Though, SOTE is still being developed, and the pace is faster than before.
Sometimes all I can do is to jump through hyperspace towards what I like the most, whatever the cost is, enjoying the travel.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Travelling through hyperspace
Sometimes, when real life is like a big Australian wave of problems (no, not one to ride happily even if you're a professional surfer), reserving even a small amount of time for your passions seems just impossible. The big wave sweeps you away.
Though, SOTE is still being developed, and the pace is faster than before.
Sometimes all I can do is to jump through hyperspace towards what I like the most, whatever the cost is, enjoying the travel.
This is a snapshot of the new hyperspace effect I've recently coded in Multimedia Fusion. It's one of the few things I'm totally happy with, given my usual ferocious self-criticism.
Though, SOTE is still being developed, and the pace is faster than before.
Sometimes all I can do is to jump through hyperspace towards what I like the most, whatever the cost is, enjoying the travel.
Friday, November 11, 2011
A new beginning: the SOTE Prologue
Another small update to show some images from the new SOTE Prologue, the intro sequence coded in Multimedia Fusion which opens the game. It's a very powerful scene from The Empire strikes back, and a very popular one, only seen from another point of view and in the presence of a new witness, the crimelord Prince Xizor. Those familiar with the SOTE novelization will recall that as the prologue chapter of the novel itself, in which Xizor discovers the relationship between Vader and Luke and plots to destroy Vader killing his son, at the same time making him fall from the Emperor's grace. Nonetheless, there's a difference with the prologue written by Steve Perry for the novel: the lines of both the Emperor and Vader have been updated to match the new dialogue of the 2004 DVD edition of TESB, which back in 1996 probably was only in Lucas' mind.
The scene, as some others that will appear in SOTE, is not an avi/mpeg/flv/etc. movie cutscene externally loaded but a series of events coded into the program, so everything happens in realtime. A funny example is that the thick airspeeder traffic in the skies of Coruscant is controlled by a bunch of code lines that generate every time different vehicles. Every time you launch the game something different will happen in the sky lanes!
The scene, as some others that will appear in SOTE, is not an avi/mpeg/flv/etc. movie cutscene externally loaded but a series of events coded into the program, so everything happens in realtime. A funny example is that the thick airspeeder traffic in the skies of Coruscant is controlled by a bunch of code lines that generate every time different vehicles. Every time you launch the game something different will happen in the sky lanes!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
The Save engine is complete
Just a short update to point out the completion of the save/load engine.
A new feature the old SOTE didn't have -as well as many other graphic adventures- has been added: the autosave. Its usefulness is evident, you don't have to worry about losing your progresses in case the system hangs up, while you still can save the game every time you need to go back to a particular story point.
No pre-defined checkpoints, just a quick autosave every time you enter a game room or every 10 minutes you stay in a room AND you're not idle having a coffee...
A new feature the old SOTE didn't have -as well as many other graphic adventures- has been added: the autosave. Its usefulness is evident, you don't have to worry about losing your progresses in case the system hangs up, while you still can save the game every time you need to go back to a particular story point.
No pre-defined checkpoints, just a quick autosave every time you enter a game room or every 10 minutes you stay in a room AND you're not idle having a coffee...
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
SOTE is back on track
You're right. The risk is that this game could become a new Duke Nukem Forever. It's a risk I want to avoid - note the "I": this is no longer a team of three people, I'm alone working on it, and if three were few, one is less and the task is harder to complete.
I appreciate your urgency to see something finished and I think you'll be rewarded anyway. And yes, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but that's a limit I must overcome if I don't want to slow down the project too much.
The last year has been very tough, not only beacuse I'm the only surviving member of the team, but also for the birth of my son Alessandro, the most time consuming device for the once perfect "nerd life" that now isn't so nerd anymore but finally IS perfect and complete. Thank you: you take time, yes, but you give joy. Much joy.
I appreciate your urgency to see something finished and I think you'll be rewarded anyway. And yes, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but that's a limit I must overcome if I don't want to slow down the project too much.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
More pleasure in the Pleasure Temple
I can already foresee an increasing number of comments on this post. Who knows why?
Maybe it's related to twi'leks... But the real deal is inside!
I'd like to point out that each game 'room' has a lot of animations which can't be displayed in these static backgrounds. The few who tested the alpha version of SOTE's first chapter witnessed the great amount of things moving up, particularly in the streets of Worlport, Ord Mantell's main city. Today's expanded background it's just from Worlport's casino quarters.
Maybe it's related to twi'leks... But the real deal is inside!
I'd like to point out that each game 'room' has a lot of animations which can't be displayed in these static backgrounds. The few who tested the alpha version of SOTE's first chapter witnessed the great amount of things moving up, particularly in the streets of Worlport, Ord Mantell's main city. Today's expanded background it's just from Worlport's casino quarters.
Monday, January 31, 2011
A wider, bigger, better, cooler Ord Mantell
I know, it's just another post about graphics (that's what I'm working on these days, so live with it or click away!).
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Scaling up and widening the good old stuff
Just a little update to show the results of the process of scaling up and widening our backgrounds from 640*480 to 1280*720. Here you can see the Ord Mantell landing point where Dash Rendar's Outrider waits, 'parked' in the immense space junkyard.
It's a matter of adding detail to an upscaled image (only rarely it's been recreated from scratch), redesigning parts of it and adding scenery to fit the widescreen aspect ratio, which forces us to show more of each location.
It's a matter of adding detail to an upscaled image (only rarely it's been recreated from scratch), redesigning parts of it and adding scenery to fit the widescreen aspect ratio, which forces us to show more of each location.
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