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February 25, 2013

RGP day 15 - AI and a download link

So, as promised, I am finally giving you something to play with.

AI
I have added a very basic AI steering system and obstacle avoidance behaviors. I will write a more detailed article about it soon.

physics and handling
I completely rewrote handling and physics system using real world laws of aerodynamics. It was a really nice exercise and gave me the basic understanding of movement, drag, acceleration, etc.
The movement is now much smoother and the vehicle is very stable.
all math came from here: http://physics.info/drag/ & HERE
I will write a more artist-friendly overview of the physics behind the game.

UI
added subtle motion to the UI while steering

camera movement
The camera is now more dynamic. FOV, height and distance from vehicle increases with the velocity.

post-process filters
added a simple lens filter that distorts, blurs, creates vignette and adds some chromatic aberration near the edges of the viewport. I might make it react to the velocity as well.

a video:



and a download link to blend: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11542084/RGPv01.zip

Now I have to finish few projects, so this is probably last (RGP related) blog post in next few months.

12 comments:

  1. Wow, this is so cool! And very smooth, I am curious what the hardware requirements will be, I guess it depends of the level of detail of the race track, but still very impressive. Thanks for sharing the file, it is a goldmine for learning BGE!

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  2. I have been playing with the Car.py file. I think your setup is a very strong arcade feeling. I like it a more stiff handling, more velocity and hard brakes. This makes it harder to stay in the right track in the circuit and very fun to try to chase the fastest laptime. I do not know if you are going for rockets and powerups kind of gameplay, but I see alot of potential in just trying to go as fast as possible and trying to avoid other vehicles on the track, that might crash and things, formula 1 feeling. Try my setup: http://www.pasteall.org/40107/python

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    Replies
    1. After some more playing around I think that different thrus and handling settings don't actually effect gameplay that much, it would actually be cool features of the different cars.

      The one thing that does change gameplay are the brakes. If braking is changed to something like: "if d: throttle = -0.025*vel" you can break hard, and that is a nice addition in a way that you can avoid flying or the track, but you sacrifice your speed.

      Another possible feature would be that you do not fly off the track, but scratch a concrete barrier, loosing alot of speed.

      Maybe you are more into developing the code an such at the moment, I just see alot of possibility for gameplay. This is a very good concept and well executed base for a fun game! I will be modding this for sure!

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    2. yeah I like your version of braking.
      I actually worked only on acceleration not braking system yet. Steering will also be redone at one point.
      Yep the barriers will be added later when I figure out how to do collisions, as all physics right now are calculated in the script. Maybe I will use a ray/sphere intersection of some sort.
      have fun modding :D

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    3. Aww yeah, I`d look up for "Fzero-X" it`s a kicking ass title for N64, the best of that kind. But i`m shure you already know it :)

      I`d just ask about the shadows, now I see they are really raw and not so nice, I`d bake them, but on the other hand you would need a giant texture to get them smooth, isn`t there any other way? An other (but rubbish) solution for me could be parenting the sun to the car, so you can get an higher resolution and it works tesselation-like. I`m just asking because I personally don`t know the best solution, but maybe you do :)

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  3. I would like to post my modifications on Blenderartists if you do not mind, if you do, I will delete them ;)

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    1. sure. although I have to make a RGP thread there before :D

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    2. Ok! I will wait for that thread and make a reply there!

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  4. Hi! Has the work on this been grinding to a halt?
    It is a very very promising project. It looks like you have your own style but have nailed (harder than it sounds) the speed racer feeling and handling. It feels fast and it gives you a rush when the tracks bends around.
    Any news, opinions etc?
    Thx

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    Replies
    1. Hey Enjar,
      Not really a halt. I just haven`t posted updates in my blog for a while, which I should do immediately.
      Thanks for poking me :)
      There is almost not a single week where I am not thinking about the project, I guess I am just crystallizing some ideas now. There is also a bunch of personal projects that needs to be published aswell..
      Cheers

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    2. How did you implement the sky shader and ssao?

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