Racing Along with TSE
by John Kanalakis · 06/15/2006 (3:50 pm) · 17 comments
We haven't had much time to write about our project, so here's a first look at what's in the works at EnvyGames. Although the game still remains untitled (internally referred to as project GrandSlam), we're making great progress with the underlying technology and game mechanics. Building the game with TSE has been a huge win for us in terms of the visual polish we have been aiming for. Here's an example...
Image Expired.
About the Game
The game itself is a futuristic Baja Rally race where players sport hover vehicles across a 2,000 mile stretch of an abandoned mining asteroid at the edge of space. This is where the galaxy's roughest & toughest badasses get together to race a track filled with mechanical and natural hazards. With danger at every turn, this race isn't about winning, it's about surviving!
Game Technology
As mentioned earlier, the game is being developed with the Torque Shader Engine. TSE has a lot of fantastic features that help us reach the realistic gameplay we're trying to achieve, including:
* Material Shaders: adding bumpmapping, glow, and specularity to shapes
* Render-To-Texture Shaders: allowing us to produce HDR and shadow lighting effects for greater depth
* Atlas Terrain: providing realistic looking, highly detailed terrain
* Optimized Rendering: leveraging TSE's fast rendering code for highest possble performance
* Well Organized Source Code: easy to modify and extend; the scripting lets us quickly change and experiment with gameplay.
Target Hardware
This game targets high-end PC hardware supporting Pixel Shader 2.0 graphic cards. Our design goal for the game is to offer a gaming experience that intelligently pushes the limits of the hardware, while keeping under a file size appropriate for download distribution.
Next Steps
* Shaders: Applying shader materials to shapes is relatively easy. The real challenge is in creating full screen effects that add more depth to the game, such as shadowing and high dynamic range lighting. As such, glowbuffer is quickly becoming our best friend.
* AI: This is proving to be the most difficult aspect of the game's development. Although the core challenge of the game is navigating through the rough terrain, we're working hard to build character into the opponent AI. Simple path-following opponents don't offer enough, so we're building out a system to give opponent racers the smarts to pass, slow down, crash into you, and so on.
* Level Building: Since this is not a lap race game, we are putting a lot of emphasis on uniquely building out the 8 legs of the race. Each leg features a different aspect of the abandoned mining asteroid and comes with its own set of dangers. The challenge here is creating the terrain in one tool, the interior shapes in another tool, and assembling everything with the in-game editors.
More details to come in future updates...
Image Expired.
About the Game
The game itself is a futuristic Baja Rally race where players sport hover vehicles across a 2,000 mile stretch of an abandoned mining asteroid at the edge of space. This is where the galaxy's roughest & toughest badasses get together to race a track filled with mechanical and natural hazards. With danger at every turn, this race isn't about winning, it's about surviving!
Game Technology
As mentioned earlier, the game is being developed with the Torque Shader Engine. TSE has a lot of fantastic features that help us reach the realistic gameplay we're trying to achieve, including:
* Material Shaders: adding bumpmapping, glow, and specularity to shapes
* Render-To-Texture Shaders: allowing us to produce HDR and shadow lighting effects for greater depth
* Atlas Terrain: providing realistic looking, highly detailed terrain
* Optimized Rendering: leveraging TSE's fast rendering code for highest possble performance
* Well Organized Source Code: easy to modify and extend; the scripting lets us quickly change and experiment with gameplay.
Target Hardware
This game targets high-end PC hardware supporting Pixel Shader 2.0 graphic cards. Our design goal for the game is to offer a gaming experience that intelligently pushes the limits of the hardware, while keeping under a file size appropriate for download distribution.
Next Steps
* Shaders: Applying shader materials to shapes is relatively easy. The real challenge is in creating full screen effects that add more depth to the game, such as shadowing and high dynamic range lighting. As such, glowbuffer is quickly becoming our best friend.
