Ophidian Universe

Waiting in the weeds?

Lighting, skyboxes, and grass, oh my. I've been touching up some visual details lately while Bryan implements combat (which I hope is the topic of my next screenshot post!).

Shadows still aren't fully in yet and water textures are still are in the works, but we've made some strides in other areas.  I think once we get shadows sorted it'll really start to pop.

Getting grass to look right is definitely one of those game design aspects that never really feels like it will be 100% done.  If anyone has been down this road before, I'll certainly take advice and criticism.   I've had some success matching ground texture colors to the grass textures, and then making sure grasses are varied in type, height, and color - as to obscure flatness and make it appear a little more natural.   Of course, as soon as you change the camera angle everything looks totally different.  I've decided I don't really like the "billboarding"effect as it looks creepily unnatural to have grass always facing you.

You can see the skybox in the screenshot, which I am pretty happy with it as it matches the mood of the game.  It's also fairly easy to position the true light source where you see the sun in the skybox texture, which is pleasing to the brain.

Again, this is my first try with the intricacies of terrain design, so if anyone spots anything I can do to improve it, please let me have it.