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Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:12 pm
by JoshParnell
I guess these posts are a bit repetitive....but feel free to say or ask anything that you haven't already on KS / YT / FB.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jos ... sts/555825

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrFoesWWT30&hd=1

PS ~ Each month keeps setting a new record for amount of pain involved in the video process....SURELY we can break this trend next month :D

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:23 pm
by Gazz
Sure. Next month the AI will use it's newfound history-creating abilities and create 52 weeks of video without you!

The upload would be quicker, too, since it would be procedurally generated on the viewer's machine.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:37 pm
by Slymodi
why do you torture us with only 10 minutes Josh!

~Sly

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:49 pm
by JoshParnell
Gazz wrote:Sure. Next month the AI will use it's newfound history-creating abilities and create 52 weeks of video without you!

The upload would be quicker, too, since it would be procedurally generated on the viewer's machine.
Sweet...mother...of Vivec... :shock:

:clap:

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:51 pm
by Slymodi
JoshParnell wrote:
Gazz wrote:Sure. Next month the AI will use it's newfound history-creating abilities and create 52 weeks of video without you!

The upload would be quicker, too, since it would be procedurally generated on the viewer's machine.
Sweet...mother...of Vivec... :shock:

:clap:
easiest place to get lost in ever! :evil:

~Sly

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:57 pm
by JoshParnell
Slymodi wrote:easiest place to get lost in ever! :evil:

~Sly
100% agreed to that...it's just ridiculous :crazy:

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:18 pm
by Skyfligher
Hey Josh props to you for talking about the meaty work you've been doing rather than the shiny stuff, while eye candy is great it's nothing without the hardcore coding that you've been doing. As for the simulated history I am drooling over it mainly because i'm a lore whore who loves back story, and infinite "history" is a dream for me. On the lines of the terrain generation it looks great, incredible for only a few days work, and while not being able to fly around on a planet is a bit of a downer you did mention that you wouldn't be able to fly around on the surface. As for those in the comments who are irritated and angry over it pay them no heed your working as hard as you can on YOUR game. Oh and if only I had a dollar for every time you said abstract. :D I will be saving the rest of my thoughts on this for the next podcast, as always keep up the great work man and enjoy your day in Morrowind!

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:33 pm
by Just_Ice_au
I'm constantly impressed by how good stuff looks, even when its just you going "oh yeah, I kind of took a day and threw this together so I had something shiny to show you this month".

Anyhow, of course not everything you're going to be doing is visible or shiny. Do what you gotta do, and don't worry about youTube comment doubters.

:thumbup: :clap: :D

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:05 am
by Burneyx
Very cool video, thank you Josh.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:13 am
by TanC
Just_Ice_au wrote:Do what you gotta do, and don't worry about youTube comment doubters.
I didn't even realize the comments section were active. :lol:

Maybe more (skippable) cutscenes would be good for planetary landings as well as point to point transfer on the planet to flesh out the experience.

But yes, just stick to your guns and make the game you want to play.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:17 am
by Yogzototh
Since we are not going to be able to travel in the atmosphere, i'd suggest not to spend too much time on it. Hell, many games just use still shots or pre-rendered scenes, and it works fine.
Also, what happens if you keep flying at the planet instead of pressing shift-D? I guess the docking automatically happens anyway once you get close enough?

And the history generation... is always fascinating! I wanna know more details!

Implementing both infinite universe and history generation sounds kinda... conflicting to me. I mean, how do you handle the relationships between different areas/sectors? Or is each area going to be isolated, with its own independent history, not affected by surroundings?
Otherwise, how would it work with unexplored systems? I mean, simulating the interaction between existing systems is easy; how do you simulate a system that is on the border of player-explored space, which should be interacting with a system that has not even been generated yet?

And for the current-time universe simulation, more questions:

How often are the "ticks" in your simulation model? As you probably know, X3 series uses 30-second tick for all Out-Of-Sector simulation, which works well for economy, but OOS combat is very different from real combat.

What is the planned size of the simulated area, and how does it work when it moves? I mean, the areas that were not simulated, they have to catch up with the simulation when the player gets close, right?

Anyway, i wish you good luck. I dont think anyone has ever done simulation of that kind for an unlimited universe.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:54 am
by Katawa
The issue with pre-rendered vistas is that the planets will be generated so they have exceptional variety, which makes anything pre-rendered contrast immediately. And if you're going to generated a bunch of pre-rendered backdrops anyway it's the same amount or less time, for someone like Josh, to just make a system for it and then all the possibilities are handled.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 10:29 am
by DWMagus
Looks great Josh!

I'm really happy to hear that you're going to do histories! It's one of the things that made Dwarf Fortress memorable, and seeing those in a sci-fi setting? Epic!

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:00 am
by Rabiator
Just_Ice_au wrote:I'm constantly impressed by how good stuff looks, even when its just you going "oh yeah, I kind of took a day and threw this together so I had something shiny to show you this month".

Anyhow, of course not everything you're going to be doing is visible or shiny. Do what you gotta do, and don't worry about youTube comment doubters.

:thumbup: :clap: :D
Seconded. I think for a game that is to be completed in something like two years, the terrain looks great. With the option of landing on planets at all, LT already has beaten the X series in that respect.

Of course one can always be more perfectionist at the expense of things taking ages. Consider I-Novae studios as an example:
Their generated terrain looks even better and more realistic, but then again they have been working on Infinity for years and are not anywhere near releasing the full game.

Re: Development Update #7: July 2013

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 12:22 pm
by RageQuitKetchup
Another great update, thanks for the video Josh! Even though the gameplay is what lured me into LT, I've got to say that the graphics are mighty fine! :thumbup:


A lot of games don't come close to what you have in terms of graphics, and combined with the gameplay elements it's just mind-boggling the work you've done! :D