Rayman: Revenge of the Dark

[Adsolution]

Let me save you the trouble by posting some new screenshots.

You'll notice there's not much to show really, no new environmental assets are present aside from fine-tunings. The biggest difference is the grass, look how nice it looks now, I finally figured out how to make it look all full and fluffy! Also, the Ly model has been improved (though Spanex/I did that a while ago, I haven't posted any screenshots since) (also, remember that Ly is supposed to look younger here, and that her eyes won't be open this much usually, I just haven't created her usual eyes-half-closed morph target expression yet). The main thing here are the varying lighting schemes. It's all looking better over time, and on top of that, the new engine's Physically Based Rendering is amazing. The only thing absent from these screenshots that was there beforehand is the tessellation on the mushrooms, what gave them their nice grubby 3D-surface look; for some reason displacement maps aren't working correctly (what tessellation requires), and until that's sorted out, they're stuck to being flat, cylindrical 2D surfaces.

If anyone who isn't up-to-date is wondering why there's little progress being made, it's because programmers are typically asswipes who have no sense of dedication. I've taken it upon myself to start learning Java (it's going really well so far, I've already written my first simple things that give functional console outputs), to eventually work my way up to C++ so that I can directly program for ROTD myself. I can't progress on the level design until Rayman's mechanics are finished obviously, and not a lot of environmental modelling can be done until the level designing is complete. So while I'm learning quickly, there's still a lot to learn before we can start making some full-fledged levels and environments. In addition (Gaben), Serza will likely be joining the team as a programmer as well within the next year!

But anyway, without further ado:

(This is my favourite, it almost looks like a painting! I'm getting a good 84 FPS here on my GTX 580, plenty runnable by a mid-range PC)








Note that all these environments and lighting schemes have been made with gameplay in mind - Nothing here is enhanced or edited for the purpose of taking good screenshots, it will look exactly like this in-game, but better in the end as there'll be far more assets and fine-tuning having been done, not to mention the increase in computing power over time!


And lastly, some animated 3D lums.

[Earth Gwee]

I am excite!

[saerleiya]

My, my, my, little review from the great guy (who wasn't here for one year, very unreliable) :

The grass on your pictures is looking very good right now. Very fluffy indeed, and the details are impressive.
Now about Ly. I like the way you make her look younger, not only with the eyes wide-opened (even if she looks a bit creepy, but I guess you haven't added eyelids yet, right?), but also the way her hair on the top of her face are positioned, a bit messy.

Rayman looks very angry in the dark, I'd better not mess with him. Gasp!

The lighting of the lums and the reflexions of their colors look fine to me, although their colors are very pale, especially for those things which are full of life. It looks like their full color is only enabled under the daylight, like if they weren't light sources themselves. Weird.

I'm getting a good 84 FPS here on my GTX 580, plenty runnable by a mid-range PC

What are exactly your specs right now? I would like to compare them to mine. I got a new laptop which is far better than the previous one. Now I can use video-editing softwares to their fullest capacity (wasn't able to run one on the previous one. Was terrible :'(...).

EDIT : Typo.

[Adsolution]

his hair

lol

The lighting of the lums and the reflexions of their colors look fine to me, although their colors are very pale, especially for those things which are full of life. It looks like their full color is only enabled under the daylight, like if they weren't light sources themselves. Weird.

That was actually quite intentional for the night lighting. The entire scene is slightly desaturated and filtered.

What are exactly your specs right now? I would like to compare them to mine. I got a new laptop which is far better than the previous one. Now I can use video-editing softwares to their fullest capacity (wasn't able to run one on the previous one. Was terrible :'(...).

2x GTX 580, Core i5 3570K, 16 GB DDR3. I'm only currently utilising one of my 580s though, so don't take the SLI into account.

[beebo44]

Oh man I love that grass! The beautiful contrast in the daytime Ly picture gives me some intense Ratchet & Clank/Crash Bandicoot/Rayman 3 vibes and the Ly model is great.

The lums to me, like saer already said look a bit pale. I feel like they should be a little more colourful, but I understand what you're going for with the nighttime lighting.

[PrincessAmber]

I think a part of me just grew twice in size.

[beebo44]

I think a part of me just grew twice in size.

I won't ask what part xD

[PrincessAmber]

I think a part of me just grew twice in size.

I won't ask what part xD

Better noT HUEHUHAAAHAHAH

[saerleiya]

his hair

lol

Corrected. I still forget stuff like that sometimes .

The entire scene is slightly desaturated and filtered.

Aha! You still played with them settings, you cheater !!

2x GTX 580, Core i5 3570K, 16 GB DDR3. I'm only currently utilising one of my 580s though, so don't take the SLI into account.

Woh, I am surprised my laptop is actually on roughly the same level (GTX 765M, Core i7 4700, 2 spaces for RAM, right now 12GB DDR3). Of course it's a laptop, so I don't have the need of two graphic cards, but meh . Nice to see I would be able to run ROTD, although my specs are not exactly related to a mid-range PC (or at least a mid-range laptop).

[Shrooblord]

Looking fabulous!

A little comment on the grass: it looks very full, almost like it's a thick carpet. Real grass fields will have patches of rough dirt and less grass, etc., etc., which make them look more scenic, because of the variation. Maybe try playing around with that?
Would love to see Ly running around in that grassy patch, chasing bad guys and takin' names.

