Games (PC) Isle Of Carnage

Sup guys!, im back at Unity with my latest project, Isle Of Carnage. IOC is a 3D FPS survival with the following details:

Story: You, a US military operative, is ordered to an island off costa rica. The island has been "off limits" for years, with rumors of dinosaurs, creatures, and military activity. Debriefing meeting reveals military are on site, and is placed to protect the island at all costs. Everything on the island is out to kill you, the creatures, the military, and god knows what else...

Systems currently in place:

• Large open world island, with both land and water encounters.
• Realistic water effects, ripples, water/body trails, underwater effects, and surface swimming.
• Enemy Para-military/creature AI, with full capabilities, root-animation planned.
• 10+ weapons in your possible arsenal, find them and their ammo, to survive (health and thirst systems planned). Granades are in game, more destructable environment also planned.
• Less cluttered HUD, minimal/basic info only, smaller reticle and text.
• Day/Night/Weather cycles planned, and in process.
• Win 10 developed with BuiltIn renderer (2019 4.8 f1 LTS build), PC only, with PPE and Beautify combo, for camera effects.

This is NOT Jurassic Extinction, this is a large open world island with many features/systems and creatures implimented (including deadly plants). Attention to detailed environment is a priority, and many things planned as progress allows. This will be released as a paid game on multiple outlets. SS and videos will be added as i have time. Heres the eye candy: (swamp area, starting area, and enemy main basecamp)...

 

Did alot of work to the lake (in the north end of the isle) tonight, should be finished by the weekend. Heres a SS of current version:

 

Did an attack on the main military base tonight, having a prob with screen recording, no matter what i use (OBS, etc.), videos dont reflect what the game actually plays, the game runs at 80+ FPS, but still looks laggy in videos. Will sort this out soon. Its fun to kill and blow up stuff, lol. Heres the attack footage: the attack footage:

 

Decided to do some work to the lake area, which is west of the enemy main base. Much more to do, but looking great!. Plesiosaur added, animated and set up AI. Do note, in any water (lake and ocean) you have limited air, and the "pain HUD" lets you know when your running out, thats your que:

 

Glad to see you coming back with new project at full steam.

I will keep an eye on your thread

 

Thanks bro, good to be back home at Unity, and best to you and your project

 

Worked on the center of the isle, which is a kapok forest, and the territory of the TRex. They (2) were a little testy today, while play testing i forgot they were AI active and killed me, lol. Check it out:

 

Did alot of animation work, and everything is now root animated. I have converted any and all in-place animations to root animation. The soldiers and dinos now act and look great!. The TRex came out real nice, but in the short video below, the Triceratops doesnt look like a plastic toy, lol. So all NPCs will be root animated as i add them:

 

Tonight i have added 2 smaller (sub) military bases on the island, for a total of 3, (1 main and 2 sub bases). All bases have control/radio towers in them, that you have to destroy (as objectives), breaking the para-miltarys communication is vital. Im currently adding the remote outposts around the island, like the SS posted below:

 

Just wanted to post some tech details to show the workflow of IOC.

All areas run at 70-100 FPS, with camera farplane currently set at 200, but i have a 30-40 FPS buffer...chunk streaming of terrain with SECTR, which will be added towards the end of the project. All assets are highly optimized as they are added, model import, material, and texture settings (streaming mip map support, static and dynamic batching). All objects are prefabs (easy to make changes to one prefab that changes them all).

Any in-place animations of NPCs and creatures, are converted to root motion. Ragdolls added where needed. Many interactable objects being added daily, example: Exploding barrels of fuel, climbable ladders, deadly poison plants that hurt you when you touch them, etc., with physics enabled. Complete underwater environments, both lake and ocean. Bigget thing is a less cluttered HUD, no breath bars (for underwater), no mini map, i want the HUD to be wide open, full view, less is better.

