Capable? =)

Work in progress. These will be popped on the jewel cases, respectively.

Font?

Messing with the font. Everything in the game will include different language options (Spanish, Swedish, German, Italian, etc) and the font changes according to which option you select. I spoke to a friend of mine who lives over in China and he agreed to completely font the game for Chinese (using a font similar to Blood's). The graphic novels will be reworked to read like a manga (right to left) so it'll be interesting having to reverse all of the code once it gets finished. I improved upon Fusion's graphic novel code for 1.29.2 (Dreamcast), since I had to force the engine to only accept JPG (PNG was never loadable in the release and Chui never got around to it, so it would only display correctly half the time). JPG, while a loss in quality will provide the system less time to render them.

HUD?

I might be abandoning the HUD that I used for Fusion (silhouette graphic) for a more familiar one from Blood II: The Chosen. Simply being that it might be too simplistic for a Blood game. I will put out a video showing the differences between the two. I might also just make it an option in the game config.

The Dreamcast version does not have LUA so instead you will get the Blood 2 HUD. I might also make it an option in the Menu to use the original Blood HUD if I get time to work on that.

I would really like to get your suggestions.

Also, on another note, musician Ashley Tarrant has joined the project to work on a couple of tracks for Hypertension. He's currently remixing Unholy, as soon as I upload the demo MP3 I will have it posted in the side bar for you all to comment on. Another musician, Jacques Wayne, will also be working on the soundtrack. I will give you all samples soon.

Finally

Talked to some people, made some suggestions. She's not quite gothic but she's not totally boring, either. This is almost her final look (going to add a tattoo of the Blood handprint in later drafts).

I felt that her earlier look didn't quite fit the overall theme, as I was also suggested. Becca is busy modifying her storyline a little.

I found no author for her so permission is unable to be obtained. After I modify her this is going to be Aurelia, and it's final.

Comments are welcome. We are going to start drawing up reference sprites and start the graphic novel art.

As for the physical development, I tweaked the game a bit more today in minor areas. The last week or so has mostly been bug fixes, etc. I will actually restart soon enough. Help is wanted!

Interesting After-Effects

Well a new version of EDGE was released, so naturally I go straight into Hyper and the engine crashes! Turns out I was missing states for the SPRAYCAN that I forgot and then about 20 more errors followed when I finished with it. I got them all dialed in. The secondary attack not only launches the spraycan out but when it explodes several shards from the can itself explode and continue to stay lit for several minutes (so you have to be careful walking over them and of the explosion itself). I'm still missing several sprites I have yet to obtain, so the can EJECTS a ton of question marks ;)

Interesting bug I found was the Flare Pistol fires at a rate so quick that you can kill high HP enemies in a matter of seconds (not counting reload time!). So I have to fix that, in the meantime I need to find out how many tics in between constantly firing the Flare gun in Blood so I can match the time.

So I changed the Dynamic Light value from QUADRATIC (old style) to MODULATE (which is what I use for Environment Lighting, like the 3d lightposts) and it turned out to completely light the entire area (they were changed and I just forgot about it). An example is when you have the lighter out. Before it would just brighten it enough (but you had to get close, realistically). Now it's like having a mini-Sun with you. I'll end up changing it later tonight and posting before/after.

I'm quite happy with the way the project is turning out. I was also able to obtain permission from the Transfusion team to use their models in my project, so all 3d models will have a disclaimer (the ones from Transfusion) in the REU(WAD) file. So far MD3 is converting over nicely to MD2 without animations, though. That's just a little out of my league (but I'm using mostly static objects anyway).

I'm starting the Axe Zombie today, again. The first write was retarded and nothing worked right (would JUMP to irrevelant frames, attacks) so I'm taking a different approach to it.

I'll keep you all updated.

New writer

I have acquired a new writer for Hypertension, and her name is Rebecca Lima. She likes to write huge, expansive stories and I needed help recreating the storyline from Blood so she was the best choice. She will be developing Aurelia's storyline, while I will (try) to concentrate on Caleb's.

I'm also looking for some musicians who would be willing to remix a couple (not a lot) tracks from Blood and Blood II. We're going for a new sound style but it would be nice to hear some familiar tunes, wouldn't it?

Well I was messing with the skybox today and it lagged the game, bad. It didn't show up (only as a solid black sky) and for some reason was draining the game's resources. I will look into it again to see why it's not showing up. EDIT: I had most of the code commented out except for the header. It's fixed now.

Aurelia's Scenario

This is the closest I could come to envisioning what Aurelia is going to look like.

Anyways, I did some more work to the game today and figured out a very interesting art style. For Caleb's scenario, it's going to be pure horror based, just like Blood. For Aurelia's, however, I'm going for a more Anime-inspired look. That means the artwork is going to be mostly anime based, and the game tone is going to be more in shades of blue and grey (since her scenario is paranormal based).

I cleaned up Caleb's pitchfork code and added in some interesting ALT attacks. I also started Aurelia's flashlight code/weapon and so far, it's working. When the flashlight hits a monster, they immediately flee. I can do this in such a way as she encounters ghosts, just have them portal into another part of the level, and they could portal back at will. Some interesting things.

