Questions & Answers

[zbriggs]

OK, this is a section which we will accept questions and post answers. Please feel free to post some questions at this point.

Thank You,
Zachary Briggs, Executive Producer
HighOctane Software
(866)328-1886
zach@highoctane.biz

[Top Wop]

Will the renderer be OpenGL, DirectX, or both?

[zbriggs]

Used to support OpenGL, we made some changes, now it is more DirectX base with OpenGL support.

Zach

[Sirius]

How do you plan to make the editor work? Although D3Edit was powerful, we all know that it took only about two years to actually make anything in it; and although DMB2/DLE-XP are quick to use, the cube engine restricts in many ways what you can do with it.

Happy medium perhaps? Maybe a leaf out of UnrealEd's book?

In addition, how is robot animation going to work this time?

[zbriggs]

OK, at present we are using a relatively standard and well document file format for objects and levels. We are considering the possibility of having 3 levels of editing.

Level 1 - Simpler prefab based editor kinda of like DLE.
Level 2 - A more complex engine with better abilities, similar to UnrealEditor.
Level 3 - The ability to use modeling programs like Lightwave, Maya, and 3D Studio. For some of these programs we even have components that integrate with them.

On the animation front I will leave the floor open to my staff.

Zach

[HighOctane_Jared]

among many objects, robots are animated using skeletal animations, with RagDoll physics applied.

[TigerRaptor]

What do you mean by RagDoll physics applied? This is a term I never heard before.

[Aus-RED-5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragdoll_physics

[TigerRaptor]

Oh ok. Thank for clearing that up.

[Jeff250]

I've heard lots of talk about a deadline in another thread. Where/what is it? I couldn't find anything on the site. Also, will all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, etc.) be released concurrently?

[Aus-RED-5]

I've heard lots of talk about a deadline in another thread. Where/what is it? I couldn't find anything on the site. Also, will all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, etc.) be released concurrently?

Core Decision will be released in October of 2006..........

That is from the front page of the website under "What is Core Decision?".

Plus you'll find info on Platforms here.

[D3Phoenix]

Gameplay question... (CD portal was down when I thought of this... sorry if it has been asked before)

Will you have to pick up energy / shield powerups in order to replenish your reserves as in descent?

I have always thought that this was the most poorly thought out part of descent. I mean, you have this big, powerful ship with its own fusion reactor... I think it would make more sense if your ship generated a certain number of \"power units\" in a minute, and that you could selectively route percentages of your power to different subsystems.

For example, I've cleared out a room and my shields are low. I hide in a corner and dump all power to shielding, and they rise to full charge within a minute or so; but this takes nearly all recharging power away from weapons, afterburner, and cloaking, leaving you vulnerable in other ways. The option could be enabled/disabled as a multiplayer option to help keep the learning curve down in newb games. The powerups could still be present as a quick bonus to accelerate recharging of certain systems; Energy centers would have to be restricted somehow from recharging EVERYTHING... that might be a *tad* unfair

What I'm suggesting is pretty much how Freespace 2 handled the Weaps/Engines/Shield systems -- It gave the game some more strategy -- Need a fast ship? boost engines. Need a Tank to clear out a group of weaker enemies? Boost Shielding and weapons at the loss of speed. Pick a Pheeny or a BP in D3 and you were stuck with it unless you left the game.

Either way I'm gonna be first in line for my copy of CD; Anybody planning on throwing a celebratory LAN party??, lol

[Skyalmian]

A question about textures:
While undoubtedly there will be bump-mapping, specular, and modern-day water,

1. do you use Halo-style (Direct X) overlapping of textures: a base texture (the standard) and a detail texture that's rendered over it at a far smaller scale? It was a pain in the fps department but it made the game quite beautiful despite its insanely simple nature. Personally I wish that texture method was employed more often since it makes everything look *not flat*. 2048x2048 is nice, but still flat up close...

