One of our main design ideals for Eden Star is that the player should always be able to make their mark on the world. Weapons should do damage to anything they hit, and if it does not break, there should still be some visual evidence of its effect.
Something we’ve been having fun with recently is the destruction of vegetation, and making it look believable and (as always) awesome. The following images are a taster of the flora concepts that make up the more lush areas of environment.
When a player sweeps an energy beam over a forest, it would be easy to just make the foliage take damage, disappear and be replaced with a shower of particles, but that isn’t really satisfying for us. The foliage we’re working on has various damage states, and if it is not completely destroyed, can grow back.
Hopefully, this will mean that players will not accidentally transform whole forests into deserts during a firefight!
Combined with the physically reactive nature of our foliage, deforestation never felt so good!
It may be possible to absorb energy from vegetation, so if you find yourself in a forest surrounded by enemies, you have some resources to defend yourself.
This system also allows our levels designers flexibility when creating areas of the world and allows a more dynamic experience. Foliage assets will begin games in different states which in turn not only provides a different visual experience each time you play the game but a different playing experience.
For example, when you first walk into an area you may find many mature plants which have a high energy value when absorbed, but if you restart the game the plants in the same area may not be fully-grown, which means you will not receive the same amount as energy as before.
For gameplay reasons, regrowth of foliage currently happens quite quickly. We are balancing regrowth rates, energy values and the amount of damage each plant can take as we test internally.
If you'd like to tell us what you think, and if you've got some cool ideas, speak up and be heard on the forums!
There's also:
Steam Greenlight
Steam Group
Eden Star Subreddit
As always, if you haven’t already, you can play the Pre-alpha Combat Tech Demo now by pre-ordering Eden Star here!
Only $15 gets you the UE3 Tech Demo and full access to the UE4 based Alpha and beyond!
You guys (and girls?) are amazing :)
+1 WOOTINI
Thanks!
Mainly guys, and one girl, truth be told :p
Every new post i see from this game keeps amazing me more and more
We intend to keep it that way!
Foliage destruction, well that's new. Can't wait to see in motion.
Yep, even in its early stages I'm loving it. Really makes the aftermath of a battle... pleasing. We need some finishing touches like drifting smoke and ashes and then we'll be happy to show you guys some in action :D
The amount of detail you guys put into everything is awe inspiring. Great work! I love Eden Star.
Cheers Thaiaixn (I have no idea how to pronounce that)
Just to make it clear to everyone, the detail we're showing is still built upon core gameplay, and we're still very busy with the nuts and bolts of the game.
We'll be showing that off when we think it's ready!
Thanks for your support!
Hi fellow UE4 developers
could you tell me how you are placing these destructible plants into the level? I am making a game where you play a dragon and I plan to make destructible forests that you can smash or burn through leaving a trail of destruction but I cant see any easy way to place forests of destructible meshes of blueprints as the foliage tool only does static meshes.
I have thought about somehow spawning them with blueprints in construction script but I wondered how you have done it.
Thanks