Welcome to the Page for alias jargon's Contributions to Shattered Earth

i improved the original design document se if based off, that i originally presented in ~2000. now it calls for tile -> voxel simlistic conversion, while keeping the ff4 mapping style with mq style item style intact. (remember se is based off the 'roe' design doc.)

tile -> voxel conversion will still allow for the projection to be the same perceptually as the ff4 style, only difference is 1st/2nd/3rd person toggle would be enabled. from there the voxel -> sector -> mesh future conversions would be easy to implement. allowing for se to match the style of the original 3D promo banner used as the placeholder for the project webspace.

ff4ish map detail converts flawlessly to voxel at this time with the preliminary ai i wrote and tested in the zeed dummy project.

As follows is the updated Shattered Earth Design Document:

zeed dummy project

these are screenshots from a dummy project called zeed.

the purpose of this project is, that it is part of the design document for the next stage in Shattered Earth development as discussed privately between Warlord and I in ~2002.

The original design document was simply FF4 style maps with Mystic Quest style item use for battle etcetera, and enemy placement, however the enemies would be animated same way as any npc in FF4.

The design document called for SE originally being developed in 2D, until Warlord knew how to code well enough for the 1st/2nd/3rd person upgrades.

Zeed is the dummy project illustrating the Tile -> Voxel upgrade. After Voxel it will become Sector, then Mesh.

so tile -> voxel -> sector -> mesh, all together.

Tile

FF4 style maps and art, with Mystic Quest style item usage. Enemies are placed throughout levels MQ style, but behave and are animated FF4 NPC style.

Voxel

Using voxel 3d, regular view could still be identical to the current FF4 layout, however 1st/2nd/3rd person is possible as extra view modes. Easily allows catwalks, etcetera.

Example image on the left, is Castle Baron from FF4, in Inverse Projection camera mode.

Sector

Sectors would allow the map to consume less memory that the voxel mode, and allow for more complex maps, and would allow improved npc ai, akin to Duke3D scripting. Npc's etc could still use the regular FF4 imposter graphics, along with textures being from the FF4 tile set. Would allow more advanced door animations, floor region shifting, more accurately sloped floors, more accurate stair wells etc, advanced duplication of various sectors using a prefabricated sector library.

Mesh

Mesh would allow the levels to have superior detail using updated textures, and allow npc's etc to be polygonal. Mesh could easily be built upon the sector info, and surpass it.

Currently zeed illustrates some limited ai that works with the Castle Baron map, however it will not work for more complex maps, also it uses a very simplistic method of texturing unseen areas and completing unseen walls.

Yes, zeed is opensource because it is a design document set of files, not an actual Shattered Earth source code.

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