VizionEck

Gaming => Game News Discussion => Topic started by: nnodley on Dec 28, 2017, 04:07 PM

Title: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Dec 28, 2017, 04:07 PM
Hey all so not really anything big to share on my game, but just a couple screens of the beginning area of the game.  

The whole game is set in within cliffs/canyon type area where this company, Interplanetary Technology Division, created a sort of testing grounds for their first space exploration team.  The area is designed to be tough to traverse, but player has a device which allows lower gravity and small jump boosts to jump gaps or grab higher ledges.  They company needed this place to test both physical and mental aspects as there are some non-working puzzle pieces in the game that they would have had to complete in order to pass and complete the test.  

The story idea is fairly basic: You are put here by an unknown person who is leaving behind datapads with clues as to why you are here along with some lore sprinkled into them.  The bigger lore will come from other collectables, like journal notes, little small scale versions of the tech that was built in this world and space travel posters(like the ones nasa had done some time ago).

All questions as to who this person is and why and what they want will be completely answered in the game.

I'll continue just using this thread as my update so I don't hijack anymore of Vizioneck game update threads!  ;D

Also don't mind some of the assets in the screens.  Some are placeholders and some I'm just going to totally redo like the trees.  I'm also using megascans for all my foliage and rock/ground textures since they have some amazing scanned textures to use.  Currently the ground and the fern are the only textures from megascans I'm using right now.


(https://i.imgur.com/6cHpydn.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RGSN5Bw.jpg)
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: SWORDF1SH on Dec 28, 2017, 05:22 PM
Kinda reminds me of the Turin Test and Lifeless Planet.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Dec 28, 2017, 06:31 PM
Kinda reminds me of the Turin Test and Lifeless Planet.
Yeah a lot of those type of indie games are where I'm pulling inspiration from.  I'm mostly trying to create a small game that doesn't really do anything new, but can act as a jumping point of lore and larger games down the line if possible.

The game was originally going to be a puzzle game with the same sort of story behind it, but I realized my skillset in getting puzzles set up and working was lacking so I switched gears to more of an exploration game.

Also I have the absolute lowest expectations in copies I would like to sell in a year, 2k to 3k.  I feel its possible, but i'm certainly aware it could do way worse than that.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Dec 28, 2017, 07:04 PM
Also I have the absolute lowest expectations in copies I would like to sell in a year, 2k to 3k.  I feel its possible, but i'm certainly aware it could do way worse than that.
Back when VizionEck was both Adventure and Cube Royale combined, my barrier for success was 1k lifetime.  :P
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Dec 28, 2017, 08:19 PM
Back when VizionEck was both Adventure and Cube Royale combined, my barrier for success was 1k lifetime.  :P
Ha, well I'm trying to a tad bit optimistic. If I just do 2k to 3k lifetime then I'll be happy.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 12, 2018, 11:48 PM
Welp not updated this thread in a while, but honestly haven't gotten far in terms of the environment since anyway.  I've done a fair amount of story/lore and behind the scenes stuff like menus and what not mostly.  Should be at a point where I can start moving forward and developing the environments better.

Also I FINALLY GOT VOLUMETRIC FOG/GOD RAYS TO WORK!!  They never worked well before, but I'm using simul truesky now for a realistic sky so it works perfectly minus some tweaking here and there.
(https://i.imgur.com/F07nhz5.jpg)
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 14, 2018, 01:56 AM
Another update.  Been playing around with some settings trying to get an image I really like.  SUPER close.  Tad dark in the shadows, but that's an easy fix with the skylight.

