Videos (development)

[v-i-c-]

I'll always post the link to the newest video here on top in this first posting of the videos thread.

Sometimes I won't quickly show new stuff even if could, at of time of writing this I am in such a phase.

WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic - U 96 <-- name was "Arcade Missions before"

Update:

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/interior_1.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk9t_xqHVoE&list=UU03RMMpKkHkZVROUHFTWYVA

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/submerged_uboat.png

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/caustics_uboat.png

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/godrays_uboat.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwJhaTp9QI&list=UU03RMMpKkHkZVROUHFTWYVA&index=1


Update:
still working on the light… lighting of ships still need improvement in heavy seas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28y_UB-9xEs?vq=hd720

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/heavy_sea_wota_wolves_of_the_atlantic_subsim.png

Update:

This video shows the water surface refraction and real time global illumination in WOTA. It does not show any game play (but a weird rotating boat ;-) ). In the 2nd half the time of day is accelerated to show the effect of the global illumination: basically everything always automatically visually fits together - at any time of day or any weather. Unfortunately my touch solution isn't really smoothed yet which causes the camera movements sometimes to stutter, but the device can handle it at constant 60 frames per second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAL_24bfb4?vq=hd720

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/WOTA_Wolves_of_the_Atlantic_U_96.png

Update:

Test of the AI controlling the MG 34 mounted on the conning tower. Test set up! Graphics are worse than in game. Aircraft models and the impact explosions of the MG 34 ammunition for testing purposes only. Aim & hit test, no damage simulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujnOkUNRIs

http://green-hill.de/pictures/MG34_.png

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:

WOTA AI Training: Air Attack… (ALL those bad looking models (except submarine) and all of the environment are NOT in game graphics!!!) The graphics are just for testing purposes of the AI programming. (cannons only, no bombs in this test)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152364402624604
(can be watched without a fb-account)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:

Some new stuff in this work in progress video. Recorded via AirPlay. (was made as an auto running demo App for a 3rd party company)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBlQVNiEy2s

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/WOTA_Demo2.png

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:

Fletcher Class Destroyer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7eZlxNElQ8

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/fletcher.png

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[v-i-c-]

A list of WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic playlists on youtube

Really old and completely outdated (2009/2010):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC52EC4A84DF290

Newer but also completely outdated (2010/2011):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=SP9F0F4808FD34DA1F

The Seehund playlist (2012/2013)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFjb-jXqyEtx5Rmoi_lsMLJR4lpL4GHT

[v-i-c-]

Video of the water in WOTA (July 2013) and a Vorpostenboot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ_YFmgWCMY

http://www.hessburg.com/subsim_pictures/seehund_vorposten.png

[v-i-c-]

Maybe an interesting video, it's from 2011 and not looking good but it shows the buoyancy physics pretty well because it shows MTB's riding the waves (actually they are italian MAS Boats… and untextured)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZUjQU0h3T8

http://www.hessburg.com/subsim_pictures/MASbuoyancy.png

[v-i-c-]

Within some days I'll post a new movie here - this will finally show the current look of the game. (last movie and screenshots are almost 5 months old). Stay tuned. :)

[v-i-c-]

Still no new movie (takes some more days)

But I've just finished the Anschuetz Compass with correct 0.1 degree precision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1HgKQSH1Fg

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/Compass.png

[iPadCary]

Why are there three rings of numbers?
In the heat of battle, who's gonna be able to sort all of that out, hmm?

[v-i-c-]

Why are there three rings of numbers?
In the heat of battle, who's gonna be able to sort all of that out, hmm?

I see four rings of numbers. Because during WWII the U-Boats actually went into battles with a compasses containing four rings of numbers… exactly like on this virtual replica of the compass.
3 rings, 1 fixed, 2 rotatable - 4 rings of numbers:

- outer ring, relative bearing, ring is fixed (to the boats heading)

- middle ring,. true bearing, ring rotates and shows true north, it also has a second ring of mirrored numbers on it (flipped by 180°)

- inner ring, true bearing, rotates, 1/36 scale for 0.1 degree precision

I guess any navigator would prefer a precision of 0.1 degree over just 1 degree.

[Julhelm]

So how hardcore should we expect this game to be? More than SH3?

[v-i-c-]

So how hardcore should we expect this game to be? More than SH3?

The main title "WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic" will try to be as realistically as possible. Not everything will find its way into V1.0 but at least with updates.

Which means:

Where it makes any sense for the game play and always with options to reduce realism.

