Pine DevBlog #39 - Avians and AI-LODs Posted in Development Blogs

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Another week over! Progress is still going steady, as we already mentioned in our June recap yesterday.



A good addition to the island was made in the form of this new critter! It's a concept that had been lying around for a while and was easy to make - hence we decided to move forward to add a medium-sized critter to the island, which it was sorely missing. We had the Robin as a super small critter and the Alpafant as a much bigger one, but needed something running around in packs that wasn't as large. Check it out!







This little fella can't fly - it's an alternate evolution of the dodo. We don't have a name just yet. Here's a close-up - don't you want to cuddle it? Or... kick it? Both?







We also started planning out what we call 'domestic animation sets' for the species and critters, things they could be doing within the simulation and within their villages. To kick that off, we started with a fun one - the Robin. Simple animations, but important to get right.















The simulation work is going really steady. Of course it will be a matter of balancing it as much as possible in a later stage, but for now we're confident about how it's running.







Last week's task system was expanded with the option to give weight and timing to tasks, so that species get a natural flow of activity

was expanded with the option to give weight and timing to tasks, so that species get a natural flow of activity

We're working on data LODing for species - a really important optimization that comes from the fact that you don't need a detailed 'description' of an organism if it's far away. This proved to be a difficult task but a really interesting addition to the organism system.

for species - a really important optimization that comes from the fact that you don't need a detailed 'description' of an organism if it's far away. This proved to be a difficult task but a really interesting addition to the organism system.

We've finally put the Cariblin back in place, so are now testing the simulation with actual animations and a 'living' being again.



Lastly, all cave terrains are now set up for further development. To be able to see what the cave looks like and where it's situated, we created an 'x-ray' material of other terrains.Until next time!