In the process of updating a lot of the visual flair in Nauticalith, we've been hard at work on numerous atmospheric effects. One very noticeable change is the new skybox. Instead of having a skybox with realistic, painted clouds behind our low-poly clouds, we've switched to a more effective gradient skybox. Now, we can manipulate the sky to be any range of colors, most often in relation to the time of day or current weather.
As you can see above, we've made certain weather patterns bring about high fog and low visibility. This is compounded with the darkness of the night for a very eerie, foreboding ocean. The skybox will dynamically change to match any environmental events we require. The one above is our basic nighttime blue and purple.
Here's another shot from inside of the house on a dark, stormy night. It's particularly hard to see everything clearly. However, the lantern is an excellent tool for navigating through dark buildings and caves at night.
The image above is taken from nearly the same spot with the lantern on this time. As you can tell, it's much easier to see what's around you. On the other hand, you have to watch your lantern fuel or you'll be stuck in the dark with no strong light source.
Another large addition this week is a giant cave system. We've added a new island and filled it to the brim with winding caves and secrets to explore. Yet another excellent use for the lantern!
While we keep on progressing with Nauticalith, we also have an announcement to make. If you're in the Boston area, we will be showing Nauticalith at Playcrafting Boston's Winter Expo! The event is at 6PM on February 24th at the Microsoft NERD center. Come stop by and get a chance to play the current build before anyone else!
~Dave
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