FPS Environment Pack free Update, or...
09/01/2008 (6:15 pm) by Todd Pickens
...The Odyssey...sans Penelope
It's a long time in coming, but I recently submitted an updated build of my FPS Environment Pack to Derek at Garage Games.
It may not have taken me the ten years it took Ulysses to reach home after the fall of Troy, but it has been a bit of an Odyssey.
I started on this Free Update over a year ago, while a lot of folks waited patiently. Not unlike Ulysses, chance and circumstance turned my undertaking into an unexpected journey. But at long last it is done, and I hope that all of you who purchased the pack enjoy the result and put it to good use.
The update started as the addition of a summer time theme inspired by a Asher Brown Durand painting.
...Along the way it sort of snowballed into over a dozen different demo maps with Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and day and night settings. And a full TGEA port. Ultimately I cut that back to nine maps covering various takes on Spring, Summer, mid and late Autumn.
The TGEA port also got cut from this update, because TGEA went through some major changes which requires a good amount of rework to the content pack's port. That will be getting my attention soon.
What's In The Update?
The pack is now based on TGE 1.5.2. The original TGE Water upgrade by Manoel Neto that I started with, was replaced by Alex Scarborough's Modernization Kit.
I redesigned the interface and menu system to support a better end user experience.
A really cool animated Butterflies shape resource was donated by Tom Feni.
Andy "International Man of Leisure" Maloney supported me with a load of resource integration, fixes, tweaks, and tunes for the playable Demo.
Adam Larson, of "Legions Lead Coder" fame, recently developed an Object Fading resource that enabled me to have objects and particles fade out at specified distances.
Adam also developed a Particle Alignment resource that allowed me to do some really simple, but really cool particle emitter stuff in conjunction with Alex's shiny shader water.
All of that coupled with Jon Jorajuria's Kick @$$ audio, and his original Square Foliage Replicator, Shapebase Animation Triggered Sounds, and Embedded DTS Sound resource, make for a sand box that was hard to stop playing in.
I owe those guys a REALLY BIG Thank You for all of their assistance, support, and awesome resources. I could not have done it without you, and I am in your debt.
...Not that it needs saying, but YOU ROCK!
You can see the Video HERE.
The update should be available on GG site very soon. When it is, you will find it HERE.
It's a long time in coming, but I recently submitted an updated build of my FPS Environment Pack to Derek at Garage Games.
It may not have taken me the ten years it took Ulysses to reach home after the fall of Troy, but it has been a bit of an Odyssey.
I started on this Free Update over a year ago, while a lot of folks waited patiently. Not unlike Ulysses, chance and circumstance turned my undertaking into an unexpected journey. But at long last it is done, and I hope that all of you who purchased the pack enjoy the result and put it to good use.
The update started as the addition of a summer time theme inspired by a Asher Brown Durand painting.
...Along the way it sort of snowballed into over a dozen different demo maps with Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and day and night settings. And a full TGEA port. Ultimately I cut that back to nine maps covering various takes on Spring, Summer, mid and late Autumn.
The TGEA port also got cut from this update, because TGEA went through some major changes which requires a good amount of rework to the content pack's port. That will be getting my attention soon.
What's In The Update?
The pack is now based on TGE 1.5.2. The original TGE Water upgrade by Manoel Neto that I started with, was replaced by Alex Scarborough's Modernization Kit.
I redesigned the interface and menu system to support a better end user experience.
A really cool animated Butterflies shape resource was donated by Tom Feni.
Andy "International Man of Leisure" Maloney supported me with a load of resource integration, fixes, tweaks, and tunes for the playable Demo.
Adam Larson, of "Legions Lead Coder" fame, recently developed an Object Fading resource that enabled me to have objects and particles fade out at specified distances.
Adam also developed a Particle Alignment resource that allowed me to do some really simple, but really cool particle emitter stuff in conjunction with Alex's shiny shader water.
All of that coupled with Jon Jorajuria's Kick @$$ audio, and his original Square Foliage Replicator, Shapebase Animation Triggered Sounds, and Embedded DTS Sound resource, make for a sand box that was hard to stop playing in.
I owe those guys a REALLY BIG Thank You for all of their assistance, support, and awesome resources. I could not have done it without you, and I am in your debt.
...Not that it needs saying, but YOU ROCK!
