[Engine related] Glass and transparency

[Elexia]

I thought glass was pretty simple to produce, its just transparency with a refraction shader isn't it ?

It's much more stable and efficient to do in offline titles/smaller online titles (i.e FPS) than it is in MMOs. That video, like the FFVII PS3 demo, was a tech demo to test the hardware, nothing more so it's more than possible to produce great transparancy effects (Look at XIII-2), it's not viable in an MMO unless the engine can do it flawlessly, which is why most MMOs lacks it in a major way. (Usually only tied to water effects if anything.)

[Avraym]

Yeah thanks for putting out that youtube clip. The town looks 1 million times better than our current ones.

As someone who is a designer, attention to detail matters, and with SE, I would expect or hope for nothing less in the zone redesign, new engine capabilities ect.

[Atoli]

I like the current style of Limsa Lominsa better too, but taste is not something you can argue about.
Still, real glass would be pretty.
I don't want Limsa to look like a giant greenhouse, but I wouldn't mind seeing a new city in the future which has a lot of transparent glass in their architecture

[Wevlum]

Well it's not really S.E.'s fault that you can't appreciate architecture, no offense. Not everything has to be over-the-top. And in any case, Limsa Lominsa isn't exactly subtle either. I mean, Limsa Lominsa is far from being "just caves". Next time you're there, maybe look around and appreciate what's around you.

When someone has to clarify a statement with no offense it's usually a good indicator of intended offense but anyway. Half of the nice looking places in limsa you'd can't actually access; the lighthouse, those buildings you see in the distance with the huge windows.

Aside from that the buildings are almost identical once you're inside them with exception of one that while identical it has a fish tank. Other than that everything is just cold and grey and the main feature of a city built on top of the sea would be the sea I'd imagine but we currently have a 2D sheet of carpet instead of a sea.

There's precisely 2 neat things about Limsa; the pirate ship and the walkways. They're redesigning the game to be a next gen MMO using a brand new engine we should expect more than what we already have and you shouldn't have to get defensive just because not everyone agrees Limsa is a shining bastion of design.

[bobbygunz]

When someone has to clarify a statement with no offense it's usually a good indicator of intended offense but anyway. Half of the nice looking places in limsa you'd can't actually access; the lighthouse, those buildings you see in the distance with the huge windows.

Aside from that the buildings are almost identical once you're inside them with exception of one that while identical it has a fish tank. Other than that everything is just cold and grey and the main feature of a city built on top of the sea would be the sea I'd imagine but we currently have a 2D sheet of carpet instead of a sea.

There's precisely 2 neat things about Limsa; the pirate ship and the walkways. They're redesigning the game to be a next gen MMO using a brand new engine we should expect more than what we already have and you shouldn't have to get defensive just because not everyone agrees Limsa is a shining bastion of design.

Well, no offense, but clearly it's been a while since you've been in Limsa, because there's a lot of stuff there beyond cold and grey rocks and "precisely 2 neat things".

[Wevlum]

Well, no offense, but clearly it's been a while since you've been in Limsa, because there's a lot of stuff there beyond cold and grey rocks and "precisely 2 neat things".

/looks at signature
/nods

Anyways It'd just be able to see the outside world more when inside buildings. The inn rooms of Limsa are a nice example of where things could go though they do have a bit too much frosting on them much like the windows of the ferry if you go inside. It would be a nice place to sit if you could see outside properly.

As for the canopy thing...it doesn't stop the rain anyway they should just remove the screens :P

[Norack]

As for the canopy thing...it doesn't stop the rain anyway they should just remove the screens :P

I hate that about this game, the little mountain sides you pass under to in order to get into gridania, that doesn't stop the rain either, and thats a mountain!, really hope they fix this or if they cant just switch out the mountains for a little crappy plank to walk accross, id rather have a crappy thing that works over a cool looking thing that doesn't

[Tigercub]

All I really, really want from the zone revamp / engine upgrade is life. Every area unique and richly detailed in its own way. Something always happening, even if it's only an owl catching a mouse or a wyvern gliding in the distance. No zone indistinguishable from another by a glance.

With the technical beauty of this engine, it's depressing that Vana'diel completely overshadows Eorzea in true beauty. Having nice textures and fancy rendering tricks won't save a world that has no heart and soul put into it.

If they can make zones like this with crystal tools it will blow my mind, transparent glass or not. Though it would be nice to have that stuff too

[Req]

I was thinking about this the other day when I ended up taking the ferry for the first time in like a year. The water in this game has absolutely no transparency either and it makes the water look like its flowing under the boat instead of the boat traveling through the water. The same can be said for any area with a large body of water though. It doesn't look like the water is surrounding certain land areas, but in fact going under it because of this lack of transparency.

[AkiRouscelia]

Let's keep condescending remarks about other people's thoughts and opinions out of this thread, please.

I want this to be a discussion, hell, I wanted this to be just for the developers to see about glass. It's not all related to Limsa Lominsa. It's about glass.