2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain [Fan Art Too]

[Freeze]

Are you going to update the bedroom build, so that it's in the right position for saves just to be directly loaded into it?

[Ad Bot]

[TheArmyGuy]

Build it out of big bricks so it doesn't take so long to build? You don't need to make it be out of 1x1s if you're flying 100ft above it very fast. -- kompressor

Ah yes, good idea.
It also sort of raises the question wether or not mip-mapping is possible in Torque.
It probably isn't though.
Because it's Torque.

But how will the shadows affect large concentrated builds (such as 70K bricks in an area no longer then 388 bricks, like a spaceship)? Will the shadows be casted all the way to the ground if the object is very high (64,128... studs) in the air or will they fade as the character's and vehicle's shadow does?

[Dnitro]

Would lights spawned by the player or on bricks cast shadows or will it just be ambient lighting?

[Demian]

In the new update. Will the mission editor still be there? Because I made ship interiors for Blockland that are based on the golden age of the 20th century. And I still want to continue with making video's about my golden age liners.

They will not work as they are interiors and interiors are no longer supported by the code. You will not be able to continue working on them in Blockland after this update.

[Isjix]

Will the removal of terrain and interiors from Blockland affect the development of Age of Time as well?

I thought they stopped working on aot?

[_Dark_]

The Bedroom build just isn't the same :c
Chorus of this song can kinda explain this update lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_1PMEfUMQI

On the other hand, I do think this can also be for the best of us. If we can do more things without.

[.::Taboo::.]

:c

i half expected a ban here for doomsday prophesizing
:B

[Wizzeh]

I think it'd be nice if the map system was changed so there were no maps, but instead individual options. Allow users to select ground color/texture, skybox color/texture, whether or not the map has a layer of water and options related to that, allow users to turn off the floor if their build is floating and/or they want to conserve processing power by removing shadows on the ground if this is possible, wind speed, precipitation, the works. Then generate a map name dynamically based on the settings they chose and give them the option to change it to another combination of preset fields. I'm not sure how confusingly I wrote that but hopefully the idea came through.

[LizzyRascal]

I think it'd be nice if the map system was changed so there were no maps, but instead individual options. Allow users to select ground color/texture, skybox color/texture, whether or not the map has a layer of water and options related to that, allow users to turn off the floor if their build is floating and/or they want to conserve processing power by removing shadows on the ground if this is possible, wind speed, precipitation, the works. Then generate a map name dynamically based on the settings they chose and give them the option to change it to another combination of preset fields. I'm not sure how confusingly I wrote that but hopefully the idea came through.

Like the adjustable plate, but with more options?

[Demian]

Some points from my massive post I think were pageloss'd/TLDR'd.


Please release all current interiors' source files to the community. Or alternatively to a small group of people if you for whatever reason do not wish everyone to have them.

I would personally have much (Blockland related) use for them and I believe the community would also benefit greatly from this. My intentions would be to import the interior 3D models to Blender and create skyboxes from them. Those skyboxes could then be used in Slates to create the illusion of an interior and also as an homage to the olden days of Blockland. I could very easily easily create several skyboxes from a single map. For example on the Bedroom floor, on the bed, on the drawer, inside the bed and so on. I see this as something the community would like.

Also, this would really call for more default builds.
Would it be a good idea to make like a huge "contest" for people to get their builds added to the default game?

This. So much this. The community has created dozens if not hundreds of absolutely magnificent builds that are very much worthy of being shipped with the game. I am sure that if you developers give the community a few months we can put together a large list of amazing builds that we all would be happy to see them being default. Now that the interiors and terrains are going away Blockland will solely be about buildings. Builds are more imporant than ever. It certainly calls for a larger amount of default builds.

Maybe bricks that have different appearances? Matte, metallic, etc.?

A great idea! A new paint column to adjust bricks' specularity value!

[Barnabas]

With the shaders being changed, will the pearl/chrome effect behave differently?
So if I painted a wall of 1x2 bricks with chrome, would the effect spread out continuously on the whole surface?

[_Dark_]

I'd feel much more confertable of this update if we got more pictures on the player models, vehicles, and builds.

[Visage]

I would prefer a more advanced mapping system that used like cell-shaded graphics that fit better with Blockland but if I had to choose from no maps or these low res out-dated ugly ass maps I gladly choose no maps.

[Colten]

Why would I want that though. Theres nowhere to build.

[sir dooble]

I would personally have much (Blockland related) use for them and I believe the community would also benefit greatly from this. My intentions would be to import the interior 3D models to Blender and create skyboxes from them. Those skyboxes could then be used in Slates to create the illusion of an interior and also as an homage to the olden days of Blockland. I could very easily easily create several skyboxes from a single map. For example on the Bedroom floor, on the bed, on the drawer, inside the bed and so on. I see this as something the community would like.

I personally would love a slate map which (if possible) had the feel of walking on an infinite field of Bedroom Floor.
And the sky would look like an infinite Bedroom Ceiling, the walls in the image of Infinite walls.
I don't quite know how a poster or door or window would look as a skybox texture, but I'd be happy with just the walls.

And then it'd be awesome to change that floor texture to look like the inside or top of the bed, or a shelf or the roof of the Bedroom.
You could have a map that recreates that atmosphere of the Bedroom map and maintain a really traditional feeling of Minecraft.

I don't know if any of that is even remotely possible, but I've got a picture in my head which I just love at the moment.
Just imagining myself as if I'm absolutely tiny in the Bedroom and the bed underneath me goes on forever no matter how far I walk, or I can never travel far enough to reach the corner of the room.