I think the problem people are having with the Lums is because they are too 'full'; they don't look like orbs of light, but instead like a disc with some sort of colour that then ends abruptly. A point light like the Lums will have one really luminous center part and the rest is basically falloff and fading away into the air around itself.

But hey, great!

I wonder though: why exactly are you first learning Java, then C++, instead of stepping right into C++?

[Adsolution]

A little comment on the grass: it looks very full, almost like it's a thick carpet. Real grass fields will have patches of rough dirt and less grass, etc., etc., which make them look more scenic, because of the variation. Maybe try playing around with that?

There's currently no system to vary up vegetation progressively like that, the tool only scatters brushes around randomly with some instance parameters (like random rotation, random size variation, density, etc). Since CryEngine 3.5, there has been a new 'merging' system (it allows all instances a vegetation brush to be react as one body) implemented that could allow for this sort of thing theoretically, but there's no option for it.

I think the problem people are having with the Lums is because they are too 'full'; they don't look like orbs of light, but instead like a disc with some sort of colour that then ends abruptly. A point light like the Lums will have one really luminous center part and the rest is basically falloff and fading away into the air around itself.

I've always imagined them being orbs of sorts, like in the intro to Rayman 3, they almost have a glass-like appearance. But aye, they do cut off a bit too abruptly, I hope to maybe give it a bit of a blurred outline when the engine allows for us to compile custom shaders.

I wonder though: why exactly are you first learning Java, then C++, instead of stepping right into C++?

A quote from nearly everyone who programs: Java is quite similar to C++, and is a great place to start as there's far, far more extensive documentation, and it's also the most popular object-oriented language around. Learning just C++ would likely be more difficult, and it wouldn't serve you as well as knowing Java first or as well.

[saerleiya]

A quote from nearly everyone who programs: Java is quite similar to C++, and is a great place to start as there's far, far more extensive documentation, and it's also the most popular object-oriented language around. Learning just C++ would likely be more difficult, and it wouldn't serve you as well as knowing Java first or as well.

This. I'm not talented at programming anyway. It's a bit like driving for me : If I want tobe good, I need to invest some much time and resources into it...

I've always imagined them being orbs of sorts, like in the intro to Rayman 3, they almost have a glass-like appearance. But aye, they do cut off a bit too abruptly, I hope to maybe give it a bit of a blurred outline when the engine allows us to compile custom shaders.

Just to know, are you planning to make them constantly emitting the same level of brightness, or will you add regular smooth spheric-like radiation from their center? Simple idea, I don't know how it would like in the game.

[Shrooblord]

The red Energy things in Rayman 3 are actually pretty neat, what with the animated sparks and all. And now you mention it, I remember my dad saying something similar about Java.
Well, good luck with it, then!

[Adsolution]

I was actually referring to the ones in the intro pre-rendered cutscene, the ones that have wings and are clearly 3D models that have a geometric body.

[Shrooblord]

What makes you say they're 3D? I could still easily see them being cleverly animated sprites in that cutscene. It doesn't matter - your point is clear.

[incognito]

Impressive Ad !
But Ly looks kinda wierd...Not enough hairs i think.

[Shrooblord]

You mean the actual hair doesn't resemble hair that much? That's either stylistic or not yet computed, I believe.

[Adsolution]

Hair is extremely difficult to pull off well. Custom shaders, again, will hopefully help this.

[Shrooblord]

I went to a PIXAR Expo a while ago that showcased how they did Merida's (from the film Brave) hair. It was incredibly smart, really. They had a few splines (say, perhaps, up to 50 max) that looked like single curly strands that acted like the 'base hairs' that would determine what the rest of the 'do would be following. Next, they somehow (I don't recall if they told us how) interpolated the physics of other, non-existent hairs inbetween the simulated, splined-out hairs. Finally, they rendered these now-existent hairs and so, with next to no computing power, they gave Merida a complete afro of beautifully flowing, bright-red curls. The timelapse of them doing it looked very inspiring (much at that expo did, in fact).

[Droolie]

Ly looks better, but holy crap! This looks absolutely fantastic. Rayman's model and textures are spot-on, and everything on that picture looks deliciously artsy. The lighting is perfect too. Dreambound is never even going to come close to that with my 3D skills!

My only criticism would be the look of the Lums - they look as if they are glass spheres with a bit of light coming out of them. I know the intention was to recreate the Lums in the R3 videos, but those have "texture" inside and the light effects in and around the Lums made them seem a lot more full. The R3 team also made the smart decision of always blurring the area the Lums are in, so we wouldn't see the edges too clearly.
Also, it might help if you made the spheres a little smaller in comparison to their wings - they aren't as big in the R3 intro (or anywhere else for that matter).

A quote from nearly everyone who programs: Java is quite similar to C++, and is a great place to start as there's far, far more extensive documentation, and it's also the most popular object-oriented language around. Learning just C++ would likely be more difficult, and it wouldn't serve you as well as knowing Java first or as well.

Exactly. You're also better off learning a bit of C between Java and C++ as that basically covers the differences while also showing you how C++ is just an extension of C. Since many programmers sometimes use C in their C++ code, and since many C++ libraries are written in C, I think that's a good idea.