Game News Let's look at Malevolence again

[Zed]

Tags: Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox

You might recall the grid- and turn-based first-person RPG (with procedurally generated content) Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox. We interviewed the game's Creative Director a few months ago and the game sounded like a very ambitious project. I'm glad to see they're still going strong, as they not only have a new website up and running but also recently released a big update on the game's development. The most interesting bit is that they've implemented very early versions of quest-giving NPCs:

Yes, it's only in a very basic form at the moment, but all in all, those familiar with game development will see that from here on in it's rather straightforward to extrapolate it into the fully functional system! Check out this video I made showing how it works:



So that's exciting. But, you may have noticed that the towns still look terrible. Well, we've been working on that, too! As mentioned in the video, Ian Atherton and I have been working closely to come up with a procedural building generator which will CREATE buildings out of "chunks" of buildings to be able to create all manner of building sizes, shapes and colours. It's going to be great. Also in development is lots of "town kitsch" that will litter the streets. Things like barrels, crates, carts, street lighting, park benches, etc, that will make the place seem a bit more lived in than it currently does... But that's for a future update.
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The update also features some new screenshots and artwork, so check it out, yo, dawg.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

full length loading screenS waiting in a youtube video... yeah... pretty nex'gen

 

[thesheeep]

Well... proves that marketing is not the strength of everyone.

But hey, it does look promising. Keep on working on it

 

[Ogg]

The bloom! It's burning my eyes!!!

Other than that, not much to say about the video. Mwoarf.

 

[HobGoblin42]

[..] I have been working closely to come up with a procedural building generator which will CREATE buildings out of "chunks" of buildings to be able to create all manner of building sizes, shapes and colours.

Seriously, procedural generated graphics for structures may work for sci-fi or present settings but definitely not for fantasy. I hope they will spend their energy elsewhere.

 

[Zed]

full length loading screenS waiting in a youtube video... yeah... pretty nex'gen

did you mute the volume? he says in the video they haven't optimized cities yet.

 

[thesheeep]

[..] I have been working closely to come up with a procedural building generator which will CREATE buildings out of "chunks" of buildings to be able to create all manner of building sizes, shapes and colours.

Seriously, procedural generated graphics for structures may work for sci-fi or present settings but definitely not for fantasy. I hope they will spend their energy elsewhere.

Why should it not work? True, I'd also think it is hardest in fantasy, easier in present and easiest in sci-fy, but I really see no reason why this should not work out. You can create anything procedurally, if you just do it right (which means fiddling around with the algorithm and values until it fits). But yeah, this takes much time I also wouldn't see this as the highest priority.

If it was me doing it, I would prefer creating a large amount of buildings by hand and then use those randomly. Might prove to be faster than creating a module that does it procedurally with believable outcomes.

 

[LeStryfe79]

I think it could work in that you would have certain variables withing a chunk, like wall texture and whether or not there are certain objects present. On top of that, the various chunks could be combined randomly. The big things to avoid would obviously be having similar chunks combing in odd ways like 5 living rooms interconnecting with stairwells that go nowhere. I would assume their algorithms account for things like this though.

 

[Haba]

Judging from the radiation glow, this is a post apoc setting game.

 

[Konjad]

Ah the bloom. And empty, bland cities.

 

[Licaon_Kter]

did you mute the volume? he says in the video they haven't optimized cities yet.

It happened that I did not had my headphones on at that time, yes, but that's not the point, you cut those in editing anyway. It's not marketing, it's common sense, I hate those in games, and this is just a video to show me the features... "new procedurally generated loading screens, with variable lenght waiting time"...yeah, small snag

 

[A user named cat]

Worst abuse of bloom I think I've ever seen in a game, good grief. Here I thought it looked bad in Oblivion. I almost needed sunglasses just watching some of this.

 

[Metro]

Seriously, the bloom in this game is fucking horrendous. I pray to God they have an option to disable it. It still looks promising but I think these guys might be a bit in over their heads. If I recall from their Kickstarter they said the game would be out by December... I don't see how they can even come close to making that deadline.

 

[Rhuantavan]

... It still looks promising but I think these guys might be a bit in over their heads. If I recall from their Kickstarter they said the game would be out by December... I don't see how they can even come close to making that deadline.

Did they say which year?