Obstruction handling and dissolve shader techniques in Trifox

Hi, I’m Brecht Lecluyse, one of the developers at Glowfish Interactive that is currently working on Trifox. And welcome to part 2 of Dissolving The World: Obstruction handling and dissolve shader techniques in Trifox.
In case you missed part 1 you can find it right here: https://glowfishinteractive.com/dissolving-the-world-part-1/

Quick recap

In part 1 we defined a specific problem we are trying to solve: How do we deal with objects that obstruct the view of our main character during gameplay?
I went over the approach we took in coming up with a solution that works well for the game and had a closer look some common shader techniques such as world space texturing and the creating of a simple texture based dissolve shader. The result of this can be seen below.

In this part I will go over how we improved the dissolve quality and how we use this simple technique throughout Trifox to create all kinds of fun visual effects (including the dynamic camera obstruction handling) and even some cool gameplay mechanics.Continue reading…→

Obstruction handling and dissolve shader techniques in Trifox

Hi, I’m Brecht Lecluyse, one of the developers at Glowfish Interactive that is currently working on Trifox.

Trifox is a top-down twin stick action adventure game set in a unique and colorful world, inspired by classic platform games.

In Trifox you play as a multi-talented fox on a quest to restore and return peace to his recently invaded and plundered home.

Mix and match between three different and unique play styles, fight your way through swarms of enemies, engage in thrilling boss fights and overcome exciting environmental challenges as you discover that there is more to your quest than meets the eye….

Where’s my character?

Defining the problem

One of the first challenges we faced during development was keeping the main character in view using the top down camera while at the same time maintaining the sense of being present in a full 3D environment. In other words, how do we deal with objects obstructing our view of the main character? Do we avoid them? Do we hide them? And if so, how do we hide them in a visually pleasing and smooth manner that fits with the style of the game? How can we maintain a sense of space without hindering gameplay?

This is a very common problem in games that share a similar camera setup like the one used in Trifox. So before we started implementing our own solutions we had a look at some tried and tested approaches of dealing with the issue we were facing.
Continue reading…→