(https://i.imgur.com/04BC7Yt.jpg)

Can't express how much more I like these recent screens compared to the first ones in this thread
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Xevross on May 14, 2018, 11:46 AM
dang it looks gorgeous. Is this a side project right now while you work for the new small company?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 14, 2018, 01:24 PM
dang it looks gorgeous. Is this a side project right now while you work for the new small company?
Yes and no.  Sometimes things get going on the 2 other company's I'm trying to help get going, but sometimes it's slow so I work on this.  I'm trying to stay consistent with this one for now.  The other studios are super close to having things get going, but who knows.  I'm hoping within a month or so I can have consistent work coming in from those.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Xevross on May 14, 2018, 01:39 PM
Yes and no.  Sometimes things get going on the 2 other company's I'm trying to help get going, but sometimes it's slow so I work on this.  I'm trying to stay consistent with this one for now.  The other studios are super close to having things get going, but who knows.  I'm hoping within a month or so I can have consistent work coming in from those.
Do you think this will be the first of all these games to come out?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 14, 2018, 03:25 PM
Do you think this will be the first of all these games to come out?
yeah most definitely.  One of the companies we are just doing architectural visualization so we won't be doing games there. but the other is a game studio, but who knows when something will come out from there. lol
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 15, 2018, 07:42 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/kENtrWP.jpg)
Working on some new trees!
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 15, 2018, 08:14 PM
This is looking superb nnodley. Well done!
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: SWORDF1SH on May 15, 2018, 08:35 PM
I think I already asked before but you only plan a PC release right? I would absolutely love to play this if it was on PS4. Looks like my kinda game.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 15, 2018, 09:09 PM
I think I already asked before but you only plan a PC release right? I would absolutely love to play this if it was on PS4. Looks like my kinda game.
Yeah only PC for now.  I'm gonna watch reception of it and sales and see if it will be worth trying to port it to ps4.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 18, 2018, 08:35 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/CsD4Jg5.jpg)
This is likely going to be the angle on the main menu of the game.  Or something similar.  It's not as dark in the actual game, but for the menu I wanted to have that sort nice contrast between light and dark.  Might tweak it though.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 18, 2018, 10:53 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/CsD4Jg5.jpg)
This is likely going to be the angle on the main menu of the game.  Or something similar.  It's not as dark in the actual game, but for the menu I wanted to have that sort nice contrast between light and dark.  Might tweak it though.
Are you also using this as the starting area, or will the camera have a fade to black when the game starts?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 18, 2018, 11:42 PM
Are you also using this as the starting area, or will the camera have a fade to black when the game starts?
Actually I've thought about that. It is the starting area of the game, but I think the player is going to start in the building and be able to see the outside through the windows.  I'm probably going to play around with both this image or having it inside the building with it starting directly into the game, like GoW and Horizon have done.   I like the idea of both, just need to see which works better.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 05:48 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/tdQNJxw.jpg)
Definitely getting somewhere.  Been pushing mad hard on getting most foliage done so once this section is done the bigger main section I can start really blocking out.  I'm now taking a less is more approach on my foliage shaders.  I'm getting such better results just having basic subsurface, albedo, and roughness tweaks.  Everything foliage wise is mostly base textures from megascans with some darkening here and there.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 05:52 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/NYPnht0.jpg)
Last image seemed blurry.  Think this is better.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 20, 2018, 06:04 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/NYPnht0.jpg)
Last image seemed blurry.  Think this is better.
Were the textures not at full quality settings?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 06:24 PM
Were the textures not at full quality settings?
They were, but the whole image just seemed blurry.  It looks alright on my monitor in engine.  Might have been the upload.   Plus the second one I made into a bullshot. lol  Double the res and downsized to 1080.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 20, 2018, 06:28 PM
They were, but the whole image just seemed blurry.  It looks alright on my monitor in engine.  Might have been the upload.   Plus the second one I made into a bullshot. lol  Double the res and downsized to 1080.
Haha bullshots are awesome. I oftentimes take screenshots at 16k and downsample.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 07:16 PM
Haha bullshots are awesome. I oftentimes take screenshots at 16k and downsample.
I just tested how mine ran at 4k on my TV.  Not so hot. lol  It was like 20 to 25 fps at all ultra settings.  Everything at high and foliage at medium it ran locked 30fps.

My main goal is 1080 at 60fps locked at ultra.  It hits that easily so far.  I haven't done any LOD optimizations either so that will help.

Looking at those first 2 images, I just want to delete that from my brain.  That looks shame compared to my newest one.  I honestly thought I would never get to the point I am now.  I'm so so so happy with it now.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 20, 2018, 08:31 PM
I just tested how mine ran at 4k on my TV.  Not so hot. lol  It was like 20 to 25 fps at all ultra settings.  Everything at high and foliage at medium it ran locked 30fps.

