08-21-2011, 04:15 PM
Another issue that hasn't been mentioned much is the use of shadows in a mansion.
Some background: If you followed Vern's blog entries about the new game, then you know that one feature he added was the use of game-generated shadows. An early look at the shadows can be seen in this blog entry.
MM HD will generate shadows when a room uses a black background, and won't when a room uses any other background. This is to prevent shadows from monsters or items from being cast on the
There are two varieties of game-generated shadow: static and dynamic.
Tiles that aren't in layer 0 will cast static shadows. These are a lot like shadows that designers have added themselves manually be using a darker tile color when they wanted shadows in a room. These shadows will not move regardless of Jack's position in the room, and will be unaffected by candles or torches in the room. The nice thing about these shadows is that they are cast onto any surface - even those where there is no darker tile available.
Dynamic shadows are cast from most Sprites (levers, sacks of gold, monsters, etc). Unlike static shadows, these shadows will move depending on Jack's position in the room. Also, they conform to the outline of the item that is
These shadows go a long way to adding extra depth to rooms, and save developers time from having to generate them manually. There are a few downsides, though:
Rooms that already have designer shadows and a black background will also get game generated shadows on top of the existing shadows, making the
What can be done? There are a few options - unfortunately pretty time consuming ones that require designers to go room-by-room through their mansions. I did this for all the original built-in mansions in MM HD.
When I did it, I had the following goals:
- Use game-generated shadows as much as I could
- Make the behavior as consistent as possible
- Try and preserve as many artistic flourishes as possible.
Basically, I had to remove most drawn in shadows for each room. In most cases this was easier than it sounds. I used the the square painting tool which made the work generally go faster. Also, I ended up adding some shadows where they weren't before - mostly in areas where game-generated shadows could not be used to maintain overall consistency.
You can also disable game-generated shadows, by switching the background image. This can work fine if the background isn't exposed, otherwise it requires that black or other tiles be used to cover up the background image elsewhere. This wasn't that big a deal for the mansions in MM HD, but I predict that it will be a much bigger challenge for MM2, which makes significant use of non-black background images in some mansions - even underground.
Some background: If you followed Vern's blog entries about the new game, then you know that one feature he added was the use of game-generated shadows. An early look at the shadows can be seen in this blog entry.
MM HD will generate shadows when a room uses a black background, and won't when a room uses any other background. This is to prevent shadows from monsters or items from being cast on the
skywhich can be seen in some of the screenshots in Vern's blog entry.
There are two varieties of game-generated shadow: static and dynamic.
Tiles that aren't in layer 0 will cast static shadows. These are a lot like shadows that designers have added themselves manually be using a darker tile color when they wanted shadows in a room. These shadows will not move regardless of Jack's position in the room, and will be unaffected by candles or torches in the room. The nice thing about these shadows is that they are cast onto any surface - even those where there is no darker tile available.
Dynamic shadows are cast from most Sprites (levers, sacks of gold, monsters, etc). Unlike static shadows, these shadows will move depending on Jack's position in the room. Also, they conform to the outline of the item that is
castingthe shadow.
These shadows go a long way to adding extra depth to rooms, and save developers time from having to generate them manually. There are a few downsides, though:
Rooms that already have designer shadows and a black background will also get game generated shadows on top of the existing shadows, making the
shadowarea much darker than what a designer originally intended. In some cases, the effect can be jarring. Also, and this may be because I've become conditioned to look for it, but going from a room that has generated shadows and one that doesn't can also be a bit surprising especially if the two rooms appear to be mostly the same.
What can be done? There are a few options - unfortunately pretty time consuming ones that require designers to go room-by-room through their mansions. I did this for all the original built-in mansions in MM HD.
When I did it, I had the following goals:
- Use game-generated shadows as much as I could
- Make the behavior as consistent as possible
- Try and preserve as many artistic flourishes as possible.
Basically, I had to remove most drawn in shadows for each room. In most cases this was easier than it sounds. I used the the square painting tool which made the work generally go faster. Also, I ended up adding some shadows where they weren't before - mostly in areas where game-generated shadows could not be used to maintain overall consistency.
You can also disable game-generated shadows, by switching the background image. This can work fine if the background isn't exposed, otherwise it requires that black or other tiles be used to cover up the background image elsewhere. This wasn't that big a deal for the mansions in MM HD, but I predict that it will be a much bigger challenge for MM2, which makes significant use of non-black background images in some mansions - even underground.