For all the Hype Marketing Felgercarb[/i] you can go here: http://theantranch.com Why you’d be interested in this game as a Unity Developer? - SpriteUI in action. . . . All buttons and displays while the game is running are SpriteUI . . . (The start scene, end scene, options menu, etc. are OnGUI and GUIx) - Mesh Terrain with Mesh Collider Complex PlayerObject with Mesh Collider - Interactive Lights Particle Systems tied to values from the player object - Pre-lit Textures and Matching Lighting from several sources . . . Photographed Models . . . Photographed Landscapes . . . Pre-Rendered CG - Physics based accelerometer driven game - Entire game plays in one Unity Scene to save load times Take a look at the game. I’ll be happy to answer any questions I can about how it came together.
The main lighting comes from two directional lights.
I have one key light, providing… well, the key light. And it’s on its own layer.
I have one fill light, on its own layer.
For a lunar landscape, that works great. A nice high, glossy, bright sun creating a sharp contrast between the lit and unlit sides; and then the fill brings up that shadow side and gives it a sense of the natural bounce fill from the lunar surface… a sort of faux radiosity … which allows the player to see a little into the shadows, so it’s not so lopsided. A shadow that’s too deep can be annoying to the viewer. In the real world the viewer would expect to look at a shadow area and have their eyes adjust to see detail. In a controlled environment like photography (or video games!) there is no detail there, and no amount of staring will reveal any detail in the blacks, so it bugs the brain. Give it a nice bouncy kiss of fill, and it balances that dark side.
By having the key and fill on separate layers, I could turn off one layer at a time. Some of the installations were in shadow, but as I’m not using shadows. I could take the object and turn off the key light for that object, leaving the fill, giving it the sense of being in shadow, even if it wasn’t strictly true:
In regards to the Buildings or Installations, the Left is Key Fill, the Right is Fill Only. You can see that the lander on the right is still picking up that Key Light, which it, strictly speaking, shouldn’t have - but by now the player is used to the look of it. The landing disk, on the other hand seems to be “in shadow” when all that’s been done is to have the key light ignore that object.
The engines use a combination of two point lights. A cooler, redder “glow” light with a larger range, but lower intensity, paired with a hotter whiter light as a “core” light that’s more intense, but with a smaller range. This gives that sense of glow at a distance, but hot engine flames when the lander is close to another object.
The explosion PreFab uses a similar setup to the engine flames. A series of particle systems to make the flames, and then a double point light - outer glow and inner core for the heat and spread effect.
tonyd:
Come on in, the water’s fine. There is always room for more!
AndreaMNZ:
I used sprite UI with SM (original), and probably an older version of it, as it came pre-packaged with SpriteUI and it is relatively unchanged since CedarParkDad first started work on it several months ago.
I’ve been talking to A&BSoft about SM2 and UI control, but I’ve not concluded anything yet. Right now my next project is currently using SpriteUI again, and it works fine. I’m worried that in the future it might go stale, as the original author doesn’t have time to support it, so I’m looking at alternatives. At this time SM2 out of the box does not have UI capability “out of the box” like SpriteUI (…and I’ve not looked at the other UI Manager based on SM…), but A&BSoft may have an add on solution. Once I get MB Lander on it’s legs, I’ll get back to looking at it.
Let me know more about control suggestion (and I may have an “easy” level with more fuel as well). Is it turn and/or thrust that’s giving you trouble?
I wanted a 2001/UFO feel to the game, so I based the PodHopper-lander on a combination of the Aries and Discovery ships from 2001. The textures for the PodHopper are based on pieces from an actual hard plastic model kit of the Aries kit bashed and then shot with matching lighting… I’m sure it could have been done the same way in CG then rendered flat, but super-glue on the fingers can make an entertaining afternoon!
Little Angel !!!
kerstin