What makes immersive gaming great?
Zombies and guns? Creepers and diamonds? Or is it a feeling of connection to the world around you?
Our ideal is the 3rd option. Immersive environments are kind of what we do here at Ignoble. Fabricating a world and a game around the player.
In recent months we’ve been working on various projects which we hope to make apparent in the near future. However, this project saw its inception at the beginning of the year. So, without further ado:
One game world.
The largest ever created for an official title using the Unity3D engine.
Set in a story that took place 8,000 years ago.
Complete crafting system. Design, gather materials for and build whatever tools, traps and mechanisms you desire.
Players fight for their lives against all adversary. The weather, the wildlife, the human population and even the vegetation. (don’t eat
Deathcap!)
Details! Part of immersion (well, the main part) is believability. For that reason every shiny imaginable has been worked in:
100% real-time Dynamic Global Illumination.
Volumetric lighting from all sources.
Volumetric clouds and fog.
Algorithm generated vegetation.
Fauna with their own individual characteristics and behaviours.
Flora with growth and distribution characteristics mimicking the way the landscape changes overtime.
Realistic passage of time. Seasonal change of the game-world will force players out of their comfort zones constantly.
The most important (and most time consuming) thing is the game-world. Instead of jumping in the deep end we created a zone only 10 miles square to give you an idea. Remember that freedom is key to the success of a game like this. That means no invisible walls or ceilings. You can climb every mountain, dive in every lake and explore every cave… Beware though! Smilodon don’t take kindly to trespassers encroaching on their territory.
We have suffered yet more delays on the images promised, namely transferring them from one hard drive to another as it keeps corrupting the files. In the mean time here is one of the simple concept paintings made for this project. More to follow.
Please take note that this is not a traditional WIP post. We started this thread to see what you guys think. Suggestions, questions and constructive criticism are encouraged! If this should see release then its because of your reaction. At the moment it’s just a concept.
To find out more about us and this project, please visit www.ignoblearts.com
it looks very impressive and the landscapes are very pretty, but you dont give us much to go on other than those pics, the website games page is empty, no extra info on the news page, so far it looks just like some very nice small stills of landscapes.
It would appear so.
Turns out the images from the 10 mile square world created for a pitch video to a funder were switched with images in a presentation for the quality of this benchmark.
I will now personally take this post over from the guy who started it. Simple misunderstanding, apologies to those who feel mislead.
In the mean time the images will be removed until such time as the correct ones can be replaced
Hi Kirby,
Yes it was specified at the foot of the original post. To be honest however a bit of a hash had been made of this entry.
I’m considering taking it down until we have a little more to go on. The correct images should be up soon but still, seems a bit pointless if it came off to a start this bad.
As i just explained to you the images claiming to be from the project were actually from a presentation outlining the benefits of Unigine and the quality of the benchmark. If you would like to see a copy of the presentation i would be more than happy to send one your way.
It would seem then, that the correct images actually exist and were mistakenly not included in this post. We would not claim someone else’s work as our own unless we had permission.
We are a regesterd company, what do we stand to gain from plagiarism?
If you have any further issues i’m happy to talk to you over a phone or Skype conversation.
Thanks
Personally I think this concept sounds really good. I love open world survival games but I think there needs to be more games in this genre that are good. Many people who create games in this genre do the exact same features as any other game such as: Base building, weather, food hunger etc… If you were to create this game, make something that nobody has done before.
Also, listen to your community. They are your best bet for suggestions
Hi there Georetro,
The idea behind this concept was to demonstrate that there are games which go back too the roots of creative storytelling. The trend in major studios has become more and more displeasing (excessive monetization, lack of freedom for the player, dodgy character development and a general disregard for the people who don’t want a story forced down their throat. Rather sprinkled here and there so as to coax you out of your shell).
