Fancy Graphics & Light

I think bitfighter looking all techno instead of drab will attract more players.

[YoshiSmb]

Oh men, that caught my eye for a second!

Devs, Any new's here?

Sadly, to make Bitfighter have really cool graphics, the devs would need to port it to OpenGL 2 I believe, which requires a lot of work. I think that it might happen someday though!

It would look cool though

would te effects be naustiating though ?

[YoshiSmb]

No idea
Shaders should be created as scripts like Ford said.

I still think this should happen even if its a setting.

BUMP.

[kaen]

Just to clear up a few misconceptions:

Shaders (and rendering) utilize the GPU, a special chip similar to a CPU used only for graphics. Shaders are unlikely to negatively impact CPU.

Shaders deinterlace the drawing routines, so that we do a bunch of CPU stuff followed by a long stretch of GPU stuff. Normal rendering switches between GPU and CPU frequently, which is slower than doing the jobs in larger batches. Shaders can also disable or circumvent unused parts of the rendering pipeline that traditional rendering wastes time on. All of this to say that shaders can actually improve performance on modern desktops.

A prototype shader system was completed years ago, and was demonstrated to be working. It was never integrated into the mainline because there was not enough interest or time, and the community seemed opposed to graphical changes. The upfront time investment is minimal, perhaps a days worth of work.

The prototype system has a simple "off switch" that disables shaders and returns to "normal" rendering (you don't even have to restart the game). It also allows configuring specific graphical effects, so that you can turn them off and adjust the quality for each shader effect that would be introduced.

Finally, shader source code does not need to be compiled into the binary. This means you could edit specific shaders the same way you do lua scripts, making it easy for the community to contribute to their development.

[watusimoto]

A prototype shader system was completed years ago, and was demonstrated to be working.

It was??

Just to clear up a few misconceptions:

Shaders (and rendering) utilize the GPU, a special chip similar to a CPU used only for graphics. Shaders are unlikely to negatively impact CPU.

Shaders deinterlace the drawing routines, so that we do a bunch of CPU stuff followed by a long stretch of GPU stuff. Normal rendering switches between GPU and CPU frequently, which is slower than doing the jobs in larger batches. Shaders can also disable or circumvent unused parts of the rendering pipeline that traditional rendering wastes time on. All of this to say that shaders can actually improve performance on modern desktops.

A prototype shader system was completed years ago, and was demonstrated to be working. It was never integrated into the mainline because there was not enough interest or time, and the community seemed opposed to graphical changes. The upfront time investment is minimal, perhaps a days worth of work.

The prototype system has a simple "off switch" that disables shaders and returns to "normal" rendering (you don't even have to restart the game). It also allows configuring specific graphical effects, so that you can turn them off and adjust the quality for each shader effect that would be introduced.

Finally, shader source code does not need to be compiled into the binary. This means you could edit specific shaders the same way you do lua scripts, making it easy for the community to contribute to their development.

KAEEENNNN! Yeah, it was implemented by kaen, raptor showed it to me. But kaen, isn't that impossible with OpenGL 1.2?

not sure but if the version of OGL is outdated we are using why dont we update ?

[YoshiSmb]

BUMP!

We seriously need this, literally.

BUMP BUMP

give objects a neon glowly outline

[watusimoto]

For the record, IA was nearly universally hated for, among other things, its hyped up graphics.

True, but wouldn't at least a small update be neat?

I think now that people are more willing to have the Graphcs (even if it is a setting) It wont be a issue now.

It may even get more players!

[watusimoto]

Before e do anything major with the graphics, we need to implement shaders.

When we do so, we will try to make it easy to mod the graphics. Then, if anyone comes up with something great, we can easily add it to a future release.

The downside is that 020 is still a ways off, and the shader work has stalled a bit.

[YoshiSmb]

Atleast, give us a screenshot of how the shader would look on BF.
I'm impatiently to see it already!

[watusimoto]

Well, the first iteration would look exactly (more or less) like what we've got now. At least that would be the goal.

Exciting, I know!

