Screen filling bosses

“Screen filling boss” is a term that is used in the world of video gaming to describe massive enemies. If an enemy is screen filling it either takes up the whole screen or it is so big it is necessary to look up to see its full height.

The world of computer games is measured in pixels. This means that these screen filling monsters would be 1080 pixels or more in height on a conventional monitor. In the case of my 24 inch monitor, a screen filling boss would be at least 30 cm tall when displayed on screen.

Virtual Reality offers a new challenge because we will no longer be looking through a window into a world measured by pixels. The units of measurement used in virtual reality will be centimetres and metres. In the real world, a boss like our friend the Cyberdemon in the picture would be several stories high.

A new sense of scale

Virtual Reality presents games developers with a sense of scale they have never had to deal with before. This prospect may be daunting, but it is also liberating. Virtual Reality’s sense of scale has inspired me to create a new damage modelling system intended for use in 1:1 scale Virtual Reality applications.

Let's shift our scale down from the gargantuan Cyberdemon to the size of your typical player character and human sized enemies. Standard health bars work fine in conventional games. Characters are scaled down and harder to hit—the precise location of the hit does not really matter unless it’s a head shot, so a meter to show “general body condition” is fine.

Some games like Fallout 4 use systems to allocate damage to different places on the body, using separate health bars for each. The problem I can see in Virtual Reality, and also the opportunity, is that due to the 1:1 scale world we are experiencing—it will be much easier to hit a target, and also to be able to hit it in a specific place. In virtual reality, it may not be enough to treat an entire limb as a single health bar.

It's possible to ask the question, where has the bullet hit on the arm? Was it on the hand? The upper or lower arm? Should a hit anywhere on the arm be measured on a single bar, when being hit in each location would do a different amount of physical damage? If this is the case, then how many health bars are needed to accurately model how much damage has been taken and where?

There comes a point when health bars are no longer sufficient.

A new approach to damage

Health bars have done an admirable job of measuring our status for decades now, but perhaps in the virtual world it is time for them to be replaced by a different model. The new realistic scale of VR has inspired me to begin development on a new system, based on real world techniques. This technology is made possible through new software by Nvidia called FleX. FleX is a new way of programming material based physics.

Ballistics Gelatin is a test medium used in the real world for measuring the destructive potential of firearms on the human body:

Here is an early attempt to replicate the physical properties of Ballistics Gel using FleX:

Using Nvidia Flex, it may in future be possible to create player and enemy models with the potential to take damage in a highly realistic way. The potential is limited only by the imagination and the degree of detail required. There would be the ability to measure the difference in damage between a flesh wound and a direct hit. Flesh, muscle and bone could be modelled as part of a character, and highly accurate anatomical structure could be used.

We live in exciting times, and myself as a developer am excited to share this technology with the development community.

"Ballistic gelatin is a testing medium scientifically correlated to swine muscle tissue (which in turn is comparable to human muscle tissue), in which the effects of bullet wounds can be simulated. It was developed and improved by Martin Fackler and others in the field of wound ballistics. Ballistic gelatin is a solution of gelatin powder in water. Ballistic gelatin closely simulates the density and viscosity of human and animal muscle tissue, and is used as a standardized medium for testing the terminal performance of firearms ammunition. While ballistic gelatin does not model the structure of the body, including skin and bones, it works fairly well as an approximation of tissue and provides similar performance for most ballistics testing. Ballistic gelatin is used rather than actual muscle tissue due to the ability to carefully control the properties of the gelatin, which allows consistent and reliable comparison of terminal ballistics."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_gelatin

Digital Molecular Matter

DMM is a physical simulation system which models the material properties of objects allowing them to break and bend in accordance to the stress placed on them. Structures modeled with DMM can break and bend if they are not physically viable. Objects made of glass, steel, stone and jelly are all possible to create and simulate in real-time with DMM. The system accomplishes this by running a finite element simulation that computes how the materials would actually behave.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Molecular_Matter

https://www.army.mil/article/165340

DINNER

Pretty wasn’t the word he’d use to describe the appearance of the woman who opened the mansions front door when he knocked. She was beyond pretty; even the word ’beautiful’ wouldn’t fully do her justice.

This, ladies and gentlemen, was an eleven out of ten. Perhaps the way she was dressed contributed to this rating. It wasn’t so much what was on display that titillated, but those things that remained a mystery that were so alluring.

Her skirt was cut about two inches above the knee. His mind couldn’t help but join the dots of what lay beyond, judging from the exquisite curve of her calf muscles and shapely lower thighs. It was almost as if it had been tailored to be provocative, precisely by hiding just enough.

