One Of Two!

March 26, 2012

Hello and thanks for joining me! The entire update was intended to reveal some more visuals and also provide details on a crowd-funding campaign for Daemonicon. Certain aspects are still pending on the funding side so it will be posted within a week or so. Please come back and check it out because the project really needs your help and support!

Now, let’s get on with the first part: Visuals!

MONSTROSITIES

I’d like to introduce you to 3 more grisly creations you’ll be running into (or away from) as you explore the haunted world of Daemonicon.

The Razorback demon was inspired by the Chupacabra (I’ve always been fascinated by the legends surrounding that creature) One of the Razorback’s alternate skins is grey and much more alien (along the lines of what a traditional Chupacabra is supposed to look like) A fast and agile demon with a deadly pounce attack and the ability to suck your brains out.

For the ‘Out of Hell’ fans out there, the Flayer is based on the broken-jaw ‘Mindless’ zombie and carries an even longer, rustier machete in hand! The Flayer is a hulking, relentless pursuer.

The Hierophant is a demon much like the ‘Hangman’ and may explain why the latter wears a sack over it’s head! My original design had an embedded porcelain mask in place of the Hierophant’s face. The idea was to get the player to destroy the mask, revealing the hollow you see now (the weak point) but I was afraid the idea would not come across well. It’s up in the air whether or not the mask will return in the final phase.

ACRE, THE PINE STATE!

This is a little section of ‘Acre’, the fictional American State that Daemonicon takes place in. The 3 regions in-game are large and allow for a lot of non-linear exploration. ‘Out Of Hell’ fans will also visit some familiar places like ‘Old Grinny’, although it is a much smaller town this time.

WEAPONS

Here are 7 of the 20+ weapons available to the player. Weaponry types include Melee, Firearms, Explosive/Traps, and Arcane. Some firearms can be upgraded with different accessories while some melee weapons can be altered or sharpened at certain places in the game.

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS

Here are some in-editor shots of one area I am currently working on. There are a lot of neat things going on under the hood in regards to shaders and post-processing effects and all lighting and shadowing is entirely dynamic.

Please note that all following screens are extremely basic builds with a few set pieces and still requires several more visual passes and details before it is complete. My intention is to mainly demonstrate the dynamic lighting and day/night cycle.

None of it came easy since many problems do arise when you start working with world dynamic lighting in any game engine (if you’ve worked with dynamic lighting before, you’ll know what I’m talking about) I’m glad to say though that after a lot of work I’ve set up a lighting system that looks nice and isn’t too costly. Of course, I’ll still be looking for ways to improve and optimize it over time.

I’ve also been much more mindful of the balance between visuals and performance this time around. It’s a struggle to get things to look the way that I want while maintaining an acceptable framerate but it forces me to be more efficient in building my assets and to think outside the box when coming up with ways to fake certain effects, which is a good thing!