I will listen to players who find inaccuracies and can provide better data and will try to fix that with updates.

You won't be able to use any existing vent on the boat, this makes no sense. But it makes sense to add things like different realistic battery charging modes, diesel-electric drive, different engine settings on port and starboard. to manually flood the different tanks or at least add a simplification for that etc.

For example one thing which is totally unrealistically is that the same person (the player) who looks through the periscope is also using the Torpedovorhalterechner. But a lot of players love to do that.
In WOTA 100% realism would be similar to the tasks of the commander of the boat. Any extra manually stuff would be counted as >100% realism in the settings. Stuff that's nice to have but not absolutely important. Some people even want to navigate using the stars. Well it's possible to add this, so why not, I just have to learn how that works ;-)

The main goal of the sim will be to simulate being the the skipper. This and the realism of the boat and of the enemy technology and environment (like ASDIC function, different layers of water etc.) is most important to me. Also important is the enemy crew, they will "work in shifts" like in real life, you will never know if the ASDIC operator, watch out etc. on the enemy vessel is a tired n00b or an expert at its best moment…

But as said before, this is about the main title. Don't expect total hard core realism in the Seehund version for example. Any released version before the main title will be used to fund the work on the main title.

Regarding SH3… I would say the realism of it is the standard that a sub sim needs to reach at least. Naturally I will try to make it better and hope that will finally work out.

[Cybermat47]

Why are there three rings of numbers?
In the heat of battle, who's gonna be able to sort all of that out, hmm?

So you really are an Apple-obsessed troll!

[Julhelm]

I think you should make it more like AoD than SH3 tbh.

[v-i-c-]

I think you should make it more like AoD than SH3 tbh.

I think the best is to make it more like WOTA than like anything else ;-)

[iPadCary]

I see four rings of numbers.
Because during WWII the U-Boats actually went into battles
with a compasses containing four rings of numbers…
exactly like on this virtual replica of the compass.
3 rings, 1 fixed, 2 rotatable - 4 rings of numbers:
- outer ring, relative bearing, ring is fixed (to the boats heading)
- middle ring,. true bearing, ring rotates and shows true north, it also has a second ring of mirrored numbers on it (flipped by 180°)
- inner ring, true bearing, rotates, 1/36 scale for 0.1 degree precision
I guess any navigator would prefer a precision of 0.1 degree over just 1 degree.

Alrighty.

So you really are an Apple-obsessed troll!

Cybermat47, I'd like you to meet my friend IGNORE.
IGNORE? Cybermat47.
I have the feeling you two are gonna get along famously!

[Sung]

Good work VIC.
Can you say something about the gameplay it self?

I understand that many players wish that level of detail. But i didn't understand how it is important for playing? Did the contacts not plotted in the map?
Must the player do the navigation by himself and is it than possible to loose the orientation to get lost on sea?

I really miss something like a game concept. How does the game work?

[iPadCary]

I, for one, hope for the option to do both.
That way, I can navigate freely about the North Atlantic.
There're some landmarks that I know the coördinates of that I wanna check out
just to see if they're there in order to gauge just how "accurate" this sim is.

[v-i-c-]

Good work VIC.
Can you say something about the gameplay it self?

I understand that many players wish that level of detail. But i didn't understand how it is important for playing? Did the contacts not plotted in the map?
Must the player do the navigation by himself and is it than possible to loose the orientation to get lost on sea?


Because this is the real precision of the compass and of the course you could manually set in real life. Why should I limit that to 1 degree? To repeat the mistakes of other sims?


I really miss something like a game concept. How does the game work?

That's really funny. Because this game play was already invented more than 70 years ago.

OK lol, basically you are in command of a German U-Boat and your task is to do what a German U-Boat did in WWII. Dying while trying to sink as much enemy ships as possible. The game world is a huge ocean called atlantic where you are on patrol. You will receive orders from your high command called BdU, the BdU will try to lead you and other AI submarines to your prey. The enemy command will try to hack your communications and you never know if they currently can do that. Technology advances over time and sometimes your overall chances are better sometimes dramatically worse. As said your job is the skipper, you will have to do what the skipper did, you will have the tools and possibilities of the skipper. For extra realism you can take over tasks that were not the skippers task, but this is not important at all as it does not change the basic game play.

There is not much you could basically change in this kind of "game play" except adding more realism to the AI, the enemies and your own AI high command and to the ships, aircraft and weapons. As usual with this kind of simulation you need some sort of time compression. Everything else is cosmetics.

