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Roadmap to Steam

Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 28 Sep 2017, 19:08

Hi,

I wonder what is the roadmap to Steam launch ? What team are working on ?

Actually testing Gen 2 most stuff works right expect some minor things.
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SolarPortal » 28 Sep 2017, 19:18

Basically for release, we have to complete:
* End Game as Stand Alone / Player
* Resource Collection
* Fix any remaining major bugs like navmesh not showing etc...
* documentation
* demos
* templates
* DLC (even though this could be released after the main release.)
* Website work and improvements...

Don't think im missing anything, but thats where we are atm :)
Then after release, we have marketing, promotion, fixing more bugs. Then we might be able to look into new features and upgrades for the engine.
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 28 Sep 2017, 21:59

SolarPortal wrote:Basically for release, we have to complete:
* End Game as Stand Alone / Player
* Resource Collection
* Fix any remaining major bugs like navmesh not showing etc...
* documentation
* demos
* templates
* DLC (even though this could be released after the main release.)
* Website work and improvements...

Don't think im missing anything, but thats where we are atm :)
Then after release, we have marketing, promotion, fixing more bugs. Then we might be able to look into new features and upgrades for the engine.



Demos, templates, and docs i know are very important for all people that will be new to the engine.
About scripts examples, i prefer very short ones, instead of re used long scripts as we can find in Skyline, sure we can learn a lot, but for newbbies small scripts are better.

DLC should be after release, i don't think it's really needed right now, but what DLC type do you mean ? User plugins or assets ?

What is ressource collection ? There is good bunch of materials and 3D models with the package already.
Better keep more ressources as future DLC ?

It looks good for a release :D
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SolarPortal » 29 Sep 2017, 10:08

Good to hear! :)

Yes, DLC will most likely be after the release and DLC will include Editor extensions through the Editor plugins system on skyline and more assets, scripts or setup AI's characters, NPC's, etc...

About scripts examples, i prefer very short ones, instead of re used long scripts as we can find in Skyline, sure we can learn a lot, but for newbbies small scripts are better.

There will be shorter scripts and longer scripts, all depends on what the script is for.

What is ressource collection ? There is good bunch of materials and 3D models with the package already.
Better keep more ressources as future DLC ?

Resource collection is what the end game uses to collect all the resources for packaging into the end game, or simply for collecting all resources just to send to a colleague or a friend of yours. It is the process, of taking all the assets used in a game from all the locations that skyline can access and place them into a single directory that can be converted into a project or into an end game.

Better keep more ressources as future DLC ?

Absolutely ;) Lots to still do :)
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 29 Sep 2017, 11:48

It looks good :D

Something in roadmap i have some questions :

1) Skyline VR :
It is compatible with Steam VR out of the box ? How does it runs, is there some specific optimisations , does it allows 90 fps on simple scenes ?

2) 64 bit :
It's on the roadmap , it is planned to disrtibute it ? It should be a huge improvment about memory and levels size limits.
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SolarPortal » 29 Sep 2017, 11:52

1) Skyline VR :
It is compatible with Steam VR out of the box ? How does it runs, is there some specific optimisations , does it allows 90 fps on simple scenes ?

Currently in Gen1, we were using OSVR open source SDK for HDK implementation and will be again in Gen2.
As for 90 fps on simple scenes. well, this is a hard one to answer, because there are so many variations on hardware that one could not state that 90 fps can be achieved on all hardware.
We will do our best to get the fastest VR skyline can produce and optimize over time, but as for 90fps... that is all relative to the simple scene and the hardware a user is running it with.
Steam VR: Not sure, havent ventured to deep on this yet.
As for VR optimizations, there are several that we have seen to be possible and will try to make it so things dont have to render twice where its not necessary :)

2) 64bit: yes, this is planned and was available on gen1. Gen2 has not got it yet because there were a few issues the last time we ran it, so we backed out at the time to focus on a stable 32 bit, but don't get me wrong, we have to have 64 bit!...
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 01 Oct 2017, 10:22

Continuing prototyping, there is indeed some three major components missing in Skyline that i think should be in before any official release :

- Animations callback functions ( later animations blending on character like upper boddy and lower blending)

- Real prefabs (new unique object prefab in scene explorer also with grouping and parenting child objects)

- Anti aliasing (fast FXAA, MSAA) , anti aliasing is part of any renderer


The first two are even more important as they affect your workflow and coding, without them you'll use work arounds and more coding compared to Unity for example where they make it easy and fast.
It looks incomplete not having them and they will be missing for many people coming from other 3D engines.
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SolarPortal » 01 Oct 2017, 11:24

Those seem valid, however, we are up against our deadline now, so not sure if they will make it into the first steam release. But we could always get them in asap after the release :)

Anti-aliasing is a must but not a show stopper, we have a few shader bits to do to make it work correctly, but once they are done, it should work fine. The reason we don't use it at the moment is due to the HBAO post fx as it isnt MSAA friendly atm.

Thanks for the tips :)
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 01 Oct 2017, 20:30

I don't think it's a good idea to rush for a release in the next months and let down some essential features like animation callbacks and prefabs. It's perhaps better to include some essentials for a better release with better reviews.

About anti aliasing you can propose cheap alternatives like SSAO and FXAA.
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby StarFire » 01 Oct 2017, 21:23

Dx FXAA does already exists in the player and end game but can not be used in the editor view. So for full screen its available if you are not using ssao.

Callbacks for animation and grouped objects are on the job list for after the release. But we must stick to our schedule, there are other users who want different features who equally can say the same about their fav missing feature, where do you draw the line?
I dont think this will be a problem as we wont be marketing these missing features!

Development on Skyline will continue after release of V1.0 as it does with any other product :)
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SpiderMack » 02 Oct 2017, 09:03

StarFire wrote: But we must stick to our schedule, there are other users who want different features who equally can say the same about their fav missing feature, where do you draw the line?

Animation callback is for placing some event function inside animation (footsteps, right frame in some attack or defend animation and more).
Prefabs is to quickly make complex objects like different houses made of different objects structures (game kits), you don't want to have on your scene list thousand of objects you don't know what house they belong, instead of having ten prefab objects you can quickly select, more and rotate.
Using Unity it's hard to imagine a good 3D engine without those.

I wonder what are the other "essential" features people ask ? :lol:


You are right, users will wait for them after release, and i don't think there is people having a game started in Gen 2 that should be sold soon and needing some missing editor or graphic features :)
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Re: Roadmap to Steam

Postby SolarPortal » 02 Oct 2017, 09:43

Animation callback is for placing some event function inside animation (footsteps, right frame in some attack or defend animation and more).
Prefabs is to quickly make complex objects like different houses made of different objects structures (game kits), you don't want to have on your scene list thousand of objects you don't know what house they belong, instead of having ten prefab objects you can quickly select, more and rotate.
Using Unity it's hard to imagine a good 3D engine without those.

lol :P We don't need to be sold on them... we want them too :lol:
Grouping and animation events are very important.... ( cinematic editor on top of general animation scripting etc.. )

You are right, users will wait for them after release, and i don't think there is people having a game started in Gen 2 that should be sold soon and needing some missing editor or graphic features :)

I agree and it won't be long after the release hopefully for when these get implemented.
Once we are released, we will then be able to schedule these jobs in properly.
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