Full sized planets for Unity3D -- interesting?

Well... as real life goes, not everything is like we would like or expect. When I started this Unity3D extension, I was jobless, so I could spend almost full time to this project. And it progressed really quickly and smooth, without too many surprises, but then I got a new job (not in games programming, but in IT programming) and now I can't spend too much time on that anymore. I was really needing a job... interesting enough, no companies were interested in hiring me to program games. =)

I want this extension running under Unity3D as much as you, and the project is still going, but unfortunately I can't promise a precise date for releasing. What I can tell at this point is, it is being done, as I'm spending my weekends on it.

Best regards to all and very very thank you for all your nice comments,

[]s
imerso.

 

Am really looking forwards to seeing this come to unity! I saw the video of planet and wow it would be sweet to see it in unity!

I would like to bring my game project into unity for this game project

 

imerso,
Thanks for letting us know where you are at with this project. I guess we just have to hope that you will find the time to get it into Unity3d for all us potential Planetary Travellers to use. :-|

 

imerso I really understand as I myself have been in that situation before. That said, this is really disappointing for me though since I have seen a lot of promising projects suddenly stop so while I am still hopeful you will get it done I feel a little sad. If increasing the price for your release is any kind of incentive I think a lot of us would be willing to pay extra to see something like this released for sure.

Thank you for your continued work and updates.

 

What was promised here was unrealistic anyways, here is a quote from vterrain.org

Soo, i wouldnt expect much.

 

Apparently you didn't try out his already working demo which he was "porting" into Unity not making from scratch. Technically you should add imerso's demo to the list of applications you just put forth. If anything you just pointed out why so many of us were so excited about his willingness to bring his software to us.

 

I quoted from vterrain.org, you might want to direct your words to them.

 

I've seen the video's (The tech demo crashes on my computer.. probably my video card...) and I'm impressed. It's looking very interesting. I'm currently working on a project which is not a space game by default, but which includes traveling in space and to other planets and it seems to me that this plugin would be perfect for it!

Imerso, I think you've done a great job in showing this to us. Thank you!

 

Procedural generation is possible in the Unity Engine (and all other major engines) All the items you list have already been built in Unity several times and not an issue.

With that said Procedural Generation is somewhat new in Concepts so you won't find a huge number of Standardized methods out there yet.

 

Right, I'm about 80% done, this is definitely being finished in some days.

It runs integrated with the Unity3D editor, and everything is 100% realtime. You adjust some parameters and see the results immediately.

Because of shaders complexity, the extension is currently running under Windows and WebPlayer (probably under Mac as well -- untested). It will eventually run under Android and iPhone as well, but I'll need to spend like a month (4 weekends or less) on that to release an update with the remaining platforms.

It already allows for the creation of insanely huge and unique worlds in an incredibly small storage space.

It WILL run under every supported platform, very soon.

So, while I'm still not providing a precise release date, it's definitely coming.

The bad news is that the current version can't run under the free Unity3D version. The free Unity3D version does not expose some needed hardware functionality, turning it impossible to port all the Etherea1 engine features. Eventually I will make another version that can run under the free version, but it'll be somewhat simpler, although still creating full planets.

Now, I have here some proposals to work together with some game projects, and they require me not to release the extension at all. I am still not sure of what is best to do, so I want to hear from the interested people to make a decision.

It does not make sense to me to release something that will sell 10 copies for $99. Sorry.

I am not a rich guy who can do this just for fun. I have to work a lot daily with unrelated programming, and then instead of giving attention to my little daughters, I'm programming Etherea1 for more than a year now.

If I get enough financial support, I'll keep improving it, will spend more time (full?) and will provide more and more accessible tools to this community.

So, if you REALLY WANT this, please send me an email manifesting your interest in buying the extension.

Thanks.

imerso@imersiva.com

 

imerso: When you are able to, can you post a video demo (or webplayer) of the extension in action? I think this would be very helpful in making a decision.

I know you are busy, but before you go private, it would be great to see.

 

People wanting to try a demo of this potential extension for Unity can download one here...

http://www.etereo.com.br

Email imerso with your intention to buy if you want to see it in Unity..

imerso@imersiva.com

 

Gordon,

This is windows-only, no? And not the implementation for Unity?

My gut reaction re: a decision of this magnitude would suggest users would want to see some WiP of this instance of the system working within Unity. It's not doubt. It's curiosity. Imerso has a very big decision to make if someone is offering to buy the rights to the system, and a €99 a pop - the two edged sword says imerso needs to sell quite a few of these and users need to know committing the money will be worth it.

This is a great concept, and it would be a great benefit to the unity community, but it needs to be worth imerso's time.

 

Count me out... There's a Windows only demo there - so it's not for me.

