Cathode Ray Tube Fidelity

We are now all going back to the roots. With increasing screen resolutions we are stepping deeper into the uncanny valley. At least for an average modeller and texturer it is impossible to fill e.g. 1920x1080 with good-looking graphics.

The way out of this valley is of course stylized models, shader effects and scanlines.
In these pictures you will see:
- my icosahedron based explosions
- glow shaders for fire, shots, capsules etc.
- scanlines (every even line is almost black, every other line is exaggerated a bit)
- channel separation (subpixels show some aberration towards one the R,G and B channels)

In my opinion, this looks much fluffier.

Downside:
Graphics modes where your matrix-based monitor uses scaling will look very ugly...

Modding Horizon Blaster

Game modifications...

We know that nobody has time to waste anymore and that people are sitting on endless bucket lists of games they want to play at some moment. Then why do game developers even bother and facilitate modding of their title? The consensus is that this increases the metaphorical life span of a title. Take a look at how Starcraft's custom map feature lifted off, spawning the tower defense genre. Warcraft 3 repeated the same stunt creating MOBA style games. These successes are based on excellent customization tools.

My aim is not the same quality of tools because my priority is to get the game done and polished. Most modding capabilities of the game came automatically instead of being grafted onto. Usually loading data from files is usually the most versatile way to develop and avoid program compilation times and content creation turnaround. The benefit of this data driven programming technique shall also help the players to tweak the game or create their own content. Maybe an entire "mod" will appear, who knows?

Because I am planning for an online highscore list, there will be mechanisms that disallow scores achieved in a mod from going to the list of official version high scores.

Technology

Here is the current state of technologies I use to build my ship create Horizon Blaster.

Languages and Frameworks

• C++ game and "engine" code
• Python for internal workflow scripts
• OpenGL for graphics
• GLEW to facilitate OpenGL
• SDL for input and sound
• FTGL for font rendering (will cycle this out, soon)

Main Tools

• Visual Studio Express(!)
• WScite as text editor
• Blender to model the ships
• Paint.NET for terrain and textures
• sfxr for sound creation
• NSIS for the installer (will change to WiX)

Debugging Tools

These don't go into released versions, but accelerate development.

• glIntercept
• AntTweakBar

If you have questions about any of these tools and how I use them, drop me a note. I can explain more in a future post :).