Space Station 13 Remake

[supernorn]

www.Spacestation13.com

This project is a full remake of the popular survival/sandbox based multiplayer game Space Station 13, originally developed on the BYOND platform and released in February 2003. The new Space Station 13 will be written in C# and OpenGL, built from the ground up on a new engine. Our aim is to maintain most of the core elements which make up the original.

[supernorn]

November 04 2012: Status Update

Lobby Screen:

Hello crew!

For the past month or so we've been busy little bees, getting our foundations in place and preparing for what we'll require for alpha. Our resident artist Supernorn has been working on the new lobby screen to replace our rather hideous placeholder!

Here's a quick (not final) work in progress snap of how it's coming along. Text content kindly borrowed from Goonstation.



Code:

On the code front, Enstorm has begun switching out our back-end graphics library from gorgon to SFML. Changing to SFML (Simple and Fast Multimedia Library) offers better cross-platform compatibility, better speed and allows us to do some more advanced things rendering wise since we have almost direct access to the OpenGL layer (whereas before we were relying on Directx 9). Opting for OpenGL is also necessary to future proof the game, what with Windows 8 recently dropping support for Directx 9.

Code wise there isn't a whole lot left for the alpha, with the exception of a few things that could be tidied up and possibly re-factored after the switch takes place.

Human Mobs:

Our recently appointed modeller Hamshot has wasted no time whatsoever, cranking out a human model with a bunch of wearable items. Not only that, he's in charge of creating our animations. The current method which we're investigating is the creation of a low-poly 3D model which is then rendered out frame by frame and exported as a selection of 2D sprites. This method will save hundreds of hours of time and effort that would be required to do this by hand.

Here are some extremely first pass preliminary tests, with placeholder textures. But these generally show the method we're investigating. Also note Hamshot has created a seperate walking animation for when you're wearing heavier gear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFkit1D4-LE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsL-Nhpt-r4

Preliminary first pass results below. These are tests to see how effectively we can achieve the 'pixel look' from a sprite exported from a 3D model. The final result will look significantly better.

[Nitrous]

Hey, could you guys do a video showing the process of converting the low poly 3D models to 2D sprites. Because that sounds cool as fuck and i'd like to see how it's done and shit.

[Anticheese]

Yay, you're still alive!

[Splatpope]

Hey, could you guys do a video showing the process of converting the low poly 3D models to 2D sprites. Because that sounds cool as fuck and i'd like to see how it's done and shit.

put a solid texture

ignore the Z coordinate

save as a vector image

???

2D

[h3half]

put a solid texture

ignore the Z coordinate

save as a vector image

???

Basically.

Point is, this saves a ton of time. Instead of needing to make eight (yes, we have eight directions) different directional sprites for every single item in the game, and then trying to animate them in eight directions, now we just make a low-poly model, make a texture to put on it, and then export how it looks like from different angles.

Now, I'm not directly part of the development so I could be very wrong, but the end product of this method should be exactly like if we had drawn everything. It's still exported as either an image still or an animated image; both of which you are still able to draw by hand. The 3D models don't even have to be packed with the game (I personally think they still should be), because what you see on the screen is the exported image, not the actual 3D model. The model is simply for behind-the-scenes stuff like getting the images in the first place.

I think that makes sense.

[Merudo]

I understand how this approach is preferable to making every sprite by hand, but why not go 3d all the way if all the models are 3d anyway?

[supernorn]

Because 3D is a terrible idea and would triple the amount of work we'd need to put into the game.

[Mr Behling]

looking great.

[h3half]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFkit1D4-LE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsL-Nhpt-r4

Wow. Talk about doing more with less. This dude's good.

[DrMelon]

Reminds me of how the characters look in Ghost Trick:


3D models, but exported as 2D animations with vector graphics. Looks super nice in motion, and I think it'd fit right in for SS13.

[supernorn]

We're going to be holding a skype meeting this week and uploading it on the site as a mini development blog. We thought an impromptu Q&A might be a good addition. Post here with your questions and we'll do our best to answer the good ones!

[Nitrous]

What programs can/are used for doing the animations/modeling and such, and will little nerdy me be able to do it without getting a PhD in the subject?

[FrontlineAcrobat4]

Will Mentors and the HoS's be able to retain their special privleges and jobs? most importantly the Purple OOC Text.

[Klayboxx]

Are any major mechanics going to change, or are you trying to keep it as true to the current goon station as you can?