Contribute Ideas
Author
Hey everyone, I''ve finally gotten my little homebrew terrain engine into a state that I want to try to implement a very simple game on top of it. So, I come to you for ideas.
Terrain Engine features:
-Large outdoor areas (8x8 KM)
-Dense forest (up to 30K crappy looking procedural trees in a scene)
-Plains of tall grass (lots)
-Lots of large and small rocks. (Procedural)
-Shitty looking water plane.
-Simple wildlife (Butterflies, birds)
-Crater deformation. No tunnels, just craters.
So any thoughts of a simple game that one could implement on top of such an engine? I''m open to other simple features to help said game. I thank you in advance for any advice you have.
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
quote:Original post by WarAmp
Terrain Engine features:
-Large outdoor areas (8x8 KM)
If you don''t keep all the terrain in memory at the same time, it can be arbitrarily large.
quote:
-Dense forest (up to 30K crappy looking procedural trees in a scene)
Perhaps you could add some nice looking trees. Assuming you haven''t already done it, you could change the detail on the trees according to their distance.
quote:
-Shitty looking water plane.
You want reflections. Of the terrain and the sky. A game called ''Severance'' somehow has rippling reflections of complex scenery without any slowdown. That''d be nice.
quote:
So any thoughts of a simple game that one could implement on top of such an engine?
A driving game? A flying game? An RTS? An FPS? There are many possibilities.
CoV
How about a herding game? You control a few dogs and you must drive sheep from point A to point B. The sheep would have some flocking based AI that would react to the dogs, fellow ships and different other things on the map.
Author
The herding thing is quite interesting. hmmm. I wonder how you would make that fun tho.
The trees look crappy because of they are very low poly. (200-800) at the highest detail. They do have LOD as well, but they will never be nice looking trees at that polycount and with free textures found on the net.
The reflections require another render of the scene...Something I can''t get away with because my frame rate is already somewhat low. Unless I have fewer trees, of course.
As for Type of game...I''m pretty open. Something simple. I''m just one guy with a full time job who only hase an hour or 3 a day for this thing. Its all just a learning experience for now.
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
The trees look crappy because of they are very low poly. (200-800) at the highest detail. They do have LOD as well, but they will never be nice looking trees at that polycount and with free textures found on the net.
The reflections require another render of the scene...Something I can''t get away with because my frame rate is already somewhat low. Unless I have fewer trees, of course.
As for Type of game...I''m pretty open. Something simple. I''m just one guy with a full time job who only hase an hour or 3 a day for this thing. Its all just a learning experience for now.
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
Well. If sheep are boring, add some more into the mix. How about a full-on wildlife simulation?
Obvious options include adding a shrubbery and some particles to represent pollen. And have those butterflies and birds go at it like rabbits. And add some rabbits.
CoV
[edited by - Mayrel on August 5, 2003 6:36:28 PM]
Obvious options include adding a shrubbery and some particles to represent pollen. And have those butterflies and birds go at it like rabbits. And add some rabbits.
CoV
[edited by - Mayrel on August 5, 2003 6:36:28 PM]
Author
lol. perhaps I should change the butterflies to bumblebees?
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
Or you can have this guy who is out walking when an eagle suddenly swoops down and saws of the top of his head with a saw and the guys brain is exposed and starts to rut and he has to put honey on his brain to cover the decay odor and then the bees starts to eat of his brain because they think it is honey too and the honey kinda melts in the sun and runs down the eyes of the guy and then the roaches..or not.
You could hunt the butterflies with a mothnet within a certain amount of time to reach a new level. You could let the terrain "specify" the type of butterfly that lives there, which allows you to create missions, where the player has to capture a certain colored specimen.
Author
Cestps: Interesting, but that sounds too complicated for me. Eagle flight dynamics, not to mention a saw that an eagle can use, plus deformable models of that detail. Flocking behaviour for the bees and an accurate viscous fluid sim. for the Honey. Too much work, but interesting research nontheless.
Anthenor: That''s quite intriguing...The terrain doesnt much come into play in that case, but that still pretty cool thought. Maybe I could add a few other creatures that are trying to hunt you at the same time... Get the butterflies before the rabid racoons get you! hehehe. hmmmm.
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
Anthenor: That''s quite intriguing...The terrain doesnt much come into play in that case, but that still pretty cool thought. Maybe I could add a few other creatures that are trying to hunt you at the same time... Get the butterflies before the rabid racoons get you! hehehe. hmmmm.
Waramp.
"Before you insult a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, when you do insult him, you''ll be a mile away, and you''ll have his shoes."
Some kind of driving/sports style game would be nice. I want to say golf as I''m currently renting Mario Golf, but simulating that well can be complicated.
Racing could be fairly easy and use the terrain well.
Or maybe drive along and shoot as many wildlife as you can
Racing could be fairly easy and use the terrain well.
Or maybe drive along and shoot as many wildlife as you can
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