Between 0:07 and 0:10. It looks as though the ship goes through the rock wall right before jumping. This may be incorrect as it's hard to tell.
Now you point it out I can see it does appear to go underground. It's actually not a collision bug, it's a rendering bug related to the "background stuff causing big pauses" problem I mentioned in my last post. When the big pauses go, rendering bugs like this will go too. Thanks for your points VoodooVyper but i'm slightly worried that this thread is getting a little too geeky now...
Actually, your criticisms inspired me to look into the problem today. It's now running significantly smoother. Thanks! Thanks too to everyone who posted less critical responses. It's cool to finally have other people looking at the game.
You could make an awesome free-roaming type game using that engine. The open environment is pretty good and I haven't noticed any lag.
The technology will hopefully be used for other game types in the future but Ground Effect IS very free roaming for a race game.
I see you have new screenshots posted on your website. Does that mean you're going to be releasing this game soon?
We should have a firm release date fairly soon. If you'd like a rough estimate, 6-8 weeks. I'm quite pleased with the new screenshots, they make it a bit easier to see what's going on. New shots here
Thanks very much, next ones will look even better as we've been working on effects (trails, explosions etc.) which make the whole thing look a lot more dynamic.
Glenn, this is looking very nice, but might I ask, would it be too hard to increase the scale of the water texture? It looks like it repeats a bit in the zoomed out screenshots, Either scale it up, or use a bigger texture? And might I ask, in this picture, what's the white x on the top right?
The White X is just that, a white X drawn in the in game font. It's a placeholder graphic for 'enter pause menu' this menu features the 'free cam' which was originally for debug purposes only but will now probably be in the final game. It's this camera that was used to take the new screenshots. The water 'texture' has to do a lot of work. Here is the same level viewed from less far up but still pretty far away. Can you see the repeat here? it also has to work (and animate) in relative closeup:
Ah, Makes sense about the water, I did indeed forget it was animated, Although I suppose when you're zipping through the course, you wouldn't have time to notice it anyway. Also, just out of curiosity, what sort of Polys are those craft? They look quite smooth and well finished.
Wow it's pretty impressive to cram that much on such a limited device. The draw distance is just great, that's some serious tech there. I'm excited about this Glenn. P.S. I'm also a huge fan of the games you designed/developed before, Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, the list just goes on, just fantastic games. How about making a Dungeon Keeper like game next?
This is looking amazing. I'm pretty pumped for this. It looks a lot like Jet Moto to me. I've never of Ekranoplans or the like. This is still beautiful and the concepts are amazing.
The landscape tech is sort of like an optimised version of the one in Battle Engine Aquila (Xbox/PS2/PC 2002), how it works is pretty much documented here if anyone is interested: http://www.glenncorpes.com/procedural-landscapes-gdce-2001 I'm considering making the tech available to others who might like to do something a little more epic with it as i'm unlikely to myself. I like simpler games. I think I had too many graphic engines hidden under slow complex games in the past For example, I'd love work on a Dungeon Keeper remake but I'd like to see it stripped down to a sort of Tower Defense game with tunneling. To be honest, I don't know anything about it other than what pops up as you watch it. I accidentally uploaded the video with my kids and I talking as the soundtrack. Youtube's audioswap seemed to be the only way to remove it but the track selector seemed to be completely broken. "Breath Machine" was the first track that showed up via "I'm feeling lucky" which seemed vaguely suitable...
Just some criticism (I REALLY want to see this game succeed where others have failed): The checkpoint pylons are a bit redundant, but I can see how an easy mode would suit them. What about making alternative routes with less checkpoints and more open to the interpretation of the player how to get there? Maybe throw in some obstacles to influence going off the beaten path. While flat turns may be challenging they certainly don't adhere to the dynamic feel of the craft. Really...who wants to slow down all the time just to make a turn? These vehicles should be suited to the environment, not feel like a yugo on a train track. I totally understand the need for challenge and flat turns are good in moderation, but of all the turns I didn't see one that really got the craft on it's side. Where are the tight wall bank turns? Where are the side launch ramps? Where are the tunnels? Loops? The physics of the craft are a bit floaty, which detracts from the sense of speed. The jumps are awesome, but still it's a bit too floaty to fully realize the adrenaline potential...think about F-Zero on the SNES...when you hit a jump arrow you gained a lot of height in a short time and you really needed to watch where you landed...and also when you pulled up you didn't damage the craft. That mechanic works great in these types of games. Also, what about including a trackless game mode to start at one point on the map and reach another point in under a given time, with the whole of the map to navigate. Maybe have the option of collecting orbs (or whatever graphic that represents achieving a marker) for a real challenge. This allows the player to really explore the level and the capabilities of the craft, and further explore the possibilities that the developer might not have thought of or had the time to implement. See Halo exploitation videos of the warthog (Jump) for an example. The potential for this game is great. The graphics are smooth, the control looks pretty tight...this game is definitely on my buy list! Edit: the music rocks...bought the track. It's "Dreamscape" by 009 Sound System http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53qj8LcWRCQ
About 300 polys with a little pre-baked ambient occlusion to help out with the lighting. There is also a 90 poly version that uses the same skins for when the vehicle is a little further away.
