There has been some progress, not on the game but on my skills to create the game. It has been a dream of mine ever since I started using Game Maker to create my very own 3D projection engine. That is a 3d engine using nothing but perspective maths and some 2d drawing functions. No d3d_etc functions. After a couple of days I did it, a working engine with the ability to draw sprites, wild polygons etc along with direction, pitch and roll features for the camera.
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2307/3denginebr6.jpg
Believe it or not but I did plan on using my engine for Impounded at one stage, but after many tests I concluded D3D is faster. No shit you may say, but D3D is only fractionally faster. As for some skills I have learned from this? I now have a much greater understanding of 3D math and through the development of my engine, which was not much might I add. I wrote a very nice script to store model data, allowing quick access and retrieval of data.
So I'm now off to finally have a proper go at writing a polygonal collision detection engine. Wish me luck! :)
PS: Check the screenshots below for peak at the new car (280 polys)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Transformations
Some news I guess you could say I wasn't hoping for. So Game Maker can draw 60k polys quick right? Correct. But can Game Maker transform those models quickly too? No it can't. After an initial render test of my new car, which turned out quite nice might I add (see screenshots) at 500fps, I added a transformation to rotate the car and give it some movement. The fps shockingly drops to 120fps. So I create an computer car, give it some transformations and basic AI, I place 6 in the room. Fps? 20.
I removed the transformations, still drawing the 6 cars and the fps shot back up to around 450. So the problem here is obvious. Game Maker can't draw and transform models quickly. I had some ideas about manual transformations and even my very own 3D engine, my own math etc but came to the conclusion these would just be slower.
So I now have to make another car, thats 3 in total now based on my high res car but only slightly higher than my first car. My new polygon limit is now around 250. I've been quite busy over the past week so not much on the collision engine has progressed either. Stay tuned, in my next update I should have a new car and hopefully some better results.
I removed the transformations, still drawing the 6 cars and the fps shot back up to around 450. So the problem here is obvious. Game Maker can't draw and transform models quickly. I had some ideas about manual transformations and even my very own 3D engine, my own math etc but came to the conclusion these would just be slower.
So I now have to make another car, thats 3 in total now based on my high res car but only slightly higher than my first car. My new polygon limit is now around 250. I've been quite busy over the past week so not much on the collision engine has progressed either. Stay tuned, in my next update I should have a new car and hopefully some better results.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Good news
Same day, second post. There has been a breakthrough! After chatting with a friend on MSN who asked how many polygons can gamemaker handle at one time, I decided to do an experiment. As I was quite interested myself, and we were both amazingly surprised at just what Game Maker is able to do.
Using my car which is roughly 150 polys, I drew the car 100 times, thats around 30 000 polygons with culling turned off. I was averaging 100-120 fps. With culling turned on, I increased the amount of vehicles to 400, thats 60 000 polygons. I got around 70 fps.
60 000 polygons guys! Remember this is Game Maker we are talking about, and it can draw 60k polys at one time, which means the entire map could be even more. A final test with 90 000 polygons dragged the fps down to 20, so I stopped there.
My original estimate was to model the objects in the game at 6k max, now I have moved the max up to 40-50k. I do also realize that there are plenty of other things Game Maker has to calculate other than the graphics, so I will only draw about 15k at any given moment and I will be using LODs.
I have already began modeling a new car at a much higher resolution, this time keeping the car at 1000 polys or less, which is a mega difference from 150. As for the old car, I will use it as a lower LOD.
xD
Using my car which is roughly 150 polys, I drew the car 100 times, thats around 30 000 polygons with culling turned off. I was averaging 100-120 fps. With culling turned on, I increased the amount of vehicles to 400, thats 60 000 polygons. I got around 70 fps.
60 000 polygons guys! Remember this is Game Maker we are talking about, and it can draw 60k polys at one time, which means the entire map could be even more. A final test with 90 000 polygons dragged the fps down to 20, so I stopped there.
My original estimate was to model the objects in the game at 6k max, now I have moved the max up to 40-50k. I do also realize that there are plenty of other things Game Maker has to calculate other than the graphics, so I will only draw about 15k at any given moment and I will be using LODs.
I have already began modeling a new car at a much higher resolution, this time keeping the car at 1000 polys or less, which is a mega difference from 150. As for the old car, I will use it as a lower LOD.
xD
Impounded
My first of many posts to come in my Impounded development diary. I guess you're wondering what the heck is Impounded anyway?
In brief, its a game being developed using Game Maker and its built in 3D functions. I am hoping to set a new standard here, moving away from all the current games you see today on the GMC. First person shooters using spheres and boxes as the gun, I mean c'mon, thats just being ridiculous.
More onto Impounded, it's a racing/derby game inspired by some classic favorites such as the destruction derby series, flatout, driver, gran turismo and the like. Original ideas to development Impounded came from my other project, SkidMark. I want to build a game of similar type first, but much simpler to get a nice working engine to use and improve for SkidMark. Thats where Impounded comes in.
To keep things easy, I've gone for a stock car that I will use for all vehicles and just change the texture slightly. So far it has been a week into development and I am surrounded by pages of concept art and 3d math, I did however get the vehicle done. A screenshot can be found below.
I am now working on a polygonal based collision system, more news to come :)
In brief, its a game being developed using Game Maker and its built in 3D functions. I am hoping to set a new standard here, moving away from all the current games you see today on the GMC. First person shooters using spheres and boxes as the gun, I mean c'mon, thats just being ridiculous.
More onto Impounded, it's a racing/derby game inspired by some classic favorites such as the destruction derby series, flatout, driver, gran turismo and the like. Original ideas to development Impounded came from my other project, SkidMark. I want to build a game of similar type first, but much simpler to get a nice working engine to use and improve for SkidMark. Thats where Impounded comes in.
To keep things easy, I've gone for a stock car that I will use for all vehicles and just change the texture slightly. So far it has been a week into development and I am surrounded by pages of concept art and 3d math, I did however get the vehicle done. A screenshot can be found below.
I am now working on a polygonal based collision system, more news to come :)
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