 

Little Angel,
Read imerso's post above.

With enough support it will be developed for other platforms as well.

 

This would be a great lose to the indie community if sold to a single provider, however I also understand the commercial needs of an author.

Food on the plate, time for family etc....

Do what you need to do!! Can you sell 1000 $99 copies? Maybe. Verses a Development House who wholesales buys your tech and corrupts it to their use.

Careful about how you do sell a wholesale license (you may find you don't own or have any say in your tech at all).


Hopefully things will work out for all of us

 

1000 x $99 is only $99k where as 10000 x $50 is $500k, either way you will make cash, but you'll make more selling it for less as more people will be able to afford it without thinking.

As for the sale to a single vendor that's your choice and while it would pain me to see it go that way I just hope you make it worth your while in the end !!

 

Have a community bid thread.

Everyone can bid an amount (say above $20) of what they can afford. If the total sum is high enough, you give every bidder a copy and stick it on the asset store. If the interest isn't there then go with one of your other bidders.

 

First of all i think 99 $ is the best price for this plug-in if we are looking at more than 1000 unity users that will buy it.
Also imerso be very VERY careful about people even company's who want to buy your product but under the law " not to release the extension at all ". Many people were trick and even if you have to work with really honest people remember one of 2 things.

First of all making FULL commercial game is expensive and only 3 % of company's ( not indie ) really makes games before losing money and having to pause the work. ( and yes than you wont get anything till game is finished and because you already most likely sign papers making you unable to sell your work in short you don't own it anymore so you are stuck )

Second of all indie developers don't have much money but there are hundred of thousand of them and even if 1 % will buy it you can be sure it will be a lot of money. Even if they will most likely not finish the game you still got money cause after the payment you don't really care to what purpose they will use it.

Unity provides you with online shop and as you see now a lot of people want to buy it not even testing it fully.
I'm sure that people will buy your plug-in and in time when you will add all of the platform support and more things to it people will buy it more and more and more.

Long story short, you risk much much more giving your work to ONE company than selling it to HUGE and still growing community.
I work 12 years as 3d developer and after first year i learn that only thinks for sure are one that you take care of. I would sell it here in Unity Community but thats my opinion.
Still good luck with any decision you make my friend.

 

Do whatever gives you the largest amount of revenue. I am not sure how much money you can expect to make on the Asset Store, but I for one will be buying it. $50/$100/$150 - all viable prices for me personally. There are a few success stories on Asset Store, but I would also advice you to approach Unity and see if they might be interested in purchasing the tech.

 

gordonramp:

Yes, I read that, but you have missed the most important point.

It's not that some time in the future a game with this system will be able to run on iOS.

It's whether or not this system works in the Unity editor.

It's difficult to commit to such a narrow-cast* add-on unless one can actually see it working. I'm not asking for code, but a quick youTube vid of the current state of the system in the editor so we can actually see it working in Unity.

Currently the demo is windows only, but that's of less concern to me than the fact that it is not Unity. The main questions are: "Does it work in Unity?" and "How well does it work in Unity?" If imerso has it working in any shape, a quick screen-cast would do wonders.


zappapa:

That demo is for the code that imerso is porting to Unity, not the Unity plug-in. It should be similar or the same in the Unity editor when imerso is done, but as a demo, it struggles against the issues I have mentioned above to gordonramp.

If this is system is pure code, and works in Unity for Windows, Unity is platform independent, then it should work is OSX as well. From what I've read imerso implies that is *could* work on the Mac but does not have the resources to test it.


imerso:

I am sure there are many people here who would be happy to test a standalone player or even the system on the Mac to prove this true. I myself am on a Mac, and many of the longer-standing users have Macs as Unity started as a Mac-only environment.

*Narrow-cast meaning that even tho' this is a fantastic concept, the actual number of games (and therefore Unity developers) who are: Working on a Space Game > 3D Space Game > Need Planets > Need Full Sized Planets > Need this Plugin are a very specific audience. I can say that my Inventory core sells dramatically less than my UI Add-on as all games need a UI and only some games need an inventory.

 

I agree. I'd be interested, but I need to see it running in Unity first, and to know that it won't break what is Unity's key advantage for me: cross platform capability. It is acceptable that it only works on desktops due to processing power (and hopefully PS3/XBox/Wii by definition), but if it's Windows only and not Mac, I for one don't have an environment to develop with it on.

The idea, as discussed elsewhere in the thread, is amazing, but will require control to work into a Unity game.

 

My guess is that it uses imported dll's in order to work thus the windows only limitation. But that is just a guess. It being Pro only is not an issue for me and I would definitely be buying this when it is released.

