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Re: Judge Dredd
Posted By: PfhortierDate: 12/1/03 11:53 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Judge Dredd (the Battle Cat)

: When I started creating maps, I got to thinking about why Bungie made the
: lighting the way they did. I mean, you couldn't make a totally black area
: in closed quarters, which frustrated me when I tried to do so for a
: section of map that depended on very very dark corridors. I came to the
: conclusion that they were trying to make the lighting more realistic in
: the limited way the engine represented lights. In the dark, things farther
: away seem darker than things closer up. Detail is lost too. You are closer
: to the light that is being reflected off of objects so your eyes are able
: to gather more photons before the light is radiated out. A person hiding
: in a dark corner is invisible until you walk closer to him. You get this
: sort of effect in Marathon. Although it is not perfectly done, I think
: this might be what they were after. What do you guys think?

In real life, distance has little to do with how bright or how clear an object is. In areas the size of levels in Marathon, it would have no distinguishable effect. It takes miles of atmosphere to affect light in any noticeable way (which is why distant mountains appear more like the color of the sky). Unless of course there is fog, but it is clear that there is no fog in Marathon, because you can see distant walls if they are lit.

If it is dark, being 2 inches from a wall won’t help you see any better.

The only way you can reproduce the effects we see in Marathon is if there is some light being emitted from the player. I think this light falloff effect is unique to Marathon and Pathways into Darkness (at least in games from that era). We know your guys has a flashlight in Pathways (I think the reason that we can still see slightly when the light is off is due to gameplay reasons). The light in Marathon is even brighter. A nearby wall never gets below 50% brightness. I think this was put in Marathon on purpose to reproduce the spooky effect of walking through a dark cave with nothing but a flashlight or lantern to guide you. It creates an eerie “fog of war” effect which I think is a major reason Marathon and Pathways were more scary than other FPSs of the time.

If we had some sort of nightvision or enhanced sight, brightness wouldn’t be affected with distance. (In fact the “nightvision” power up supports this principle). The falloff is consistent with a flashlight (as you increase distance, the light spreads out more and must cover a larger area, thus, the gradual reduction in brightness).

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Replies:

Judge DreddPfhortier 11/24/03 1:20 p.m.
     Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 11/25/03 8:12 a.m.
           Re: Judge DreddMark Levin 11/25/03 8:44 a.m.
                 Re: Judge DreddNeoptolemus 11/25/03 3:06 p.m.
                       Re: Judge DreddPfhortier 11/25/03 6:11 p.m.
                             Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 11/26/03 6:59 a.m.
                                   Re: Judge DreddPfhortier 11/26/03 9:54 a.m.
                                         Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 11/27/03 8:43 a.m.
                                               Re: Judge DreddPfhortier 11/27/03 11:59 p.m.
                                                     Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 11/30/03 8:35 a.m.
                                                           Re: Judge Dreddelliott 11/30/03 9:03 a.m.
                                                                 Re: Judge Dredddeathmonger 11/30/03 5:22 p.m.
                                                                       Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 12/1/03 5:49 a.m.
                                                                             Re: Judge DreddPfhortier 12/1/03 11:53 a.m.
                                                                                   Re: Judge Dredddeathmonger 12/2/03 3:16 p.m.
                                               Re: Judge DreddBoomer 12/2/03 10:12 a.m.
                                                     Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 12/3/03 7:43 a.m.
                 Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 11/26/03 6:51 a.m.
     Re: Judge Dreddelliott 12/3/03 9:34 a.m.
           Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 12/4/03 7:57 a.m.
                 Re: Judge DreddBoomer 12/4/03 12:15 p.m.
                 Re: Judge Dreddelliott 12/4/03 1:01 p.m.
                       Re: Judge Dreddthe Battle Cat 12/5/03 6:20 a.m.
                             Re: Judge Dreddzudo 12/5/03 7:41 a.m.
                                   Any comics that are good reading in your opinion Z *NM*elliott 12/5/03 12:49 p.m.
                                         Quite a few...zudo 12/6/03 1:37 a.m.
                                               Re: Quite a few...elliott 12/6/03 6:55 a.m.
                                                     Re: Quite a few...zudo 12/6/03 7:35 a.m.
                                                           Re: Quite a few...elliott 12/6/03 10:55 a.m.
                                                                 Re: Quite a few...zudo 12/6/03 11:49 p.m.
                                               Re: Quite a few...Speaker-To-Animals 12/6/03 5:41 p.m.
                                                     Re: Quite a few...zudo 12/6/03 11:51 p.m.



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