Hotroom 2011 [w.i.p.]
Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:49 pm
Okay, I think it is about time I give you guys a heads-up on what I have been working on the last couple of months. As the title suggest, I am working a new version of the Hotroom! This post will explain most of my goals, but will also be a spoof of some of the content. Don't worry, I intend to keep much as a surprise for later too ;)
The original Hotroom, for those of you who do not know it, dates way back to the creation date of C2. I think it was stainless who created the track, but it remained unreleased because of copyright infringements. The track was later released by Errol. It features a living-room which is being constructed. There a hot-wheels track, some secret tunnels, a lot of construction materials like paint jars and plaster apliances and other fun. It was one of my favorite track back in the days, mostly because of its design. Unfortunately it lacks a lot of features, such as powerups and peds, and the track itself is quite empty. Here is a shot of the track:
From the day I played the hotroom I always wanted to model my own house for carmageddon. And thus the idea was born. :)
THE ROOM
The track is based on my own living room. This means that soon the whole c2 community will know what my apartment looks like :D.
I've recreated most of the furniture and added a lot of fun so far. The smaller props still have to be placed, all as low-poly as possible to keep a nice Carma frame rate. This view shows the living room and the dining room behind it.
The base of the room also has fake light modeled into the mesh. This way it looks like direct light is entering the room. A really cool and easy trick, also used by stainless in the original tracks on some points.
DARDA
I started off with the Darda toy track, making most of the map accesible for the small toy cars we will drive. The track parts need a wall friction of zero, in order to make the cars slide through the pieces. Otherwise, cars would slow down too much in corners and loopings. For some loops a speedup is needed. For this I use env boxes with negative viscosity. (like negative water, you speed up instead of slowing down)
SCALEXTRIX
Next up was another of my favorite toys; Scalextric. The track I layed out will be the base for two drone cars, driving in high speed around the track. I suggest you don't play chicken with these guys. (Cars still need to be modeled)
ARTIFACTS
The track will be a Carma tribute. I want to add some cool Carma artifacts throughout the track, for people to spot and recognize.
INTERACTION AND COOL TRICKS
I think interaction betwheen the player and the track is essential. There will be a couple of object that will interact upon touching or coming close to the object. I think it is all a mater of clever use of triggers for funks, noncars and env. boxes. My cats will probably not be amused if you dare to come close!
The fake lighting trick was the first one, but I think this mirror trick is one of my favorites. 3ds max has the ability to output 3d panoramic images of a 3d model. All I needed to do for this mirror was to render one panorama, cut it in half and map it on half a sphere. The sphere is visible behind an invisible wall, creating the illusion of a mirror. The image quality determines the quality of the 'reflection', however in this case a 256 texture will suffice.
JURASSIC PARK
I have always been a huge fan of the series and love the toys that were released back in the days. I own a couple of dinosaurs, but never had the chance to collect more of them.
They will be featured in the track. Perhaps someone can make a custom c2 ped animation fitting one of the optimized low poly dinosaurs? anyone? :p (the dinosaur models originate from the game Tresspasser. I re-mapped them on single 256 textures)
The Jurassic explorer is also on polycount as of today and is most likely to make it to C1 soon; http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost ... count=6080
LEGO
and last but not least for today, LEGO! Offcourse, how could it not be in there? :)
There will not be much of it though. Lego is touch to model low poly. The tank station alone is 3000 polygons, and the train track is crazy right now. I will have to shrink it to make it suitable for the track, that's for sure. The first in-game tests showed that the lego was a real frame rate killer, so this will be a big challenge. Here is a nice in-game shot by the way. (a little dark perhaps)
deadline?
there is no deadline on this project. Off course, I will finish it, and it will not take forever, but I do intend to take my time! This should not be a rushed job in the end, but a complete, nice, stable and cool track to play with. I will do some modeling here and there in my free time, as I have been doing since December ( allready... geez, time flies...) This topic will be updated occasionally with some new images that will not spoil to much of the fun!
now I have had it with this posting!?! Shoot your suggestions and critiques please :D.
