Last Week's Weekly Report

I have been working on predictive triangle collision. I created a ray starting at the current position and pointing in the direction of movement. Then I tested for collision between that ray and all the terrain triangles. I borrowed from this example for getting the triangles from the fbx model and ray-triangle collision. Then, if a collision occurred, I checked if the collision occurred within the distance moved.

Weekly Report - Water Simulation

This past week I looked into ways to simulate an underwater simulation, I didn't find many resources. But I found out that a way to simulate the underwater effect is by using the post-processing technique which is applying an effect or a combination of effetcs to a certain scene. This post process efffect can be considered as a filter the scene is going through.This scene is rendered into a texture, and that texture is used to render the scene, when rendering the post process shader is applied. So to simulate this underwater effect scene I am going to need to implement the post process shader that will need a pixel shader and to make the shader dymanic a timer is implemented.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions for the implementation of this effect, or if you think that this will be inificient.

Report for Last Week

Last week I worked on getting basic mechanics for pushing blocks around, and getting familiar with how something like that could work. I made it possible that the player can push more than one block at a time, or only one if that's what you wanted.

I also worked with the camera in these situations trying to get it to feel natural and more like games that we all know and love. Quaternion.Slerp() does a very good job of this, it's just a matter of tweaking variables to get it to feel natural.

I uploaded my project here (EDIT: This link is now dead, you can grab the updated code from this post) in case anyone wants to see exactly what I've done and how it works. Suggestions are welcome too, if you feel something I'm doing is inefficient or could be done in a simpler way.

Weekly Report - Andrew Harmon

So this week I’ve been looking into the best way to create an underwater effect that captures the look of light shining through the sea and lighting the ocean floor.

After doing much research and investigation I found that there are many ways to create the effect of caustics. Some methods are much easier to implement as others, and as is often the case, the easier it Is to implement the less realistic it will likely look.

The easiest way to create an effect is by using a caustic generator like this one. http://www.dualheights.se/caustics/. This program can be used to create a short animation that can be reproduced randomly on the ocean floor. However, this method would likely result in a floor that appears too repetitive, and it could be very easy to realize that the same animated texture is being used over and over.

In order to create a truly realistic effect you would have to actually create an effect that simulates the realistic movement of an ocean surface. You would then have to determine the intensity and direction of the sunlight. Then using refraction and reflection equations you would have to trace each photon of light and determine the effect that each equation would have with the water it intersects with. The rays would then be traced to the ocean floor, and then based on the murkiness and depth of the water, a certain amount of light would be reflected on the ocean bottom.

Now that would be the most extreme approach, but there are other methods that are a little easier to implement with similar results. This poster goes into a little more depth on some different approaches. http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/showthread.php?186376-XNA-underwater-caustics&daysprune=-1#post1536229

The method I have chosen to implement will use a directional light, which will intersect with some imaginary wave functions, based on where the rays hit the normal of the vertices of this wave, the light will be sent in different directions, or will not be calculated. This will created a “spotty” effect on the ocean floor, creating a similar look to an ocean floor in shallow waters.

This is only one aspect to making an ocean look. There is also the aspect of visibility. Based on how “foggy” the water is, and the color of the water is, you may be able to see only a hundred feet in front of you, or you may be able to see hundreds of yards in front of you. But one thing that is certain is that objects will appear less distinct the further they are from the viewer.

Another aspect to some parts of a sea is the light rays that pass through the water, giving it a slight, but constant change in color.

Also for some finishing touches, some floating particles, and maybe some shadows from the sea creatures can be added to the ocean floor can be added to the scene.

Here’s a clip from Finding Nemo where you can see all of these aspects working together. You have the caustics, the fog, light rays, particles, and shadows.

It’s not an easy task to create realistic looking water, but these are some ways that it can be done.

Weekly report (Jan 27)

Jason here,

This week I determined how the NPCs' movement between static areas will occur:

• There are predefined, convex hulls that represent more complex areas that are called Free Move Zones (FMZs).
• These zones are connected by portals. Portals designate where it is safe to pass from one FMZ to another.
• The portals will use Next Hop Forwarding to determine the fastest routes to a destination. These routes will be pre-generated using the A* algorithm.