This was our solution, a world that lets the player create his/her story without giving them too many freedoms. If you can do whatever you want things quickly become boring. Rather in our ideal you would be forced down from the northern most reaches of prehistoric France not because you “can” but rather because events have stacked up against you and its the only reasonable course of action.
Naturally you could make you own way whenever and wherever you want but why forsake a stream of fat salmon in high season when you don’t know when your next meal might be? Of course, you might find yourself as the next meal for something else…
Yes, that was the idea we want as many opinions as possible. Who knows, this might become something?
Wow Virror,
Haven’t seen your work before, amazing stuff!
Yes, I see the similarities, interesting. If ever you require some sort of collaboration perhaps in the environment and/or design department please hit us up.
The concepts demonstrated here could easily be translated depending on the general “genre” of your title?
I personally love this game genre the most, if you can call it that. Unfortunately, it is very lacking in actually completed games and I hope there will be made some good games for this genre.
Procedural content is always an interesting subject, even as the developer yourself, you don’t know what kind of end results your algorithm will bring (you can predict it’s general behaviour, but not in detail). This is what fascinates me the most and keep the replay value for games alive. Way better than endless score grinding or pointless achievements.
Those two are the major reasons why I am making my own game. I hope a lot of other developers are able to roll out more of them, like you and virror. I’ve seen more good examples on the internet, but none of them really finished (or either not entirely the genre I’m thinking of, such as Don’t Starve, involving magic, strange creatures and similar over-done stuff)
There is good reason for the high rate of unfinished projects that aim for this sort of thing.
Massive amounts of time have to go into it, we’re talking years. Unless of course you or your studio has some money to splash about on the project, this is usually acquired one of two ways:
Some sort of crowd-funding campaign. The problem here is once you’ve pitched your idea and its been funded there is very little room left for innovation because your funders have a strong preconceived idea on what they have just backed. If you suddenly decide that an online mode is impractical then chances are a lot of people will be very upset and this (obviously) will hurt sales.
A revenue from previous titles/projects. The issue here is you’re staking a significant portion of your business on a concept that may well prove ineffectual.
“Zombies” are an excellent example of this effect, the topic is very popular now but this wasn’t always the case. A few studios had obviously broached the subject but for the most part it was relatively untouched. Now of course there are popular games like “DayZ”, “7 Days to Die” and “The Last of Us”.
This means its very easy for any company to pitch this sort of thing. Investors and backers know that its likely to be popular even if the words “flogging”, “dead” and “horse” are mentioned by critics.
Its a shame but a reality nevertheless of this industry.
A quick heads up.
We’re pulling the plug on this post for the time being. A pile of problems have presented themselves but the good news is we have had an expression of interest from a larger studio! Hopefully we’ll be back in a month or two with more news in this.
If you interested in another of our mini-projects check out: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/212023-Tern-Isle-Environment-v0-4
Thanks.
How do you make a post… claiming that you are going to make a game that is so amazing it will blow your socks off… Then a week later… pull the plug on it before it even takes off or gets developed. That is why this is a “Work In Progress” board and not labeled “Ideas”. Please don’t post if you have nothing to back up your claims of a game being worked on and developed. Until you reach that point, you’re just like the millions of other kids who have ideas and concepts. Just a “dreamer”.
Because this is a work in progress. Paintings, sketches, running technical tests and game-play design is work.
When we say “pull the plug” we mean no more content will be posted for some weeks. Possibly months.
If you clicked on this link expecting months of development and thousands of dollars in investment then sorry to disappoint.
I suggest you don’t make the assumption that every post is “so amazing it will blow your socks off” and not yet at a solid stage in development.
There are developers who:
Are “dreamers” and post nonsensical rubbish that nobody could hope to achieve on an indie budget.
Are quiet devs who work hard and show nothing until just before a release and amaze this entire community.
Actually want to hear from the community its-self in a constructive criticism format. Then perhaps release a title based on those efforts.
Blatantly we are the in the third group.
Any further clarifications you may require can be referred directly to me or another team member by phone or email. Thanks.
