Revisiting the Art

We first looked into reverting back to older, larger texture sheets to see if there would be any significant gains in restoring them. That investigation yielded few positive results, so we ultimately made the choice to push the art forward than to fall backward. A couple of the changes we've targeted are to make our metals feel more like metal, and to bring back some of the specularity (shininess,) and dial back some of the places where we use grunge overlays excessively.

With the updated Lightning you'll see more metallics, more vibrant paint, with more clearly defined edges.

Updated Lightning textures.

Current Lightning textures.

Interior Sky

One of the background technologies we've developed is the ability to detect and change a sky file while in an interior space. Esamir's Containment Sites, don't really do this, despite faking it pretty well with designer-placed server volumes. With the new tech, we are able to integrate volumes into the props themselves that can align to the actual shape of the building. We currently use this tech to neutralize the impact of the outdoor lighting on the indoor spaces.

Using the new indoor sky, we can create interior spaces that feel more true to how they would be lit. You can also see less grungy interior walls of the updated art here as well.

New Indar interior at noon using indoor "sky" tech.

Current Indar interior at noon.

Screen Space Reflections

With the changes to specularity, we've also added an option to take it a step further. "Screen Space Reflections" (or SSR) is a technique of adding reflections to surfaces, based on what the camera can currently see. There are definitely limitations to this technique, but it creates a cool effect that can add more life to a space. Here's an example.

With SSR enabled, you can see reflections on the floor from the surrounding lights and equipment. As a note the interior sky file in the Tech Plant here is still a work in progress, and way darker than we'll send Live.

New Screen Space Reflections (work in progress indoor lighting.)

Current, non-reflective Live.

Water Reflections

Similar to the SSR above, we've also added reflections to water surfaces. This quality is handled in a setting separate from SSR, so you can tailor the visuals. With water reflections, we can more clearly differentiate the water's surface from what's below, instead of the juice-drink sort of look we have currently. You'll also see terrain and objects reflected on the water's surface.

Both the sky, terrain, and structures can be seen reflected in this shot.

New Water Reflections.

Current Oshur Water.

Explosions!

One of the steps we're taking to improve on the visuals is to revamp ground explosions from projectile impacts (like tank cannon shells hitting the ground.) The end result will feel more modern, be better optimized, and help resolve a long-standing problem where explosions that land close to you can be very difficult to see. Here are some examples of old versus new, noting that these, like many of what's been showed already are work in progress.

Old impact.

New impact.

But wait, there is, indeed, more.

What's shown above is some, but certainly not all, of the visual updates we'll be making in November. On the gameplay front standby for a better performing spawn priority system, a smattering of balance adjustments, new tricks up the Bastion Fleet Carrier's sleeve, and a new style of facility capture gameplay that will change the battlefields of Auraxis forever. Soooooo, we'll talk about it all as we move into November!

Thanks all.

-Wrel, Lead Designer