Modular House Update

[medierra]

A little while back, I mentioned that I was in "modular building hell". I was busy revising the way our modular house system works. This system is intended to give us the ability to create diverse looking houses / house layouts with a minimal amount of unique 3d models required. Our higher-level goal though is to create cool gameplay spaces. Houses in Grim Dawn aren't just decorative or places you enter to talk to NPCs, they're a big part of the gameplay area as some regions of the game feature sprawling abandoned towns where you can literally fight room-to-room. ARPG urban combat? :p

The other upside to this is that it will be available to modders, giving them an incredible amount of flexibility to create cool levels in ways that we probably haven't even imagined. It is relatively easy to also open up the textures for these pieces and make even more variations.

Here is a peak at just a portion of the pieces for one building texture set and some sample configurations of various houses you can build with different texturing. Note that these are only the wood house walls, we also have other materials such as fieldstone and brick walls. We also have 2nd story pieces and staircases that I totally forgot to include! So many pieces...

(furniture not includes, some assembly required)

http://www.grimdawn.com/screenshots/housebits.jpg

[ASYLUM101]

Looks awesome! Can't wait!

How destructible are they? Just furniture/doors right?

Or can I blow through a wall to kill some zombies? (or expect to see a miniboss burst through a room to kill me..)

[matthewfarmery]

WOW! just WOW!!

what more can I say?

[medierra]

The houses themselves aren't destructible since you can go in them and they help to define the gameplay space. Part of the idea is to essentially create an above-ground layout similar to what you'd normally only see in dungeons, where the player is sometimes fighting in more confined spaces where it is trickier to avoid the enemy. I always liked the sort of room-to-room fighting that happened sometimes in the D2 undergrounds where you had to be careful about running into a room full of enemies where the exit might get cut off and you could be pinned against a wall.

That said, we do plan to sometimes have special breakable wall-pieces that are meant to be a sort of semi-secret way to open up alternate routes through the level. They'd probably be distinguished by some cracking in the wall plaster or whatever that, if you were looking for it, would signal that you could break through.

But yeah, you can totally fuck up some furniture. ;)

[matthewfarmery]

destructible walls would be cool, and would be handy to hide secret areas or alternative routes, but judging from what you have done so far is amazing, and certainly would add loads to the landscape and differences to the landscape in general, I really like what you have done

the more updates I see about this game, the more Im becoming even more impressed

[Cavar]

Looks awesome. Keep up the good work!

Will there be cellars?

[matthewfarmery]

Looks awesome. Keep up the good work!

Will there be cellars?

now that would be a good idea, either next to the house or possible inside, but it would be interesting if there were cellars, more places to hide and ambushes to deal with in search of loot:D

[yerkyerk]

Perhaps there could be an entrance to cave/cellar right next to the house? Anyway, it's looking pretty good. Not sure if designing this system would save you time, but it definitely looks amazing.

[Involution]

Incredibly cool -- this game is shaping up like a dream.

[p0!n7|3las7]

Looks good, hope you are able to achieve the gameplay experience you are intending for!

[nbringer]

This is going towards something refreshingly new :)

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

Gah, can't wait to play it.... sob ....

Do we get beta access if we have already paid for it?

[matthewfarmery]

Gah, can't wait to play it.... sob ....

Do we get beta access if we have already paid for it?

legendary key = alpha access and beta access
epic key = beta access
normal key = final game upon release


hope that answers your question

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

Thanks yes. It's been ages since I actually paid for it and couldn't remember the details ;)

[Kluga]

This looks superb. Why must you taunt us like this?? :p

[Narsus]

Man that so is awesome!

[Josho]

Awesome work!

I have two questions

1. Is it possible for furniture to be placed in front of entranceways to act as a sort of barrier to a secret room? Though I think the illusion could be broken based on how the camera operates top down.

2. Will the AI have a script to flank the player and possible cut off any retreat when walking into a room?

[DarkSkyes]

Awesome work!

I have two questions

1. Is it possible for furniture to be placed in front of entranceways to act as a sort of barrier to a secret room? Though I think the illusion could be broken based on how the camera operates top down.

2. Will the AI have a script to flank the player and possible cut off any retreat when walking into a room?

secret rooms would be amazing.

[medierra]

Awesome work!

I have two questions

1. Is it possible for furniture to be placed in front of entranceways to act as a sort of barrier to a secret room? Though I think the illusion could be broken based on how the camera operates top down.