So far, I have the basic environment processor finished; it reads an Autodesk .fbx file and loads the FMZs and portals, and it also links the portals and FMZs together.

In addition, I have developed an algorithm to test if a point is within a convex hull. Tell me if I'm wrong! I made it up in a hurry, but the principles made sense at a glance--I'll probably get to test and tweak it before next week is finished. I hope it seems just as clever by then : )

// point is the Vector3 being tested

// centerPoints[] is the array that contains the center point for each face in world space

// dirs[] is the array of normals for each of the faces

// this assumes that faces point outward

for (int i = 0; i < currentFaceCount; i++)

{

// the outward direction (if it is within the convex hull, anyway)

Vector3 dir = centerPoints[i] - point;

dir.Normalize();

// recalling linear algebra, this measures the angle between two vectors

double angle = Math.Acos(Vector3.Dot(dir, dirs[i])/(dirs[i].Length() * dir.Length()));

if (angle < 0 || angle > Math.PI) // is the opposite direction

{

// point is not under the plane, so it is not within the convex hull

return false;

}

}

// point was "under" the plane for every face, so it is within the convex hull

return true;

Interactions

The subs weaponry and other equipment will attach to the outside of the sub. When the sub hits something, if the equipment gets hit it will take damage and eventually become unusable until you repair it. Running into walls or rocks cause a relatively small amount of damage. When the sub runs into an enemy it do damage to both the sub and the enemy. For weak enemies it do more damage to the enemy, for strong ones it will do more to the sub. Sub weapons will do more damage to enemies than hitting them. If an enemy hits the diver it will do a lot more damage and not hurt the enemy. The strongest enemy will kill the diver with one hit.

The game could be kind of like...

I could see something like this working well for the submarine view. Obviously the environment would be underwater. What do you all think?

 

 And then once the person gets out of the submarine the camera would follow the person instead of the submarine.

This second video is a little different in that it allows you to view all sides of the player. I could see this also being a useful technique.

Environments

Level 1 – Sandy Floor

Environment – A lot of sand, with a few rocks sprinkled throughout the landscape. Many of the items are clearly visible making them easy to collect.

This level has very few enemies, with a fair amount of treasure hidden in the sand. Some clues may also be found here that will help in future levels, but the main purpose of the level is to familiarize the player with the controls and how the game works. 

Level 2 – Greenery

Environment – A lot of grass and small bushes, with some large rocks scattered across the seascape.

A few more predators are introduced, as well as some clues found between rocks that are hidden between lush foliage on the ocean floor.

Level 3 - Corral Reef

Environment – Obviously there would be quite a bit of coral, as well as small caves, and exotic plant life.

This level has a lot of treasures, but they are hard to find, because they could be so many places. Also coral reefs are filled with sharks, eels, and other dangerous creatures.

Level 4 – Abandoned Ship

Environment - A small rocky valley where an old ship is found. Most of the level would take place inside of the ship.

The abandoned ship may not have many little treasures, but they say there is one big one hidden inside of it somewhere. But not just a treasure; this ship could hold a secret that must be uncovered in order to move further into deeper waters.

Level 5 – Underwater Mountains (rocky)

Environment – This level takes place in what appears to be an underground mountain pass. There are several caves and caverns to explore.

As you move into deeper waters you will have needed to collect advanced equipment in order to survive. This place is full of magma, sharks, and other mysterious creatures rarely seen by human eyes.

Level 6 – Moderately deep trench

Environment – Similar to the previous level, only with steeper sides to the cliffs around the trench, and a flatter ocean floor. It is also considerably darker.

Few venture into the trenches, but this is one you must explore, because hidden in the caves of these trenches are some very important pieces of information. You will need to use your problem solving skills in order to solve the puzzles and gain valuable information needed to completely the quest. (And some treasure of course)

Level 7 – Deep Trench

Environment – Very dark, with little vegetation.

Unlike the previous level where there was a little bit of light, this deep trench is completely dark, so you must rely on the lighting around you, and the light provided by the sea creatures in order to see your surroundings. The last piece of the puzzle is found here. You now know where to go to find the much coveted Atlantean treasure. 

