Dioramas and Color Look Up Tables

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]The video above is of eighteen different themed dioramas shown in five different lighting conditions, one after another. These five lighting conditions (or “weather” files) are called:

• green mood
  
• orange mood
  
• pink mood
  
• blue mood
  
• pitch black
  

The weather files decide the basic lighting in terms of what color the direct light is, what color the ambient light is, and what direction and height the light is coming from in the game. The first four moods also use an associated Color Look Up Table, which is a feature new to Brigador Killers. CLUTs are screenspace shaders that can change how these colors look on screen in a fashion similar to color grading. In other words, all of the arranged assets in the eighteen different dioramas are not different colored buildings. Instead, what’s changing is some basic lighting information (which is kept in a .json file) and a .png file for the CLUT that’s only ~10 kilobytes in size, which lets us create completely different moods using the same scene. Dave is included because he has a flashlight on his chest rig and gun that we use to light up some of the assets when the dioramas get darker.


Accompanying the video is an ambient track composed by Makeup And Vanity Set. The track is titled “Faber” and is one of several that have been composed for the game in addition to the OST.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Why it happens is because you are not seeing “true” three dimensional models - you are actually looking at flat two dimensional quadrilaterals, or “sprites”, so the engine is repeatedly casting “slices” of the sprite rather than creating a regular looking shadow. Here is a longer explanation of the art pipeline if you are interested in learning more. At some point down the line the “staircasing” effect of the shadows in the game will disappear, so please enjoy it while it lasts.
That’s all for this month, but do tell us which mood and diorama was your favorite before you head off on holiday?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/903930/Brigador_Killers/