Nimian Legends : BrightRidge - Open World Wilderness

Thanks S4G4N

The current version on the store is the original, but i have an HD update coming soon, It will be a separate app because of the way switching to only Metal works (you need to make a new app) and the old version will become free. But i think it will be worth it. It looks very different, the same but just more "everything" - here's a few pics that are untouched screen shots form iPhone 6:

Nimian Legends BrightRidge HD on iPhone 6 with BLOOM and CONTRAST effects on.

You can also see in the first picture an example of the many new options, you can change the tree distance and ive turned them off in that pic. Because BrightRidge HD uses realtime shadows i can make changes during the game ti a lot more. Whats nice is without trees the whole landscape takes on a very different look, like some northern mountainous plains. With all the new options you can make BrightRidge HD look very different from option to option

With Trees Off



Same spot with trees on



More screenshots with BLOOM + CONTRAST, with grass on High density and High distance

 

Hi,

Looking great as always


When will the HD version be available on iTunes ?

Cheers
Cobus

 

I am aiming for Christmas, but I think realistically it will be January

 

Time of Day Feature

I finished the new PLAYGROUND options tonight. this is where you can control the look of BrightRidge. The big final addition was the ability to control the time of day. Right now its just something you can switch on demand, i havent decide if i will add in an automatically changing time of day (but i probably will Its all about options so you can have some fun customizing the world, as well as exploring the updated areas and monuments in the HD version.

Same place - different day









New atmospheric / time of day Combinations

with the different day times, lighting conditions and weather effects, you can end up with some interesting lighting scenes that were not possible in the current version. The same area can look verry different depending on the combination of conditions. Here's a few screen shots from the iPAd Air 2 which can really handle almost anything you throw at it.

 

Stunning. I hope Apple feature this and put it in there awesome visuals semi perm selection.

Sadly I've not upgraded devices for quite some time so I'm not sure what the latest hardware can achieve at a decent frame rate but this is making me want to spend some money.

Any chance you could give us a little breakdown of frame rates for one or two devices with the various settings when you have time?

 

on iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 with Default (medium everything) i get 28-30 fps on iPad and 26-30fps on iPhone. On earlier devices i start it on lower quality to achieve 24-30fps (still more detailed than the current version)

on iPhone 6 / iPAd Air 2 with high quality full everything you get anywhere from 16 - 30 fps depending on the location and what is going on (heavy vegetation area? is wind blowing? near reflective water etc)

Beyond that theres a kind of limit to how much you can pile on, although since the ipAd Air 2 handles so much newer devices like 6s should be able to handle full everything. With adding effects there is an increasing cpu cost that varies - for example very far grass + ultra high density grass will crash most devices sooner or later, but mostly i use medium grass density/far grass which looks great. Depth of field and Motion bur also are cpu intensive, so if you like those effects you might chosse, say less trees and grass to compensate. Or if you dont mind slower frame rates (i dont but many people are very sensitive to them) you can increase detail as you like. Ive made sure to give users as much cusomization options as possible not only to create unique looks but to compensate for performance

One downside to Unity at the moment is water reflections do not work with occlusion culling, so to get reflections that were not buggy i had to alter the shader to not use occlusion culling, which is cpu intensive but still works pretty smoothly. The game is built with forward compat in mind, so you can push it beyond todays devices, and s they arise take advantage of more ultra settings at high frame rates.

 

Thanks for the detailed breakdown.

Yes I think aiming for the current best or tomorrows hardware is the way to go. In the past I've held on to yesterdays hardware and tried to get things running on as many devices as possible (a thought process from my J2ME days) but that has the downside of not pushing the latest hardware to its limits because your focusing on getting things running on inferior devices and as a result you lose touch of just what is capable and how to achieve it.

Guess its time to get some new hardware and knuckle down.

Cheers.

 

Me too - i was a flash developer so the lowest common denominator was what i always strove for, also because i wanted my games to be as accessible as possible. But i paid for that with my IOS games because the difference between the iPhone 1 and iPhone 6s is like CRAZY so really IOS is no longer an unfragmented eco system and that has implications. It like how there are xbox, xbox 360 and xbox one games and they all have different hardware requirements and visuals.