Level 8 – Atlantis Ruins

Environment – I mixture of a few plants, but mostly sand and rocks. There are several ancient ruins that are crumbling.

This level is by far the most difficult. There are many dangers, and you must use nearly all of the equipment you have purchased in order to complete the final level and obtain the crystal. The most formidable creatures, ones never seen by modern civilization are guarding the treasure, and will not give it up easily. 

I looked at a map of the ocean to see where some plausible locations for these different environments would be, and from that I made this map. 

Two games to incorporate aspects from

One of the games is Navy Moves FX developed by FX Iteractive, one of the missions in the game is underwater where the player encounters some sea creatures and enemies. It is somewhat similar to the idea I had for the enemies and how the player would be able to defeat them, for example by using a gun like in the picture below.

The second game is Everblue 2, this game could give an idea for the visuals and the different objects in the environment.

Enemies Ideas

Here are a few ideas of the enemies that could be encountered:

Small fish:  a smaller fish with little sharp teeth, the most encountered enemy. Its ability would be to bite without leaving significant damage.

Sharks: could be another common enemy; its capability would be to bite anything that moves around it. The player could defeat it or keep it away from him using a speargun .

Tiger Shark: this shark is larger and stronger than a regular shark, so it would be more difficult to defeat. It would also black stripes arranged over their back.

Kronosaurus: is one of the prehistoric sea monsters, it has the longest and strongest teeth in a massive mouth. This is one of the strongest enemies, it could eat an entire person and the player would have to acquire some advanced skills to defeat this enemy.

Giant squid: this enemy could be one of the largest and most intelligent creature in the game. It would be able to destroy things using its large tentacles, and the mantle (eight arms) would be used to capture its enemies.

 Sea scorpion: a poisonous scorpion that moves fast and uses its tail to attack and destroy its enemies.

Giant stingray: a prehistoric super-fish this could one the hardest enemies to defeat, its tail serves as a poison spike and is strong enough to drag heavy objects.

Puzzle Aspects

The equipment Jason listed on his page will be large parts of the puzzles, since we're limited with what we can justify with the environment as far as variety. Assuming we're going with the Atlantis story Andrew suggested, I think it would be a good idea that most of the diving suit parts should be based around ruins that are linked with Atlantis, so that we can make some neat puzzles that are justified by the fact that they are linked to mysterious Atlantian (or Atlantic?) technology.

I'm still sort of forming ideas in my head, especially after reading Jason's post. I imagine the magnetic boots would be a very useful mechanic. That piece of equipment is very sci-fi and has puzzle written all over it.

I will do a lot more thinking tomorrow so that I can have some more clear mechanics by class time. I will be on campus by 9 AM and CSC491 is my only class, so I'll have plenty of time to do more research and brainstorming.

Potential Items/Equipment

Underwater Exploration Submarine Power-ups/items

Small treasure item ideas:

• Bottles (with either maps to side treasures or clues for the diver puzzles)
• Jewels, gold, etc
• Treasure chests

Submarine Market:

• Hull upgrades and repairs
• Speed, acceleration, maneuverability, energy, scanner range (visible range), and fire rate upgrades
• Ammunition
• Reverse engineering and repairing options for recovered items--very important.

Purchasable

• Claw: Raise and lower the claw to pickup items off the sea floor.

• Spotlights/Searchlights: used to see in very dark places or to make minor treasure items on the seafloor "sparkle"

• Smokescreen: blind sea life temporarily.

• Torpedo Launcher: it is the primary weapon versus hostile sea life. It has ammunition, and a slow refire rate.

• Nano-tech: repairs the hull slowly over time for a limited time (one use per item)

"Magical" or recovered items (The energy consuming items have a common power source):

• Grappling claw: fire a claw at objects to grab them in harder to reach places. (Replaces normal claw)

• High intensity searchlight: much wider radius, brighter, and can force the large deeper dwelling creatures to recoil (otherwise they are impassable guardians)

• Pressure equalizer: Allows you to reach lower depths without harming the diver.

• Depth charge launcher: (has ammo) clear large amounts of loose rubble or harm enemies beneath you.

• High yield torpedo launcher: (has ammo) can clear rubble at a distance. Higher yield torpedoes do increased damage.

