Post by A numericalPrime A on Apr 20, 2012 21:30:08 GMT -6
Part 6: Explosions (Among Other Things)
This week has the best topic. Ever.
Dot Wars can really be boiled down to its core game mechanic. This could be anything that we want it to be, but in this case I think it is best to consider the explosions in the game to be the most important component.
Okay, I guess it isn’t really the most important part of the game, but the game has a variety of things about it that enhance the immersive quality of the game through art. My personal favorite of these artistic enhancements happen to be the explosions, but there are many other things that make the game feel dynamic. These things can be split up into two categories: particles and animations. Both of these work together to create the overall artistic style of Dot Wars.
Particles
If you have played any past iterations of Dot Wars, then you will be quite impressed by the development of the visual effects that the game has undergone. Way back in the day of Dot Wars: Assassins, the effects were very simple. They were not particle-based in any way; bullets would just spawn torrents of rock bits when they struck walls, blood patted the air around wounds, and leaves flashed in bushes when bullets passed through them. It was quite a basic visual style.
They were still fun days, but things needed to change. When Dot Wars 2 began its development, it actually spawned out of a particle demonstration where sparks would produce realistic collision effects on obstacles.
This evolved into the particle system of Dot Wars 2. The blood, leaves, dirt, fire, smoke, and everything all act as distinct entities that we call particles. These particles have their own accelerations and drag that give them a realistic set of behaviors. The whole system looks quite good when you spawn particles en masse.
The particles are the most active components of Dot Wars, and bring forth a great sense of movement, just like the game was always meant to be.
Animations
The second half of the equation is the animation. Animations of map pieces have not been in any iteration of Dot Wars up until this final one. GameMaker had the capabilities built in
This week has the best topic. Ever.
Dot Wars can really be boiled down to its core game mechanic. This could be anything that we want it to be, but in this case I think it is best to consider the explosions in the game to be the most important component.
Okay, I guess it isn’t really the most important part of the game, but the game has a variety of things about it that enhance the immersive quality of the game through art. My personal favorite of these artistic enhancements happen to be the explosions, but there are many other things that make the game feel dynamic. These things can be split up into two categories: particles and animations. Both of these work together to create the overall artistic style of Dot Wars.
Particles
If you have played any past iterations of Dot Wars, then you will be quite impressed by the development of the visual effects that the game has undergone. Way back in the day of Dot Wars: Assassins, the effects were very simple. They were not particle-based in any way; bullets would just spawn torrents of rock bits when they struck walls, blood patted the air around wounds, and leaves flashed in bushes when bullets passed through them. It was quite a basic visual style.
They were still fun days, but things needed to change. When Dot Wars 2 began its development, it actually spawned out of a particle demonstration where sparks would produce realistic collision effects on obstacles.
This evolved into the particle system of Dot Wars 2. The blood, leaves, dirt, fire, smoke, and everything all act as distinct entities that we call particles. These particles have their own accelerations and drag that give them a realistic set of behaviors. The whole system looks quite good when you spawn particles en masse.
The particles are the most active components of Dot Wars, and bring forth a great sense of movement, just like the game was always meant to be.
Animations
The second half of the equation is the animation. Animations of map pieces have not been in any iteration of Dot Wars up until this final one. GameMaker had the capabilities built in