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Gaming => Gaming Community => Topic started by: Legend on Sep 26, 2019, 08:18 PM

Title: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Sep 26, 2019, 08:18 PM


The Forged Kingdoms is taking form. With a clear development roadmap and core functionality already implemented, it was time to move to a new thread. The previous OT can be found here (https://vizioneck.com/forum/index.php?topic=7347).


Roadmap:

The Forged Kingdoms: Cosmos

The world is young. A massive 1 million sq km world is forged exclusively for you to explore.



The Forged Kingdoms: Survival

For the first time you can remember, your body grows hungry. Hunt for food, craft shelter, and battle the elements. Death is coming for you.



The Forged Kingdoms: Kinship

You are not alone. Other humans are now part of the world. They can do everything you can and will craft communities on their own. Make friends or make enemies depending on your actions, every one of them is individually simulated with thoughts and emotions. Online multiplayer is also added so group up with friends and rule the world.



The Forged Kingdoms: Adventure

The Forged Kingdoms: Regicide

Thrones are forged and communities band together. Complex politics play out with real conversations, wars are waged, and cities rebel. Claim your position at the top.

Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: 1 step down, 1,343,831 to go
Post by: Legend on Oct 05, 2019, 04:14 PM
Early Access Roadmap

The Forged Kingdoms: Cosmos
Free pre-early access while the game is still in a raw state. Progress does not carry over and access is revoked as the game switches to early access.

The Forged Kingdoms: Survival
Polished early access with core gameplay finished. $10 and yours forever with free upgrades. Progress can carry over.

The Forged Kingdoms: Kinship
First major update while in early access. Price increases to $20 for new buyers while current owners get the update for free.

The Forged Kingdoms: Adventure
Second major update. Price increases to $30 and current owners get the update for free.

The Forged Kingdoms: Regicide
Final major update and the game leaves early access. Price increases to $40 and current owners get the update for free.

Post-release plans

The $40 price is locked in and does not increase, even as free expansions are released. Paid expansions are not currently planned. Microtransactions will never be used.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: 1 step down, 1,343,831 to go
Post by: Legend on Oct 06, 2019, 05:52 AM


Trippy video showing terrain LOD generation.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: 1 step down, 1,343,831 to go
Post by: Legend on Oct 07, 2019, 05:39 AM


I'm hoping to release The Forged Kingdoms: Cosmos in about a week. It'll be a free tech demo more than anything else but it's an important milestone for development. Past this point the majority of work will be art and gameplay related instead of tech related.

The world is very bland atm. A goal during the Cosmos will be to determine the game's art style and get good visuals working.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: 1 step down, 1,343,831 to go
Post by: Legend on Oct 10, 2019, 07:22 PM
The Forged Kingdoms: Cosmos will be releasing tomorrow!!!

This free release will be a true alpha build with lots of raw elements. The main goal is to get feedback on the terrain system. I'll hand out steam keys to any member that contacts me.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 12, 2019, 03:49 AM
The Forged Kingdoms Cosmos


Available Now!


That's right!!! The very first alpha build is here and up on Steam. Send me a pm or whatever if you wish to experiment with the procedural world generation.

(https://i.imgur.com/38cPT8M.png)
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 15, 2019, 09:55 PM


I'm not an artist but I spent a bit of time theming this area to make sure all the procedural generation tools work well together. I've reworked a few things to make land generation insanely powerful and insanely fast. This video shows the early stages of this new system. I think the end result will conservatively be ~1,500% higher quality/detail and ~10,000% faster to generate (generation is being moved to the GPU which really really good at massively parallel problems).
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 19, 2019, 02:04 AM


Cosmos 0.0.2 has been released.



I'm targeting weekly updates at this stage to keep everything going smoothly.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 19, 2019, 10:17 PM
Fairly new to discord but I'm in the process of setting one up: Discord (https://discord.gg/F522kV)
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 22, 2019, 11:20 PM


Right now I'm viewing everything as rapid prototyping. Just get results as fast as possible. Will save me time in the long run even if I have to do the same work multiple times.

