Vapourware Daggerfall Unity isnt Vaporware

[Luzur]

yeah, im not much for 3D model either, but im all for remade pixel sprites.

btw, i dont remember reading about it on the forums, but will roads between the towns, moving animal NPC's and other smaller details be made?

also:

Code well this night, for tomorrow you will release a demo of Daggerfall!

 

[luciusDXL]

yeah, im not much for 3D model either, but im all for remade pixel sprites.

btw, i dont remember reading about it on the forums, but will roads between the towns, moving animal NPC's and other smaller details be made?

also:

Code well this night, for tomorrow you will release a demo of Daggerfall!

Here's a quote from a post I made on the DaggerXL forums (mainly because I don't feel like retyping it all):

The terrain is a bit dull right now because it has very low frequency details - from the Daggerfall data (bicubic patches generated from the 1000x500 heightmap plus filtering) - and then medium/high frequency that gives you the hills, dunes and bumps which is generated procedurally. There are several things that need to be improved when I get back to terrain (after getting the core game working as discussed in other threads):

* an in-between procedural detail level - something that will give larger features then the current procedurals but much smaller then the Daggerfall heightmap data. This help can generate more of a hill/valley/plains look.
* the far distance detail level, rendering out to the horizon. Run around Daggerfall and see the Dragontail mountains in the distance. This will add tremendous visual interest I think, as well as truly cementing just how huge the world of Daggerfall really is.
* varying fractal properties for different regions and longitude/latitude as well as different noise primitives. This will allow for smoother, rolling hills in some areas, smaller flatter hills in others, sharper edges and steeper slopes in yet other areas and so on.
* procedural roads that logically connect locations - this will make finding locations and navigation much easier and more realistic. This will include things like roadside taverns, camps and other cool things.
* procedural rivers that logically flow from water sources to the ocean. These will also be weighted by the proximity of settlements and terrain features.
* potentially other cool environments such as an oasis in the desert, a foggy murky swamp, underwater ruins and more.

So in the end it'll still look like Daggerfall, with the same textures, flats, polygon density and so on but be much more realistic and interesting. The current terrain system is basically a first pass - just the tip of the iceberg.

And of course these features will be optional.

 

[Data4]

Looks great. Seeing how smooooth those videos were tickled my pickle. I've never seen DF run like that. :D

Now, regarding high res stuff, I never knew the outdoor heightmapping was as organic as it looks. I wonder if, for shits and giggles, that data could be extracted and used to make a height map for the Oblivion CS. Might be cool to see the area immediately around the exit of Privateer's Hold redone to a more modern look. If for nothing else, the novelty of it all.

 

[Morkar Left]

Looks impressive. One more game to looking forward to ^^

 

[AlaCarcuss]

...stuff denizsi wanted to hear...

My favourite indie developer of the year.

You began by calling him pathetic and now he's your hero?

Heh, reading through the original thread and now this one was like reading a rags-to-riches novel

I don't blame you though, very impressive progress for under a year's workd by one man - congratualtions lucius.

 

[IlkuWarrior]

I'm just going to chime in to say great work, good sir! You've got the will, the talent and a worthy goal. A rare combo indeed :D

 

[Raapys]

Looking great, just hope it won't be another one of those projects that suddenly stop progressing.

 

[Luzur]

yeah, im not much for 3D model either, but im all for remade pixel sprites.

btw, i dont remember reading about it on the forums, but will roads between the towns, moving animal NPC's and other smaller details be made?

also:

Code well this night, for tomorrow you will release a demo of Daggerfall!

