Syscrusher

@[email protected]
3 Followers
3 Following
61 Posts
[he/him/they] Programmer/designer and technical lead for an indie creator of 3D apps and tools. Constantly learning, but gladly so. I'm not nearly as attractive as my avatar.
ToolsBlender, UE, Unity, Substance, Audacity, GIMP
Show threadSyscrusherAug 4, 2023
@jkottke Your post made me stop and think, although I usually want plain text only, are there any times I would want to keep the formatting? I tried, and I am sure there must have been a time or two, but I can't remember any. Plain text should at least be the default.
SyscrusherJul 14, 2023

A couple of years ago, when I was just starting to learn #UnrealEngine, I bought a modular cave/dungeon asset called "Cave of Tessellation". Since my day job is UE for engineering, not games, I bought it thinking to use it for a hobby project some day, and that's how it happens that today is the first time I've ever added this kit to a project. :)

This kit is so deliciously creative, I was heartbroken to realize that it was released in 2018 and my review today was the *first review*. This is a real gem that's been overlooked, and I'm hoping this post will take a small step toward fixing that. Here's the UE Marketplace link:

https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/cave-of-tessellation

In case anyone's concerned, I have never met or even corresponded with the artist(s), and I have zero financial interest in this product or company. It's not perfect (what is?), and I note a couple of minor flaws in my review on the Marketplace site. But in a world of cookie-cutter dungeon kits, this one stands apart. Taka a look!

Cave Of Tessellation in Environments - UE Marketplace

CaveOfTessellation is a modular cave and dungeon system featuring 343 objects and a world aligned seamless Tessellation material system in just 269 instructions including 237 textures

Unreal Engine
SyscrusherApr 29, 2023

Last week I put the finishing touches (I hope) on my first project making physics-simulated clothing in Blender. I've used Blender for years for hard surface work, but our team's character artist asked me to create a dress.

I've tried hard to keep the topo mostly quads in Blender, though it will be triangulated during export to UE 5. * Constructive topo critique welcome. *

For the edges that are sewing points, I made a custom Geometry Nodes utility that cleans up the topo.

I made a simple theatre environment and an animated sequence (with my own IK constraints) for fun and to have a better way to present it during our team meeting.

There's a procedural fabric material that turned out pretty well, IMO, but I can't share that publicly yet.

After tweaking settings, I've got the sewing and related physics stable within 24 frames, but I leave 40 frames ahead of the first output frame.

Show threadSyscrusherJan 9, 2023

@markkilborn Preach it! My favorite trope along these lines:

Several teenagers have mysteriously vanished from a small town near a fetid swamp. Mangled bits of clothing and personal items have been found suggesting a large predator, and footprints don't match any known animal.

Hero: "Okay, so it's 2:00 a.m. on a foggy night. I've got my flashlight, this pistol I've never used before -- oh, wait, it's a flare gun, my bad! -- and a flashlight that usually lights up if I tap it a couple of times. Time to go find out what's really afoot in that swamp!"

I mean, it's not as an organized team of professional hunters or soldiers, backed by search-and-rescue teams, could equip themselves with two-way radios and GPS, then enter a swamp in daylight, right?

Show threadSyscrusherJan 9, 2023

@glairedaggers For the game code itself, you might not get that much if your coding style is to prefer rolling many of your own subsystems. What about target platforms and asset import pipelines? (I'm not asserting those are things you would need from a published engine, only that they are possible areas to consider.)

The only other thing that comes to mind is whether you prefer to work solo or would want to collaborate with another dev, in which case their preferences and experience might influence this decision.

Show threadSyscrusherJan 9, 2023
@gameservatory I had to read this a couple of times to grok in fullness. Pretty deep, and uncomfortably plausible.
Show threadSyscrusherJan 9, 2023

@brody I have a t-shirt that in large print and some warning-bar graphics identifies me as an essential NPC whose survival is integral to quest completion. It then goes on to explain that I am not carrying much gold or any unique clothing or weapons.

So far, it has kept me safe from player characters. So far.

Show threadSyscrusherDec 13, 2022

@julesfern Make a mistake in iptables that locks out your port 22/tcp SSH connection, and if you don't have a true remote console, you'll be routin' n' tootin' n' rebootin'. 😜

My....ummmmm....friend did that once. Yep. My friend. Totally not me. That would be silly!

Show threadSyscrusherDec 13, 2022
@niki Thanks for the additional background info, NONE of which takes away from the fact that you have accomplished something impressive. 👍
Show threadSyscrusherDec 12, 2022

@niki I am amazed that you got a game *and* its level editor into a 300 kB HTML/JS footprint. My virtual hat is off to you!

I'm old enough to remember the days when we struggled to get our assembly language code to fit into 16 kB of RAM, or thereabouts depending on the system. Your colleagues would have bowed down before your coding-fu in that situation. Well done!