Wow.. great stuff Mr B - its really coming together this here Horizons thingy...
News From orbit down to Europa
- Thread starter David Braben
- Start date
Thanks David for that very nice vid, I think, gliding should gradually build up heat letting us decide how long we want to take the risk of gliding when approaching a hostile point of interest (if I understand how most things will happen when scavenging). I can just see us having fights at the surface of planets.
Could a ship that is badly damaged crash at glide speed? (lets say the thrusters die) do you simulate that and would it leave a mark on the group visible to all?
Could a ship that is badly damaged crash at glide speed? (lets say the thrusters die) do you simulate that and would it leave a mark on the group visible to all?
I agree.. it is a very watered down smoothed out version of reality just for the sake of driving around. It isn't realistic as the real surface of Europa. Its more like every moon is like "our moon" surface than real moons.
But that being said it is a good start and it can be improved by adding random obstacles and rock formations if they can learn how to generate them. There is just too much detail that needs to be done. I mean literally they are recreating worlds. So this is a good start and it will be fun to play.
I just hope what you can do on the surface is more than just pew pew and collect some rocks. Lets make some fun missions out there to protect bases, attack bases etc script some fun recurring missions. Pirate attacks from space etc.
At 6:26 on the video whats the ship hovering over the base? & can we shoot it
Rep just for asking the question "& can we shoot it" LOL
I'm hoping it's just a matter of time, once the npc generation is in I think this could really add to the feeling of "life".
Frontier should get in touch with these guys and have them work on ED.
[video=youtube;7tyWUT0UsZE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tyWUT0UsZE[/video]
(skip to 0m50.)
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I somehow doubt the surface of planets will somehow magically change in 2.1 onwards because of new tech. Yes, we may get more sharper textures etc, but I think the general geometry is here to stay forever.
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I see you can enjoy some faster speeds when in Glide mode; why not have some of that speed maintained while down closer to the surface? Even half that speed would be fine (for planets with no atmosphere). Have a radius around bases where your speed may be restricted, but once outside those zones (Like weapon lock), you can fly at higher glide or sub glide speeds to explore the planet surface up close.
The general big scale geometry is fine. I think what Colonel Kenny is referring is things of this nature (slide 11 and onwards):
http://forum.outerra.com/FMX/presentation/
When that will happen is up in the air, but I think we can safely assume that the devs responsible for the planetary generation have thought about these things.
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Yeah. Right now everything looks flat like it has been made to ride around with our SVR... E
graphics are a bit low when compared to Outerra or Infinity right now, but they will keep working at it I'm sure.
I looked at it carefully. The sun is around the 11 O'Clock position, so almost overhead. I saw a lot of shadows (skimmers, ships, cliffs, buildings) but they were high angle shadows.
It all looks really good, but the flat white lighting again just detracts from it. Seriously: LIGHTING COUNTS. It makes the difference between an OK scenery and a mind blowing one.
Imagine the crater in dark shadow, with the outpost outlined in myriad lights like a city. Imagine what such a landscape would look like bathing in the ruby glow of a red dwarf. Or the bright blue glare of a blue giant. Lighting is important. I cannot repeat this enough. Lighting is important.
Imagine the crater in dark shadow, with the outpost outlined in myriad lights like a city. Imagine what such a landscape would look like bathing in the ruby glow of a red dwarf. Or the bright blue glare of a blue giant. Lighting is important. I cannot repeat this enough. Lighting is important.
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The OP mentioned that the sub-surface scattering and other lighting effects weren't working, but will on Monday.
Here's hoping. What Frontier has managed to achieve is hugely impressive, but their aesthetic choices are painfully lacking at times. I mean, the planetfall is good; the surface is good, the outpost gives a nice sense of size and complexity. It's all just so near darn perfect. And then the flat white lighting kind of harshes the buzz.
With some tiny changes they could elevate entire vistas from great to utterly mind blowing.
With some tiny changes they could elevate entire vistas from great to utterly mind blowing.
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Hate to be a party pooper but that video really didn't look great to me. You could see a lot of texture pop and the texture or mesh detail in general just looks too low at all times. It's like there is no direct light as well, we are just seeing some sort of ambient light. It looks like a really old render engine or something. The buildings look like they don't gel at all with the ground, really high detail objects sitting on a really low detail ground mesh. I really hope that there is a LOD slider for those of us with decent machines.
Could the "glide" functionality not be used to mask the transition from orbital to ground level, and why the big BANG sound to really ram it home that we just had a loading screen? The ship literally stops dead in the air while we wait for something to load, could it not carry on moving while stuff loads around it?
Other than that the functionality looks good, space to orbital, to glide, to surface, to dock, to SRV. Very cool.
EDIT - For me this loading screen thing is quite annoying, but I can see it being possible to mask with some clever animation / effects. However, another player who I talk to regularly but doesn't speak much on the forums just said "This was the whole reason I Kickstarted this thing - being able to descent to and fly off of planets seamlessly.", so he's pretty fuming...
Could the "glide" functionality not be used to mask the transition from orbital to ground level, and why the big BANG sound to really ram it home that we just had a loading screen? The ship literally stops dead in the air while we wait for something to load, could it not carry on moving while stuff loads around it?
Other than that the functionality looks good, space to orbital, to glide, to surface, to dock, to SRV. Very cool.
EDIT - For me this loading screen thing is quite annoying, but I can see it being possible to mask with some clever animation / effects. However, another player who I talk to regularly but doesn't speak much on the forums just said "This was the whole reason I Kickstarted this thing - being able to descent to and fly off of planets seamlessly.", so he's pretty fuming...
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The sub surface scattering, on ice, should give a nice effect in the final version.
I don't think we've seen any dark side of the planet gameplay yet. I'm looking forward to skimming around the planet and dropping into the night side, hopefully with a base in view.
What I'd hope for on the night side is a near pitch black surface with a mini Blade Runner-esque settlement lighting up the crater in an ambient glow with its web of lights, like a bright oasis in in the cold dark night, a warm campfire in a desolate wilderness. Just like light + motion = life, the right lighting evokes emotion, creates a psychological impact. It makes the difference between watching a game scene and feeling like you're there. Frontier obviously understands that with their sound design, their vast 1:1 galaxy that so effectively conveys scale and distance. They just need to get the lighting right, damn it!
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