Rune Skovbo Johansen

@runevision@mastodon.gamedev.place
2K Followers
112 Following
2.9K Posts
Indie game developer, procedural generation enthusiast, Dane in Finland. I made Eye of the Temple, now working on The Big Forest.
Website & bloghttps://runevision.com
YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/c/runevision
Blueskyhttps://bsky.app/profile/runevision.bsky.social
Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen15h ago
I might be wrong. Anyway, turns out the color dilation Unity applies does not go all the way, leaving some transparent pixels still black, which is absolutely terrible for the smallest mip levels. I could swear the dilation used to cover all pixels, but might misremember that one too.
Rune Skovbo Johansen16h ago
Didn't Unity use to let you inspect what color is stored in transparent pixels? Not in the RGB view, but in the individual R, G and B channel views? Now there's NO way to tell, short of slapping the texture on a material with a non-transparent shader and look at that. And no, I can't disable "alpha is transparency" because the color dilation that this feature enables is exactly what I want to inspect.
Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen21h ago

I found this postcard perfect view while exploring.

Also, the trees are now a bit more scruffy and not so smooth and rounded, which particularly changes how the tree coverage looks in the distance.
#ProcGen #GameDev

Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen1d ago
The tree leaves are now swaying in the wind. The "Grasslands - Stylized Nature" pack the trees are from actually already included a wind effect, but I implemented some simple tweaks to make it more to my liking. What do you think?
#GameDev #IndieGameDev
Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen2d ago

Here's a fly-by with the new trees. The fact that they cast/receive shadows even in the distance makes a huge difference compared to the old Unity billboard ones, which destroyed the sense of depth in the distance.
#ProcGen #GameDev

(Video of old trees here: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@runevision/112186261304893345)

Rune Skovbo Johansen4d ago

I got translucency working on the trees ☀️🌳

Hell yeah, let's stroll!

#GameDev #ProcGen

Show threadRune Skovbo Johansen6d ago
When I first used the new tree models, nothing felt satisfying to me anymore. It took me long to tweak misc aspects of the trees to isolate what it was I liked better about the old trees, to be able to replicate the same feeling with the new models. Here's how they first looked vs how they look now.
Rune Skovbo Johansen6d ago
I've long needed to scrap Unity's built-in tree imposters which don't support shadows and use octahedral impostors plus GPU instancing instead. The tree models I used don't work with that (and look too small anyway), so had to find new tree models too. Finally found a combo that might work? #gamedev
Rune Skovbo JohansenJun 29

Notes on atmospheric perspective and distant mountains
https://blog.runevision.com/2025/06/notes-on-atmospheric-perspective-and.html

On my recent vacation in Japan, I had ample opportunities to study views with distant mountains. And something about the shades at different distances clicked for me that’s now obvious in retrospect.

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
As I write in the post, a mystical stairway up through a cedar forest gave me a weirdly strong sense of three-dimensional depth. I got a question about that from @jkaniarz which made me reflect more on the reasons. 🧵
×
Rune Skovbo JohansenJun 27

New blog post with photos from an inspiring trip in Japan

https://blog.runevision.com/2025/06/photos-from-inspiring-trip-in-japan.html

I like to make games that take place at least partially in beautiful nature, give a sense of mystery and wonder that invites exploration, and that have environments that incorporate strong verticality. And in all of these respects, Japan delivers in spades.

Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
As I write in the post, a mystical stairway up through a cedar forest gave me a weirdly strong sense of three-dimensional depth. I got a question about that from @jkaniarz which made me reflect more on the reasons. 🧵
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
First of all, I think feeling small among huge shapes evoke a strong feeling of depth in general, but it may be diminished in familiar situations, such as being on a street with tall conventionally shaped buildings.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
Second, distances feel greater when they're not horizontal. 100 meters down the (flat) street is nothing, but 100 meters up or down a steep incline feels huge.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
Third, in most environments, you see mostly things close by (ground or wall) or mostly far away (horizon or sky) when looking in a given direction. But in forests, and inside huge buildings with many columns, you see near and far simultaneously, emphasizing depth.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
Fourth, the cedar trees had huge tall trunks, which made it possible to see both high up in the air and far up the mountain side, without the view being obscured much by the tree canopies.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
Fifth (and most speculatively), the sunlight being filtered through the trees produced little attention-grabbing highlights everywhere at various depths, which further enhanced the perception of depth.
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
So I think it's this powerful combination of multiple factors that reinforced each other: Huge uncommon shapes, verticality, seeing things both near and far simultaneously, partially unobstructed far views, and the lighting.
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJun 27
@runevision it looks lovely. I must go someday but long distance travel doesn’t agree with me as much as it once did
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 27
@sinbad Sorry to hear that! Going outside Europe is rare for us, but Japan does have its pull (it’s not our first time). Luckily, jet lag turned out to be less of an issue this time than we had anticipated.
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJun 27
@runevision Japan and New Zealand are still on my list but I feel like I need to wait until I have the chance to do a slow journey there. I did Oz years ago, that was hellish and I’m even older now
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 27
@sinbad Right. Well I don’t know much about your situation and what made that trip hellish, but in our case we made sure to not have plans for every day and expect some downtime, since we know we need that to function properly.
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJun 27
@runevision it’s more the long flights, being stuck in that environment for that long is something I can’t deal with any more. I used to just sleep through it but the bones and the airline experience generally have both got worse over the years
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 27
@sinbad Ah, right. We had direct flights this time, which made the travel shorter and more streamlined compared to last time we were in Japan. But it was still 12 hours on the plane, and it’s always rough. You’re thinking of breaking it into smaller stretches with pauses in between? Maybe even non-plane travel?
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJun 27
@runevision yeah I’d love to do a mostly train trip although I’ve no idea how feasible that would be. Not at all right now given other pressures but maybe one day
Show threadPatrick HogenboomJun 27
@sinbad @runevision Totally agree! My genius girlfriend arranged our New Zealand trip like this : Fly from Amsterdam to Tokyo, 48h layover, fly to NZ. On the way back : fly to Shanghai, 48h layover, fly to Amsterdam. 3 vacations for the price of one :D
Show threadJohn KaniarzJun 28
@sinbad @runevision I got into the habit of doing a little standing yoga every hour on trans-Atlantic flights. I usually try to sneak behind a bulkhead, but sometimes I just do it in the aisle.
Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveJun 28
@jkaniarz @runevision yeah me too, but it only marginally helps. I haven’t flown long distance for a decade now for various reasons including the awfulness of the whole experience, the orange clown, Covid, climate change. Pre 2016 I used to fly a fair amount but have been mostly cold turkey since
Show threadJohn KaniarzJun 28
@runevision part of Japanese garden design is giving a false sense of depth. Tricks like making a path using large stones up close and smaller stones as you move away from the viewing position so it looks farther away. Could this be what was going on at the temple, except at a larger scale?
Show threadRune Skovbo JohansenJun 28
@jkaniarz That's interesting! But no, I don't think that's what was going on here. I wrote my thoughts here:
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@runevision/114759759039917448
Rune Skovbo Johansen (@runevision@mastodon.gamedev.place)

Attached: 1 image As I write in the post, a mystical stairway up through a cedar forest gave me a weirdly strong sense of three-dimensional depth. I got a question about that from @jkaniarz which made me reflect more on the reasons. 🧵

Gamedev Mastodon