Shader: "Under Water" dosen't works ...

I always create the water as a transparent blue object -- which can be memory consuming, but if it works, it works. Either that or I would do my objects while shading them blue in the picture editor -- the slider marked "opacity" set to 25 or something. Works for me.

Distorts the object? You mean like water refraction? In any event, I always thought this would take up a lot of memory, and seems to be the stuff of programs far more sophisticated than anything Clickteam offers. For me, the simulation is far more important than the blatant wow -- games still need to run on imagination as much as technicals. Can you clarify what you meant by "take two effect together..."? I am also fluent in French if that would be helpful.

I think that you'd end up doing that with animation frames in active objects. If it's just supposed to be an explosion, why would you need an extension that generates underwater effects? Or are you going for the artistic license "cross process" to set a particular mood or to establish a signature or MO? But when you said "distortion" and "underwater effect extension" in the same sentence, I thought you were talking about water refraction, which would make sense if you were using an extension to create underwater effects.

Quote from OldLongDragon

I think that you'd end up doing that with animation frames in active objects. If it's just supposed to be an explosion, why would you need an extension that generates underwater effects? Or are you going for the artistic license "cross process" to set a particular mood or to establish a signature or MO? But when you said "distortion" and "underwater effect extension" in the same sentence, I thought you were talking about water refraction, which would make sense if you were using an extension to create underwater effects.

Shaders aren't extensions. They are a feature of HWA. They allow you to do all sorts of awesome graphical effects, such as making an active object look like water, or make an object only use 4 shades of green (like a game boy).

You can only apply one shader to an object, yes.

But you can also create your own shaders and combine as many effects in the shader as you want... So in theory you could take the code from a hue shift shader and a distortion shader, combine those together and the end result would be an effect like what you're after.

Honestly I would be surprised if someone hasn't already done this and posted it on the forum. Maybe try your luck at searching the forum for water effects. I swear I've seen this done before.

There's also examples of "explosion" effects where it distorts the screen

edit: Maybe Eagle's effects packs are what you're after?

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Water physics with distortion:
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He's essentially the master at MMF effects in my opinion:

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Check out at 40 seconds in... is that what you mean?

Basically, I have to resort to drawing things myself. I don't have access to posing software and all that, and sometimes the exact element you're looking for doesn't exist. In that underwater scene for example, what if you were trying to suggest something seen in lower two layers of the ocean: the abyss or the trenches? Nobody really knows what's down there, and thus a generic underwater effect wouldn't apply -- maybe yes, maybe no. And I am not sure what an "HWA" is when it's home. Oh, and Gameboys don't display in shades of green. That depends on the contrast setting -- it can seem almost yellow or grey even. Really, it's supposed to show white, light grey, dark grey and black, with some distortion from those early calculator style LCD's.

Quote from OldLongDragon

Basically, I have to resort to drawing things myself. I don't have access to posing software and all that, and sometimes the exact element you're looking for doesn't exist. In that underwater scene for example, what if you were trying to suggest something seen in lower two layers of the ocean: the abyss or the trenches? Nobody really knows what's down there, and thus a generic underwater effect wouldn't apply -- maybe yes, maybe no. And I am not sure what an "HWA" is when it's home. Oh, and Gameboys don't display in shades of green. That depends on the contrast setting -- it can seem almost yellow or grey even. Really, it's supposed to show white, light grey, dark grey and black, with some distortion from those early calculator style LCD's.

HWA isn't an object, it stands for "HardWare Acceleration".

On that note, I came across a video of Super Mario Bros Wii on YouTube. While it is definitely state of the art, it does not involve too many underwater refraction effects. Basically, what it involves is a layer of translucent blue and a movement so that Mario moves as in water. Of course you would have to have the underwater flora and fauna, shipwreck, fish et cetera, but I found that underwater refractions, even in professional big box productions, might be an optional bit of wow that is not always used. Again, we're not arguing but it is ultimately up to the signature of the individual creator -- and although cinematography in gaming may be underrated, sometimes a good game is so fast paced that you wouldn't have time to do much sightseeing...

My shader of choice for an underwater effect would be Looki's offset shader. It distorts everything behind the object horizontally based on the red channel, and vertically based on the green channel. A red of 0 distorts to the left, 128 not at all, and 255 distorts to the right. Green works the same way, but with up and down. Please login to see this link. uses it.

