Games Remnant Of Evolution

Sup guys, wanted to announce my next project (after Jurassic Extinction), Remnant Of
Evolution. When i started JE 1 1/2 yrs ago, an open-world large map (but performant), was out
of my grasp. Not any longer. During my lessons, and the developing of JE, this project has
always been there, and i work on it when i can, not a priority right now, but my love. My teacher loves it, and says "its dev growth, youll learn alot from an open-world concept".

Remnant Of Evolution is a large 2048x2048 full blown island terrain, made with Gaia. Ill be
using SECTR to chunk stream terrain, and loads only chunks that are in cameras view. Only
downside is i cant add SECTR till i have it all built (terrain textures, foliage, objects,
etc.). Now, i have 3/4's of the island built, with all rocks and trees, (no plants or grass
yet), with RFPS controller, and im still at 60fps, not bad. Once the island is finished, i
should be around 40fps, but SECTR, and other systems, will balance that out, around 60fps in
the end.

Ill also be using a performant grass far better than Unity's. The island has many areas:
swamp, mountain tops, watering holes, cave, shoreline, inland lake, enemy encampments (you
aint the only one there), etc. Alot of systems will be added as time goes on, but this is a
"live environment", everything from birds, to dinos, humans, sea turtles, fish, crabs, snakes,
and even plants that can cause dmg (poisen, etc.).

Now for some eye candy (WIP):

 

Had a chance tonight after working on JE's final scene, to finish off the top of mountain #2 (rocks and trees), and rough out the newly added swamp...

 

I did a test with SECTR today. I created a 2048x2048 terrain with Gaia, and loaded it up with trees, grass, rocks, etc., play tested, was getting 50-60 fps (which is where i am now with ROE). I then chunked the terrain with SECTR (4x4 grid), and tested to make sure everything is working. Heres the results (crazy good):

 

Heya guys, wanted to update, as big changes have been made. The biggest has been Aquas. If you use it, you better be good at optimization. After todays updates and heavy optimization of all assets, ive gone from around 27ms/35fps to what your about to see (still without SECTR). With this open-world, and its systems/workflow. Ill have no problem getting killer good performance, and can be done up to 8k terrains:

• Aquas has been optimized (a resource hog, reflections are the worst).
  
• Lighting has been updated (intensity, angle), and the color temp (tone mapping) adjusted.
  
• Water color/hue adjusted, now looks real (speed and waves need adjusting).
  
• Shoreline turtles are now animated and have AI.
  
• Shadows have been decreased a bit (and have cascade support).
  
• All textures (minus decals and terrain) have mipmap support, and are static batched.

 

Earlier tonight, i built another area of the island, added at least 150+ trees (conifers), and only lost 3fps, lol. Calculations for performance is working out great (with optimization). Theres only 2 areas left un-developed on the island, but should be done by end of this coming weekend.

Adding plants and grass will be next. Unlike JE, the environment is different, as its a open-world senario. Ahead of time, im working on new systems like, a semi-transparent waypoint, that guides you to quest-like objectives, enemy encampments and AI. etc.

The hardest thing about ROE is scale... im constantly re-calculating scale of the environment objects, to keep them "in check", as its a big terrain, and scale is way different from like JE.

 

Sorry, forgot to post this...This is my view for the next few days, but i love how the terrain textures (cliff/ground/rocks) blend together so well, and the hue/color is nice...

 

Watering Hole SS. Now, if you look to the right side, youll see a different shadow, this would make me look up. This is how you figure out how to get to the mountain tops, by rope bridges... Visual Cues...

 

I have 2 new systems being tested out. Day/Night/Time, and Weather Systems. I spent about 45 minutes tonight (before i work on JE) just importing needed assets for ROE, lol. I also have a list of creatures planned/ready, and will be adding more soon:

• Enemy Soldiers (rifle weapons).
  
• Turtles.
  
• Crabs.
  
• 3 Types of birds (seagull, bats, crows).
  
• 3 types of spiders (basic, turantula, black widow).
  
• Dinosaurs (too many to list)
  
• Poisonous Plants (attack/bite with poison).
  
• 5 Types Of Fish (for ocean, watering holes, etc.).
  
• Yeti/Early Human.
  
• Swarm of flys (for dead bodies, etc.).

Ive also been working on dead bodies/carcasses/body parts, and im working on setting up gore/blood volume effects, maybe particle based, we will see. A SS of looking up to the cross over:

 

something does not look right with the lighting. rocks have pitch black shadows while some of the trees almost look vertex lit

 

Thats my fault, i shut off some of the lighting while i dev, forgot to turn it on for the SS, lol.