I always say this but in a few years iPhones will outpower Xbox 360 and xbox one. The only reason we think of mobile games as simple is because of the limited power on the early devices. To me mobile isnt weak and simple, its a name for a portable computing device and that can be anything in any power level that will increase as time goes on. iPhone, apple tv, androids etc. We are going to need a new word for mobile games soon becaue the word mobile means "movable and portable" not "simple". Maybe go back to calling them casual games instead and there is not really any such thing as a mobile game but just games, and its the hardware that is mobile or not (spoken from someone who has been dragging my xbox one from place to place and it its bulkiness is NOT the future

 

BrightRidge Classic "Blue Flicker" fix 1.5

A minor update for BrightRidge Classic that fixes the blue flicker appearing on some pine trees that was introduced in IOS 8.3 and higher. If you have IOS 8.3+ this will fix it

DOWNLOAD BRIGHTRIDGE: https://itunes.apple.com/…/nimian-legends-brig…/id885657108…

 

A comparison between the different versions of BrightRidge HD

Almost ready

 

Some of the new additions coming in BrightRidge HD. Screenshots are from iPad Air 2

BrightRidge in has been rebuilt from the ground up with traditional Nimian architecture and personality. Relax in it's quiet backyard garden or have a dance inside




You can now fly through clouds (they're no longer just a painted backdrop) and they interact with sunlight





Morning sunshine light up the new BrightRidge in





A Terrapin towers over the landscape amid the morning sun





BrightRidge Inn at Noon and Morning

 

Fixing bugs and finishing up the "dull" parts. Here im deciding which art to use for the new splash screen. I think im going with the third one

 

iPad Air 2 Screenshots for BrightRidge HD

Busy optimimizing, bug squashing, and cleaning up. For fun these shots are playing with the light settings in the options. The shell like creature is a Baedle, and behind her are her children (just out of sight).

 

BrightRidge HD iPhone6 with BlowOut Light enabled.

70 items left to finish, these screenshots are me experimenting by turning up the ambient light, sunlight, dark shadows and atmospheric scattering to max. It makes kind of a blownout photobox look Aside for this, one of my favorite additions, which is too tricky to get a screenshot of but looks great, is that flocks of birds are now real birds. They soar, they land, they go about their business and you can fly through the sky with them as part of their flock if you like.

 

Wow, this looks really polished! well done!

 

Thanks GameTechnix - it's really interesting to play with light and shadows in the unity engine, i like things messy i'm working hard on it as we speak - i'm aiming to send it to Apple within the next two weeks (this is the HD version, the regular version is already on the app store). If you have an iPad or iPhone I hope you'll check it out

 

Top work! I'll Definatley check it out when the HD version is released! Its going on my watchlist

 

Nimian Legends BrightRidge HD New Interface

Down to 37 items left. Somethings take longer than others, but need to be done. BrightRidge now has a new, more unified interface with all new UI and custom Icons. Sometimes its hard towork on these parts because it takes so long and you dont feel the impact right away in terms of gameplay. But then when i play it the polish is a big inspiration - i kind of see BrightRidge like a leaky boat and the more i clean up the corners the better it will float Anyways there are a TON of new options and i hope everyone will enjoy them and the new look.

 

BrightRidge Wildlife

The remaining work on the game is to fix things that were broken when i upgraded from Unity 4 to 5.

One of these was the animal life. It still worked, but i wanted to both optimize the performance and get them out of their "always patrolling the same place" behavior, which wasnt very flexible. Im really happy with the new system that allows the animals to roam anywhere in the land now, although they will still have their preferred habitats. Its also more flexible because now i can drop in new animals and the game takes care of bringing them to life ( this may mean a dracozid if there is enough memory space

Also now when you use your light power, you can act like a "Pied Piper" and the animals will follow you. They can also treat anything as their parent meaning the can follow other creatures as well, have more babies, and create herds (potentially). the new system uses a lot less CPU power and is a lot more flexible. Here's some shots of them running together around BrightRidge (even inside the Inn which I think im going to make off bounds for animals) and a few landscape shots mixed in.

