Ghevist

Naked Ninja · Jul 10, 2008

Most people probably know to check the blog for Scars updates but for the rest of you, mirrored from the blog post :

It may not be Oblivion but I think it's purty :

Click for larger version.

Click for larger version.

That there is Ghevist. From the lore :

They summoned the tribes together in the place called Ghevist, the Meeting Grounds; there, to demonstrate their intent, they slaughtered the leaders of the tribes and their families. From then on, they told the gathered tribes, the lands would be known as Imarathar, the Chosen Land, for they had chosen it as their home, their sovereignty. All who dwelt within its borders did so only by their will, all would bow their heads before them, all who could speak would vow their loyalty to the Imarathi.

Now before anyone gets excited and thinks that the fact that I'm showing this is Significant with a capital S, let me slam on the brakes. It's just a little side area I whipped up in an hour or so to test out the new "Ground Cover" functionality in the latest version of the engine. Which is handling rendering the grass and rocks in the above screens. The sneaky GG code monkeys added this in without much fanfare and I've only just realized that it is there (I'm slow

). You'll have seen the like in other games, it's basically an invisible radius around the player which fades in and out foliage and small detail models. And it's pretty damn sweet.

So yeah, Ghevist is more of a lore tie in, if you take the time to explore in Scars of War you can find areas you might read about in books and/or get side quests to go to these places. There may or may not be cool stuff to discover there. All I'm saying is, if I discovered a remote lake hidden in the mountains with an island in the middle, I'd probably get my swimming trunks on.

Ghevist takes it's inspiration from Crater Lake, which I visited about a year or so ago when I was in Oregon on a business trip :

A really stunning place to visit if you're in Oregon, worth the drive.

And yes, yes, I know, you want pictures of characters and dialogues and war torn ruins, not a sunny lake in the mountains. Deal with the disappointment.

Vault Dweller · Jul 10, 2008

Looks great, but yes, we want the good stuff.

SimpleComplexity · Jul 10, 2008

It`s a huge improvement compared to the old ones.

One question, Is the character looking through some sunglasses or why is there no bloom?

Vault Dweller · Jul 10, 2008

Because Gareth is not a professional developer. He doesn't know how to make next-generation games. WHAT A NOOB LOL!

Naked Ninja · Jul 10, 2008

Lol. Indeed. :D

Bloom is like swearing. If you use it everywhere it loses its impact. Use it sparingly and when you do it has impact.

In the right circumstances it can add to a scene, definitely. I loved the sun drenched look of PoP : Sands of Time. But it must be used carefully.

Rohit_N · Jul 10, 2008

You switched screen3 and screen4.

Naked Ninja · Jul 10, 2008

Ah, noted. Looks like I got it mixed up when uploading to the ftp server, will sort it out when I get home.

ghostdog · Jul 10, 2008

Naked Ninja and VD(IT) have you ever thought of joining forces? I think it would be pretty interesting and it would benefit you both...

Naked Ninja · Jul 11, 2008

Maybe in the future, for now we both have our projects we're pursuing and those take priority. But who knows?

Jack_Deth · Jul 14, 2008

One question, Is the character looking through some sunglasses or why is there no bloom?

There's no bloom because Gareth is from South Africa not Australia!

Durwyn · Jul 14, 2008

Okay.. call me a gfx whore, but me thinks that the grass is a bit too dark, and it doesn't blends well with ground texture. However i like it very much, looks nextgenish enough for me now.

Darth Roxor · Jul 14, 2008

The technical aspect of the graphics reminds me of Call of Juarez, and the design looks a bit like Carnivores (hell if I know why, though), but in both cases it's good - a good mix of pleasant looks and freshness but at the same time feels kind of 'old school'.

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

The grass is a bit dark, agreed. I'll tweak it, but it's not a bad base.

Truth · Jul 14, 2008

Looks good. Didn't think the Torque engine could do that.

What's the etymology behind the name of the place? Sounds like some Slavic verb or something to mean "hurry up."

e.g. "Ghevist you fool! They will catch us soon!"

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

Ah good, success then!

The etymology behind the word was that I wanted a word that sounded guttural and eastern european and made up one that I thought sounded so.

And thanks

Torque is capable of a lot more than most people think.

thesheeep · Jul 14, 2008

Seems like it. Have you worked with Ogre before?

I'm working with it since some months now. Seems nifty. But it requires a lot of work to make simple things (basic shaders, etc. ) work.... And let's not even start talking about shadows.. damn it. I hate shadow integration >.<

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

Not personally, besides a cursory glance. I had a friend who worked with Ogre though. He said the demos were cool but the issues come up when you try and move past what the demos do, especially with things like shadows.

To be honest, I don't think there is any easy path to game development, no matter which engine you choose. It's all tough, frustrating going. Persistence is key.

thesheeep · Jul 14, 2008

Naked Ninja said:
To be honest, I don't think there is any easy path to game development, no matter which engine you choose. It's all tough, frustrating going. Persistence is key.

Some months ago, I wouldn't have had a clue what you are talking about.
But, well, yeah

And it doesn't get better with deadlines -.-

Btw.... I think you should take a look at those tree textures, there are some very striking, repetitive patterns that could be made less obvious with some simple work.

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

What are you working on, if I may ask?

thesheeep · Jul 14, 2008

Student project for my (and I know there will be :roll:

s now) Game Design study. Nothing special, I just started programming.. well.. since I'm studying

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

Nothing wrong with that. I started out learning game development stuff in University, my favorite module was game programming (not quite game design but I would have taken that as well if had been on offer). 7 years, 1 and a half custom written game engines and a move over to Torque later, here I am...

Starting with Ogre will probably save you a lot of time though.

thesheeep · Jul 14, 2008

Naked Ninja said:
1 and a half custom written game engines

Sick bastard!
If there is one thing I'll never do, then it is writing my own engine

Naked Ninja said:
Starting with Ogre will probably save you a lot of time though.

I hope so... I will continuing working with Ogre for the next 4 semesters, though I'll also try doing more game design and giving away some of the coding stuff to other students.
Anyway, this thread is not about me... PM if you want to continue

Naked Ninja · Jul 14, 2008

Sick bastard!

I won't deny it.

Anyway, this thread is not about me... PM if you want to continue

Agh, always fun talking game dev with another dev. Still, fair enough. Good luck sheep.

cardtrick · Jul 14, 2008

Wow, those shots are incredible. It's hard to believe you're a one-man team! I haven't been checking your blog frequently enough . . . Does that water look as good in motion as it does in these screenshots? One way or another, that can't be stock TGEA water, can it -- surely you did some tweaking? Anyway, the whole effect is great, and modeling an area on Crater Lake was an excellent idea.

Oh, and my new standard comment, mostly directed at the sheeep: for anyone thinking about OGRE, give Horde3D a good hard look before committing.

Elwro · Jul 14, 2008

Incredible!

Ghevist

Arbiter

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Arbiter

Commissar, Red Star Studio

Arbiter

Prophet

Arbiter

Arcane

Arbiter

Augur

Prophet

Royal Dongsmith

Arbiter

Scholar

Arbiter

Arcane

Arbiter

Arcane

Arbiter

Arcane

Arbiter

Arcane

Arbiter

Arbiter

Arcane