Yes, I've actually done this in a few places. I don't really do it in such a way as to disguise the door but mainly just to make it appear as though people tried to put up barriers to keep the zombies and such out.

We'll do secret rooms and such a little differently.

2. Will the AI have a script to flank the player and possible cut off any retreat when walking into a room?

No, this is one of things that sounds cool but which I think would probably look crappy unless we spent more time that it was worth polishing it. I just imagine enemies running past the player to get between them and a door then awkwardly turning around and running back at them. I think most players would look at something like that and just think "Wtf was that shit? Why do they keep running past me and then turning around?

I think this behavior will happen anyway, by default, in a more natural manner as enemies simply move in and try to find open space around the player to move into and attack.

[yerkyerk]

A secret room could ofcourse be a trap; suddenly spawn all kinds of daemonspawn between you and the exit when you open the chest in that secret room :D

[Harlequin]

This looks really nice and I am really looking forward to play in that environment and work with it in the Editor. :)

[Scryer]

Awesoem update! Thanks for sharing. ^_^

[Executioneer]

well, i gotta say, it's a timely update, and one not worth missing:D! congrats for all the work and effort, you really are making a good job. ...secret rooms, i already like the sound of it. and a brilliant idea to make walls destructible, could even prove very useful AND fun!!

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

The houses themselves aren't destructible since you can go in them and they help to define the gameplay space. Part of the idea is to essentially create an above-ground layout similar to what you'd normally only see in dungeons, where the player is sometimes fighting in more confined spaces where it is trickier to avoid the enemy. I always liked the sort of room-to-room fighting that happened sometimes in the D2 undergrounds where you had to be careful about running into a room full of enemies where the exit might get cut off and you could be pinned against a wall.

That said, we do plan to sometimes have special breakable wall-pieces that are meant to be a sort of semi-secret way to open up alternate routes through the level. They'd probably be distinguished by some cracking in the wall plaster or whatever that, if you were looking for it, would signal that you could break through.

But yeah, you can totally fuck up some furniture. ;)

Oh man, this sounds so good! Thank you for your hard work, all of you!! I am very happy for how you support the modding community, sooooo happy! =)

By the way, please, do not make the secret areas visible too much (like mousing over the wall which makes it whole highlighted or something, bleh, hate it). Some tiny signal, as you mentioned, sound perfect though!


Perhaps there could be an entrance to cave/cellar right next to the house? Anyway, it's looking pretty good. Not sure if designing this system would save you time, but it definitely looks amazing.

Yes, please! It also does not seem that hard to implement, when the game already supports the cave/ground (TQ's Egypt) entrances, just put some cover on (only the animation of opening the door or something would be "a bit" harder to make I guess).


A secret room could ofcourse be a trap; suddenly spawn all kinds of daemonspawn between you and the exit when you open the chest in that secret room :D

Wow, that would be really cool!!!!!!!! Imagine you get surrounded from four sides to meet your end... =)

[matthewfarmery]

secret rooms as traps YES PLEASE!!!! then it would be more fun to try and work out which is a secret room and which would be a trap!!

utter awesome idea, how it happens, would spice up the gameplay no end:D

[evil medierra]

A secret room could ofcourse be a trap; suddenly spawn all kinds of daemonspawn between you and the exit when you open the chest in that secret room :D

I think it would be cooler if the trap caused your computer to blue-screen between you and the exit! :D

[Opal Monkey]

I think it would be cooler if the trap caused your computer to blue-screen between you and the exit! :D

If memory serves, I've seen games that do that before. At least this would be from a trap :undecided:

[yerkyerk]

Reminds me of the BSOD (CTD spell) in Magicka. That was a pretty interesting spell ^^

[alucidzombie]

wow im loving the look of these interiors! its really going to add a lot to the feel of the world, seeing these lived in places. sprawling mansions overrun with monsters. cant wait!

Yes, I've actually done this in a few places. I don't really do it in such a way as to disguise the door but mainly just to make it appear as though people tried to put up barriers to keep the zombies and such out.
nice touch!


destructible barriers would be fun:

"You need the BLUE KEY to open this door."
"Like hell I do!"
*smashes in door*

[Ragnar]

Great.
One question, will we see random houses, or random rooms in house area?

[Cavar]

Another cool thing to do would be to have the floor give way in the house and you fall into a cave/tunnel system you need to fight your way out of. Maybe take a little damage during the fall.

