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Grid Sage Games => Announcements => Topic started by: Kyzrati on March 30, 2018, 06:14:24 PM

Title: SITREP Saturday #17: LOW_CONTRAST
Post by: Kyzrati on March 30, 2018, 06:14:24 PM
It seems I never run out of achievement stuff to show... because, well, yeah there are 256 of them xD

Here's the finalized icons for the second to last category: events and story-related elements!

(https://i.imgur.com/fjNak1Q.png)

Achievement work is progressing nicely. Yesterday I pretty much finished the internal framework, and also implemented most of the new related UI features (except for the main achievements UI). But I haven't yet recorded anything to share there, so it'll have to wait for a later SITREP. (We have pop-ups on the map when achievements are earned, as well as a new section next to the end game stats window if any new achievements were earned at the end of the run. All animated, of course :D)

LOW_CONTRAST

Remember POLYBOT-7 (http://www.gridsagegames.com/blog/2018/03/polybot-7-2018-7drl/)? Well it was quite the detour, but as mentioned before Cogmind benefited from it in a number of ways, one of those I haven't talked about yet being enhancements to low-contrast mode.

The "LOW_CONTRAST" renderFilter option I added in Beta 5 (http://www.gridsagegames.com/forums/index.php?topic=1015.0) has been getting some use among players, though it was always kind of a hackish thing in the first place. Lots of Cogmind code and scripts assume the background is black, but I went in and changed that assumption in a number of places where it was more accessible. All of these improvements came as a result of efforts to polish the distinctive look of POLYBOT-7, which uses a low-contrast aesthetic by default. For example:

Path visualization is now much more visible. (All sample images are using the SLEEPY preset.)

(https://i.imgur.com/9gDzko4.png)

FOV edges are somewhat easier to see.

(https://i.imgur.com/WVQGDcb.png)

(The following are all before-and-after gifs demonstrating adjustments.)

Activating an Optical Array.

(https://i.imgur.com/oDIGTX6.gif)

Motion trail fading.

(https://i.imgur.com/DYfpUA1.gif)

AOE visualization edges.

(https://i.imgur.com/zbT0WmY.gif)

Structural Scanner and cave-in visualization.

(https://i.imgur.com/P2pkWYJ.gif)

SFX visualization.

(https://i.imgur.com/yUQXaAF.gif)

Cogmind's Big Little Brother

Speaking of POLYBOT-7, this week I finished the last two parts of its dev postmortem, much of which is related to Cogmind:
Again there are lots of diagrams/images so I won't copy them all here, but here's a few to give you an idea:

My desk after reasoning through various POLYBOT-7 map layout needs.

(https://i.imgur.com/67NfkEu.jpg)

A sample 100×100 map layout, annotated (the generation algorithm is one borrowed from Cogmind, but many of the parameters are different).

(https://i.imgur.com/IOmoTGV.png)

Testing generation for one layout style (each floor has multiple styles) of the 125×125 map (fourth floor).

(https://i.imgur.com/s9xgJZu.gif)

Examining content across a section of map, including patrol paths (the colored lines). I use these same features to balance Cogmind.

(https://i.imgur.com/hcjWZm9.png)

Special prefab rooms, labeled. A lot of Cogmind's outlying maps have prefabs as well, and that's one of the main ways to create unique experiences for different areas, but in POLYBOT-7 there wasn't time to add very many.

(https://i.imgur.com/pS7AsHX.png)

The purge timer in action.

(https://i.imgur.com/UqyV22j.gif)

Oops! Bug-enabled hacking interface opening a theoretical exit into a Dispatcher. Most of the non-applicable Cogmind features were blocked off, but I had only blocked bump-hacking and forgot that when adjacent you can of course click on a machine to hack it xD. (Being a simpler, faster, purely combat-oriented game there is no hacking in POYLBOT-7.)

(https://i.imgur.com/9THZnKG.gif)

If you want to see (and hear) it in action, this week I streamed my first serious P7 run (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HinxP57TIhI), and won! :P

And POLYBOT-7 also appeared in PC Gamer (https://www.pcgamer.com/free-games-of-the-week/) this week :D

Community

I also streamed this week's Cogmind weekly seed, going for a purely wheels-based combat run. It's a very atypical build, but a lot of fun. The entire run was uploaded to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81TU8ynVGZU), and you can find a written summary on the forums (http://www.gridsagegames.com/forums/index.php?topic=1075.msg7471#msg7471).

Also on the forums, Joshua has shared his notes on Cogmind's many "Resources," (http://www.gridsagegames.com/forums/index.php?topic=1081) essentially a breakdown that might aid some of you in understanding these concepts and in some cases how they relate to strategy.

b_sen's prequel mockups are becoming a recurring theme around here, but his reimagining of Cogmind and use of REXPaint are really inspiring :). The latest installment is "AI updating in the face of Derelict incursions" (source (http://www.gridsagegames.com/forums/index.php?topic=15.msg7466#msg7466))

(https://i.imgur.com/ggXoYVa.png)

Next time we'll take a look at the final achievements category! And probably see some of the achievements UI features in action :D

Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link (http://steamcommunity.com/games/722730/announcements/detail/1654384966952752150) to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Title: Re: SITREP Saturday #17: LOW_CONTRAST
Post by: nuzcraft on March 31, 2018, 05:51:13 PM
Great sitrep! Polybot-7 is amazing, and definitely looking forward to low contrast in beta 6!
Title: Re: SITREP Saturday #17: LOW_CONTRAST
Post by: Kyzrati on March 31, 2018, 06:08:12 PM
nuzcraft: low-contrast #1 fan for sure :P. I'm quite curious how many people are using that mode other than yourself, and fortunately I added the renderFilter settings to the score sheet so we can take a look at that aggregate data with the post-Beta 5 stats review :)

I was going to wait until future Betas to improve that mode (after seeing exactly how many people would really benefit), but you're lucky--POLYBOT-7 needed that feature so the number of Cogmind users no longer mattered ;)