They're still active. Latest post on their YouTube is 6th Nov 2014 (planetary rings demo). Again, just technical demos and I don't know if this is new work or just a new setup of the existing engine as I'm sure I saw a planetary rings demo from them about 4 years ago.
An early look at what can be the planet landing
- Thread starter Sitasan
- Start date
Not bad. Now Elite has set the bar quite hight with regards to ringed planets (and Limit Theory) its going to be interesting to see what everyone else comes up.
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There is a level of expectation with ED PL, that they must be as at least as good as Frontier/First Encounters.
The technology is there to allow this to happen.
What I *might* expect is that for a small phase of the landing you might have to do through the heat shield phase where they use this as a loading screen of sorts - but I hope they can make it as seamless as possible.
Having the options to approach this in various ways would be very good to have, forward thinking. either a cut scene in-game animation where your just a viewer, but maybe can move about like in the Interstellar Marines video. Or just a plan custscene. Or to actually manually pilot in and out of atmosphere. Doing this manually might get a little boring after a while, which is why I would hope it could be varied. Same for the approaches to busy space ports. Varied a little at least to keep it interesting. Maybe with some very random events. Outer rim space ports might all be manual landing because they have no auto guidance systems, that alone should keep those types of landings interesting. If there are also random local weather factors to take into account.
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Another game which have done planetary landings is the relatively obscure Evochron Mercenary. (An incredibly impressive game considering it was made by only one person.)
I'm new so I can't post links, but the game is available on Steam and there are lots of videos of it on Youtube. Just google "Evochron Mercenary planetary landing".
I'm new so I can't post links, but the game is available on Steam and there are lots of videos of it on Youtube. Just google "Evochron Mercenary planetary landing".
Hahaha thats flipping brilliant not seen this one before. Love the audio FX with the helmets and radio and stuff.
Kind of basic, but I see your point it is impressive for just one dev.
Am discussing the exact same thing over on the Star Citizen forum here [LINK]. Not a new thread, but just one of many that have come and gone. But the idea is so big for both games I do hope with time we get interesting and varied experiences for planetary entry and exit.
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Wow if you are worried that the descent through varied alien atmospheres with all kinds of affects on the flight model (super storms and all weird manner of things) along with variable gravity and weather before revealing an alien landscape will get boring how do you feel about the endless docking at generic stations?
It has to be 100 times more interesting and exciting than that. (If it isn't they aren't doing it right)
And actually we should have atmospheres to fly in in the gamma release but then there are an awful lot of things that should be in gamma that aren't.
I would rather they concentrate on getting the content into the core game before diverting too many resources toward expansions but I am far more hyped about planetary landings than first person expansions.
One thing that bothers me though is that they are now saying they will do landing expansion for planets without atmospheres first. Well whoppydoo! Landing on a lifeless rock probably at a station that looks much like all the orbiting stations in many regards really has me reaching for my wallet again (not)
actually it really annoys me because not only will that not be worthy of paid expansion material but it also means we will be able o land on the most boring planets while still be locked out from landing on interesting ones. That is dumb.
Not only that they will probably then try to sell us an "atmosphere expansion" that models atmospheres and weather (Which should of been included in main game release IMO) and only after that will they have landings on planets with atmospheres as yet another expansion.
They will do the same with the FPS aspects as well so unless they get their heads out of their backsides and smell some fresh air and understand they need to deliver in the main game first and then not try so hard to rip us off on expansions otherwise there won't be enough players left aroundto care by the time they release.
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Seamless planetary landings hey? I'll just leave this here, if a single man with no budget can achieve this then I'm pretty sure FD shouldnt have to much of a problem
[video=youtube;rswRCT3097g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswRCT3097g[/video]
[video=youtube;rswRCT3097g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rswRCT3097g[/video]
SpaceEngine looks great, but it is just a flying camera simulation in 3d space. Not an actual game with any interactions or multiplayer. Still very pretty visuals for entering and exiting atmospheres., thanks for sharing the video Cmdr Cheese Wedge.