My main goal is 1080 at 60fps locked at ultra.  It hits that easily so far.  I haven't done any LOD optimizations either so that will help.

Looking at those first 2 images, I just want to delete that from my brain.  That looks shame compared to my newest one.  I honestly thought I would never get to the point I am now.  I'm so so so happy with it now.
Yeah your colors have really improved. It feels artistically framed too.

How much control does Unreal give with optimizing? What's the draw call count?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 08:36 PM
Yeah your colors have really improved. It feels artistically framed too.

How much control does Unreal give with optimizing? What's the draw call count?
I'm not really too sure.  I haven't looked into a ton of optimizing. I do know my foliage is the biggest culprit in performance because of overdraw of opacity.  Thats where I have been creating my meshes with more tris to eliminate as much overdraw as possible.

Also I think using Simul TrueSky has helped tremendously because it has it's own GI solution so it's really helped.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 20, 2018, 09:01 PM
I'm not really too sure.  I haven't looked into a ton of optimizing. I do know my foliage is the biggest culprit in performance because of overdraw of opacity.  Thats where I have been creating my meshes with more tris to eliminate as much overdraw as possible.

Also I think using Simul TrueSky has helped tremendously because it has it's own GI solution so it's really helped.
You're using meshes for leaves and grass instead of textures?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 09:09 PM
You're using meshes for leaves and grass instead of textures?
No I'm building my meshes on top of the texture atlases from megascans.  Everything is made with mesh cards.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on May 20, 2018, 09:46 PM
No I'm building my meshes on top of the texture atlases from megascans.  Everything is made with mesh cards.
I think that's more or less what I was thinking.

I'm so lucky I'm on PS4 since I can optimize for specific hardware instead of just general things.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on May 20, 2018, 09:51 PM
I think that's more or less what I was thinking.

I'm so lucky I'm on PS4 since I can optimize for specific hardware instead of just general things.
Yeah I'll have to have some people test mine eventually since I'm working on a GTX 1080 with a Ryzen 8 core, 8gb VRAM and 32 GB Ram.

And yeah i'm doing foliage how its normally done in games.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 07, 2018, 06:18 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/2u3I1M7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Dxmayml.jpg)
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Xevross on Jun 07, 2018, 06:22 PM
There's lights!
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 07, 2018, 06:24 PM
There's lights!
Yep! Just simple cylinders with emissive.  I want to get them to look more like webs flowing around inside.   The idea is it's dark matter pulled into our physical world and it has an emissive property to it so they are used as lights in areas.  In the stand thingy it's using the dark matter to power a teleporter a farther on the path that will essentially start the larger area of the game.  But focusing on this area for now.

Also the dark matter in my universe has to be contained to be seen.  If it would be able to spill out of anything like a crack it would disintegrate into smoke and disappear.

(https://i.imgur.com/PpaJLf9.jpg)
Here's a shot looking the opposite way towards where the portal will be.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Xevross on Jun 07, 2018, 06:52 PM
Yep! Just simple cylinders with emissive.  I want to get them to look more like webs flowing around inside.   The idea is it's dark matter pulled into our physical world and it has an emissive property to it so they are used as lights in areas.  In the stand thingy it's using the dark matter to power a teleporter a farther on the path that will essentially start the larger area of the game.  But focusing on this area for now.

Also the dark matter in my universe has to be contained to be seen.  If it would be able to spill out of anything like a crack it would disintegrate into smoke and disappear.

(https://i.imgur.com/PpaJLf9.jpg)
Here's a shot looking the opposite way towards where the portal will be.
That sounds awesome. Is there any reason you chose dark matter in particular?

That's beautiful  :o
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 07, 2018, 07:15 PM
That sounds awesome. Is there any reason you chose dark matter in particular?

That's beautiful  :o
Mostly I chose it because there isn't a lot known about it so I can take a lot of liberty's and creative freedom with it to do my own thing and not be hindered by real world science.  Though I want to have some of that in my universe as well, but I like the idea of having a lot of freedom to work with.  Like I myself believe current scifi elements are super angular and have so many unnecessary details that are only their to give a futuristic look.  A lot of my man made stuff is going to have a sleek/modern vibe, but hopefully feel futuristic as well.  

