Show and tell
Another week, another update. More show, 'less' tell. This week brings a bunch of new improvements to the brushwork detailing, a new HUD for the MOD and some great new lighting.
A comment while showing a friend the latest build led to a discussion about the lighting for the fire in the derailment set piece. By adding some orange lighting and tweaking it, the scene has been majorly improved, with the fire now looking much closer to the light a real fire of this magnitude gives off. As the same friend replied after seeing the updated screenshots, 'Now that says 'danger!'.
Updated lighting in the train station has completely revamped the map, making it look much nicer than before, with the brighter lights not only improving shadows, but looking much closer to real life. There may be a few tweaks to the brushwork still on the cards, but this map is skirting the limits, so it waits to be seen.
The new lighting also brings better atmosphere in the dark areas, giving firefights that extra 'oomph'. New HUD helps drive home the change from the normal HEV suit to...well... ;)
Tweaked lighting in the waste river storm drain has helped increase the feeling of danger, increasing tension, as if your geiger counter going berserk wasn't enough, while improved and redone displacements have replaced the spiky and triangular originals, giving a much more natural feel to the sludge and dirt players can traipse across to find some hidden stashes if they can avoid becoming lunch or burning their feet in the meantime.
Brushwork and texturing detail on buildings has been getting right into the weeds, as shown here. Time spent detailing seemingly small details has added to the maps immensely, giving the maps a much more 'lived-in' feeling.
The title screen has been updated to reflect the new sand and wall textures, alongside an updated menu font.
And finally, something that happened during a playtest, giving a particularly scary moment when the zombie walked through the fire, shortly before pulling its grenade and charging. I snagged this awesome shot just before its kamikaze run.
And that's it for this weeks update! At this point, I feel its safe to say I'm about to pass the 20% mark overall, with minor tweaks and passes to be finished. There is still a very long road ahead, but progress is marching ever forward, with a possible demo build coming very soon!
Until next time!
- Agent Ataraxia -
