Hey everyone!
This has been a pretty cool month honestly. It wasn’t much, but it was all things that were needed, and it really adds to the experience! I’ve also included another short video showing off some of the work done this month below, I think I’ll start to post a 60 to 90 second video with each update moving forward!
In any case, I won’t keep you waiting, let’s get into it!
Things we have done:
Firstly, I did a few engine cleanup things. Before there were bounding boxes around all the 2d icons that existed in 3d space. It was really helpful for testing, but since that system now functions properly, the boxes have been disabled. I also linked several other UI elements to the “Hide UI” function. I somehow forgot to do this previously, but having that working properly now can help with recording clips and taking nice screenshots.
The second thing that I did was get our environment day/night transitions to be smooth. Now as the sun goes down the scene brightness decreases, and as the moon rises the brightness increases (to a lesser extent) again. I also want to add a new variable changes brightness based on the moon’s phase, but that’s for another day. This new transition really makes the environment seem more alive and real.
I also adjusted the attenuation of the fire that comes from the turrets when shooting. Before you could see the reflections on other ships at too great a distance, now it has been dialed back and again, makes for a much more authentic look.
Finally, I got all the base math coded for the rifle elevation system! This system will allow the turrets to raise and lower their rifles to target at different ranges! All the projectiles are physics objects, so the angle of fire will directly impact the location of where the shell lands!
Things we are going to work on:
As said last month, the turret elevation was slated for two months, so this month I’ll focus on finishing that up! As part of the elevation I’ll also be working on syncing the elevation to the bones that our models have (so you graphically see the elevation) as well as being working on the actual “targeting” system.
The targeting system I’m not expecting to finish in one month either, I’m expecting to finish elevation and start targeting this month, and then finish up the targeting next month. After that I’ll be focusing on adding a completely new system to the engine, that I’m sure will excite some of you…the sound system! Once we get that system in place, then the only thing left for milestone 2 is to build a few more ships, and refine the engine! As promised when Milestone 1 ended, Milestone 2 wouldn’t take anywhere near as long, and I think we will successfully deliver on that promise!
Things we are having trouble with:
Nothing to report on!
Thank you all for your continued support and I’m excited to continue working and sharing our achievements on Pacific Fury!
Let the Storm Begin!
God Bless,
WWJD