I have returned to this project after a year long hiatus. My vision for the game has changed since the last time I talked about it. My new vision revolves around Virtual Reality (VR). I wanted to make this game a top down experience from the very beginning, and I am returning to this idea by switching the platform to VR. Poly Solace will now be a "God" sandbox game where the user hovers over the world in VR and be able to create/destroy the island in front of them. The user can create a small village and help it grow in size, or destroy it in spectacular fasion. I will upload some GIFs in the future with the new look when I have the time.

It's been awhile since I left an update on this game. With classes and the Covid-19 pandemic I have found myself having no time to work on this project at the moment. I am trying to get outside as much as possible so I get some exercise, and I'm just enjoying my time with friends and family while I can. My motivation for this project is slowly deminishing, so I'll keep you updated on whether or not it will be continued.

Now that classes have ended for me, I have returned to a more normal schedule of working on the game. I now put in a couple hours a week now adding and improving features of the game.

New Items/Improvements:

• 1 new original tree models
• 2 new fence models
• 1 new wooden platform
• Finished skybox with the sun, stars, and moon
• Scalable chunk system for map generation (allows for more optimization options)
• Tweaked Water and Terrain shaders for better colors

Features in Progress:

• Implementing billboard impostors
• Improving the settings menu
• Building/Placing objects

The main issue I am having right now is optimization. The game currently has thousands of objects around the map, while most of them are disabled and enabled when approached, this brings up another issue. Larger objects like trees can't just be rendered when you're within a certain distance. This would cause an extremely noticable popup effect and a very boring and bland map if you look in the distance (nothing but the terrain and water would be rendered). To limit the total number of vertices on the map I have three main options: a chunk based level of detail system, low level of detail objects, or billboard impostors.

I believe implementing a chunk based low level of detail(LOD) system and a billboard impostor system will work best. The idea behind the chunk system will only effect the terrain mesh. The further away the terrain chunk is from the player, the lower detail is needed for displaying it in the distance. The map is already divided into 9x9 chunks, so I can introduce different LODs to those chunks based on distance from the player. This will cut back on a large amount of vertices and reduce the stress for rendering the scene.

The billboard impostor solution is extremely complex but has HUGE performance boosting potential. Billboard impostors require a texture atlas of multiple images of the same object but at different angles. These images are used on a flat 4 vertice mesh that always faces the camera. Depending on the viewing angle of the player with the textured mesh, it will use the appropriate image of the object to mimic the viewing of the real object. Depending on the texture resolution and the transition between different viewing angles, the billboard impostor can look just as good as a full rendering of the 3D object but have 100x less vertices.

In short, I am almost done implementing the different levels of LOD for the terrain chunks, and I am researching ways to create my own billboard impostor for every object.

Poly Solace is coming along. I am taking a slight break right now from it to focus on classes. While initially on Spring break from college I had lots of free time to add stuff to the game, so here is just a list of additions.

• 3 new original tree models
• Original campfire model w/ particle effects
• Blowing leaves shader for trees and bushes
• WIP pause and settings menu
• WIP object placement system
• Added roaming cows and bunnies
• Day night cycle
• WIP skybox with the sun, stars, and moon
• Music system
• Post processing effects

Now that classes have started up again, I have taken a slight break from the game to focus on them a little more. Even though my classes are now online and we're told to stay at home for the quarantine, I find myself on the computer for too long so I can't work on the game as much. I'd rather go outside while the day is nice and I don't have school work. The project is still going to be finished. I just need a slight break from it right now to just enjoy life.

I just got over the flu and have taken a temporary break on the project. Now that I feel a lot better, I have begun working on the project again. I am working on a system that disperses plants/objects around the map. The system is very crude and doesn't really work at all, but I began working on it, so I guess that is something. I have been fixing up other things like shaders and added a little camera controller for the game. My main focus is getting the map generation to look fantastic because the flow of the game will heavily revolve around the map.

As a side note, I have recorded a video for my Youtube channel that I believe I am going to make. I will post more in-depth video dev logs and try to build up an audience for the game. Without an audience, no one will know about the game and it will have a sad release, so hopefully I can make some interesting Youtube videos to hype up the production of the game. I might even start a Patreon too so I can get some financial support. I am gonna have less time to work on the project because of the six classes I am taking and my two jobs at school. I will still finish this game though! I will most likely add links to my Youtube videos just to keep track of where they go in the overall dev log updates on my website.

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