Hi there, I’m Chikara Saito (a.ok.a. Rickey), director of Foamstars. As the identify suggests, Foamstars is a recreation that options copious quantities of soppy, fluffy foam. Nonetheless, the path that we took to really symbolize that foam in digital area was for much longer and harder than we initially thought it could be.
Our expertise of bringing the foam in Foamstars to life was something however gentle and fluffy, and right now, I want to let you know the story of our trials and tribulations in the world of foam!
The primary impediment that we bumped into once we began creating Foamstars was the processing energy required.
In Foamstars, gamers can hearth off as a lot foam as they like, and that foam flies off as fluffy bubbles all through the complete area.
It is a enormous a part of what makes the recreation so distinctive, however keep in mind that as much as 8 gamers taking part in collectively on-line can hearth off foam at the identical time – a few of them in separate locations, fairly distant from each other – so we had to have the ability to sync up every occasion of foam in actual time.
This alone accounted for a substantial quantity of load on the CPU, however on high of that, we additionally realised one other recreation mechanic that is essential to Foamstars’ gameplay: foam remaining in place and piling as much as change the stage’s topography. These items collectively put an infinite burden on the CPU.
This meant that in the first take a look at construct of the recreation, we might solely make about 10 pictures price of foam stay on the floor, and I can nonetheless clearly keep in mind the feeling of disappointment as I believed to myself, “This isn’t sufficient to make a enjoyable recreation.”
However simply as I used to be going through this strain to change the route of the recreation to account for these limitations, the programming workforce stepped in and confirmed me a greater method!
They’d the improbable concept to dynamically alter Unreal Engine 4’s Panorama device!
This technique was initially designed for sculpting rugged terrain forward of time, however because of the ingenuity and laborious work of the programming workforce, we have been capable of dynamically alter the Panorama device so that it could possibly be influenced by participant interactions throughout precise gameplay.
Because of this method, we didn’t should handle and specific every occasion of foam on an object-by-object foundation, however slightly, we might deal with the foam as vertex knowledge as a substitute.
This considerably decreased the load on the CPU, and made it really feel way more thrilling as an precise recreation as effectively.
The take a look at map started as a single, flat aircraft stretching out forward of you. As I watched it rework dynamically as a consequence of the actions of the gamers, I realised that we created an expertise that might solely come from a medium of leisure the place worlds are interactive. It was like a jolt of lightning that reached me in my pit of despair – I can nonetheless keep in mind that sensation clearly to today.
All PlayStation Plus members can redeem, obtain and play Foamstars at no additional value from now till March 4 on each PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Be a part of the foam-blasting frenzy!