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[Column] Crowfall: Don't Fear the Voxels!
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
When some potential Crowfall fans heard that the upcoming game will feature a world full of voxels, they panicked. Some moaned audibly while others swore off anything with the words "crow" or "fall" in it for eternity. But the fact is, we shouldn't be afraid of the almighty voxel.
Read more of Shawn Schuster's Crowfall: Don't Fear the Voxels!
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Comments
"Pet the voxel. Hug the voxel. Tickle the voxel's little belly. They're really quite harmless."
Quotes of the year!
As long as the usage of destruction, etc. feel like a normal and organic part of the overall gameplay experience and don't draw attention to themselves, I think things will be just fine. It's when gameplay is negatively impacted by a poor implementation of them when things can start ot get sticky. From the experience seen on the Crowfall dev team, my money is on them getting it right. Risk? Sure it's a risk but I feel pretty good about this one.
well depend how capable programmers are
i see procedural worlds empty without handcrafted feeling
and see worlds full procedural i feel live and actual market demand everytime more dynamic "scenarios"
Why need fear?
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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For anyone that is interested we did an interview with Miguel Cepero from Voxel Farm if you wanted to hear more about voxels direct from the person creating the engine Crowfall is using. I think he puts most concerns to bed. He is also creating some very cool things of his own including licensing for only $20 and also his new "Farm."
Part 1
Part 2
Owner of EQNexus and Co-Creator of Theory Forge
"used in SOE's EverQuest Next and EverQuest Landmark. So if you've played those games"
wait...
what ???
I havent played EverQuest Next yet. Have I missed something, is it out???
I want a game where I get waylaid by a mage and he shoots a fireball at me and the explosion of it smashes me through a wall.
I would love for a game to feel like CGI trailers. people getting smashed through stuff. Your axe swing misses and takes out a door. etc. I want it to be realisticish and sexy and impactful and awesome.
The day someone pairs a completely destructible sandbox MMO world with Oculus Rift is going to have all my monies forever. When I'm immersed into the game and a whistling noise makes me duck as an arrow thunks into a tree next to my head and I hear the other guy whisper "damn it." That will be the day when all the monies will be given.
Until then. Can someone fucking stand up and make a sandbox worth my god damn time?
Here some structures built entirly out of voxel in Everquest Landmark
http://2p.com/6189415_1/SOEs-Landmark-New-Trailer-Highlights-Player-Creations-by-EdwardsLin
http://www.landmarkexplorer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EQNLAlpha_20140301-19-35-43.png
http://i.imgur.com/MHXJpkP.png
http://i1.2pcdn.com/node14/image/article/201406/24/20140624195014a0dtjxovmghir80h.jpg
can get some nice detail with the voxel farm engine.
Ive played Landmark, and all i can say is that its very laggy and the enviroment cant load in time, so i often have to stop running and stand still for a moment while the enviroment loads..
Hated it, main reason i stopped playing.
Nice he "Miguel" got his start and ideas working with the Canadian Government's money lol.I notice he also resides in Quebec where somehow they allow business like this to get away Scott free with tax breaks.
I really have no idea how RedFaction does their destructible worlds,imo their's looks way better than Voxels.
IMo the limitation is everything still comes out as blocky squares.
I have also yet to see anything voxel based have sound properties,example walking through a marshy ground or walking on pavement would give different sounds.The same for destruction,maybe i have not been paying close enough attention,but the only sound i ever hear is a sort of chunky sound when watching people destroy things or digging into the various different terrain.
I don't really know the whole inside of work inside of Landmark,their tools may be utilizing more than just Voxel sculpting.I have yet to see any of those structures being destructible inside of Landmark ,all i have seen is some nice work done by user's.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
From the article:
"Our system outputs traditional polygons so they can be used in legacy systems like rendering, physics, collisions, AI and path finding,"
Does that even mean anything, or is it completely vacuous? If you don't have triangles, you can't use Direct3D, OpenGL, or any related graphics API.
I ain't afraid of no voxel.
Sorry, had to do it.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
You are correct! There are plenty of funding programs like this. I actually work with a well-established visualization company who still gets considerable funding from the government. It's especially applicable on projects which are innovative or have a risk of failure associated with them. Promotes risk taking and innovation.
Do they not do this in the US?
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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