She’d obviously spent hours with a personal trainer, playing tennis or whatever wealthy people did to stay in shape these days. Her long, toned legs seemed even longer thanks to the heels she was wearing. They were wrapped in black silk stockings.

Like the skirt, the jacket and blouse she wore were most probably bespoke. They also straddled the line between accentuating the qualities of her slender, hourglass shape and generous bust, and modestly concealing them.

His gaze reached her face, framed by a bob of lustrous blonde hair, and his heart skipped a beat. There was no question that everything he saw was natural; not even Michelangelo’s hands could have created such a masterpiece. This was definitely God’s work.

She had a flawless, luminous complexion; it was hard to tell if she had makeup, genetics or aloe vera to thank. The only way you could accurately know her age would have been to look at her driver’s licence.

Those lips looked luscious and inviting, glistening faintly with a coating of lip gloss. He saw them turn upwards at the edges, a smile that could also be seen when his gaze travelled up to her pale blue eyes. One of her eyebrows was raised quizzically.

It was then that Mike knew his game was up – she’d noticed him looking at her. He found himself grinning sheepishly for a moment and her smile widened. It was a warm, honest smile that put him at ease; no doubt she’d elicited the same response in men many times.

It was time for hormones to subside, and work to begin…

‘Miss Blake? I’ve got your grocery delivery here.’

She was unmarried; he noticed there wasn’t a ring on her finger as they picked up a couple of bags each and carried them to the front door.

‘Would you mind helping me carry these into the kitchen?’

She started unpacking her groceries, and he went back to the van to get the rest of her order. When Mike came back he noticed her putting a bag of Brussels sprouts into the fridge. Little bitter cabbages; he never really understood what people like about them.

Actually, he didn’t notice her unpacking any meat at all. Everything seemed to be either fruit or vegetables. The two bags he was carrying were full of bread. Maybe she was a vegetarian.

She turned around and smiled. Was it just wishful thinking, or was she looking hungrily at him?

She took a look at the clock on the wall.

‘It’s just gone five o’clock. Do you have to go back to work?’

‘No, this is my last delivery and then I’m going home. They’re not expecting me back until tomorrow.’

‘That’s great news,’ she said, her smile widening and that look making the transition from wishful thinking to full blown reality. Was she actually licking her lips? ‘Would you like to stay for dinner?’

‘I’d um… I’d be honoured.’ he replied.

Mike tried to play it cool, although inside he was already celebrating. “Is this actually happening?” he asked himself. Whatever happened, he wouldn’t be a blabbermouth like the other guys at work. None of them would believe him anyway.

‘Fantastic. Would you mind putting that bread into the freezer for me?’

She took a few steps to what Mike had at first assumed was just a door to another room, and opened it. He could see a few wisps of chilled vapour coming out from what he now realised was a walk-in freezer. It was probably installed some time ago when there were more people in the mansion to feed.

‘Sure.’ Mike said, eager to please. He would have done anything she asked of him. He really couldn’t believe his luck.

His skin broke out in goose bumps when he went into the freezer. Funnily enough, it was freezing in there.

‘Could you please put it down in the corner over there?’

He did as she said, placing the bags of bread at the far end of the freezer. Then he turned around intending to join her in the warmth of the kitchen.

That’s when the freezer door slammed shut. It immediately went pitch black.

‘Miss Blake?’ Mike called. There was no answer.

He gingerly made his way to the front of the freezer and banged on the door.

‘Miss Blake? Are you there? I don’t know what you’re playing at, but could you please let me out?’

Silence again.

For once in his life, Mike was glad he was a smoker. He’d just take the lighter out of his pocket, shed some light on the situation, and find a way out of here. Two out of three ain’t bad.

Observation one – the handle to open the door from his side had been removed.

Observation two – on the thick rime of ice that coated the door, he could distinctly see groups of long furrows gouged out by what he could only imagine to have been human fingers.

Perhaps Miss Blake wasn’t a vegetarian after all, and Mike wasn’t her first ‘dinner guest’…

Diluted_NZ

The public acceptance of Virtual and Augmented Reality is an inevitability in my opinion. Too much money has been invested, and too much interest has been stimulated for this technology to remain on the side-lines forever.

