Introducing Kinesis, the engine behind Asylum
 

Hey AG'ers!

This is rather intimate video (no dirty stuff!) so it's going out without a press release. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0XXZ4ZuGTs

:drool:

Impressive. Thanks for the sharing intimate material :D
I like how you used the console to give us some insight on how node-based navigation works at the scripting level!

A question: will movement control be differential only? Or will there be the option to switch to direct movement?

Glad you liked it!

There are many visual effects missing actually; believe me when I tell you that the actual game will look even more immersive :D

By "direct" you mean having the cursor fixed on the center of the screen? Kind of like in Scratches DC? If so, I guess there will be. There are many different opinions on what control system is the best, so I think that allowing to choose is fine :)

Badass.

i'm with cochrane.....the scripting command line thing was really impressive...i like the idea that the game can be so easily previewed and tested like this.and by coincidence i was just reading an article on game engines and the industry's opinion on them.one of the major things that programmers/artists want to see is quick prototyping previewing and testing.


also i was wondering is reading a script to create the whole scene that quick?i just finished a course on game development and i don't know that much yet.in our project loading a small level for bomberman(that was the game we had to make) we had to call the level loader inside an intro video to make int seem like it was instant.i obviously can't say that it's the same quality of design and coding so that it's weird but can you give me a little enlightenment?

Yes, the console is indeed very helpful for debugging and testing. Even fine-tune aspects of the game since everything is executed in runtime. Let's thank Lua for that! Besides, I always wanted to have an engine with a Quake-like console :D

The script itself is processed very quickly. I will be discussing more about the internals of Kinesis soon, but it's all basically a network of C pointers. So the "creation" process of the gameworld is truly instant.

Another aspect that helps a lot is the fast loading of nodes. This was a key area that I wanted to improve. In comparison, Scratches took 2-3 seconds to load nodes... very slow. Kinesis loads them (most of the time) in 300 MILLISECONDS. And never in more than one second. On top of that, we're using some very high textures for Asylum: 2048x2048 pixels, enough to warrant true HD.

The trick is that we pre-compress everything in a format suited for the engine. It does help that everything is done behind scenes in plain C with minimal dependencies and very optimized OpenGL code. Again, Lua is amazing as well; incredibly fast, small and simple implementation!

That's an excellent approach I think. I'm always puzzled by how few options adventure game developers let gamers fiddle with.

Three, two, one.. rant mode!

[rant]
What's with the recent fashion of separate "config.exe" configuration utilities? Why not include all the options in an in-game "Options" menu, like the good old times?

Also, I've been a bit bothered recently by the absence of AntiAliasing options in third-person AGs. I know Nvidia drivers allow you to "Exclude any application setting", but forcing AA often causes the appearance of artifacts. I recently observed this both in Gray Matter and Lost Horizon. The latter has no AA option in the in-game menu, and forcing AA even up to 16x through the Nvidia CP will still leave jaggies, especially on smaller, further away models.
I always find it somewhat disconscerting to have to play Lost Horizon with aliased models when on the same computer I comfortably play CoD: Black Ops with no aliasing visible!
[/rant]

Since Asylum features marvellous prerendered ambients, I imagine aliasing won't be an issue, so I guess this post was slightly off topic. but I had to vent. Thanks for the opportunity :P

Well, I think there should be a compromise between the designer's view and what users desire. And it's a very fine line. For instance, there's a subtle film grain effect in Asylum that can't be fully appreciated in that video. I really want to keep that feature because it makes the game feel like an old movie. So far most people enjoyed the effect but others would like to disable it.

To me, the game just won't feel the same without the film grain. However, a different approach to controls wouldn't change the experience that much, so that's fine by me. In any case, I definitely agree about including all options in-game! :)

That looks incredibly impressive, the lighting and attention to detail are simply phenomenal. So excited!
There will be a retail release as well as via digital distribution, is that correct?

I'm thrilled that you liked this!

Yes, the plan is to have a retail release. We already have some publishing offers, so it's a given that Asylum will be available in the streets one way or another!

Should I be worried about the fact that I absolutely love scary, deserted, worn down places like this Asylum?
:crazy:

Thx a lot from the info Agustin....being a newbie i need to study a little more to take this all in but i hope next time you talk about Kinesis you'll elaborate a little on that "network of C pointers" and nodes thing.
Also 300 ms?that's like 10 times faster than Scratches.awesome optimization.and for textures that high in resolution to be that quick that's even more impressive.Keep up the good work.

finally i too like the film grain effect.it has a certain appeal to it,just like the old movies.

Beautiful! I love the atmosphere, and this is just a tech demo. :D