As explained by Jon in his previous post, we are using precomputed global illumination in The Witness, and one of my first tasks was to work on that system. I have developed some interesting technology to compute automatic paramaterizations, to formulate the lighting computations in a way that can be …
It seems like time to post some images from the in-progress precoputed lighting tech that Ignacio is working on. See here for a description of the basics behind what we are doing for lighting. The lightmaps are now 16-bit and these shots use a simple exponential tone mapper. First, I’ve …
The Witness contains a mixture of indoor and outdoor scenes, but much of the game takes place outdoors with a very long view distance (you can see the entire island at once if you have a good vantage point). So I wanted to implement a shadow system that would work …
Today we are announcing a fund that provides very good terms for talented indie developers working on high-quality games. Our terms are much friendlier than what publishers offer. Our goal is to help indies become stronger while retaining their independence. The past couple of years have been good for independent …
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For the past 15 years or so, graphics technology in games has been driven by shooters. Most shooters generate visual interest in their scenes by having lots of dynamic lights, with extreme use of bump mapping, and moving shadows, and particle effects. For The Witness, I wanted to develop a …