AeroEmpire

Interview: Sneak Peek at Aero Empire!

terra0nova — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:05:45 +0000

Ninjadave from Moddb recently posted a sneak peek at Aero Empire, with screenshots, concept art, and several quotes about the project. Feel free to check it out here: Sneak Peek at Aero Empire.

Progress Update 2

terra0nova — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:47:50 +0000

Two major changes have been made to the rendering engine since the last progress update. The mountains, which were looking a little bare and low poly, now have more detail, normal maps and textures. The point lights (as opposed to the sun, which already had atmospheric scattering) that are placed in all lanterns now have their own light scattering added to them.

To improve the mountains, the engine now breaks mountains up into small patches, and for each patch generates six levels of detail - one very low poly patch (2×2 pixels), one low poly patch (4×4 pixels), one normal poly patch (8×8 pixels), one high poly patch (16×16 pixels) and one very high poly patch (32×32 pixels). Additionally, a 128×128 pixel patch is generated to create a normal map for all patches. The normal map adds a lot of detail - and makes even the very low poly patches look feasible from a distance. Each patch can be swapped out for one of the 5 levels of detail depending on it’s projected size on the screen, and the very low poly patches are used for collision detection. A mountain might be made up of 8×8 of these patches, which are generated to fit seamlessly next to each other. Finally, experiments with textures on mountains are being made - no single texture could cover an entire mountain and look good, so instead, I’m using small, tileable textures and overlaying them based on the position and slope of the mountain. The following screenshots use two of these preliminary textures, one grassy and green for low slope areas, and one rocky and gray for high slope areas.

Imposing Mountain (click for full size)

Grassy Valley (click for full size)

The next major change was light scattering for point lights. Before this update, only the sun had light scattering added (to create effects like sunset). This is because light scattering effects are expensive, and while doing them for one light source (the sun) is ok, doing them for hundreds of little point lights would be too expensive. However, using an image space post processing effect, I have added an approximation to light scattering for point lights. The scattering creates a light glow around lights caused by light scattering inside the atmosphere, and is most noticeable inside clouds and denser atmospheres. This effect will also allow for stunning lighting effects caused by lightning bolts inside of clouds.

Nighttime Scattering (click for full size)

Daytime Scattering (click for full size)

The final minor update has to do with the silhouette lines. Tweaks were made to the algorithm to stop the random line artifacts that were appearing when looking at the mountain from a distance.

Short video showing off all of the above updates:

Aero Empire Game Mountains and Clouds video - Mod DB

Also, as you might have noticed, the above screenshots include a new airship (with preliminary textures), the medium broadside class airship, modeled by Shrew81.

Medium Broadside-class Airship (click for full size)

Original Concept Art (click for full size)

Progress Update 1

terra0nova — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:41:40 +0000

Since Aero Empire takes place almost entirely in the air and has some similarities to flight simulators, realistic flight physics were added to the game. This includes the four forces of flight: Lift, Weight, Thrust and Drag. For lift, two forces were added - airfoil force, which is the upward force provided by a wing, and buoyancy force, which is the force caused by displacement (and allows lighter objects, like balloons, to float).

Additionally, a procedural windmap is generated for every scene, which sets the wind direction and strength at each position in the scene over time. The windmap is fairly smooth over distance and time, however it’s roughness can be increased by a turbulence parameter. Except for the few structures planted to the ground, nothing in Aero Empire is static. Everything is moving, floating, falling, flying and being blown around in the wind.

Here is a video which shows the various forces at work:

Here are some additional still images taken (however, to see the world in motion, it is recommended you view the video):

While the physics engine and code is progressing, there is also a lot of progress in concept art and models. As can be seen above, the Gyro is currently being modeled, although it is not yet complete, and is untextured.

Concept Art for Gyro (see above for model):

GninjaGnome has also rendered a short animation (offline - not in AE’s rendering engine) of the Turret Class airship that he is modeling. It is also incomplete and untextured.

Animation Video (of the High Poly version, which will be used to create a normal map):

Image of the Low-Poly version (which will go in game) and the original concept art:

There is still quite a lot to do, but we are progressing smoothly. I am just starting to get into actual gameplay code, so there should be several intriguing updates and videos to come.

Look forward to future updates.

Lead Programmer and Designer of Aero Empire
- David

Follow Us On Twitter!

cobalt — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:27:39 +0000

For those wanting to know more about AE as small things become available, and are tired of waiting in between major news updates, we now have a Twitter feed, located at http://twitter.com/aeroempire. On it, we’ll hopefully post incremental updates of our progress in smaller form: updates on story, concept art, programming, and everything else. I (John, Lead Writer) will probably be making the majority of the posts, as I use Twitter more than anyone of the others on the team, but I’ll make sure you stay informed about everyone else’s progress as well. And of course, we always love hearing from fans, and we’ll answer all the questions we can. So, if you use Twitter, we’d love to see you there!

(Also, the forums on this site are slowly becoming the official development forums, so if you make an account, there’s a good chance you’ll start seeing many more of us on them. Drop us a line there too–we’d love to hear from you.)

Website Under Construction

terra0nova — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:04:51 +0000

The website is currently under construction, and we are adding content and modifying the layout, and hope to complete the website within a week or so.

There is still quite a bit of work to be done, however, the website is operational and a lot of content has already been added, so feel free to browse the website and learn more about Aero Empire.

I’ll be posting another news entry when the website is completely up and running - until then, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

- David.