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Game Preview: Voxatron - voxel-based, destructible environment, 8bit soundtrack
- SpacemanSpiff 16y agoawesome, I look forward to trying it out.
- vessenes 16y agoThis looks surprisingly fun! It's funny how different a voxel-based game looks to my eyes than a 3d-pixel game. I suppose the voxels offer a lot less resolution right now, but they just seem to work in a different way. I wonder if they will feel more or less engaging in 3d than a triangle-mesh type game.
- eftpotrm 16y agoIt looks to me like the low resolution is an aesthetic choice. I've seen many far higher resolution voxel engines 15 years ago running at speed, including one written by a guy at my old school aged 17.
- chrismealy 16y agoThe perspective is absolutely brilliant. I love it. I feel stupid for not thinking of it.
- eru 16y agoDo you mean the cropped edges? Populous 2 looked similar.
- jessevondoom 16y agoWow. Great example of turning a limitation as a strong aesthetic. Can't wait to try it out!
- chrisbroadfoot 16y agoVery cool graphics. The explosions are awesome!
- waterlesscloud 16y agoI wonder what it is that makes 8-bit music so compelling. Just nostalgia?
- InclinedPlane 16y agoIt's more than that I think. 8-bit music began as a poor, low-fi imitation of existing music forms for electronic games, because it was all that was possible given the hardware of the time. 8-bit music has been rediscovered by enthusiasts and independent artists, initially due to nostalgia, and that has led to a lot of innovation, exploration, and discovery. Discovery that 8-bit music doesn't have to be merely an imitation of something else any more than a synthesizer has to imitate a piano or an electric guitar has to imitate an acoustic guitar.
- stuaxo 16y agoWell hang on a sec, I'm sure the original composers also worked this out, they were working with 8 bit sounds for years and years.
- InclinedPlane 16y agoWorked what out exactly? 8-bit sounds were very much tied to the idea of translating music and sound effects, and not of developing novel music or techniques. Though some degree of innovation did occur, as technology advanced the gaming industry left behind 8-bit sounds, moving to more advanced wave-table MIDI synthesis, CD-ROM audio, etc, abandoning the 8-bit sounds as outdated and limited. How many games on the SNES or on CD-ROM used 8-bit soundtracks? It was only later when 8-bit sound was sought after as a musical form on its own, for its own aesthetics and nature, that it flourished as an art independent of the need to imitate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK4Hdy9wWl4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK4Hdy9wWl4
- Deestan 16y ago"Innovation, exploration and discovery" were all rampant in the 80-es, especially on European C64 games. Some examples of music that uses the unique noises of the SID chip instead of only imitating existing instruments: - Arkanoid (Martin Galway): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtcnDPDdtLg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtcnDPDdtLg - Gianna Sisters (Chris Hülsbeck): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxX3lTnHh8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxX3lTnHh8 - Commando (Rob Hubbard): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI - Crazy Comets (Rob Hubbard): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQoQFLM_1s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQoQFLM_1s
- Uchikoma 16y agoWant one. Now.
- jarin 16y agoI love it, it's like Minecraft HD.
- mambodog 16y agoIf you're interested in what can be done with voxels with a more realistic aesthetic, have a look at the Atomontage engine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCZIBDt1uM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CCZIBDt1uM
- flawawa2 16y agoThere is nothing in the gaming future that excites me more than good old voxels. That game/engine looks amazing.
- rorrr 16y agoThat's what minecraft should look like.
- mambodog 16y agoI've given it a lot of thought, and I don't think Minecraft would be so easy to pick up and play if in weren't so 'blocky'. At least not without some really good design. The size of the blocks in Minecraft really lend themselves to being able to put together things that approximate real life structures, while maintaining a sufficient level of simplicity. This simplicity makes reasoning and manipulating the game world less challenging, resulting in the game being more accessible to a wide variety of players.
