Very excited to see what becomes of the Atomontage Engine. For years I've been annoyed with static 3D environments where walls don't actually crumble when shot at, and windows never shatter. This engine will change the way we react to realism in virtual environments.
Almost so much that it becomes easy to ponder if we're already in someone's 3D simulation ;)
Years and years ago (In the quake3 era) John Carmack talked about voxels being the future of 3d because of exactly thaty.
Ray-traced voxel based worlds. Personally, I think voxels will be hard to manage for objects/characters. Someone smarter than me will have to solve that problem.
I've given it a lot of thought, and I don't think Minecraft would be so easy to pick up and play if in weren't so 'blocky'. At least not without some really good design. The size of the blocks in Minecraft really lend themselves to being able to put together things that approximate real life structures, while maintaining a sufficient level of simplicity.
This simplicity makes reasoning and manipulating the game world less challenging, resulting in the game being more accessible to a wide variety of players.
A thought that crossed my mind some time ago is some consequences of fine-detail in Minecraft. You would be able to create objects of higher complexity packed into a manageable size. Would you pay money to someone who created a really useful (or cool) object in high-fidelity Minecraft?
It's funny how different a voxel-based game looks to my eyes than a 3d-pixel game. I suppose the voxels offer a lot less resolution right now, but they just seem to work in a different way. I wonder if they will feel more or less engaging in 3d than a triangle-mesh type game.
It looks to me like the low resolution is an aesthetic choice. I've seen many far higher resolution voxel engines 15 years ago running at speed, including one written by a guy at my old school aged 17.
My method is to follow the developer on twitter / tumblr / whatever if I'm really excited, or simply wait for the various indie gaming blogs to pick up the news upon release (which they will).
Perhaps it's not too late for you. He's re imagined Robotron as a voxel game. Think of other classic arcade games that could be taken to their roots and reinvented with voxels. Any classic could be interesting: zaxxon, donkey kong, Asteroids...
Oh, I'm sure it's not too late... And I'm working on my own projects in my free time. But it's games like this that finally pushed me into doing that. If I hadn't thought 'Man, I wish I'd written that' I'd probably still be doing nothing about it.
It's more than that I think. 8-bit music began as a poor, low-fi imitation of existing music forms for electronic games, because it was all that was possible given the hardware of the time. 8-bit music has been rediscovered by enthusiasts and independent artists, initially due to nostalgia, and that has led to a lot of innovation, exploration, and discovery. Discovery that 8-bit music doesn't have to be merely an imitation of something else any more than a synthesizer has to imitate a piano or an electric guitar has to imitate an acoustic guitar.
"Innovation, exploration and discovery" were all rampant in the 80-es, especially on European C64 games. Some examples of music that uses the unique noises of the SID chip instead of only imitating existing instruments:
Perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but I'm not terribly sure that it's that compelling, it's just experiencing a lot of popularity now (after a steady push for years prior).
There's many reasons for the current success though, the nostalgia, the gimmick (they're making that with a gameboy! omg!), it's generally really agreeable music to most anyone (ie: safe, passive). Etc.
I don't imagine it sticking around in any significant capacity over time, of course there will always be the devotees, and we'll continue to see elements of it in mainstream pop music.
"Yes, actually there aren't so many voxels to take care of. It depends on the world size of course, but at 256x256x48, that's similar to managing a 3k x 1k 2d map in the same way."
Excellent. I'd buy it. I paid for the Humble Indie Bundle #2 pretty much just because Braid was finally out for Linux, even though I'd purchased it for my Windows desktop already.
If I were Lego, I'd be chomping at the bit to license this and set up a casual chat/social network oriented virtual reality. (Sort of a voxel-based Disneyfied Second Life.) The marketing possibilities for Lego would be huge.
If you're interested in what can be done with voxels with a more realistic aesthetic, have a look at the Atomontage engine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCZIBDt1uM
Very excited to see what becomes of the Atomontage Engine. For years I've been annoyed with static 3D environments where walls don't actually crumble when shot at, and windows never shatter. This engine will change the way we react to realism in virtual environments.
Almost so much that it becomes easy to ponder if we're already in someone's 3D simulation ;)
Years and years ago (In the quake3 era) John Carmack talked about voxels being the future of 3d because of exactly thaty.
Ray-traced voxel based worlds. Personally, I think voxels will be hard to manage for objects/characters. Someone smarter than me will have to solve that problem.
4 replies →
Red Faction: Guerrilla and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 both have pretty decent destructible scenery.
1 reply →
There is nothing in the gaming future that excites me more than good old voxels. That game/engine looks amazing.
That's what minecraft should look like.
I've given it a lot of thought, and I don't think Minecraft would be so easy to pick up and play if in weren't so 'blocky'. At least not without some really good design. The size of the blocks in Minecraft really lend themselves to being able to put together things that approximate real life structures, while maintaining a sufficient level of simplicity.
This simplicity makes reasoning and manipulating the game world less challenging, resulting in the game being more accessible to a wide variety of players.
4 replies →
A thought that crossed my mind some time ago is some consequences of fine-detail in Minecraft. You would be able to create objects of higher complexity packed into a manageable size. Would you pay money to someone who created a really useful (or cool) object in high-fidelity Minecraft?
You don't wanna be in the Uncanny Valley - Minecraft is cute, because it's not real - hard from real.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
The perspective is absolutely brilliant. I love it. I feel stupid for not thinking of it.
Do you mean the cropped edges? Populous 2 looked similar.
This looks surprisingly fun!
