Craig PGoddamn it, this temporary machine is so old and bad it can't run BLENDER. I think it's a graphics driver problem, but it can't install any new graphics drivers either. NVidia just says "fuck off, bro".
Behold, I have made programmer art in an ancient version of Blender.
Developing in challenge mode!
Now time to add particle effects for thrusters and some lights and stuff. Maybe a generative texture instead of a flat color.
Le Programmer Arte.
Actually feels pretty good, although the scale isn't quite there yet.
Here it is whipping around super fast. It's pretty easy to track even at super high speeds, because each piece travels the curve it spawned on rather than spinning along with the emitter as it goes.
Of course, the question is how long it takes a piece to reach you. Right now space is too small, it only takes like one second.
So time to move it away...
When I spin the scanner fast at large sizes, it creates these lovely cloud patterns instead of a coherent line. Of course that means it's very easy to see where the pattern doesn't cover: in this case, going over the top is quite safe.
Of course, some things aren't quite so AOE, missiles will look more like this I imagine.
Not in a big hurry to make the combat just yet, but it is important to know whether it will work. One of the challenges is that they CAN twist en route. That's kind of the point.
One of the goals is to make the emptiness of space feel alien, exotic, vibrant and inhuman. Like the deep sea.
I'm considering... maybe no hud.
You find the ships and stations by seeing their emissions and scan lines, by using your own scanners and being seen in turn.
The plan is that once detected, a large hologram of the detected thing will be visible to allow for vast distances. Not sure how much HUD past that is needed.