* AI: This is proving to be the most difficult aspect of the game's development. Although the core challenge of the game is navigating through the rough terrain, we're working hard to build character into the opponent AI. Simple path-following opponents don't offer enough, so we're building out a system to give opponent racers the smarts to pass, slow down, crash into you, and so on.
* Level Building: Since this is not a lap race game, we are putting a lot of emphasis on uniquely building out the 8 legs of the race. Each leg features a different aspect of the abandoned mining asteroid and comes with its own set of dangers. The challenge here is creating the terrain in one tool, the interior shapes in another tool, and assembling everything with the in-game editors.
More details to come in future updates...
About the author
John Kanalakis is the owner of EnvyGames, an independent game development studio in Silicon Valley that produces games and tools for Xbox 360, Windows, and the Web.
#2
06/15/2006 (4:53 pm)
sweeeeeet! this could be an awesome game. Is this like the star wars racing game?
#3
06/15/2006 (4:58 pm)
How fast do they go on average, Ive been looking to buy a game with a very high pace. And they look awesome. 
#5
*TSE uses normal mapping -- some people might confuse 'bump mapping' with DOT3.
*It will be more optimized once Brian puts in his updates...
*It has it's issues, primarily in the fact that it is not complete.
Repairing features and adding new features to TSE has been the main setback in my game, Kuiper -- TSE is far from a complete project, but it can work if you know what you are doing (which half of the time I do not).
06/15/2006 (7:42 pm)
Just a few things (and it looks nice):*TSE uses normal mapping -- some people might confuse 'bump mapping' with DOT3.
*It will be more optimized once Brian puts in his updates...
*It has it's issues, primarily in the fact that it is not complete.
Repairing features and adding new features to TSE has been the main setback in my game, Kuiper -- TSE is far from a complete project, but it can work if you know what you are doing (which half of the time I do not).
#6
Your 'cars' look pretty awesome, I'll keep an eye out for this one.
06/15/2006 (8:59 pm)
That asteroid has some beautiful weather.Your 'cars' look pretty awesome, I'll keep an eye out for this one.
#7
@Bryan: Close... as I recall, that game was basically a lap race using hover vehicles. For starters, this isn't a lap race, its one long stretch of track, divided into separate legs - a bit more like an adventure game. Also, although you compete for position with other racers, the main focus of the gameplay is dodging the debris, machinery, plasma gas pockets, and so on that make the course more challenging and interesting.
@Maxwell: In TSE terms, probably only about 70mph. However, we use visual effects and other gameplay cues that give you the feeling that you're moving faster. When the racers were traveling faster, they became too difficult to handle and the fun-factor dropped. So now they cruise slower, but we're adding details that fly-by and make you feel like you're going faster.
@Retroh: Thank you, we're very excited about the project. We're fighting to keep the scope of the game manageable. It's hard to chop off a lot of great features - but it's more important to us get something fun to play released within a reasonable amount of time. One feature that's currently on the fence right now is a post-race playback.
@Mike: You're right... normal mapping, it's not DOT3. Fortunately, TSE (MS3) is working out well for us. Although everyone has different requriements for their game, most of the features we need are there and ready to use. Those that aren't we are adding in ourselves and plan to release as resources. The thinking there is that if we can package and document functionality into resources, we should be able to port them into future TSE Milestones as they come out.
@Midhir: Right.... I guess I should have mentioned that this screenshot is from the testing mission. It uses the default skybox and has no track elements or race-zones defined (so the position indicator stays at 1). I used this screen capture because best illustrated some of the TSE features.
In the coming weeks, I'll post some new screenshots and write about issues that we have overcome.
06/15/2006 (10:15 pm)
@Paul: physics is definitely an issue, especially in the area of multiplayer collisions. We're experimenting with some custom collision detection code. It's going to take more time to work out this issue. @Bryan: Close... as I recall, that game was basically a lap race using hover vehicles. For starters, this isn't a lap race, its one long stretch of track, divided into separate legs - a bit more like an adventure game. Also, although you compete for position with other racers, the main focus of the gameplay is dodging the debris, machinery, plasma gas pockets, and so on that make the course more challenging and interesting.
