Plan for Todd Pickens
by Todd Pickens · 12/04/2005 (3:43 pm) · 15 comments
The American South West - RTS Environment Pack
Environment Number ...3.5
I have been working on this environment for the better part of the past two weeks. I was going to cut it short for the sake of making up lost time on the Swamp Environment, But the more work I did, the more I realized there was to do in order to accommodate the range of terrain that is found in the south west...and I still hardly touched on the possibilities.
Any way, I ended up with more map textures than you can have loaded at one time so I guess they will come as extras in the pack.
I also put a little extra effort into making ground vegetation that is more applicable to and RTS games "screen shot mode", or for those who want to use it for and FPS or some such.
So there are a couple of different flowers and grass that work well with the foliage or object replicators.
Josh "Fendory" Eagleson started a discussion about western theme games and that really got me going. As I have said countless times, the art in this pack is really tuned for RTS game or even a pulled out 3rd person RPG styles game. But now I am itching to do a version for an FPS. In fact I am really getting interested in the standard FPS Torque and can't wait to start producing some environments for that.
Here is a link to the dev shots for this environment, enjoy. And as always, feedback is welcome.
Environment Number ...3.5
I have been working on this environment for the better part of the past two weeks. I was going to cut it short for the sake of making up lost time on the Swamp Environment, But the more work I did, the more I realized there was to do in order to accommodate the range of terrain that is found in the south west...and I still hardly touched on the possibilities.
Any way, I ended up with more map textures than you can have loaded at one time so I guess they will come as extras in the pack.
I also put a little extra effort into making ground vegetation that is more applicable to and RTS games "screen shot mode", or for those who want to use it for and FPS or some such.
So there are a couple of different flowers and grass that work well with the foliage or object replicators.
Josh "Fendory" Eagleson started a discussion about western theme games and that really got me going. As I have said countless times, the art in this pack is really tuned for RTS game or even a pulled out 3rd person RPG styles game. But now I am itching to do a version for an FPS. In fact I am really getting interested in the standard FPS Torque and can't wait to start producing some environments for that.
Here is a link to the dev shots for this environment, enjoy. And as always, feedback is welcome.
About the author
#2
...15 minutes of willing my web space provider to work and the Presto!
12/04/2005 (3:56 pm)
Ya, some thing is jacked, sorry about that, I am looking into it. Think it is my provider...15 minutes of willing my web space provider to work and the Presto!
#3
12/04/2005 (4:43 pm)
Awesome. I'm itching to do a southwestern-themed game, so this will be great... 
#5
12/04/2005 (7:54 pm)
lookin good. hehe.. is that a tree i see floating in the background? :P
#6
Thanks, wish I could spend more time on it.
No its not floating. Strange, at distance the rendering seems to lose some of the accuracy on sorting things. Either that or the map mesh is being poly reduced or some such. I spotted that as well and double checked it. Actually intended to fix it (stick the tree further into the ground and make another screen shot).
12/04/2005 (9:04 pm)
Skye,Thanks, wish I could spend more time on it.
No its not floating. Strange, at distance the rendering seems to lose some of the accuracy on sorting things. Either that or the map mesh is being poly reduced or some such. I spotted that as well and double checked it. Actually intended to fix it (stick the tree further into the ground and make another screen shot).
#7
12/04/2005 (10:00 pm)
Awesome themes, man. When you post a .plan, I always know my eyes are in for a treat :) Man, you`re a machine:)
#8
"Any way, I ended up with more map textures than you can have loaded at one time so I guess they will come as extras in the pack."
FYI, there are two resources out there for for those who really need more than 6 textures per map. Apparently TGE actually supports 8 textures but the terrain editor only supports 6, the first resource adds two more textures to the terrain GUI: http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=7570
The second is much more involved but bumps texture support to 12 (some people have tweaked it to support 16): http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=4302
I'm not suggesting these as part of the RTS environment pack since it needs to work with the stock RTS-SK, but those who want more textures might be interested.
