Home Sweet Hive...
by Gibby · 01/06/2015 (2:21 pm) · 5 comments
After getting considerable work with gameplay scripting in Mantis prior to the holiday, I managed to test what I had working. Turns out my biggest issues came from the hastily-constructed 'assault' level I'd built for the 7-Day FPS Jam. Given that I'd burned out a bit on scripting I took a needed break and began work on a new level design.
This time around, I LOD'd everything, added zones/portals for the three underground rooms as well as for the corridors. I placed a few water blocks, matching rocks made in Medusa, volumetric fog and decals to break up the 'dungeon crawl' and mask some of the cavern shapes' square edges. Framerates are still very high even with numerous animated shapes in the room scenes.
Here's a shot of the new 'spawning chamber', where players and bots will both 'hatch' from. Conceptually, the room is itself an organism, the floor and cieling represent a living fabric of organic matter and liquid, from which grow not only the eggs but other symbiotic organisms. I have a few more models, some effectrons and other goodies to add to the scene but here's a WIP shot of what players will first see the world of Mantis:
This time around, I LOD'd everything, added zones/portals for the three underground rooms as well as for the corridors. I placed a few water blocks, matching rocks made in Medusa, volumetric fog and decals to break up the 'dungeon crawl' and mask some of the cavern shapes' square edges. Framerates are still very high even with numerous animated shapes in the room scenes.
Here's a shot of the new 'spawning chamber', where players and bots will both 'hatch' from. Conceptually, the room is itself an organism, the floor and cieling represent a living fabric of organic matter and liquid, from which grow not only the eggs but other symbiotic organisms. I have a few more models, some effectrons and other goodies to add to the scene but here's a WIP shot of what players will first see the world of Mantis:
#2
@All:
Wondering if anyone out there has used OcclusionVolumes - I've added one in addition to the zones, but I'm not sure if it's a help/hindrance...
01/07/2015 (7:55 am)
@Joseph: Thanks!@All:
Wondering if anyone out there has used OcclusionVolumes - I've added one in addition to the zones, but I'm not sure if it's a help/hindrance...
#3
It should have a button to switch off the terrain from the occlusion volume.
Tip: you can also improve the fps, when you make the models to use atlas texturing. Make large atlas(4096x4096), content all textures from the art asset.
It also help, if you make models with less meshes as possible, what is not a problem by using atlas textures. This hold the drawcalls low, what improve the fps.
01/07/2015 (8:50 am)
When i want use it, it hide also terrain parts. This way it is not realy usable.It should have a button to switch off the terrain from the occlusion volume.
Tip: you can also improve the fps, when you make the models to use atlas texturing. Make large atlas(4096x4096), content all textures from the art asset.
It also help, if you make models with less meshes as possible, what is not a problem by using atlas textures. This hold the drawcalls low, what improve the fps.
#4
01/07/2015 (9:52 pm)
Looking good. Can't wait to see more of this in action :).
#5
01/08/2015 (8:45 am)
D Fasel: Yeah I intend to reduce the amount of texture memory/draw calls, as large 'atlas' textures are an old trick from my days as an Unreal modder.I retextured my cave system to use only two textures, rocks/trees/shrubs all share a only a handful. Problem is I'm still in the design stages and am changing too rapidly to optimize too much - my main concern was blocking the level lighting from my caves. The setup I have now works pretty well, I have the rooms zoned and a single OcclusionVolume between the caves and the terrain above it. I'm still not sure if the occluder helps/hinders... 
Torque 3D Owner Joseph Mueller