Messages

121

SFML projects / Re: Moonman (my sfml game is on kickstarter!)

« on: January 16, 2015, 06:23:14 pm »

If I sign up to a publisher, then they distribute everything for me, but without one I would then have to maintain builds and push updates across all the platforms. But I'll definitely consider each one of those, thanks for the info

I would be very cautious about signing with a publisher.

First off, you probably don't need one.  The KS looks to be going well, I doubt you'll have any problem getting greenlit, and the game looks great.

Secondly, there's a lot of indie+publisher horror stories.  You'll pretty much have to hand over the keys to the finances of your game.  They get paid, then send you money.  Except, they don't always send you money. 

Third, it doesn't look like you need any money to finish the game, given how far into dev you are, and provided the KS is successful.

Publishers were a necessary evil in the days when they held the keys to major distribution channels.  For PC games, this is no longer true at all.

The ONLY way I'd even consider a publisher is:

• You receive glowing recommendations from other indies who signed with the publisher
• You receive hard guarantees in your contract that they are going to do a whole whack of marketing
• You, or someone you know is highly proficient at reading contracts, and can find all the "gotchas" that most publishers embed in the legalese.
• You absolutely hate handling business stuff, so much so that you'll trust a stranger to do it for you

122

SFML projects / Re: Moonman (my sfml game is on kickstarter!)

« on: January 15, 2015, 12:04:13 pm »

Looks great, eigenbom!  Pledged.

I'll be very interested to read about and watch your development, as I've chosen a nearly identical set of tech for my own work. 

123

General discussions / Re: SFML 2.3 Roadmap

« on: January 09, 2015, 02:14:44 am »

Thanks eXpl0it3r - appreciate you writing this up for us.

124

General discussions / Re: Mario is now a member of the SFML Team

« on: January 09, 2015, 02:08:54 am »

Gratz Mario!

125

SFML projects / Re: Let There Be Light 2

« on: December 19, 2014, 04:56:38 pm »

Cool!  Great to see this committed to github, lolz. 

126

SFML projects / Re: Let There Be Light 2

« on: December 04, 2014, 08:30:12 am »

Looks great, lolz!

127

SFML projects / Re: Let There Be Light 2

« on: November 30, 2014, 10:54:05 pm »

Jabberwocky,

I have thought of doing that actually, specifically the last approach you suggested. I will add it, it shouldn't be too hard.

Cool.
Would you need multiple composition textures to support multiple lights?

Any other features you would like to see? I might actually run a kickstarter for this, depending on how many features I end up adding.

My best guess, you are going to have 2 kinds of users:
1.  Users who want per-pixel lighting with normal maps.
2.  Users who don't.

I am (1), and I would happy contribute to a kickstarter for a project that supported this. 

In case you need to generate some normal maps to test this functionality, I believe both CrazyBump and PixPlant have 30-day free trials.  Or you may just be able to find some free sample art from a google search.  Let me know if I can help with any of that.

In case you decide not to run a kickstarter, I'd still be happy to contribute a donation directly, just let me know.

128

General discussions / Re: Sprite DLight - Instant normal maps for 2D graphics

« on: November 30, 2014, 03:20:44 am »

Very nice work, Dee.
Kickstarted.

129

SFML projects / Re: Let There Be Light 2

« on: November 30, 2014, 03:16:34 am »

Lolz, what are your thoughts on combining LTBL with a sprite per-pixel lighting shader (normal map), such as seen here:  http://en.sfml-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=16830.0

I can think of a few approaches.
1.  LTBL only renders modulative shadows instead of additive lighting, and you render your sprites with a light shader.
2.  LTBL renders exactly as it does now, the composition texture is applied to the ground / background texture to render shadows, and all other sprites are rendered with a light shader.
3.  LTBL embeds light-direction data in the composition texture, and then the light shader can sample this composition texture to calculate the per-pixel lighting.

Thoughts?

130

SFML projects / Re: SFML Light System - Let There Be Light

« on: November 30, 2014, 12:47:47 am »

On a hull, set m_renderLightOverHull to true. It will make hulls not become shadowed by their own shadow, but can receive shadows from other hulls.

Thanks lolz123.

Unfortunately that doesn't quite solve the problem, because the hull geometry is always an approximation of the graphics, and doesn't account for any sprite transparency.  In the tree example I gave, the tree canopy has lots of transparency (between the leaves) through which the shadow would need to display on the ground below.

I can add what you describe to LTBL2, it shouldn't be too hard.

I appreciate the offer!  I'll wait for LTBL2 and see what I can do with that.

131

SFML projects / Re: Let There Be Light 2

« on: November 30, 2014, 12:42:07 am »

Looks great!
What is a Codeless light type?  Is that a data-driven light, such as how you can load a hull from file in LTBL1?

132

General discussions / Re: We're close!

« on: November 29, 2014, 05:11:59 pm »

Good to know!

133

General discussions / Re: We're close!

« on: November 29, 2014, 01:07:54 pm »

Thanks Hiura.

134

General discussions / Re: We're close!

« on: November 29, 2014, 12:33:03 pm »

Cool stuff!

What's the best way to look at the changes from 2.1 -> 2.2?  Should I just be looking through the individual commits?  Or is there some sort of change log?

135

SFML projects / Re: SFML Light System - Let There Be Light

« on: November 29, 2014, 12:14:12 pm »

I also have one other issue I've been trying to resolve.
I wanted to ask your advice, if you have time.

My game is top-down.  I want the shadows to draw on the ground, but not overtop other "tall" entities/sprites.

For example, let's say there are two trees by a light.  Currently, LTBL would draw the shadow of the first tree overtop the second tree.  I don't want it to.  I only want the shadow on the ground.

Conceptually, what I'm trying to do is this:

Render loop
1.  Draw the ground, and any "low" entities/sprites which should be shadowed
2.  Render LTBL's shadows
3.  Render any "tall" entities/sprites

That works... but not quite.
The ground properly receives shadows.  Good
The tall entities do not receive shadows.  Good
The tall entities are completely bright, and not affected by the light at all.  Bad.

I think what I need to do is something like this:
1.  Draw the ground, and any "low" entities/sprites which should be shadowed
2.  Render LTBL's light with shadows
3.  Activate a new fullscreen render texture, with a clear alpha transparency
4.  Render any "tall" entities/sprites on this 2nd fullscreen render texture
5.  Render LTBL again on the fullscreen render texture, disabling any hull shadows in this LTBL pass
6.  Render the fullscreen render texture onto the main render window.

This way, the tall entities receive light, but now shadow.
I certainly don't expect you to support this feature for me.  But does this seem like a reasonable approach for me to take?