@Maxwell: In TSE terms, probably only about 70mph. However, we use visual effects and other gameplay cues that give you the feeling that you're moving faster. When the racers were traveling faster, they became too difficult to handle and the fun-factor dropped. So now they cruise slower, but we're adding details that fly-by and make you feel like you're going faster.
@Retroh: Thank you, we're very excited about the project. We're fighting to keep the scope of the game manageable. It's hard to chop off a lot of great features - but it's more important to us get something fun to play released within a reasonable amount of time. One feature that's currently on the fence right now is a post-race playback.
@Mike: You're right... normal mapping, it's not DOT3. Fortunately, TSE (MS3) is working out well for us. Although everyone has different requriements for their game, most of the features we need are there and ready to use. Those that aren't we are adding in ourselves and plan to release as resources. The thinking there is that if we can package and document functionality into resources, we should be able to port them into future TSE Milestones as they come out.
@Midhir: Right.... I guess I should have mentioned that this screenshot is from the testing mission. It uses the default skybox and has no track elements or race-zones defined (so the position indicator stays at 1). I used this screen capture because best illustrated some of the TSE features.
In the coming weeks, I'll post some new screenshots and write about issues that we have overcome.
#9
06/16/2006 (1:02 am)
This reminds me on the old game "High Octane" which I loved to play in the old 486/pentium 1 days. Keep it up! :-) 
#10
06/16/2006 (4:49 am)
Looks really cool! 
#11
--Mike
06/16/2006 (7:57 am)
looking good... nice to see a project under full steam in TSE...Quote:TSE is far from a complete project, but it can work if you know what you are doingcan work ... are you saying that, if you know what you are doing, you can get a game ready to ship with the current TSE... just wondering... just being a bit overly anxious...
--Mike
#12
06/16/2006 (11:50 am)
Yes, if you know what you are doing, you can make a game with TSE. 
#13
06/16/2006 (1:14 pm)
Shiny =)
#15
@Mike... Fortunately, we've been working with TGE for long enough to feel comfortable making changes to TSE along with a huge IQ boost from the TSE Bootcamp (thanks to Stephen Zepp). Some of the TSE specific enhancements currently in the works include projected shadows, HDR fullscreen effects, and porting over the rigid shape physics - each of which will be posted as resources.
So far, TSE as worked out great for us. I'll post additional updates soon that reveal more about the gameplay and our use of shaders.
06/17/2006 (3:23 pm)
@Nick, Martin, Stefan, Michael, Matt, and Randy... Thanks for the words of encouragement. Creating a racing game is certainly a huge undertaking with lots of tedious details to work out. Programming details, such as creating realistic AI behavior, turning journaling into a playback system, and improving multiplayer vehicle physics are just a few of them.@Mike... Fortunately, we've been working with TGE for long enough to feel comfortable making changes to TSE along with a huge IQ boost from the TSE Bootcamp (thanks to Stephen Zepp). Some of the TSE specific enhancements currently in the works include projected shadows, HDR fullscreen effects, and porting over the rigid shape physics - each of which will be posted as resources.
So far, TSE as worked out great for us. I'll post additional updates soon that reveal more about the gameplay and our use of shaders.
#16
06/19/2006 (5:35 pm)
@John: You can't imagine how much we would appreciate those resources once they become available. :) Great work, all around.
#17
06/19/2006 (6:04 pm)
@C2: Thank you for the compliment... we're working pretty hard on the project to have something fun to show at the IGC in October. So, the good news is that a lot of these issues should be sorted out and posted as resoruces by then. I just finished typing up a quick How To resource for adding roads and paths into an Atlas terrain - that was causing us some headache for a while. 
Torque Owner Paul /*Wedge*/ DElia