Quote from OldLongDragon

On that note, I came across a video of Super Mario Bros Wii on YouTube. While it is definitely state of the art, it does not involve too many underwater refraction effects. Basically, what it involves is a layer of translucent blue and a movement so that Mario moves as in water. Of course you would have to have the underwater flora and fauna, shipwreck, fish et cetera, but I found that underwater refractions, even in professional big box productions, might be an optional bit of wow that is not always used. Again, we're not arguing but it is ultimately up to the signature of the individual creator -- and although cinematography in gaming may be underrated, sometimes a good game is so fast paced that you wouldn't have time to do much sightseeing...

I have to agree and disagree with you on this. New Super Mario Bros Wii isn't state-of-the-art. However, I do agree that some graphical effects aren't actually noticeable when you are actually playing the game itself, and are only noticeable in screenshots. However, an underwater refraction effect could actually make the game more challenging, as the player can't actually see as well with the refraction effect getting in the way. However, you also said that some people might want such effects in their games anyway, so, overall, I have to agree with you on this one.

Whether it's new or not is moot here. I was actually watching the Youtube video to notice this. But really, this is one thing I have noticed about some state of the art games, such as TMNT: Reshelled for example. Sometimes the screen is too dark, particularly in the pirate ship stage, or the orange glow they used in the dinosaur stage, or the green filter they used in the sewer. And even before that, some critics panned Castlevania Circle of the Moon because the palette was too dark to be seen on an ordinary Game Boy Advance. It may be verisimilitude but you want to be careful -- I found even with games like Super Metroid, the background used too dark a palette to be truly appreciated here. Having the challenge from the player not being able to see can be a mixed bag at best.

Quote from OldLongDragon

Whether it's new or not is moot here. I was actually watching the Youtube video to notice this. But really, this is one thing I have noticed about some state of the art games, such as TMNT: Reshelled for example. Sometimes the screen is too dark, particularly in the pirate ship stage, or the orange glow they used in the dinosaur stage, or the green filter they used in the sewer. And even before that, some critics panned Castlevania Circle of the Moon because the palette was too dark to be seen on an ordinary Game Boy Advance. It may be verisimilitude but you want to be careful -- I found even with games like Super Metroid, the background used too dark a palette to be truly appreciated here. Having the challenge from the player not being able to see can be a mixed bag at best.

It's easy enough to see things in Super Metroid, with the exception of the rooms that are purposely hard to see in because they are dark rooms with enemies that keep the room lit up.

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There's a video of the water refraction in Sonic Worlds. So, this effect is definitely possible in MMF2. I never personally played around with anything like this, but, I'm sure it needs to be in HWA.

Quote from happygreenfrog

It's easy enough to see things in Super Metroid, with the exception of the rooms that are purposely hard to see in because they are dark rooms with enemies that keep the room lit up.

I do know all about the rooms full of Firefleas. But what I meant is the background is too dark to truly appreciate the cinematography and the graphical touches that went into it. This could very well be an artist's signature, as would be the water effect used thereof -- or at least we assume it's water in Maridia, which involves making the water out of hexagonal scales or cells. That creates a cool effect and is relatively simple to do, I am sure.

Quote from OldLongDragon

I do know all about the rooms full of Firefleas. But what I meant is the background is too dark to truly appreciate the cinematography and the graphical touches that went into it. This could very well be an artist's signature, as would be the water effect used thereof -- or at least we assume it's water in Maridia, which involves making the water out of hexagonal scales or cells. That creates a cool effect and is relatively simple to do, I am sure.

I didn't know about the water effect in Maridia being made out of hexagons. I can see what you mean when you say you are graphically-minded now.

Quote from happygreenfrog

I didn't know about the water effect in Maridia being made out of hexagons. I can see what you mean when you say you are graphically-minded now.

It seems more like "scales" where they seem smaller, more closely bunched together, and flatter close to the surface of the water, and get wider and bigger as you head for the bottom. They also used that effect in Metroid: Zero Mission for the GameBoy Advance. But it's a cool effect, and it's easier to see through than the static stars or bubbles seen in Kirby's Dream Land.