Altis Gates Development Log: Dynamic Graphics

In another installment of the Altis Gates Development Logs, the game's Chief Developer, Chris share some secrets behind the graphics in the game and the work that goes into creating them.

The graphics players see have a huge impact on their first impressions of a game. Often players will judge whether a game is a good one based on their initial opinions of its graphics. Even though I don’t agree with the idea that “graphics determine everything,” graphics are definitely a very important criterion when judging whether a game is a masterpiece, merely average, or downright unplayable. Though we want players to enjoy the game play and features in Altis Gates, we knew we had to get the graphics just right to impress gamers who constantly demand more from their games. With advanced graphics engines and technologies, we were able to create richly detailed textures, effects and scenery to immerse our heroes this remarkable world.

Our platform for editing dynamic colliding particles takes advantage of the arithmetic of randomly generated particles and technology capable of rendering unique silk-shaped particles. With it we were able to bypass the limitations of traditional tools to develop special graphic effects. As a result, we could add many intricate effects to the game like smoke curling up from kitchen chimneys, glowing magical artifacts, undulating waves and revolving windmills. In addition, with the particle effects we could simulate natural phenomena, physical phenomena and even twisted space.

We also took advantage of the EPARCH 2D engine to produce detailed, eye-catching graphics. Using advanced 3D technology to optimize the engine, we were able to use 3D real-time dynamic rendering technology based on the 2D engine. The real-time rendering technology allows us to take a snapshot of the range to render and calculate the impact to an object from the lamp-houses within the range and finally produce the graphic effects for the game by using “beam tracking” technology. We were able to render the graphics with light and shadow using advanced skills that are usually associated with producing the 3D special display effects for movies.

Real-time rendering technology, beam tracking, special lamp-house effects and advanced engines make the graphics of Altis Gates intricate, stunning and downright beautiful, but it takes a lot of hard work and many, many hours behind the scenes to produce every element of the world players finally see when they log in. We hope that when they do, they’ll want to come back again and again

Please visit the official forum to see the dynamic effects from the images in action. http://forum.ag.igg.com/viewthread.php?tid=390&page=1&extra=page%3D1 .