PS if you look carefully at the photos on the balcony you might notice the pigeons that have landed on the railing. they fly around in flocks and land around BrightRidge on their favorite perches.

The Gang's All here!

 

Never call a Dracozid a dragon, it offends them...





So I HAD to add in a Dracozid - Nimia's version of dragons - and she'll come into play in the mainstory

 

CreakMill

The last piece of new content - CreakMill - an abandoned, overgrown, but surprisingly still functional windmill overlooking The Open Coast. My original windmill had the same problem as my original inn. Because i bought them as is i coulc't alter them or optimize them. So i built a new windmill from the boards, walls and building elements i created for the inn. With the windmill back in (in a new location) and the Dragon added i'm going to focus now on finishing the bug fixes and optimizations. Fun stuff



The raw project item

 

It's beautifull.

 

Thank you! I was going for beauty so that makes me feel great

 

Instead of using cube collisions for the stairs of the windmill you could place some plane on top to avoid the character to make small jumps.
Unique locations like that are what makes the game great.
Is there collectibles in the game ? Like treasures to hunt ?
How big is the terrain ? It is tiles terrain or only a big one ?
Is the PC version out ?

 

Thanks - thats a terrific tip about the stairs, saves on collider vertexes too if i just use a box collider. Ill make the switch because that waas bugging me

There's shapechanging forms and powers to find in the environment, there is a lot of unique locations and viewdots that give you information about the world. There's also an inn filled with people who can tell you about BrightRidge. its all about exploration. After release the second update will include a story line with 9 - 10 nature based quests

all together its about 9 square kilometres - its one terrain.

 

Forgot to mention - no PC version yet but i am planning android/pc and mac releases right after the ios release this time.

 

In the current version of BrightRidge animals patrol the same areas, in the same positions. Now in BrightRidge HD all creatures can roam the entire landscape, make their own decisions, form relationships between them (hostile or friendly) and even become a pet.

Here a pet Entling is emerging from the forest, towering above the hero below

 

Dynamic Animal AI

Whew - after a few days ive rebuilt the animal Artifical Intelligence and im really happy. They now explore their territories (you can watch them using spiritview) and also can dynamically explore the entire world, as well as be pets and hunt each other. Im really happy with it because my philosophy is to make each element of brightridge do its own thing, and then for all those elements to interact with eat other to create emergent unique situations, and this is one of those game updates that i feel makes a huge difference.

I also took a few hours to create a new enhance Terrain Detail engine. It works with a pool of environment-appropriate elements (like mushrooms in forests) and proceduraly generates them on the fly, because its from a limited number of objects it add a great amount of detail to the immediate surroundings without breaking the CPU or texture memory.

 

Baedil and babies

Baedils have adaptive territories and can seek out new homes for them and their children, as well as comfort their babies. Just a quick screen capture of the mother Baedil wandering with her family. You can watch her and the other animals and creatures using your spirit view. You can also keep them as pets.

 

Just an update. BrightRidge HD is ready I am taking the remaining screenshots for phones tomorrow, and have uploaded the build, and then will submit it.

The stories are coming in the next update after this one and ive been working hard on something that tells a uniquely brightridge style tale. I'll post an update after I submit it. Meanwhile here are some iPad screenshots.

Giska is the girl/womans name and both are available to shapechange into. For the story version both young and older versions of each character will be part of the story.




Theres a lot of filters in BrightRidge's options. You can get very different looks, like this one with the gaslight filter.


If you can find the secret (or use the cheats) you can fly as a dragon.


Arbor Hill is one of my favorite places, in the ridge just past BrightRidge Inn


This was taken with the ingame camera. you can fly around and take pics, which are saved to your phones photos. Its a simple shot but i like the way the sunlight and atmosphere react in the new version


Spiritview has a new image effect that shimmers around the edges, so you can tell if youre in spiritview or shapechange at a glance


It's pretty CPU intensive and turned off by default but you can enable depth of field (and more) in the options

 

i recently heard about your game and bought it because i am so impressed about open world environments and i am developing an app on my own
few questions come to my mind:
i searched a lot on the internet and i don’t know which are the best way or which assets are the best for developing such thing for mobile devices so my questions are:
if you used prebuilt assets what are they, specialy the trees and grass PLEASE
the animals,the birds ,are they an asset or you have built them on your own.
the sun bloom ?
camera , UI , Touch Controls , menu , saving ,etc…

i know they are big questions but ill appreciate any answer that reduce my development time and bring high quality app ,thanks in advance

Regards.

