This topic mostly contains questions only the developers themselves can answer (i think^^).

So i have some questions regarding the engine, which the game is based on.

I would be interested in how much your engine can be pushed / where the limits are. Modding often results in trying to push a engine to the maximum of its capabilities (graphics, animations, pure number of objects etc.).

For example, in the current version of the game the animations of how the people move , feel actually very restricted and robotic. Is this due to the small developing team or is it a problem involing the possibilities of the engine?

also there are existing many ways to add graphical effects to games like ENB, sweetfx or GeDoSaTo. Would it be possible for modders to make something like that work with your game or not?

Another important question is, are you planning to add features and power to your engine in the future, or is work on the engine done and you purely concentrate on ingame aspects?

Sorry about that wall of questions though

Keykey.

>> I would be interested in how much your engine can be pushed / where the limits are. Modding often results in trying to push a engine to the maximum of its capabilities (graphics, animations, pure number of objects etc.).

We do not use an 3th-party engine like Unreal or Unity. The only 3th-party software currently used is DIRECTX, OPENGL, DK2 and some video codecs.
The engine can be pushed a little further, but to implement the "X-Moon University" we have to rethink our strategy in this regard.
We want to have a large environment in which different stories can be played in parallel. These stories have to be non-linear.
We are currently building a new engine that is able to do this (parallel to the development of version 3.1).


>> For example, in the current version of the game the animations of how the people move , feel actually very restricted and robotic. Is this due to the small developing team or is it a problem involing the possibilities of the engine?

This is a combination of a few factors. The physics in the engine is constantly active. This means that the animations are done using physics not by motion capture alone.
This makes walking movements somewhat robotic. Also because the characters have a lot more detail than average game characters, flaws in motion are more visible.


>> also there are existing many ways to add graphical effects to games like ENB, sweetfx or GeDoSaTo. Would it be possible for modders to make something like that work with your game or not?

Not really. Some of these post-processing effects may work. But we do not actively support these effects.


>> Another important question is, are you planning to add features and power to your engine in the future, or is work on the engine done and you purely concentrate on ingame aspects?

The versions allow us to find the borders of what is possible given the current state of hardware and software. We do not plan to tinker every detail until we get things perfect.
E.g. the animations are not perfect but are good enough for the simulation to be effective in what it is used for ( ). We could spend a lot of time perfecting them, but we first want the total engine to be up to the job.


>> Sorry about that wall of questions though

No problem

Great post.

Please, xpadmin, write a post mortem of the development of tentacle dream.

We want to release version 3.1 in a couple of months. I will try to show some screenshots in advance.

My eyes would be very happy to see what you guys up to, for the next version .

I'm asking about the release of something like this
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/5 ... e_path.php
after the release of 3.1.

Ah I understand, I see what we can do. (Given that some of us have day-jobs besides this project that require low profiling)

this explains a lot

Just heard of this and downloaded it today, I'm a gamer so this physics based stuff is my forte. I was actually also interested in improving graphics, not saying these aren't up to par, but I have a gaming rig that I spent entirely way too much money on and was wondering if I could spruce it up. I'm totally aware not everyone has dropped a couple thousand on a pc but if anyone knows or ever tries to SweetFX or ENB or ICEnhance this, id be very interested! Very cool to see developers active in the community, as well! Cheers!