The sim will have some dynamics based on the impact of the players action, currently I favor a pool of ships based on historical production rate of the different ship types for each side - sink one and it's gone, shot down an aircraft and it's gone till it's reproduced. Anyway the AI of the high commands uses a pool of ships, the usage (and offscreen battles) of it is calculated in the background at a fixed interval and this is the very basic stage of the simulation's AI and it's one of the parts that will ensure that no career is like the other.


There're some landmarks that I know the coördinates of that I wanna check out
just to see if they're there in order to gauge just how "accurate" this sim is.

I fear you won't see your grand mums house. But accuracy is given (world wide for coastline areas) by a combination of slightly reduced SRTM data and other data sets. My computer was kind of blocked the whole April 2011 while processing the areas and combining this data into my own format to suite the game's necessary requirements while keeping memory usage of the data blocks low for mobile devices. But I would not recommend to load the game via carrier :haha:

Enough, I'll have to continue working…

[Sung]

Funny VIC.
But you said that is the Midget Sub first?
So what?

A little tiny submarine. Slow and equiped with only two torpedoes.
As far can it be operate? 100 SM?
As i know the Seehund was only in the Channel.
Most get lost. Only a few was sinking a ship. So what is there about the gameplay?

I didn't understand why you taunt me?

[Sung]

Ich schreibe mal auf Deutsch Mark, weil ich mich vielleicht im Englischen nicht so ausdrücken kann das Du es verstehst.

Ich beziehe mich doch nur auf dein Seehund Game, weil ich denke das das andere Spiel noch sehr viel länger auf sich warten läßt.

Du gibst Dir unheimlich Mühe und steckst wahnsinnig viel Energie in Details. Das ist toll. Doch ist mir der Zweck im Moment noch unklar, weil Du ja im April das Seehund Game releasen möchtest. Hier frage ich mich was das für ein Spiel werden soll.

Den Seehund zu simulieren und zu spielen stelle ich mir jetzt nicht unbedingt super aufregend vor. Kleiner Fahrbereich, sehr langsam, geringe Einsatz tiefe, zwei mal Torpedos abfeuern die für ein größeres Schiff kaum ausreichen.

Also musst du doch irgendwie das Konzept so ausgearbeitet haben das der Spieler nicht vor Frust aufgibt?

Sorry wenn ich da vielleicht ein wenig Dumm in deinen Augen frage, aber Du möchtest doch mit dem Seehund Simulator die Entwicklung von WOTA finanzieren. Und der Seehund ist doch schon von sich aus sehr speziell wie willst Du da eine große Usergruppe ansprechen?

Gruß
Chris

Moderator (yeah! my first one): Please write in English only

[v-i-c-]

<Sorry for the weird language>

Der Seehund, hatte auch enorme Vorteile, WOBOs konnten ihm kaum was ausmachen, der wurde einfach nur zur Seite gedrückt. Die Reichweite des Seehund war insbesondere in der Version mit Satteltanks deutlich größer. Die Erfolgsrate wurde auch höher mit der Zeit. Die Mission vom 1.1.1945 ist eben sehr bekannt, da gingen die meisten ohne Feindeinwirkung durchs Wetter verloren und die wurden dummerweise massiv rausgeschickt an dem Tag. Das Teil war deutlich besser als sein Ruf.

Das Spiel ist eben nur eine kleine Simulation. Ein Anfang um schon mal etwas in die Hand zu geben, und das wird auch seit mehr als einem Jahr kommuniziert. Entwickelt wird aber doch an beiden Varianten von WOTA gleichzeitig, die Seehund-Fassung benötigt nur weniger als die volle Fassung und kann deswegen deutlich schneller fertiggestellt werden.

</Sorry for the weird language>

Quick translation:

The Seehund had some advantages, it was pretty resistant to depth charges, they often just moved the boat away. The boats with saddle tanks had a notable higher range. The rate of success raised over time. The sortie of 1/1/45 is well known, in this mission most of the Seehunds were lost due to bad weather without any enemy contact, unfortunately this was a massive raid. The Seehund was much better than its reputation.

The Seehund simulation is a smaller game just made to bring something into the hands of the players more quickly. But both version are under development at the same time but the Seehund sim needs less than the main title hence it can be finished much faster.

[Sung]

Danke für die Antwort.
Du hälst Dich trotzdem bedeckt um über das Spiel selbst was zu sagen. :D
Ich akzeptier das.

Gutes gelingen.

[iPadCary]

1] WAR SYSTEMS
What, precisely, are the defensive/offensive systems of a Seehund Type XXVIIb u-boot, hmm?

