Terrain time

Again, perhaps not the most imaginative of titles, but imagination isn't meant to be my thing.. Oh wait!

Both Philip and I have been working our way through the never-ending list of jobs to do but it's really coming along. Work on the tools (level editor etc.) vital to making the game is hitting a steady pace, so much so that elements of the GUI are being produced! Which is incredibly exciting as you can imagine.

Yesterday also saw the first day of our intern, Rory Tatton! Who helped us out a lot and will hopefully be helping us out even more in the near future. Thankkks Roorry!


In terms of my side of the job, I have been working hard on the terrain. Worked out a standard terrain tile and now working on all the little decals to bring it all together. To make my point, I will attach a selection of pictures showing the progress.

All the maps are built up layers of images. For example, we start with a tiled Terrain texture -

"Horrible seams!" I hear you scream at my face, with curled back lips and teeth showing. But not to worry! That will all be masked and hidden, hooray! So let's add some buildings to make a little... street -

Bang! Ok see we have some buildings there. That's a Blacksmiths, a General Store, a cheeky Saloon and a House on the end. Looks like it's popping out a bit and is not blending. So lets add the shadows in -

Shadows in, shadows shadowing. Quite nice, makes you feel like they're actually attached to the floor. Time for some details on the ground to make it look like they've been used and the ground is actually dirt and not just a .png file tiled with a simple bump map on. Footprints and erosion at the doorways! -

And then some track marks where wagons have been churning up the ground! -

In this arid land though, it's not a great place for farming. But that doesn't mean that stuff doesn't grow! So it's time to add one of the most successful species on the planet to make an appearance. Grass :D

Then some final landscaping for underneath the grass.

Ok, so that's a quick example of how the decals can blend in the buildings and the objects around. If I was to add a fence or two or a hitching point outside some of the buildings it would bring it out even more. But I don't want to spoil you slaaaaaaaaashhh I haven't got round to those little cheeky objects. But I will do soon.

Anyway, off to work I go. Hopefully I will have another update soon.

-Jack Bromhead