• Heat shield: allows passage through magma, but consumes a recharging energy bar, and can be used as a damage buffer feature for normal sea life encounters.

• Drill: destroys large, fairly solid walls of ice/rock on contact.

• Booster: gives a short burst of speed (used to overcome extreme current). It uses a recharging energy bar.

• Shock wave generator: push all objects away from you (has energy bar) (especially useful for puzzles either involving moving objects rapidly from one area to another, detaching sea life from the sub, or repelling explosive mines)

• X-ray scanner: allows you to see items behind walls (which can ultimately be drilled to or demolished), and see items that fish have swallowed.

Dive suit equipment--the submarine should be able to carry some addition ammunition for the diver too.

• Knife: cuts rope or other obstacles (not sure that it can be an effective weapon underwater)

• Sound gun: annoy/repel different sea life based on the sound/frequency you project.

• Oxygen tank extensions

• Antidote: is there poisonous sea life here?

Recoverable items--some of the recovered items for the diver and sub could be obtained simultaneously (heat shield, pressure equalizer, etc):

• Harpoon gun: defeat small enemies, hit distant switches--(has ammo)

• Personal shoulder light: illuminate what you face, treasure sparkles, and sea creatures are alarmed of your presence

• Electromagnetic boots: scale metallic surfaces, walk on ceilings, etc within sunken ships/other ruins. (could use energy)

• Personal grapple device: fires a rope & claw (via harpoon gun?) to hoist yourself up onto predefined foliage/ropes/loose or porous materials (large amounts of seaweed, for instance). No ammo.

• Booster pack: simplistic "jet pack" that consumes your Oxygen with use (Oxygen is used as a means of propulsion).

• Personal heat shield (uses energy)

• C4 explosives: (has ammo) clear a small amount + size of rubble and create a shock wave.

• Personal pressure equalizer

In class we discussed the major areas that we need to consider in more detail before next class. We divided up the different aspects of the game and assigned them to different members of the team.

Andrew - Environments
Matthew - Puzzles
Shea - Gameplay
Jason - Objects
Myriem - Enemies (which sea creatures could be encountered and what are the capabilities of the creatures)

Storyline for Game

Okay, here’s an idea for a story line that might work.  Let me know what you all think, we could use all of it, part of it, or none of it, but it might give us something to start with.

Basically we could connect some of the myths about the Bermuda Triangle and some legends about Atlantis together. There is already a theory that the legendary city of Atlantis is responsible for the dozens of unusual and unexplainable occurrences that have taken place in the area of the Caribbean commonly known as the Bermuda Triangle.

The reason some link Atlantis with the Bermuda Triangle is because the Atlantis legend often includes the idea that the Atlanteans were a technologically advanced people and that the city heavily relied on a special energy crystal that was extremely powerful. Some believe that this crystal is still around, and is what causes navigational instruments of passing ships and planes to malfunction.

There is also legend of rock formations on the ocean floor created by the Atlanteans, known as the Bimini Road.  Archeologists have found large stone on the ocean floor that are arranged in circular patterns, almost as if they were placed there purposefully.  The circles of rocks were spaced in intervals. Stone anchors, identical to ancient Pheonician, Greek, and Roman anchors were also found. This is significant because the legend states that the people of Atlantis had the same roots as these people. Underwater harbors that appear to have been built long ago have also been found.

I thought I’d add those little tidbits just to give the story a little believability. It will also explain why there are magical items hidden in trenches in the bottom of the sea.

Perhaps the story of the game is that you’ve been sent on a mission by someone who is convinced that the powerful Atlantean crystal exists and is responsible for the Bermuda Triangle “happenings”.  That person has sent the player to the Bermuda triangle to find the lost crystal, and by finding it, not only will it make the area a much safer region for ships and planes, but also such a find would be invaluable.

Some of the locations could include the trenches as already mentioned, and maybe some of the ancient undersea harbors could also be locations as well as places where clues can be placed that will lead the player to the crystal. 

Another variation could be that you would have to travel outside of the Bermuda triangle because many believe the Atlantean civilization first began near the Mediterranean. We could do this if you all wanted to make the locations a little more global.

Anyway,  I could write more, but first I’m just curious if anyone is interested in this idea?