2] GRAPHICS
Will they use quasi-realtime radiosity with enlightened geometrics to approximate subsurface scattering
on seperable deferred shading while generating ambient occlusion, or not?

Vielen dank!

[v-i-c-]

1] WAR SYSTEMS
What, precisely, are the defensive/offensive systems of a Seehund Type XXVIIb u-boot, hmm?

Two torpedoes G7e (no TDC)
A fixed (but 360° turnable) SRC/15 Periscope (1.3x) or later SRC/16 Periscope (1.25x, tiltable -15°, +20°)
Hydrophone (4 crystal receivers in front direction, one on each side)
Max dive depth 30m (70m)
Time to dive (at no speed) 10 seconds
Vary late boats had a radio


2] GRAPHICS
Will they use quasi-realtime radiosity with enlightened geometrics to approximate subsurface scattering
on seperable deferred shading while generating ambient occlusion, or not?

Vielen dank!

I won't publicly discuss any technical details of what's going on under the hood of WOTA because that's irrelevant to the end user. I consider this as company confidential.

[v-i-c-]

something different: work on the soundtrack for WOTA has started :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTe6FAIKFIA

[Sung]

Wow VIC cool!
I know thats your profession! Very nice.

For me it is to modern, but everyone had another taste.

:up:

[Julhelm]

I like it. Electronic soundtracks are much more interesting than the standard hyper-serious Hollywood soundtrack.

[v-i-c-]

This was my profession. I switched to the movie business 11 years ago, and since some years I work almost full-time on WOTA, except when jobs come in that I just can't refuse. The movie business is rotten to the core.

Actually I'm not doing it on my own, the score is produced with a friend who was #1 in the german charts this year (can't list his name in credits due to the usual stupid performance rights organization problems (GEMA), I've canceled my contracts with GEMA so I am free now).

[v-i-c-]

WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic - Arcade Missions (Main Menu) <-- NAME CHANGED TO "WOTA: U96"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PYCpmEKu5U&hd=1

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/ArcadeMissionsMovie.png

"WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic - Arcade Missions" …Winter 2014 for iOS <-- NAME CHANGED TO "WOTA: U96"

This video just shows the start menu of the first title of the WOTA submarine simulation series: "WOTA: Wolves of the Atlantic - Arcade Missions". (Graphics quality of iPod touch 5 gen., iPhone 4S, iPad2)… Well, actually I think it also shows some nice mobile 3D Graphics and I really didn't thought I could even add this PostFX… but it works :-)

Does "Arcade Missions" mean "arcade mode"? No! <-- but people don't like the word arcade ;-) so I had to change it

It's a realistic U-Boat simulation for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. But instead of freely navigating during the missions of a campaign the games offers a fast arcade style campaign mode to go from battle to battle without the need to use a map and with no land at all in V1.0 - hence the name "Arcade Missions". Also it does not offer "super extra realism" like the later titles will do.
Some more details after Christmas…

Release date: this winter

Please note: The Seehund sub sim will be delayed because of this title - I've changed target of development to "Arcade Missions" already in october.

[v-i-c-]

The name of "WOTA: Arcade Missions" was changed to "WOTA: U 96".
I urgently had to create some screenshots for someone today. So I thought I could share them. Nothing special, a lot of work in progress and a lot of tiny errors in these pictures. You can also see the unfinished U 96 which has missing parts, simple textures and still the wrong seats on the wintergarten.

Slideshow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWT1vatDJUQ

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/Sturm_U_96.png

[Aktungbby]

^^^:Kaleun_Salivating: :Kaleun_Binocular: :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[v-i-c-]

http://wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/blup2.jpg

Unfinished U 96 passing by…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmWScfdpM08

[Sung]

Beautifull VIC!
I love it :up:

[v-i-c-]

Beautifull VIC!
I love it :up:

Thanks

…boom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBz1gCMb2qM

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/boom.png

[v-i-c-]

Fletcher Class Destroyer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7eZlxNElQ8

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/fletcher.png

[Sung]

*GREAT*
That looks awsome! :rock:

[v-i-c-]

This is how it looks running on iPhone 4S: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWXtZOmyp9o

[Sung]

Vic das sieht sowas von unglaublich realistisch aus. Einfach toll was Du ablieferst. Ich wünsche Dir allen Erfolg der möglich ist. Bin gespannt was da noch alles kommt.

