The Swamp (and other Misc. Ideas)

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MikeTheRaptor
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The Swamp (and other Misc. Ideas)

Post by MikeTheRaptor »

Well here's a topic to discuss the swamp and whatever else comes to mind right now... I really think the rest of the group should start voicing their opinions and ideas again.

To start, we should discuss the swamp ("what swamp!?" you ask? i'll post new screenshots in a bit...). Chris has a bunch of great ideas regarding it, and some minor complaints... so if you'll please post 'em here, Chris! :D
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Post by DemonCarnotaur »

Lol thanks for starting this, um lets see...Well the swamp is way to see through so I thought either find a way to chnge to color stain of the water or chnge the ground colors..Also I think its to deep but it may be to late to chnage that. I was thinking it would be cool if we could put lilypad like objects on the top of the pond and the tall reed like grass growing out of the water. Also I think the swamp would look good with dense fog, anyway if I have any more idead Ill post them..

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Post by MikeTheRaptor »

Ok, here goes:

1. Water color. It cannot be changed directly, though by use a 2D transparent plane with the color we want, we can give the impression that the water is actually that color. A "filter" effect. The plane would be placed directly above the water object, and would not be solid. Hopefully that would work...

2. Lilly pads and reed grass are quite simple, I'm sure we can get those in.

3. We can get denser fog in this area via trigger. When the player enters this area, we can make the Tres engine create denser fog. When the players leaves the area, the opposite effect takes place. While this hasn't really been attempted so far, I see no reason why it wouldn't work. In fact, it would help us make the area more dense without hurting the frame rate, and the fog color can be changed as well.

4. Water depth. This ones totally up to Draco... no real solutions here besides repositioning many objects and the like.

Great ideas :)
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Post by Draconisaurus »

MikeTheRaptor wrote:1. Water color. It cannot be changed directly, though by use a 2D transparent plane with the color we want, we can give the impression that the water is actually that color. A "filter" effect. The plane would be placed directly above the water object, and would not be solid. Hopefully that would work...
Yep that should work. :) Already had in mind to put at least some flat objects ontop of the water, if for nothing else to have stuff like algea growing on the surface. Also Chris you mensioned making the ground a diff color, I have already made it VERY dark. Not sure what screens Mike has shown you but believe me I've done all I can in the ground department, although to be honest I haven't put any more of the PineValley TrnObjs in besides the ones at the beginning, I'll work on that later on...
2. Lilly pads and reed grass are quite simple, I'm sure we can get those in.
Right, there'll be plenty of "undergrowth" put in later, remember it's fine detail stuff like that which we can't do at this time, I shouldn't even really be taking the time to make the swamp environment yet because of terrain flux but I felt compelled to make this exception, if only to make for cool updates. 8)
3. We can get denser fog in this area via trigger. When the player enters this area, we can make the Tres engine create denser fog. When the players leaves the area, the opposite effect takes place. While this hasn't really been attempted so far, I see no reason why it wouldn't work. In fact, it would help us make the area more dense without hurting the frame rate, and the fog color can be changed as well.
TptDac used "fog triggers" excessively in The Four Towers, all I'd have to do is get that scripting base, figure out how fog values work, and make a type with PlayerLeaveTrigger = true to reset it. And see that's another thing, a lot of planning will have to go into fog density for every area of the level. Inotherwords I can't just put in fog triggers where we want them, I'll have to decide a fog density for each part of the level and make triggers afterwords accordingly. For example, in the swamp the fog should be very dense, while up at the "mini summit" the fog should be very very thin. This might seem counter-intuitive cause of what you'd expect to really see up there, maybe it is but the fact is w/out a very low fog value you can't see anywhere near the bottom of that mountain, which makes is quite a bit less-scary IMO. Or at least, you can't see very far. If the fog lets you see far AND you can't see the bottom then it's REALLY scary! :D Oh and on the swamp fog, color is an interesting prospect... What ya'll think we should make it? Green? (not sure if 'dark' colors would work so well... but we could try)
4. Water depth. This ones totally up to Draco... no real solutions here besides repositioning many objects and the like.
Yeah that's an interesting subject there. I've been wondering about the swamp depth myself, I want it to seem dangerous (depth-wise) but still, there's the issue with the fact that the Dilos aren't high enough to bite the player when they are suspended in water, which I originally intended to do. Moving the water objects down isn't really a viable option because of the 'front end' of the swamp, where its height is very specific to the terrain in that area aswell as the bridge. But in general I agree, the swamp could be shallower, so I may end up editing A LOT of terrain to make most of it higher (though I do like the idea of deep and shallow areas simultaniously in diff spots). Thanks for bringing it up, as it gives me extra reason now to do it.
Oh one other option I had with the dilos was giving them Floats = true heh, so they'd sorta be swimming around... not sure if that's what I want though lol
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Post by Second Illiteration »

as far as gameplay in a swamp, I think there should be a sign warning about like quicksand or something....and have a part in the swamp that you would get stuck and sink into...but so would a dinosaur...and you could use it like a trap...
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Well since we're on the subject of the swamp I'll go ahead and bring up some of the current ideas. First off, some of you may be familiar with the unused "SwampPlank" objects in the IJ basement (it's my opinion BTW that Tres was originally to have its own swamp somewhere in IJ). Most of these planks have Moveable = true and thus collapse when you step on them. No one reveal this to anyone outside of the team but there is actually going to be a building in the swamp called the "SwampShack", which Mike knows all about. Hmmm when I get net back I think I'll go ahead and start a thread for swamp development. Anyways these planks will lead off deep into the swamp towards the SwampShack and will have breakable magnets, so they will likely collapse under the player's weight but give them a chance to get across. As for hazards, if you fall off any of the bridges in the level, because of how being in water works in Tres you won't be able to jump back onto the bridge, so you have to go into the swamp and find shallow ground that you can get up onto and make your way back to the bridge you were on. Also I intend to have breakable sections of the main bridge going through the swamp aswell.

SI, thanks for the idea of the warning sign! :) I really like that, since I'm big into putting InGen signs here and there, I'll be sure and make one for this swamp. :) *wonders what exactly the warning would say*
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Post by Second Illiteration »

Warning! Soft Ground!
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Post by Draconisaurus »

lol :P :lol:
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