Level transition

Talk about anything Legend of Grimrock 1 related here.
Post Reply
Botiquita
Posts: 39
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:44 am

Level transition

Post by Botiquita »

Maybe I am wrong (hopefully), but I was watching a LoG video and I noticed something: when you take a stairway to another level, a black screen appears for a second. In my humble opinion, that one second blackout, turns away immersivness from the game. It would be very nice to have that perfect seamless transition between floors.

Best regards.
User avatar
Dlanor
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:01 am

Re: Level transition

Post by Dlanor »

Perhaps the stairways are just UNLIT.

It can get pretty dark in a DUNGEON.
User avatar
Mameluk
Posts: 261
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:52 pm

Re: Level transition

Post by Mameluk »

As you said, this is just an opinion, nothing game breaking. With the release coming up, the devs should rather focus on fixing bugs and improving stability.
User avatar
juho
Posts: 238
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:18 pm

Re: Level transition

Post by juho »

Botiquita wrote:when you take a stairway to another level, a black screen appears for a second.
It's a technical thing.
Follow me on Twitter: @JuhoMakingStuff
User avatar
Karkarov
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:47 pm

Re: Level transition

Post by Karkarov »

juho wrote:
Botiquita wrote:when you take a stairway to another level, a black screen appears for a second.
It's a technical thing.
I don't know that is how all the old school games did it too. Honestly the only way to not do this would require rendering the entire dungeon every single time you loaded the game. Bad idea is bad they say.
User avatar
Alaric
Posts: 156
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:16 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Level transition

Post by Alaric »

Karkarov wrote:
juho wrote:
Botiquita wrote:when you take a stairway to another level, a black screen appears for a second.
It's a technical thing.
I don't know that is how all the old school games did it too. Honestly the only way to not do this would require rendering the entire dungeon every single time you loaded the game. Bad idea is bad they say.
Well, in principle, you could load and unload areas dynamically, based on proximity. But it's hard to do, and honestly, I don't think anyone minds a bit of a loading screen.
User avatar
Mameluk
Posts: 261
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:52 pm

Re: Level transition

Post by Mameluk »

Loading the next level as you are unloading the old one, it's only logical to have the black screen there. The game would lag a bit if there wasn't any transition pause covering it up. In my opinion that would break the immersion even more.

Also, dynamic loading of multiple levels is generally a bad idea, takes up too much resources, and you still need to load new ones as you ascend or descent between levels. It could work with voxels though, or perhaps loading the dungeons in small parts, updating only the tiles closest to you...
User avatar
Alaric
Posts: 156
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:16 pm
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Level transition

Post by Alaric »

It's quite doable. You don't need to load an entire level. Think about WoW or Skyrim. As you travel the world, you don't see any loading screens, but the entire world isn't loaded. That'd be impossible. Things are loaded and unloaded based on your proximity to them.

Now, it makes no sense for a small indie studio to waste resources on something like that. Just show some concept art and some tips or lore on a loading screen, and everyone will be happy!
User avatar
petri
Posts: 1917
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:58 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Level transition

Post by petri »

Actually level transitions are super fast, just a quick fade in & out (no loading screen). However the game is designed so that you can only see one level at a time. Makes many things much simpler and makes the scene faster to render.
Post Reply