This grass and rock and cacti placement is super dumb. It's just a random scatter. End objective is to have these items synced with terrain generation so trees and rocks can look hand placed and grounded.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 24, 2019, 05:43 PM


Also I made a public playlist for all these videos so that they are easy to find: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQcIHTsb3uLPHeH_ql_4Lg5quzUxTVqvQ (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQcIHTsb3uLPHeH_ql_4Lg5quzUxTVqvQ)
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 26, 2019, 04:48 PM
Cosmos 0.0.3 has been pushed to the closed alpha. It includes all the changes shown in the previous video.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 26, 2019, 11:14 PM
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 30, 2019, 06:40 PM
I've modeled a stand in for the player. In the final game it will be generated but for the moment I just need something that looks good and works with the rest of the systems.

So now I'm doing animations.

It's really really interesting. Once again I'm looking at using procedural generation to both save time and get better results.

The player will actually move like an AI robot I think.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Oct 31, 2019, 05:06 AM



This is what I'm working on.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Cosmos Alpha available now!
Post by: Legend on Nov 04, 2019, 11:16 PM
I've kinda come up with something that hopefully feels good when playing.

Instead of directly moving your avatar, you move a pointer. Then the avatar does everything it can to keep up with the pointer.

So say you are running left at full speed and switch to running right. The pointer turns on a dime and starts moving right but your avatar has a lot of momentum. If it is mid run with no feet on the ground, it can't change its velocity yet. It needs to throw some feet on the ground first. This slightly delays the avatar and as such it slightly increases its change in velocity to catch up with the pointer.

All this is behind the scenes and not visible to the player. It's just my current method of including complex animations without sacrificing tight controls.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Dec 08, 2019, 08:17 AM


I've been working on an AI based system for animations and just got the sub systems set up. It's hilariously bad but it works!
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Dec 13, 2019, 07:16 PM


Running works. Stopping doesn't.

I'm getting very close to a finished system for the legs. Arms will be relatively easy since they're visual mostly and only slightly influence a few leg parameters.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Dec 17, 2019, 12:41 AM


Just another quick update. I'm spending far far far too much time on this stuff but hopefully it ends up being worthwhile.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jan 10, 2020, 10:59 PM
Oh sweet this video is public now.



It's very similar to my approach if you're wondering how this type of stuff is achieved in games.


One thing I'm still working on but hoping to achieve is feeding my procedural objects back into the terrain. So my system generates the ground, places objects, and then modifies the ground based off objects. For example a tree could have the ground pushed up by its roots.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jan 13, 2020, 05:34 AM
I love when math simplifies.

One thing I think will be really cool is having companions physically toss you supplies when you need them. I just implemented the math for that and it becomes really elegant, even with wind.

Code: [Select]

float airTime = 1;
Vector3 throwVelocity = (targetPosition-currentPosition)/airTime;
throwVelocity -= (gravityVector+windVector) * (airTime * .5f);



It's fun seeing the ball thrown a bit too far only to be perfectly blown back into the catcher's mitt. Variations in wind will make it less perfect in the final game but that will just make the the thrower decrease the air time or walk the item over.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jan 19, 2020, 05:06 AM
Just some musings on maps and gameplay.

No minimap.
No compass map.

When playing, the player should be focused on their world. Look at the actual places you are going!


For the full game map, the camera just zooms out and the real 3D world is used. The engine supports this and it saves a lot of time. Also is really cool.

I have concerns about it with gameplay though. Unless it is built into the lore like eagle vision, it makes no sense. Why would you be able to see all that?


I kinda feel like it might make sense to take botw's thoughts on maps to the extreme. No maps ever. Instead the map button toggles in world labels. Visible mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, etc. have their names hover over them in medieval style. Climbing to the top of a mountain would not just let you see a good vista, it would let you locate yourself and surroundings.

This is important because "quests" will not mark a pin for the exact location. Instead they use landmarks. If the treasure is between yorky river and mount massive, you focus on finding those first.


With that said, a system is still needed to help the player rember things. There are literally thousands of mountains in the game and the player can't be expected to remember the name of every one. A map is the only way to present that info.

So we have a catch 22 on our hands.

Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Mar 27, 2020, 02:33 PM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ET-J3gaUUAABnIR?format=jpg&name=orig)
Testing out conversation wheels.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Apr 10, 2020, 06:12 AM
Kinda fun but I'm switching my world system slightly so that I can have thousands of "biomes" instead of just a few.