You can see the Video HERE.
The update should be available on GG site very soon. When it is, you will find it HERE.
About the author
I am a veteran artist and designer with 12+ years in game development and multiple shipped titles for PC, X-Box, and PS2, platforms. I’ve worked on and Shipped FPS, RTS, Action/Adcade, RPG, and Casual games. I bring a lot of practical experience to my development efforts, and enjoy overcoming the challenges of game creation. As a game maker and artist, I have a particular passion for creating detailed immersive environments. I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting projects, and like to find myself involved with every aspect of project development on some level, as experience has taught me that having a clear common vision and good team communication is essential in such a collaborative and creatively demanding business. view profile »
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#3
John K.
09/01/2008 (7:04 pm)
This looks great, Todd! Are the shapes mostly DTS or DIF structures? And if they're a mix, roughly what percentage of the shapes are in each format?John K.
#4
09/01/2008 (7:57 pm)
Gorgeous! 
#6
Excellent work again and great area design to showoff the props.
09/01/2008 (8:05 pm)
Schweeeet :)Excellent work again and great area design to showoff the props.
#7
09/01/2008 (8:05 pm)
Awesome. I loved the first edition. 
#8
And a big thanks to everyone else that had parts to play in this. Excellent work guys!
09/01/2008 (8:35 pm)
At last!!!! Awesome work Todd! Thank you thank you thank you thank you .... (ad infinitum)And a big thanks to everyone else that had parts to play in this. Excellent work guys!
#10
09/01/2008 (9:27 pm)
Yeah! Too bad the part I was waiting for got cut (TGEA), but I'll wait patiently. If there is anything I can do to help, send me a note.
#11
09/01/2008 (9:58 pm)
Awesome! Downloading the update now!
#13
Thanks very much. I am really glad to get this thing done. I can't wait to see what people do with it.
@ John K.
Thank you John. The shapes are all dts. I have been really pleased with the results I get with dts objects and collision.
@ Stephan, Christian, Thak, Mike R., and Ben A.
Thank you very much, and my apology for taking so long.
@ Daz,
You are very welcome, hope you enjoy it. And I could not have said it better myself. .."a big thanks to everyone else that had parts to play in this. Excellent work guys!"
@ Jaimi McEntire,
Sorry Jaimi, I had the whole pack ready to go in TGEA, then the engine underwent some major changes, which is requiring me to make some changes. Also, I didn't want to release version that was not taking advantage of the the latest TGEA features, so I decided that the best thing to do was get the TGE version out there and then focus on a proper TGEA port. I will get it done as quickly as I can.
@ Trenton S,
Thanks very much Trenton, ..the update isn't up yet. The build has been submitted to Garage Games and should be available within a couple of days.
@ Tek0,
The Particle Alignment resource that Adam created enables a control of particle facing that was not available before in TGE to the best of my knowledge.
In the screen shot what you are seeing is a particle emitter on the surface of the water (creating the water ripples) that allows you to control the facing of the particle, in this case always facing up no matter where the camera is, rather than billboarding. In the image, I olny have one or two particles that are doing the ripples, but you can imagine how this could be put to use in many ways.
You could do this with an IFL (but thats special case), or some other tricks in TGEA, but in TGE that sort of particle control was not available. This resource expands particle control and makes a lot of things possible that were not before.
For those who may be interested, the demo environments have Ben Garney's polysoup collision resource integrated. A Big Thanks to Andy Maloney for making that possible.
Checkout the test video HERE.
09/01/2008 (11:02 pm)
@ Ben and Novack,Thanks very much. I am really glad to get this thing done. I can't wait to see what people do with it.
@ John K.
Thank you John. The shapes are all dts. I have been really pleased with the results I get with dts objects and collision.
@ Stephan, Christian, Thak, Mike R., and Ben A.
Thank you very much, and my apology for taking so long.
@ Daz,
You are very welcome, hope you enjoy it. And I could not have said it better myself. .."a big thanks to everyone else that had parts to play in this. Excellent work guys!"
@ Jaimi McEntire,
Sorry Jaimi, I had the whole pack ready to go in TGEA, then the engine underwent some major changes, which is requiring me to make some changes. Also, I didn't want to release version that was not taking advantage of the the latest TGEA features, so I decided that the best thing to do was get the TGE version out there and then focus on a proper TGEA port. I will get it done as quickly as I can.
