Author Topic: 2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain [Fan Art Too]  (Read 425187 times)

this update is like heaven for slate/plate edits

!

There also seems to be a slight reflection in the Valley TDM thing.

kompressor, I'd like a straight and honest answer to the following question.

Is all this a joke? Are you just pulling a prank on the Blockland community? The pics in the OP look too pre-rendered to be legit... or so I hope.

Huge variety?  Most of the maps were slate edits, random generated terrain, or crappy cities that would no doubt look better when built with real bricks.  Terrain simply ruins "a game about Lego" because you can't even built effectively.

Maps sucks.

I'm here to build, not to go on adventures in a crappy slope which is repeated all over again.

Why delete my post?
My post was on topic

Bitching about how no terrain/interior ruins you is explicitly forbidden in the OP. -- kompressor
« Last Edit: February 06, 2012, 11:17:56 AM by kompressor »

Q&A SESSION 3

Will bricks with FX look different?

Maybe.

One more thing, will this also fix brick-lights on big bricks placed next to each-other?

Lighting will always be smooth, no more big jaggy lighting artifacts.

Well, I guess all the terrain creations I've been working on for months upon months are now null and void. This looks great but I'm disappointed that these projects I poured myself into, that I was excited to finish and release, will never see the light of day.

Better release 'em soon so people can enjoy them before the shadow update! Or, you could mope and delete them and feel bad about yourself for a few months if you want.

+50 page strong response coming in. Yes I read every post in this thread. I'm terribly sorry for the page stretch.

I came with the force of thousand suns when I read OP. Shadow casting bricks have been among the most suggested features for Blockland for years. Now the time has finally come. We all knew this day had to come eventually, but I for one had no idea it would be here so soon. I was expecting to wait for this for at least a year or two.

Proper shadows and shaders made me very happy but after I got to the part about interiors and terrain being removed it made me a little sad. Granted I personally didn't use either types of maps very much but they did give Blockland it's own special flavor. I am certain that a majority of the community will be remembering these maps with fond memories. As such I have a request that many would benefit from.

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.

With the increased usage of bricks, will the brick limit be raised again? I would see this as sort of a necessity as now we need to create even larger builds to include a built terrain. 512,000 would be the obvious next limit but is it possible to push it further?



The only Terrain Map I'll really miss is Summer Slopes. I loved that map.
I love you too.



If you make it so that creating a new sky will overwrite the existing one and change all modified properties automatically
Support from me. Dynamic skies would be sweet.



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.



What will happen to the Tutorial?
It will be built from bricks and scripted/evented. Very easy to do.



As asked before, how will we use Skis without terrain? Slope bricks don't usually work very well with Skis, not to mention Skis have always been buggy in general. Maybe if that's all solved, someone could build a replica of Slopes and get it included as default should it be good enough? Obviously I'm not good enough to do it, but... You know.
I suggest someone to dig out a long dead Resonance_Cascade person. At one point he successfully made a script that placed 4x4 cubes on top of terrain and effectively replicated the terrain in bricks.



-wall of text-
A very good idea.



Kind of makes me wonder if anything will happen to the Maps and Mapping Help subforums.
They will probably be locked and eventually (2-12 months?) removed.



-wall of text-
Excellent idea. This is probably the future of the new terrain.



And maybe... DIRECTIONAL LIGHTS!!! :D
(like, a flashlight)
A man can dream.. A man can dream..



QA SESSION TWO

Will lights still go through bricks?
Depends.
Don't you dare. You've gone this far. You better not have any light going through solid bricks!



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.
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.
I'm hoping this will get an update since if brick and player lights do not cast shadows it's not going to be all that fun.



Build contest: design the best tutorial.
Yes. This needs to be done. It has to be scripted though so it works without add-ons.



I have no problem with the removal of interiors and terrains, because it starts bringing back more focus to what really helps make Blockland what it is about; building with bricks. Too many people have become too dependent on the map itself. And on another point, improved vehicle to brick collisions is great news to someone who has made so many vehicles as myself.

Now I read about possible BLB tools? Has there been any work done on these? I've heard rumors of Badspot having his own personal tool for making bricks. Will it be a basic stand-alone program? An exporter plugin? Or, most likely, a simple 3D shape file converter?

I am dying to start making all the bricks we don't have.
Yes. BLB tools are desperately needed.



Concept:

There are two ways to save bricks: as maps or as creations. Creation saves would work the exact same way that brick-saving works currently, but this is how map brick-saving would work:

You build your terrain in bricks. When you save these bricks, you are giving the option to save them as a map. If you choose that option, the save will show up from the "Start a Server" menu, the way that maps do currently. When you load a map brick save, the bricks have no permissions. This means that anybody can build on them, but nobody can destroy them. After people build on the map bricks, when you go to save, you can save only the creations, and the save will be associated with the brick map, just the way that saves are associated with maps currently.
A very good idea but I'd prefer "builds" rather than "creations".



Maybe bricks that have different appearances? Matte, metallic, etc.?
A great idea! A new paint column to adjust bricks' specularity value!



I doubt it. Give modders enough time and they'll have substitutes for those who miss these old interiors. Obviously not in the same way but it's still
I can export any interior as a DTS shape and they will have proper shadows and collision too. Then simply make it a mission object and done. I can also do textures if the developers release the original interior source files. If not then they are just making me sweat blood but it's still doable.



Also, builds like this:

http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=149068.msg3504648;topicseen#msg3504648

Will be pretty broken.
Lord Tony bitched to you too didn't he? =)



Warning - while you were typing 44 new replies have been posted. You may wish to review your post.

I shat my pants when i saw it.

I have a suggestion, if someone places a baseplate and you build on it, and that person saves the build and reloads, your bricks should stay your bricks rather than being given to the owner of the baseplate you've built on, if you place a baseplate and build on it, have it saved and reloaded, it's still yours, so why doesn't ownership stay if you've built on someone else's baseplate?
Reposting since this topic goes by faster than Sonic the Hedgehog

Q&A SESSION 3

Will bricks with FX look different?

Maybe.

One more thing, will this also fix brick-lights on big bricks placed next to each-other?

Lighting will always be smooth, no more big jaggy lighting artifacts.

Well, I guess all the terrain creations I've been working on for months upon months are now null and void. This looks great but I'm disappointed that these projects I poured myself into, that I was excited to finish and release, will never see the light of day.

Better release 'em soon so people can enjoy them before the shadow update! Or, you could mope and delete them and feel bad about yourself for a few months if you want.
What's a point of releasing a new map when everyone will be too busy playing through the old maps they loved before they can't play them again.

Thank you Kompressor with the response. I respect it.

But we do have a point. I wouldn't find Blockland as fun without terrain maps. I don't mind about interiors.

What's a point of releasing a new map when everyone will be too busy playing through the old maps they loved before they can't play them again.

We are not releasing this update in the next 2 hours. People have time to enjoy it. Take a video of the maps, too, it will be useful if you ever try to get a job in games.

Thank you Kompressor with the response. I respect it.

But we do have a point. I wouldn't find Blockland as fun without terrain maps. I don't mind about interiors.

I understand. However, this is non-negotiable. Interiors and terrain are killing forward progress in Blockland development. Trust me - it won't be as bad as you think.

I don't know if you have clarified this before, but lights a player spawns do not cast shadows, correct?

oh and also, how will this affect bricks with lattices like the fence or the platform thing?

This is awesome! - I hope in the future that lights spawned on bricks will cast their own independent shadows apart from the sun shadow.

Also - I smell better physics :)