Week 2 (Technical Stuff): Optimising a set of open corridors...

Hey Everyone,

 

For awhile now, I'd thought we've had a basic idea of optimisation for the map. As it turns out, having a ridiculous amount of portals with a few 'clumping' in with each other in some parts doesn't seem to be exactly ideal for the Source Engine. Although, since our computers definitely exceed the recommended system requirements for Left 4 Dead, plus having the Z Far Plane Clipping feature enabled in the main env_fogcontroller, there doesn't appear to be a frame rate problem from this. 

The problem though, is that visibility gets harder and harder to optimise in an increasingly outdoor, open environment. We may check and research all the visibility tutorials that we can throughout the internet, though there's cases in our map that exist beyond all of our comprehension. In fact, I almost tied an entire building (basic world brushes and all) to a func_detail entity just to get rid of some horridly formed portals. 

On the other hand, the interiors of all the normal (read: non-angled) rooms appear to be fantastic to optimise. Although we may have a mix of accuracy and believability in our measurements, they seem well within reason for players in L4D to explore without hope of suddenly dropping in frame rate around a corridor corner. 

Interestingly, we've begun construction on the other vital aspects of the map, that is: gameplay structure. 

From the Project Brief posted on the blog, we mentioned a branched path structure that will add to the re-playability and longevity of this map. While the main tests/prototypes and sketches have been completed, it remains to be polished and refined until we can implement it into the map once the geometry is fully complete. 

As it stands now, there's still about 5 sections to go before we can consider the geometry (just the buildings and therefore, location) to be done.

That just wraps it up for this post, I hope everyone isn't too disappointed that we didn't get that Week 2 Update post ready by Monday, it's being finished and edited by another team member from the last time I checked.

Anyway, stay tuned for more updates!

Atamarashi (Team Member at Blitz Design).