Chris Roberts calls it "a menacing mass of planet fragments and static electrical storms," senior graphics programmer Ben Parry "a technical nightmare." The Coil is a dangerous patch of space that will feature in Squadron 42, the single player component of the Star Citizen project.
The vast planetary fragments are full of delicious resources for pilots brave enough to fly into the deadly electrical clouds. Those fluffy, layered clouds turn out to be difficult to render. In the video above the devs talk through a few of the tricks they used to create the final effect, which you can see in the work-in-progress video below.
The final effect is impressive, particularly when you start seeing how the lighting system interacts with the cloud tech to create dynamic, shifting effects. It triggers fond memories of Freespace 2's nebula battles.
This video is the latest in a monthly series of shows produced by CIG. Future editions will feature "detailed project reports." In other Star Citizen news the developers recently confirmed that you won't be able to keep ships that you steal in the 'verse.