- dazzawazza 16y agoSimilarly we don't give children atoms to play with, we give atoms constrained into lego blocks.
- timinman 16y agoThat looks fun
- timinman 16y agoThat looks fun.
- ThomPete 16y agoThe last time I heard of voxels was in the late nineties. Good to hear they are back!
- wazoox 16y agoThe perspective and general look remember me of Battalion, the old IRIX game, see http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/AndyBattalion.html http://www.evl.uic.edu/aej/AndyBattalion.html . Couldn't find a video, alas. I could power up my Octane ... :)
- wccrawford 16y agoThis is yet another thing that I said, 'Man. I wish I'd written that.' It's not outside my ability, it's just that I never think of these things first. And creating a clone doesn't have the same feeling as a new thing. I'm betting a lot of other developers feel the same way. Of course, that won't stop me from enjoying -playing- the game. :D
- unoti 16y agoPerhaps it's not too late for you. He's re imagined Robotron as a voxel game. Think of other classic arcade games that could be taken to their roots and reinvented with voxels. Any classic could be interesting: zaxxon, donkey kong, Asteroids...
- Deestan 16y agoZaxxon would be an excellent candidate for a voxel re-make, as it had 3d gameplay.
- JabavuAdams 16y agoHmmmm. I was just looking at one of my old game prototypes, of a tunnel-run.
- wccrawford 16y agoOh, I'm sure it's not too late... And I'm working on my own projects in my free time. But it's games like this that finally pushed me into doing that. If I hadn't thought 'Man, I wish I'd written that' I'd probably still be doing nothing about it.
- jamesjyu 16y agoIt's all about inspiration :) It doesn't matter what actually pushes you to do it, it's that you actually do it. All great ideas start somewhere, and most (if not all) are inspired by other ideas and people.
- 16y ago
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- 6ren 16y agoThis seems like it scales well (important for our 1000 core future). Does it?
- sbierwagen 16y agoInteresting how constrained the view frustum is, with the top down view. I wonder how many voxels the rendering engine can handle.
- sambeau 16y ago3,145,728 "Yes, actually there aren't so many voxels to take care of. It depends on the world size of course, but at 256x256x48, that's similar to managing a 3k x 1k 2d map in the same way." http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=201 http://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=201
- sambeau 16y agoor… 1,048,576 as on the same page he also says: "Everything in the game is displayed in a virtual 128x128x64 voxel display, including the menus and player inventory"
- rmc 16y agoA constrained view frustrum might be a deliberate game choice.
- herrherr 16y agoIf the author is reading this: Add a signup form. It's not often the case that I want to be notified when a product becomes available, but this time I would love too.
- nihilocrat 16y agoMy method is to follow the developer on twitter / tumblr / whatever if I'm really excited, or simply wait for the various indie gaming blogs to pick up the news upon release (which they will).
- stcredzero 16y agoIf I were Lego, I'd be chomping at the bit to license this and set up a casual chat/social network oriented virtual reality. (Sort of a voxel-based Disneyfied Second Life.) The marketing possibilities for Lego would be huge.
- OmarIsmail 16y agoLego is already developing an MMO. http://legouniverse.com/ http://legouniverse.com/
- jawngee 16y agoI was a big fan of 3D Dot Game Heroes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTP0hVlYRts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTP0hVlYRts
- MrJagil 16y agoDoes anyone know/guess what tools/engines he used?
- simon_kun 16y agoThis game is perfect for the 3DS
- jodrellblank 16y agoIt's 3D Llamatron!
- ElbertF 16y agoHopefully a Linux version will follow soon, the author commented on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/ewnhi/this_game_needs_to_come_to_linux_maybe_we_can/c1bjuwz http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/ewnhi/this_game_needs...
- GrooveStomp 16y agoExcellent. I'd buy it. I paid for the Humble Indie Bundle #2 pretty much just because Braid was finally out for Linux, even though I'd purchased it for my Windows desktop already.