Environment shadows - step 2
April 3rd, 2009
The shadows in Overgrowth are now being rendered directly to lightmap textures, which are then read by the object pixel shaders to modulate the direct lighting. The shadows are starting to look pretty decent, but there is a lot left to do to improve efficiency and reduce errors! I can go into detail about how the shadows work when they ...
Concept art vs. completed asset
April 2nd, 2009
These last couple months we have been working with a modeler named Pawan. The way we have been doing it is that I have been making some concept art for him which he uses to make the model, normal map and ambient occlusion texture base and then he sends it back so I can finish with the textures. It has ...
SMALL TANK aftermath
April 1st, 2009
Hey guys, as you know, we prefer live chat to email (as mentioned in this post). After posting about SMALL TANK last night, our live chat widget went under a lot of stress and when we logged in this morning, we were flooded with queued messages. Here's a few pretty good ones, with the names changed to protect the ...
Overgrowth squashed by SMALL TANK
March 31st, 2009
As we compared notes with the developers and publishers at GDC, we realized that Overgrowth is just not very marketable. It's a niche fighting game for a small hardcore audience, and takes too many risks in terms of scope, setting, technology, and controversial subject matter. Not only is it a tough sell to the mainstream, but it even doesn ...
Overgrowth Alpha 20
March 30th, 2009
Here is what is new in Overgrowth this week. If you are confused what a weekly alpha is, or even what Overgrowth is, please read our fancy FAQ. We were a little slowed down this past week due to GDC, but we still managed to get work done. Aubrey has been working on more art assets and some new concept ...
Environment shadows - step 1
March 29th, 2009
In Overgrowth we are going to use baked lightmap shadows, but it is still important that the algorithm is very fast. First, I would like the shadows to update in real-time in the editor as objects are transformed. Second, to calculate ambient occlusion we have to accumulate shadows from hundreds of different virtual light sources, which is impractical if the ...
Foothold
March 29th, 2009
Last week, Hale, from the forums, blew us away with his epic new Overgrowth level, Foothold (available on the Secret Preorder Forum). I never expected users would be doing this much with the level editor so soon. Without further ado, here is a showcase of Hale's amazing level: Click here to watch in HD! I especially like the siege ...