Plan for Weekly Plan Highlights

Un-Official GarageGames Weekly .Plan Highlights by Anton Bursch Week of November 13th - November 19th, 2005

intro

Hello and welcome to another week's plan highlights. I hope that you have been enjoying them these last weeks. I have been enjoying putting them together.

In addition to these weekly plan highlights I am going to be making a monthly streaming video news magazine starting the begining of this next year. I hope to help promote the projects and developers in this community even more this way. I'll give more information about this over the next couple months. A video show is quite a bit more work than these weekly plan highlights, so, I need to be at least a month a head for pre-production of each show.

Back to this week's plan highlights. Every week I think that it is going to start slowing down and less exciting stuff is going to be posted. Wrong. It's been the opposite. Each week has been more and more exciting. This job just keeps getting more and more fun each week!

Check out what's been going on!!


plans


the 13TH

Evi Suryani - new weapon models

Evi shows off her first attempts at texturing weapons. I wish my first attempts at anything were this awesome!!!








Jeremy Alessi - To follow inspiration?

Jeremy's Game in a Day (GID) Nebula Wars is begining to take on a life after GID.


Phil Carlisle - The tribe woke up this morning to find the cave flooded with light. On going outside, we were shocked to find a glowing yellow orb was high over us and it was giving off a tingling sensation.

Phil writes an epic poem of adventure and mystery.




Jon Frisby - More progress!

Jon is adding multiple skins to his game Harmonic Convergence. If you didn't get to try out the alpha last week, here's your chance!




Toby W. Allen - No time

Toby talks about his work with TDN tutorials, his position as overseer of GDS Leeds, what he hopes are available features in Constuctor and Torque 1.4 and about getting a job next year in the game industry.



Randy "Vashner" Anthony - Keep on truckin'

Randy chats about his experiments with and hopes for T2D and TSE. He's starting to get a good grasp of shader fundamentals. Here's a snapshot of some shader fun that he's done.




the 14TH

Skye Gellmann - Soooo much been happening it's not funny :S ___Lots of LINKAGE!!!

Skye has an article about computer games as digital artefacts. He also did a great interview with a local radio station that you should give a listen to. Also, here are some screenshots of the progress on Bean Brigade.








Josh Ritter - RPGDot Interview, Video, and Demo Links

Everyone give Josh Ritter and the MOM team a round of applause!! They did it! They made an indie MMO!

Quote:

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RPGDot has posted the first part of a two part interview with me, follow the link: Minions of Mirth: Interview with Josh Ritter Part I

Here's a link to the Subversion repo of the Dedicated World Server build, which features the full RPG Source Code of the World Server, full World Database Source Code, the Genesis Compiler, and all the assets you need to host your own persistent world. This is a FREE download: mom.servegame.com/svn/prairiegames/dws

Here's a link to the newly released MoM: Promo Video #1 (Check it out if you haven't!) www.prairiegames.com/MoM_Promo1.wmv

Once again, here are the demo links.

Windows Demo www.prairiegames.com/MoMDemoInstaller.exe

OSX Demo www.prairiegames.com/MoMDemo_OSX.tar.gz

---

Ryan J. Parker - Looking for a 2D vector graphics artist

Ryan needs someone to make art for a deck of playing cards. If someone hasn't already snagged this job, here's the link to the Help Wanted Ad.


Weekly Plan Highlights - Un-Official GarageGames Weekly .Plan Highlights by Anton Bursch Week of October 30th - November 5th, 2005

I KNEW it! He lasted for a month and then f***ed it all up. Ha ha!! What's next Anton? Are you gonna go ahead and start directing games now?! What a tool.


the 15TH

Jason Swearingen - new t2d.net version

T2D.NET on TDN


Midhir - I was tired of the flat terrain in "The Testing Town". After all, what good are buildings to hide in if the buildings are on an infinite flat surface? So I built a street layout using some prefabs I made from one of the street packs from 3ddiggers.de and some good ol' fashioned elbow grease. I used Cartography Shop 4.2 and the Torque Pipeline. (And obviously the Torque Mission Editor =)

Here's the screenshots. Very sweet!! I like these!!






