Related Class:
GSP381 + GSP390
IDE:
Visual Studio 2015
Spread across two classes, this project began as a provided framework to practice class learning and introductory techniques. During GSP381, techniques like geometry rendering, texturing, lighting, custom model rendering, shadows, skyboxes, mirrors, particle effects, and much more was covered and coded from scratch in this framework. Finally, a number of these techniques were incorporated into a simple game as the final deliverable.
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The final game let the player control a spaceship and fire at a group of enemies that scrolled towards the player ship. From a graphical point, the game included heightmap and texture rendering and blending, instanced geometry, a skybox, custom models, and a few more minor techniques. Using a modified mirror rendering technique, a special mechanic was added that forces the player to only see enemies through the ship display, increasing difficulty and defining the game premise.
In the second class, GSP390, the focus for the project moved from learning the basics into choosing more advanced techniques and demonstrating them. This second project built on top of what was developed in GSP381 and showed off terrain surface, liquid surface, and post-processing rendering techniques.
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The terrain rendering was built in the typical way by generating a large triangle grid and applying textures, heightmaps, and blending aspects. However, the unique effect was that the terrain is endless; no matter how far the camera travels in a direction, an end will never be reached. This was accomplished by making both the camera and grid stationary and scrolling the supplied textures/maps across the surface. The same methods were used to make the liquid surface, only with scrolling textures by time as well and transparency. With some extra coloring effects and special lighting methods, an endless shallow water environment was created. To top everything off, the rendered environment was saved to a texture and sent through the pipeline once more before being presented as a flat image to the screen to add post-processing effects. This added blurring and distortion while underwater, a "scuba mask" border to the image, and a bubbling/slashing image that floats past the "mask" when passing the water surface. The goal was to take these three methods and generate a complete and believable environment and this project hits the mark in defining a late evening swim in the ocean.
