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Socoder -> Blitz -> How to make a nebula in blitz?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008, 19:35
Orion Pax
I dont suppose there is a way to create something similar to a cloud in blitz. I was thinking maybe a huge sphere with a nebula texture applied and after you enter it the color on the cameras fog changes to the texture and changes back after you leave it? Bout the best I can think of.
Wed, 09 Apr 2008, 19:55
Scherererer
You could also try making a large collection of big semi-transparent sprites, which might give a slightly volumetric look & feel to it. The benefite of this would also be that you could make strange formations, maybe even a clearing in the center. However, it would be disadvantageous in that it would require more processing clicks than you camera fog idea. Though, if you're smart about it (make fewer & larger particles when looking at it from a distance, then increase the number & decrease the size as you come in), I don't think it would be that much of a problem.

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Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 08:05
Orion Pax
That worked great. Havent implemented the distance thing yet but with only 10 sprites scale up to 100x100 it looks good just as it is.


Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 08:10
Jayenkai
That looks great!
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 08:27
HoboBen
Seconded - wow, that's really beautiful!
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 08:33
Orion Pax
Yeah I think so too....HEHE. At any rate I was thinking of adding collision detection to the nebula. Make it so if your going faster than 1/4 full speed ( which is 2.5 in my game) then you start to take damage. And also if your in the nebula your name that lingers over your ship disappears so you can hide in one if wanted. And if some one fires while INSIDE of the nebula it creates a huge explosion because its detonating the deadly gases in side. Does that sound good? How would I do the explosion? Maybe create a small sphere and texture it with a fire texture and resize the sphere every loop 1 size bigger. Maybe animate the texture?

EDIT
Oh yeah...collision. Could I just make one big invisible sphere over my nebula? How would I size it to my random sized nebula? does the units in resizing sprites add up to the same units in 3d space. Meaning a sprite resized to 100x100 take up 100x100 units in 3d space? Could resizing a sphere to 50x50x50 take care of that?
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 08:59
Jayenkai
Well, if the nebula is made up of different sprites, could you not add collision detection to each of those sprites?
(asking, don't know the answer, never dealt with 3D collision!! Usually cheat and use 2D methods!)

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Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 09:13
Orion Pax
I thought about that but there are holes in the nebula and I want the effects to take place in the entire nebula. I might give that a try tho....as I cant quite get a sphere or cube big enough but small enough. If that makes sense...lol
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 11:50
Orion Pax
I cant seem to get Nuclear Glory to do collision on a sprite. Maybe if I just use blitz collision for the sprites/player.

And just to brag....Thanks Instinct!
You can see the planet (and maybe the moon around it too) and the asteroid in this one real good.


Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 12:32
JL235
After a quick read, here are a few of my thoughts on your game:

I don't like the idea of 'shooting inside a nebula makes it explode' because it then makes hiding inside the nebular far harder. Could someone just fire into it and detonate it from outside? If not then they could just fire into it and the guy inside can't shoot back.

I could also see ambushing someone from within a nebula be more difficult because you'd want to ensure that you are definitely free from it before firing and it means you can't start firing from within as your leaving.

As for a limitation on movement inside a nebula, I like the idea. But personally I'd prefer a speed penalty rather then a damage based on. Say you move 1/4 slower then in normal space. Perhaps if you go over a high speed limit then you will start to take damage too, like say if your faster then 10.

This will mean slow weak ships will have to go at full speed to reach this limit whilst fast, powerful ships will reach it at say half their maximum speed. On the flip side the powerful ship can chose to just take the damage, so it offers more choice to the player about what decisions to make under different circumstances. i.e. if I fly fast it'll get me to Alpha Centauri in less time, but it also means I need to pay added expenses for the damages I incur. I find things like this help to add depth to the gameplay.

Also this is 3d? I also really like the 2d images you've shown and so I also think it should look and be a 2d game. It will also be easier to make.

But something else you might want to think about might be to add rotation to the small nebula sprites so that the nebulas look more unique. This will make it harder for people to see the small nebula images repeating multiple times across it. For example in yours shown above one of the nebula images is used at least 5 times, if not more. Rotating each small nebula sprite randomly each time it was used would make it harder to see this repetition.

If your doing this in 2d, then by pregenerating the nebula when the game starts up then you only need to pay for the cost of rotation once. If it's hardware accelerated you might not want to bother because it's cheap anyway. If you seed the random when you generate the nebulas then you can also guarantee that the nebula will always look the same everytime the game runs.
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 13:01
Orion Pax
Yes it is 3D. I know 2D would be far easier. I am like most newbs, have to jump straight in and start making a 3d game. But I do have to admit I have been trying to do this for several years so I have some experience on my hand.

I like your suggestions. But your confusing me with this part:
"I don't like the idea of 'shooting inside a nebula makes it explode' because it then makes hiding inside the nebular far harder. Could someone just fire into it and detonate it from outside? If not then they could just fire into it and the guy inside can't shoot back."

Arent you just repeating your question in the form of a statement? But anyways I think I know what you mean. If you hide in the nebula, you take the risk of being blown up if someone decides to detonate it from the outside. Well if you can fire it up from the outside..you definitely should be able to do it from the inside as well. But from the outside is a nice addition. I probably would have done that anyways once I did the collisions on it.

I will make it more difficult for someone outisde the nebula to find anybody in it. And vice versa. The people in it will have limited vision and radar and what not. Maybe reduce camera range once in it. or increase camera fade instead.
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 13:08
Orion Pax
How about this? Rotated Randomly 0-360


Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 15:04
Jayenkai
*Jayenkai applauds the lovely lovely nebula*

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Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 15:04
JL235
I was asking if the guy outside could detonate the nebula from outside (and so kill the guy inside) and that if it does not detonate it (when shot from outside) then they could still shoot at the guy who is inside because he can't shoot back.

I still think this is a bad idea because it essentially makes nebulas a no go area. You go in and you might get blown up. Then all the other benefits (like hiding or taking a short-cut) are lost.

Perhaps as an alternative instead you could have pockets of explosive gas, which are mainly found around or in nebulas. But these are just small one of pockets and the nebulas themselves don't explode.

Yes that's more what I had in mind. You can still see the repeating parts of it, but they are harder to match since they have been rotated. I think it definetely makes it look more unique and diverse across the nebula.

You could also take it further and maybe have two or three nebulas together. These could perhaps wander slightly so that the universe is always slowly changing. Nebulas expanding apart and together.
Thu, 10 Apr 2008, 17:28
Orion Pax
So dont allow the ability to detonate the cloud or not? I'm getting mixed signals here. LOL.

EDIT

Oh and to have it wander slightly in the universe I could parent each sprite to a pivot and SLOWLY move and rotate the pivot.