HD detail map textures
December 24th, 2009
Last week I posted about some new levels I was working on. A number of people criticised the texture resolution. Recently, I've been working on updating some of our older textures to support higher resolution graphics. Here are some examples of these in the game! The textures are now 2048x2048, about double what they were in the previous screenshots ...
Soft normal maps for grass
December 21st, 2009
Grass is an especially difficult material to convey in a flat texture, because grass isn't flat. In fact, it's not even a continuous surface! For this reason, we'll eventually need a 3D grass effect in order to achieve really high fidelity. However, it's still important to have a good base terrain texture in case the fancier ...
Three new landscapes
December 18th, 2009
Here are some examples of new landscapes I'm working on. They're based on photo references, but have a touch of artistic license. We're still not sure if we'll have water in Overgrowth, but I couldn't resist using our new detail textures to see how it might look. I generated the heightmaps using a new piece ...
Rock evolution
December 12th, 2009
Rocks are an important part of almost any terrain, and they help organize areas for gameplay. While they may not seem very interesting, poorly-rendered rocks can break immersion, and poorly-optimized rocks can reduce the framerate. I've been trying to optimize rocks in Overgrowth for awhile now. I haven't yet developed what I consider a perfect rock, but I ...
Season thumbnails
December 9th, 2009
Here are some thumbnails I made to try out some level ideas based on the seasons. It's important to work out the basic color palette before moving on to the textures. Thumbnailing is an easy way to compare ideas and pick the ones I like best. Which ones do you prefer? What makes them stand out from the rest?
Autumn Camouflage
December 4th, 2009
This rabbit is about to give the raiders a taste of their own medicine. Here is a new concept painting I did while thinking about seasonal variation in Overgrowth. This rabbit is in full combat gear. The shoulder and head patches break up his sillhouette so he can blend in with the Autumn leaves. Rabbits rarely fight if they can ...
Cat Lord Concept
November 20th, 2009
Here is a concept I did this week trying out some new painting techniques-- although the painting is fairly loose, I am happy with the results. I can't wait to try more stuff in this style. Many cats are self-styled rulers who command over hired "muscle" and slaves. Their kin make up their dukes, who command forces made up ...