Grüße
Sung

[Xaron]

I second that, this is AWESOME! Keep it up, buddy! This will be a success for sure! :)

[v-i-c-]

thanks guys :)

[v-i-c-]

Some new stuff in this work in progress video. Recorded via AirPlay. (was made as an auto running demo App for a 3rd party company)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBlQVNiEy2s

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/subsim_pictures/WOTA_Demo.png

[Sung]

The most beautifull submarine game ever seen. Really nice VIC

[v-i-c-]

The most beautifull submarine game ever seen. Really nice VIC

Thank you!

(But I guess it's not even close to that)

[v-i-c-]

WOTA AI Training: Flight School - Air Attack… (ALL models (except submarine) and all of the environment are NOT in game graphics!!!) The graphics are just for testing purposes of the AI it's much easier to do this in a clean project with simple test graphics.
(cannons only, no bombs in this test)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152364402624604
(can be watched without a fb-account)

http://www.hessburg.com/Screenshots/CheapEnvironment.png

[makman94]

hello v-i-c-,

i have seen all the videos that you have uploaded and i am always thinking the same thing...you are creating a FANTASTIC new u boat game there ! :salute:

i would dare to say some more things that i am thinking but i will prefer to keep them for ...later

ps: i think that the pc version is what really be the game but till then....my biggest congratulations :Kaleun_Salute:.
keep at it mate ...it is looking so so....so good !

[v-i-c-]

Thanks :)

You are right, the Desktop version will be the better game. But the mobile version will fund this desktop game.

[JotDora]

Hey,

if the mobile Version has the same potential as it seems in the Videos i would be glad to do a donation to additionally push the Desktop Version!

Sebastian

[v-i-c-]

I could need a clone…

[flag4]

...all that hard work deserves a few pennies in donations. I don't think it would be unreasonable to charge a cost. :up:

please, though - an android version?

[Xaron]

He stated there won't be an Android version anytime soon but there will be one for our game. ;)

Sorry vic for hijacking!

[urfisch]

hey vic. nice to see, u are still on it! very good work so far.

maybe you gonna be the hero of all the subsim fans here, by creating the ultimate sim. seems, your game could be the base of something great. you should involve the community for the desktop game as soon as it is possible.

hope to see this evolve...

:up:

[v-i-c-]

Thanks. :)

The new math behind the boat itself should be pretty accurate now, simulation of the ballast tanks & blowing system is based on the math of real world computer controlled ballast tanks. And the boat's behavior on the surface almost (90%) matches what's known about the real thing from german and british documents. (slightly different tactical diameters and times to turn at different velocities)

For the historical technology of the boat I have great help from the former (1950s) chief engineer of a Type VII and some others who are amazingly deep into this stuff.

My goal was to create a simulation based on the different ways used by ship designers to estimate vessels - and that works now by just feeding it with the correct data of the boat and estimations where no exact data is known.
I've started with the simulation of the diesel engine itself, shaft & propellers, the different drags, the rudder, a new buoyancy system, the ballast tanks, vents and compressed air installation and finally I'm busy with the pumps right now.

But all this stuff doesn't make the game itself complicated for the player if he doesn't want it - the only difference to the usual faked or over simplified approach is that a serious calculation of the physics behind the boat and its systems lets it act more like the real thing automatically. …and I can give the player control to some details if he wants that, like control of the ballast tanks and the flooding & drainage installation - if the player doesn't wants to touch that then that's no problem at all because the "crew" will do it for him anyway.

From the boat's simulation itself I'm at a point where I think that only tiny details could be improved in future desktop versions but I also think that most of that will be unfortunately out of my scope and I would really need to hire someone for this task who is a professional in hydrodynamics, someone who is doing real world ship calculations all day. (I doubt I will ever be able to afford such a person).
Anyway, developing this part of the simulation was boring and often extremely frustrating, can't count how often I felt like a prehistoric man who is trying to understand the drawings of a fusion reactor - but in fact I was someone from Utopia trying to understand the stuff of people 60-250 years ago… damned nerds.

[v-i-c-]

Test of the AI controlling the MG 34 mounted on the conning tower. Test set up! Graphics are worse than in game. Aircraft models and the impact explosions of the MG 34 ammunition for testing purposes only. Aim & hit test, no damage simulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujnOkUNRIs

http://green-hill.de/pictures/MG34_.png

[makman94]

Thanks. :)

The new math behind the boat itself should be pretty accurate now, simulation of the ballast tanks & blowing system is based on the math of real world computer controlled ballast tanks. And the boat's behavior on the surface almost (90%) matches what's known about the real thing from german and british documents. (slightly different tactical diameters and times to turn at different velocities)

For the historical technology of the boat I have great help from the former (1950s) chief engineer of a Type VII and some others who are amazingly deep into this stuff.

