Down with the static backgrounds.
There are several possibilities to make a scene dynamic. Except for the common technique regarding the inclusion of some characters – such as passerbys – inside it, it is possible to create some quick videos showing, for instance, a moving shop sign or lights turning on and off in the scene.
Other two excellent ways to create more ‘lively’ locations are: the use of fixed images managed by scripts and the particles effect.
In the video up here, showing a scene of the game located in a street of the Lower East Side in New York, it is possible to notice the use of both the aforesaid techniques – the falling rain, the rain on the sidewalk, the lightning, the mist.
The use of particles consists in creating the image of a particle, such as a snowflake, smoke haze, or in this case a drop of rain and ‘serve it up on a platter’ to a particles emitter. This emitter is able, through a considerable series of parameters – and believe me, it’s really CONSIDERABLE ;) – to multiply the single particle, to enlarge or reduce it according to the depth of the scene, to vary its colour, manage its speed, regulate its running time… and I will spare you all the other details and options.
The overall effect is excellent for the graphic return as well as for the efficiency of the game.
13 February 2010, 13:42
questa faccenda dell’effetto particellare mi ricorda la mandria di gnu inferociti nel Re Leone della Disney!
Grazie per la spiegazione… l’effetto visto nel video è davvero realistico *-* (accendo la stufa…)