I extended the physics engine to support ligament and muscle constraints, and then attached them to a skeleton model to demonstrate how the shoulder joint works.

Link to youtube video.

There are two excellent single-player campaigns for Lugaru made by forum users Silb and Jendraz. They are both longer and more in-depth than the original Lugaru campaign, and use a lot of engine features in innovative ways that I hadn’t thought of. Click on these links to try the Empire and Temple campaigns!

The point-stick-triangle physics described in the previous post is very good for quickly defining articulated bodies, but it is not appropriate for simulating large numbers of colliding rigid bodies. I am experimenting with different methods to handle these cases: here is a screenshot of a standard box collision test using ODE (Open Dynamics Engine) integration. We can use our old system for special physics like characters and plants, and ODE for large numbers of simpler objects.

Here is a link to a video of the new physics in action. 

I managed to combine my Wolfire work with Swarthmore class work by improving my physics engine and creating a small web page about how it works. You can find it here if you are interested; it has screenshots and videos of it in action.

I started to revisit the terrain surface shading today, and implemented parallax mapping to give a greater feeling of depth to the ground.

We are working on a new design for the blog (and site in general); I suppose I don’t have to include a screenshot.

For those of you that don’t follow the forum, you are missing out on a lot of great stuff. Lucky for you, I am going to highlight three of my favorite things that have popped up.

First in the spotlight, we have Silb’s Lugaru total conversion: Lugaru Temple. This replaces the original campaign in Lugaru and puts you in control of Turner’s brother Sven. For screenshots and instructions on how to install it, see the original thread. Yes, with virtually no help from David, Silb managed to reverse engineer Lugaru’s mapping code and breathe new life into Lugaru. Silb’s campaign is longer, features a relatively complicated story line involving multiple controllable characters, and really pushes the Lugaru engine to the limit, with things that you wouldn’t think possible in a third party map.

Secondly, we have Vib Rib’s incredible Lugaru web comic.

I have mirrored the first seven installments on the Wolfire site here but I also suggest you read the original thread to get all of the discussion and background.

And finally, we have another contribution from Silb just a few days old: Lugaru the Musical. It needs no further introduction.