Here's Johnny!

Yep! I finally finished the Axe Zombie!

You'll probably notice that:

A) His graphics are low-res

B) That DOOM Blood looks ugly

C) Not a very nice picture

You're right -- it was taken at a low resolution, the Zombie graphics are stock from Zblood (with the bad palette). I have the original, alpha translucency PNG's but I haven't put any of them in. I'm just using bare ass resources until I know things work right -- then the magic will begin!

So...so far, so good. Still a lot of missing things that I haven't finished coding in yet. I'll post a more spectacular screenshot soon.

Not dead!!

Hah, we're not dead yet. I've been working, very hard, on a number of things for Hypertension, one of them being scripted events. The game world looks absolutely stunning, I have to show you guys later though, as I'm quite tied up.

I'm still confident I'll have an alpha out sometime in October. We'll wait and see.

EDGE officially died!

Well, it was coming eventually. EDGE has no more road-map, it doesn't have anything. The port is dead.

This won't affect Hypertension development though. I was talking with several people and I might actually have some talent behind me to develop EDGE further but just for Hypertension. I'll do whatever it takes to get development going again, but I know Andy is toast.

Aside from Joppu mapping I finally have Pineapple officially mapping for the project but he just started learning how to do it. The rest of the people contributing are doing it at an even pace.

I finally feel I have enough of the design down for the beginning of the game that I can now focus my attention on getting a demo version out before the end of the year. Filming live-action is going to start in mid-November, and I'm playing Caleb's role. Right now we're busy scripting and doing more scripting. Dartmerc is helping me out with some more LUA effects for Aurelia's scenario and so far things are going at an even pace. I got ahold of Power Director so we should be set for some serious developing.

Bittersweet symphony. .

Well...

It's almost been one month since I officially started work on this project. For a month I sure did a lot of work. To commemorate I'm going to try and have a preview out on the 24th, but take this with a grain of salt. I just got Joppu back to do some mapping, and we have a base set of textures to work with and the models are still being pulled from Transfusion (yes, under license). I'm still coding in enemies and weapons. The most recent weapon to be coded is the Boomstick, but the graphic timings are off so I need to mess with it. I'm trying to think of a way of calling a command in RTS that will warn you of Sheik's low health, but I'll probably have something called in his THING states that plays a BOSSMAN sound when he takes a lot of damage. Or I'll add a state that he drips blood or something like that. I'll think of something.

Messing with PNG's and alpha translucensy. Turning out pretty fun. All of Blood's graphics are being converted over to PNG to avoid loss of color in the palette. It's not much of a loss, but you can tell when you convert Blood's stock graphics to Doom's stock palette. Zblood was a great example of this and I'm tying to avoid it. Now the alphas on all of those images is a bitch...I tell you...lol...

I am heavily debating taking all of Blood's textures and handing them to my texture artist to rework. I'm trying to use my own texturepack instead of Blood's but sometimes the world feels so much different...and sometimes it doesn't. I'll have a talk with Joppu and see what needs to be done.

I have some cool on-screen effects when you take damage from the Axe Zombie using some LUA code I modified from Dartmerc, so kudos to him. I also implemented weather effects (rain, falling ash) and it definitly enhances the ambience, big time. The bad thing is that viewing that level in an editor is absolute hell with Things mode on (hehe).

Back to work, as always. Always looking for help too btw! =)

Dog VS Dog?

Yep, I finally, finally, completed all of Sheik's code. He does exactly what I described he would do, but I have yet to put the Whistle to any use. Currently all Caleb does is whistle with a press of the button but the Dog doesn't respond to it yet. After several hours of troubleshooting I finally got him to work the way I wanted him to but the Dog converting doesn't work as of yet. It's funny to watch the dogs chase each other around sometimes.

Here's some screenies from the action. It was hard to catch him because he's fast as hell. I have to find a way to make his attacks less powerful because he rips them to shreds in a matter of seconds!! It wouldn't be fair to let your dog do all the killing now would it? ;)

Aurelia knows Sheik now. .