Here's a quote from a post I made on the DaggerXL forums (mainly because I don't feel like retyping it all):

The terrain is a bit dull right now because it has very low frequency details - from the Daggerfall data (bicubic patches generated from the 1000x500 heightmap plus filtering) - and then medium/high frequency that gives you the hills, dunes and bumps which is generated procedurally. There are several things that need to be improved when I get back to terrain (after getting the core game working as discussed in other threads):

* an in-between procedural detail level - something that will give larger features then the current procedurals but much smaller then the Daggerfall heightmap data. This help can generate more of a hill/valley/plains look.
* the far distance detail level, rendering out to the horizon. Run around Daggerfall and see the Dragontail mountains in the distance. This will add tremendous visual interest I think, as well as truly cementing just how huge the world of Daggerfall really is.
* varying fractal properties for different regions and longitude/latitude as well as different noise primitives. This will allow for smoother, rolling hills in some areas, smaller flatter hills in others, sharper edges and steeper slopes in yet other areas and so on.
* procedural roads that logically connect locations - this will make finding locations and navigation much easier and more realistic. This will include things like roadside taverns, camps and other cool things.
* procedural rivers that logically flow from water sources to the ocean. These will also be weighted by the proximity of settlements and terrain features.
* potentially other cool environments such as an oasis in the desert, a foggy murky swamp, underwater ruins and more.

So in the end it'll still look like Daggerfall, with the same textures, flats, polygon density and so on but be much more realistic and interesting. The current terrain system is basically a first pass - just the tip of the iceberg.

And of course these features will be optional.

finish this project, lucius, otherwise we will find you and kill you.

 

[Donkey Balls]

Best of luck with your project, bro.

 

[mariog]

If you do manage to implement all the features that were left out, well... it'd be a dream coming true. The terrain system looks great already, can't wait to see gameplay stuff implemented.

This is definately one of the indie projects i'm most excited about, together with Darghul.

 

[don_tomaso]

Lucius, as I guess the whole world is completly procedural, would it be possible to add some kind of global world scaling function so that the landscapes could be optionally generated at a smaller size, and actually make traveling without fast travel a viable option? Or is that something that would have needed to be implented from the beginning?

 

[Lord Rocket]

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

 

[denizsi]

Lucius, as I guess the whole world is completly procedural, would it be possible to add some kind of global world scaling function so that the landscapes could be optionally generated at a smaller size, and actually make traveling without fast travel a viable option? Or is that something that would have needed to be implented from the beginning?

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

Invasion of the Consolites!

Just how smaller would you like the terrain anyway? How many minutes of real-time walking between places?

Anyway, I'd rather see random encounters when you travel recklessly and sleep out.

 

[luciusDXL]

While I'm not planning on shrinking the size of the world, there are some optional features that will make traveling between places a little easier - such as roads, rivers and being able to actually sail your boat across the Bay. Obviously stuff like this won't come online until after the base game is fully playable but shouldn't be too far behind.

Right now I'm focusing on pure gameplay, which is why the next build will have proper Character Creation with leveling and skill improvement following shortly afterwards.

 

[Luzur]

Lucius, as I guess the whole world is completly procedural, would it be possible to add some kind of global world scaling function so that the landscapes could be optionally generated at a smaller size, and actually make traveling without fast travel a viable option? Or is that something that would have needed to be implented from the beginning?

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

Invasion of the Consolites!

Just how smaller would you like the terrain anyway? How many minutes of real-time walking between places?

Anyway, I'd rather see random encounters when you travel recklessly and sleep out.

yeah FFS guyse, go play Oblivion if you want stuff like that.

 

[mariog]

While I'm not planning on shrinking the size of the world, there are some optional features that will make traveling between places a little easier - such as roads, rivers and being able to actually sail your boat across the Bay.

Sounds cool.

What kind of features missing from the vanilla game that were initially planned do you think you'll be able to add?

For instance, do you think you'll also be able to implement more complex stuff such as the political system with shifting alliances between states that was initially planned, or things like the eavesdropping ability, clothing having effects both on weather and NPCs reactions, burglary in PC's houses and other things like that?

Also, do you plan to add guilds and other kind of factions that were left out from the native game? I'm especially referring to the infamous Order of the Lamp.

 

[Gragt]

You are a true Codexer, and I do not mean the retarded breed.

 

[Konjad]

Makes me want to play Daggerfall again

 

[luciusDXL]

What kind of features missing from the vanilla game that were initially planned do you think you'll be able to add?

