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gamedevtuck · 9 years

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Some of the artists from Ready at Dawn have posted some high quality examples of the materials and environments they built for their recently released game, The Order: 1886. The art and visual technology for that game is absolutely jaw-dropping, so any artists interested in some fantastic examples of materials, lighting, or environments should hurry over for the full art experience.

Here are just a few samples of their amazing work:

Those spec maps and microdetails are amazing. Go click the link above to see the rest. You won’t be disappointed.

For those who aren’t sure what’s going on here and why these materials are so awesome, I suggest reading:

The difference between Bump Maps, Normal Maps, Spec Maps, and Ambient Occlusion

#reblog

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gamedevtuck · 9 years

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Making a post here just to let you know I'm still working on things! :)

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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My Thoughts on Game Design: 2D Scene

Scening in a 2D top-down videogame is fun, but challenging. It is very difficult to make a scene like this:

Feel as alive as this:

Now, Skyrim certainly isn't the pinnacle of immersion in gaming (most of the environments look very much the same, the textures are stretched, the mountains get blocky when you stray off the path), but where it does put effort, it's a great experience.

In a 2D game, specifically one that is top-down, your perception of your environment is way different. This tavern in Skyrim seems big. Not huge, but definitely bigger than the first screenshot. Why? Well, for one, it is bigger; but it's more than that.

In first-person games such as Skyrim (you can argue 3rd person, but it's a generally similar concept), your view is limited to what's in front of you. So you, as the player, have to look around to examine your surroundings to any reliable degree.

In 2D top-down games (like most JPRGs on the SNES), you are given a full view of everything around you on a range of 20 tiles or so. You don't have to look around. It's right there already. Because of this, the immersion is often broken. There are very few games that can still immerse you with this camera-view, at least nowadays.

One example that I will use is the wonderfully crafted Chrono Trigger

This scene is very immersive. Why? A couple of reasons. Note that this scene is not a very important one, nor is it at all the shining moment of this game in any way, shape, or form. This is simply you walking through the forest fighting enemies. So why do I say it is immersive? Well, I will stop asking myself questions and get right to it.

So, I want to point out first off that this map isn't very big.

It's actually pretty small for this game. Tiny forest. Then again it wasn't meant to be super big in the first place. However, it seems relatively big while you are playing the game. There are three things in particular that set this scene incredibly well.

1) ZOOM

The zoom in this game is incredible; not by the fact that it zooms in and out a lot, in fact it's pretty static, but because when you zoom in more, you perceive less. It's pretty obvious actually, but when you can see less, you have to move around more to be able to see more. This is important because if you saw the whole map, you'd just go directly to wherever items are scattered, or to the exit immediately. You'd look at it less as an exploration of a forest and much more as a "oh, okay it's right over there, let's go."

2) MUSIC

Chrono Trigger is known for being the best at a lot of different things. Notably, it is considered one of the best game soundtracks on the SNES. Let me show you. This is the music for this particular stage.

Incredible.

Now, the music plays a big role in this game's immersion. It really sets the mood. It's crazy how good it is (speaking as a musician heavily inspired by this soundtrack, I may be a bit biased).

3) LIGHTING

It's not used much in this screenshot, but it's very important nonetheless. Notice how the trees make shadows under them. That's not just darker grass. It's...Actually that might just be darker grass. Let me get another screenshot.

There we go. Now. Notice how there are shadows on the ground. It creates a great z-axis, despite there being an actual..Z-axis.

It makes the trees seem huge. Hell, you can't even see the tops of them. It makes you feel like you are in a dense jungle. It makes you feel like these trees are so huge they tower over you and casts shadows over the whole forest. Pretty big, pretty nice. (And again, the music)

Anyways that's all I'm really feeling like saying right now. Hope you enjoyed!

#my throughts #game design #chrono trigger

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

Audio

I was playing around with more sounds for Salamancy (sorry about the lack of progress!), and midi instruments came to mind.

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Also sorry about not gettin' anything done for F**K This Jam, I ended up having much less time than I'd thought.

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Sorry updates have been so slow as of late. I've been very busy, but everything is alright now!

So as a way to get back in the groove, I'm gonna' be taking part in #indie3jam! I may post development progress here, but most updates are going to take place on my twitter.

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Still workin' on stuff. I'd show you, but it's all mechanics at this point.