Also because not much is known about dark matter its used as a basis and used for all the technology in my universe since I can get away with it since no ones knows what(if it ever gets fully discovered and studied) it can be used for. Or if can at all.  Most of that sort of stuff will be revealed in this game through collectibles.  

There is also a twist to where dark matter comes from in my game that I'm hoping works out and is super cool.  But you will all have to play the game.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Xevross on Jun 07, 2018, 07:37 PM
Mostly I chose it because there isn't a lot known about it so I can take a lot of liberty's and creative freedom with it to do my own thing and not be hindered by real world science.  Though I want to have some of that in my universe as well, but I like the idea of having a lot of freedom to work with.  Like I myself believe current scifi elements are super angular and have so many unnecessary details that are only their to give a futuristic look.  A lot of my man made stuff is going to have a sleek/modern vibe, but hopefully feel futuristic as well.  

Also because not much is known about dark matter its used as a basis and used for all the technology in my universe since I can get away with it since no ones knows what(if it ever gets fully discovered and studied) it can be used for. Or if can at all.  Most of that sort of stuff will be revealed in this game through collectibles.  

There is also a twist to where dark matter comes from in my game that I'm hoping works out and is super cool.  But you will all have to play the game.
Yeah that's a great idea. We know a lot of what dark matter should be but its not like any physicist will write a paper about everything your game might have gotten wrong :P

Sounds cool!
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jun 08, 2018, 01:46 AM
Yeah that's a great idea. We know a lot of what dark matter should be but its not like any physicist will write a paper about everything your game might have gotten wrong :P

Sounds cool!
Never say never. Brian Greene might secretly be following the game already.

@noodle
Lights look great. Is that a glow effect or do you also have them lighting the scene?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 08, 2018, 02:40 AM
Never say never. Brian Greene might secretly be following the game already.

@noodle
Lights look great. Is that a glow effect or do you also have them lighting the scene?
Yeah it's just a simple shader with an emissive color and strength parameter.  I have it set to be a light source to cast light, but it's not working too well.  I think me using truesky has messed with how some things worked before I started using it.  Just need to play around with settings.

Oh also I don't even have to make my own LOD's!!  Unreal now has build in reduction settings for them.  All the rocks have 3 LOD's.  It's as simple as going into the mesh settings and turning the reduction settings down and telling it to favor the silhouette of the object and hit it apply and BAM it's done!!  Literally take 15 seconds to get 3 to 4 LOD's. 
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 08, 2018, 04:45 PM
Also I tried my game in VR and it actually feels SOO GOOD!  It actually runs fairly well at ultra on my PC.  About 40fps, but I know it at the least needs to be 60fps.  I just wish we had 8k screens in VR headsets right now. It just looks so ugly cause of the lower res screen. But at the same time it looks pretty good too.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 18, 2018, 08:03 PM


Trying out some stuff to get more details into my ground meshes.  Working on a mud erosion with running water.  Saw something like this in the TLOU 2 gameplay and others and wanted to see if I could replicate it.   Super happy with it.


Let me know if the video doesn't work.  I set it to private since I don't really want anyone to see it since it's just a small thing. But I used the share link so hopefully it works.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: the-pi-guy on Jun 18, 2018, 08:31 PM
Says unavailable.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 18, 2018, 08:43 PM
Says unavailable.
dang, well set it to public so it should be good hopefully.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 20, 2018, 06:32 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/WufT7l6.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kZ1J7DU.jpg)

Working on getting a new area up and running.  Getting there.  Probably going to be the largest area out of all I hope to do.  I hope to be able to allow the player to go up ontop of the cliffs and have some more areas up there to explore. But need to figure that out a little bit.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jun 28, 2018, 03:57 PM
Looking good. Is it Witness like with no jumping and you'd need a walkway/elevator or could you jump/climb to the top of the waterfall?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jun 28, 2018, 04:48 PM
Looking good. Is it Witness like with no jumping and you'd need a walkway/elevator or could you jump/climb to the top of the waterfall?
There will be jumping, but mostly just for being able to jump up small ledges here and there.  To get up to higher areas I'm looking at walkways/elevators.  This is likely to be the only area that will have higher verticality.  I kind of switched up the story of the area you will play at.  Its all still the same in terms of world and overall story, but this part is switched up.  There will be 4 areas to travel between not including the first area and a special one that is endgame(so 6 all together) and at each of these 4 areas is what I'm calling the Inter-dimensional Conduit.  It's a testing area for a new piece of technology at the time of them discovering it, but when you play the game it's a little bit farther in the future so it's actually an old technology.  

