
                          8n.
                                      8 `n..    .nnnnn.           bnnnnn.
  nnnnnnnnnnnnnn.       .nnnnnnnn.    8    ""n .8'   .8           `b.   8
  8             8       8'       `n.  8      8.8'   d'             `8   8
  8n.     nnn.  8       8          `n.8      88'    8               8   8..nnnn
    8     8888  8       `b.          `8      8'     8     __    .nnn"   `""   8
    8           8   ..nnn`8nnnn.      8      8      8  .nP""`n. 8             8
    8      8nnnn'nn""  .8      8      8      8      8 d' ,nn. `n8nnn8    nnnnn'
    8      8.   8     .8 .nnnnnP      8  b.         8n8  8888   `n  8    8
    8       `n. 8    .8'n"            8  8`8.       8            8  8    8 .n8
nn""'         `n8   .8' 8    .d88b   .P  8 `8.      8nn  nnnnnnnn8  8    8,8 8
8               8  .8'  8    88888   8   8  `8.     8 8  8.         8    8P  8
8nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn8  n'   8            8nnn8   `8.    8 8  `8.  ,""n  8    P   8
               .'  8nnnn8nnnn      a    8     `"nnnnP 8   `8n'   8  8        8
               8            8nnnnn' `nnn8             b.         8  8   ..nnn"
               8nnnnnnnnnnnn'                          `n.       8  8nn"""
          .nnnnnnnnnnnnn.                .b.             `"nnnnnnP .nnnnnn
         .8'            `8.     .nn.    .8 `+n.       nnnnnn     .n'   .n'
         8.        .88.  `8    d   8    8'    `+n.    8    8   .n"   .n"
          `8       888P   8    `nnn8   .8        `"n. 8    8.n"'   .n"
          .8              8 nnnnnnn    8'           .n8    8"   .n"
          8'  8      ,nnnn'  `n'  8    8.      `b. .+'8.      .n"
         .8   8      8      .8    8    `8.       `8'  `8.      d.
         8'   8      8.     8'    8.d.   `b.      `8.  `8       `b.
         8    8      `8.   n'     8P 8     `+.     `b   8     8   `8.
       nn8    8       `8.  8      8' `8nnnnnnnb   .d'   8     8    `8.
       8      8        `8.n'      8              .8'    8     8     `8.
       """nnnn8         `88'      8nnnnnnnnnnnnnnP      8     8      `8.
              8nnnnnnnnnnn8       8                    n'     8       `8.
                         nnnnnnnnn8n                   8nnnnnn8        `8
                                                              8nnnnnnnnnn8



Random Rants and thoughts...




of Production 

Planet risk was written (on and off) between 1st Feb - 1 August 2004. on an Athlon 3000Xp+ 
5600ultra video card. Three Months were spent on building the engine, two on actual content 
and one on polishing. The sequence of the parts was made in reverse order. The 'intro' part, 
hence, was written last, while the 'hands & butterflies' first. Which shows that there was no 'plan','direction' or 'storyboard' to start with. Yet, everything seemed to come into place 
after months of playing around with effects. 
  


of Framerate

We tried to make a demo that could run at over 15fps on a simple 5200. Considering how crap this 
card is, it was a difficult, but nevertheless reasonable target.It is achieved by using alot of 
scissoring, LOD, and aggressive occlusion scheme of 3d objects.It IS possible to make a modern 
demo run at fullframe rate, on a geforce 5- series card. And still have some interesting directx9.0 
level effects. The question ofcourse is why bother. The answer is, as far as we know, nobody seems 
to have done it so far.. :-) We give the Cg source code in /CGeffects, for future reference.  


of Radeon

The Radeon cards, as you probably already know, have superior performance when rendering ps20 
fragments. 9600XT, for example, is significantly faster than 5700ultra (on the other hand,the 
latter is cheaper). Problem is, however, Radeon cards have rather dysfunctional 
drivers, which make development of a demo a pain :  


During the making of Planet Risk, we ran into the following problems : 


 * GL_COMPARE_R_TO_TEXTURE_ARB (used in shadow mapping) doesn't seem to work properly with Cg and 
Radeons.

 * Point Sprites (ogl or d3d) : Use them wisely. They can screw up the uv coordinates of subsequent primitives, and make them look like there is no 'perspective correction'. ATI has acknowledged the 
bug, maybe one day they will fix it..

 * "Maximum indirections" bug, while using profile arbfp1.0. More specifically, the error is caused
when we try to do multiple texture lookups in a fragment program. It gives us a 'too many indirections'. This is caused by a 'bug' in ATI's drivers, that  causes it to misinterpret some texture  lookups as dependent even if they are independent, thus overflowing the number of indirection limit. The good 
people at nvidia, gave a solution to this, with the latest version of Cg (1.2.1). Now there is a 'MaxTexIndirections' profile option to cure this problem. 


of Music

The music of the demo started around mid april as a really fast paced power/progressive metal tune.
During late May, and as effects kept coming from Navis, we realised that the ambience of the demo
was not really compatible with the raw energy of the tune, thus on the first of June we decided to
scrap the tune completely and start from scratch, this time with a more ambient sound. Leviathan
came up with a sorta gothic/country/hawaian sound as an experiment, which I took inspiration from
and started by taking advantage of the gothic part. We spent numerous hours on the "drawing" board
going through stages, changes and details until we pretty much finalised what the music would be.
Once the synth, drums and the rest of the instruments and effects parts were over, we recorded
the guitar parts during the last days of July, and on the 1st of August we finished with the mixing
and polishing.

Planet Risk follows a more progressive metal genre compared to last year's "I am you" and we believe
that it is more mature in terms of composition, atmosphere and production values (Hello Wonder =) )
considering the limited gear we have. I think it is destined to create large controversy among the
listeners as not everyone is really fond of more puncy sounds that include heavy distorted guitars.
Nevertheless, we hope that those who like the genre will enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed
composing it.
 
of Graphics

Not much work for a pixeller in Planet Risk, too many factors to explain here, but saying that
the pace at which the demo was developing was hard to catch up with, just about sums things up.
Lots of new stuff everyday, many diverse concepts and effects. The solution was to try
dressing around the actual demo with a discreet, yet imposing identity. Monochromatic,
simple and tribal, in constrast with the visual feast that navis provides.
 
Final words

Planet risk, like every other demo, was affected by the legacy of some noble groups and their 
masterpieces. 

We remember :


Non stop Ibiza experience / Orange 
: Beautiful Volumetric lights are the holy grail of demomaking

World of vodka / Fairlight
: Bloom effects used by fairlight in most of their productions

Doomsday / Complex 
: Fractals in modern demos can still be interesting

Variform / Kewlers  
: Because anisotropic lighting is cool

Nature V2 / Three pixels
Tesla / Sunflower 
: Because of their ambience / water effects

The Black Lotus amiga demos
: The progression of effects. The transition from ambience to full blast craze

Second Reality / Future crew
: Music is everything







See you all soon, 
.asd