I'm developing this game as a love story because I felt Blood did not address the whole Ophelia/Caleb thing very well. I know, you're thinking, "Well Blood was about killing and blood and action". Well, yeah, it's still going for that style but Caleb's going to be much more aware of his feelings for this girl, and vice versa. I have found a suitable voice actor for Caleb that sounds very much like the original (Stephen Wayte). I am still looking for Aurelia's voice actor.

Anyways, keep in touch and, if you like something or want to see something changed, don't hesitate to leave something in the Comment section!

Aerosol!

Just a small screenshot showing the Aerosol+Lighter combination. In this version you must find the spraycan before you can use it to light enemies aflame. Very rarely you can light them on fire with the lighter too but not much of a chance. In the background you can see the aerosol can burning on the ground (the weapons alt-attack). Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with Doom's Plasma Gun, in the sense that you can run through your own flames while they are dispersing (closer to Blood's).

Enjoy!

I Live Again!

Cooking up something very special soon: a video teaser of E1M1, showcasing all of the features.

I worked a lot today, got a completely functional and better version of the Spraycan (even better than Blood's, and you will see why here soon). Did so many things, like idle sounds for Caleb when he's standing still, added in all sorts of effects from Blood and enhanced so many different things. It pains me to not be able to release screenshots but it'll pay off soon. I will release a full changelog. Also corrected the animations on Cerberus. Starting the Cult member and the Axe Zombie. Still figuring out how to make the level work correctly with linetypes. Hope to show some stuff off soon.

Even more work completed today!! =)

And these are the screenshots of the current build. As you can see, more models were integrated, as well as tweaks to DLIGHT. A lot of these models were taken from my other mod, Fusion, but as you can see they work quite well. I coded and imported Cerberus and he works well (especially in packs). Get too close and he'll bite!

Also, notice the new textures in the game world. A lot of them still aren't showing up but that's EDGE's fault, not mine. I'm trying not to use any actual texture from Blood (in keeping in with the high-res spirit). Anyways, enjoy and keep checking back! All of these shots come from the HYPERTENSION project.

Little progress

Today I added in a modified WW Flare Gun, but I modified the code to make it shoot 8 flares before needing to reload, and I changed the graphics around a little.

The HUD is almost complete but the white around the edges of Caleb is bothering me so I might do something about it later today.

I know the textures are missing, btw.

More tension progress!

I updated a couple more things on the mod today...I finally fixed Caleb's HUD resize and added in a WIP Alpha for when he takes damage. Speaking of the HUD, I added in a PAIN alpha PNG that looks cool when you take damage (thanks Dartmerc for the inspiration with that!). Among other small things with LUA...

I'm in the process of reversing the Doom/Hexen map format for use with EDGE, me and Doorhedge are working on an easy way to figure that out (going to keep BOOM linetypes though). We're starting with, obviously, E1M1, but only as a test. More than likely NONE of the original Blood levels will be in Hypertension (except in small parts).

I'm also working on an interesting dynamic Palette shift change. I'm not sure if this is supported in EDGE so I'm checking it out on my own. Would be pretty interesting if you go into a flashback into a Blood level and everything is in black/white except for the Blood...;)

Imported some new models into Hypertension for the start of the level (gravestones, debris, ambience) and working on some fake-slopes for the spiral down once you open the first door (phsyics code acts as stairs though, so I might keep them as stairs). I also used the EDGE linetype to make the door open sideways, as in the original game.

Popped in some weapon graphics from Blood II as well as some sounds. Probably going to convert a bit of the textures over as well, but none of the weapons work at the moment.

Small thing on the Fusion side, I fixed a bit of the LUA code for the way Max's sprite gets resized (thanks to Hypertension).

Anyways, we'll keep you updated as we progress further into this.

Hypertension

UPDATED:
I started a new TC today for EDGE. It's based in the Blood universe but it's a unique spin-off. I started from build 1.29 and working concurrently on 1.31, so this way it'll be easier to manage sprites/models from each version. Currently I'm shooting for a Dreamcast release first.

I used my earlier converted level from Fusion and am just working on getting textures working properly, but so far it's looking grade-A. I should have some screenshots next week or the week after. I got permission from the ZBlood team to use some resources but most likely not a whole lot will make it in.


I'll keep you all updated as the project continues. The screenshot to your left is mostly a mock-up: the model was converted from MD3 to MD2 and as such looks like shit - the Caleb sprite was so shitty and off-center and the painkiller icon is obviously kept from Fusion -- this is running on top of Fusion at the moment. The level is the train level from Blood 1 -- I did this as an initial test for Fusion, and obviously it's not even playable but it feels just like the original (scrolling and all). The model was not converted with animations or any of that jazz, the Caleb LUA isn't functional (the Caleb sprite was bigger overall than the Max sprite so it didn't fit in the screen and has no alpha or anything), and the lighting is absolute shit, so don't take it seriously. This is just mostly proof-of-concept. Enjoy!