If you ever get it working, add a way to have custom shaders please. That would be nutsly amazing.

I honestly Think Fnacy Graphics would look better not worse give the game a nice tron look

[watusimoto]

Yes, would definitely want a way to have custom shaders.

In fact why not give the game a tron seel having fading trails behind moving ships and other objects maybe that for another thread though

Probley would be another setting.....

[YoshiSmb]

BUMP!

Don't let this thread die please...
Can you devs also give us a screenshot of how the shaders would look on BF?

I hear the devs are getting closer to supporting shaders! I only hear this, however.

Lol I just made myself think of the terrible tron map made with a level gen from way back when anyone still have that?

Would it be possible to have a sprite based system eventully?

[watusimoto]

I'd say we're closer to wanting to support shaders. My problem is I haven't yet really figured out how to apply shaders to our code, so I'm feeling kind of stuck. I've heard that kaen did some work on this, though, which I haven't looked at yet, so maybe the answer is just waiting for me to download.

Hmm would rastering be a option at all ?

[watusimoto]

I don't think that's the direction to go, but I still need to do more research.

I found this for ya devs hope you enjoy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering ... raphics%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_rendering

3D is also an interesting direction

[Skybax]

How about pseudo-3D like all the new platforming games coming out..
Where they look like they're in a three dimensional world, and they move like they have three dimensions, but they can still only move along a two dimensional space?

Like what if the Bitfighter ship actually tilted in the direction that it was flying if it was flying a direction different than straight or backwards?

[watusimoto]

I think Sam686 created a client with some 3D aspects. It's been a while, so I don't remember the details.

It would definitely be possible to modify the existing client to make this possible. But I am left asking... why?

Actually, that is weirdly a good idea amgine had. This could maybe replace all of the fancy neon look we were heading for. We could maybe have a subtle 3D perspectivy look, like while moving or something.

Maybe we could make walls have depth (inwards and outwards so the ship would be in the center)?

The BF graphics aren't about performance, they're about a certain aesthetic, which is rooted in the old vector graphics arcade game days, now long gone. Games like Tempest, Star Trek, and Star Castle.T

could it be possible to combine both ideas have Pseudo 3d style game play and have it have the tron look or maybe would only one be better?

Maybe we could add some fancy CRT effects? This seems really easy. We could virtually copy-paste this.

*If we support shaders!!

Errm no that would take bitfighters quality the other way not forward and improve it. like pseudo 3d or a fancy tron look would why have a cookie when you can have A house sized one?

[Skybax]

I'm pretty sure the SNES was a major graphical improvement from the Arcade games that came before it..

Maybe there is something I am not understanding here why use lower quality graphics when you can use higher ones?

I think a Tron look with pseudo 3d would be the way to go.

[watusimoto]

Two reasons: 1) "high" quality is harder; 2) part of the game look is to use retro vector graphics (like Asteroids, for example).

Look only as far as Z.A.P. to see the dangers of "enhancing" the graphics.

I dont remember what happened from the zap graphics thing it was to long ago remind me again.

One other thing im considering would that make it harder to port to a browser version as well since chrome and edge got rid of using npapi.

Z.A.P:

zap-550x.jpg

polls_zap_5457_758523_answer_6_xlarge.jpeg

[Skybax]

I actually kinda like that.. makes me think Z.A.P. didn't tank because of the graphics, but the way in which it was presented

The graphics are inconsistent. It looks bad because only the ships and weaponry are really glowing. If the walls and background were given more contrast and textures and overall design was more complex, I bet it would have been well-received.

Another option im wondering is if realistic space items would be interesting ie ships loops like ships asteroids look more like real ones ect probably would need sprite graphics for that though.

[Skybax]

The graphics are inconsistent. It looks bad because only the ships and weaponry are really glowing. If the walls and background were given more contrast and textures and overall design was more complex, I bet it would have been well-received.

Sooooo let's do that

Agreed.

Fordcars is working on this now and making some progress.

[YoshiSmb]

Heh, glad this thread is still alive...

What did i miss after my long hiatus?

This could eventually be a thing!

Tron look :3