Some probably have guessed, im using a heavily modified version of RFPSP for the controller, as a base. I find it one of the most performant and functional controllers for IOC. If anyone has any questions about the project or its workflow, feel free. Im really happy with optimization/performance for an open world, i have alot of overhead to introduce new systems and environment objects.

 

Sorry guys, no new SS or video update at the moment, as im currently working on an object destruction system. Certain objects will be destuctable, and currently testing trees, towers, etc., and the performance impact effects. So far results are awesome, with pooling and particle effects, its looking promising.

Ill have some alpha footage, before the weekend ends, lots of work to do, As i always say, "get back to work!", lol.

 

The 3rd base in the SW is about finished. The new destruction system is done and working great!, not sure about adding it to trees, due to the scale of the isle and sheer number of trees, but im testing it out. Ive also added fire dmg to all campfires, dont get too close to them, lol. Destructable communication towers have been added.

The para-miltary enemy are now mostly finished, added hit animations. Ill be posting another video soon, heres a SS of base 3:

 

Its that time, im sure you all have noticed, i havent added grass to the environment yet. So its time to deal with the age old problem of Unity...performant grass. Now, we can all debate this topic for years, but its down to the actual project (scale, setup, intended platform, etc.). Though not easy, ive narrowed down my path. Grass can be painted on the terrain with Unitys terrain tools, or, placed as a tree prefab, with the terrain tree placement system. Each has pros/cons.

In Jurassic Extinction, i used the tree placement terrain system, and performance was great, so thats the route im taking/testing at this time. Im using grass that has prefabs, LODS, etc., with GPU instancing, as a base. What shader you use has a has a big impact to begin with, (i have many). CTI and Advanced Vegetation Shader PBR are my go to shaders. Ive created a custom grass (very optimized), that looks and performs great!. I added the grass to the triceratops area (pretty dense), and the frame rate only dropped by 8 FPS...

 

A large open world project is alot of work. Every single object you add in, every system, has to be fully optimized (model, texture, material, and animation import settings are crucial). LODs, camera, shadows, and PPE settings play the biggest part of the equation. Remember, its what the camera can see and render, thats most important, AND, at what distance its rendered at. Another thing is LODs. Very crucial to performance. Learning what, where and how many LODs, is a balance. (watch your profiler, stats, etc.). Also overlooked is tris/polys. Reduce polys/tris where ever you can.

One "trick of the trade" that has eluded many is, IF your using only a directional light, (and realtime lighting) is: "why do i have very dark shadows/backside, of the opposite direction of my directional light?". Simple... add another directional light (without shadows enabled, purely just a light), place it in the opposite direction of origional directional light, and adjust intensity, to off-set the effect. This also gives you more control, and you can also color this light if needed, the result is awesome. Video below is an example:

 

Im very happy with the way the TRex area came out, and performs great (75+ FPS). The area is finished, and looks amazing, ill be moving on to one of the base camps or Tricerratops area next. Heres a SS of the TRex area:

 

Decided to set up poisonous plants tonight. These will be found throughout the isle, so any time your wandering around, take note of their shape/look, as they do good damage, and they blend in with the foliage well. There will also be plants that will actually attack you, which ill add in soon. Heres a short video to show the look and damage:

 

This is Giganotosaurus, scaled, and working on AI/root animations. Ive got him looking great, he will be at the new watering hole area on the east side of the isle. He knows theres lots of prey at the watering hole. Ill have video of the area once set up.

 

I just started adding foliage to the Giganotosaurus area. They are now in AI, and all root animations added. Im going to be adding a juvenile with them a bit later on. Heres the list on the update:

• Giganotosaurs added, with AI and root animations.
  
• Added in alot more explosive/interactable objects, including communication towers (objectives).
  
• Added more physics based objects, mostly in enemy camps and outposts.
  
• Began modeling a water purification plant, which will be added soon.
  
• Started adding in poisonous plants in many areas.