My main goal for the next couple months is to get a playable game from beginning to end minus having everything in content and asset wise.  So essentially go into Alpha stage by september.  I'm close but we will see if I get there by then.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 03, 2018, 07:33 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/tq1JLe2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2KnDmEP.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/yaJ7fAf.jpg)
Some updates to the newest area I am working on.  Still have to add in the manmade stuff and all that jazz.  I'm focusing more on level design and just playing around with foliage placement and stuff.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 04, 2018, 04:37 AM
Yeah hows the level design going? Can you play from level to level yet?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 05, 2018, 09:41 PM
Yeah hows the level design going? Can you play from level to level yet?
Not quite. It's close, maybe another week or so.  I have a portal system I might try to get running tomorrow.  I built a small version of it, but what I have trouble with is not having a crash when going through and trying to load out 1 level and loading in another.  The portals are a part of the technology in the world so that is the main mode of transportation, but there is also ways i'm trying to connect 2 levels together and then have the other 2 connected as well.  So there will be multiple ways to travel if the player wants to, but will miss collectables not necessary to the overall story, but might miss some background lore.

Also looking into a way to have a recording play automatically as the player gets to certain areas with a trigger box.  It should be pretty simple just setting up an event on trigger to play the recording.   This will get rid of the need of datapad collectables(original idea), but now need someone who has a great voice to record what I write.   I can get a much more natural feel to the story this way, that I noticed when writing it out.  And it keeps the player in the game as they hear the story.

Lately i've been hoping to maybe work towards January or February release(which would be 6-7 months after original date).  i do feel I can hit that since I have a lot of assets now to use.  I just need to develop the overall look for the manmade/technology stuff.  i have an idea of what I want I just need to get some concepts of them from someone I know that I went to school with. 

Feeling good about it all though, so just need to keep the momentum.

Sorry for mini wall of text. lol
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 05, 2018, 09:43 PM
oh also this other area I was working on is running at 50fps in areas and 60fps in most of it so I have to figure out a way to have some load in and load out to bring the performance back up. 
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 05, 2018, 10:20 PM
Not quite. It's close, maybe another week or so.  I have a portal system I might try to get running tomorrow.  I built a small version of it, but what I have trouble with is not having a crash when going through and trying to load out 1 level and loading in another.  The portals are a part of the technology in the world so that is the main mode of transportation, but there is also ways i'm trying to connect 2 levels together and then have the other 2 connected as well.  So there will be multiple ways to travel if the player wants to, but will miss collectables not necessary to the overall story, but might miss some background lore.

Also looking into a way to have a recording play automatically as the player gets to certain areas with a trigger box.  It should be pretty simple just setting up an event on trigger to play the recording.   This will get rid of the need of datapad collectables(original idea), but now need someone who has a great voice to record what I write.   I can get a much more natural feel to the story this way, that I noticed when writing it out.  And it keeps the player in the game as they hear the story.

Lately i've been hoping to maybe work towards January or February release(which would be 6-7 months after original date).  i do feel I can hit that since I have a lot of assets now to use.  I just need to develop the overall look for the manmade/technology stuff.  i have an idea of what I want I just need to get some concepts of them from someone I know that I went to school with.  

Feeling good about it all though, so just need to keep the momentum.

Sorry for mini wall of text. lol
If you're wanting to have both portals and walking seamlessly around (unless I misunderstand) then you should definitely sort out level streaming. Then portals are as simple as physically moving the player and their is no loading delay.

How many languages are you planning to support? Audio logs are definitely better than text logs if you want them to not affect pace, but it's also more work. Does Unreal have a built in subtitle feature?