I have seen glimpses of the future in such technologies as Valve’s HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift, Sony’s Project Morpheus, and Microsoft’s Hololens headsets. It is impossible in my eyes to pick a clear winner out of these products; and I am indeed heartened by this fact – I hope they can all pull in the same direction towards a new gaming horizon…

But as for the timing and placement of these products, I think it is just too early to be aiming for them to be used in the home of the average gamer. Not everyone is going to be prepared or willing to put down the amount of money required to try out one of these systems, this early on in their development.

Where I’d differ with many companies or individuals on the timing of this “VR Revolution” and its original audience would be this – I believe that the true future of VR will be as an ‘away from home’ experience, similar to the Video Arcades of old. As well as this, I think we should be aiming for the youngest generation of gamer available.

One idea which held particular appeal for me was the "Star Wars Battle Pod" - which uses a dome like screen to increase player immersion in the game. To me, such an experience would be tailor-made to recreate using a Virtual Reality interface. It is all the additional features like specialised controllers, seating and surround sound that would truly complete the experience.

While I find it difficult to see VR/AR technology taking off in mainstream users' houses in the near future, I do however believe we will see this equipment being employed more and more in the creation of games for this audience. I think having the chance to interact and be a part of your game in a completely different way to that offered by so-called "conventional" display and control methods will become increasingly compelling in years to come, and definitely pave the way for the a tomorrow when VR is commonplace...

Virtually Realistic - Setting the standard for "Realism" in the VR World of Tomorrow

A Blog Series by Diluted_NZ, current lone "Developer" at Boom Headshot Productions https://twitter.com/Diluted_NZ

It all started when I watched GameSpot News last week, and learned about the latest "feature" to be added to the Call of Duty series - "Realistic Mode." In this mode, one hit anywhere on the player's character model equals instant death. My immediate thought was to call shenanigans on the whole concept, as this model of damage is actually nothing new.

Instagib was the first term that came to mind; one hit, one kill, but often much gorier.

But then it occurred to me, it's one thing to question a developer's approach to implementing a "Reality System", but could I do any better in their situation. Making the concept of life and death into a binary question where you have either 1 or 0 hit points was perhaps overly simplistic, but what other solutions were there?

Continued in Part Two...

Project 3 – Get to the Point

Mister Chair, fellow Toastmasters and Guest(s)

Good morning class, welcome to Gamer Culture 101.

Today I'll tell you how, just like members of any other culture, gamers don’t always get along – and what that sounds like…

And because you wouldn’t have video games, and ultimately gamers without having something to play them on, we’ll take a brief look at the dream machines that make it all possible.

As this is our introductory lesson, and I see there are a few mature students in our class, I’ll begin by giving you a definition of what a video game is. Just as you wouldn’t have drivers without cars, or engineers without tools; gamers wouldn’t exist without video games…

Let’s have a show of hands.

Who here has played a video game before?

Okay, this time put your hand up if you play video games at home.

Sharing the same culture doesn’t guarantee that you will always share the same point of view. There may be a number of subgroups within any one culture, each with competing beliefs and ideologies.

Sometimes these differences boil over, and lead to hostility. Gamer culture is no exception, although the way we fight our sectarian battles is different.

Time for a role playing exercise. I hope you're paying attention – especially you, Timmy – because there may be questions to follow...

The scene for this role play is in a restaurant. Debbie, Dee and Teagan; if you'd like to come and sit in these three chairs please. Imagine you are three friends who are sharing a table. First, we’ll be seeing a conversation between regular people.

Debbie, you've ordered SUSHI. Dee, you felt like a HAMBURGER today. Teagan, you've got more extravagant tastes, and decided to dine on a succulent LOBSTER TAIL…

Debbie – Burger today eh?

Dee – That sushi doesn't look too bad...

Teagan – Mmmm... This lobster is to die for...

Three perfectly rational individuals, sitting at a table enjoying different meals. How boring…

Now let's replay the same scene if Debbie, Dee and Teagan had the mentality of the average Gamer who expresses their opinion in the Internet comment section.

Debbie – Burger today eh? Hope you enjoy your heart attack...

Dee – Sushi huh? Well good luck with the ol' seal breath, bud...

Teagan – How about you both shut up and eat your peasant food? Can't you see I'm trying to enjoy my superior meal?

Debbie – Why don't you shut up, you lobster-eating elitist? Juiciness and flavour isn't everything you know?

Dee – Yeah, what a moron. You could feed a family of four for the price of that overrated piece of shellfish...

Thanks for your help you three.

Now hands up who thinks they can tell me what the different meals actually represent? Anyone? How about we find out?

That's right – each meal was a different gaming system. Debbie's sushi was a Sony PlayStation 4, Dee's hamburger was a Microsoft Xbox One, and Teagan's lobster tail was a custom Gaming Computer.

