Procedural development
by Aaron Weingartner · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 06/17/2008 (12:21 am) · 2 replies
Since the game I'm working on kinda has a range of things that I want to do with it, kinda wanted to know how viable it currently is to incorporate procedural elements into a limited online system.
Namely and hopefully simple things like walking.
Example, take a pre-rendered walking animation for a given bone structure for a model, and based on the environment it is in contact with or damage it may receive. Basically the intent is to make it so the models are actually stepping on or interacting with their environments as if what's there actually exists by using procedural systems to cut back on clipping and make the models in game react at least lightly to their surroundings.
So, use procedural systems to make it so models actually push off of the ground or surrounding objects, use those hitboxes to affect movement animations in real time, or enable the practical and somewhat realistic looking ability to grab an object from the environment and use it in real time without it looking completely pre-rendered and rather fake.
How viable/practical is it to do such a thing? I know it's pretty much all aesthetics, but it feels like it would go a long way in making a game feel more real.
Namely and hopefully simple things like walking.
Example, take a pre-rendered walking animation for a given bone structure for a model, and based on the environment it is in contact with or damage it may receive. Basically the intent is to make it so the models are actually stepping on or interacting with their environments as if what's there actually exists by using procedural systems to cut back on clipping and make the models in game react at least lightly to their surroundings.
So, use procedural systems to make it so models actually push off of the ground or surrounding objects, use those hitboxes to affect movement animations in real time, or enable the practical and somewhat realistic looking ability to grab an object from the environment and use it in real time without it looking completely pre-rendered and rather fake.
How viable/practical is it to do such a thing? I know it's pretty much all aesthetics, but it feels like it would go a long way in making a game feel more real.
About the author
#2
Basically my intentions were for making a core animation set that would be used for at least two of the levels of play. The outcomes of unit interactions are predetermined in the system, so when procedural animation is added. It''s taken given parameters for moving from point A to point B while it's in 1st/3rd.
Think I've all ready answered my question after reviewing my game plan, so not much to talk on at this point.
06/21/2008 (8:03 pm)
Eh, the way I divided the system out, the procedural animation would only be seen for the 1st/3rd person game mode. It's mostly to make the game aesthetically have a higher level of detail while running around so that the four different levels of play don't come off as mirrored copies of animation and such.Basically my intentions were for making a core animation set that would be used for at least two of the levels of play. The outcomes of unit interactions are predetermined in the system, so when procedural animation is added. It''s taken given parameters for moving from point A to point B while it's in 1st/3rd.
Think I've all ready answered my question after reviewing my game plan, so not much to talk on at this point.
Torque Owner Nic Biondi
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This isn't really procedural.. but you can make people mix and match stuff. I guess what I'm getting at is that if you don't know how to do it already, you probably don't want to to it. I would think of a fun game, and implement the "procedural" code to attain your goals. Having a solid game idea will help you answer questions about how in depth you need to go to accomplish your task.