow on rocks. This is me 1) not knowing how to sculpt well and completely messing up the topology and 2) not knowing how to correctly use the lightmap plugin.
However, this is the perfect first step to define the direction I want to follow for the style.
CREW & VEHICLES
To find the right size for the spaceship, vehicles and the crew, I created a simple scene.
This is the first exploration for the customization of vehicles depending on the player background.
The vehicle is fully animated and can be tested on Desktop here using WASD:
SHADERS
Shaders have been integrated into the game engine.
This is the prototype for a snow shader following hand-painted vertices and using their color to deform the geometry of the mesh.
FIBONACCI
In order to generate interesting hierarchies and locations, I studied and integrated generators following the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden ratio.
OTHERS
These are just the visible aspects but most of the work has been done on implementing post-processing, shaders, particle effects and animations and on improving the structure in order to find the right way to generate factions, quests and locations.
#art #gamedev
CREW & VEHICLES
To find the right size for the spaceship, vehicles and the crew, I created a simple scene.
This is the first exploration for the customization of vehicles depending on the player background.
The vehicle is fully animated and can be tested on Desktop here using WASD:
Dragonbane Creation
Dragonbane Creation
Creating Epic Worlds through Oneness
FIBONACCI
In order to generate interesting hierarchies and locations, I studied and integrated generators following the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden ratio.
Be careful, the sound can be loud:
OTHER CONCEPTS
The templates for quests, the magic system and the main factions have also all been defined.
#worldbuilding #gamedev
GAME
The rest of the time, I finalized the architecture for the game and made it more elegant and simple by standardizing and removing what could be.
#gamedev #worldbuilding
STRONGHOLDS
Having a stronghold seems like an interesting complement to ship management and can allow more possibilities such as resources processing, crew training and missions independent from the play ship.
PLAYER SHIP
Having a single ship for the entire game seems like the most interesting choice. It allows more customization and better storytelling than switching ships two or three times.
#gamedev #art
FACTIONS
Factions are becoming much more interesting. For now there are 6 categories of factions:
- Dragonbane
- Creation
- Oneness
- Evil (Shattered Moon)
- Crime Syndicates
- Guilds (Trade & Production)
Exploring the color palette and granularity for some of them.
ENVIRONMENT
Experimenting with painting with complete relaxation.
BAKED LIGHTING
I also created the process to add baked lightings to meshes. The tests I made make models look much better, especially when it will be combined with environment lighting.
#worldbuilding #gamedev
THE CLAN OF THE SHATTERED MOON
The clan of the shattered moon represent the main human evil faction of the world. The are covertly embedded everywhere in society and see it their responsibility to free humanity from nature.
THE CULT OF CREATION
The crest of the cult of creation are crystals set around a wheel
THE FLAME OF ONENESS
The symbol of Oneness is a flame or a white crystal surrounded by the wheel of creation.
#gamedev #worldbuilding #conceptart
The procedural system is working in a fractal way where a hierarchy of meshes is given and every parent has its children generated on top. This examples simulates an overgrown research station (on the left) in front of the entrance of a cave. The procedural generation also works inside the cave below other parts of the terrain.
ASTEROID FIELDS & SPACESHIP CONTROLS
The asteroid field can now load custom meshes and a simple system to control the ship has been implemented.
STAR MAP
The star map is now looking much better and I also improved the algorithm to generate the systems.
#gamedev
## PROCEDURAL GENERATION
Terrains can now have meshes generated directly on their geometry. The first test will probably be with trees and rocks.
## DAY & NIGHT CYCLE
I created the prototype for a day and night cycle. For now, it only affects the light and sky and not meshes yet. Maybe a shader or some post-processing will improve it.
## ARCHETYPES
I also created the list of backgrounds for the characters you will be able to pick at the start of a game. They are:
### THE COLONIZER
You arrive as a trader/builder and you want to participate in building new colonies and help them thrive through trade and craftsmanship.
### THE HUMANITARIAN
You want to help those in need, relieve suffering and reassure people. An organization lends you a ship and a crew to bring humanitarian aid and support to remote colonies.
### THE ENGINEER
You want to explore the science and technology this new place has to offer and build new tools with what you discover.
### THE EXPLORER
Your rich uncle was passionate with archeology and left you some money and a ship to discover as much as possible about the ancient civilization and their ruins. You choose whether what you discover belongs in a museum.
### THE ARCANA MASTER
You have discovered you have some special abilities and some people even started worshipping you. You have to learn to master your new powers and decide how to handle people.
### THE OFFICER
You just arrived as a veteran military officer and the government offers you a ship and a crew with the mission to bring law and order as an independent entity.
## THE ROGUE
You just arrived and a shady organization offers you a deal too good to pass up. You see many people that would benefit from being relieved of their possessions in this new world.
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## FTL
Making a FTL system that both makes sense and is interesting is very difficult. This is a good start for the visual component.
## SHIP INTERIORS & PHYSICS
Ships now have an interior that characters can walk. If you focus long enough, the red box turns into a spaceship captain.
## SYSTEMS
Systems start looking much more interesting with asteroid fields, planets and moons.
#gamedev
I implemented the automated Level-of-Detail rendering.
After I model something in Blender, I have an automated script in Python created 4 levels of details of the model and BabylonJS automatically renders the correct level of detail required by the distance from the camera.
The 3D engine is now integrated with the interface and both can access the same information. This makes creating the minimap trivial. The asteroid field has been tested with 20000 asteroids at 60FPS.
Space will also have locations to explore and random encounters with other ships.
The ship creation will not be based on voxels like here but will have a basic elements on which other components can be attached.
The heightmap is already integrated with the Physics engine (Havok). The yellow box is a cave entrance to test switching location and the purple box is a trader to test dialogs.
If you access the website from a desktop, you can test part of it here:
I also merged the website and game engine, it is now a single application and can communicate with the world engine and the 3D engine (BabylonJS).
#gamedev #news
This is the first attempt at doing values with my new Krita brushes on a Dragonbane statue.
#art #news
As of now, you can find early concept arts and prototypes for the different factions on the website:
#art #worldbuilding