Here we have three main groups, all sharing one common, uniting factor – their appetite for digital entertainment – who despite this fact, attack each other for daring to prefer a different gaming system.

Why do Gamers often communicate their opinions in this way? The “restaurant” in this role play also represented something else. This is where the conversation you have just heard would actually unfold. Because the internet provides anonymity and geographical isolation, sadly, many people believe these factors eliminate the need to be civil to one another. You wouldn’t talk to someone like that face to face, would you?

Mind you, rotten apples might act that way in real life. There are rotten apples in every community. I’ve had some perfectly civilised conversations about things on the Internet, had a few laughs. The comments section is more than just a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Its tone is sometimes, however, soured by the actions of a few.

Are gamers really that different from the average person? Probably not. When you’re passionate about something, it will show both in your thoughts and how you choose to express them… And in the strength of your opinions and how you stand up for them.

I notice time isn’t exactly on my side, so perhaps it’s time I shifted things up a gear. Perhaps into Top Gear…

Another show of hands; how many of you are V8 Supercars fans?

Let’s gauge the amount of bias in the room… Which car is more likely to win a race on any given track?

(In no particular order…)

A) Ford

B) Holden

Well actually, the correct answer is:

C) Formula 1 car

A Formula 1 car is actually capable of lapping a V8 Supercar. But is it necessarily better than a Ford or a Holden? Does the difference in performance mean watching the V8 Supercars is any less entertaining than watching Formula 1?

This could make for an interesting debate sometime. Perhaps it would sound like the Console Wars on the Internet – a constant struggle between supporters of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems (the equivalent of Ford vs Holden) and gaming’s version of a Formula 1 car, the Custom Gaming PC.

However, this old saying is as true today as ever – “You get what you pay for…”

And this concludes the lesson for today. It’s my hope that, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve got a better understanding of video games; and what it means to be a gamer.

Mine is a relatively new culture, but in many ways, it is the same as any other. We don’t always get along, but we share a common pastime and means of communication.

Technology doesn’t stand still. The race is on to see which system provides the best entertainment experience. Which attributes will win in the end – value for money, or raw performance? We shall see. Regardless, gamers, and gaming itself, are the ultimate winners.

Class Dismissed.

Mister Chair…

If I bought a Shield I wouldn't even bother using it for portable gaming. This would save me having to take my computer into my living room if I wanted to play on a bigger screen, since I could just hook it up to my HDTV and stream from my PC.

It's got HDMI output, and a USB port (which I hope manufacturers will make hubs for) so perhaps you could use it with a tv and a proper controller. Or a mouse and keyboard.

What I'd really like to see would be the ability to have LAN style functionality, so you could play a game on your main computer, and someone else could play the same game on the Shield.

Instead of spending money on 2 computers, if you wanted to play local co-op, you could invest in one powerful system and use the Shield as the second one.

That's the only way I can see it being worth purchasing; I can't see the purpose in paying to play on a smaller screen when you might as well be using your main PC...

 ---

That's the opinion I expressed in a comment on this site. I could type the above information again, restating the above in a more verbose way, but this time would better be spent gaming. A comment's life is transient, so I thought I'd repost it in my blog.

Thanks to Gamespot we basically know what we're getting into with the Shield if we use it in its most obvious form as a handheld gaming platform.

What I'd like to know is, how does this device fare when it's plugged into a bigger screen? Is it capable of generating 1080P graphics via HDMI, or is it limited at 720?

What about the Bluetooth connectivity? Would a Bluetooth gaming mouse like the Cyborg M.O.U.S. 9 be compatible with the Shield? What about a Bluetooth keyboard?

If I did plug it into a HDTV, would I have to be content with the television's tinny speakers, or would it be able to interface with a Bluetooth-capable home theater system?

Would you be able to use a USB hub to plug two controllers into it, so you and a friend could play fighting games like Street Fighter IV etc?

Apart from the choice of using it as the (still overpriced) equivalent of an Xbox One or PS4, or using it basically as you would a PSP, what else can the Shield bring to the table?

Is there any reason for the Shield to be forever limited to copying the information displayed onscreen, or will it be able to do something different?

Would it eventually be able to earn its keep as a minimap while you played a game on your main PC's monitor, or as a motion scanner display when someone (hopefully) creates a decent Aliens game? What about as a weapon control panel when you play a game like Strike Suit Zero? I can think of many games that could benefit from a high definition touch screen.