My goal was to create a simulation based on the different ways used by ship designers to estimate vessels - and that works now by just feeding it with the correct data of the boat and estimations where no exact data is known.
I've started with the simulation of the diesel engine itself, shaft & propellers, the different drags, the rudder, a new buoyancy system, the ballast tanks, vents and compressed air installation and finally I'm busy with the pumps right now.

But all this stuff doesn't make the game itself complicated for the player if he doesn't want it - the only difference to the usual faked or over simplified approach is that a serious calculation of the physics behind the boat and its systems lets it act more like the real thing automatically. …and I can give the player control to some details if he wants that, like control of the ballast tanks and the flooding & drainage installation - if the player doesn't wants to touch that then that's no problem at all because the "crew" will do it for him anyway.

From the boat's simulation itself I'm at a point where I think that only tiny details could be improved in future desktop versions but I also think that most of that will be unfortunately out of my scope and I would really need to hire someone for this task who is a professional in hydrodynamics, someone who is doing real world ship calculations all day. (I doubt I will ever be able to afford such a person).
Anyway, developing this part of the simulation was boring and often extremely frustrating, can't count how often I felt like a prehistoric man who is trying to understand the drawings of a fusion reactor - but in fact I was someone from Utopia trying to understand the stuff of people 60-250 years ago… damned nerds.

Test of the AI controlling the MG 34 mounted on the conning tower. Test set up! Graphics are worse than in game. Aircraft models and the impact explosions of the MG 34 ammunition for testing purposes only. Aim & hit test, no damage simulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujnOkUNRIs



Bravo BRAVO BRAVO V-I-C !!!!!!

i can't express myself better but i believe that you are creating the sim that i always had (-wanted) in my mind and hoping some day to show up !

all the best to your really worthy effort ! :yeah:

[v-i-c-]

This video shows the water surface refraction and real time global illumination in WOTA. It does not show any game play (but a weird rotating boat ;-) ). In the 2nd half the time of day is accelerated to show the effect of the global illumination: basically everything always automatically visually fits together - at any time of day or any weather. Unfortunately my touch solution isn't really smoothed yet which causes the camera movements sometimes to stutter, but the device can handle it at constant 60 frames per second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAL_24bfb4?vq=hd720

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/WOTA_Wolves_of_the_Atlantic_U_96.png

[Sung]

Outstanding VIC.
:up:

[makman94]

this water.....IS WATER ! bravo V-I-C :yeah:
Much better(and i mean it) water than many serious AAA companies have shown

have you prepared the look of water at heavy seas ? can you show us a video of the most heavy state of it?

[v-i-c-]

have you prepared the look of water at heavy seas ? can you show us a video of the most heavy state of it?

Basically it is still the same ocean as before.
Heavier sea states will have more foam. This is an older picture before I've improved the light. I currently haven't finished tweaking higher state settings, I'll post something on another day.

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/wota_wolves-of-the-atlantic-u-96-ocean-foam-ios-submarine.png

[makman94]

Basically it is still the same ocean as before.
Heavier sea states will have more foam. This is an older picture before I've improved the light. I currently haven't finished tweaking higher state settings, I'll post something on another day.



even this old pic is so beautifull V-I-C .
i guess that the engine you use is not allowing high waves ? am i getting it right ?
one way or the other, your work here is beyond my greatest expectations so i am really waiting each time your next video with a lot of impatience :up:

[v-i-c-]

i guess that the engine you use is not allowing high waves ? am i getting it right ?


No, you are wrong. :)
My water is a 100% custom solution and it would work in any engine if I would port WOTA. I can use any size of waves and the water (and ships) also takes curvature of earth into account (which works up to the highest available camera position in WOTA). I can add new features any time if the target hardware can handle them or completely switch to a new water shader. (still not sure how I will do it on desktop)

An engine basically does the job to help you organizing your things and it handles low level stuff for you, it handles the drawing for example.

The engine I am using is Unity - Pacific Fleet, Silent Depth, Crash Dive and Battlefleet 2, they all use Unity.

It offers a lot of features on top of the important core things but I don't use or need most of them.
You really must do the work on your own if you want to get decent results. A huge portion of the time for WOTA development is spent on writing shaders or things related to the environment.
The look of your game entirely depends on your shaders, you can get nice results with stock shaders but if you want to optimize your visual quality or need special things like water you better write your own shaders.

