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Cryptic, THIS is what space flight should feel like

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Whenever flying in sector space, or in a planetary system, or on the ground for that matter I always felt boxed in and constrained. It was nothing like X3 where space seemed huge. I didn't think think it was possible for an MMO to have such a scale until I encountered Infinity from Inovae studios. They just released a tech demo of their procedurally generated galaxy, where each dot on the map is an explorable star, and each planet can be landed on. You can see part one here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eREddMjt4&feature=player_embedded&fmt=22

and part 2 here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3muhlQYFgLE&feature=related

This engine was pretty much programmed by 1-8 devs, and its being designed for a MMO as well. If there's any way to license the engine or incorporate some of its design principals into your own, I'd ask you to consider it. At the very least exploration sectors should be handled this way. The seamless transition from space to ground was shockingly good.

Anyway I know its a longshot but I wanted to get this out there that space and ground can be seamlessly joined without too much undue instancing, and yes I do realize in the tech demo there's only one person in the game :cool:.

Page with the videos if the above links don't work :o

http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=47
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I don't think you're really good at posting links. They don't work. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    I don't think you're really good at posting links. They don't work. :)

    The first link works for me, but the second one does not.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Geoduck360 wrote:
    The first link works for me, but the second one does not.
    I couldn't get either to work on Firefox.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Th trouble with infinity is that it looks the part and pushes all the buttons but it is still very much a demo.

    Egosoft's 'X' games on the other hand are the best space game /simulations ever made. Head and shoulders above anything else. Too many times I have heard rumours that they will turn it into an MMO only to have my hopes dashed. I would be on that like stink on a TRIBBLE if it ever came to pass.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    I couldn't get either to work on Firefox.

    I use Firefox as well :)

    The second one is working for me now. I just re-clicked the link and it went through. No error message.

    Weird...:confused:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Cosmic_One wrote: »
    I couldn't get either to work on Firefox.


    they are just youtube links. Both worked just fine for me, in Firefox.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eREddMjt4
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3muhlQYFgLE
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    They're working for me now as well. Just some strange FF thing I guess.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Thanks for the feedback! I've moved it to the Controls and Interface Feedback Forum. :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I really like the look of that ship.

    It reminds me a bit of an old Studebaker.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Hehe well I'll link the page where I got the links in the first place. They work for me on chrome :p!

    http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=47
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Geoduck360 wrote:
    I use Firefox as well :)

    The second one is working for me now. I just re-clicked the link and it went through. No error message.

    Weird...:confused:

    YouTube seemed to be having some problems a little while ago.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    This is pretty cool.. I really like the seamless planetary engine (dropping from space into the atmosphere and navigating the planet's surface).

    I love the idea of being able to take a shuttle down to the surface instead of the using the molecule scrambler... but I just don't see this happening with Cryptic's engine. Even if there were a load screen between space and the planet's atmo, I just don't see the engine being able to handle more planetary surface than the 500sq meters they dole out to us on exploration missions.

    I had expected that a "genesis" engine [especially when tied to the Star Trek reference of 'genesis'] could actually produce an entire planetary surface.

    I'm quickly learning to scale back my expectations with all things related to Cryptic. :(
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I would LOVE to make planetfall that way in a shuttle, Or an Intrepid. Or a Defiant.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Fascinating...

    Now what are they going to put in all that?

    It's sounding like Spore meets Battlecruiser 3000.

    That's not intended as a compliment.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    My take is there's no "game" to go with that game engine as yet. As a tech demo it's pretty on the money though.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    i think i just jizzed in my pants...
    i was like "he will crash into the planet" every 0.5 seconds again.... but he kept going and going down...

    WOAH!

    ...i dont care what the rest of the game will be like I WANT THAT TECH!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    That's a nice engine with some great immersion qualities. Going to have to keep an eye on it as it develops.

    EDIT: Never mind. Players cannot land and get out of their ships. No ground play at all. The spaceflight tech does look good, but it's an incomplete development package in my estimation.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    that would be a good template to use for shuttle usage and landings, at least as a start.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    I believe the procedually generated planets/open space in this engine would also be a great revamp of the exploration sectors.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    The videos are simply amazing. Too bad they didn't show interstellar travel. Maybe that's not ready yet.

    In any case, this looks great but I doubt we will ever see it for STO. They would need to revamp the game engine just so we can be inside our ships and scroll out for a 3rd person view.

    Being able to land with shuttles in STO won't be that great I believe. They are still in the mode of doing things quick and cheap. So shuttles in STO at best means you can pilot a shuttle in 3rd person down to the atmosphere's edge at which time our current loading screen will be displayed. Or worst case, a simple animation of a shuttle leaving your ship before the loading screen displays and wham you are on the ground map.

    Currently there's not really a planet to land on. Its just a 3D Object with a proximity trigger to move you to a square ground map.

