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Imperial Nostalgia is a four in one collection of games inspired by the classic console games that I grew up playing. I'm working on a RPG game for a client and wanted my own project to be something simple and fun to work on during my downtime and hopefully earn enough to help pay some bills. Having just turned thirty-(mumbles incoherently) years old, a nostalgic return to my youth seemed to fit the bill nicely.

Post news Report RSS Launchpad Leap Fur Shader Released

I needed a fur shader for Launchpad Leap, so I wrote one and put it on the Unity Asset Store to help fund development of the game. This article will tell you how its features will help in character creation for the game.

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It's been a while since the last update, but things have been going on behind the scenes that it didn't make sense to show right away. Some of the characters for Launchpad Leap are going to be furry, so I needed to create a fur shader. After doing so, I decided to flesh it out a bit and put it on the Unity Asset store to help raise funds to finish the page. Links to the asset store page and the web demo are below.
Keep reading the article to see how it will be used in the game.

Unity 5 and it's PBR shaders are so new that none of the fur shaders currently on the asset store take advantage of it. In my fur shader, I've fixed that. The fur can now us full PBR materials to create a more realistic look that more predictably blends in with the lighting of any given scene.

Fur shader for Launchpad Leap characters

I wanted my characters to have styled fur, so it was really important to me to have a fur shader that would allow a separate material for the skin and allow me to use a height map to define the fur length. Once I start modeling the characters, I should be able to give them each a unique look with a minimal amount of changes to the base mesh. In addition to allowing me to create the fur equivalent of a hair style for the characters, I can also create more seamless transitions from the non-fur areas to the fur areas.

Fur shader for Launchpad Leap characters

It was also important to me that the fur reacted when the characters are jumping. The game is called Launchpad Leap, so clearly the characters are going to do a lot of jumping around. Having fur that can react to that will add greatly to the illusion.

There has been more behind the scene work done as well. Currently, I'm working on an entirely new input system for the game, which is taking up quite a bit of the development time. In the end, I think it will make it a much stronger game. It will allow for in game remapping of the controls and switching of which player is using which controller. Getting it done will take at least a week or so more, and then more time on top of that to get it fully integrated into the game. But I think it will be worth it.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the latest screenshot of the game's progress that I made before switching focus to the input system.

Launchpad leap first completed level

There will be four unique play areas to choose from. Two water based, and two land based. You'll notice an additional base plate added to the launchpad tower. Each play area will have a separate design for its base plate to help the launchpad fit in better with its surroundings.

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