You still have a chance to survive in The Riftbreaker when your HQ explodes, but you will have a lot of cleaning up to do.
Now that you know how we prepare particle effects in our games, let’s move on to some practical applications of those. Single explosions, bullets, blood splats or wood splinters flying around look fun, but our possibilities do not end there. We very often combine multiple effects into sequences. Thanks to this technique it is possible to achieve massive, spectacular cascades of fire, sparks, and debris that look as if they were taken from a Hollywood action film. It’s quite an interesting process, which requires some creativity and destructive imagination, so let’s take a look!
Multiple buildings changing their state at once is often a sight to behold.
Most objects that you see in EXOR Studios’ games can be either damaged or completely destroyed during regular gameplay. Some of those objects are small and relatively insignificant - a tree, for example. It can either stand perfectly healthy or be destroyed. Entities with the health point system are a little different. Apart from the “100% OK” state (max health) and the “dead” state (0 health) we also have a ‘damaged” state - anywhere between 1% and 99% health (approximately, of course ;)). The bigger an entity is, the more HP it is likely to have - and if it has a lot of HP, we might give it destruction levels.
Friendly fire is not a thing in The Riftbreaker, but we used it to show you different destruction levels for the Armory in a controlled environment.
Destruction levels are damage thresholds that we use to trigger certain effects. For example, the Headquarters in The Riftbreaker look different when they are at 100%, 75% or 10% health, with more smoke and fire breaking out as the building becomes damaged. This system is not exclusive to buildings and applies to creatures as well - they get wounded and bloody as the damage increases. The purpose of the destruction level system is to give players feedback. We want you to know that your attacks are hurting the creature you’re hunting. We want you to know that the creatures hunting you can hurt you too.
The core blowing up in X-Morph: Defense is not a positive thing, but the visuals at least make up for the game loss.
There are usually several destruction levels for a destructible entity. When the health drops below a threshold specified by one of the destruction levels, a group of effects is triggered. Physical parts are spawned, each with individual properties, such as weight, dimensions, buoyancy, friction upon hitting the ground - you name it. The parts are given the texture of the object they were spawned from in order to maintain consistency. What is also important - the parts do not just appear out of nowhere - they are pushed out by a force at the center of the object that randomly changes the direction and power (maintaining a vector aiming away from the object). This way you can’t predict what the debris will do once it starts flying.
A particle effect can be attached to any of the yellow spheres.
When the destruction level is reached, the material on the object changes as well. Cracks, impact holes and other damage starts to show. To reach the level of visual polish we aim for it’s necessary to add particle effects. They are attached to specific points on the model and we try to set them up as realistically as possible. If there is a structural vulnerability, a pipe, or some exposed wires - we set it on fire. Each model requires manual setup when it comes to attaching effects.
We started playing around with explosion sequences in X-Morph: Defense.
An important aspect of this feature is that we can control when a particle effect starts its ‘playback’. This allows us to prepare sequences of explosions. For example, when the Headquarters in The Riftbreaker reaches 0 HP, a sequence of multiple explosions will start. They happen all over the place, varying in intensity, culminating in the complete destruction of the building in a big bang.
We hope you enjoyed our little articles. If you did, join us on Discord: www.discord.gg/exorstudios
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BOOM! - How explosions are made
Kaboom.
When a Steam user left a review on the X-Morph: Defense Store Page saying that the game looked as if it was directed by Michael Bay, it dawned on us - there are lots of explosions in our games. We never gave that much thought, to be honest, but taking a look back it has always been true for all our projects. We love blowing things up and we think we’re quite good at it, so we would like to tell you what goes into creating realistic-looking explosions (and other effects) for EXOR Studios games, including The Riftbreaker.
A sample scene from Zombie Driver HD. There are lots of particles in this one - blood, sparks, explosions… The game wouldn’t be the same without these effects.