Greg
12/04/2005 (11:21 pm)
Quote:"Any way, I ended up with more map textures than you can have loaded at one time so I guess they will come as extras in the pack."
FYI, there are two resources out there for for those who really need more than 6 textures per map. Apparently TGE actually supports 8 textures but the terrain editor only supports 6, the first resource adds two more textures to the terrain GUI: http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=7570
The second is much more involved but bumps texture support to 12 (some people have tweaked it to support 16): http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=4302
I'm not suggesting these as part of the RTS environment pack since it needs to work with the stock RTS-SK, but those who want more textures might be interested.
Greg
#9
Thanks very much, Knowing folks are liking what they are seeing keeps me motivated.
@Cholly ...Are you serious?!? You have no idea how much time I wasted agonizing over which textures to settle on... Aren't you suppose to be my code support :O)
12/04/2005 (11:36 pm)
@Nauris,Thanks very much, Knowing folks are liking what they are seeing keeps me motivated.
@Cholly ...Are you serious?!? You have no idea how much time I wasted agonizing over which textures to settle on... Aren't you suppose to be my code support :O)
#10
12/04/2005 (11:39 pm)
lol. sorry tod. I really don't mean to pick wholes in your beautiful scenery! It's fine.
#11
Pick away! I am my own worst critic
...I am gonna have to go fix that now, its driving me crazy, won't be able to sleep :P
12/04/2005 (11:48 pm)
Skye,Pick away! I am my own worst critic
...I am gonna have to go fix that now, its driving me crazy, won't be able to sleep :P
#12
01/27/2006 (2:48 pm)
Why are these called 'RTS enviro packs' ? Can't you use it in other genre's such as FPS or RPG?
#13
It is called an RTS Environment Pack because that is what I focused on in its development.
All of the content can be used in FPS or RPG, but the art was designed primarily from an assumption of a traditional RTS camera view.
If I were developing it specifically for an FPS camera view then some object would have been constructed a bit differently and textured a bit differently.
As for RPG use, well, the camera scheme for that sort of game can be anything from FPS to almost an RTS camera, so it falls in there some where and the art in this pack is certainly useable for that sort of game.
In the end, I received so much interest in the pack for FPS game development, that I did add some content tuned toward that use. Specifically, multiple variations of some objects with varying complexities of collision, so the end user could pick whatever best suited their needs. I also included a number of low vegetation objects and textures designed for use with the fxShapeReplicator and the fxFoliageReplicator, which are useable in an RTS, but really only appropriate if your are trying to zoom in tight for nice screen shots.
The pack is finishing up Q&A testing at Garage Games right now, and should be available very soon.
01/27/2006 (3:01 pm)
Jonathon,It is called an RTS Environment Pack because that is what I focused on in its development.
All of the content can be used in FPS or RPG, but the art was designed primarily from an assumption of a traditional RTS camera view.
If I were developing it specifically for an FPS camera view then some object would have been constructed a bit differently and textured a bit differently.
As for RPG use, well, the camera scheme for that sort of game can be anything from FPS to almost an RTS camera, so it falls in there some where and the art in this pack is certainly useable for that sort of game.
In the end, I received so much interest in the pack for FPS game development, that I did add some content tuned toward that use. Specifically, multiple variations of some objects with varying complexities of collision, so the end user could pick whatever best suited their needs. I also included a number of low vegetation objects and textures designed for use with the fxShapeReplicator and the fxFoliageReplicator, which are useable in an RTS, but really only appropriate if your are trying to zoom in tight for nice screen shots.
The pack is finishing up Q&A testing at Garage Games right now, and should be available very soon.
#14
01/27/2006 (3:09 pm)
i'm in love...
#15
I hope it meets everyones expectations. I can't wait to see someone make something with it.
01/27/2006 (3:14 pm)
Thanks very much Jonathon!I hope it meets everyones expectations. I can't wait to see someone make something with it.
Torque 3D Owner Florian Ross
Now it works and it looks very sweet as usual ... keep up the good work