Outerra forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Download Outerra Tech Demo. Unofficial Outerra Discord server, MicroProse Discord server for OWS.

Author Topic: Any update?  (Read 15102 times)

Chaoss

  • Member
  • **
  • Posts: 68
    • After Days
Any update?
« on: December 09, 2012, 10:24:13 pm »

Any update or in-progress screenshots on how things are going, It's been really quiet past few months
Logged

cameni

  • Brano Kemen
  • Outerra Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6721
  • No sense of urgency.
    • outerra.com
Re: Any update?
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2012, 09:29:22 am »

Not much to show yet, most of the past months was spent on the importer and scripting (actually made as a subsystem of our new API system), a background stuff consuming a lot of time but not showing much on the visuals (except for the imported models). But now we are getting back on track, with some more visible enhancements in the engine coming soon ...
Logged

ObscuredSoS

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 11
  • newbie
Re: Any update?
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2012, 03:30:25 pm »

Is there an ETA on the Anteworld game itself? How long down the road until features are introduced?


Edit: Something off topic. Is there some place where I can go to just chat about Anteworld that doesn't involve bugs or need help from support?
« Last Edit: December 11, 2012, 03:32:45 pm by ObscuredSoS »
Logged

cameni

  • Brano Kemen
  • Outerra Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6721
  • No sense of urgency.
    • outerra.com
Re: Any update?
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2012, 03:52:50 pm »

Gameplay features will be added in the next year, when the engine functionality like character animation, ballistics and particle effects become ready (being worked on). Sorry for the lack of updates in this direction, but we need the engine functionality to be able to implement the gameplay, and we are probably working on too many things.

About the game chat - you are right, there should be a board talking about the gameplay ideas etc. I will create one here, and add topics about the game that are now dispersed elsewhere to it.
Logged

ZeosPantera

  • ||>>-Z-<<||
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2520
  • #1 Outerra Fan Boy
    • My Youtube
Re: Any update?
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2012, 04:09:47 pm »

Logged
"Fear accompanies the possibility of death, Calm shepherds its certainty" - General Ka Dargo

Allan Davidson

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 38
  • newbie
Re: Any update?
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2012, 12:24:48 am »

Logged

KelvinNZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 509
  • A clock that doesn't work still works twice a day!
Re: Any update?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2013, 12:20:00 am »

Cameni, I just get excited when you talk about new things to come with Outerra. Do you guys have a road map for each item to tick off? Mind you, I do realise that some people work better without a plan. Reason I ask is that I am really looking forward to five things in terms of visuals which would, I think, shake things up in the community;

1) Tree generator
2) Biomes
3) Shores and Coastlines
4) Blue Marble
5) Time flow (will this be based on real world time including daylight saving?)

Are you guys sitting on a time frame to complete these items or at least get them in public release for testing?
« Last Edit: January 10, 2013, 12:23:18 am by Kelvinr »
Logged
If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?

cameni

  • Brano Kemen
  • Outerra Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6721
  • No sense of urgency.
    • outerra.com
Re: Any update?
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2013, 03:39:29 am »

We never had a rigid plan of what should come next, although there are some dependencies that disallow making one thing before the other. It's also affected by our commercial efforts running on the background, but don't fear - these have the same goals, feature-wise.

The closest things that should see the light of day first are:
  • the time flow - been making some changes into the generator that will allow for fast updates.
    Nature doesn't know about daylight saving, so we are using the universal time instead. The sun position is already computed from the universal time, or from the time-of-day and day-of-year (currently used in sun position tool). I guess there will be multiple options, including the real-time positioning, variable speed up etc.
  • characters and character animations

From your other points, Blue Marble and Biomes are closely related, and they should come this year. Here's an example of what's being done there:

Biome map with urban areas (black)

Urban areas removed

Current biome maps mark urban areas, apparently because they stand out in the data from sensors. But we need to recreate the natural earth first, and then generate the urban areas atop of it. Here the algorithm tries to replace urban areas with nearby biomes so that a natural layer is created (btw it's Vienna in the center, and Bratislava is to the right).
The urban mask is still preserved, as it can serve as a seed for urban (or ruins) generator in simulators and games.

