BRAVE - Awwwright! - London 2
by Andy Hawkins · 04/13/2008 (5:51 am) · 32 comments
Very, very, VERY happy now. I started spending some money and time on content and started getting some VERY pleasing results. This is an update of my world building of London for BRAVE - due in 2 weeks EEK!!!
So kudos to RRGT (Really Really Good Things Studio) for the amount of effort Alan and Kyle put into helping me. I was uncertain of the speed and performance of their District Pack so Alan sent me a sample city block "on loan" to trial it. He even went ahead and added another LOD so that buildings go to simple blocks at a distance, which was really important for me to make sure I could cram heaps of buildings into the scene.
I generated these pics below and on my crappy lappy the frame rate rarely dips below 60 fps.
The guys also stayed up til 3:45am to deliver files for me even though they were restructuring their website - how cool are they? Kyle painstakingly typed the same info over and over again in email after email of me asking "so do I get the source files too?" and he's like "well, yes, yes you do" - he didn't flinch and go "jesus Hawkins, read your frickin emails properly the first time", even though I asked the same question twice - so these guys deserve lots of praise.
Finally they saved me heaps of time. Considering how long it would take for me to model all these objects, not to mention downtime tracking bugs and problems, these packs have saved me heaps of time - thanks guys!!! Content packs save you time - remember that!
So finally I'm adding several ship classes, there are ally planes, landers, mutants, harvesters and motherships. Once I get the code from the previous alpha in to TGEA I will start creating missions, adding content and polish and polish and polish.
These screens are my shape replicators, London aerial map, RRGT sample city block, and my new British Aerospace Harrier AV-8B, leveraging FGE - Decane's Flight Game Engine all running in TGEA 1.0.3
EDIT: Added link to FGE
So kudos to RRGT (Really Really Good Things Studio) for the amount of effort Alan and Kyle put into helping me. I was uncertain of the speed and performance of their District Pack so Alan sent me a sample city block "on loan" to trial it. He even went ahead and added another LOD so that buildings go to simple blocks at a distance, which was really important for me to make sure I could cram heaps of buildings into the scene.
I generated these pics below and on my crappy lappy the frame rate rarely dips below 60 fps.
The guys also stayed up til 3:45am to deliver files for me even though they were restructuring their website - how cool are they? Kyle painstakingly typed the same info over and over again in email after email of me asking "so do I get the source files too?" and he's like "well, yes, yes you do" - he didn't flinch and go "jesus Hawkins, read your frickin emails properly the first time", even though I asked the same question twice - so these guys deserve lots of praise.
Finally they saved me heaps of time. Considering how long it would take for me to model all these objects, not to mention downtime tracking bugs and problems, these packs have saved me heaps of time - thanks guys!!! Content packs save you time - remember that!
So finally I'm adding several ship classes, there are ally planes, landers, mutants, harvesters and motherships. Once I get the code from the previous alpha in to TGEA I will start creating missions, adding content and polish and polish and polish.
These screens are my shape replicators, London aerial map, RRGT sample city block, and my new British Aerospace Harrier AV-8B, leveraging FGE - Decane's Flight Game Engine all running in TGEA 1.0.3
EDIT: Added link to FGE
#2
I have to tell you though, man...we were laughing so hard after about the third email that were getting concerned that you might have a multiple personality or something and they weren't talking to each other. Just teasing you, we definitely know how punchy you can get as you push towards a deadline. I'm glad things are coming together for you and I wish you the best in the contest and beyond with BRAVE.
Oh, and check your email, I sent you a link to something else you might find useful. Good Luck!
04/13/2008 (8:29 am)
Woo whoo! Looking good Andy!I have to tell you though, man...we were laughing so hard after about the third email that were getting concerned that you might have a multiple personality or something and they weren't talking to each other. Just teasing you, we definitely know how punchy you can get as you push towards a deadline. I'm glad things are coming together for you and I wish you the best in the contest and beyond with BRAVE.
Oh, and check your email, I sent you a link to something else you might find useful. Good Luck!
#3
04/13/2008 (9:02 am)
Looking good :D 
#4
This looks really exciting, Andy.
And yeah - content packs are a pain to locate and match whatever style your are going after (not to mention deal with various different requirements by licenses). But man, they sure can make a night & day difference, and can be VERY worth it!
04/13/2008 (10:40 am)
Very Purty!This looks really exciting, Andy.
And yeah - content packs are a pain to locate and match whatever style your are going after (not to mention deal with various different requirements by licenses). But man, they sure can make a night & day difference, and can be VERY worth it!
#5
John K.
04/13/2008 (10:59 am)
This looks really good Andy! And hats off to Alan and Kyle for showing such strong community support. I think the level of cooperation between game developers on this site is what makes GarageGames so special. This is very exciting.John K.
#8
04/13/2008 (5:07 pm)
@ Martin - way ahead of you. The multiplayer game will be Harrier racing! 
#9
04/13/2008 (6:03 pm)
Looking good and can't wait to see the next test of your game Andy. I'm already interested in the FGE because of the first one. Harrier racing you say? That sounds like fun!
#11
btw, did anyone ever tell you that you look like Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings movies? :P
04/13/2008 (6:45 pm)
Great work Andy, nice screens!btw, did anyone ever tell you that you look like Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings movies? :P
#12
04/13/2008 (7:17 pm)
@Koushik - the fat hobbit? Great, thanks ;-) 
#14
04/13/2008 (10:50 pm)
That's an abuse of your graphic skill Alan!!! Stop it - AT ONCE!
#15
Once your deadline is met, I might suggest taking a look at porting over to TGEA 1.7--both performance wise and appearance wise, I think it would be worth the effort for you :)
04/13/2008 (11:14 pm)
Looking awesome man--glad those shape replicators are working out for you :)Once your deadline is met, I might suggest taking a look at porting over to TGEA 1.7--both performance wise and appearance wise, I think it would be worth the effort for you :)
#17
04/14/2008 (3:25 am)
Awesome pics Andy. Good luck in the competition. 
#18
04/14/2008 (3:39 am)
Very good looking city there!
#19
I'm going to have to do some clever world building and stage the mission around smaller areas I think.
04/14/2008 (9:32 am)
Unfortunately things aren't going so well now. I sat down tonight to do some world building and it's painfully slow. When I reload the mission it's takes about a minute to relight and I've only done 2 out of 15 cells - players wont wait that long.I'm going to have to do some clever world building and stage the mission around smaller areas I think.
#20
Also, you can set the lighting quality via prefs during production so you aren't doing a max quality relight every single object you change.
04/14/2008 (1:55 pm)
Keep in mind that lighting only occurs once, and doesn't have to occur at all for the player if you ship lighting files.Also, you can set the lighting quality via prefs during production so you aren't doing a max quality relight every single object you change.
Torque 3D Owner Edward