Water

[Ralok]

Well it has been debated for a very long time whether or not water will be in overgrowth, Personally i think it is necessary for a couple of good reasons. My first reason is that the isle of lugaru is a multi enviroment place, so leaving water out seems like it would be a waste.

Second dogs, wolves, and cats are all from elsewhere as far as we know (it is assumed by many that rats are also native to the isle) so it seems likely there is a place for people to leave the boats.

Like mos eisly space port but without the space

So there is several ways water can be done, but i feel that there is one method that can minimalize the amount of work. IT would also produce a ralatively unqiue sort of portside village.

put it on a cliff and keep all the boats on pulleys and elavators, keep the larger boats on the bottum anchored in place



the more water in the distance the less work needed, so what do you folks think about my slightly awesome idea.

[Lotus Wolf]

I think water would be awesome, but how would fighting work with water thrown into the mix? There would have to be an entirely different set of animations for water-to-water-fights, and water-to-land-fights, lots of work really. If you're thinking of making it so the player can never go near the water, I think that would be just as much of a waste as not having it at all. Also, if Wolfire were to try to go around making other animation sets for water and just slow the players movements down... Well, I for one think that a lot of games have gone wrong by doing that. If there's water, it must be swimmable, the player must be able to fight whilst in the water, and there can not be lazy water techniques (like slowing down animations and movement).

I do agree that since Lugaru is an island, not having water would be odd, but it may turn out to be to much work to do correctly, and if it's not done correctly, it could be detrimental to gameplay.

[Endoperez]

Like mos eisly space port but without the space.

... like a harbour?


Water in the distance isn't hard to do. It's just a different material, or at most a custom shader. I could do something that passes for water.

As Lotus Wolf said, it'd be the water into which you can move that would be hard.

[Ralok]

ye a harbour, i am suggeting water for theme purposes only.

I dont want a wet fight, or a riverside duel. plus with all that fur it would get complicated.

I just want the exsistance of water to be awknowledged

[Lord_of_Sausage]

have water - but not where you can stand. The water should be used for some beautiful landscapes and scenaries - not for combat

[m3nace]

or it could be done "crouching tiger hidden dragon - style"
just kidding
but underwater combat would be awkward, though I'd still like the ability to be and swim in water imaginea ninja-rabbit sneaking up from water, pulling out his bow and as he fires his bow, his whole guerilla army attacks from the water where they were hidden(believe me! that would be awesome

I actually tried it once when i was playing Warhammer Online.
[awesomevideogamemoment] It was really awesome as i fired my arrow against their commander and 20 men stormed them from behind me[/awesomevideogamemoment])

[Johannes]

If you have pre-ordered I would first scold you on not using the search forum search feature, and second would direct you to this large thread on water in overgrowth. (It's where the whaleman was originally conceived)

If you have not preordered, here is jeff's general answer:

We would like water, but unfortunately it is not as easy as you are making it out to be. A few issues:

- How does the AI react to it.
- Can you fight in the water?
- A set of swimming animations. For all species.
- What if you are wearing too much armor?
- Fighting in water?
- The physics involved in making water match the quality of the rest of the engine.

We would like to get water, and it is not very unreasonable to create cool looking water graphics, which David has done previously. However, it is too early to tell if we will have time to implement water fully.

Basically, the philosophy of Overgrowth is that everything we are going to put in the game is going to have a certain level of excellence. We are going for a level of polish rarely seen in indie games. We want to maintain an atmosphere of consistent quality. If we can do a good water implementation, that would be sweet.

[Renegade_Turner]

Like mos eisly space port but without the space.

... like a harbour?

Like Speed 2 but with a bus instead of a boat.

[Uberpwn_w00t]

I would be ecstatic to see any water, really. Even just puddles that splash a little bit when you step in them. Maybe some faux-fluid dynamics, a la OctaveEngine. Puddle fight! You know? Or maybe little wells in villages with just enough water to reach your ankle. It's obviously a hassle to implement it fully, but it sure would be swell if our good old friend H20 made a few small appearances. It's the little things that count.

[Endoperez]

I would be ecstatic to see any water, really. Even just puddles that splash a little bit when you step in them. Maybe some faux-fluid dynamics, a la OctaveEngine. Puddle fight! You know? Or maybe little wells in villages with just enough water to reach your ankle. It's obviously a hassle to implement it fully, but it sure would be swell if our good old friend H20 made a few small appearances. It's the little things that count.

Those "little things" are also rather complex. Reflective water surface isn't that hard, a mirror-like water surface isn't that hard but I believe it's quite resource-intensive. Splashing water simulation, however, is NOT easy, and it is quite resource intensive.

OctaveEngine looks really cool, but it is called

the Most Challenging Physics Engine Brand in the world that forges ahead to areas where no one doesn't do. These Engines are made of cutting-edge and unique technologies developed in Prometech Software, Inc. You can realize never-before-seen interactive physics phenomena and rendering effects in your game titles using our engines.

And for all that, you get THREE features:

• Water surface engine, as employed for Tekken6 by Namco Bandai Games.
• Sand and snowfall engine, the first engine successfully developed in the industry.
• Engine to depict beautiful natural skies

And yes, at least the water and sand/snow piling are worth the praise. I couldn't find anything about their skies, but if it's dynamic clouds + light + sun + athmosphere effects in real time, it'll allow for some crazy scenes that wouldn't be easy to do with skyboxes.