2. again, use the draw-your-terrain (well, in this case, walls) texture method that the above game uses? 'Twas how the ground was *so* pretty...

[Shadowfury333]

1. do you use Halo-style (Direct X) overlapping of textures: a base texture (the standard) and a detail texture that's rendered over it at a far smaller scale? It was a pain in the fps department but it made the game quite beautiful despite its insanely simple nature. Personally I wish that texture method was employed more often since it makes everything look *not flat*. 2048x2048 is nice, but still flat up close...

Why would detail textures be necessary with bump-mapping?

[Top Gun]

I really like D3Phoenix's idea; if anyone's ever read the Descent novels, that was pretty much the way the GX worked in them, which is obviously much more realistic than the floating blue/yellow powerups (no matter how much we all love them ). I think that, if it were implemented, there should always be an option for classic powerups, but the ability to do this would add a great deal of strategy and quite a bit of realism.

[D3Phoenix]

Why would detail textures be necessary with bump-mapping?

Halo actually uses both types of texture enhancement. For example, the halls on "Assault on the control room" are made of some form of metal; you get up close and you can see that it IS definitely a relatively flat sheet of metal, but it also has grooved patterns in it (bump mapping) and it also has a brushed-aluminum type texture if you set the game to high detail. (overlayed detail texture). Without bump mapping, the geometric grooves would be "flat" and without the detail map, the metal would just be plain grey or a mottled variation of it. (That is, unless they tripled the texture resolution) And I am not sure on this, but they *may* have used bump-mapped detail textures on top of the main texture... In essence, you can to any number of things to make a game look good. It just depends on what effect you are trying to create. If the CD engine is being engineered for flexibility, they will probably have abilities for all of the above, even if they don't implement them on everything--and even if they dont--there are plenty of games out there that don't take advantage of "current technology X" and still look amazing on any decent hardware.
----------------------------------
On another note, yes -- the books combined with my Freespace 2 experiences sort of spawned the idea--its just a more logical way to handle it. It would be REALLY handy to be able to crank engines to 200% while I'm making that mad dash for the exit with a wall of fire behind me.

[Skyalmian]

Why would detail textures be necessary with bump-mapping?

Without bump mapping, the geometric grooves would be "flat" and without the detail map, the metal would just be plain grey or a mottled variation of it. (That is, unless they tripled the texture resolution) And I am not sure on this, but they *may* have used bump-mapped detail textures on top of the main texture... In essence, you can to any number of things to make a game look good. It just depends on what effect you are trying to create.

Phoenix said it best. Without the low-scaled detail maps (and by low-scaled I mean so low that it's difficult to see each individual pixel), they would indeed look flat and dull despite having a bump-map and/or specular. Some of Halo's objects lack its detail system, such as the elevator platforms in "Assault on the Control Room". If you have the game, I recommend going to one, looking at the center octagonal texture on the platform (which is as flat and plain as Descent 3's), and then looking at the octagonal texture on the ceiling. They're both the same base texture, but... the one on the ceiling has the bump-mapping, specular, and detail maps; phenomenal difference.

I'd post a screenshot, but I can't.

[D3Phoenix]

Screenshots, courtesy ME and photobucket

FLOOR

CELING

Look closely at the band around the center octagon... in both you can see the same pattern to verify that they are indeed the same texture. You can see the difference -- since the elevator is an 'object' and not physically part of the level geometery, it does not get the same rights to bump mapping and detail textures that the ceiling does. See the difference?

Here is a shot of a wall in halo; notice the fine grain of the stone; see the vertical streaking? That is a detail texture.

