Underlife (WIP)

[Robin]

Also, I remember when Löve upgraded images to PO2 automatically. Why did that change?

IIRC, padded images can take up to 4 times as much memory, which is not very nice (127x513 would become 256x1024, for example). But auto-padding is back in 0.8.0! At least for computers that need it. Computers that don't need PO2 will not autopad images this time. Which means we all win!

[Jasoco]

Also, I remember when Löve upgraded images to PO2 automatically. Why did that change?

IIRC, padded images can take up to 4 times as much memory, which is not very nice (127x513 would become 256x1024, for example). But auto-padding is back in 0.8.0! At least for computers that need it. Computers that don't need PO2 will not autopad images this time. Which means we all win!

Yaaaaaaaaaa! Everyone's a winrar!

If only the same could be done for framebuffers. Like if only there were some alternate mode that could be used and would still act the same on computers without support for them.

[slime]

Also keep in mind that many things which can be done by framebuffers can also be done by spritebatches, and spritebatches are supported down to OpenGL 1.5 (OpenGL 1.4 in LÖVE 0.8.0), whereas framebuffers are OpenGL 2.0.

[thelinx]

What about pbuffers?

[Taehl]

My main problem with the plan I had in mind isn't the framebuffers themselves, but rather, having to use one framebuffer of at least 1024x1024 per light. I haven't tested it, but I'm afraid that multiple big framebuffers would eat performance.

Also, I've improved my physics system a tiny bit, and pretty much finished the movement system in two monster coding sessions. The player can now stand, walk, run, mantle, crouch, crawl, jump, hang from cliffs, dangle from ledges, pull himself over cliffs/ledges, kick off of cliffs, drop from cliffs/ledges, crawl down cliffs/ledges (safely, like one does in Spelunky), and fall. And it all works with digital or analogue control. It will be a lot more impressive when I have /animations/ for all this... But my idea for skeletal keyframe-based animation (inspired by 3D games, but I guess Flash works like this) will have to wait.

I think my next goal will be to recreate tile manipulation and the Entropy. And I still need to decide if I want to stay with the "star in space" environment, or change to "infinite underground caverns".

[slime]

My main problem with the plan I had in mind isn't the framebuffers themselves, but rather, having to use one framebuffer of at least 1024x1024 per light. I haven't tested it, but I'm afraid that multiple big framebuffers would eat performance.

Why do you need one framebuffer per light?

[Taehl]

Basically, I calculate shadows instead of light - I can only darken areas. So if I do multiple passes, then each light's shadows cover each other up. I figured that I could get around this by having a screen-covering framebuffer for each light, then stacking them with additive blend mode, then placing the composite on top of the world with subtractive blend mode.

[Taehl]

I've tackled some of the more subtle visual effects, and worked out the very beginning of a character animation system. Right now it just uses a static pose for each animation, but seeing as how that's over a dozen poses, it looks way better than before.

EDIT) Also, physics accumulator. Totally FPS-independent now.



I'm having trouble deciding what I want the environment to be. I have two designs, each of which have their own benefits, and would have pervasive changes to the game:
- Infinite underground caverns: The original Underlife plan called for (practically) infinite terrain. There'd be no edge, no matter how far you went horizontally, nor any bottom or surface, no matter how far vertically you went. You could wander forever, but there'd be no way out.
- Hollow star in space: I made this design as a placeholder until I could make the infinite map system, however, it really grew on me. I think it'd give an even greater feeling of isolation than the caverns would. The only problem is, it'd either need to be very large, or else there'd have to be multiple stars (and some way to switch between them), to ensure there was enough gameplay.

Any thoughts?

[SoggyWaffles]

How do you mean empty star? Like a giant orb where you work around the outside so you can end back up (eventually) to where you started? That would be a little disheartening, working to find an exit or some such thing to just to find your starting point again, but upsidedown.

[slime]

Maybe like a Dyson Sphere.