TS_Snow updates

[wolf]

Attempting some Renegade-X style rock meshes. Performance shouldn't be affected.

May add lightmaps later on

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by wolf

[Synaesthesia]

I'm definitely not a fan of that approach here. They look less like cliffs and more like oversized stone pebbles that a giant placed against the walls. I don't think the RenX "style" is going to translate over very well without SSAO, normals, specularity, etc. Even then, it doesn't look as good as it would if it were based on actual cliffs found in nature.

 

It's not bad, but I think you could do a lot better.

[wolf]

I'm definitely not a fan of that approach here. They look less like cliffs and more like oversized stone pebbles that a giant placed against the walls. I don't think the RenX "style" is going to translate over very well without SSAO, normals, specularity, etc. Even then, it doesn't look as good as it would if it were based on actual cliffs found in nature.

 

It's not bad, but I think you could do a lot better.

 

Sure. Can you give me some examples?

 

I always hated Renegade's flat cliff style... they make the game look old and cheap.

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by wolf

[wolf]

[Synaesthesia]

If you want that style of cliff, it's possible to get it by actually sculpting out the major details in zBrush/Mudbox. Or by utilizing a displacement map with a sufficiently dense (think 1k) mesh for that segment of cliffs. Leave the pebbly look for the bottom of the cliffs because of the way that rocks tend to accumulate on the bottom of a cliff face due to rockslides.

 

Here's some RL examples of how rock formations should look:

 

 

Notice the exposed rock has banding in it from different types of rock and mineral deposits. Also notice the pebbly rocks are collected at the bottom.

 

 

This ridge face has no pebbly deposits at the bottom, but it does have a steep angle and a lot of detail you could model in with a displacement map to get the major features.

 

 

Another issue is that your cliffs aren't randomized enough. The pebbly structures aren't lending themselves well to variations in height. It looks as though they're just piled up without any indication of seismic activity in the past. If none of this matters, that's cool. What you have will work. But I think that you could really push this to the next level by utilizing some design cues from nature. Speaking of that, many of the snow terrain environments in TS were based in Scandinavia - one mission was in Hammerfest, Norway, and another was just outside of Stockholm in Sweden. Plus there was a mission in Midtjylland in the middle part of Denmark. Don't hesitate to use terrain ideas from those environments.

 

You can see what I based my Fjord level off:

 

 

Not exactly Hammerfest, but it's close enough for Renegade purposes.

[Squid Empire]

I like the direction you've gone. There's different styles of course, and I suppose Synaesthesia's pictures are obviously more realistic.

[Bayonetta]

Don't have trees directly in the middle of the walls :/ makes using arties and juggs impossible

[Jerad2142]

_{I personally hate when games just pile rocks up as cliffs, it makes me die inside.}

[Bayonetta]

Any update?