Heres a short video showing the Giganotosaurs area:

 

Sup guys, been working alot of OT at my job, so im a bit late working on IOC. While adding foliage to the Giganoto area tonight an issue has been nagging my brain. Ive always used Vegetation Studio in my projects, mostly for the shaders and grass support. I now have my own grass thats very performant (even if set real dencely), so its not really a main concern right now. So what ive been really thinking about is The Vegetation Engine.

Ive investigated TVE (im impressed), and it would add so much to IOC, main points are touch-bend foliage, grass trails for objects moving through grass, etc. Id really like to use TVE instead of VS, just have a few things to find/test out. My biggest concern is will i have to re-hand place all of my foliage after i convert them into TVE.

If any of you have used TVE, would love to hear what you think of it, your own experience, and its capabilites...

 

Sup guys!. Wanted to share some info and video of a tech/test demo of IOC. I have 3 versions of IOC, where i test ideas, asset imports and etc. This video is of the high detail/final workflow. This means once all of the island is basicly built, all areas will get an update like this, with additions and detail. The only missing thing is "god rays" through the foliage/fog. Due note the added dead trees, denser foliage, falling leaves (particle effect), sticks and leaves on the ground.

Giganoto also has more detail: better normal map, smoothness, metallic, and hue/color adjustments. This workflow is already in progress, and being further tested. Im happy with the realism/detail aspect, and much more to come:

 

Been working on shaders the past few nights, and wanted to address this before too much of the isle is built. The following SS's show the drastic change. Hue/color, smoothness, normal map, and metallic adjustments have been made, and will be applied to ALL foliage.

As you can see, this increases the realism greatly. Im currently using the Advanced Vegetation Shader PBR instead of base CTI shaders. Ill be updating all foliage to the new shader for the next few nights, its looking insanely good:

 

Progress with the new foliage shader has worked out awesome!. The SS shows it all, very realistic, with lots of detail, and actually a fps increase. Heres whats been currently done:

• All foliage updated to the new shader.
  
• Terrain textures adjusted/changed.
  
• Rock textures/materials updated.

Im really happy with this workflow, and how its progressing. Next will be adjusting foliage for realism, meaning, bananna plants tend to have an almost plastic/smoothness look compared to others. Also want to adjust hue/color of plants to create diversity (differing shades). Heres the eye candy:

 

Sup guys, well i spent tonight dialing in the correct hue for grass and foliage, looks much better, and ive finally nailed it. So as of now, the new shader and hue is set. Ive also started on the para-military bases (and sub bases), with hue and shaders.

I use Tropical Forest Pack/CTI assets but i dont use the CTI deferred/deferred reflection shaders they ask you to use. The new shader i use adds its own wind (by animation), and you also have more control over color/hue. Another bonus is i no longer need a wind zone (better performance). Heres an example SS:

 

Ive added in the water treatment plant on the shore of the inland lake. This will also be an objective point. Still have some more props to add, and bit more work, but came out good. Heres outside and inside SS's:

 

Forgive me for the late update. But ive had one area of the isle, thats been nagging on my mind (shown below). My plan for this area is a deep ravine/valley, where the player walks on rope bridges above the jungle floor, with para-military to encounter/fight. The ground floor will have a stream/river (with deadly fish) to encounter. A fall from this height will kill you. A good challenge.

So im testing out potential builds/ideas/senarios, i should have something to show by this weekend. Any ideas or suggestions, feel free:

 

This is a quick prototype of the valley area, done on my test version. Theres a mini-lake in the north end, and a stream running through the area. Ignore the ridgid rope bridges, just used in prototyping, the production version will have physics based realistic rope bridges. Ill be working on the production version all this weekend:

 

Started the valley area on the production version of IOC. Wanted to share some workflow. I always place the controller at the working location and take note of the fps/ms before i add anything. Once i added 3 of the dynamic/physics based rope bridges, fps/ms dropped drasticly (from 90 to 55). This is where micro optimization comes into play. So i set them up to be gpu instanced (instead of static batching), model import settings, etc., and fps/ms increased drasticly. Fps is now at 85-90.