It will always be good I'm sure, don't get me wrong.
Landing at a busy space port will mostly seem the same time after time because of the nature of a busy policed area with flight path rules to follow for auto docking. There will be auto guidance for landing in busy areas, there has to be. You can't have people flying all over the place in and around busy cities and space ports planet side. But some varying of the landing will be good to have. Landing on outer rim ground space ports and outposts, well that's going to always be more random.
I'm not sure how much we're be able to just land anywhere, to start with. Certainly not in Star Citizen. Not so sure in elite though because DB has said about landing on moons and asteroids and allowing some exploring at first. I guess it all depends upon how well the development goes. ED so far has appeared to develop very well, but FPS and planetary stuff is a whole other ball game.
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![[VR] Mad Mike](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
source please!
You can already "fly down" to the "surface" by slowboating in the current builds. The textures even generate more and more detail as you get closer. I've done it many times already.
All that needs to be done is to apply that texture to a displacement map instead of the normal map and have some dynamic subdivision going on. This is trivial in the grand scheme of things...plenty of examples of tech demos with this on Youtube.As FD/David has said...making seamless planetary landings with a heightmap and some nice atmospheric effects is not the issue. There are plenty of examples of where this has been done (SpaceEngine, Infinity, Outterra, Rodina and many many other smaller projects/tech demos).
Making these enviroments interesting and alive with meaningful gameplay IS the issue and THAT will require a lot of work. That's why they'll focus on it later.
It will not be "instanced".
Heightmap = easy
PG clouds with weather, varied vegetation, wildlife, cities/settlements/outposts etc etc = hard
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There is none...
You can already "fly down" to the "surface" by slowboating in the current builds. The textures even generate more and more detail as you get closer. I've done it many times already.
As FD/David has said...making seamless planetary landings with a heightmap and some nice atmospheric effects is not the issue. There are plenty of examples of where this has been done (SpaceEngine, Infinity, Outterra, Rodina and many many other smaller projects/tech demos).
Making these enviroments interesting and alive with meaningful gameplay IS the issue and THAT will require a lot of work. That's why they'll focus on it later.
It will not be "instanced".
Heightmap = easy
PG clouds with weather, varied vegetation, wildlife, cities/settlements/outposts etc etc = hard
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
There is none...
Yes well said T
Certainly the next couple of years look to be a very interesting time for all games that are going to be offering up planetary landings and atmospheric flight.
I know what I am doing tonight!
Outerra FMX 2014 presentation
As this very interesting presentation shows, it's a bit more complex than just a height map and atmospheric effects. But yeah, there is definitely a lot left to do, especially on inhabited planets. And I agree that it should not be a high priority yet.
A very nice presentation that. especially good use of animated effects to distinguish between density values etc.
I agree that there is lots more than simply a heightmap. However, almost everything can be handled by procedural generation, in fact the presentation only helps to prove this. The place where this falls down is with our local solar system, specifically earth. Here is where more datasets will be needed to give a decent representation of our home planet and moon.
But, as has already been stated, the environment needs to be exciting and engaging otherwise it will not be worth doing. I am looking forward to what can be accomplished by FD.
True, though they have 1286 years to justify modifications and/or to hide approximations and lack of accuracy in
True, though they have 1286 years to justify modifications and/or to hide approximations and lack of accuracy in
Hm. Extrapolating Earth's appearance that far into the future is quite a task in itself. I would think currently available datasets would be a sufficient starting point. After that, Earth too would mostly come down to clever procedural generation. Come to think of it, the same urban growth algorithms could be used to form both extraterrestrial planetary settlements and future Earth. Just that the former starts from zero while the latter has a very specific and familiar beginning.
I don't think "instanced" means what you think it means. Also, they were completely controllable in Frontier so why would FD do anything less in Elite? They've upped the ante with docking, they might as well do the same with planetary landing. In fact, it's such a huge opportunity to wow the crowd, I'm sure they won't pass it up.