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Graphics
The technology behind the graphics of Outcast sports many cool sounding features. The game will include 6 worlds with 52,000 animation frames and up to 20 textures per character. There will also be 163,000 voxels displayed per frame and 24 million voxels per world. That's a lot of voxels. A voxel is a pixel with height, in other words, a 3D pixel. Although the technology is different than what most gamers are used to as far as 3D acceleration, it promises to run smoothly, and there isn't any doubt it looks great.
Outcast uses techniques like real time skin deformation and real time bump mapping for rendering characters. When asked if this technology could be used for a character (such as Cutter Slade) to get an erection during the game, Appeal developer Olivier Masclef responded, "We do have procedural animation we could use for that but ##censorship##…" Too bad also, because they could have made a sexy Talan say something like, "Hey is that a teleporter in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Talans are made up of essence and do not have blood, so you won't see any familiar type of real time damage on enemies. Each model has three variations, all with different polygon counts so slower computers can use models with less polygons to improve performance.
The animation should be especially smooth also. Outcast's characters feature motion capture technology to create the basic elements of motion. The unique thing involved in the animation process is that the characters are designed to adapt to any given situation. Procedural animation is used to accomplish this. The way it works is when a certain event occurs, the characters can respond to that event. If you're running around peeing on trees again, George may turn his head in your direction to see what all the commotion is about. There are also real time inverse kinematics being used for legs to stick close to stairs or to follow rough terrain. The use of several other techniques will allow smooth transitions between different actions like walking and running.
Although the characters constitute a big section of a game's graphics, another important aspect is the world in which the game takes place. Adelpha looks beautiful, combining lush graphics and an expansive area. It's the perfect place to run around nude and be one with nature…except, it isn't Earth. So you can never be sure what to expect. Outcast has large and detailed outside areas which helps make it at least a little different, since most games do not feature an entire simulated world.
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