Or if you are in a rush you could buy something from the Unity asset store where other developers sell their solutions - I sometime buy water assets to take a closer look on them just for curiosity - this one for example seems to be the one used by Battlefleet 2 (I am 99% certain because I've got identical results when I've played with this asset) https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11384

Pacific Fleet, Silent Depth and possibly Crash Dive use their own water shaders.

At least I know it for Pacific Fleet because I've once helped them optimizing it.
For Silent Depth it is also obvious that they use their own custom shader.

I am not 100% certain for Crash Dive because most of crash dive's 3D models were bought on the asset store https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/2726 (I think Battlefleet 2 also uses this package)
But I never have seen a water shader that looks like the one in Crash Dive so I think it might be a custom one.

In WOTA almost all shaders are custom and work hand in hand, the whole thing is getting pretty complex now. I avoid using 3rd party assets (it usually ends in wasting time and more work than writing your own solution that will fit much better to your needs) or Unity's stock solutions. The performance even of so called "optimized for mobile" shaders is usually no acceptable and beside that they won't work with my environment anymore.
The only 3rd party solution I use is an asset that controls the background color of the sky (Silent Depth uses the same one), but even that isn't 100% the stock version anymore.

But partly you are right, sometimes the engine is not your friend but basically you can fix 99% of the issues.
Physx for example is a bad feature, you can't use it for serious things. It is made for games and not for simulations. I only use the very basic core of it (inertia) and let it handle matrix calculations for me.
Yesterday I had to write my own solution for some vary basic functions of the .NET framework because they were causing performance issues. :doh: - I can't understand why they add new features to Unity instead of fixing or creating their own override for serious issues first. Especially if something accidentally disappeared like it happened to a Cg function last year, they said next update will fix it… 12 months later :o

[makman94]

No, you are wrong. :)
My water is a 100% custom solution and it would work in any engine if I would port WOTA. I can use any size of waves and the water (and ships) also takes curvature of earth into account (which works up to the highest available camera position in WOTA). I can add new features any time if the target hardware can handle them or completely switch to a new water shader. (still not sure how I will do it on desktop)

.......
reading these lines gave me a big smile ! So, we can definetely expect big stormy seas if your time and will ... allows it?


i understand the main points of your post V-I-C and it was very enlighting as i had the faulty sense that game engine is the real power behind the scene.

also, each time you give one more info of your project...the curvature of earth...sounds like 'heaven' to me. what can i say V-I-C.....it is unbelievable that this is a one man show !
i am wondering ,if there was an imaginary company with five 'V-I-C's working on the same project, what would we expect to see ?

bravo, bravo V-I-C , all the best to your amazing effort :yeah:

[v-i-c-]

i understand the main points of your post V-I-C and it was very enlighting as i had the faulty sense that game engine is the real power behind the scene.

I guess you mixed that up with people who mod games or create slightly different games based on another game by doing extreme mods. That's comparable to the difference between freaks pimping a car or building a replica based on another car or a company designing a completely new car model from the scratch. (where you don't always reinvent the wheel and use some existing components)

To quote Unity Technologies:
Unity is a game development ecosystem: a powerful rendering engine fully integrated with a complete set of intuitive tools and rapid workflows to create interactive 3D and 2D content …but unfortunately it does not offer you any tools for really huge environments. Most of the tools are useful for level based games only where you can bake lights, use occlusion culling, static and dynamic batching etc. - I can use most of those tools of the engine for the boat's interior and for animations of characters only.

The scripting API is the most important "feature". But that does not offer any miracles. Creating a game is nothing else but a lot of very different steps of work, some are boring, some are extremely tricky or complicated, some are a wall of math, some are creative and fun - but at the end it is always work and 90% of it is writing code.

But Unity is powerful, beginners can do some amazing (but extremely limited) things without writing code, this way they attract new customers who try to make games with weird 3rd party tools like "PlayMaker". But you can't go that route for serious projects.


the curvature of earth...sounds like 'heaven' to me.

Actually adding this is just a few lines of code. The hardest part of it is to remember to add it to everything that will be affected by it.

[v-i-c-]

have you prepared the look of water at heavy seas ? can you show us a video of the most heavy state of it?

This is the new lighting and new clouds in a light rough sea.

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/rough.png

[makman94]

This is the new lighting and new clouds in a light rough sea.

