Hello!

For the past couple of weeks, we have been showing you the dissolve feature we have implemented in The Riftbreaker. We use it to remove objects from the scene, change them from one to another, or, like in the case of buildings, to gradually introduce them into the game world. Today we will show you the smaller elements that undergo dissolution in the game.

The regular texture of Mr. Riggs' energy blade.

This is what makes all the magic happen

In order to make the dissolve effect happen, we need two textures. First - the regular texture of the object we want to apply the effect to, and second - a special dissolve texture. It resembles a cloud of smoke, as it is irregular and grey. However, those things exactly are its key properties. The pixels on this map represent values, from 0 to 1. Once projected onto the regular texture of the object, we can start removing parts of it. We set up a threshold that changes over time. All the elements that fall below this threshold are removed by the shader.

The weapon is automatically hidden at the start of the mining process. Also, you can see the shadow of something being built nearby!

In The Riftbreaker you will often see this while gathering resources. The drill is not an equipable item. We want the player to always have access to it, but without taking up an inventory slot. Drilling is a context action. When you approach a resource that you can mine, pressing a button will automatically change what you’re holding in your right hand to the drill. We employ the dissolve effect here to avoid a sudden change of the item. We also apply an additional emissive light to make it feel more ‘magic’.

The gibs don't dissolve all at once.

We also dissolve the parts that spawn from destroyed enemies and elements of the environment, also known as ‘gibs’. Instead of making them transparent using the alpha channel, we decided to also dissolve them. Since there are so many of them they do not get any emissive lights, that would only distract the player. The effect is very subtle but makes for much nicer visuals.

Make sure to join us on Thursday for the stream! You will find us at www.mixer.com/exorstudios at 3PM. We are going to show off our streaming features, as well as a full-length survival mode gameplay (as long as the stars align right ;) It's still pre-alpha, so we might encounter some problems.)

You can also join us at www.discord.gg/exorstudios. We chat with our users regularly and everyone is welcome.

Other social media:
www.facebook.com/exorstudios
www.twitter.com/exorstudios
www.mixer.com/exorstudios
www.discord.gg/exorstudios
www.twitch.tv/exorstudios