 

Most items are fro the asset store. I dont remember any specific packages - the grasses are from various kits, the bloom is the default Unity bloom. What i think is most important isnt which assets you use but more making sure you have a unified artistic vision for your environment (is it dark? moody? fairylike?) and then make sure the assets you choose all fall under this banner. this way you can have a cohesive art style that feels more consistently real

 

BrightRidge HD version 2.0 is available now

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nimian-legends-brightridge/id1021026309?ls=1&mt=8

Just a cross posting - if you like BrightRidge free you might want to check this out.

NEW
First person view option (thank you Gingerpanderbearfreakguy)
More detailed terrain with realistic erosion and undulation
Interactive Map
Orange Puffids - poisonous bulbous weeds can be cleared out with a hit
Global fog on by default - Global fog and Distace fog density can be independently set
Upgraded Road system to allow more flexible world design
Forest paths
Inn Architecture - the front stairwell
New “Alien” Terrapin Tower in preparation for storyline
Forest Veranda
Arrow size UI option (for quests in v3)
Improved combat animation - Make hit pause momentarily with Particle flash
New Puddle system for more flexible puddles
added terrain quality settings in options
Fairy Circles
Hammer for boy, wrench for girl
added eagle spirit view
Added FXAA3 Antialiasing in effect options
Brightridge Flag
New tree species - Empyrial Dashwood

FIXED and IMPROVED
Bloom filter causing bright white highlights
Map moved to main options
Hero starts embedded in ground
Bow and arrow / first person view too low
Touchpad doesn’t resize with resolution change
Global fog moved to ATMOSPHERE options beside distance fog
Separate global fog settings per time of day
collision in water columns (thanks youtube viewers)
Change to version 2, v3, v4 simplify
moved touchpad option into camera options
Faster deer and fox shapechanges
collider on chandelier
volumes dont affect rain and some sounds
removed joystick in spirit view
moved fast travel to map
Fixed broken animal swimming
shapechnge animal sticks animation on exiting viewdot - sometimes deer shape doesn’t switch to idle from run or walk
Code, content and memory optimization

 

The heart and soul of the new story mode is the quiet moments. Non-violent, nature based quests that tell a story of friendship and sacrifice.

 

The game looks great. Do you plan to make an enhanced desktop version for Steam ?

 

Thanks, and yes. First the IOS and Android versions, then i will finish the MiFi support and i have to figure out making the UI work using a controller and keyboard. Ive been working on both simultaneously, and will be using full textures (the game currently uses 1/4 size textures) - when run full res with all the bells and whistles it looks really, really beautiful

 

I just submitted version 3 to the app store - hopefully Apple will approve it.

I wonder how it will look on an iPhone 7

Ive worked more than 5 years on this game and although i am planning one last update for polish and little extras, im really glad it is basically what i set out to create now that it has story mode.

 

I like that , you made a great job and lot better mobile game than my little ones lol
Will you switch to making another new game ?

 

Thanks zenGarden Yes, now that BrightRidge is almost finished, i plan on releasing the Android version, and then doing The Bone Sea, a new arid environment that focuses on 3d puzzles, traps and treasure

 

Take two BrightRidge storymode has been re-submitted to the App store. Here's the trailer

 

There is not a lot of games that are mainly exploration with interesting places and things to do.
Nice work

 

Merci beaucoup (i'm from Montreal)

Apple actually just approved the update

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nimian-legends-brightridge/id1021026309?ls=1&mt=8

I hope people enjoy it!

 

BrightRidge version 5 is coming

 

BrightRidge version 5 is available

Download it here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nimian-legends-brightridge/id1021026309?ls=1&mt=8

It may take some time before it shows in each particular store.

