Evochron Mercenary Expansion Announced... news

Planned features for the expansion include a new planetary engine, terrain walkers, weapon crafting, revised station designs, new AI skill variability, new gameplay options, and much more.

A dedicated development section has been set up to provide details on the expansion and its progress. It is available here: Starwraith.com

Here is a section on the planetary engine:

I've spent the last year or so working on a new planetary system for the game as part of the expansion for the game planned for next year. Not just terrain, but also atmosphere, cloud, scaling, and possibly even rotation effects (so you could watch a sunrise or sunset on your favorite planet). The original system I wrote a few years ago worked pretty well, but has had its obvious limits with detail. One of my main goals for the new system is to provide a much better visual presentation along with an engine that is also designed to accommodate the planned new gameplay opportunities. So the new planet system is being built to not just be something nice to look at, but also to be functional as an important component in the overall interactive feature set of the game. More details on that later.

In terms of visual detail, the result for the new system so far has been an increase of around 500% in raw mesh detail while using the same or less memory. This is a significant step toward bringing far more realistic terrain to the game. It has been achieved through a new LOD mechanism and shader system that is much more efficient. The new terrain system includes selective texture application and transitions based on slope and elevation along with normal mapping and haze effects. Even in its early form, the new system maintains a low memory profile while presenting far more detailed and realistic terrain. Terrain can be much more varied and range from vast plateaus to deep canyons and steep mountains.