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/rough.png

looks very good V-I-C ! :up:
can you upload a tiny video showing this ?


ps: a small thought ,although i can clearly understand that these are easily adjustments and ,of course, tastes: i would like a more close to deep blue sea rather than this greeny one

[v-i-c-]

Movie of a test for lightnings in overcast weather:

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/lightnings.png

EDIT:
Another version of the lightnings with more blue light due to the thunderbolts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8LAyou1eEU

I've deleted the other video



ps: a small thought ,although i can clearly understand that these are easily adjustments and ,of course, tastes: i would like a more close to deep blue sea rather than this greeny one

The water color depends a lot on the current overall light - and it is currently the greenish version. (you will see different colors in game)

Will upload a movie when I've finished the latest overhauling of the environment.

[makman94]

Movie of a test for lightnings in overcast weather:

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/lightnings.png

EDIT:
Another version of the lightnings with more blue light due to the thunderbolts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8LAyou1eEU



it really gives you the feeling ! very good V-I-C :up:



The water color depends a lot on the current overall light - and it is currently the greenish version. (you will see different colors in game)

Will upload a movie when I've finished the latest overhauling of the environment.

oh,even better then :up: can't wait for your next video :yep:

[v-i-c-]

not really the video that I wanted to show but I pressed on record so here it is ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3YkJUhZqdk

the readme file:

Another quick and dirty test. Terrible video compression. Added specular reflections of the thunderbolts to the water surface. Some kind of random environment setup. Please ignore the sub (direct light is too… well, direct), ignore the activated lens flare, ignore the video quality (turn at least HD to get a bit rid of the compression artifacts), I've accidentally touched the GUI several times - also ignore that (except at the end where I did it on purpose but for no reason ;-)) - and yes, I also think the reflections are a bit too bright Have I already mentioned the bad video quality?

[v-i-c-]

This is currently the strongest sea in the game with a wave height of 8 meters from deepest trough to highest crest.

Still some issues with the water that need a fix.
The PostFX might be too strong (this kind of PostFX might work with iPad Air 2 only - need to test performance per device)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUBKESOqfGs

[v-i-c-]

Another video of the most heavy sea in higher quality. Recorded from iPad screen and via AirPlay. Camera does a ride with the boat (kind of "mounted" to it).
Still working on the light… lighting of ships still need improvement when in heavy seas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28y_UB-9xEs?vq=hd720

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/heavy_sea_wota_wolves_of_the_atlantic_subsim.png

[v-i-c-]

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/interior_1.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk9t_xqHVoE&list=UU03RMMpKkHkZVROUHFTWYVA iPad screen recording

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/submerged_uboat.png

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/caustics_uboat.png

http://www.wolves-of-the-atlantic.com/Screenshots/godrays_uboat.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVwJhaTp9QI&list=UU03RMMpKkHkZVROUHFTWYVA&index=1

[makman94]

Bravo V-I-C !!!

amazing stuff you show here ! everything i see is superb ...the compass(!),the rudder(!) ,the glasses(!!!!),the 'watered' look on metals (!!)....the underwater scene....everything ! a big bravo to you!


ps: i am more than sure that you are creating the sub simulator that will hit the nail and will be the landmark for each simulator after it. i am convinced that here is the simulator that this community was begging for all these years !

all the best V-I-C !

[Sung]

Vic ich tauche seit 15 Jahren und war in fast jedem Ozean dieser Welt. Das ist mit Abstand das beste und schönste was ich bisher Digital gesehen habe. Das kommt der Wirklichkeit so nahe das es einem fast Angst macht was auf dem Smartphone möglich ist und Du das so umsetzt. Riesen Ding :up::rock:

[v-i-c-]

Vic ich tauche seit 15 Jahren und war in fast jedem Ozean dieser Welt. Das ist mit Abstand das beste und schönste was ich bisher Digital gesehen habe. Das kommt der Wirklichkeit so nahe das es einem fast Angst macht was auf dem Smartphone möglich ist und Du das so umsetzt. Riesen Ding :up::rock:

Dankeschöööööön :)

But the hull makes no shadows in the water - but that would be something to add for the desktop version.

[Méo]

Bravo V-I-C !!!

amazing stuff you show here ! everything i see is superb ...the compass(!),the rudder(!) ,the glasses(!!!!),the 'watered' look on metals (!!)....the underwater scene....everything ! a big bravo to you!

Seconded! :up:

[v-i-c-]

Happy Holidays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX3blXjE9es

[v-i-c-]

Happy holidays! And best wishes for 2021. WOTA development continues (yes, really) and the new website will finally be online in January.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_Ucuu-doao

[rohling]

Great News! Really looking forward to WOTA. Loving your attention to details.
All the best for the new year.