Lights…Cameras…Mechs!
I’ve been working on fixing a ton of lightmap-related bugs for the night time battles in Gratuitous Tank Battles. At one point, it suddenly occured to me that something that wasn’t glowing in the dark, and should be was the internal cockpits of some of the larger mechs.
Tada! (decided to test it in green)
This effect took way more effort than you would have thought, and possibly slows things a tad, I will do some more optimising nearer release. I think it looks quite cool though. And yes, the player can customise the brightness / color of the cockpit just like any other layer in the mechs. Support for lightmap attachments to a layer should also mean that modders will be in paradise, as you could have all sorts of Tron style glowy effects on units if you really wanted it 
It really looks great!!
“And yes, the player can customise the brightness / color of the cockpit just like any other layer in the mechs.”
It had been a quiet night. Pitch black. But then the horizon filled with that angry hot-pink glow, and the defenders knew they would never see another sunrise.
nice attention to detail as always.
Looks good! In fact I’d suggest that one of the problems with the normal day time gfx is their lack of lighting. Have you tried adding that in a more subtle way (compared to the night time ones) and seeing if that makes things look better?
Looks cool.
But sorry, from a purely logical standpoint it doesn’t make sense.
If the cockpits are lit that way, those in them won’t see anything out in the dark. If everything is on screens and instruments anyway, then why have windows to begin with?
Furthermore, lighting them up like a christmas tree, makes them as just as easy to spot and normally camouflage is one of the prime concerns in a war. You can’t shoot what you can’t see.
Well, not that you have to adhere to realism, really.
Tokage makes a fair point about this not really making sense logically. On the other hand, it looks seriously badass. My personal opinion, for the little that it is worth, would be to go with the Rule of Cool (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) here.
Gratuitous lighting for the win
For those that don’t believe that it’s realistic to have glowing cockpits, the enemy will be able to see them anyway with night sights. Also, when the mechs fire their weapons, they will be lit up in any case.
And I think a mech is too big to cloak using an infra-red cloaking device:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14788009
Hello,
I love the way you’re mechs are looking! I am really not into sci-fi but i always loved mechs ! tanks are still badass as hell
Could you quickly describe the lighting technique you used? thanks!
Keep up the good work!
OHH MYY GAWD!!!
Infinitely approved by a mech fan! Px
Where are the long shadows behind objects from all those lights?