 

The extension is a complete rewrite of my original C++ engine, in C# and CG, so it compiles directly under Unity3D/Monodevelop. There are no external binaries, so it is in its essence compatible with any current and future platforms supported by Unity3D.

The only reason for it not being Android | iPhone compatible is because of the current CG shaders complexity (they are too long and use some semantics not available on those mobile platforms), but I know how to make them work on those as well, it's just a matter of time --- as I said before, I can only work on that at nights and weekends. The final extension will run on absolutely ALL platforms (Windows, Macintosh, iPhone, Android and Web).

It even runs in preview mode, within the editor. And more, it is even compatible with all the builtin Unity3D lights, both in forward and deferred shading modes.

As said before, it is 100% integrated with the Unity3D editor (no external tools or pre-processing).

Time is too low here, so I will prefer to spend all that into finishing the conversion instead of finding some rare freeware to properly capture my entire desktop and make a nice video just to show that I'm not a lier. But just to make it clear, I'm not offended in anyway, I do understand your reasons as well.

Thanks,

imerso.

 

This looks really interesting. I wish there was a demo for it i could use (i'm on a mac)

Also, just brainstorming (and i'm newer to unity), it'd be pretty sweet if this game with its own 'gravity' type of thing with it. For example, not only would it make the planet, it would add a gravity on the planet so that you can leave the planets atmosphere into space, and then go into a type of 'no gravity' zone (outer space) and go to other planets. This could probably be easily done by adding a type of thing that makes gravity start acting on objects when they come within a certain distance of the center of a planet...

(^You've probably already thought of that though! Lol)

Eh. Just sounds sweet in my opinion.

 

xzile40,

Yes, I'm wondering if it's possible to have degrees of gravity, just as it is in physical reality. I'm sure this could be done mathematically. The closer One gets to the surface of a Planet, the stronger the gravity until at the ground level it would lock in and require a keypress or the like to release and head off again.

 

Wow this is really excellent. When you said windows only I was assuming that it wouldn't be working for mac so this is good news =) I just hope you decide to sell it ^^b

 

imerso nobody ever call you a lier and no body will you show us your website you show as working demo. Its not so hard to assume that if you are the creator of this than it would not be such a big problem for you to transfer it to Unity ( of course it will take a lot of time ).
People want to see this in action ( in Unity ) not because they don't trust you, but because we really want to all buy it. We are mostly indie developers who don't have money for any mistakes but we will always be glad to buy such work.
You will be stun how many people want to buy this. Only in my younger brother collage there are at least 90 students that want to buy this ASAP.

BTW. imerso you post your email, if someone want to buy this extension work you are making.
My friends that is an indie developer would like to buy this, but he dose not speak English good enough to talk to you. Would you mind if i wrote this latter for him ?

 

hey imerso,

this looks fantastic. you have really accomplished something here!

ive been doing some fractal based procedural generation along a similar vein. if youre interested, id love to talk more about collaboration. i have ideas and some generative systems to share

great job,
andy

 

we can create spore with this easily.

 

Ok, I don't really like to show work in progress like this, because with some eye candy features still disabled, it may cause some confusion about the final quality of the entire work.

The following video does not include some features that are still being ported from the original C++ Etherea1 to the upcoming Etherea1 for Unity3D, like HDR, Bloom, Atmospheres, Oceans and Detailmaps. Also, that was a quick setup just to show that Etherea1 for Unity3D is real and coming soon.

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4YZc1cRlz0

Thanks,

imerso

EDIT: After posting this video, I noticed the planet was a bit "flat", but that was just a matter of parameters tuning, I am out of time so I did just a quick setup without caring about the planet appearance. That should be obvious now that you CAN of course have mountainous planets (and better lighting conditions). The original C++ techdemo is always available at http://www.etereo.com.br

 

The idea that you can travel to any distant "dot" in space, enter its atmosphere and discover a whole planet with typology, vegetation, and life is just INCREDIBLE!

Whatever you make out of this, I want to play such a game.

 

#1 on my list of things to get when it's released

 

Thanks for the video, Looking great. I'm wondering how you would have a 'space' background. Perhaps a very large skybox.. or a skybox that is a child of the camera.

 

Money has been put aside for this. All I need now is a "when".

 

God Damm, I so would like to have this right now.... Just tell me when and how much!!!!!!

 

Yes, that is the most used solution today, even turning some of the background stars and their orbiting planets "real", we still have the far deep universe, start dust, nebulas etc to be represented in the background -- so yes, a skybox/sphere is what complements the final scene.

[]s

 

Ok, very thank you for the nice comments! Please give me just a few days more, and it'll be sent to the Asset Store.

Thanks,

imerso

 

imerso,

This is great news..

 

Hi there !

I'M Sorry i just Have a Question ...

