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January 14, 2010Working like crazy, trying to get a demo together in time for DBP 2010.
Come out and play!
Sometimes working on a game can be actual work… scary huh? Recently I’ve been really getting down into the guts of my engine and adding countless little features, fixing little problems, and ripping out a little more hair… Some of the changes since I last posted are… *drum roll*
- Added Proper Transparency w/ shadow-casting for grass, trees, etc…
- Fixed Depth buffer issues causing Early-Z probs, Shadow Acne, performance, etc…
- Added a Particle System (Dust, Blood)
- Added Vehicle Physics (something has to kick up dust!)
- Added Weapon Sensors / Injuries (someone has to bleed!)
- Added An Entity “messaging system” to control communication in a thread safe way… instructions like “you die now, I hit you” shouldn’t cause a race condition.
- Purchased a ton more models (houses, knives, machetes, guns, bats, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc) and somehow my Skunkie hasn’t left me for spending money on such crap!
So what’s next? Well, the DreamBuildPlay 2010 competition is coming up in less than 2 fekkin’ months! I’d really like to enter this year but I don’t know how realistic that is… I need to rework the (bloated and complex) animation system to fix the horrible looking blending and add some much needed flexibility, and I really need to put more work into the physics and collision systems… If those two major issues work out quickly I may be able to throw something together in time… Either way, I’ll try to get a new video together one of these days for my 5 or so die-hard fans!
This is going to be awesome!
I hope i can afford it…? (If it pays something that iam pretty sure it will.)
GOOD WORK!
wow! sounds like your going at it full throttle man! keep up th good work, lookin forward to your nx vid update:)
@Jesse
It’s going to be $3.00 or $5.00 on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel… Most likely $3
@Joey
The weapons system is still pretty primitive, but it’s already quite fun to bash zombies and watch the blood fly. Once I rework some of the more embarrassing problems (animation blending, vehicle/character interaction) I’ll definitely post a video showing some good old fashion brutal violence.
Holy, only 3 dollars for this?
Well anyways, is it going to be buyable with microsoft points?
Yes, when it’s released you’ll be able to go into “Game Marketplace / Indie Games” and buy it w/ MS points.
Edit: If we sell it for $3.00 that would be 240pt, and $5.00 would be 400pt.
Jesus…
”Either way, I’ll try to get a new video together one of these days for my 5 or so die-hard fans!”
Change the 5 to 6 NOW!
Thanks Jesse
It’s really exciting to think that this game might be well-received.
I suppose this will get nobel prize for it awesomeness.
u do notice theres only 3 ppl talking back and fourth (it is going to b a sweet game though)
@Eric.
SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS!
We have to tell more people about this awesome creation!
I think the game will be well recieved. I haven’t seen a xna project quite like it. And all I’ve seen is graphics/some physics. Look forward to the next video.
@Jazz
I know it’s hard to get a feeling for the game from some screenshots and a couple tech videos, but I’m hopeful that we’re nearing a point in development where the game itself will begin to take shape and we’ll have a bit more to show everyone.
Very impressive. I’ve been trying to find good examples of XNA full 3D games for a long time. How do you do all those shadows on such large maps at such high quality without killing performance?
The shadows have some biasing/acne problems at the moment if you look closely, but I’m still pretty happy with them. I’m using a mixture of techniques:
First, shadows are only rendered for the first 35 meters, then they fade out. They use a technique called Trapezoidal Shadow Maps whenever possible. This distorts the shadow map (with a special projection matrix) to have greater detail near the camera, and lower detail farther away. When the camera moves inline with the sunlight direction, that technique explodes and I have to resort to simple PCF which appears lower quality. I plan on reducing the draw distance when this happens to raise the effective resolution, but I haven’t done that yet.
If you really want shadows that extend for miles, look into parallel split shadow maps (PSSM)… I would probably be using them now, but I plan on having this game pretty crowded with buildings/obstructions… So I don’t think I need to go that route yet.
I am using PSSM but your examples perform much better than my results hence why I asked.
I get noticable changes in the shadow at the boundary between shadow maps and a lot of waving about or I can kill the performance to improve quality.
What you’ve shown so far is already superior to anything similar I’ve seen so I am looking forward to seeing more examples.
From the few screens and videos you’ve shown us Dead Shift has the potential to blow every other app on the indie channel out of the water. But a game is more than graphics and explosions is it not? Let me know if you need a tester.
Thanks Ben,
Yes, games are far more than graphics and explosions… that’s one of the reasons I want to create something unique with this game. I’d like to make something with the excitement of an arcade game, but cinematic and immersive. I’m probably aiming a bit too high for my first project, but hey, I love zombie games.
Thanks for offering to test, but I’m still working on the “graphics and explosions” part.
Once I am at a point where I need testers, I’ll be using the official XNA Creator’s Club PlayTest area, so keep a look out there.
Super impressive stuff, sometimes I get frustrated with the XNA game I’m working on, then I take a look at your stuff and thank god I don’t have to code it.
Haha, thanks Angus.
Yeah, when I’m being realistic I get extremely overwhelmed w/ the scale of what I’ve taken on… But then Skunkie makes me some more killer espresso.
Seriously though, I have some great stuff I’m cooking up w/ a rewritten animation system and some basic zombie AI… I really need to find some decent motion captures to do it justice and put a new video together already!
Oh, that’s too bad about you using the official XNA forum for testing, I’m currently banned from that club. I would really like to see some graphic and funny zombie kills but I am wondering if you shouldn’t make them so graphic as to not be allowed on the marketplace? If I were you I would definitely post some screens and ask on XNA.com
Ben,
I might also post the ccgame on this blog when I need testing if there’s interest.
I’m designing the game so the gore can be scaled back if needed. I have seen some prudish developers who want to self-sensor the Indie Games channel to a ridiculous point (no cursing, etc.) which is silly considering AAA games like Dead Rising and GTA. It will be very disappointing if the game winds up censored… I would understand if it was MS, or a publisher… But don’t worry, I’ll make due.
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you manage getting yourself banned? :/
I’m always interested in testing new games!! lol. I got banned from XNA for doing something pretty stupid that I regret now. It had to do with passing a game whose content was under suspicion of IP infringement.
Ok, i did tell several people on our school about this project.
Oh and by the way, iam on our schools ‘news paper’ team that makes the schools ‘news paper’…
It haves gaming section aswell, and iam taking care of it!
If you dont mind, i could publish a thing of this game to it?
(Sorry my bad english today… Had alot of work to do and iam tired as *bleep*.
Jesse,
That’s cool, if there’s any info you need or whatever just let me know.
Well, there is alot of info i need.
Lets say… One or two A-4 pages?
I cant ask the questions at this moment as iam going to sleep.
Sounds good, just ask away whenever you like.
THOSE ARE MY SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!