It's funny how different a voxel-based game looks to my eyes than a 3d-pixel game. I suppose the voxels offer a lot less resolution right now, but they just seem to work in a different way. I wonder if they will feel more or less engaging in 3d than a triangle-mesh type game.
It looks to me like the low resolution is an aesthetic choice. I've seen many far higher resolution voxel engines 15 years ago running at speed, including one written by a guy at my old school aged 17.
If the author is reading this:
Add a signup form. It's not often the case that I want to be notified when a product becomes available, but this time I would love too.
My method is to follow the developer on twitter / tumblr / whatever if I'm really excited, or simply wait for the various indie gaming blogs to pick up the news upon release (which they will).
Wow. Great example of turning a limitation as a strong aesthetic. Can't wait to try it out!
This is yet another thing that I said, 'Man. I wish I'd written that.'
It's not outside my ability, it's just that I never think of these things first. And creating a clone doesn't have the same feeling as a new thing.
I'm betting a lot of other developers feel the same way.
Of course, that won't stop me from enjoying -playing- the game. :D
Perhaps it's not too late for you. He's re imagined Robotron as a voxel game. Think of other classic arcade games that could be taken to their roots and reinvented with voxels. Any classic could be interesting: zaxxon, donkey kong, Asteroids...
Oh, I'm sure it's not too late... And I'm working on my own projects in my free time. But it's games like this that finally pushed me into doing that. If I hadn't thought 'Man, I wish I'd written that' I'd probably still be doing nothing about it.
1 reply →
Zaxxon would be an excellent candidate for a voxel re-make, as it had 3d gameplay.
1 reply →
Minecraft wasn't first to the party. See Infiniminer. Don't give up -- just write it anyway.
Creativity involves combining known elements, occasionally adding novel elements.
Rather than looking an idea and saying, "Cool, but since I wasn't first, I'm too late" try approaching it as "Neat! What else can I do with that?"
kb
I love it, it's like Minecraft HD.
I wonder what it is that makes 8-bit music so compelling. Just nostalgia?
It's more than that I think. 8-bit music began as a poor, low-fi imitation of existing music forms for electronic games, because it was all that was possible given the hardware of the time. 8-bit music has been rediscovered by enthusiasts and independent artists, initially due to nostalgia, and that has led to a lot of innovation, exploration, and discovery. Discovery that 8-bit music doesn't have to be merely an imitation of something else any more than a synthesizer has to imitate a piano or an electric guitar has to imitate an acoustic guitar.
"Innovation, exploration and discovery" were all rampant in the 80-es, especially on European C64 games. Some examples of music that uses the unique noises of the SID chip instead of only imitating existing instruments:
- Arkanoid (Martin Galway): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtcnDPDdtLg
- Gianna Sisters (Chris Hülsbeck): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxX3lTnHh8
- Commando (Rob Hubbard): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI
- Crazy Comets (Rob Hubbard): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQoQFLM_1s
2 replies →
Well hang on a sec, I'm sure the original composers also worked this out, they were working with 8 bit sounds for years and years.
1 reply →
Perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but I'm not terribly sure that it's that compelling, it's just experiencing a lot of popularity now (after a steady push for years prior).
There's many reasons for the current success though, the nostalgia, the gimmick (they're making that with a gameboy! omg!), it's generally really agreeable music to most anyone (ie: safe, passive). Etc.
I don't imagine it sticking around in any significant capacity over time, of course there will always be the devotees, and we'll continue to see elements of it in mainstream pop music.
Blahblahblah.
Personally I like the LD of old games b/c somehow it left more to the imagination.
Very cool graphics. The explosions are awesome!
The last time I heard of voxels was in the late nineties. Good to hear they are back!
This seems like it scales well (important for our 1000 core future). Does it?
I don't see why it wouldn't ... one bottleneck would be to the graphics card, but this might work differently in our 1000 core future.
Why is this being downvoted? I think it's a very reasonable question. If you don't think it's reasonable, please tell me why.
Interesting how constrained the view frustum is, with the top down view. I wonder how many voxels the rendering engine can handle.
3,145,728
"Yes, actually there aren't so many voxels to take care of. It depends on the world size of course, but at 256x256x48, that's similar to managing a 3k x 1k 2d map in the same way."
http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=201
or… 1,048,576
as on the same page he also says:
"Everything in the game is displayed in a virtual 128x128x64 voxel display, including the menus and player inventory"
A constrained view frustrum might be a deliberate game choice.
I was a big fan of 3D Dot Game Heroes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTP0hVlYRts
Hopefully a Linux version will follow soon, the author commented on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/ewnhi/this_game_needs...
Excellent. I'd buy it. I paid for the Humble Indie Bundle #2 pretty much just because Braid was finally out for Linux, even though I'd purchased it for my Windows desktop already.
The perspective and general look remember me of Battalion, the old IRIX game, see http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/AndyBattalion.html .
Couldn't find a video, alas. I could power up my Octane ... :)
If I were Lego, I'd be chomping at the bit to license this and set up a casual chat/social network oriented virtual reality. (Sort of a voxel-based Disneyfied Second Life.) The marketing possibilities for Lego would be huge.
Lego is already developing an MMO. http://legouniverse.com/
Does anyone know/guess what tools/engines he used?
This game is perfect for the 3DS
It's 3D Llamatron!
awesome, I look forward to trying it out.
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
Gold autumn, personality Men’s clothing Shoes, Travel bag that grabs an eye coat Chao packet Free transport
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
=== http://ta.gg/4wt ====
That looks fun
That looks fun.
Want one. Now.