Other stuff that is probable to come are the rivers and lakes. Coastlines are probably here as well.

The work on the tree generator has been resumed too, though interestingly it is rarely brought up as a priority. But biomes will need it anyway, to produce characteristic vegetation.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2013, 04:37:45 am by cameni »
Logged

ZeosPantera

  • ||>>-Z-<<||
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2520
  • #1 Outerra Fan Boy
    • My Youtube
Re: Any update?
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2013, 04:22:06 am »

I have always been a huge fan of the Tree Generator.
Logged
"Fear accompanies the possibility of death, Calm shepherds its certainty" - General Ka Dargo

Bartolomeus

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 288
    • VirtualTechArt Design
Re: Any update?
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2013, 07:49:05 am »

Sound very interesting, thats alot stuff.

Marko

Allan Davidson

  • Jr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 38
  • newbie
Re: Any update?
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2013, 09:44:06 am »

Nice infos! Can't Wait!
Logged

KelvinNZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 509
  • A clock that doesn't work still works twice a day!
Re: Any update?
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2013, 04:26:05 pm »

We never had a rigid plan of what should come next, although there are some dependencies that disallow making one thing before the other. It's also affected by our commercial efforts running on the background, but don't fear - these have the same goals, feature-wise.

The closest things that should see the light of day first are:
  • the time flow - been making some changes into the generator that will allow for fast updates.
    Nature doesn't know about daylight saving, so we are using the universal time instead. The sun position is already computed from the universal time, or from the time-of-day and day-of-year (currently used in sun position tool). I guess there will be multiple options, including the real-time positioning, variable speed up etc.
  • characters and character animations

From your other points, Blue Marble and Biomes are closely related, and they should come this year. Here's an example of what's being done there:

Biome map with urban areas (black)

Urban areas removed

Current biome maps mark urban areas, apparently because they stand out in the data from sensors. But we need to recreate the natural earth first, and then generate the urban areas atop of it. Here the algorithm tries to replace urban areas with nearby biomes so that a natural layer is created (btw it's Vienna in the center, and Bratislava is to the right).
The urban mask is still preserved, as it can serve as a seed for urban (or ruins) generator in simulators and games.

Other stuff that is probable to come are the rivers and lakes. Coastlines are probably here as well.

The work on the tree generator has been resumed too, though interestingly it is rarely brought up as a priority. But biomes will need it anyway, to produce characteristic vegetation.

Thank you for your time and explanation Brano, you never cease to amaze me with your friendly and forthcoming feedback about your project unlike some who are probably bound by contracts not to speak as openly as you do about the project.

Moving on, I am interested about the Biomes/Blue Marble particularly because I am really interested to see the worlds first rendered planet (that I know of) that one can move from country to country in that has "the real world in mind" with an exception of flight simulator but that poorly reflects the reality that Outerra reflects even in its current state.

There is interest all over the world with this project which I think will reach tens if not hundreds of thousands because of its vision to be so dynamic.

Cheers,

Kelvin

Logged
If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?

KelvinNZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 509
  • A clock that doesn't work still works twice a day!
Re: Any update?
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2013, 04:31:33 pm »

Any update or in-progress screenshots on how things are going, It's been really quiet past few months

We are so lucky we have developers who provide feedback about this project and the fact that we can contribute feedback to them. Many developers out there will be under strict NDA contracts to not say a peep until very close to release. We also need to keep in mind that the more time these guys work on answering questions distracts them from the project, when added up i'm sure these guys have spent considerable amount of time answering our questions. Mind you we always love to hear from them as they always have something interesting to talk about with the project :) it's a double edge sword.
Logged
If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?