Ashes experiments with the future Episode 1

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

 

So here we are with this amazing new, 4th-generation RTS engine. 

If you’re an RTS fan, when was the last RTS engine made before Ashes.  Not RTS game. I mean engine.  I’m trying to think how many years it’s been.  Each iteration becomes more expensive to make.  There is little patience for a new game to implement the niceties that mature engines have developed.

So let’s look at the Pros and cons of the Ashes of the Singularity (technologically):

Pros:

  1. Natively 64-bit
  2. Core neutral (the more CPU cores you have, the faster it gets)
  3. GPU core neutral (it will max your video card, no video card yet has even come close to maxing what Ashes can do, we’re still gimping what we can do)
  4. Brand-new engine, easy to extend and enhance with new features
  5. Object space lighting – allows for vastly superior visuals
  6. Unlimited light sources – only limited by your GPU perf.  Not hard-coded to 2, 4, or 8 (below I have a screenshot with thousands of light sources).

Cons:

  1. Requires 2GB of video memory and that’s just barely enough.
  2. Relatively few art assets (polished visuals need this).
  3. Brand-new engine also means relatively little maturation in RTS feature refinement
  4. Relatively new toolset (Getting art in is expensive)

Screenshots of some stuff

image

The Artemis is getting a specific building destroying weapon.

 

image

Some fun with the visuals of the Artemis

image

Playing around with maps.  Multi-tier terrain will be one of the things we want to explore (right now we have 4, we look to have this be unlimited someday).

image

Mini map resources displayed based on the amount of resources the region provides. Also, Huge maps – 4X larger than huge (though we are probably going to have to limit these to those with monsters systems as the unit counts are obscene). Though just remember, today’s monster system is tomorrow’s mainstream consumer system.

32,721 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

A very minor thing but have you considered another symbol for the nodes which have both a radioactive resource as well as metal ones? Perhaps a triangle inside a circle.

Huge maps sound...huge, which is going to be especially great when we get sea and navy.

You mentioned before some problems with water and VRAM limits. Can you go in to that more? Does the fact that it moves make it more expensive than rendering land? Wouldn't you use repeat tiles so to speak? Civ 5's water looks good but it looks like a lot of repeating is involved which would reduce resources, no?

With the 1080 and 1070 getting 8GB VRAM and I'd guess the 1060 will get 4GB, and assuming a similar situation with AMD hopefully you'll get some more breathing room at the high end of things.

Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

All the pictures make me think how will be ashes next year.....

This game just wont stop evolve.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top


Playing around with maps. Multi-tier terrain will be one of the things we want to explore (right now we have 4, we look to have this be unlimited someday).

This will be really interesting to get, with Multi-tier terrain we can do really crazy and very tactical maps, I hope you guys can update the Map Editor with unlimited Multi-tier terrain and let us test it.


Mini map resources displayed based on the amount of resources the region provides.

It will be nice to have something ala Company of Heroes.

 

So far I am very happy with the Progress the game is getting, I hope you guys can keep updating and optimizing the engine to do much more and put all that into AOTS.