For instance, do you think you'll also be able to implement more complex stuff such as the political system with shifting alliances between states that was initially planned, or things like the eavesdropping ability, clothing having effects both on weather and NPCs reactions, burglary in PC's houses and other things like that?

Also, do you plan to add guilds and other kind of factions that were left out from the native game? I'm especially referring to the infamous Order of the Lamp.

I'm planning on many features that were missing from the original game that were planned (or should have been planned) including most of the features listed on the Daggerfall Museum. Of course, making the base game fully playable comes first.

 

[nomask7]

How about lowering level-requirements for all of the main-story quests? Or removing them if viable.

I don't like the level-scaled monster spawns either (scaled, at least approx., to the player's level, when it would be better if they weren't scaled at all ... exploring random dungeons would be more fun when one would have 2-3 level monsters, another would have 10 level monsters).

 

[Jeff Graw]

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

As much as the occasional gigantic, convoluted, labyrinthine giant underground catacomb/city-state-dungeon-thing is cool and "hardkor", having 99% of dungeons following that philosophy is obviously poor design. It would be fun to see a more broad mix of dungeon types or even-- gasp-- non-underground areas.

I think one of the most obvious goals would be to have seamless loading of areas. Instead of clicking on the door to the tavern and loading a new map, the door would open and you would walk in. While inside, you could look through the windows and see what's going on outside. Sure, back in the day this would have killed performance, but if your going to take something as ancient as Daggerfall and run it on current hardware, you may as well take some of that extra power and have fun with it.

 

[Lord Rocket]

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

Invasion of the Consolites!

Just how smaller would you like the terrain anyway? How many minutes of real-time walking between places?

Anyway, I'd rather see random encounters when you travel recklessly and sleep out.

yeah FFS guyse, go play Oblivion if you want stuff like that.[/quote]

Who said anything about 'shrinking' anything? All I ever play these days is Stone Soup, so I must like tiny dungeons, right?

NB. I'm pretty sure Oblivion doesn't implement dungeon levels in the Wizardry/Dungeon Master/etc. sense, which is what I was talking about. So nice work Sweden.

 

[Orgasm]

How many minutes of real-time walking between places?

How about zero?
I like to quote section8 now:
"There are some interesting discussions to be had on this topic from a design perspective. At the heart of the problem, you have unnecessary downtime, since moving characters across a map is neither challenging or fun, and with the exception of Dungeon Siege fans, most gamers recognise this."

 

[Achilles]

Best of luck to you bro (codexian salute), I really hope you manage to complete your work. It looks great and I love the fact that most of the features are optional.

 

[denizsi]

As long as we're putting in feature requests: how about an improved dungeon generation script that would make slightly more traditional dungeons, ie. divided into discrete levels? These would be a lot less frustrating to navigate, but could still be super huge. Or, just something that would make the dungeons less incredibly convoluted.

As much as the occasional gigantic, convoluted, labyrinthine giant underground catacomb/city-state-dungeon-thing is cool and "hardkor", having 99% of dungeons following that philosophy is obviously poor design. It would be fun to see a more broad mix of dungeon types or even-- gasp-- non-underground areas.

I think one of the most obvious goals would be to have seamless loading of areas. Instead of clicking on the door to the tavern and loading a new map, the door would open and you would walk in. While inside, you could look through the windows and see what's going on outside. Sure, back in the day this would have killed performance, but if your going to take something as ancient as Daggerfall and run it on current hardware, you may as well take some of that extra power and have fun with it.

Unless I'm mistaken, a particular interesting thing with Daggerfall is that, with the exception of palaces and castles, all buildings in towns have 1:1 interior and exterior sizes, eg. if you were to load the interior cell model/content of a building to where the exterior building model is, there wouldn't be size discrepancies. Except there are no windows in any interior cell, despite the ones on the exterior shells.

 

[crufty]

:monocole: @Xl dev, good show sir. I have long wondered how the procedural content in dfall was generated. I see no links to the code though.