The Baseline
The overall vision of this project is to create a simulation of a New York street during rainy weather, where the player can influence factors like intensity and wind direction to dynamically change the scene. What I have here is my first draft so to speak, a proof of concept.
I sketched out the main scene, using Google Maps street view for inspiration. I’d say it went well, but I’d rather get actual references in person for more accuracy and inspiration about what to include. The particles are relatively basic, using layers and collision detection to sell the depth of the scene. The character animates as I would want, maybe a little too actively. The lights get across the idea of the scene and affect the environment around them.
This represents the baseline for what I want to achieve. For the most part this is everything I want but it’s missing a lot of the subtle details that really sell it.
Audio
Well most obviously it's missing audio which plays a big part in selling a scene like this. I plan to add a basic layer that fades in and out for now but I would like to find a more comprehensive way to handle it in the future. The camera won’t move so 3D audio is less of a factor, but I want to handle audio as surgically as possible. Keeping the mix wide enough to capture the pitter patter of drops on a roof and the splashes of a passing car.
Lighting
As of now the lighting is relatively basic, just a couple of point lights spread around the scene. But there are some limitations that I want to address going forward. First off, the lights don’t have a sense of depth. As they are now, they are projected on the scene from the camera view, meaning objects cannot occlude light paths, leading to challenges in areas like the scaffolding where lights have to interact with multiple layers. Ideally the subway light would light the areas around it normally, then apply a rim light to the pole in front of it. I’m hopeful normal maps will help address the issue but we’ll see what other tricks I might need.
Another issue is their interactions with the particles. In real life, headlights and lamps in thunderstorms fully illuminate passing drops, adding a lot to the atmosphere of the scene. Here, that’s not given for free. The lights still illuminate the particles, but the effect is subtle at best. A possible solution would be to set up really strong lights that interact with the drops specifically or to fiddle with the material settings a bit.
Particles
The particles are doing well for now, very close to convincing, but there are a few more steps before they are where I want them. First off there are some easy things, a gradient on each drop would add a subtle finish to them that I think would look nice at low resolutions. Right now there are two plates of rain, one for the main scene and one for the foreground. A balance will have to be found to make the two believable. I want the umbrellas to have a noticeable effect on rainfall in their areas, but not in a way that blocks all rain entirely.
Then there’s also the splashes. Right now they are another particle system, manually set on each surface that approximate the amount of splashes needed to convey the rainfall. Ideally each raindrop would summon its own splash animation but at a scale of hundreds, that isn’t feasible if computing power is to be conserved. Maybe this would work well at lighter levels as there would be less drops to consider. And then there are different types of splashes, splashes straight on the ground, splashes into puddles, and splashes from footsteps. And how would angles factor in?
Reflections
Reflections are also a big thing. I put a lot of windows in the scene as that matched my references, but I’m not 100% sure how I’m going to handle them. I don’t have a second side of the street so I’m pretty sure I’ll just be reflecting what is in front of them. I know mechanically I could do it by rendering whatever is in front of it again, but this won’t always work. My sprites don’t have back faces, so the “reflections” would look like they are facing towards the window. I could solve this in three ways, ignore it, black out reflections to silhouettes, or make backfacing versions of each animation.
Puddles are comparatively smoother, just a vertical reflection of the scene above that is masked by a puddle sprite mask. This puddle could grow bigger or smaller depending on the rainfall.
Post Processing
When it comes to projects like this, post processing effects can add a lot for very little. SOme of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are bloom and lens flares, any subtle effects that can add to the effectiveness of the scene as a whole.
Scene Animation
A lot of subtle stuff should be animated in the scene to add life. Slight flickers in the light, pigeon, etc. but also animations regarding how rain drips off surfaces. Under scaffolding, rain collects, forming natural gutters that guide rain from above into focused areas. I think adding there will add a lot to the immersion of the scene.
Character Animation
Right now the figure I have sits idly in the scene. In the final project I want multiple agents, each moving around distinctly, with smoothly transitioning animations and stories that can be followed. I want the wind to influence where they point their umbrella. I want them to sometimes have to switch to holding with two hands to beat back particularly harsh conditions. I want to be able to knock them off balance, forcing them to retrieve their umbrellas. I want umbrellas to invert if held improperly. I want agents who occasionally pull out their phone while walking that dynamically light the area around them. I want their footfalls to match their walking speed, dynamically shifting from walk to run seamlessly. There’s a lot I want to add and we’ll see how much I get.
Overall
There are still more things that would need to be added. UI, input systems, a character customizer if I can (more on that later); but those are all supplementary to the goal. In terms of creating an immersive, atmospheric experience, these are the main things I need to achieve. So, let's get to it!
