ART DIRECTION

This is not snow on rocks. This is me 1) not knowing how to sculpt well and completely messing up the topology and 2) not knowing how to correctly use the lightmap plugin.

However, this is the perfect first step to define the direction I want to follow for the style.



CREW & VEHICLES

To find the right size for the spaceship, vehicles and the crew, I created a simple scene.



This is the first exploration for the customization of vehicles depending on the player background.



The vehicle is fully animated and can be tested on Desktop here using WASD:

https://www.dragonbanecreation.com/en/systems/players/player-controls/vehicle-controls

SHADERS

Shaders have been integrated into the game engine.

This is the prototype for a snow shader following hand-painted vertices and using their color to deform the geometry of the mesh.


FIBONACCI

In order to generate interesting hierarchies and locations, I studied and integrated generators following the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden ratio.




OTHERS

These are just the visible aspects but most of the work has been done on implementing post-processing, shaders, particle effects and animations and on improving the structure in order to find the right way to generate factions, quests and locations.

#art #gamedev

DRAGONBANE MONASTERY

Locations are very complex to define. I made this scene to test different concepts. It combines a location (the monastery), a surrounding mesh to obfuscate the emptiness around and a skybox. Both main meshes also includes areas of randomly placed trees and a spaceship landing area.



https://www.dragonbanecreation.com/en/world/locations/locations-exterior

SPACESHIP ENGINES

This scene was made to test many things from sound inclusion to synchronizing a sound with different animations (particles + glow intensity)



Be careful, the sound can be loud:

https://www.dragonbanecreation.com/en/world/spaceships/spaceship-engines

SPACESHIP CREW

The idea I use for the crew and size of the player ship is about half of a US NAVY DDG 51.

Crew types will have a different color to be identified using a similar system to what aircraft carriers use on deck.


OTHER CONCEPTS

The templates for quests, the magic system and the main factions have also all been defined.

#worldbuilding #gamedev

PLANETS

I worked on the planets and I used some pictures of grains of coffee and spices to give them textures. For now they are just placeholders and do not correspond to their type.







You can see them here:

https://www.dragonbanecreation.com/en/world/environments/planets

FACTIONS

I made a lot of progress with factions. This is the semi-final list although a lot of their names are placeholders. Every faction will have around 7 subfactions.



GAME

The rest of the time, I finalized the architecture for the game and made it more elegant and simple by standardizing and removing what could be.

#gamedev #worldbuilding

ART STYLE

The art style will be stylized low-poly. Very natural colors and few textures.



STRONGHOLDS

Having a stronghold seems like an interesting complement to ship management and can allow more possibilities such as resources processing, crew training and missions independent from the play ship.



PLAYER SHIP

Having a single ship for the entire game seems like the most interesting choice. It allows more customization and better storytelling than switching ships two or three times.



#gamedev #art

ANIMATIONS

Integrating animations and adding a character controller was easier than expected. Animations are separated from meshes and can work with procedurally-generated characters. I added a sphere on his back to validate that.



FACTIONS

Factions are becoming much more interesting. For now there are 6 categories of factions:

- Dragonbane
- Creation
- Oneness
- Evil (Shattered Moon)
- Crime Syndicates
- Guilds (Trade & Production)

Exploring the color palette and granularity for some of them.



ENVIRONMENT

Experimenting with painting with complete relaxation.



BAKED LIGHTING

I also created the process to add baked lightings to meshes. The tests I made make models look much better, especially when it will be combined with environment lighting.



#worldbuilding #gamedev

FIRST SCENE

The game is starting to take shape. This is a scene I used to test a lot of things including from procedural generation, using Blender meshes as terrain, music and lighting.



THE CLAN OF THE SHATTERED MOON

The clan of the shattered moon represent the main human evil faction of the world. The are covertly embedded everywhere in society and see it their responsibility to free humanity from nature.



THE CULT OF CREATION

The crest of the cult of creation are crystals set around a wheel



THE FLAME OF ONENESS

The symbol of Oneness is a flame or a white crystal surrounded by the wheel of creation.



#gamedev #worldbuilding #conceptart

FRACTAL PROCEDURAL GENERATION


The procedural system is working in a fractal way where a hierarchy of meshes is given and every parent has its children generated on top. This examples simulates an overgrown research station (on the left) in front of the entrance of a cave. The procedural generation also works inside the cave below other parts of the terrain.

ASTEROID FIELDS & SPACESHIP CONTROLS



The asteroid field can now load custom meshes and a simple system to control the ship has been implemented.

STAR MAP



The star map is now looking much better and I also improved the algorithm to generate the systems.

#gamedev

## ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence was the big unknown so far. I developed two different AIs. One at the level of the galaxy to handle world-level events and the movements of spaceships and the other one you see below which is real-time and working at the scene-level.



## PROCEDURAL GENERATION

Terrains can now have meshes generated directly on their geometry. The first test will probably be with trees and rocks.



## DAY & NIGHT CYCLE

I created the prototype for a day and night cycle. For now, it only affects the light and sky and not meshes yet. Maybe a shader or some post-processing will improve it.



## ARCHETYPES

I also created the list of backgrounds for the characters you will be able to pick at the start of a game. They are:

### THE COLONIZER

You arrive as a trader/builder and you want to participate in building new colonies and help them thrive through trade and craftsmanship.

### THE HUMANITARIAN

You want to help those in need, relieve suffering and reassure people. An organization lends you a ship and a crew to bring humanitarian aid and support to remote colonies.

### THE ENGINEER

You want to explore the science and technology this new place has to offer and build new tools with what you discover.

### THE EXPLORER

Your rich uncle was passionate with archeology and left you some money and a ship to discover as much as possible about the ancient civilization and their ruins. You choose whether what you discover belongs in a museum.

### THE ARCANA MASTER

You have discovered you have some special abilities and some people even started worshipping you. You have to learn to master your new powers and decide how to handle people.

### THE OFFICER

You just arrived as a veteran military officer and the government offers you a ship and a crew with the mission to bring law and order as an independent entity.

## THE ROGUE

You just arrived and a shady organization offers you a deal too good to pass up. You see many people that would benefit from being relieved of their possessions in this new world.

#gamedev #news

Update: reverted back to hosting it at @Npub.pro

Metatags are not shown when self-hosting and the site is not indexed by some search engines.

## MOONS, 4K TEXTURES & FXAA

The engine is starting to look better. It has now 4K textures and anti-aliasing.



## FTL

Making a FTL system that both makes sense and is interesting is very difficult. This is a good start for the visual component.



## SHIP INTERIORS & PHYSICS

Ships now have an interior that characters can walk. If you focus long enough, the red box turns into a spaceship captain.



## SYSTEMS

Systems start looking much more interesting with asteroid fields, planets and moons.



#gamedev