Virulent SophtWear
Virul-Glider V1.0
Josh Smallman
Mjumbe Poe
Zach Clegg
Game Overview
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Virul-Glider is a 3D-flight simulator The goal is to
pilot the glider through a series of courses by
navigating gates and catching thermals. Avoid
falling in the water!
The first level is easy, with no thermals.
Introduces landing. Upon completion, next level
loads, which introduces turning. The next level
contains thermals, and so on… The game
continues until you run out of lives and have to
start over.
Viewpoint & Controls
 The viewpoint is third person and slightly above
 Pitch and Roll is controlled by the X and Y axis of the mouse, but only
active when the left mouse button is depressed. Yaw stabilization is
applied to simulate a real aircraft’s tail effects.
 Stabilization of [P]itch, [Y]aw, & [R]oll can be turned on and off by
player at any time, depending on player’s skill level. Degree of
stabilization and control ‘gain’ could be varied to represent different
types of aircraft.
 Up & Forward vector [0] and Velocity vector [9] can be toggled during
flight time for training purposes. (training/debugging)
 Hitting [B]oost gives afterburner effect of velocity boost in the direction
of the forward vector. (training/debugging)
Objectives of the Game:
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Navigate the course by passing through goals. Order doesn’t
matter.
Hit thermals to increase vertical height – Particles!
Land on the Target at the end of the course after passing
through all the gates. If you missed a gate and land on the
finish, then you retry the level from the launch point, but the
gates are not reset and you don’t lose a life. Landings must
be at a slow enough speed and small enough angle in order
to be considered successful!
Avoid falling into the water before you reach the end of the
level.
Players need to master the dynamics of flight and thermals in
order to navigate the obstacle course. Advanced players can
pull off tricks with their glider!
Major Solved Risks:
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1. Quaternion – imaginary numbers in 3D
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2. Aerodynamics –
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Sky is mapped to giant sphere, water mapped to giant disk.
6. Particle Effects for Thermals
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Camera looks between velocity vector and forward vector.
5. Sky, Water
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Simple closest point on a line - distance between path of glider and circle (gates) or cylinder
(thermals). Gates do have Normal Vectors which are utilized for directional gates.
4. Camera Follows Glider
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basic flight equations for lift, drag (in multiple directions), and gravity.
Automatic Yaw stabilization is essential for realistic flight characteristics.. Just try turning it off to
see what it’s like to fly a plane without a tail!
Implemented complex versions of equations which allows for later expansion of different types of
aircraft.
3. Collision Detection with Gates & Thermals
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Rotations are pretty simple, don’t require translations or matrices
250 particles per thermal, only drawn when within 500 units to conserve processing power.
6. Import 3d Model
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Supports different models. Had fun integrating Corey’
Remaining Risks
None!
Possible v2 Additions:
 Altimeter, Velocimeter
 More levels?
 Gate Obstacles
UML Diagram
Screenshot