Re: [pygame] Where Do I Go From Here?

[Alex Holkner <aholkner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kris Schnee wrote:

> Many questions here; I could use help from someone more experienced.
>
>
>
> But what now? Although I could and probably should focus on the
> "worldsim" itself -- the physics and gameplay -- I'm not sure about how
> to develop the graphics system further. Assuming that I can successfully
> combine this landscape with my Pygame-only widget system and with
> Pyglyph so that I can do text windows, buttons etc., it's still going to
> be ugly! I thought about switching from these awkward-looking textures
> to plain colors, but (perhaps because there's full lighting) that turns
> the landscape into green soup. And there's still a bad case of the
> jaggies (and terrible FPS) from the fact that I'm using 100x100 data
> points. _And_ the sky's not animated. And so on.
Just some notes on how to improve the first screenshot without much effort:

- The normals are either incorrect or you are not modulating the 
texture with light (you can see the problem most clearly on the rocky 
areas).
- Increase the heightmap resolution; you definitely want to avoid 
single-vertex "peaks" like you have now.
- Simplify the textures.  Many grass textures are designed to be viewed 
close-up, and don't scale or alias well.  Find (or draw) a less detailed 
one that works from a distance.
- Add a shadow to the player, even if it's just a billboarded "blob"; 
at the moment it's not clear whether the player is standing or hovering.
- The water works well if you want to keep a cartoony feel; if not 
there are many reflection/refraction tricks you can employ.  At least 
try to match the horizon colour though.
- I wouldn't worry about animating the sky: players look where the 
action is, and it looks fine at the moment.  You could experiment with a 
little fog to hide the horizon.

You shouldn't be getting performance problems with a scene like this, 
don't be turned off by framerate problems.

Alex.