Any moving or physics based objects have to be set up as gpu instanced. Also setting up moving/physics based objects as staticly batched, breaks the physics function. Sorry for the late update, as i had to work this past weekend. Dont let anyone tell you that micro optimization isnt a good practice with Unity. Ill have a video update as soon as the area has progressed enough.

 

Couldnt resist...lol. Heres a WIP SS of the production version of IOC. Added water (mini-lake, stream), kapok trees, textures, and custom terrain. Alot of work to be done, as this is a very large area and alot planned. Ive removed the dynamic/physics from the the bridges for now (may be added later), as the impact on performance has been great (currently running at 80+ fps), and performance is a the main projects objective:

 

Last SS before i add foliage details. Ive added in rocks, completed kapok trees, and finished terrain work. Fish for this area will be Xenacanthus (look them up), an early smaller form of prehistoric shark. Swimming in the river is not recommended, lol. Para-military will be added after foliage placement:

 

Actually, I think the standard approach is adjusting environment lighting in the lighting tab - which exists for this very purpose. It simulates reflected (ambient) light and prevents unlit surfaces from becoming completely dark.

If you don't mind some honest criticism, I think you should seriously rework your graphics/lighting/ambient settings and shaders. Almost everything in your screenshots looks extremely dark, and those few parts which don't, suffer from heavy overuse of normal maps and specular highlights.
Compare these two screenshots:


Note how in the second screenshot there are no pitch-black shadows, and no glaring specular lights on rocks, leaves and water. Both shadows and highlights are way more gentle and softer. Which is why everything (ground, water, rocks, vegetation) blends together nicely.

 

Thnx for the comments. I havent done lighting yet, as right now im just building the isle, ill be doing lighting later on. It will be brighter, just not as bright as the SS you posted, as thats not the look i want.

The isle when finished will be more of a steamy darker jungle type setting. (SS below).

 

Finished the first pass of foliage in the valley area. This is a SS of the first transitional bridge, foliage billboards for 2 plants need adjustment, which ill do tomorrow night. Performance is within spec, but i want more, lol. The valley area is a elevated area, so the camera sees more than ususal, so i have to adjust for that:

 

Amazing work! I wish I had the ability to create something like this, I have an idea but sadly am lacking the talent at this stage!

 

Thank you. You can do more than you think, please PM me if you need any help, always here

 

Wanted to share a helpful tip. While filling in foliage in the valley area tonight, i noticed the more foliage that was added, the higher the fps increased. It went from 67 fps to 85 fps. This is why you hear alot of us Unity devs say "just build it first, then worry about (macro) optimization".

But, i still believe and teach, in micro-optimization, meaning pre-optimize all assets to be used in your project ahead of time. This way you wont have to come back and do it later, and your results will be more accurate. So the workflow for IOC is working out great!. Heres a SS of the area in the cameras view/rendering for this scenario. I always try and post tips and info that may help others with their projects. I will have video this weekend:

 

The last SS before the video. Grass, dead trees, and stumps have been added. Tomorrow ill be dressing up the under water part of the mini lake with plants and textures, like the main inland lake has. To be honest, cant wait till this area is done, so i can move onto another part of the isle, lol. Eye candy:

 

Heres a video decending from top level, down to ground level in the valley area. The only thing not added is the underwater plants, and your only seeing half of the area (its large). Ill be adding para-military and dinos later on, to be honest i need a break from this area, so ill be moving on to the sub-base next to the valley (yes footstep audio will be adjusted later during the audio sweep, as this is a WIP):

 

I have a 3 day weekend, and one area i want to address is the Giganotosaurus area (SS below). Currently this area is too dense foliage-wise, and feels to me "one sided", as the Giganotos are on one side of the area. I want to re-do it so there is a Giganoto on each side of the watering hole, a bit less foliage, and more spread out, with alot more detail. The other addition will be a juvenile Giganoto.

