Update #9 - Let there be light! (and fog)

Hello!

If you've watched the latest dev diary (if not, go have a look right now) you will have seen my interaction playground, where I'm setting up all the interactable objects in the game - doors, power cell chargers, cuttable vents, etc. 

This is a really important test level to have in any game, a place where you can quickly check out changes to objects and compare them next to each other for consistency. I have expanded mine a bit since the dev diary, by adding a computer that can be powered on and off by one of the power cells:

That will be an important puzzle mechanic for the player when navigating these wrecks and trying to open doors and gain access to computers so, I'm happy to have the basic logic in.

At the end of the dev diary I also showed off some volumetric lighting and fog I was experimenting with. That particular asset was a bit buggy and hasn't been updated for a while, so I took a look at a newer one and had better luck:

A moody ventilation tunnel, in space

A transport ship, half stuck inside... something you don't want to get too close to

Kronnect Volumetric Fog & Mist 2 and Volumetric Lights 2 are much better, give less buggy results and are a really powerful set of tools. 

The above shots are just experiments in some very quickly blocked out test areas that loosely represent two of the wrecks you encounter in the game, but I wanted to give myself, if not anyone else, some target to work towards in terms of lighting and mood, and I think these two are pretty close.

Anyway, I'm now starting blocking out the bottom wreck and another one, the communications array, which is the first 'wreck' the player finds themselves picking apart when the game starts.

That's all for now!

Tony.