THEN, look to the band above -- that is a thin glass layer with grooves in it that covers the metallic top half of this particular tunnel on 'Assault on the control room' -- the grooves have specular lighting that shifts when you move, giving them a false, but believable, dented appearance -- that's bump mapping. BUT... underneath the bump map and glass... you can see ANOTHER texture... a METAL one with its OWN detail texture work. So, you can see that any game of true graphical caliber will take advantage of BOTH types of flat-surface enhancement.
Stone Hall

edited because this messed up the flow of the thread. -fern

Thanks... Well, Now I know how to make BBCode hyperlinks, at least

[Skyalmian]

Another question.
\"Free from BSP/CSG Limitations\".
Since I asked in another other thread and saw no answer, I'll ask...again. Will there be map size limitations or could one build a level stretching to infinity? I'd assume from the quote from the engine specs picture that the answer is \"no\", but that may be wrong...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would want to know.

[Krom]

Something else that would be cool if the engine supported it, would be if you could build a level on an asteroid or space station. A bit like the space station in D3 level 14 only you can fly outside. It would be cool if you could have an installation on an asteroid and you could fly outside and all the way around or through the asteroid freely. Like you could fly out of the installation then make a complete orbit of it and fly back in where you started. Think \"I want to make a level out of the base in the Descent 2 opening cutscene\". If you could do that it would really bring out the \"360\" feeling in a way none of the Descents ever did.

[zbriggs]

OK, the reason we have never answered the BSP / CSG limitations question is because there wasn't an answer. The engine doesn't restrict your level size but your system resources do. You can't build a level larger than your system resources can handle.

We have no plans to make any outdoor or in space levels. This drastically changes the gameplay. We are going for the same fast paced, intense, close-quartered gameplay that Descent 1/2 had.

This does not mean that the engine doesn't support it. It just means that we are not going to make these levels.

And Descent: Freespace took place in space and had some indoor stuff as well.

[KoolBear]

.....
This does not mean that the engine doesn't support it. It just means that we are not going to make these levels.....

Ahh so this means that "WE" the users could build such levels IF WE choose to?

[Skyalmian]

The engine doesn't restrict your level size but your system resources do. You can't build a level larger than your system resources can handle.

Groovy; a great answer. The news about there being an outdoors is kickass, too.

...Two other questions are still here.

[Krom]

It doesn't really matter if you are planning on building any levels like it or not, as long as the engine support for it is well done and easy to use. The outdoor engine in D3 has some pretty big limitations, you can't do an asteroid mission for various reasons, one of them is because the sky dome doesnt go all the way around, the another is because the terrain forces the level to be flat, and finally because the size limitatons. We know CD doesn't have the same size limitation problems as D3, but does it have some other rules and limitations that can make building such a level hard. D3 has a level that is on an asteroid, but the terrain is just like any other outdoor level, because of the limitations of the D3 outdoor engine you can't fly all the way around the asteroid.

[zbriggs]

I will remind people once again that we are not planning to have any full outdoor levels.

As for limitations, once again the limitation is the resources it consumes. This would mean that you need to decide what your target resources are and then create your design guildlines based on that.

Zach

[Shadowfury333]

It doesn't really matter if you are planning on building any levels like it or not, as long as the engine support for it is well done and easy to use. The outdoor engine in D3 has some pretty big limitations, you can't do an asteroid mission for various reasons, one of them is because the sky dome doesnt go all the way around, the another is because the terrain forces the level to be flat, and finally because the size limitatons. We know CD doesn't have the same size limitation problems as D3, but does it have some other rules and limitations that can make building such a level hard. D3 has a level that is on an asteroid, but the terrain is just like any other outdoor level, because of the limitations of the D3 outdoor engine you can't fly all the way around the asteroid.

True, however, what one can do is make objects such as space stations in a space environment, i.e. Hyperspace series. All one would need to for asteroids is create objects, either within D3Edit or with another program, convert them to .orf, and copy and paste them into D3Edit. One could easily modify that to create the surface they wanted.

For an asteroid specifically, one could take a mesh sphere built from another application, convert it to .orf, and paste it into the .d3l, modifying it if you wish.

[Skyalmian]

More questions.

1.

Does Core Decision use Halo-like (Direct X) overlapping of textures: a base texture (the standard) and a detail texture that's rendered over it at a far smaller scale?