Deep Sea Notes

Here are the notes of what we discussed on Friday:

• Transportation
• Big Submarine or possibly a surfaced ship of some kind
• This will be used as a sort of "Stage Select" since a large ship would be the fastest mode of travel from different parts of different oceans.
• Mini Submarine
• Arcade Adventure Marine Shooter Gameplay.
• This will account for most of the gameplay.
• The player will control the sub and avoid or battle enemies such as sharks or squids, while searching for a piece of the treasure.
• The player will take damage of some sort as penalty for colliding into walls and other solid objects.
• Third person camera that is zoomed out a fair bit to provide a large view angle for the player, and will be a "free cam" so the player can rotate the camera about. The sub's spotlight will also follow the camera.
• Diving Suit
• Puzzle Gameplay.
• When the player reaches an area close to the desired treasure piece but cannot progress in the sub, the player must leave the sub in a diving suit.
• The switch back and forth between sub and diving suit will be instantaneous, with a small animation.
• This is because we want to avoid reloading assets in between to prevent load latency.
• Another reason is that we decided the diving suit sections should be in the same environment instead of a completely new one, since this will seem more realistic to the player.
• The camera will zoom in further after the switch to make it more adamant that the player is now controlling a much smaller and quite different object.
• The player will not be able to leave the sub unless the sub is close enough to the ocean floor. This is to discourage the player from trying to leave the sub when unnecessary to avoid player frustration.
• The player will also not be allowed to exit the sub if it is under attack. However, instead we may allow the player to do this, and the resulting inevitable death of the player will serve as a lesson to not do so.
• This "mode" will consist of some puzzle solving with small 3D platformer mechanics.
• The puzzle aspects will be worked on by Shea and myself.
• This mode isn't always necessary for finding the piece of treasure.
• Both the mini sub and diving suit will have upgrades through a shop style mechanic. Some minor upgrades such as ammo will be available at the start of the game, but upgrades that will be necessary for completion of the game can only be found at the bottom of the sea, and they will be hidden. We explain this as other sunken submarines or ships that have unknown technology that the player can send data to the shop, for them to create and make available to the player through the shop itself.

Okay, I think I covered pretty much everything we discussed, if anyone notices that I missed something, feel free to modify this post and add it in.

Game Ideas

Matthew here, these are the games we talked about on Wednesday:

Untitled
A deep sea exploration game with upgradable items/skills, where the player would navigate the various world oceans searching for pieces of a map that would ultimately lead to a treasure at the end of the game.
-Myriem

Shade (Tentative Title)
A game where the player controls a character who has been de-molecularized (not sure the term to use here, but when we were discussing it I imagined Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen, before he was able to manifest himself inside his blue "body") and is invisible. The game is part stealth and part puzzle, with the ultimate goal being to either regain your original body, or possess your enemy's body.
-Jason

Power (Tentative Title)
A space station is powered by electron transport chains, and some of the power lines have sprung "leaks." The game is arcade style, where the player will go to the different levels and obtain the leaked molecules, combining them to make them larger, and ultimately fixing the leaks.
-Jason

Untitled
This game is part platformer and part puzzle, where the player will have different abilites, such as growing to a different size, being able to run faster, etc. and must use those abilities to complete each level. The catch is that only one ability may be used at a time. The player will also gain new abilities as the game progresses.
-Shea

Untitled
This is a survival game, where prior to starting the actual game, the player must choose a limited number of skills from a list, which will affect game play. The game itself will be all about surviving in a forest type biome, where the player must kill animals for food, make decisions such as whether or not to fight off a bear or run, and general survival stuff. The player will gain more skills as the game progresses, and the object would be to survive for as long as possible.
-Andrew

Untitled
This is a physics based first person puzzle game, similar to how Portal plays. A space station is under attack or something, and the player's character has been summoned to rescue the crew, etc. The player will be able to manipulate gravity such as turning it on/off, and changing the direction. The player must make his/her way through the station fighting off enemies and trying to rescue the crew and save the station. There will be other physical properties that the player will learn to manipulate, like changing the physical state of an object from a solid to a liquid, etc.
-Matthew

The First Post

Hey, Andrew here! I think the blog is working. Once you are able to access the blog feel free to leave a reply.