January, 2009

The most complicated part of the MotoGP rider animation was the crash sequences. These were controlled by the physics engine, which modeled the rider as a simple sphere, computing how it should slide, tumble, and bounce off obstacles. The animation system...

We wanted the MotoGP bikes to show visible damage after they crashed. This wasn't a core feature, just a nice-to-have if we could make it work without too much effort. These were the days of shader model 1.1, which is limited to 8 pixel shader instructions...

The MotoGP sun effect started out similar to this XNA Framework lensflare sample: Use a GPU occlusion query to detect when the sun is visible Draw a big and very soft glow sprite Draw a series of smaller lensflare sprites But we weren't satisfied. If...

While answering a question on the Creators Club forums , I found myself thinking about the difference between general purpose rendering techniques, which tend to be flexible, reusable, and widely understood, versus game specific hacks, which rely on creativity...

Before I joined Microsoft, I had never heard the term "test cost". (cue joke about how this is because I used to work in game development, and game developers never bother to test anything :-) But of course I tested my work. Every good developer...