John Seguin - Working with a Composer, Part III: The Dangers of Placeholder Music

This continues to be the most important series of plans that I have ever read.


Jeff Tunnell - Slashdot is MUCH lamer than I could ever know!

Don't cast your pearls before swine. Right Jeff.


Todd Pickens - RTS Environment Pack, The Swamp Environment

DAMN I love my new self made job of reading and writing about all of the plans each week. Look at all the cool stuff I get to see and read about. Like this. Damn. I really mean it too. This just makes me happy. :)
I can't wait for this pack to be released. Way to go Todd! And thanks for the kind email. That was very nice of you. :)




the 16TH

Jacob Fike (valinorbob) - Announcing php|Overlord, the perfect tool for keeping your minions in line.

Do not pass up reading this plan. Check this out! This is a great looking project.




the 17TH


Jeremy Alessi - Sooo much is going on ...

And you should read about it!


James W. Hofmann - qcs combat / in the groove

Update on the progress of Quest Construction Set. James competes in the official In The Groove Northern California regional championships.


Sam Bacsa - Delta 7 is ALMOST READY :P

I'll let these guys tell you why you gotta check out Sam's torque script editor: Delta 7.

Quote:

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Eric Roberts

This is really great.

But I'm just curious - do you plan on actually using Torque anytime soon? Make a game perhaps? ;)
Secretly working on a game?

Martin Schultz
@Eric: Delta 7 IS the game! :-)

Ramen Sama
Awesome. I hope Delta 7 is the one that makes me switch from Tide.

Jameson Bennett
Once again, thank you. I am finding delta6 very useful and really appreciate your continued work on this project.

Melv May
It'd take alot to make me switch from jEdit; if this functions as good as it looks though then that may well happen.

Good Luck

Fail66
I really love TorqueDev(Codeweaver). With an author that is actively developing and addressing bug issues, makes it even better...

...Keep up the great work. It IS appreciated!!!

---

Skye Gellmann - Interestingly enough, i had a conversation with god today:

Skye talks with God and now so can you www.titane.ca/concordia/dfar251/igod/main.html. I tried it. See below. :P Also, Skye experiments with the art of level design. :)

Quote:

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Me:
Hello.
God:
Hello, nice to meet you. What's your name?
Me:
Harry Potter.
God:
Hi, Harry Potter.
Me:
I have a question.
God:
Ask me anything.
Me:
Will I die in book seven?
God:
The oracle says: It is certain.
Me:
Son of a bitch!

---

Greg Findlay - Are casual gamers afraid of 3D?

Greg asks an important question. Read to see what your fellow indie devs think.


Andy "Doomed Toast" Verstraeten - just my stuff on how i'm preparing to what could become an indie company any feedback on this would be great.

Andy, I think a texture painter for models is a great idea. Sounds like a lot of work, but, what the hell, you are still in high school, you have the time. Good luck!!


Mark Barner - A newbie's journal. The making of our first game. Kilo-watt:A quest for power.

This was a fantastic plan by Mark about making his first prototype for a game with torque. Great job Mark! I wish I had a plan like yours to read 2 years ago when I started here. I like the open and honest plans a hell of a lot more than I care for the plans with polished work on display. Not making a dig at the plans with polished work, just saying that plans like this one are far more interesting to me as a developer.


Monthly News Magazine - I am going to be producing a monthly video news magazine for projects and developers in the GarageGames community.

I announce my plan to produce and host a monthly video news magazine for the GarageGames community.


Ian Roach - The Art of Scaling Back. Illuminas Trials and Tribulations

Phenomenal plan!! I love how Illumina is coming along. It's constantly blowing me away with it's coolness. :)






the 18TH


Blake Lowry - Illumina Art

Where do I sign up for the Illumina fan club?!!


















Dylan Jones - Requiem Game Designs kicks off! Small time game dev team ready to start working.

Great plan Dylan! :) I really like your logo!


Graham Mcrobbie - Boring Progess Update...

Anything but boring. :) Just beware the first 2 paragraphs. :P Graham and readers of this plan know what I mean. :)


Tim Muenstermann - TGE, Interiors and T2D......

AWESOME!!! And LOL funny!!!






