Project Update

[mikecann]

Project Update

http://mikecann.co.uk/lieroxna/project-update/

[mikecann]

imported Disqus comment by 'Pete' @2007-11-12 10:30:22_

God damn that is a lot of particles. x_x

[mikecann]

imported Disqus comment by 'Kryztoval' @2007-12-02 05:38:33_

Hey, I like what you did with the vortex, I also like the way you managed the particles, but wouldn't it be better if particles dissapeared after not moving for a while or if particles were reintegrated into de background? the problem there would be that the vortex would only work with particles, maybe you should somehow tell the vortex to erode or destroy the ground around it so it can absorb more particles and then the explosion would work even if there were no particles to begin with.

Nice work! I'm looking fordward to seeing this game on a Xbox too see if it works!

[mikecann]

imported Disqus comment by 'admin' @2007-12-02 09:00:09_

Hi Kryztoval,

Cheers for the comments. I dont think it will be possible to have the particles rejoin the background to reform the collision due to the nature of the implemented particle system. When working with GPU particle systems you are very limited to the types of data you can get back from the graphics card in essence you have to treat it as a separate entity that cannot react with the rest of the game except in specific circumstances.

I didnt want to make the particles fade and die for a couple of reasons. Firstly just for the sheer "wow" factor of having hundreds of thousands of particles flying around. Secondly at the moment the style of the game lends itself to brightly glowing masses of particles, like you said the vortex wouldn't look anywhere near as good with less particles. Thirdly i have been thinking of some game modes where the player can go around collecting particles that restore its health or give points etc so i would need them hanging around for that.

I like the idea of the vortex eroding the ground, like the force actually ripping teh ground apart, may look into that :)

Mike

[mikecann]

imported Disqus comment by 'John Klimek' @2007-12-04 03:02:36_

This is simply one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long, long time.

I'm a web developer and have always had an interest in game programming but I've never been able to really create anything. I've fooled around with several libraries (Torque, BlitzBasic, Asphyre, etc) and have learned the basics of the graphics frameworks (DirectX, OpenGL), but I've still not really been able to create anything worthwhile.

The project I've been working on the most but never really made any progress is a Scorched Earth/Worms/Liero clone. The problem I have is trying to deform the terrain and I absolutely love the way you explode it into particles.

Can you give me any pointers on how you are doing it? I'm sure you wouldn't be willing to share the source code (I probably couldn't understand it anyways!), but I'm hoping you can give me some information on the underlying concepts.

For example, I read that you store the entire terrain in one 2048x2048 texture. How does that look on 1920x1200 resolution? I was thinking about using multiple 1024x1024 (or smaller) textures but realize how much more complicated that is.

If you only had time to explain one thing to me, can you explain how you are deforming the terrain? Are you just using it as a render target and erasing parts of the texture itself?

Any help what-so-ever you can provide would be GREATLY appriciated.

I really look forward to seeing more progress on this!

Thanks!

- John

[mikecann]

imported Disqus comment by 'admin' @2007-12-06 06:33:16_

I have replied to your question John here: http://www.artificial-studi...