Many gamers are playing on multi monitor setups, in 3D, in resolutions above 1080P. Are even these monster PCs limited to only supporting a single Shield at a time, or would they be able to act as servers for a number of them?

Is there any prospect of Nvidia creating commercial 3D cards, designed to stream the same game to a roomful of Shields, to create an internet cafe style environment?

I want to see some potential and imagination from this device. Right now I can see no compelling reason to buy a Shield, when Sony and Microsoft are offering fully fledged systems for just a couple of hundred dollars more...

I was feeling nostalgic at the beginning of last month, and I purchased the original Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition from gog.com. I don't think I have the computing power to do DNF justice right now, (although Crysis runs at an acceptable frame rate.) So I decided it was a case of "better old Duke than no Duke at all."

I thought it would be interesting to get a fresh perspective of the game that started it all, over a decade ago. Playing it again could give me a better idea of what innovations Duke Nukem Forever brought to the table; and what qualities it carried over from its successor. (Not much it seems, judging from the reviews and gameplay footage I've seen.)

Starting out with Wolfenstein 3D, I played most FPS titles back in the day. Duke 3D was one of the first games I remember where you could actually look up and down - unlike Doom for example. Thinking back to that era is a nostalgic experience; because things we take for granted in shooters like proper mouse and keyboard controls hadn't yet reached maturity. The release of Quake changed that...

I think I first played DN3D with a Logitech Wingman joystick, using the stick for movement and the hat switch to look up/down. They were actually marketing joysticks for FPS games back then - times have changed. It wasn't until I found out about a program called eduke32 that I really became interested in buying the game - it adds proper mouselook, enhances the graphics (who needs rose coloured glasses?) and eliminates the need to use DOS mode.

The ability to use the same controls I use for any other shooter was the clincher for me, because it really lets me fairly compare Duke 3D with modern shooters. I have to say it stacks up quite well - there are actually some features you see in shooters today; that I can't remember seeing in a game before Duke.

After watching some somewhat uninspiring gameplay footage on "Now Playing: Duke 3D (retro)," I decided to upload a sample of what the game plays like when you're not playing on an XBox. It's a low res video, and it's got a 'demo' watermark on it; but it's had a few views. Rest assured that the game itself looks far prettier than what you can see in my vid... Can anyone suggest a good video capture utility to use?

If you're interested in seeing what the original game was like, you can do so (legitimately) without having to spend anything - eduke32 works with the shareware episode of DN3D - which is still available for download - as well as the full version. One of the best features of the original Duke, is that you can pick up a jetpack; which gives you the ability to explore vertically, and find places you otherwise couldn't reach (as seen at the end of my video.)

I was actually surprised to find out that in DNF, the jetpack's not available in single player - only multiplayer. I was hoping to see the same element of verticality that is present in some levels of the first game. Instead, we're given vehicle sequences that basically seem to act as filler. Jetpacks are good enough for games like Dark Void and Killzone 3, among others. You'd think the jetpack would be top of the list of vehicles included in the latest title...

I recently finished my third playthrough in a row of Bio Shock 1, after not playing it for quite some time; and I found a tactic that was not mentioned in Gamespot's guide.

Using Natural Camouflage; I found a way to basically be able to 'farm' Big Daddies, without using ammo. I should say almost without using ammo - you can expect to be able to at least injure a Big Daddy severely enough to kill it with a grenade or a few armor piercing rounds.

With Natural camo, you can safely use security bots as a weapon; because all you need to do is stand still for a second or two to become invisible to them.

You can just tag a Big Daddy with Security Bullseye, then intentionally set off an alarm in the hacking minigame. Vending machines are good for doing this, because they can't be destroyed during the fight, and they're often on a Big Daddy's patrol route.

The security bots attack him for the duration of the alarm, and all you need to do is go somewhere you won't get hit by stray shots or exploding bots. This is also a good time to take some research photos, since you're more likely to get action shots. When the Big Daddy's dead, you just cloak and the bots won't target you.

You attract no hostility from the Big Daddy by using Security Bullseye on him, so you can just rinse and repeat until he's dead - or just shoot him yourself if he's low on health.

You don't necessarily need natural camouflage to use this tactic - it's also possible to deliberately set off an alarm and just lead the bots to your target before hitting it with Security Bullseye - but when the target's dead, you run the risk of the bots attacking you.

Natural camouflage is also useful if you're trying to hack more difficult machines, because it doesn't matter if you set off an alarm. Instead of losing health by getting shocked, you can trigger the alarm and just pay the penalty of staying in one place for its duration.