They'll be generated before the game starts just as a way to speed things up. Lots of simple biomes are faster than a few complex biomes, even though to the player it mostly feels the same.

Also works with my evolution mechanic. It's all fake and doesn't happen while playing. Variants of basic animals and plants are made to fit regions. Really simple stuff like brown bear vs black bear, not alien/monster looking variants.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Apr 24, 2020, 10:37 PM


Buzz, buzzzzzzz!



Instead of showing stuff that is pretty, here's a look at raw game development. This test bed is where I am setting up my procedural lod system, "nested procedural details." The trees procedurally generate the grass and the grass procedurally generates the bugs. Models are are ugly and poppy on purpose so that I can quickly iterate and know what is happening.


This tool is also how biomes work. The same grass species can spawn different insects depending on location and the same tress can similarly spawn mushrooms and birds depending on location.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Apr 27, 2020, 04:22 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/uOIvb1I.png)

It's fun how this test environment is slowly starting to look more like an actual environment.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 15, 2020, 03:28 PM
What makes The Forged Kingdoms play like nothing else?


Everything is physical.

It's essentially a voxel game without voxels. Items take up real space and everything can be used for anything. Makes it really hard to develop though!
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 26, 2020, 02:34 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/iL7LhB6.png)

Very first iteration of my plant gen system. Can't use off the shelf tools since I need to procedurally generate these during gameplay and slowly grow them over time.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 26, 2020, 04:48 AM


It can grow.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: the-pi-guy on Jun 26, 2020, 10:55 AM
Are you using l systems or something more unique?  
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 26, 2020, 02:35 PM
Are you using l systems or something more unique?  
L systems in that gif and hopefully in the final game. They are really fast so I'd prefer them over a full simulation as long as they look good.

But today I need to make them actually look good. More structure and leafs.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 27, 2020, 08:29 PM



I don't know if this method will be light enough on resources but it's pretty great. Blending between different vector maps.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jun 28, 2020, 09:22 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/Qo91WXX.png)

Quick previs on the right, high polycount model on the left. Model on the left can have lots of complex branch shapes but for now it's just a tube.


I think at this point it's time to set up the artistic tools and try my hand at a game ready tree.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jul 18, 2020, 05:16 AM
Remember way back when I talked about NPCs not magically knowing stuff?

I think I can keep that system and even upgrade it.


Say an entire town sees you commit a murder. Kill everyone there and it's as if no one saw.

Kill all ravens and transports heading to a castle. No one inside will know what is going on in the world.

Pretend to be the owner of a house while the owners are gone. Guards won't think you're doing anything wrong unless your lies mismatch what that individual guard knows.

Accuse a person of theft after reverse pickpocketing them. They never did it but the whole town may believe they are a thief.


This system works by tracking the flow of information. A "belief" is stored universally so that many can share it and it can be simulated like an infection for far off regions. Doesn't matter if the belief is true or false.
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Dr. Pezus on Jul 18, 2020, 11:44 AM
Remember way back when I talked about NPCs not magically knowing stuff?

I think I can keep that system and even upgrade it.


Say an entire town sees you commit a murder. Kill everyone there and it's as if no one saw.

Kill all ravens and transports heading to a castle. No one inside will know what is going on in the world.

Pretend to be the owner of a house while the owners are gone. Guards won't think you're doing anything wrong unless your lies mismatch what that individual guard knows.

Accuse a person of theft after reverse pickpocketing them. They never did it but the whole town may believe they are a thief.


This system works by tracking the flow of information. A "belief" is stored universally so that many can share it and it can be simulated like an infection for far off regions. Doesn't matter if the belief is true or false.
I remember Oblivion sometimes doing something like that. Very cool. Obviously very flawed in that game
Title: Re: The Forged Kingdoms OT: Dream Bigger
Post by: Legend on Jul 26, 2020, 03:07 AM
I think I'll have photo mode with a few "cheat" options.

The engine supports the camera going really far from the player so I'll just let that happen, even if it could be exploited.


Also that then lets me do ground to space zoomouts in trailers that are 100% gameplay.