Developer Diary 136 - Weather FX - Destructor BP & SFX & Music Integration

During June I have completed:

- Full Ambient SFX Integration of all weather FX and extensive testing of these sounds

- I fixed multiple bugs related to weather FX not returning to default weather during sunrise / sunset

 

- Created a demo destructive tree asset to test particle systems replacing geometry collections & chaos destruction (turns out chaos destruction reduces overall performance by a lot, regardless of collision settings or reduced voronoi structure)

- I created a complete blackboard with Miro.com to set up a basic overview of all the features and necessary steps to complete each blueprint and production segment (it's constantly being updated, depending on which feature I'm working on)

- Created a basic outline for an 8th blueprint, controlling sound effects and music cues throughout the world

I am currently working on:

- Scoring cues, that fade in from far away each time a specific atmosphere condition is met. All cues share the same notes and are compatible with one another. The system is set up in waves and scoring cues can overlap, play at the same time, or alternate. Altogether they form a massive, soft, subtle symphony merging with the ambient SFX. The silence in between these cues adds to the overall atmosphere and carries much more weight now. Cues for Sunrise / Sunset / Forest Fire / Snow / Blizzard are complete, Rain / Thunderstorm / Daytime / Night Time are work in progress.

- Replacing all previous destructive effects with particle systems. A demo model is completed. I plan to replace the previous "void" effects with portals. Once a void projectile is thrown at a model, it creates two portals. The "see through" effect is accomplished by spawning two cameras recording the view from each portal and projecting their viewport onto a material placed on each corresponding portal. When another projectile is thrown, the previous portals disappear (which saves performance). Wind projectiles can now only be used to increase the player speed and increase jump height, which still makes them one of the most important game design elements. Earth projectiles can only destroy buildings and structures outside of dharamapala domains. If an elemental is thrown at a dharmapala palace segment, it is directly reflected onto the player and causes immediate damage, since these palaces are meant to act like mirrors, not only physically speaking but also in a spiritual sense ... all manifestations in the Bardo Thodol are ultimately founded upon inner tendencies of the diseased. Specificly their elemental affinities and the locations, that house these should remain immune to any outside effects.

The goal is to finish both, the scoring cues and the new destruction effects and implement them by the end of July .... tough goal to accomplish for more than 100 different mesh and foliage models .... I also probably won't get around "some" chaos destruction, and implementation of geometry collections, due to the many buildings contained in the game, that are succeptible to earth projectiles and earth dharmapala effects. I'll probably have to disable all collision in relation to them to keep this thing compatible with VR.

There are also still some bugs in relation to weather events and day/night rhythm, because depending on the length of each weather effect and the speed of time, it can really mess things up. Ideally all variables are capped at specific values, that ensure their functionality without major issues. If a weather effect lasts beyond sunrise or sunset and then the atmosphere blueprint attempts to return the fog colors back to the updated values (that are rapidly changing due to the change in sun angle) one function "chases" the other. The first one attempts to return the value to normal, while the other has already updated it, then the first one attempts to reach the updated value again, while the second function changes it again .... and on it goes .... this leads to the sun no longer rising and creates an "endless night" ....

 So far I've made some massive progress. 

The goal for 2021 is to have a fully dynamic and functioning world with elemental fx and working projectiles. Once this world is completed the goal for 2022 is the release of the first chapter. Players will be able to acquire the first dharmapala. Each subsequent chapter will contain the acquisition of additional dharmapalas and quest souls, new enemies, bosses a.s.o. ....