Awesome that you feel like you could be releasing soon. Is most of the modeling done or is that still your biggest task?


I always like reading your updates since you have a different perspective on this stuff than I do.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 05, 2018, 10:38 PM
If you're wanting to have both portals and walking seamlessly around (unless I misunderstand) then you should definitely sort out level streaming. Then portals are as simple as physically moving the player and their is no loading delay.

How many languages are you planning to support? Audio logs are definitely better than text logs if you want them to not affect pace, but it's also more work. Does Unreal have a built in subtitle feature?

Awesome that you feel like you could be releasing soon. Is most of the modeling done or is that still your biggest task?


I always like reading your updates since you have a different perspective on this stuff than I do.
Yeah i'm going to have walking and portals. I'm working on how I'm going to split up different areas to stream and how I can do some tricks and hide it with foliage or something. Not all the levels will be connected so it alleviates some of the streaming issues, but I am creating more of a lake with high cliffs/mountains surrounding it with the four areas with the conduits and the actual tech they are powering in the middle of the lake(was not thinking of God of War at the time of wanting to do it ;D ) so all the areas will be seen from most places so I need low res version of all the objects for performance and streaming issues.

I had a couple portals working before, but broke them because of some issues so the basics of it is already built and ready to go.

I do believe it has a subtitle feature built in as far as I'm aware.  I'll have to look into that more.  Different languages was on my mind, but I definitely need to look into it more.   

Most of the foliage is finished.  I might have more I can make, but I may wait for that once I get to polishing and finalizing levels before release.  Most rocks and cliffs I am using megascans 3d assets I got from them and created my own textures in substance and a decent shader for them in engine.  I need some more custom meshes of cliffs and I'm gonna try and make those soon.  I have a portal design which hasn't been shown in here yet.  I'll show it tomorrow maybe.  Other than all that I have mostly man made stuff to build out and texture.  But, i'm not worried so much about that as I can just use placeholder designs for now to get the flow of the game done and get into alpha stage of development soon.  Hopefully by september or so.

For now I am going to try and print the story as text on screen with triggers so I can work on placement of where recordings may start and not have too many close together to conflict with a recording already playing.

(https://i.imgur.com/zyyDLhF.jpg)
Actually here is the portal design I've been working on.  Essentially it will use dark matter to power.  The DM will come through the tubes  and will be drawn right into the center which will then use the DM to create the portal.  Or something similar to that.  The ideas for how I have it "work" may change down the line.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 13, 2018, 07:00 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/7LsddU2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/8bLysdq.jpg)

Heres some images of the environment for the game.  Don't be fooled by how big it looks.  Only the areas around the the 3 tall cylinders will be what is playable, plus the thing in the center of the lake.  There is a fourth cylinder, but not allowing the player to go there.  Then there is the starting level which is practically done minus some tweaks and finalizing some assets.  And going to try and work on my last area which is gonna be a surprise for everyone even for you all on here.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 13, 2018, 07:02 PM
Do you have a little boat to get around in?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 13, 2018, 07:07 PM
Do you have a little boat to get around in?
lol no!   ;D

Also every place is visitable by portals now except the center thing.  Still not sure the look I want to go for it.  The scifi/man made stuff is where I'm struggling right now.  But just focusing on world and story for now with more level design as I get other ideas.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 17, 2018, 08:54 PM
Finally got my level designed!! Decided against being able to walk between some areas and all can only be accessed through portals which are also all working.  Some areas were running around 50fps and most were 60fps.  I capped it at 30fps for now since it's really smooth at 30fps cause it's literally locked at that in every area.  I think I might look into having a 30fps option with all the foliage pushed to the max for those with powerful rigs and still try and get a solid 60fps with the same settings if I can.

I'm running gtx 1080 with 8gb vram, ryzen 8 core, and 32gb of RAM.  I'll have to boot up my old rig with a gtx 680, intel quad core, and 16gb RAM to see how it runs on that.

