Story (WIP)
You are a Physicist Astronaut who is tasked with testing the first Warp drive created by Humankind, after a routine check on the drive Houston gives you the go to start the test, you were only supposed to jump for a few seconds and only a few 100 km, but something during the test goes wrong the drive starts to overheat and an abyss looking like a black hole starts to emerge in front of your ship. the next thing you remember is waking up next to an unknown planet, your ship has nearly no energy left so you decide to crash land on it.
Explorer, a Spherical world of 250 square kilometers no invisible walls or borders to stop you.
Gather Resources to Craft/Build up your base and Survive.
Survive in a Hostile Environment, with a variety of roaming Ai.
Nice game, I’ll check out the demo. Fellow 3d planetary game dev here.
You said “I’m now trying to use meshes instead of Landscape”
Were the initial screenshots spherical planets with the landscape tool? I’ve settled on meshes with advanced tessellation, would really like to know how you got the planets working with the landscape tool out of sheer curiosity as I spent a lot of time with the landscape tool before abandoning it entirely. I also considered something like voxelfarm but think meshes are likely the best largescale solution.
@MikeRPG
Hey, Cool to hear that there are more people out there working on games like this!
you must have miss read the notes this is only for my tunnels/Caves where before I been using landscapes :P.
although I been trying to use a voxel plugin for my planet but it did not suit my needs, I also found Meshes the easiest to work with.
I made my planet in ZBrush and then baked out some normal and Height information to created a Vertex color in Substance Painter which I just apply in the Engine to mask my Textures,
the planet is made out of 8 different pieces and has a polycount of 2,3mil.
I have been trying to use tesselation to but it always has a very heavy impact on performance.
Not sure how you could possibly make caves with the landscape tools, not even going to imagine trying.
What tessellation methods have you attempted thus far? Viewport based voronoi on the mesh segments? I’m experimenting with some radically different methods to implement tessellation to get high levels of detail at planetary scale capable of running on consoles. So much fun, atleast for me, venturing into these new areas of software dev. Also fun seeing all the crazy stuff other devs cook up.
The demo for your game was pretty cool, I’d just make the walking/running faster. Took too long to walk around the planet. I like the galactic effects, looks like the aurora is being swallowed by the quasar.
Update 0.5.0
many new features including crafting, a navigation system added a bunch of new environment pieces a new enemy and performance improvements.
0.5.1
Changes to the Saving and Loading logic of players and items.
Buildings now only can be moved by the owner.
Changed the Model of the Metal wall.
Added a Radioactive Cloud, this will deal damage to the player so watch out!
Added an Electrolyser which will now generate Oxygen and Hydrogen from water.
Changed the name of the Hydrogen Generator to Fuell cell.
Changed the name of the Oxygen Generator to O2 Station.
Some Balancing to the transform rates of Water to Oxygen, it should be easier now to produce oxygen.
0.5.2
Changed the Dedicated server tick rate from 45 to 60.
Improved Saving and loading.
Added a Workbench.
Added a jetpack which can be crafted in the Workbench, the Jetpack will need Hydrogen to work.
Added a personal shield which can be crafted in the Workbench.
changed Ai movement updated, AI should now move smoother.
Changed the base Oxygen usage from 0.5 to 0.25.
Changed the Oxygen increase and decrease to 0.02.
fixed unable to craft Vehicle Assembly.
fixed AI_Chaser now stops while playing the hit Animation.
0.5.3
Added a new weapon named blaster to the workbench.
Added more resources to the area.
Added a new Inventory which is based on a grid.
Added 3 new biome textures.
Added a new Habitat, it now has doors!
The Habitat and Vehicle assembly cannot be moved anymore.
Added new Inventory Symbols.
fixed some error messages.
fixed jump height sometimes inaccurate.
This looks really interesting. I would add an atmosphere to the planet, as otherwise the plants could not exist (because the termperature would be too low).
Also, you could look into the Voxel Plugin (https://voxelplugin.com/), it has great support and you can create spherical planets with tunnels inside. Some people have already done that (they showcase it in the discord channel).
thanks for the feedback! I have added an atmosphere but I guess it’s not too visible I will work on that.
I have been looking into voxel plugin a while ago already but it did not really work that well for me. maybe they have improved by now I will check it out again!
0.5.4
Added gold as a new resource.
Reworked the inventory system.
Blueprints now also get displayed in the inventory.
Upgraded the online server to 4gb ram.
Improvements to network replications.
0.5.4 hotfix
fixed jetpack used 3 hydrogen on the online server.
fixed game not saving in local games.
fixed unable to craft items.
fixed projectile spawning at weird places.
fixed light leaking through the planet.
changed some visual effects.
some tweaks to the atmosphere.
0.5.5
Added a forge where you can smelt different materials in.
Added a Fabricator where you can craft advanced component in.
Added new resources, Electro Chip, Copper, Copper Plates, Iron Plates, Gold Plates, Silicon.
Night now passes 5 times faster.
Started adding tunnels to the planet.
Fixed accessories getting added double.
Improved AI performance.
Improved the UI it is now easier to see what is needed.
Reworked the crafting logic to implement a more efficient way of adding new items, I will be able to create more advanced crafting mechanics now.
0.6.0
//Level
-Created a New Planet called Xero.
-Added new foliage.
//AI
-Converted the AI code from BluePrint to C++ this should greatly improve performance and allow for greater AI count.
-AI now has a maximum view angle on where it is able to spot you.
-AI now has a Navigation scan which will navigate them around objects.
-Added a new enemy the Spoorplant it will shoot spoor projectile up into the air, the spoor will chase you for a period of time.