I know, easier said than done. lol

[tnoyce]

I just want to add my 2 cents -- That's definitely looking pretty awesome.

Just makes the wait all that more difficult .. :)

[DragonWolf]

Ooo me likey.

I always wanted to be able to see what my dream housewould look like after the apocalypse, and now I can. :p

[nbringer]

I think it would be cooler if the trap caused your computer to blue-screen between you and the exit! :D

Yep THAT's grim...!

[boughrouck]

Brilliant , trying to find exemples of that in other ARPG ,but no I see nothing in my poor brain database, all close quarter fights have been in dungeons, temples, industrial complexes (the rather poor Restricted Area) so close quarter yes but no Urban fight or then you have to look for non ARPG like Fallout Tactics ,Jagged Alliance or Silent Storm etc to have urban fights like Grim Dawn will be offering with that. And having that in a ARPG is really a nifty idea,will really add more variety to the game.Dunno if other next gen Arpg have thought of that also,but I really love the idea of a sort of above ground dungeon maze area aka urban landscape lol

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

After reading Gamespy article, a thought crossed my mind..

Is it possible to have multiple floors in buildings? I mean, can we expect to experience something like below?

- Run into a building
- Find stairs
- Go to second/third/whatever upper floor
- While trying to go out of the house, get blocked/overwhelmed by monsters on the stairs and fight your way through or die

It would be fantastic.. =)

[Executioneer]

would be cool, and like shoot from cracks in the floor...

[orkybash]

Just to clarify - does this integrate with the randomized barrier engine so the path through the houses will be different each game? *crosses fingers* :)

[medierra]

After reading Gamespy article, a thought crossed my mind..

Is it possible to have multiple floors in buildings? I mean, can we expect to experience something like below?

- Run into a building
- Find stairs
- Go to second/third/whatever upper floor
- While trying to go out of the house, get blocked/overwhelmed by monsters on the stairs and fight your way through or die

It would be fantastic.. =)

Yes, we currently have houses with multiple floors, although, due to the nature of the camera, it isn't possible to be on a floor that is below another floor. So, the way it works is that you'd enter on a bottom floor, then find stairs up to a second floor but the second floor would be adjacent to the first floor, not directly above it, if that makes sense.

Actually, you can sort of see this in the following screenshots, where the first shows the bottom floor entrance to a building and then the second screenshot is after I've run up the stairs to the second story and then you can see some outside stairs going back down out the back.

http://www.grimdawn.com/screenshots/2012-02-12_oldwaterfront03_lrg.jpg

http://www.grimdawn.com/screenshots/2012-02-12_oldwaterfront04_lrg.jpg

We have this idea for a ruined mill-town that we want to create where you'd be going into buildings, fighting through different floors, go up on rooftops and walk across little bridges to other buildings, etc. I sort of imagine the look of a bombed out town, like you'd see in WWII photos, where the bottoms of buildings are somewhat intact but the top might be blown off and leaning walls or plant bridges might connect different buildings.

[Guy]

So, the way it works is that you'd enter on a bottom floor, then find stairs up to a second floor but the second floor would be adjacent to the first floor, not directly above it, if that makes sense.

So It's basically a ground floor with decks/half-stories around it serving as higher floors? I guess it's an engine limitation but it actually sounds very good as it gives the illusion of 3D while keeping the map easy to navigate (unlike many 3D maps with indoor environment in them).

T
That said, we do plan to sometimes have special breakable wall-pieces that are meant to be a sort of semi-secret way to open up alternate routes through the level. They'd probably be distinguished by some cracking in the wall plaster or whatever that, if you were looking for it, would signal that you could break through.
This also sounds nice. Brings back old memories of bombing walls in the original Zelda hoping to find a secret room.
But it seems to me that it will be much harder to hide the secret rooms in an isometric map which pretty much shows everything around you. My suggestion would be to deliberately show the players some structural weaknesses so they know there's something behind them, but keep these vulnerable only to some higher level abilities/weapons.
This will give some purpose to backtracking throughout the game at higher levels. Many Zelda and "Metroidvania" style games are actually built around this kind of backtracking and discovering new interesting challenges and puzzles in areas the player already went through. This can add longetivity while keeping the game interesting for higher level players, all while reusing existing environments already in the game (which is probably a good thing when you're an independent development team with a limited asset budget ;)).