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General Discussion / Re: Blockland Classic?
« on: February 06, 2012, 11:14:41 AM »
We cannot afford to maintain two versions of Blockland. Sorry.
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107
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 06, 2012, 03:35:02 AM »I'm unable to access blockland at the moment. Is this released or what?
This feature is not yet released. We will post an announcement when we release it.
108
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 10:06:51 PM »Will it be dark-dark like you'd expect in Minecraft, or will there still be some general overcast from the sun's ambiance?
It'll be shadowed, like in the screenshots, but for the whole interior. It looks and feels really good. I won't write you essays about how good it is, just wait till we post more updates on this. :)
Will doors/"moving bricks" like JVS ever have dynamic shadows? I'm guessing not
They will.
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Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 10:04:23 PM »So, question:
I build a really nice house out of bricks in a lit map. I forgot to add windows and the door is closed. What will the inside of the house be like?
It will be shadowed, but brick lights will illuminate stuff.
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Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 09:59:42 PM »How would this affect dark maps?
Or are these getting removed also.
Dark maps are awesome, but obviously no sun == no shadows. :) So it will basically look the same as it does now, maybe a little better.
111
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 09:54:52 PM »Will you allow people to keep the current version without forcing the update?
You can archive any build you want but we will not maintain old versions.
112
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 09:54:07 PM »If light still shines through bricks and prints still glow this will be a pretty disappointing addon. I was excited because I thought it meant light didnt shine through.
I am sure we will improve this as we go. Prints will be affected by lighting. Not every light will have shadows, but just having sun cast shadows is a HUGE improvement.
113
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 09:50:34 PM »
QA SESSION TWO
Are shadows created in real-time?
Yes. It takes literally milliseconds using modern rendering technology.
Will you release a set of recommended system specs once this is complete and optimized?
You can turn off shadows and Blockland will run exactly like it did before.
Will lights still go through bricks?
Depends.
Will faces and decals still glow in the dark?
Depends. It will probably stay the same.
What happens to StaticShapes Are those removed too?
Not for the moment.
Waitwaitwait. I need to this to be confirmed but, say when the new update comes out, will it effect any slate saves we have? I don't want to lose the bottom bricks, or have them floating or something.
We will be careful to make sure Slate saves still work.
Are shadows created in real-time?
Yes. It takes literally milliseconds using modern rendering technology.
Will you release a set of recommended system specs once this is complete and optimized?
You can turn off shadows and Blockland will run exactly like it did before.
Will lights still go through bricks?
Depends.
Will faces and decals still glow in the dark?
Depends. It will probably stay the same.
What happens to StaticShapes Are those removed too?
Not for the moment.
Waitwaitwait. I need to this to be confirmed but, say when the new update comes out, will it effect any slate saves we have? I don't want to lose the bottom bricks, or have them floating or something.
We will be careful to make sure Slate saves still work.
114
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 09:09:19 PM »
QA SESSION #1
What about physics?
Vehicles and bricks?
Not having to deal with interiors + terrains makes it a lot easier to make brick and vehicle physics really good.
What about using new engine?
We can't afford to not put out updates for 18 months while we rewrite everything. We can make incremental changes and get big improvements in the short term. Killing interiors + terrains is a big step towards a brighter future. Bigger than buying a copy of Unity.
How about using height maps to generate unbreakable bricks as terrain?
I think something like this would be really smart.
Official BLB tools?
Less work on interiors/terrain == more time to spend on stuff like this.
I'm sorry you feel this way. That is a good point. But more better bricks seems like more better fun to me.
Hoax?
No. This is deadly serious.
What about tutorial?
Good point. We'll continue to have a tutorial.
Underwater shadows?
There will be shadows underwater, water won't cast shadows though.
We might have other ways to get custom models in down the road, but we do not plan on readding interiors/terrains.
If there's no interiors or terrain won't you just fall forever when you spawn?
We'll keep a ground plane.
What about physics?
Vehicles and bricks?
Not having to deal with interiors + terrains makes it a lot easier to make brick and vehicle physics really good.
What about using new engine?
We can't afford to not put out updates for 18 months while we rewrite everything. We can make incremental changes and get big improvements in the short term. Killing interiors + terrains is a big step towards a brighter future. Bigger than buying a copy of Unity.
How about using height maps to generate unbreakable bricks as terrain?
I think something like this would be really smart.
Official BLB tools?
Less work on interiors/terrain == more time to spend on stuff like this.
Quote
I disagree with any decision that sacrifices gameplay for graphics.
I'm sorry you feel this way. That is a good point. But more better bricks seems like more better fun to me.
Hoax?
No. This is deadly serious.
What about tutorial?
Good point. We'll continue to have a tutorial.
Underwater shadows?
There will be shadows underwater, water won't cast shadows though.
Quote
Just because they're removing the old interiors and terrain doesn't mean they don't plan on replacing them.
We might have other ways to get custom models in down the road, but we do not plan on readding interiors/terrains.
If there's no interiors or terrain won't you just fall forever when you spawn?
We'll keep a ground plane.
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Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:35:13 PM »If you make it so that creating a new sky will overwrite the existing one and change all modified properties automatically, again, I will personally send you $100 over whatever payment method you please and will do so happily.
We have been considering something like this.
116
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:34:23 PM »i would enjoy that. maybe some kind of terrain to save thing, or a brick terrain repeater (would save memory when saved(just repeat), but bricks could not be deleted on it)
I think that some sort of way to have a good brick terrain in a world is a possibility after shadows are solid.
117
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:33:17 PM »
Terrain will be removed. Slopes will cease to exist.
118
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:31:07 PM »having to hop over everything in a new lego minecraft would be lame. besides my own awesome servers (save it for my topic), there were so many good ones hosted on terrain.
That's a good point. What if there was a set of smooth terrain bricks?
119
Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:29:03 PM »Whats the problem with using the shaders in maps Like Bedroom & kitchen?
Could there be a slider box for how much quality for the shaders?
Will this allow us to have better lights? :D
It isn't those maps specifically, it is that interiors and terrains make rendering the shadowmap much more complicated. Most of the complexity in Torque's scene graph is due to considerations for making interiors/terrains work properly. If you strip all that out, things get a LOT simpler, so it's easier to make shadows work properly for the remaining things (ie players and vehicles).
There are some quality options.
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Development / Re: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain
« on: February 05, 2012, 05:25:14 PM »Can these shadows go on players and vehicles?
Also, would it be possible to do something like Tutorial and have a build load up when you start the map?
I am sure this can be done.