2.

Does Core Decision use Halo-like draw-your-terrain (well, in this case, walls) texture method?

3. Are there 'playerclip' and 'nodraw' textures? (Please say no...)

4.0. How does the HUD work? Will it be difficult for newbies to mod, or can anyone make a change in a few seconds?

4.1. In addition, what methods are employed to place graphics on the HUD (ie, is it hardcoded?)?

4.2. Also, does the game use a custom font for text or a default one?

4.3. Furthermore, if there are weapon icons, are the weapon icons each letters of a true-type font like Half-Life 2 had? (Heh, easy for them to have the icon consistently scaled for any resolution the player dared use...)

5. The weapon system: I am assuming there will at least be enough weapons to fill all of the number keys, although I remember a mention about being able to change even those keys...is it painful to add more weapons than the campaign has?

6. If you do decide to put in a Cooperative mode...will you allow us to drop all of our cannons and missiles for other players to pick up, like Descent 2 had?

7. How high will the game's gamma go, and what setting will it be at by default? (Descent 3 had it at 1.5.)

8.0.0. A developer Console? What kind of commands will there be for players and developers to toy with?

If a console exists:

8.0.1. 'god' mode?

8.0.2. 'noclip'?

8.0.3. 'spawn' command?

8.0.4. Toggling playerclip barrier rendering on/off for development?

8.0.5. Etc.

8.1. What format is the player's configuration file in; is it a simple text document that you can add or remove cvars and other commands, or code gibberish like Descent's?

8.2. Are game settings stored in files or in the registry?

9. Are the robots in the level all there at level start (like in Descent), or are triggers used to unhide and activate them as you go along? (Like the ground pounders do these days...) I'm not a fan of the trigger-brush-controls-all method, since the reaction it causes is "where the hell did they come from?"

[TigerRaptor]

Here’s an odd question. What are the chances of adding a cheat codes that makes robots cheat. Battle Field 1942 had something like this.

[Skyalmian]

[bitter message]

[Kilarin]

I guess developers don't like anything but the ultra-generic questions that get asked for all games, eh?

don't be too harsh on them, they've been interacting with us quite a bit!

[Skyalmian]

Ya. I guess it doesn't help that most of the questions are development-specific... :\\ But that's what counts to me, though.

This isn't a suggestion thread, but I have one: if there are missiles in 4-packs, and the player can only fit 2 more of those missiles, then picking up that 4-pack should only strip 2 from it and still leave the object. The next player to touch that will only get 2 missiles. As I see it, deleting the object after touching it is just a waste of ammo.

I wonder how much of the HUD is text as opposed to symbols. I'd rather see a cool shield graphic than the word \"SHIELD\" next to the number. Less strings to translate for the developers, too. And it looks better.

[HighOctane_Jared]

1. Does Core Decision use Halo-like (Direct X) overlapping of textures: a base texture (the standard) and a detail texture that's rendered over it at a far smaller scale?

Yes it can. We try to use non layered textures as we can to increase performance, but add layered textured where it is needed.

2. Does Core Decision use Halo-like draw-your-terrain (well, in this case, walls) texture method?

I am not exactly sure what you are referring to.

3. Are there 'playerclip' and 'nodraw' textures? (Please say no...)

Currently there are no 'playerclip' and 'nodraw' textures.

4.0. How does the HUD work? Will it be difficult for newbies to mod, or can anyone make a change in a few seconds?

The image files are based off a .PNG with an alpha channel, and the actual position of the images are based off of real time compiled C# file, which is easily editable via provided tools

4.1. In addition, what methods are employed to place graphics on the HUD (ie, is it hardcoded?)?

As stated above, it is based off of a real time compiled C# file, which is easily editable via provided tools

4.2. Also, does the game use a custom font for text or a default one?

The game uses a custom font but is also able to draw upon user created fonts

4.3. Furthermore, if there are weapon icons, are the weapon icons each letters of a true-type font like Half-Life 2 had? (Heh, easy for them to have the icon consistently scaled for any resolution the player dared use...)