The original Hotroom, for those of you who do not know it, dates way back to the creation date of C2. I think it was stainless who created the track, but it remained unreleased because of copyright infringements. The track was later released by Errol. It features a living-room which is being constructed. There a hot-wheels track, some secret tunnels, a lot of construction materials like paint jars and plaster apliances and other fun. It was one of my favorite track back in the days, mostly because of its design. Unfortunately it lacks a lot of features, such as powerups and peds, and the track itself is quite empty. Here is a shot of the track:
From the day I played the hotroom I always wanted to model my own house for carmageddon. And thus the idea was born. :)
THE ROOM
The track is based on my own living room. This means that soon the whole c2 community will know what my apartment looks like :D.
I've recreated most of the furniture and added a lot of fun so far. The smaller props still have to be placed, all as low-poly as possible to keep a nice Carma frame rate. This view shows the living room and the dining room behind it.
The base of the room also has fake light modeled into the mesh. This way it looks like direct light is entering the room. A really cool and easy trick, also used by stainless in the original tracks on some points.
DARDA
I started off with the Darda toy track, making most of the map accesible for the small toy cars we will drive. The track parts need a wall friction of zero, in order to make the cars slide through the pieces. Otherwise, cars would slow down too much in corners and loopings. For some loops a speedup is needed. For this I use env boxes with negative viscosity. (like negative water, you speed up instead of slowing down)
SCALEXTRIX
Next up was another of my favorite toys; Scalextric. The track I layed out will be the base for two drone cars, driving in high speed around the track. I suggest you don't play chicken with these guys. (Cars still need to be modeled)
ARTIFACTS
The track will be a Carma tribute. I want to add some cool Carma artifacts throughout the track, for people to spot and recognize.
INTERACTION AND COOL TRICKS
I think interaction betwheen the player and the track is essential. There will be a couple of object that will interact upon touching or coming close to the object. I think it is all a mater of clever use of triggers for funks, noncars and env. boxes. My cats will probably not be amused if you dare to come close!
The fake lighting trick was the first one, but I think this mirror trick is one of my favorites. 3ds max has the ability to output 3d panoramic images of a 3d model. All I needed to do for this mirror was to render one panorama, cut it in half and map it on half a sphere. The sphere is visible behind an invisible wall, creating the illusion of a mirror. The image quality determines the quality of the 'reflection', however in this case a 256 texture will suffice.
JURASSIC PARK
I have always been a huge fan of the series and love the toys that were released back in the days. I own a couple of dinosaurs, but never had the chance to collect more of them.
They will be featured in the track. Perhaps someone can make a custom c2 ped animation fitting one of the optimized low poly dinosaurs? anyone? :p (the dinosaur models originate from the game Tresspasser. I re-mapped them on single 256 textures)
The Jurassic explorer is also on polycount as of today and is most likely to make it to C1 soon; http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost ... count=6080
LEGO
and last but not least for today, LEGO! Offcourse, how could it not be in there? :)
There will not be much of it though. Lego is touch to model low poly. The tank station alone is 3000 polygons, and the train track is crazy right now. I will have to shrink it to make it suitable for the track, that's for sure. The first in-game tests showed that the lego was a real frame rate killer, so this will be a big challenge. Here is a nice in-game shot by the way. (a little dark perhaps)
deadline?
there is no deadline on this project. Off course, I will finish it, and it will not take forever, but I do intend to take my time! This should not be a rushed job in the end, but a complete, nice, stable and cool track to play with. I will do some modeling here and there in my free time, as I have been doing since December ( allready... geez, time flies...) This topic will be updated occasionally with some new images that will not spoil to much of the fun!
now I have had it with this posting!?! Shoot your suggestions and critiques please :D.