The explosions you see in our games are realized through the extensive use of the particle effects system. The particles are prepared by our artist in a specialized tool and then imported into the game. They consist of quadrilaterals (two-dimensional shapes, often referred to as ‘quads’) with a texture and set transparency. The artist can give each of the quads different properties, changing their overall appearance and how they behave in relation to other quads within the same effect, but it is the texture that is the base of it all. In much simpler terms - we set flat images in motion, make them see-through and add some eye candy.
A view from the editor we use - Particle Universe. The tree goes on and on, and each node is a different variable!
You need to have a general idea of what you want to achieve and pick the right textures for the job. There are many types you can choose from. They vary between each other in how they interact with other textures in terms of light and transparency. We mainly use emissives (textures that appear as if they were light sources and can be blended with textures that are underneath them) and refracts (special textures that distort the surrounding area, like in the case of hot air, or a shockwave). When we are not working on explosions, we also make use of alpha blend textures. They do not fake being light sources, but simply mix with other textures in their vicinity. The whole process of creating a particle effect begins with choosing the right texture for the context.
By choosing correct textures you can get a whole range of effects.
Every effect consists of sub effects. They are lower-level structures that allow you to group quads together and apply some properties to them - more on those properties later, but in general - you can individually move the sub effects and make them behave in a certain way. Of course, it is extremely important to position the sub effects right. You don’t want a large cloud of black smoke to cover up all the fire, sparks and debris from the remaining ones. In general, you need to start creating an effect with a clear end goal in mind. Reference videos and images are very useful at this point.
The effects look different in editor and in game, so it’s necessary to test everything live. By the way - this explosion consists of 1042 quads!
Another important piece of the puzzle is the emitter. Every sub effect contains one. It can be seen as the ‘starting point’ of the particle. It controls the spatial properties of the effect. The quads are spawned from the emitter, and the artist specifies all their properties. The particles can be rendered at any given angle, or they can be set to always face the camera. They can be moved in any direction and at any speed, giving the creator complete control over the end result. That’s already a lot of steps, and we’re not done yet.
Boss dying in X-Morph: Defense - let the images speak for themselves.
What you can add on top of the quads rendered by the emitter are the so-called affectors. An affector is a function that can change the quad you’ve already rendered, for example by changing its transparency or color over time. Take a cloud of smoke as an example. The affector will change it in a couple of ways over its lifetime. First, it will be quite small and opaque, growing larger over time and becoming more transparent, just like smoke in real life. Thanks to the affectors we can control when and how quickly it happens and which direction should the quad move.
The Riftbreaker will feature lots of particles, and since we are always learning new things, you can expect them to be even more flashy!
Combining all these things together is a difficult, but incredibly exciting task. It takes years of practice and hours of watching real-life examples of the effects you want to simulate to reach proficiency. We’re pretty sure our particle artist is on several watchlists by now, because of all the videos of explosions, fires and controlled demolitions he has googled over time. Still - worth it!
Next time we will tell you about sequences of explosions - something even more spectacular :) Stay tuned and join the Discord! www.discord.gg/exorstudios
Our social media:
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Bonus Stream - MarZ: Tactical Base Defense
Do you like games about space? What about zombies? How about tower defense games? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, there is a good chance you will enjoy the game we want to show you today!
The game has been developed by doorfortyfour, a two-person Austrian indie studio, whom we had the pleasure of meeting at this year’s Gamescom. They immediately caught our attention with MarZ, as it combines all the game elements that we enjoy. We think that you will like it as well, that’s why we are going to stream it today!
MarZ: Tactical Base Defense is an action-packed tower defense game, taking place in the near future. You are sent to Mars on a mission to prepare the planet for human colonization. Upon arrival, you discover that you are not the first visitor on the red planet, as hordes of undead astronauts attack you and your crew.
In order to survive and uncover the cause of the Martian zombie apocalypse, you will have to gather resources, research new technologies and build solid defenses. The game will test your skills over the course of the 20-mission-long story campaign. You can also challenge yourself even more in the Skirmish mode, where you can set the mission parameters to your liking.
We would like to invite you at 3PM CEST to our Twitch channel, www.twitch.tv/exorstudios - we are going to play through a couple of missions together and try out everything the game has to offer. MarZ: Tactical Base Defense offers Twitch stream integration, too, so you will be able to directly affect the course of the game!
