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Dreams Game Informer Coverage This Month

julio_grr

Member
Thanks.
I hate when they do not put the video on youtube. Their accent may be very cute, but it's quite hard for me to understand without the subtitles. And generally youtube does a great automatic job...
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital

Quoted for the new page.

Yeah, I'll post the Youtube version up as soon as I can:

ed68AW1.gif
 

julio_grr

Member
What kind of sorcery is this?
If they deliver... This might be the most impressive "thing" released on ps4 so far.
How can they have such a beautiful lighting with all the particles and local lights and such, inside a creator tool? Will there be some kind of baking before you can play the experience you just created? Or is this some kinda magic?
 

julio_grr

Member
It's all real time. No baking necessary.
It's not really what I meant. Will you have the exact same look when creating and when playing the experience? Many things used to render such lighting and radiosity in real time need time to be computed (such as bounding volume hierarchies, voxel partitions, etc...). It's why you don't have the same look inside Maya when designing, and when playing the experience in Unity/Unreal. (I know the gap is closing but I never had the opportunity to have my hands on it to really see how fluid it can be. And we are speaking here of thousands of dollars computers running it)
Doing it in real time in ps4 is mind blowing.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
It's not really what I meant. Will you have the exact same look when creating and when playing the experience? Many things used to render such lighting and radiosity in real time need time to be computed (such as bounding volume hierarchies, voxel partitions, etc...). It's why you don't have the same look inside Maya when designing, and when playing the experience in Unity/Unreal. (I know the gap is closing but I never had the opportunity to have my hands on it to really see how fluid it can be. And we are speaking here of thousands of dollars computers running it)
Doing it in real time in ps4 is mind blowing.

Yes. When I said 'real time' that's what I meant. Everything you create shows exactly what it's going to look like in game because basically they're the same thing. You do have 'studio lighting' which gives you neutral lighting when creating. That would be used for things like creating a level at night when you've already set the lighting up for night.
 
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Dunki

Member
This is really how I imagine game development. This is an insane tool they are developing here.
 
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julio_grr

Member
Yes. When I said 'real time' that's what I meant. Everything you create shows exactly what it's going to look like in game because basically they're the same thing. You do have 'studio lighting' which gives you neutral lighting when creating. That would be used for things like creating a level at night when you've already set the lighting up for night.
If it works as expected, then I can make a day/night cycle with the right script behind it, and everything in my level would just naturally blend from sunlight to neon light.
Then I wonder why other studios spend month working on optimizing their ambient pre-baked textures for day-night cycles and weather :)
 

julio_grr

Member
Showing the optimisation tool in action
I am not sure I fully understand what this optimize thing is supposed to do. What is a "thermomiter" ?
If this is supposed to reduce the number of "facets" or "things" sent to the graphic card, to optimize the performances (*), then I do believe this should be automatic and not left into the hands of users who won't understand anything to what they are doing.

(*) I am purposely vague here. I am a developer of such tools for power users, this is actually my expertise domain. From experience I know users generally want automatic tools. If they do not understand the internal of such tools (and the vast majority does not), they end up doing shit.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
If it works as expected, then I can make a day/night cycle with the right script behind it, and everything in my level would just naturally blend from sunlight to neon light.
Then I wonder why other studios spend month working on optimizing their ambient pre-baked textures for day-night cycles and weather :)

Yes, a day and night cycle is very easy to do. You can either use the lighting tool and update the input to darken or lighten the area, or you can physically animate the arc of the sun and the moon.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
I am not sure I fully understand what this optimize thing is supposed to do. What is a "thermomiter" ?
If this is supposed to reduce the number of "facets" or "things" sent to the graphic card, to optimize the performances (*), then I do believe this should be automatic and not left into the hands of users who won't understand anything to what they are doing.

(*) I am purposely vague here. I am a developer of such tools for power users, this is actually my expertise domain. From experience I know users generally want automatic tools. If they do not understand the internal of such tools (and the vast majority does not), they end up doing shit.

The thermo decides (and limits) what content you can place in an area before it starts crashing your PS4 or reducing the framerate too much.

The optimisation tool reduces the sharpness of an object, making it a little more 'fluffy' but with clever use (such as floors, walls, scenery) you won't really notice much. If you watch that short vid, you'll notice how you can see it more clearly on the stairs. In this case, to keep the thermo low, you'd build the room wall by wall, use the tool on those but sharpen the detail on the stairs for close up detail.
 
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julio_grr

Member
The thermo decides (and limits) what content you can place in an area before it starts crashing your PS4 or reducing the framerate too much.
Then if it can decide and limit, it should be able to automatically apply it to prevent the ps4 to crash.
Anyway, this Peter Field user seems to be much more aware and competent than the vast majority of the gamers who will put their hands on "Dreams". Using the tool badly will result in noise, glitter (we can already see some in Peter's blocks), and generally, ugliness...
But I am eagerer and eagerer to try it :)
 

Thedtrain

Member
Maybe I’ve missed it, but would we be able to make a game set in space? Rebuilding something like star flight would make me buy this instantly
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
That would be a terrible idea. Even if you didn't get a story mode, Dreams is worth far more than $60 or £55. You're even advocating for DLC ... Anything that is added will be free, as will everything you download from the community. Maybe at a later date, if Healey gets his way, we'll be able to sell our creations on PSN.

