Oust Shader
by Jeremy Alessi · 02/19/2006 (11:48 pm) · 10 comments
So this weekend I finally got Oust essentially all into the shader engine. The GUI is still a bit rough but it's mostly all there in terms of functionality ... character selection etc...
The cool part of course is the shaders. As I mentioned I've come up with a theme that justifies the gameplay and makes excellent use of the technology. In fact ... without shaders it really won't be the same game. Of course the plan is to make the game viable on both platforms. As of right now I have the game about equal on the shader and standard platforms ... if a bit more polished on the standard platform.
I met with James today for the 3rd time. Unfortunately, it was a short meeting because he couldn't get Maya to work with the Maya2DTS exporter and his Internet was down so we couldn't check the forums. Our next meeting is this week. It looks like most of what needs to be done is moderate modeling, rigging, and animating. A few shaders will need to be created but a lot of what comes with the shader engine right now will suffice for my design.
The real goal for me is to get two base characters and locales up and running full of theme and gameplay for demonstration purposes. If I can target the Xbox 360 then I will. Sure it's a challenge but I'll do whatever needs to be done to meet that challenge if the opportunity presents itself. I certainly don't think it's out of reach yet at the same time I'm still developing the standard PC and Mac versions coordinating with the art team in case that's the course of action I need to take.
Hopefully very soon, I can present the theme of the game with the correlating art. For now I've got a little shot of what I've done toying with the shaders ... in a way this hints at the theme of the game but not too much. There's a bit of refraction, some glow, and of course bump maps on the girl, gun, and pillar. It's hard to see in this shot but the locale is the simplest test bed for the gameplay. I'll say two words about that: Cell Saga.
The cool part of course is the shaders. As I mentioned I've come up with a theme that justifies the gameplay and makes excellent use of the technology. In fact ... without shaders it really won't be the same game. Of course the plan is to make the game viable on both platforms. As of right now I have the game about equal on the shader and standard platforms ... if a bit more polished on the standard platform.
I met with James today for the 3rd time. Unfortunately, it was a short meeting because he couldn't get Maya to work with the Maya2DTS exporter and his Internet was down so we couldn't check the forums. Our next meeting is this week. It looks like most of what needs to be done is moderate modeling, rigging, and animating. A few shaders will need to be created but a lot of what comes with the shader engine right now will suffice for my design.
The real goal for me is to get two base characters and locales up and running full of theme and gameplay for demonstration purposes. If I can target the Xbox 360 then I will. Sure it's a challenge but I'll do whatever needs to be done to meet that challenge if the opportunity presents itself. I certainly don't think it's out of reach yet at the same time I'm still developing the standard PC and Mac versions coordinating with the art team in case that's the course of action I need to take.
Hopefully very soon, I can present the theme of the game with the correlating art. For now I've got a little shot of what I've done toying with the shaders ... in a way this hints at the theme of the game but not too much. There's a bit of refraction, some glow, and of course bump maps on the girl, gun, and pillar. It's hard to see in this shot but the locale is the simplest test bed for the gameplay. I'll say two words about that: Cell Saga.
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#2
02/20/2006 (5:17 am)
That is nice. Reminds me of Abyss.
#3
BTW is anyone else noticing apostrophe problems? I just had to modify the blog because some were missing. When I went into the edit mode though they were there again. I remember last year there was a similar problem when editing.
02/20/2006 (8:19 am)
Thanks guys!BTW is anyone else noticing apostrophe problems? I just had to modify the blog because some were missing. When I went into the edit mode though they were there again. I remember last year there was a similar problem when editing.
#4
02/20/2006 (1:38 pm)
Would be great for Ghost in the Shell-type camouflage. Looks beautifull.
#5
I'm kind of interested in playing with TSE, just not sure I really need it for the kinds of games I want to do. Probably fun to play with though.
02/20/2006 (2:03 pm)
reminds me of I Robot too.I'm kind of interested in playing with TSE, just not sure I really need it for the kinds of games I want to do. Probably fun to play with though.
#6
If your primary project is in TGE, then TSE might be a bit too much fun. Fun in a 'distracting you from what you know you should be doing but you just can't get enough of it' kind of way.
:)
[Edited for clarity]
02/20/2006 (2:15 pm)
@AdrianIf your primary project is in TGE, then TSE might be a bit too much fun. Fun in a 'distracting you from what you know you should be doing but you just can't get enough of it' kind of way.
:)
[Edited for clarity]
#7
There is no solution for it implemented yet.
Need to be able to hot swap Materials basically.
This would allow you to say pickup an INV module and press a key and the shader turns on.
Pick up a flame shield and press a key and then that material comes up.
They do it in eq2 for spell and item effect and to shap shift.
So it might also need to be able to call a fresh DTS or DIF too in addition to the shader material.
02/20/2006 (2:48 pm)
One thing we need to work on... Hot swapping shaders.There is no solution for it implemented yet.
Need to be able to hot swap Materials basically.
This would allow you to say pickup an INV module and press a key and the shader turns on.
Pick up a flame shield and press a key and then that material comes up.
They do it in eq2 for spell and item effect and to shap shift.
So it might also need to be able to call a fresh DTS or DIF too in addition to the shader material.
#8
02/20/2006 (3:21 pm)
Yeah I was wondering about that. Couldn't you just have different custom materials mapped to various skins though and then swap skins? You can swap skins in TGE correct?
#9
02/21/2006 (1:28 pm)
Skin swapping works in TGE, but I haven't tried it in TSE yet. 
#10
05/07/2006 (4:12 am)
Reminds me of Deus Ex: Invisible War 
Torque Owner Josh Moore