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Submitted by , posted on 04 February 2005
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Image Description, by
These are two screenshots from my new mac combat game Lugaru. I programmed the engine using
C++ in Codewarrior 8 for Mac, and I used OpenGL for graphics and FMOD
for sound and music. I am working on a PC version, but for now the Mac
demo is up at http://www.wolfiles.com/Lugaru.sit.
I could not use new hardware technology such as pixel and vertex
shaders because when I was writing the engine they did not exist for
Mac yet, but I did use some interesting graphics techniques:
A) Full and partial ragdoll impacts
I know that ragdoll physics are becoming just another checklist
feature in modern games, but Lugaru uses them in an unusual way.
Whenever a character is knocked off his feet he blends into a
physics-based fall, and takes damage based on how he lands. I.e. if
you kick an enemy into a snow drift, he takes much less damage than if
you throw him and he smashes his head on the corner of a stone block.
Characters can recover seamlessly from physics-based falls, even while
in the air.
B) Dynamic blood effects
If a character is hit in the head exceptionally hard and loses some
teeth, then blood will drip from his mouth down his body, and stay
there for the rest of the level. For example,
here the main character has been clawed
in the face and stomach, and the blood has dripped down to other
areas. Also blood spreads using a changing alpha mask cutoff, allowing
it to expand in an organic way rather than as a uniformly-scaling
decal.
C) Transparent fog
I have a skybox of pre-rendered distant terrain, and the local terrain
becomes more transparent as it approaches the far clipping plain. This
makes the real-time terrain blend into the skybox, allowing smooth
gameplay without decreasing the apparent view distance too
significantly.
In addition, the context-sensitive combat system is unlike any other
game that I have seen. If you press attack while running you use your
momentum to perform a powerful spin kick, and then if the opponent
crouches under your kick and stands up, he will catch your leg and
kick you away.
Check out the Lugaru gameplay movies and free mac demo at
http://www.wolfire.com/lugaru.html
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