In tribute to my dog, I have begun work on Aurelia's helper, "Sheik". In lament terms, Sheik will do the attacking because Aurelia won't be able to for awhile in the game. Caleb can also call upon Sheik with a special dog whistle. Sheik is best with taller enemies who can't hit him because of his size. He will be loyal to the according player. In Aurelia's scenario Sheik cannot die. In Caleb's, if he is captured and not rescued after a certain time limit, he will become one of the Cerberus dogs for the duration of the game, so it is important that you keep him alive. If a Hell Hound sees Sheik it will not use its flame attack and they will begin fighting. In certain cases, Sheik will be able to turn the Hell Hound on their side until killed. This is a rare case so pay attention to Sheik. He will be able to follow you through doors, passes, ledges, and in some cases, water. If you find a secret area or somewhere he cannot physically go, I have implemented a feature in RTS that will allow you to halt the Dog until you arrive (leaving him idling around the area until you return). This will be important for areas requiring you to be separated from him for a short while.

I know some people will think of this as babysitting but I think it'll be an important part of the gameplay. If Sheik is pursuing an enemy and cannot return to the player, you will be required to use the whistle. In most cases the game will not continue unless you have him next to you (in certain cases, you will not be able to complete a level without him with you).

It sounds really dumb right now but I have some placeholder sprites set for the programming I started and it's actually turning out really good. Since the dog is small my fear of actually shooting him went down. I will take out AutoAim for both ports (Dreamcast and PC) just for this feature (likewise, you can disable Sheik support). Turns out if the player is SIDE=1 just like the creature, you cannot hit him. There's also a flag that sets bullets and whatnot to pass through him, like a ghost.

RIP Sheik - In Loving Memory

This dog was the greatest friend I've ever known and I will never, ever forget him. This was him at 2 months.

Sheik passed away yesterday at the Vet hospital after being hit by a car. It was going to be too expensive to save him so I sat with him until he took his last breath. It truly was the saddest thing I've ever been through. But I know he went not in pain but in peace. He made it a point for me being the last thing he saw. If you ever thought that looking straight into a dog's eyes didn't mean anything, it does. It was as if I looked into his soul, and then I saw the life fade from his eyes. Having to make that decision was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and I made sure I was with him every single step of the way. He was my best friend.

It just goes to show that life is fragile, whether it's a dog or a person, or any pet for that matter.

I just wanted to share the news with all of you. Sheik was almost 5 months. If you would like to send any condolences you can, because I know he was a mighty cool dog and I would love to hear why you loved my dog so much (if you knew him). The day before he was hit Best Buy let me take him into the store while I browsed around. I've never seen that dog happier. =)

RIP Sheik - 9.7.2008 - I will Love you, always. <3>

Does he look dead to you?

The question is...is he dead?

Check out the textures!!

Screen

Showing some new, revamped textures and flats. Check em out!

I left a small area with the original Blood flat versus the new one and I think the newer one is a lot more realistic and gritty looking. Obviously the dynamic lights are off (they aren't spawned on the roof like they should be), I was just messing around a bit. Note that Cradle to Grave won't be featured in the game, only in this demonstration.

Needed that break. .

I took almost half a week off to kind of relax and enjoy life a little. It's important to do, especially when you're developing a title. It takes a lot of patience and a straight head to do it, and I finally feel I'm back on a level to pick this thing up.

Aside from programming states at work, I've been tinkering with a new Cradle to Grave level, which features Caleb's crypt but a completely different level. Haven't gotten super big progress on it, though.

Ashley finished his first track of the game, UNHOLY, and it took a couple of revisions but it finally sounds great. He's working on the second version for Aurelia that's going to use samples from some of Blood 2's music. Hopefully it turns out well.

I also started, before my break, on the boomstick, except it's not the same as it was in Blood -- it's a bit different. Some of you hardcore fans will instantly recognize it. I'm going to code it and it should be usable by tonight. Hopefully.

Gotta go and work! Sorry for not showing any screenage, maybe I can update with something later tonight.

<3