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[Max White]

Ah, I see. Always an issue when dealing with colour manipulation.
So if you don't mind me asking, where your trees cast shadows, is that derived while the level is in use each frame, or does it just darken those tiles on map gen?

[Lord Dullard]

Ah, I see. Always an issue when dealing with colour manipulation.
So if you don't mind me asking, where your trees cast shadows, is that derived while the level is in use each frame, or does it just darken those tiles on map gen?

For now, it's just on map-gen. That's just because the day-night cycle isn't yet implemented, though; it'll eventually be derived by the time of day, although probably not 'each frame' (since that would be a big, unnecessary expenditure of processor speed).

ETA:

Tested cloud-shadows, and they do look damned nice. Not sure whether I'll leave them in or not; I'll keep the code snippet around and see how badly it affects the speeds of actual gameplay, I suppose.

[Max White]

Are you deriving the displayed value every frame?
I figure if you only do it once every second or so, and move it off to its own thread, it shouldn't impact performance noticeably. Clouds will move some what slowly at best, but it should only add to the majestic feel you have going.

[Sentientdeth]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Lord Dullard]

Are you deriving the displayed value every frame?
I figure if you only do it once every second or so, and move it off to its own thread, it shouldn't impact performance noticeably. Clouds will move some what slowly at best, but it should only add to the majestic feel you have going.

Well, the problem with deriving the value every second or so is that it creates a very 'jumpy' look to the shadows. If it came down to that I'd probably rather just leave it out.

I may be able to figure something out, though. We'll see.

ETA:

Whoops! Okay, cloud shadows are in.

Evidently when I created the thread to compute the cloud shadows/reflections, for some reason I was calling the process repeatedly via the game's main code loop rather than actually keeping the thread process itself alive via a 'while' loop. Not sure why I did this (except that just beforehand I'd been a separate algorithm that did actually require a hook in the main code loop), but it's fixed now, and running as smooth as silk.

[Fniff]

I'd happily play the game if I was just wandering around! This looks amazing.

[Max White]

Okay, cloud shadows are in.

Wonderful news! Are you planning on uploading a video of this new visual effect to your blog?

[Lord Dullard]

Coding in the morning with a cup of coffee... that's real relaxation.  ALMOST makes me forget that I have to go to my actual, boring job in a couple of hours...

Eh-ehm. I'll upload a video soon, after I finish up one or two more small additions.

[Lord Dullard]

Double-post, sorry. But I have a video for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iisZLPfPtsk&feature=youtu.be

Aside from cloud shadows, I added a 'transparency layer'. You'll see the effect in the movie when the PC walks under the tree canopy. I still have some tweaking to do here - I want to make the edges of your field of vision fade out via alpha transparency/lerping rather than the cutoff being so sudden - but the framework is there.

ETA:

For some reason the video quality on this one isn't very good - I assume I accidentally messed with a setting somewhere. Sorry about that.

[Max White]

Wow... Looks awesome!
I am left wondering how much effort it would be to make a program that genns a landscape with clouds and such, and can be used as your screen saver, because I would use it.

[Lord Dullard]

Okay, another quick video before I'm off to work for another double shift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO5LzikfJ84&feature=youtu.be

Got a bit further along with shadows, and they're now pretty dynamic compared to when I started out. Additionally I have the basics of collision detection and an information box/announcement system in place, although I think my weekend project will be designing dynamic scroll bars so that you can skim through old messages and bring up a pop-up version of the same.

[Valid_Dark]

I think those shadows look a bit too dark to be from clouds.

from personal experience, you only really see cloud shadows at high altitudes, and even then it's never that dark,  Unless it's a heavy overcast with dark rain clouds.

[nenjin]

Still procrastinating on starting the gods LD?

I kid. The cloud shadows and 1:1 view look great. I only made the joke because I'm surprised you chose to invest time in something like cloud shadows at this stage in the development.

[Lord Dullard]

Still procrastinating on starting the gods LD?

Gods were put on hold so that I could work on the game engine proper, since most people seemed to want that rather than for me to continue working on worldgen details.

I intend to make everything look and feel interesting. I work best when I can let my obsession with detail run wild.

And frankly, at this point I have no real 'schedule' for development. I've decided I'll do what I feel like when I feel like it, since making it something fiscally productive seems out of the question, at least for a good long while. If I'm not enjoying it there's no point in my continuing, so I'll do what I damned well please.  (I know you were just joking, so am I - well, sort of!)

[nenjin]

No, I totally get that. It can be the mundane filling out of stuff or the weird "I don't know how this works" stuff that can stop a project dead in its tracks. And that may be some of the prettiest ASCII I've ever seen.