- Imagine that we Zoom in into a Planet from 10'000 meters Above ground into just 10 meters on the ground inside the planet.

- Are we able to zoom in that way on the unity editor and place for example a character or several geometrys on those 10 meters of ground ?

- Can this work ( now or latter ) like Unity Terrain feature ? So we can Place Geometry or brush trees On that precise space we want inside the planet ?

- Or in a more advanced way Will be any way for us to do that .. or for example / after zoom in / select a piece of the planet terrain and freeze it into geometry so we can place there for example a castle in a mountain ... or cut a piece of the terrain convert it in geometry - or like unity terrains with brush change that place - or make a whole - some place we want put there some custom geometry ? Or its possible for us to add some bitmap elevation and select a Place in the terrain and change the terrain texture elevation data ? Or anyway to transfer a selected 100 square meters data and convert it into normal or dynamic geometry so we can export it just that selected part and work with it in another scene .... Is possible ( now or in the future ) this planets Become Editable or anyway to become Integrated with or like common terrains ?

- I just want to know how far can we reaaly use this system into our games ... like for example a Rpg exploration / and level construction in just a part of the planet is possible to use this planetary terrains for that? Or its just meant to fly tru SpaceShips or Flight Simulation kind of games ?

- Will we be able to use actually the planet terrains in game with just use part of it and placing geometry on custom places inside it .
- Or its just this tool for us to Explore flying the fractal terrain data as in your game ?

( I'm Sory to ask too much, just the procedural planet unlimitedly zoom in exploration is great ... as then we can change scene / after a in game fly out i guess )

But those features of use it the planets as a common terrain / zoom in unlimitedly in the editor and place geometry or even make some character walk around in it is possible now or latter maybe some way ?

Excuse me for this kind of difficult questions / i know this plug-in is just in development stage and much more should come after first release ...
... i'm also not quite native in English / Excuse me my spelling.

Thank you deeply so much.


RPGSI

 

RPGSI,
Although not talking about 'unlimited zoom', how to make use of this Planetary Tool was discussed briefly on page 5 of this thread by Thinker and myself. The way I see it, changing from Space movement to OnPlanet movement and having it convincing will be a new challenge. This type of Application is a relatively new concept so ideas on how to use it are still to surface. One way would be to go to a different scene once arrival on the Planet has been accomplished. It must be possible to have a certain amount of geometry in a particular area without killing the Framerate and then a trigger to another scene and back again when leaving the Planet. Much of a Planet can be covered by water, so islands would be easier to cover with foliage too. It's all a mystery until we get to play with the released product.

 

The problem I have with doing it via Scene Load, would be the noticeable delay etc etc between coming in from space to terrain.

We may no have much choice, but this will depend a lot on coming improvements with 3.5 and exactly how this tech works and how much api/configuration we actually have access to with the generated planet and the close up areas.

 

Yes, a solution will be provided for that.

Not sure if it is going to be like Unity Terrain, but a solution will be provided for that.

You will be able to interfere with the planet geometry, forcing the overall terrain shaping, but not at the extreme level of detail like painting little features at the ground level. That level of detail would require too much storage space and video ram, increasing a lot the minimum hardware requirements, so I'll be using a different approach for that.

Yes, sure you can make any game type with it, flight simulators are just one type.


Thanks,

imerso

 

Damn, this is amazing.

This would be simply perfect for my game here (KSP).

I've written my own system to procedurally generate an earth-sized planet also, but it's completely written as Unity code, meaning it suffers from all the limitations of something written inside unity. And it's very much unfinished still, and there's a long way to go.

If this becomes available, I'd buy it on a heartbeat. It's not everyday one finds something that so perfectly fits the needs of a project.

Cheers

 

Very thank you for the nice comments.

I don't think Unity Technologies is interested in hiring me, as I don't even live near any of their offices, but I won't deny that it would be amazing.


Thanks,

imerso

 

Switching scenes is not needed at all, but can be done if desired. I will provide some ideas to complement yours, regarding these things you were discussing.

EDIT: I will try to keep myself silent in the next days, as release is approaching.


Thanks,

imerso

 

Roll on 'Release' day..

 

Account from first post looks suspended, is there a demo somewhere?

 

I am talking about this address, which is in the first post: http://www.etereo.com.br/

You are not the same user as the first post, right?
Anyway, going to check your stuff

 

First post / me / Ghosh / No i'm not !
( I'm Too dumb to even make a proper post / much less get up with Some GENIOUS Stuff like this lolol ... )


I'm Just another desperate fan of this Development ...

Kicking for this Come out as sooner ! ^^

Sure Yu got there the Game Demo that was on that Site ...
I uploaded for you ...


Have fun !

Thanks...


RPGSI