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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huh have to admit your thoughts on setting are quite interesting. i quite enjoyed reading them! If you don't mind me adding on i'd say that one thing i always love to see in games is harmony and dissonance. using shading shapes and setting to create a mood for your game really goes the extra miles for me when playing. It's somethings games like Journey did really well. that game is essentially the textbook example of using setting to create a mood. HS also does this quite well with the lands to

Thanks a bunch! I plan on putting more of my thoughts on game design into words soon enough.

Harmony and dissonance are certainly important to a setting. It creates a more dynamic flow, as opposed to a static environment. An environment that clashes with itself can add a lot to provide a sense of mystery, like tall trees in the middle of a desert. Games like Myst do this really well. Likewise, an environment that flows seamlessly from one place to the next can give a huge sense of scale, transforming a small environment into one that seems endless (like Journey).

#silvercone

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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My Thoughts on Game Development: Setting (Part 2)

Part One Here

So here's this game. It's called LSD: Dream Emulator. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the drug. It's a surrealistic..Dream...Horror? Honestly, I have no clue. This game has little to no continuity. It doesn't seem to have a theme. The environments in the game aren't set up to guide the player at all, except for a few situations like giant castles in the middle of nowhere (which draws the player's attention). Everything in this game feels like it happens at random. I've had the good fortune of playing this game for about 4 hours, and I was absolutely confused through it all.

This game doesn't really have a setting. It teleports you to different locations at random, and you have different "dreams" at random. It's crazy.

If we compare this to Final Fantasy XIII, it's easy to see how setting can affect game development. Final Fantasy XIII has paths that lead to secret locations. It has hidden treasure chests that can only be found by turning around when the game puts you in an area. It has a coherent pace to it's setting, going from forest, to city, to trash dumps, etc. There's transitioning involved.

With LSD: Dream Emulator all of this is gone. It has paths that lead to secret locations, but the world feels so bizarre that you don't even know it's a secret. You probably don't even know it's a path. You have no clue where you are, and a very limited awareness of which path leads where. It's almost admiringly complex with it's setting, and no matter which twist or turn you take, it'll lead you to something that will end up confusing you even more.

A setting in game design is used to convey almost every piece of information possible. Everything from from where you need to go to what you need to do can be told through a setting. Instead of a character or a quest telling you to go to someplace, a setting can be used to make a player want to go to that place in general. Like Death Mountain from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The first time you see this place, you want to go there. It catches your eye, but it's off in the distance. You finally go into this huge open world and there are a lot of choices you need to make about where to go. A lot of people just explore, that is until night comes along, at which point they fear for their lives and try to hike back to the first place they can. But the first thing that catches their interest (which is probably Hyrule Castle at this point), is locked up, so they can't get in and they have to fight through the night. Something magical about this is that Hyrule Castle is just far enough to where everyone except players who have done it before are forced to wait out the night. If they put Hyrule Castle 30 feet from where you start, there's really no real threat, but since the world is so massive, you feel pressured to get to where you need to before nightfall. In a sense, this limits exploration, but there are so many interesting things already, that you don't really care. That's good setting design.

To wrap it all up, setting is important. It drives your player, and can be used as a great way to show them how things act in the game, what the important places are, who the important people are, and so on. A game setting can be designed around a narrative to influence to player to go certain directions and do certain things. However, this is not something you should count on. Gamers tend to do things that are unexpected, and a setting should account for these things. If you need a player to not go somewhere, you could just put a wall there, but that's not always the best solution. Maybe you can try making the area much farther away, or make other areas much more enticing. Maybe you put a crowd of people blocking the area because they feel it's being threatened by outsiders. It's essentially a wall, but it can really add motivation and flow to your game. A setting should do both of these, and should be used to drive the player and give them a sense of immersion.

#my thoughts #game development #setting

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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I always loved how when there are no level boundaries yet, the void is there.

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Also the game will be playable on Mac. Cheers to that.

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Got all the good old color back!

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Back in the game. B)

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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So I've decided to do this all using SFML. It'll give me the kind of flexibility I need to do what I want.

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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Nevermind, I remembered I don't use Java for games. Hahahaha.

I’m looking into multiplatform, because I want everyone to be able to play it. In which case, I may do it all in Java.

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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I'm looking into multiplatform, because I want everyone to be able to play it. In which case, I may do it all in Java.

#salamancy

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gamedevtuck · 10 years

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which engine?

I'm not sure yet.

#hextrudedcubes

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