Alpha 19 Dev Diary

[Gazz 692]

How does the fog effect NPC's like zombies and other baddies?

There is no specific effect on fog but by... being foggy... it reduces the light level and makes you harder to see.

 

Now what I would like to see is fog dampening environmental background sounds and making enemy noises appear slightly louder to the player. =)

Edited February 8, 2020 by Gazz (see edit history)

[MechanicalLens 902]

There is no specific effect on fog but by... being foggy... it reduces the light level and makes you harder to see.

 

Now what I would like to see is fog dampening environmental background sounds and making enemy noises appear slightly louder to the player. =)

 

Sounds awesome. (:

 

Will enemy vision also be decreased when the fog rolls in? (Edit: Or better yet, for the scare factor, enhanced somehow? )

Edited February 8, 2020 by MechanicalLens (see edit history)

[The Gronk 414]

What is that?

 

A pooka by the look of it :-)

[Gareee 66]

The fog looks great, but I'd REALLY like to see ground fog as well/instead.

[Survager 150]

What is that?

 

This is the character of the old Russian cartoon "Hedgehog in the Fog". The cartoon is very strange and in some places scary about how the hedgehog is looking for his friends in the fog =)

[Adam the Waster 698]

This is the character of the old Russian cartoon "Hedgehog in the Fog". The cartoon is very strange and in some places scary about how the hedgehog is looking for his friends in the fog =)

 

 

thats kinda interesting. i learned something new today

[4sheetzngeegles 77]

Faatal

 

Thanks for the visual. My personal thought, that's atmospheric. For visual depth a combination of the Desert, Smoke, and Snow particles at variable rates will give the ebb and flow effect. I use to color burn my particles images with a gradient.

But if this is combined with the Threat level music system "Subsonic", and "Binaural (Gamma Beta Alpha Theta Delta)",

and the fog black and whites every thing in the distance acting like a color range filter, this will be Deeply Creepy.

People watching youtube would also feel the vibe, if they have decent speakers.

 

In short I like not just for what it is, but for its potential. Fun factor for me +1

[Dreyseth 1]

There is no specific effect on fog but by... being foggy... it reduces the light level and makes you harder to see.

 

Now what I would like to see is fog dampening environmental background sounds and making enemy noises appear slightly louder to the player. =)

 

ah, that would be really cool

[Dreyseth 1]

The fog looks great, but I'd REALLY like to see ground fog as well/instead.

 

or even height based fog, like early morning fog on the lake areas at sunrise would be a nice effect (and perhaps a bane to those thinking a nice lakeside cabin might be an environmentally safer location to camp in)

[Odetta 244]

All we need is a radio that plays static when something is near...

[faatal 1,367]

Will it stay out of pois. Unlike the old fog

 

Maybe. I've seen old code that looked like it tried that, but it could have not worked before and definitely not working now. It will probably get addressed at some point.

[faatal 1,367]

No, although I'd say it should go inside buildings as real fog will. It's only the warm air of a heated building that dissipates the moisture, with a cold building the fog will permeate throughout.

 

It will probably still be in a POI, but turned down.

[Guppycur 966]

There is no specific effect on fog but by... being foggy... it reduces the light level and makes you harder to see.

 

Now what I would like to see is fog dampening environmental background sounds and making enemy noises appear slightly louder to the player. =)

 

Does it drop the fps like some of the other screen effects do?

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Maybe. I've seen old code that looked like it tried that, but it could have not worked before and definitely not working now. It will probably get addressed at some point.

 

Not trying to start crap, but is this just a gimmick to improve fps by shortening draw distance or something else weird or is this an actual attempt to add artistic value?

[faatal 1,367]

Does it drop the fps like some of the other screen effects do?

 

Not trying to start crap, but is this just a gimmick to improve fps by shortening draw distance or something else weird or is this an actual attempt to add artistic value?

 

It is cheap to calculate in individual shaders and the deferred screen effect is pretty simple too. I've noticed no difference in FPS, but not yet time to do major profiling until all the graphics changes are done.

 

The game will probably use 5% to 30% fog in normal play. Heavy fog is what people were asking too see, which modders could use if they want. We could maybe push it to 50% or 70% for special events, when we get to doing events, but above that is too much to me.

[Survager 150]

All we need is a radio that plays static when something is near...

 

Or a walkie-talkie that comes to life and starts advertising when a merchant is nearby)

[madmole 3,547]

So,about upgrading blocks.you go from wood , stone , concrete and steel.

 

what happened scrap?How do you do reinforged scrap metal for example?

 

I believe you can forge iron frames and upgrade those with iron then to concrete.

[madmole 3,547]

Are irradiated demolishers coming to A19?

 

No, we're probably going to do away with radiated variants and use the texture space to make new zombies that are radiated that have their own distinct look.

[madmole 3,547]

Well the smoke in the burnt forest disappears when you enter a poi. So there's a chance.

 

That is probably just the particle effect getting culled, fog is not a game object.

[madmole 3,547]

Madmole

 

You guys reworked all zombie skins? Maybe some screenshots? Please

 

No just one so far, it can take weeks to months just do do one zombie properly for pbr.

[xiiMaRcLeoN 31]

No, we're probably going to do away with radiated variants and use the texture space to make new zombies that are radiated that have their own distinct look.

 

I like the sound of that. A grossly mutated zombie sounds good.

[HungryZombie 45]

No, we're probably going to do away with radiated variants and use the texture space to make new zombies that are radiated that have their own distinct look.

 

This sounds awesome. I hope you can pull it off.

[Haidrgna 182]

No just one so far, it can take weeks to months just do do one zombie properly for pbr.

 

Are those new zombies going to completely replacing the current model of zombies or will they be added in addition, or are they going to be those special radiated ones? I know the Wight and Spider models are pretty old so could use a redo, but others might not need to.

[madmole 3,547]

Not trying to start crap, but is this just a gimmick to improve fps by shortening draw distance or something else weird or is this an actual attempt to add artistic value?

 

Its actually going to work, look better and not have endless edge case bugs like windshields and glass not sorting, etc. We're not planning on heavily fogging the game, but there has always been a subtle fog since A1. There still might be "foggy" days, but weather still needs polished to be shippable, but that isn't the focus here, the focus is to get linear lighting working properly and fog was one of many things that had to be changed to work.

[madmole 3,547]

Are those new zombies going to completely replacing the current model of zombies or will they be added in addition, or are they going to be those special radiated ones? I know the Wight and Spider models are pretty old so could use a redo, but others might not need to.

 

Any normal zombie you see that has a glowing green variant will be deleted and some new radiated ones made from the ground up to look mutated will be made to replace them. Probably about 3-4 unique ones, plus cops and wights off the top of my head.

[RestInPieces 169]

Any normal zombie you see that has a glowing green variant will be deleted and some new radiated ones made from the ground up to look mutated will be made to replace them. Probably about 3-4 unique ones, plus cops and wights off the top of my head.

 

Excellent news.