From all of us, to all of you,
As the year is coming to an end, we here at Frictional Games would like to take a minute to reflect.
Player – Avatar Symbiosis
In a recently released paper, Jeroen D. Stout (creator of Dinner Date) proposes an interesting theory on the relashionship between player and avatar. It is related to the things that have been discussed previous post about immersion, so I felt it was relevant to bring it up. The full paper can be gotten from here. I will summarize the ideas a bit below, but I still suggest all to read the actual paper for more info!
Bye, bye Pre-Pass lighting
A couple of weeks ago I started to remaking the renderer from a deferred shader to a pre-pass lighting one. Directly after implementing it, I wrote this post. At first, pre-pass lighting sounded great: faster light rendering and more variation in materials. Having seen that companies such as Crytek and Insomniac Games used it, I thought it would be the next logical step to take.
Tech Feature: Terrain textures
I have finally finished the part of the terrain rendering that I spent most time researching and thinking about: texturing. This is a quite big problem, with many methods available, each having its own pros and cons.
How the player becomes the protagonist
In Amnesia one of the main goals was for the player to become the protagonist. We wanted the player to think “I am” instead of “Daniel is” and in that way make it a very personal experience. The main motivation for this was of course to make the game scary, but also for the memories that were revealed to feel more personal for the player.
Tech Feature: Noise and Fractals
Now that I have a working algorithm for terrain rendering, I wanted to try making some of it procedurally. This would not be used in order to generate levels, but instead to help artists add some extra detail and perhaps for some effects. The natural world is very noisy and fractal place, so in order a to get a nice looking environment, these two features are crucial.
Tech Feature: Terrain geometry
The past two weeks I have been working on terrain, and for two months or so before that I have (at irregular intervals) been researching and planning this work. Now finally the geometry-generation part of the terrain code is as good as completed.
Tech feature: Light Masking
So just wanted to give a quick info on a brand new feature: light box masks.
Halloween Tips. Sale and more!
Now that northern hemisphere people move into darker times what can be better than to indulge in some horror! Read along to get some tips on games, books and movies to check out this Halloween!
An Absolutely Horrific Sale & New Store For Mobile Payments
What would Halloween be without a bone chilling adventure? Why even get out of bed in the morning? Don’t hit that snooze button just yet, because Frictional Games has got your back. 50% discount!