This area is very close to the shoreline, so palms, sand, etc. will be the base of foliage and look. I will update as soon as possible. Back to work!, as i always say, lol:

 

Looks really great, it has a Turok and Goldeneye feel to it. Hoping you make some nice progress, energy guns would be pretty sweet.

 

Thnx bro, Turok is one of my all time fav games, as well as games made with the Cry Engine, just has the look i like

 

Pretty cool!

 

Sup guys, heres a quick SS of the re-do of the Giganoto area, to show my idea. As you can see its now spread out, more natural, and looks much better this way. Ill be working on this for the next few days. Tonight im adding in the juvenile giganoto and getting her set up:

 

Great pic, I'm wondering if you know how to turn on Shadows, Fog and Post Processing?

It'll really help gel the graphics gel together a bit more better. As long as you don't over do it, using Bloom and adjusting the tint of the screen goes a long way in a scene. I'm still new and learning. Post processing is really neat and has helped make my basic looking scenes looks really well made.

If you don't know how to use / add Post Processing .
On your Main Camera, add a component, type in post processing, add them to the camera/. While the game is running start tweaking the parameters until it looks just how you like it.

Try adding shadows too!
Click edit>Project settings> select Quality. Shadow and set Hard soft shadow. Shadows are controlled by the Directional light in the scene, which can be added by pressing right click in the Hierarchy > Light > Directional light.

Lastly add some fog
Rendering>Lighting>Environment: Click fog so it has a tick and then adjust it in the scene.

Everyone seems to use a different version of Unity so I hope this bit of help will go a long way!
My project kind of sucks right now, but I think learning these techniques helped the most.

 

Its a WIP SS, and i had shadows off while i dev, and PPE/fog wont be added till later on. Right now just building the isle, which in itself will take a bit.

 

Yes, best way to it for performance. Just have fun doing it. It'll be great to see when you've made more stuff.

 

I dont shut them off for performance, i shut shadows and fog off while deving because they obstruct my view of work being done. The fog is already finished, some of the videos/SS's show it, it annoys me when i go to zoom out (and above) the terrain, the fog takes over, lol. Its a very large open world.

Right now only 40% of the isle is done. That SS was just to show the change in the Giganoto area, as im re-doing it, if you scroll up youll see a SS of how it used to be (above shot), and my explination/idea. If you havent, check out the whole thread and its info, theres alot there that explains the complete workflow. For this game 1st thing is to build it all (which will take a while), then worry about lighting, PPE, and chunk streaming of terrain.

 

Heres a WIP SS of the re-do of the Giganoto area, came out great!. Much better. Foliage, dead trees, and rocks added. Much more to do, like grass, fallen branches, juvenile Giganoto, and other details (in progress):

 

Hope everyones projects are going well!. Spent some time on detail in the Giganoto area. Added terrain textures, complete grass, and blended rocks texture to terrain.

The juvenile Giganoto is almost finished, and will be in the next video. Have to adjust the vocal. Shes smaller, so would have a higher pitch vocal, and lower trailoff. Heres another WIP SS with shadow and fog on, area currently performs at 80+fps, so i have alot of headroom:

 

Heres a video of the Giganoto area (with juvenile), love how this area came out!, also they are now tiger stripped, and adjustments made to texture. Ill be moving on to the para-military sub-base thats next to this area, this base is sort of in a "cubby hole" type area, so will be interresting to develop. Ive cut down the footstep volume, in game sounds great, but no so much while recording video, will deal with video recording later on:

 

Wanted to show a before SS of sub-base 1, before i work on it. In the background you can see the southern edge of the Giganoto area. This base is in a cubby hole type area, with a platau to the west, and smaller hills to the north and east. Kind of a great spot for a sub-base. Not shown in the SS, there is a observation/guard tower to the west. Ill introduce the towers a bit later on: