Its been a while since my last blog post but that's because I've been working extra hard on new features, updating and optimizing old features. Every update I feel and see my game taking shape. So let us get right into the update blog!
WHAT'S NEW:
1. Shader Optimization
2. New Shaders [Video 1: Fish] [Video 2: Jellyfish] 3. New optimized Fish system 4. New Fish models now; no longer just 2 sided planes [Video] 5. A Story in the works
VIDEO
SHADER OPTIMIZATION
Here is a before and after shader difference of the scene. I have massively optimized my scene by reducing overdraw, I am reworking my foliage, fish and all my other shaders in my game.
FISH MOVEMENT SHADER
I created a fish swim shader for my fish AI as it was the next step to optimize my fish ai system, there was no way I could have 1000 fish on the screen each with their own skeletons to animate. Having 1000 skeleton with an average 4 bones; that's 4 x 1000 bones in the scene that need to be animated and updated every frame. I made this shader totally customizable so that I can easily animate other fish species with this single parent material. I added a visualizer to show the affected region in order to optimize the editing process. Making this shader took me over a month to fully understand what I wanted and to relay it into the unreal shader. This is the most advanced shader I've created in a really long time.
FISH AI
The new fish system has been upgraded and has been optimized thanks to the fish shader I created above, this has allowed me to animate 1500 fish on screen without the need of any bones. Because of this, I can run at above 60fps even though there are over 1500 fish on screen!
NEW MODELS
Before this update, all the fish were a 2d sided plane which you could tell if you were up and close to the fish or if the fish turned, so I thought it was time for me to update the fish and create 3d models for them. The new models include Clownfish, Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Blue Powder Tang, and a Sea snake.
JELLYFISH MOVEMENT SHADER
Similar to the fish shader I had to create a shader for the movement of the jellyfish. This was much easier to make since I created the fish shader so its base code was already set up for me and I also had the knowledge to create it. I obviously had to change a lot of parameters such as the axis of the movement and many other parts. This shader only took me a day to make so I created additional top up features to this shader which can be toggled on and off to suit my needs. These features include randomized pulse speed, toggleable pulse, visualizer, colour, pulse colour, max speed etc.
DISTANCE CARDS
The distance cards have been added to direct the player without forcing them to go there. I want my game to be free-flowing and not shoving information into the player's face and force them to do things they don't want to do. I want them to discover and explore, I want them to be rewarded for exploring which most games do not do anymore. I don't want to hold the player's hand but I obviously need to direct the player towards the end goal. This feature is still a WIP and more work and testing is needed.
THE STORY
Below is the start of the story for my game which I've started on, I want to use my story to create levels and create emotions within my game. This is currently the first pass/beginningfor the first chapter.
Chapter 1: Foraging
Laguna a lost soul in the vast ocean of Oxidane, an ocean unseen and unreachable to the human existence. She was submerged in the failures, waiting for the light to shine into her dark pressurized surroundings, but whenever the lights came, she wondered if it was a light of false hope, like that of an angler fish. Laguna was once part of a great society, a society destined for greatness beyond measure but now she roams Oxidane alone...
A quick gust of water brushes past, a black mist with little red sparks periodically pulsing outwards. They call them the dark ones these lifeforms inhabit the ocean once the sun goes down, It is unknown how the dark ones came to be, but they thrive in the absence of the sun. During the darker hours the dark one’s glide through the ocean, always hunting in packs. Two watchers; a small and nimbler variant. These watchers are in the front, probing for any menial victims before calling out to rest of the pack.
Dawn. The first sun rays of the day shine down into the ocean, sending the dark ones back into the deeper regions of the ocean. Laguna slowly comes out a little opening from the cave front. A morning ritual to revitalise her inner energy she must hunt for Hircon, a red and blue glowing crystal. They are scarce but they provide Laguna the energy to survive for another 3 days.
WHATS NEXT
I dont feel like my character fits into the world I created so I'm going to recreate the character model. Finish Chapter 1 of the story, create optimized foilage. Expand on Fish AI.