@ Trenton S,
Thanks very much Trenton, ..the update isn't up yet. The build has been submitted to Garage Games and should be available within a couple of days.
@ Tek0,
The Particle Alignment resource that Adam created enables a control of particle facing that was not available before in TGE to the best of my knowledge.
In the screen shot what you are seeing is a particle emitter on the surface of the water (creating the water ripples) that allows you to control the facing of the particle, in this case always facing up no matter where the camera is, rather than billboarding. In the image, I olny have one or two particles that are doing the ripples, but you can imagine how this could be put to use in many ways.
You could do this with an IFL (but thats special case), or some other tricks in TGEA, but in TGE that sort of particle control was not available. This resource expands particle control and makes a lot of things possible that were not before.
For those who may be interested, the demo environments have Ben Garney's polysoup collision resource integrated. A Big Thanks to Andy Maloney for making that possible.
Checkout the test video HERE.
#14
The video is one I hadn't seen. Thanks for the link.
Your video looks awesome. :-)
09/01/2008 (11:43 pm)
The polysoup resource works great in tge 1.5.+ I have it in my engine. The video is one I hadn't seen. Thanks for the link.
Your video looks awesome. :-)
#15
09/02/2008 (12:35 am)
This looks really awesome! I was just playing the Warhammer Online beta, and this kicks the crap out of their environments even. Just goes to show what a great artist can do! Congrats on the launch man. :) 
#16
09/02/2008 (2:24 am)
Will these additional addons, (like the modernization kit and particle modification) be mergable with any current project, or will just the compiled exe be given? As seeing these items working, and put together is truly a good thing, but if we cant merge it into another project and have to remerge the entire pack -minus the fps content. Then the value is somewhat diminished.
#17
Thanks very much. I have been pretty impressed with how well the polysoup works. I have plans for a pack that makes specific use of it.
@ Tim,
Wow! Thanks man!! That is very generous, both by the comparison and in coming from you. Much appreciated.
@ Edward,
The content pack contains a playable demo build with the community resources integrated. The engine code is not provided, that would be illegal.
The resources that are showcased in the demo levels are all publicly available resources with instructions on how to integrate them into Torque.
The whole point is to provide an example of what you can do with those free resources, and to provide content to use with them in your project.
09/02/2008 (3:06 am)
@ Mike,Thanks very much. I have been pretty impressed with how well the polysoup works. I have plans for a pack that makes specific use of it.
@ Tim,
Wow! Thanks man!! That is very generous, both by the comparison and in coming from you. Much appreciated.
@ Edward,
The content pack contains a playable demo build with the community resources integrated. The engine code is not provided, that would be illegal.
The resources that are showcased in the demo levels are all publicly available resources with instructions on how to integrate them into Torque.
The whole point is to provide an example of what you can do with those free resources, and to provide content to use with them in your project.
#18
09/02/2008 (5:28 am)
That looks great - thanks Todd. How did you get the YouTube videos so crisp? Mine are always blocky even if my originals are sharp.
#19
Good eye on the video! It's a trick I turned up while searching the web for high resolution hosting options.
Not all video can support it, I think it has to do with the original upload resolution, but if you add "&fmt=6" to the end of the url, it streams it at a higher quality.
09/02/2008 (5:36 am)
Thanks Andy!Good eye on the video! It's a trick I turned up while searching the web for high resolution hosting options.
Not all video can support it, I think it has to do with the original upload resolution, but if you add "&fmt=6" to the end of the url, it streams it at a higher quality.
#20
That's really cool you are using the Polysoup code. I had already implemented all of the resources you are using in to my TGE 1.5.2 / AFX / TMK hybrid. Just counting down until I can download ... I can't wait! Thanks again for the outstanding update! I really like how you incorporated your updated kit into an updated TGE, outstanding!
09/02/2008 (1:19 pm)
@ToddThat's really cool you are using the Polysoup code. I had already implemented all of the resources you are using in to my TGE 1.5.2 / AFX / TMK hybrid. Just counting down until I can download ... I can't wait! Thanks again for the outstanding update! I really like how you incorporated your updated kit into an updated TGE, outstanding!
Torque Owner Ben Sparks (Warspawn)