    Flying down through the atmosphere in a seamless transition to a full planet with all the details will be a major major undertaking. Very doubtful that Cryptic will spend the resources to design something similar and also doubtful they will purchase this space flight engine.

    Sorry for bubble busting but it would take some dev comments from high up (Jack Emmert or above) for me to believe Cryptic is even considering space flight and full planetary exploration at this level of simulation.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    ack had to stop watching it, that's the first ever time something like that has made my stomach churn, not a fan of the constant squishing and pulling of the foreground and background.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    The videos are simply amazing. Too bad they didn't show interstellar travel. Maybe that's not ready yet.

    In any case, this looks great but I doubt we will ever see it for STO. They would need to revamp the game engine just so we can be inside our ships and scroll out for a 3rd person view.

    Being able to land with shuttles in STO won't be that great I believe. They are still in the mode of doing things quick and cheap. So shuttles in STO at best means you can pilot a shuttle in 3rd person down to the atmosphere's edge at which time our current loading screen will be displayed. Or worst case, a simple animation of a shuttle leaving your ship before the loading screen displays and wham you are on the ground map.

    Currently there's not really a planet to land on. Its just a 3D Object with a proximity trigger to move you to a square ground map.

    Flying down through the atmosphere in a seamless transition to a full planet with all the details will be a major major undertaking. Very doubtful that Cryptic will spend the resources to design something similar and also doubtful they will purchase this space flight engine.

    Sorry for bubble busting but it would take some dev comments from high up (Jack Emmert or above) for me to believe Cryptic is even considering space flight and full planetary exploration at this level of simulation.

    I know, that's why I said it was a long shot :p. With that said, I am very impressed with the work a single dev was able to bring about with this engine. Also, the implementation of the planet/space exploration need not be implemented as exactly as shown in the video. It can also be instanced. You could for example use the engine to generate planets with astronomically accurate star movement and atmospheric effects while also maintaining the scale of a true planet for ground missions. Also not that this dev was running this client on a system running a Q6600 and a ATI 4860, so you need not have cutting edge hardware to run it at high quality. Cryptic used the CO engine for STO, and while it was a great time saving measure, I'm not sure if the ultra-instancing is the best solution for a space game. I also don't have high hopes of this engine or something similar being adopted, but I felt that someone should at least put it out there in the hopes that it influences future dev decisions on adding more sandbox elements to the game. I want STO to be this awesome!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Awesome videos!

    Yes, this is what I expected the first time I flew down toward a planet. Instead I met the white-screen-of-disappointment.

    TRUE three dimensional motion (ala Descent) is also what I expected in SPACE. Space does not have an up and a down:

    "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking." --Spock, Star Strek: The Wrath of Khan

    Talon
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Its all very nice, but that is not how space ships move in STAR TREK. and we are playing Star Trek MMO, not a Space flight sim.

    Star Trek has a lot of non realistic qualities about it and not just movement, for instance, why does no one think of torpedo tubes that face the sides, top, and bottom of the ships?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    NVM. Did not get what makes the space flight there special. Cruise around earth 4 times in sol system and you get this - minus the tranquilizing music.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    That demo looks absolutely fantastic!

    I was really taken aback when I saw the little stones in the ring of the planet, only to realize those are giant asteroids!

    Immersion when going into the atmosphere of the planet was just WHOA!

    All that being said, I'm gonna pull the old too-good-to-be-true. It's just that, for now.

    Oh... and I think that game could be a killer single player game :D


    I love STO, of course I have some complaints, nothing serious. But I sure will keep my fingers crossed that Infinity turns out to be what everyone wants. :)

    Until then, Cryptic will turn STO into something almost equally fantastic. I hope :P
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Got to admit, was pretty snazzy going down to the planet without a transition. And you actually had depth to it.

    Hopefully someday the STO devs will upgrade the Planets so we don't see the giant pixels and more depth to planetary rings.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Gave me chills.

    Another game does that but not as pretty is Spore. Some good ideas in Spore as well.

    There are some problems though I had with Spore that would probably translate over. And that is after awhile all the planets and objects feel the same even though they are totally different.

    Either way though I love the transition from space to planet.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    Wow, that is really REALLY boring, and not in the least bit Star Trek-y.

    Yeah it LOOKS pretty, but it does nothing, and it would get old fast.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited May 2010
    That's a nice engine with some great immersion qualities. Going to have to keep an eye on it as it develops.

    EDIT: Never mind. Players cannot land and get out of their ships. No ground play at all. The spaceflight tech does look good, but it's an incomplete development package in my estimation.

    I wouldn't be difficult to fix that however since this game is instanced. I agree this is what space should loook like , scale wise and from a gameplay persective.I loved it and this should be the direction STO took , while I understand the present layout , it's cheesy to put it kindly comparatively speaking. Failing to look at this and implement some aspects of this will just put STO further in the hole. This is the type of WOW ! factor that STO lacks.
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