It’s time for another “State of the Remake” post.  Basically, this is just a video showing everything that has been done in the remake so far.  But this time, with a twist!  I also have a picture-in-picture video showing the original game!  That way, you can compare it side by side.  I hope it works well.

You can also see how the final version of the nebula effect looks in this video, near the end.

And here it is…

Hello Arthlings,

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update.  Today I started working on implementing nebulas.  You know, the green magical interstellar stuff that somehow prevents shields from working.  That thing.

So, I have created a Perlin noise shader (billowed style) that will generate and animate the nebula texture map in real time.  Then I imported the nebula outlines that I created last year in Adobe Illustrator for my SF1 map into 3DS Max.  In 3DS Max I am doing the work of turning those outlines into 3D models, and vertex painting the edges so they fade out.  This process will take me a couple of days – there are around 40 or so separate nebulas in the game.  But, here’s a preview of what has been done so far!

I’m back from our holiday trip to Durango, Colorado… and am ready to get back into it!

First up… mighty morphing skyboxes!  I have implemented a custom skybox shader that draws from and blends multiple sources.  I also created different skyboxes for each of the major races that appear in the game.  Their territories are marked on the original Starflight map and I follow it pretty closely.

It works very nicely!  Especially while warping through the continuum fluxes, you can see the colors change due to the territories you pass through.

ALSO: The original game texture maps for all 811 planets are in the remake now! Huge thanks to Michael Gams for getting us over the finish line on this mini-project.

Check the changing skyboxes out in the video below.  I fly up into Spemin territory, then down into Gazurtoid territory.  Then I warp through a continuum flux into Elowan territory, and then back.