Remember Brink?

This talk, delivered at GDC 2012 by Splash Damage's Arne Olav Hallingstad, presents a detailed programmer-oriented overview of the freedom of movement implementation in the studio's 2011 multiplayer shooter Brink.

From initial prototype to the shipping-quality implementation three years later, Hallingstad went into detail on how generating a list of all freedom of movement possibilities via an analysis of the world geometry in a precomputation phase can drastically reduce run-time cost, as well as avoid the need for manually placed hint objects by level designers.

It was surprisingly interesting, and Hallingstad also gave devs a deep look at the studio's lightweight run-time implementation for real-time ledge detection, ensuring a Brink player enters the correct physics states and correctly connects with world geometry as they move.

Brink's traversal system was one of its most talked-about features at the time, so if you missed seeing Hallingstad's talk live, take advantage of the fact that you can now watch it for free over on the GDC YouTube channel! 

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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