Using either Weapon icon images or a true type font are available options.

5. The weapon system: I am assuming there will at least be enough weapons to fill all of the number keys, although I remember a mention about being able to change even those keys...is it painful to add more weapons than the campaign has?

Yes it is easy to add additional weapons other than what the original campaign contains.

6. If you do decide to put in a Cooperative mode...will you allow us to drop all of our cannons and missiles for other players to pick up, like Descent 2 had?

Yes you will be allowed to drop weapons for other players to pick up.

7. How high will the game's gamma go, and what setting will it be at by default? (Descent 3 had it at 1.5.)

These are configured via a wizard when you start the game for the first time or in the settings menu.

8.0.0. A developer Console? What kind of commands will there be for players and developers to toy with?

If a console exists:

8.0.1. 'god' mode?

8.0.2. 'noclip'?

8.0.3. 'spawn' command?

8.0.4. Toggling playerclip barrier rendering on/off for development?

8.0.5. Etc.

We are not going to release this information at this time.

8.1. What format is the player's configuration file in; is it a simple text document that you can add or remove cvars and other commands, or code gibberish like Descent's?

A plain text document is used for player's configuration files

8.2. Are game settings stored in files or in the registry?

The game settings are stored in files.

9. Are the robots in the level all there at level start (like in Descent), or are triggers used to unhide and activate them as you go along? (Like the ground pounders do these days...) I'm not a fan of the trigger-brush-controls-all method, since the reaction it causes is \"where the hell did they come from?\"

We will be using both options custom tailored for the specific level.

[Skyalmian]

Yes it can. We try to use non layered textures as we can to increase performance, but add layered textured where it is needed.

Currently there are no 'playerclip' and 'nodraw' textures.

zomgw00t! Arigatou!

Yes you will be allowed to drop weapons for other players to pick up.

Even in other multiplayer modes? "Here, Krom, the Fusion(-like) Cannon!"

10. Screen shaking has bothered some in Descent 3 thanks to high framerates nowadays and that everything destroyed causes it. I'm guessing there will be some screen shaking, but hopefully not on an annoying level?

11. Automap, and if so, will it be wireframe, flatshaded, or allow for both?

12.0. Multiplayer administrator commands... what kinds can we expect? As we all know, Descent 3's lacked in that department while custom admin tools for games like Counter-Strike allowed for abusive admins to do everything from muting a player to burying or jailing him.

12.1. A 'Mute Player' option? (This would be Heavenly...)

13. We won't expect to see any weakling weapons like Descent 3's EMD Cannon (post-update version, not the original 1.0), Napalm Cannon, and Proximity Mine, will we? Everything should have a concrete purpose.

14. If there is a CTF multiplayer mode, can we drop the flag?

[Skyalmian]

I'm apparently some kind of master at killing not just threads, but forums as well.

[KoolBear]

who is murd0ch@te*us.net (watching this thread) Please check your email address in your profile. Your email notices are bouncing.

Thanks,
KB

[Ferno]

13. We won't expect to see any weakling weapons like Descent 3's EMD Cannon (post-update version, not the original 1.0), Napalm Cannon, and Proximity Mine, will we? Everything should have a concrete purpose.

Every weapon will have a counter to it, and be properly balanced. and there definitely will not be any 'weakling' weapons.

[Unix]

Well Zach said he was going to have a slingshot weapon that involves exiting your ship and shooting small pebbles at opponents.

[MD-2389]

Well Zach said he was going to have a slingshot weapon that involves exiting your ship and shooting small pebbles at opponents.

rofl

Just like a D1/D2 flarewar!

[Ferno]

kb, i sent you an icq message about my old email addy (murd0ch at telus dot net) but you haven't responded in a timely manner.

[KoolBear]

lol, a pm here emails me and I get a notice, ICQ/Tahoo/ all others don't tell me I need to login