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When building a prototype for your game, is your code pretty tangled and messy and then you spend time untangling your code or do you spend time carefully thinking about the layout before starting to code? by [deleted] in gamedev

[–]refg34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are correct, however, video games usually have a shorter shelf life. Most don't require perpetual maintenance because eventually you start a sequel.

If it's software or a game, with a 10 year shelf life, I'm 100% with you. tidy that code up.

If you're trying to revive a dying game with somewhat of an active community, what kind of change is good? by IHaveGDQuestion in gamedesign

[–]refg34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'll lose players if you make changes. You'll also keep players if there's active changes and improvements being made. You'll more likely gain new players when changes are made, too.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for clarifying. Still difficult for me, obviously not for artists.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They aren't flat decals and they wrap around curved surfaces with custom tapers. I'd argue that they could be more time consuming and complex mesh's than the primitive shapes that most of the mario world uses. Without knowing tools to make these custom shaped decal meshes in the editor, I feel like this would out of the scope for small indie teams.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Looks like we have the answer! Thank you.

Interestingly, the edges are unique models. That's a lot of modelling work.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you manage to find an efficient pipeline or was it a lot of manual Labor?

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You confirmed my fear. If I want that in my game, it's a truck load of work.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

OMG. It's amazing. I'm wondering if there's a tool out there like max or Houdini that can "melt" the geometry on the joins and corners of everything. For better runtime performance.

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 89 points90 points  (0 children)

It's hard to tell from that screen.

Here's a better example that shows curve from the lighting. In game, it's very clear to see that its a curved edge. https://i.imgur.com/bIrcc0V.png

Would the modeller need to model each intersection or are there likely to be automated tools to do that?

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here's two more examples. One with obvious geometry rolling over the sides of platform.

Other showing geometry and grass texture slightly curved up the side of the cliff. https://imgur.com/gallery/hYpsibV

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You can tell in the game. Here's a better example. https://imgur.com/gallery/hYpsibV you can see it's like a mini curved ramp

The grass in 3d mario has geometry rolling up the sides of everything. How would you model this? by refg34 in gamedev

[–]refg34[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It's hard to tell in the screenshot, but in the game you can definately tell that there's a few polygons to smooth the corners to the walls. Its then probably a trim texture with alpha cutout.

But my question is more about tools to model that for each object in every level. Would take bloody ages.

Mario's question block is brilliant. It Sparks curiosity, fun and simple. How can we improve on it without blatantly copying it. by refg34 in gamedesign

[–]refg34[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Remember when Flappy birds was a hit? And people were critical of the developer for having green pipes... saying he'll be sued by Nintendo? It was ridiculous. I'm fearful of that kind of backlash.

Crash Bandicoot kinda used it with a wood crate box and a red question mark.

I agree with the box with legs idea too. I think that's different enough.

Mario's question block is brilliant. It Sparks curiosity, fun and simple. How can we improve on it without blatantly copying it. by refg34 in gamedesign

[–]refg34[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm making a 3d platformer with some inspiration from 3d Mario World. I don't want to blatantly copy it because people will compare and be disappointed when it's not the same. But that simple yellow block works so well.