Splash DamageBlogNew Brink Developer Diary Slides, Mantles, Vaults

Splash Damage Blog

New Brink Developer Diary Slides, Mantles, Vaults

Submitted by badman on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 19:54

The latest Brink developer diary is here, featuring none other than the Sovereign of SMART, Technical Designer Aubrey 'Bezzy' Hesselgren. Short for Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain, SMART is Brink's freedom of movement system, allowing you to neatly vault, slide, and mantle your way through the environment and up/over/under any obstacles in your path.

In the developer diary, Aubrey describes how and why SMART initially came about, its development process, and how it all works internally. It's very interesting indeed - you can read it on the Brink website.

If you missed them earlier, don't forget to check out Paul Wegdwood's inaugural diary, Olivier Leonardi's diary about the art style, and Ed Sterns diary covering backstory and narrative.

9 Comments

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Shiv
Nice vaulting diagram ;D
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Posted on 10 June, 2010 - 20:00
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DarkangelUK
Very nice, i'm curious about the bots finding all possible routes... does this mean if they can't do a jump, then it's not possible? I've seen me working on W:ET trickjumps for hours before finally achieving it... don't really know how to take the notion that all possible jumps have been found and won't be 'new' really... well not to SD any way.
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Posted on 10 June, 2010 - 20:56
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Exedore
...does this mean if they can't do a jump, then it's not possible?\
It only means it's not possible through using the SMART system only. Manual movement is a different beast.
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Posted on 10 June, 2010 - 21:06
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DarkangelUK
Right so the bots were still at the limitations of SMART.. that's good to know :)
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Posted on 10 June, 2010 - 21:11
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0xT1
great info the diagrams help my movement-hype quite a bit =D :stroggtapir:
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Posted on 10 June, 2010 - 22:10
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LyndonL
Thanks Bezzy. That was a really informative diary! So where are people going to bind their smart button (PC)?? I'm thinking until I get used to it, Shift might be the easiest. Or TAB if I wanna leave sprint free for manual moves. I generally use tab as alt fire, and q as melee, so so long as there's no alt fire it should be right :D I find peaking around corners pretty useless compared to quick strafing so the lean buttons are usually used for melee and use.
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Posted on 11 June, 2010 - 02:16
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3Suns
Fantastic diary! :stroggtapir::stroggtapir::stroggtapir: And thanks for the clarification, Exedore! WOOO! [URL="http://thestranded.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/let-me-count-the-ways/"]Here [/URL]is how I covered it on my site. And for those who don't get the reference in the post title, check [URL="http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/elizabethbarrettbrowning/poems/sonnetsfromtheportuguese/howdoilovetheeletmecounttheways.html"]here[/URL].
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Posted on 11 June, 2010 - 05:47
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Bezzy
LyndonL: yeah, I'm finding Shift most comfortable for SMART (and LB for console). You can sprint without holding the button if you keep moving forward (or diagonal forward) after tapping sprint. So a hybrid system between a toggle and a hold for sprinting. I end up holding sprint most of the time I want to sprint, but release it when I see an obstacle nearby which I know I don't want to vault. I also throw in manual jumps while still holding sprint in order to maximize my speed over an obstacle.
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Posted on 11 June, 2010 - 16:45
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adhesive
the movement makes me very happy!:D
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Posted on 11 June, 2010 - 21:35