You can check the game out here (they also have a free demo, so give it a shot!):
The biggest gaming holiday in Europe (perhaps in the world) has arrived! It is time for Gamescom 2019. We are present there as well. You can find us in hall 10.1, booth A031. We recommend using the official Gamescom app to make the navigation a little easier.
During this year’s event, we are showcasing our latest project - The Riftbreaker. Visit our booth and play our custom-made event demo - a special, standalone mission designed to take you through the basics of gameplay. There is a little bit of everything there - base-building, fighting, exploration, and if you prefer to just admire the views - that is possible, too.
When you’re at our booth, you can also get some sweet EXOR Studios swag. We have loads of goodies to give away, including pins, energy drinks, pens, and X-Morph: Defense game codes. The only thing you need to do is to come over and spin the wheel of fortune. Don’t worry - we won’t run out ;)
Lastly, you can take a picture with a giant, 2.5m sculpture of Mr. Riggs! Come and see it for yourself!
Hall 10.1, booth A031. We’re going to be there during the whole show. Come and say hi, especially if you’re a member of our Discord server. If you aren’t, join now! www.discord.gg/exorstudios We’re going to be chatting there during the event and sharing some sweet, behind-the-scenes footage. We will also be giving closed beta access to early builds of The Riftbreaker through our Discord.
Lastly, we are also going to be streaming The Riftbreaker development builds right here on our Steam page. Look out for further announcements :)
See you there!
Other social media:
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www.mixer.com/exor_studios
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The Schmetterling Engine AMA on Reddit is live now!
Hello everyone!
We are holding an AMA on the r/Games subreddit right now. The general topic of the thread is going to be our game engine, The Schmetterling. We have been working on it continuously since the days of Zombie Driver and we think it is a pretty interesting topic in the days of big-name, free-to-use game engines.
The AMA is available under this URL:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/cps839/hello_we_are_exor_studios_we_have_been_making/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
Since this is an AMA - ‘Ask Me Anything’ - you can ask us about anything you like. The questions do not have to be related to The Schmetterling Engine. You can ask about any aspect of indie dev life, our games, plans for the future and other things that might interest you. All questions are welcome!
If you can’t make it this time, join our Discord server. It’s an almost 24/7 AMA ;)
Find us at www.discord.gg/exorstudios!
The Riftbreaker - Survival mode interactive stream
Hello everyone!
We are very excited to announce that we are going to start streaming in-development builds of The Riftbreaker regularly, starting next week! The first stream is going to take place on Thursday, August 8 at 3 PM CEST at www.mixer.com/exorstudios!
We have finally reached the point in development where we can finally let you see some real, live footage from the game. What we are going to show you is the basis for what we call ‘survival mode’. Our task is going to be building up a base and surviving a set amount of time while fending off waves of monsters trying to get rid of us. You’re going to see some of the new features in action and, best of all, you can take part in the stream!
That’s right! On Thursday we’re going to show off our interactive streaming features for the first time. You will get the chance to help Piotr by giving him resources or canceling attack waves, or to make his life a nightmare! Tornadoes, acid rain, doubling the strength of the attack wave - that is all within your power through the use of our features and the interactive MixPlay interface.
If you have never seen The Riftbreaker in action we have a couple of videos for you to catch up on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDuBjKhDhho - the highlights from the event demo we present at various trade shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZH0GhDAdNQ - the VOD of the first Riftbreaker livestream ever.
The streams are going to show off all the new features we introduce into the game on a regular basis. It’s also a chance for you to ask questions and give us direct feedback. We love interacting with the viewers, so all questions and suggestions are welcome!
Mark your calendars. It is going to be awesome.
If you'd like to interact with us on a regular basis and take part in future beta testing of The Riftbreaker later down the road, then we invite you to join our discord server:
www.discord.gg/exorstudios
EXOR Studios
Help us shape our next game - The Riftbreaker!