//Crafting
-Added a basebuilding crafting console.
-Made changes to the resource requirements of many BP’s.
//Movement
-Added an acceleration curve from walking to sprinting to create a more realistic feeling.
-Added Crouching.
-you are now only able to sprint in the forward direction including strafing.
//UI
-Fully reworked all UI.
-Fully reworked the inventory system it now uses item stacks.
-Compass arrow rotation is now always accurate.
//Character
-Replaced the Character mesh with a prototype mesh to test new animations.
//Weapons
-Changed all weapons from Projectile to Hitscan.
//Replications
-Changed the Character Update rate from 45 to 60.
-Improved Network Replication for all Resources.
-Oxygen.
Changed starting Oxygen from 800 to 600.
Changed Default Oxygen usage from 0.2 to 0.3.
Changed Oxygen increase while sprinting from 0.015 to 0.5.
-Movement
Reworked the Network Replication of the Character.
Added Air Acceleration.
Added Fall damage.
Added Smoothing for Up and Down movements.
//AI
Reworked Network Replication, AI should now walk smother on clients.
AI now has a falling state and will no longer just teleport down.
Added Animations and sound to the Insect.
//Audio
Added damage hurt sound.
Added new Ambient music.
//Options
Added Tesselation, this can be turned off by setting effects to Medium or low.
Added a music volume slider.
Added a Mouse sensitivity slider.
Just released a new Update. I threw my whole movement code away, and now I finally managed to get everything replicated. no more lerping of actor positions
0.6.6
//Fixes
Fixed MaxHealth and MaxOxygen not getting replicated.
Fixed Character walking sidewards up hills.
Fixed Character Jumping height varying based on look direction.
Fixed Character crouching moves him into the ground.
Fixed inconsistent fall damage.
Fixed AI falling causes them to rubber band.
Fixed AI walking in Circles after killing player.
Fixed Sentinal not targeting player.
Fixed Accessories not getting added.
//Server
The server now restarts the Map every 5 hours.
//AI
Chaser, Insect, and Sentinal are now using a new movement component which will provide a better replication and more complex movement like jump attacks, dodges, etc.
//Player
The player Character Now using a new Movement component for better replication.
//Misc
Added basic controller input for walking running and shooting, more will be added later.
Added Resource respawning, the resource save file might get reset with this update.
An oxygen station will automatically be spawned after the first login, and destroy itself after it’s empty.
Added an experimental debug line to show if a player is connected to an Oxygen Station.
//Landscape
Exchanged the Sand texture with a new Sand Rock texture.
//Post-process
Added Camera post processing for sharpening and distance fog.
3x Gathering Event, you currently will get 3 times the amount of resources when harvesting them.
0.7.0
//LandScape
/Added Many new Static meshes to the world to achieve a more enclosed feel of the Environment.
/A new Texture for defining high angle slopes.
/Worked on the Roughness maps of all textures.
//AI
/Added a new Ai SandCrap.
/Ai now roams the world instead of instantly tracking a target.
/Added new AI sounds and Animations.
//Post Process
/Added a new Dynamic post process system which handles day/night cycle.
//Gameplay
/Changed the Moving speed from 650 to 950.
/Newly created Characters now spawn without a pistol.
//Crafting
/Added the Pistol as a Craftable to the Workbench.
//Resources
/Removed Ice form the world since it did not really make much sense.
/Added a New Resource Quka, 80% of its body is made out of water.
//Gameplay
The Characters now has an Exo Suite named Mark.3 it will protect the player from damage and assist his Movement. upon taking damage the suite will use its energy. as less energy the suite has then more damage will be received, also the Character will start using more Oxygen as the energy gets lower.
//Crafting
Added an Oxygen beacon which will give the player Oxygen without the need of a Terminal.
//Models
Added a new Character Model.
Added a new model for the Energy Pistol.
Added a new model for the Energy Blaster.
//AI
Fixed a bug where a new AI the Gas Plant was not spawned.
Added a New Ai named The Spitter.
Removed The Chaser Ai.
//Multiplayer
Jumping is now getting Replicated Correctly.
Landing is now getting Replicated Correctly and should no longer cause Character to teleport when touching the ground.
//Audio
Added new ambient music.
Volume is now getting saved and loaded Correctly.
//Level
Added a new Start map after first time starting a new game.
Added a Training Level.
Created paths leading up to the first main quest to make it easier finding it.
Added several new ancient ruins to the world.
0.8.0
//UI
-Added a Startup movie.
-Added a loading screen.
-Tweaked some UI to prevent overlap in the Inventory.
-Added a New Item bar to the Inventory to display Equipment.
-Resized Ui text to fit better.
-Added a Day counter.
//GamePlay
–Resources–
-Changed Basic Resource stacks from 50->100.
-Changed Refined Resource Stacks from 100->200.
–AI–
-Changed the Attack range of SandCrap, Insect, Spitter.
-Changed the Moving speed of SandCrap, Insect, Spitter.
-Added an AI spawn limit which is dependent on the current player count and Days passed.
–Player–
-Added Air control, this will make it easier to maneuver while falling.
-Changed starting Oxygen from 300-400.
-Added new function to the Oxygen Usage logic.
0.1 -oxygen will overall last longer now.
–Fixes
-Player Should no longer get stuck when walking up Stairs or small dents.
-Player Should no longer get stuck when walking along a wall.
-Changed inventory size from 25 to 18.
//Planet
-Added 3 new Caves to Explore.
-Added more detail to the Overall landscape to avoid flat looking Landscape.
-Added more Vegetation.
