8 replies to this topic

[yesrushdt]

For anyone that didn't see, there were some new (to me anyway) and some older videos uploaded to the Perfect Parallel Vimeo page yesterday.  I spent a good half hour viewing them this morning in anticipation of the early alpha.  Some really breathtaking designs.

 

A question for the Pefect Parallel guys.  Regarding your visualisation work, will any of those courses (such as Ashgabat for example) ever see light of day in the game? 

[IanK]

Same goes for me. I really enjoy watching the video showing how the game is progressing.
Mike, please can you tell me if it's possible to have a stable camera when the game switches to the reverse camera view? At the moment the camera seems to reflect the bounce of the ball, which is a little annoying.

Ian

[Dazmaniac]

Knighters,

 

I asked about the camera movement in a testing forum. Here's what MJ replied:-

 

When the follow cam has caught up with the ball it becomes attached to the ball, so although it is not using a script to follow the track of the ball  like in some other cams it is effectively joined with the ball at the hip and moves with the ball.

 

I then asked if it could be altered so that the camera view remained static and we saw the ball bounce on screen without the camera moving:-

 

Probably not, I asked and without a lot of programming it's probably not going to happen in the nr future. It's one of those things that would seem to be easy until you actually look into the actual logic of programming a camera to follow an unpredictable ball.

 

Looks like, for the foreseeable future, what you see is what you get.

 

[Armand]

Hi Daz,

 

Do the reverse replays "follow" the ball?  I know Mike's (Andrew's?) hole-in-one did bounce with the ball, but I'm not sure if that was a replay or a follow-cam.  I'm hoping that a replay camera just sits in one location and watches the ball even if the ball travels through its view port, but I'm afraid it doesn't.

 

Armand

[MERACE]

PP really needs to find a way to "unattach" the camera from the ball as it is very jarring.


-MERACE

[Kablammo11]

Armand, the reverse view and reverse replay are not the same thing: In the reverse view, as the shot is being played, the game calculates the ball movement in real time - the camera therefore does not "know" in advance where the ball is going to end up and can do nothing else but track the ball as it rolls on. In reverse replay the landing point is known and the replay cam's position is adjusted accordingly. Both these cams are tracking the ball and its movement (it always remains in the exact center of the screen) and that is not ideal at all, I agree. Then again, it's not agonizingly unbearable either.

In this stage, the Devs are a lot more busy with core mechanics - aesthetics are important, but not an immediate priority. It will get fixed, one day. Just not tomorrow.

 

PP are currently trying to fine-tune the dynamic cameras, as they are the most time-consuming and difficult ones to get right. As the game goes into early release, I'm sure that more feedback from a considerably larger test player base will come in regarding this issue. What is currently missing from the visual armory are fixed cameras, strategically posted around each and every hole. These will give you a lot more options to see exactly what you want to see.

These fixed cams are correctly classified as of the "nice-to-have" variety - and right now PP has all hands on deck to deal with the "must haves", so that they can play Santa Clause to the computer golf world come this Christmas. (No, this is not an official release date! Just a fanciful approximation, give or take a few months)

[Dazmaniac]

Armand, the reverse view and reverse replay are not the same thing: In the reverse view, as the shot is being played, the game calculates the ball movement in real time - the camera therefore does not "know" in advance where the ball is going to end up and can do nothing else but track the ball as it rolls on. In reverse replay the landing point is known and the replay cam's position is adjusted accordingly. Both these cams are tracking the ball and its movement (it always remains in the exact center of the screen) and that is not ideal at all, I agree. Then again, it's not agonizingly unbearable either.

In this stage, the Devs are a lot more busy with core mechanics - aesthetics are important, but not an immediate priority. It will get fixed, one day. Just not tomorrow.

 

PP are currently trying to fine-tune the dynamic cameras, as they are the most time-consuming and difficult ones to get right. As the game goes into early release, I'm sure that more feedback from a considerably larger test player base will come in regarding this issue. What is currently missing from the visual armory are fixed cameras, strategically posted around each and every hole. These will give you a lot more options to see exactly what you want to see.

These fixed cams are correctly classified as of the "nice-to-have" variety - and right now PP has all hands on deck to deal with the "must haves", so that they can play Santa Clause to the computer golf world come this Christmas. (No, this is not an official release date! Just a fanciful approximation, give or take a few months)

 

Maybe not for you, but I have seen posts where folks are saying the camera movement causes them problems, because of some condition they suffer with.

 

I myself can cope with it, but coming from Links 2003, to me the PG 'effect' just don't look right, but that's just me.

[Richard]

Maybe not for you, but I have seen posts where folks are saying the camera movement causes them problems, because of some condition they suffer with.

 

I myself can cope with it, but coming from Links 2003, to me the PG 'effect' just don't look right, but that's just me.

 

 

NO, it's not!!

[Armand]

Thanks, K11.  I don't like/use follow cams, so I was just curious on the behaviour of the reverse replay camera (which I did use periodically in Links).  I know things will be tweaked/adjusted as things progress.  I was hoping the replay camera may be different from the get-go, but all in due course.

 

 

Armand