We said many times that we want the development of The Riftbreaker to be community-driven. We want to make choices together with you, let you shape the game and make this project something unique and engaging. Today, we ask for your help with making one of the choices.
Ashley Nowak is the main character of The Riftbreaker. Although we don't see her in-game outside her Mecha-Suit, she still is the most important character and will appear on most of the artwork we make. We decided to have a little bit of fun and design a couple of clothing styles for her to wear as a default. Each of those tells a little story of its own. Your votes will determine which story you'd like us to describe in greater detail, revealing more about Ashley's past.
A - an infiltration suit, designed to make moving as effortless as possible. She used this one while doing recon on illegal mining operations during her years in the Academy. B - a casual outfit, a little adventurous, inspired by pilots and thrillseekers of the 80s cinema. The jacket used to belong to her grandmother and reminds her of home. C - a scientist suit, a callback to Ashley's scientific training and background. This outfit survived its fair share of accidents and explosions, yet still holds together. D - light recon armor, providing protection and life support on dangerous missions but without overburdening the user. E - full heavy assault armor, for the times when Mr. Riggs' protection was not enough. Every Riftbreaker cadet has to complete a 10 mile run in one of these.
If you would like to take part in the voting, join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios. You will find the vote in the #vote channel of The Riftbreaker section once you've joined. Everyone who participates will get the chance to win a bag of EXOR Studios goodies. We ship worldwide, so everyone can join.
If you take part in the vote you get the chance to win an EXOR Studios swag bag including A SIGNED COPY OF X-MORPH: DEFENSE COLLECTOR'S EDITION for the PS4, and other cool gadgets! We ship worldwide, so everybody can join. The voting starts today, July 10th, and ends in exactly one week.
We will pick the winner among all the participants. If the option of your choice does not win the vote, you can still get lucky and win the prize.
Zombie Driver Immortal Edition is coming to the Nintendo Switch on July 25th!
We're proud to announce that our all-time classic - Zombie Driver Immortal Edition is coming to the Nintendo Switch on July 25th!
https://youtu.be/YLqfRemwcpw
It's been almost 10 years since the game's original release on the PC and the game has seen a lot of changes through the years. This latest edition has been ported to the Schmetterling engine which some of you might know from X-Morph: Defense. The new renderer is about 10x faster than the old one that we had in Zombie Driver (we've learned some things over these years). Thanks to this improvement the Nintendo Switch version of the game has the same gameplay features as the PC or Xbox One versions with even slightly improved graphics and runs really smooth even during very intense action.
All previously released DLC extensions have been incorporated into the Immortal Edition. The Apocalypse Pack, Tropical Race Rage, Burning Garden of Slaughter, and Brutal Car Skins have been included in the game as rewards for completing gameplay objectives.
If you'd like to ask us any questions in regards to the game you can always find us on our Discord:
www.discord.gg/exorstudios
Other social media:
www.facebook.com/exorstudios
www.twitter.com/exorstudios
www.mixer.com/exor_studios
www.twitch.tv/exorstudios
The Riftbreaker - The First Stream Ever!
The time has come!
After months of preparation, we are finally ready to unveil a longer look at the gameplay of The Riftbreaker! Join us on our stream, where we are going to play through a short, pre-alpha demo version of the game, that presents the core gameplay loop and base mechanics. It's a great opportunity to chat with us about the game, ask questions and see what the game looks like in real time.
Do not worry if you can't be there from start to finish. The demo is not too long, so there will be a couple of playthroughs for sure. We highly encourage you to join and share your thoughts and feedback. At this point, nothing is set in stone so we would love to hear what you want to see in the final version of the game.
You can find the stream either here on The Riftbreaker Steam Store Page, on Mixer or on Twitch. Pick your favorite platform, make yourself comfortable and let's jump through the Rift together!
If you've never had the chance to visit our livestream you can do so today! We are live right now on www.mixer.com/exor_studios and playing through X-Morph: Defense!
It's a great way to hang out with your fellow gamers and chat with EXOR Studios developers. Everyone is welcome and all questions are answered!
