Behind the Voxel - How voxels in Selaco are created

Heads up: animated GIF's are used in this blog post which will not display on mobile devices. Send your complaints to Patreon about this issue!

Here's a fun fact: Back in the early days of development, Selaco used full 3D models, normal/bump mapping and PBR materials. It looked pixelated yet very high-end at the same time. It didn't take long for me to realize that it just looked wrong especially because we still used sprites. There was a huge disconnect between the world, the enemies and the player weapon.

A few months later, the user fgsfds (known for his voxel work on Blood: Fresh Supply and Ion Fury) approached me and asked if he could convert the models into voxels. He did not need more convincing than that, it was an instant ''yes''.

As time went on, we realized the scope of the project was far too big for one person to handle, so we brought Borion on board to create brand new voxel objects from scratch, who is well known for his Sprite to Voxel conversions for Duke Nukem 3D.

The challenge here is that voxels are not exactly ''one and done''. Given our emphasis on destruction and weapon feedback, the decision was made to create a ton of different variations of existing voxels. A chair, for example, will have scorch marks on them when destroyed by a grenade, will have holes in its plastic frames when shot by an assault rifle, or will simply blow to bits when hit by the powerful blast of a shotgun or taking too much damage.

Voxels are also often used as Particle Effects. With the Honeycomb cases and Crates (among many others) we spawn individual chucks as they get shoot which feels immensely satisfying. At times I wonder what the real reward is; killing the enemy or missing a shot and killing whatever object lies behind him?

Next week on Patreon: Our Realms Deep gameplay demo!

Again, thanks for supporting this project of ours! We're still brainstorming Voxel ideas so if you have something fun in mind, sound off below. We're open to ideas!

Wesley de Waart