I made so much progress these last 2 to 3 weeks.  And i'm so fudgy happy with everything I have which is awesome.  Before I was feeling a bit meh on some of what I was doing, but I'm super stoked to start getting more FX, finalized models, sounds, story, and collectables in.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 17, 2018, 08:57 PM
Finally got my level designed!! Decided against being able to walk between some areas and all can only be accessed through portals which are also all working.  Some areas were running around 50fps and most were 60fps.  I capped it at 30fps for now since it's really smooth at 30fps cause it's literally locked at that in every area.  I think I might look into having a 30fps option with all the foliage pushed to the max for those with powerful rigs and still try and get a solid 60fps with the same settings if I can.

I'm running gtx 1080 with 8gb vram, ryzen 8 core, and 32gb of RAM.  I'll have to boot up my old rig with a gtx 680, intel quad core, and 16gb RAM to see how it runs on that.
Are you not just going to have various graphics options for people to fiddle with? It can be very hard predicting how different rigs will handle different elements.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 17, 2018, 09:18 PM
Are you not just going to have various graphics options for people to fiddle with? It can be very hard predicting how different rigs will handle different elements.
Yeah I am. That's already working in the menu system I bought on the marketplace.  I'm just not sure whether to settle on 30fps or 60fps at ultra settings.   The highest I'll let anyone go is 60fps, just for the sake of not killing myself making every option available. So far 60fps works in most areas, but not all of them are finished in terms of assets so who knows where I will land eventually.  I can at least know a base line based off my old rig to see what and where I need to optimize for the sake of people with less powerful PCs
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 17, 2018, 11:16 PM
Yeah I am. That's already working in the menu system I bought on the marketplace.  I'm just not sure whether to settle on 30fps or 60fps at ultra settings.   The highest I'll let anyone go is 60fps, just for the sake of not killing myself making every option available. So far 60fps works in most areas, but not all of them are finished in terms of assets so who knows where I will land eventually.  I can at least know a base line based off my old rig to see what and where I need to optimize for the sake of people with less powerful PCs
But wouldn't ultra settings by default be everything maxed out?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 17, 2018, 11:41 PM
But wouldn't ultra settings by default be everything maxed out?
Yeah, i'm just looking at whether I want to make a version where at 30fps with specs close to mine the foliage in the distance would be full models and not just flat cards and if people wanted 60fps then there would be flat cards in the distance for trees.  I always hate how shaming things look in the distance so if I can push them to being full models(though still low in poly count) that look good.  Plus I hate how speed tree makes their billboards for the distance.  

But we will see what happens.  For less work i would just do cards in the super far distance and have a certain radius where I have full models for things.

OHH I just played through the whole environment in VR and....WOW!  Freaking love it.  There are some things I'll have to look at for getting it fully playable in VR.  For one my pause menu only shows on 1 eye.   But the sense of scale and everything looks great in VR.  I think since it's just walking around it would be perfect for VR.
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Jul 18, 2018, 12:02 AM
OHH I just played through the whole environment in VR and....WOW!  Freaking love it.  There are some things I'll have to look at for getting it fully playable in VR.  For one my pause menu only shows on 1 eye.   But the sense of scale and everything looks great in VR.  I think since it's just walking around it would be perfect for VR.
@the-Pi-guy  ;)
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: the-pi-guy on Jul 18, 2018, 01:35 AM
@the-Pi-guy  ;)

My VR senses were tingling.
  I'll legit buy nnodley's game if it has VR. ;D
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Jul 18, 2018, 03:23 AM
My VR senses were tingling.
  I'll legit buy nnodley's game if it has VR. ;D
You better buy it even if it doesn't!  8)
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: the-pi-guy on Jul 18, 2018, 07:30 PM
You better buy it even if it doesn't!  8)

Well yeah, I'll buy it.  :D
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Sep 06, 2019, 08:26 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/cykDnFZ.png)

New update.  Environments just keep getting rebooted.  But i'm in love with how this is coming out so super excited now.

Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: Legend on Sep 11, 2019, 05:47 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/cykDnFZ.png)

New update.  Environments just keep getting rebooted.  But i'm in love with how this is coming out so super excited now.


What are the discs for? Eventual buildings?
Title: Re: My Game Updates
Post by: nnodley on Sep 11, 2019, 12:58 PM
What are the discs for? Eventual buildings?
yep yep.  Just trying to figure the style of them out right now.  Thats all mostly background though