Source
OptionalSteveOP•

Here are some screen shots and here's another gfy.

I'm just finishing up with the hull and the cannonballs need a lot of work, but this represents a big milestone in development. I'll post a blog with more info and maybe some tutorials in the future.

4
Ponzel•

Looks awesome!

How did you do it? Does the ship consist of those pieces or are they generated at runtime? Also did you use a game engine to do it?

2
OptionalSteveOP•

Thanks! This is using pre-fractured Apex destructibles in UE4. The ship model is cut up into pieces (like port side hull or top deck), fractured with PhysX lab, and imported into UE4. It's put back together in engine using blueprints, the Apex support system and an interface I wrote to join the two.

5
MLGsallados•

What happens when the ship is in water? How does flodding work?

1
OptionalSteveOP•

Right now it just floats because I've setup a buoyancy mesh. Water clips through the hull now, so I need to add displacement to the water shader to push the waves under the boat, this will also simulate the ship cutting through the water.

As far as flooding goes, once I create a cavity in the ship I'm looking into using physx flex to simulate the flooding water. Or I might be just use a water volume with some flooding particles. Either way I'll simulate the ship filling up with water, and the weight of the water sinking it.

1
bobdoleraisetaxes•

Seems a bit too easy to fall apart doesn't it? Maybe because it isn't a huge ship..

1
OptionalSteveOP•

The chunks are bigger than I'd like, which means the holes blown in the ship will be larger. But smaller chunks means more memory and CPU usage (UE4's apex model is GPU agnostic, and runs on the CPU) and I'd like this to scale well. I can smash the whole ship and not dip below 30fps, and my CPU isn't very great.

As far as how sturdy the wood is, a lot of the debris falling off have actually already been fractured, and subsequent hits are knocking them free. It's also that the ship isn't very big (35m) and I'm shooting it point blank so it's getting knocked around a bit. In a way it's too sturdy, you can see some of the cannonballs bouncing off the hull. It's hard finding a good balance between density and material strength.

1
JattenalleGods and Idols developer•

Looks nice. How do you plan on doing weapons?

Mounts/customize, or pre-defined for each hull?

Will you be able to, for example, take out the deck a cannon is standing on to make the cannon fall/become inoperable?

Do pieces that fall cause destruction? ie: Masts falling on the deck, etc?

1
OptionalSteveOP•

The plan is you'll customize each deck, so you'll place cannons, storage racks, crew quarters, etc.. in real time.

Yes, besides aiming the broadside manually, the player can designate a target (like the deck, or the cannons) for the cannon operating Npcs and they'll have a percent chance to hit based on their skills.

Yes, falling chunks and masts can definitely cause damage to the ship or kill the player.

2
carmikaze•

Will this be featured in a specific game? :)

Looks super fancy.

1
OptionalSteveOP•

Thanks! It will be featured in a game :) basically a single player pirate game with an added emphasis on diving wrecks and fighting sea monsters.

1
carmikaze•

Do you have a website for me?

1
wizbam•

Man this looks incredible. Currently working on a pirate-style game myself so I get really inspired looking at other dev material in the genre. Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

1
OptionalSteveOP•

Thanks! The world needs more pirate games, how's your game going?

2
wizbam•

Going well! Trying to scrape together enough time to work on it a little bit every day. Still trying to piece together primary mechanics but we're getting really close to being able to just write content, and that is a truly thrilling prospect.

1