Ngage: One. Dev says normal mapping ingame.

[Apoc]

What technology does the game run on?

XCC: We have technology that was built especially for the N-Gage platform. Our previous experience in PC HQ technology has allowed us to recreate known cutting-edge PC techniques such as normal mapping, characters with skinning or shadows in real-time.

http://ngage.gamezone.com/news/08_24_05_04_27AM.htm

Could this be possible? The dev says it uses normal mapping in this game. I don't think the ngage 100mhz processor could handle that.

What do you think?

 

[Guden Oden]

It's 200MHz I believe, but still a pretty darn slow chip. And normal mapping, well, it might be faked, or maybe only used on certain polys. Or maybe the guy means something else entirely when he says normal mapping, that certainly wouldn't be unheard of, especially as he refers to skinning as a "cutting-edge technique"...

 

[Mintmaster]

Well, 100MHz for a 176x208 screen @ 30fps means 90 cycles per pixel, so it's possible. I'm not too familiar with N-Gage's processor though. I've seen some pretty amazing software 3D engines run ~30fps at 640x480 on a Pentium 166, and that's only 20 cycles per pixel. Motorhead was one of them. I couldn't understand how they did it, especially when I was writing a 3D engine myself.

Maybe he's using old school emboss bump mapping.

 

[Apoc]

It's 200MHz I believe, but still a pretty darn slow chip. And normal mapping, well, it might be faked, or maybe only used on certain polys. Or maybe the guy means something else entirely when he says normal mapping, that certainly wouldn't be unheard of, especially as he refers to skinning as a "cutting-edge technique"...

It's 105 mhz, without FPU.

 

[Guden Oden]

Well, 100MHz for a 176x208 screen @ 30fps means 90 cycles per pixel, so it's possible.

It also has to do sound in software, AND run all the game code and input handling as well. Plus some OS overhead, listen for incoming calls and such I would assume.

 

[darkblu]

It also has to do sound in software, AND run all the game code and input handling as well. Plus some OS overhead, listen for incoming calls and such I would assume.

yep. but i would be very surprised if the game was actually running at solid 30fps. also, i can't remember if the arm in there didn't actually have some thumb extention or something..

 

[see colon]

i downloaded the one demo to have a look...
the characters do indeed apear to be normal mapped. it's a little sloppy and there's lots of banding, but they look pretty good. the environments are standard textured poly's, but look detailed enough. this is probably the best technical example of whet the ngage is capable of. i would guess that the framerate is about 15-20FPS.

as for the game itself, it's ok. not the best fighter i've ever played, but pretty good for a handheld, and definatly the best the nage has to offer.

 

[Fox5]

i downloaded the one demo to have a look...
the characters do indeed apear to be normal mapped. it's a little sloppy and there's lots of banding, but they look pretty good. the environments are standard textured poly's, but look detailed enough. this is probably the best technical example of whet the ngage is capable of. i would guess that the framerate is about 15-20FPS.

as for the game itself, it's ok. not the best fighter i've ever played, but pretty good for a handheld, and definatly the best the nage has to offer.

Are they actual 3d characters, or are they prerendered normal mapped models with tons of frames and some sprite manipulation thrown in?

 

[see colon]

they're 3d. i thought they were sprites from looking at the screenshots, but they're 3d. in the demo durring the character creation you can rotate the model and they scale in and out while you're changing the gear. there's quite a bit of customization as well. while zoomed in i noticed a few anomalies. my fighters left elbo doesn't appear to be normal mapped. it looks like a flesh toned flat poly, and the flesh tone doesn't match the flesh tone i selected for his body. also, there are some clipping issues with the dreadlocks hair style. some of the dreads that should be visable from both sides are only visable from one.

 

[Squeak]

But still, on a 176x208 screen?! I'm shocked it's so low res. Did they stick on a standard phone screen? It's barely more than the original Gameboy from 1989.
Even C64 can do some form of bumpmapping mapping (in demos so far) and Atari 800 actually looks kind of good at it, in some Polish demos running at 120x90.

 

[Nappe1]

I've seen some pretty amazing software 3D engines run ~30fps at 640x480 on a Pentium 166, and that's only 20 cycles per pixel. Motorhead was one of them. I couldn't understand how they did it, especially when I was writing a 3D engine myself.

Digital Illusions guys also wrote pretty darn good 2D engines during AMIGA / 286 era. Pinball Fantasies, for example can be ran more than 25 fps in 80286 12MHz with 4 channel mod playing via Sound Blaster Pro with 16KHz mixing rate for every frame.

 

[Nappe1]

....
Even C64 can do some form of bumpmapping mapping ...

watch Soiled Legacy by Resource. That is some really good stuff. (lot's of old Amiga effects ported directly to unmodified, non-expanded C64.)

 

[akira888]

But still, on a 176x208 screen?! I'm shocked it's so low res. Did they stick on a standard phone screen?

Well, 176x208 seems to be the universal resolution for Series 60 phones - on my 3660, my mother's 6620, and my brother's Ngage.

On second thought, some of newer devices did have QVGA+ screens IIRC, but this is relatively recent feature.

 

[Mintmaster]

It also has to do sound in software, AND run all the game code and input handling as well. Plus some OS overhead, listen for incoming calls and such I would assume.

You'd be surprised how little CPU power you need for those things. Sure, you can use as much CPU power as you want, but a functional game could easily get by with only a few percent of CPU time devoted to all non-graphics game code.