Here's what's new!

+ NEW: Grimlin Shapechange character
+ NEW: Size Change presets from Gnome sized to Giant and larger (explore mode or cheats only) Options > Actions
+ NEW: Size change in increments up and down in options > actions (explore mode or cheats only) Options > Actions
+ NEW: Algorithmic camera control auto zooms depending on character size
+ NEW: Option to switch sides left/right Look and Move joysticks (thanks Joseph Orsak from YouTube)
+ NEW: Loading screen shows BrightRidge propaganda posters
+ NEW: Customize - Action, Jump, Firebreath and Options buttons can be dragged anywhere on screen
+ NEW: Invert Look joystick - left/right and Up/down independently (thanks Joseph Orsak from YouTube)
+ NEW: Detail Manager - adds extra vegetation to landscape. Off by default. In Options > playground > effects
+ NEW: Custom button positions saved automatically
+ NEW: Algorithmic Jumping adjusts jump height depending on size of character
+ NEW: Algorithmic animation speed scaled with character size
+ NEW: Algorithmic step offset scaled with character size
+ NEW: Dedicated Joysticks options Options > Settings > Joysticks
+ NEW: Reset User Interface buttons to default posotions
+ NEW: Growth Power tower added to Explore mode
+ NEW: Resize able buttons (thanks Jack Hay) options > settings > controls > buttonsize
+ NEW: Saves button size between sessions
+ NEW: Alorithmic camera height set according to player size
+ NEW: Detail Triggers - add custom plant types to environment based on location
+ NEW: Terraced boulders on Fairy Circle hill
+ NEW: Animation speed self adjusts based on player size
+ NEW: Adjust camera height - you can now make ‘diablo’ style camera options > camera > camera up/down
+ NEW: New App Icon

+ IMPROVED: Narrative tweaks
+ IMPROVED: Action, Options and Jump buttons are now resolution independent (same as all other buttons)
+ IMPROVED: Removed legacy User Interface code
+ IMPROVED: Longer wrench and Hammer reach
+ IMPROVED: Deleted unused legacy textures
+ IMPROVED: Crisper, more colorful grass texture
+ IMPROVED: Spiritview can now switch between animals easier
+ IMPROVED: Spiritview HUD allows you to exit direct to Spiritview scene
+ IMPROVED: Exiting Spirit view automatically shape changes back to hero
+ IMPROVED: Wolf howl now distance based
+ IMPROVED: Removed occlusion from wood beams to improve performance
+ IMPROVED: Better performance for map and fast travel

+ FIXED : Splash screen fade out before Story/Explore select
+ FIXED : Tower climbing Float Pad available in Explore mode
+ FIXED : Flame Sentinel missing lasers and flame column when loading chapter directly
+ FIXED : Spelling fixes in dialogue
+ FIXED : Mismatched object colliders
+ FIXED : Holes in Ruins meshes (thanks Liam Laville)
+ FIXED : Puddles stretching to sky in certain locations
+ FIXED : Black screen when watercolour is on and bloom is off

+ CHANGED: Removed flip jump - too shaky
+ CHANGED: Removed iPad button alternate layout - redundant now that you can drag buttons anywhere
+ CHANGED: Removed Adjust Buttons screen - unintuitive and redundant now that you can drag buttons anywhere
+ CHANGED: Renamed Items to Actions to reflect expanded options
+ CHANGED: Removed invisible barriers from First bridge - inconsistent with open world experience

 

Love & Tin. A new BrightRidge Adventure coming in update 6

 

Nimian Legends : BrightRidge - Love and Tin trailer.

A new adventure for BrightRidge HD. Update 6 include dozens of new options and fixes. The footage for this trailer was recorded off an iPad Air 2.

 

Android Open Alpha test

Nimian Legends : BrightRidge Android is in Open Alpha testing. If you'd like to help you can test it here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.protopop.brightridge

 

I've revamped http://nimianlegends.com

It brings together all the different projects.

 

Great presentation.
Why not porting the game Switch console ? as a mobile game it will fit well in it.