The DLC was to upgrade. Value is relative and the more players and contributors the better.
 

julio_grr

Member
They should make some of the created (best) games playable by any ps4 owner, not only Dreams owner. Don't you think ?
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
What do you mean wirelessly?

No external wires required. You can set up logic on one chip and wirelessly pass the value to another chip or tool without using wires to connect the two. This means that everything can be self contained (modular), making it easy for someone to share their logic. It also means we can set the same mechanics up and then change how it works by switching which logic it receives wirelessly. Think of the animation possibilities too!

For instance, let's say you have 10 lifts in your level. Normally that would require 10 copies of the same logic. However, with remote you can use 1 logic chip to control ALL 10 lifts, cutting the thermo down significantly. All you'd need is an AND gate and a player sensor. If player is here (sensor) and logic is activated (always on), access the logic/values remotely and make lift work. You're still going to need a little logic on each lift but very simple and no where near as complex as the remote logic.
 

julio_grr

Member
No external wires required. You can set up logic on one chip and wirelessly pass the value to another chip or tool without using wires to connect the two. This means that everything can be self contained (modular), making it easy for someone to share their logic. It also means we can set the same mechanics up and then change how it works by switching which logic it receives wirelessly.
From a developer point of view, this "wirelessly" thingy does not make much sense. The "wire" is just a way to visualize the logical link that does exist behind the scene, be it "wirelessly" or visualized with a line on the screen. They are making something powerful understandable by non programmers - and as a programmer I have to rewire my own brain to understand what they are doing :)
cutting the thermo down
Again this thermo thing. So it relates to the complexity of the level, right? Is there a documentation somewhere? But they are mixing geometric complexity with logical complexity and I am not sure the two sleep well together.

On a side note, I may repeat myself but I do think they should release a light version of Dreams for non creators. A cheaper version where you can play the others creations but do not have access to the tools.
For example, what if I made a great game and want to share it with my friends, but they do not have the full version of Dreams ? (They are not creators, they are not interested in it) ?
There clearly are two different markets here, one for gamers, one for creators.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
From a developer point of view, this "wirelessly" thingy does not make much sense. The "wire" is just a way to visualize the logical link that does exist behind the scene, be it "wirelessly" or visualized with a line on the screen. They are making something powerful understandable by non programmers - and as a programmer I have to rewire my own brain to understand what they are doing :)

Again this thermo thing. So it relates to the complexity of the level, right? Is there a documentation somewhere? But they are mixing geometric complexity with logical complexity and I am not sure the two sleep well together.

On a side note, I may repeat myself but I do think they should release a light version of Dreams for non creators. A cheaper version where you can play the others creations but do not have access to the tools.
For example, what if I made a great game and want to share it with my friends, but they do not have the full version of Dreams ? (They are not creators, they are not interested in it) ?
There clearly are two different markets here, one for gamers, one for creators.

Yeah, the thermo is more to do with complexity in Dreams. You had a set space to create with in LBP so the thermo was used there to make sure you didn't overfill that space, so to speak. If you put too much logic in one area, it would cause framerate problems, which is another reason wireless is handy in Dreams.

They need to sell Dreams as a package and so they won't put out a lite version. It will surely drop in price after a year or two and then people can buy it for a reduced price, with the added bonus of finding millions of creations online.

On a different topic, some info in storing data:



 
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GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Yeah and they need to work on their UI. This word can't be read.

I don't really see how it could be improved. This is a still shot taken in order to show the name of the chip. The only reason it appears difficult to read is because it's static. When it's moving, the spaces allow for a much clearer view.
 

julio_grr

Member
You are not helping there :p . I'd be curious to know the words since I won't search among the tons of videos they provided.
Plus, I still say that having useful UI buttons dancing on top of one another is dangerous design at best (error prone for the user).
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
You are not helping there :p . I'd be curious to know the words since I won't search among the tons of videos they provided.
Plus, I still say that having useful UI buttons dancing on top of one another is dangerous design at best (error prone for the user).

Oh, you want to know what the 'words' ARE. LOL. Sorry, I misinterpreted. I don't know! Does that help? I think they're just what the dev named the chip because of it's function in the game.
 
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GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
No...

There are tool-tips here that can't be read. They are supposed to be useful UI text, right?
After "R2 make wire"
You have "L1 R2 XXXX wire"
What is it? I read a mix of cheke and move.

Ok ... you ARE saying what I thought you were saying. It's a still. You can read it clearly when he's moving it. It says 'clone wire'.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital

I was trying to work out why there is a 'make wire' and 'clone wire' and I think it's got something to do with the fact you can have some wires that can carry more than one piece of information. Those are shown (not certain though) as interwoven coloured cables.
 
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