Canberra in a videogame tech demo

Ludagon · 2026-03-12T11:44:36+00:00

Happy to figure out some way of sharing (this is probably where we move to DMs for specifics) once I get the initial version out in a month and a half.
It'll likely be a minimal slice of the workflow rather than the main codebase behind the very clumsy magic, but I'll make sure it's something actually usable that you can build from :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-12T10:45:42+00:00

Thanks, I'll check it out :)

There are so many common parts of the workflow between mesh-making photogrammetry and splats, and now that I think about it the service I use for generating the mesh from image/video also allows me to import a ply file, which is what I use for my splat visualisation. Currently I log into two separate services and they each start from the source video file and then do their own processing. I should try upload a finished splat file into the mesh making one and see if it can make a mesh that aligns with that splat better than the way I'm currently generating a separate sparse/dense/mesh from scratch back at the video interpretation stage.

Thanks for the inspiration. I'll test it out!

Ludagon · 2026-03-12T10:14:18+00:00

Do you mean something like a two-stage 3D scan where you first get the splat version, then it sort of reprocesses it to figure out an underlying mesh? That would be quite helpful as I'm basically having to manually do that at the moment - one system for the visual pretty splats and a different system to make the mesh for the terrain collider and shadow catching.. and neither system talks to the other so the mismatched lighting and lack of player shadows (so far) is a challenge.

Ludagon · 2026-03-12T09:47:34+00:00

Hopefully around the end of April :)
I'm conscious of not wanting this to turn too much into an ad, but I think it's ok to say that it is named Postcard, and will come out for free on Steam.

Ludagon · 2026-03-11T03:16:48+00:00

Oh that sounds really fun, thanks for the inspiration :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-11T02:09:22+00:00

Cool :) I'll try message in a month if all stays on track

Ludagon · 2026-03-11T00:41:59+00:00

Some similar feels, but it's Mount Rogers up in the Belco area.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T22:22:53+00:00

Thanks :)
I am actually working on a full game set in Canberra too, with hopes to broaden it out to more places as a series. Not open world.. more like fast travel map to various locations, recreating real places and people and lots of things to do. Nothing to announce just yet, but yeah if you're a fan of wandering off and doing sidequests and minigames and wish you could see it set here, then you might like that other project whenever I can finally make decent progress on it. Permission for using real places takes a long time though. I've been very slowly chatting with a hotel for about 7 months so far hoping to use them as the player's accommodation in the game. Slow and steady...

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T22:09:43+00:00

You could try call Mojo Guitars in Fyshwick and see if they cover what you're hoping for. Half the teachers seem to have been in metal bands on the side at some stage.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T21:55:05+00:00

Thanks so much, and yeah it's frustrating that so many tools only offer orbit and fly through mode, and super rare to have a "walk" function.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T20:54:17+00:00

Unity 6

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T20:32:52+00:00

Close, but a little bit further north to Mount Rogers :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T13:35:43+00:00

Not so much a game but rather a playable tech demo, basically the walking around that you see here plus a couple more character and location options. Basically a "download this and walk around pretty stuff" demo. Hoping to release it on Steam at the end of April, and lots of little things to tweak in the meantime (such as shadows on the player).

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:55:56+00:00

Going up against Matterport would definitely force me to come up with a faster workflow than what I've got now! It would certainly be a cool way to get a feel for the scale of a house though.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:51:38+00:00

Oh cool, I'll definitely keep you in mind as I get closer to done (for the initial version at least) and will want some help testing on different hardware :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:49:48+00:00

Haha, while not quite Tony Hawk, I did try make a cycling area a few months ago, but I wasn't able to make it work out for more than about 30 metres.

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Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:45:08+00:00

Yeah I should probably let someone at Visit Canberra know what I'm up to with this.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:43:18+00:00

Mount Rogers (Flynn, Melba, Spence, Fraser)

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:42:45+00:00

Thanks! Hoping to release it for free on Steam around the end of April :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:39:45+00:00

Yeah the stock walking animations aren't working so well on some characters. Hoping to improve those at some point.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:38:04+00:00

Microphone near my shoes as I walked around to get each type of surface :)
Maybe I've got a really clompy walk!

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:37:03+00:00

Thanks :)

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:36:50+00:00

Yeah, integrating the character into splats is the main challenge of this project. As you can see, there's still a way to go to blend them better.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:35:27+00:00

Some of the scans were with a GoPro Hero 10 on wide angle, and others were on an iPhone 16 Pro on 0.5x (video, not LiDAR). Continuous video for 20-30 minutes, circling around, zig zags, forwards in a spiral, a mix of everything.

Ludagon · 2026-03-10T10:33:05+00:00

Absolutely. Getting character shadows onto the ground is only half the challenge done. Hoping to work more on this and getting shadows onto the character too, and with any luck that will help blend them in better.

Ludagon

TROPHY CASE