Phil Carlisle - As the temperature plummets in the UK and It starts to feel like "The day after tommorow" might actually be today. I took some time this week to reflect on my current efforts.

Am I the only one who thinks that Air Ace is a PERFECT game for XBOX 360 Live Arcade??!! Simple and easy to pick up and play. Fun and pretty. Multiplayer. Stats. This seems like THE ideal game for XBox 360 Live Arcade. I'd say this game would be the most fun and coolest game on the XBox 360 Live Arcade if released. That's my opinion.




Teri (krabbity) Thom - Character Building implemented. New icons, stats and training screens. :)

MAN this game is looking better and better!!










Melv May - Hi, It's me again; the strange guy from the UK who keeps turning up, posting some snazzy images then disappears again!

Who didn't read this plan already? From the looks of the comments... I am guessing all of you already got to this one. :P Here's the videos if you haven't watched them yet.

public.garagegames.com/melvm/t2dshape3d.avi

public.garagegames.com/melvm/t2dshape3danim.avi

public.garagegames.com/melvm/t2dshape3dmount.avi


Josh Ritter - RPGDot Interview Part II

Here is the second part of the RPGDot interview of Josh for Minions of Mirth. Way to go Josh!!

Quote:

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Here's the second part of the interview with me at RPGDot:

Minions of Mirth Interview, Part #2

Here's the latest and greatest patch information:

Patch 11-18-05

* Added the new wolf and beetle models, thanks to Magnus Blikstad of WIT Entertainment.

* Updated the main FoL quest. Give/take actions are no longer attached to teleport actions.

* Added spawns to Swamp of Ruin. It's a level 10-18 zone.

* Removed presence from the Drum of the Bard.

* Began work on a new dungeon for the MoD realm, it is not live yet.

---

If you didn't read the first part of the RPGDot interview last week, here it is. Minions of Mirth Interview, Part #1




Chris Newman (ChazCross) - Motivation, Game tools and Networked Ragdoll physics.

Chris talks about issues that affect us all. I think it's great that he wrote about them.

Chris, the key to getting positive attention is to write a weekly recap of what everyone else is doing and ride on their coattails. :P


the 19TH


Kyle Cook - My team is working on a game entitled "Felswourne : Thothra's War" and we are progressing along quite nicely. The game will be a MMORPG with all the bells and whistles that we can possible perform.

Good luck on the MMORPG guys!!




Jason Swearingen - t2d.net update

One of the coolest things about Torque technology is that it works on so many different platforms. Now T2D.NET. This is just fantastic!! Way to go Jason!

Quote:

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just a brief update, but if you use the newest version of t2d.net, make sure you check out the T2D.NET on TDN pages because there are some important bug-workarounds that you should do.

Sorry I dont have time to fix these this week, I am leaving for california a little later today and will be gone for a week. When I get back I'll still have a week off from work, so I'll be sure to make a lot of t2d.net improvements then.

-Jason

---

Joseph Nutt - I'm in the process of setting up my own small business thats going to sell computers, games, consoles, web design, hosting and internet access (among lots of other things) via the web Marina Internet and a retail outlet some time after Christmas.

Looking good Joseph! I like the levels and your choice of weapons from the weapons pack. :)








Eric Preisz - Why I think a build system is so important

Great topic of discussion in this plan!


Dylan Jones - Hello again. I have been working on making some props and little bit of mapping. I have been working a little bit on the site. I have made a tutorial on "Triggered Sound" but I dont know where to find it, because I need to copy and paste it into my site as resource.





at the movies

I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this weekend. Fantastic movie!! This is the kind of amazing work of art that inspires me as an artist.

The new teaser for Superman Returns was awesome! I had chills! I didn't think I could ever be interested in another Superman movie. Even with the director of The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil and XMen 1 and 2 directing it. Boy, was I suprised. This trailer was like the opening of XMen in the concentration camps. You just don't expect this kind of heart in a super hero movie.

So, since I had such a good time at the movies this weekend, I am in a movie talking mood. I am going to share my personal list of must see movies of the holiday season. I found a list of movie release dates on www.darkhorizons.com a very good website for movie news and rumors. I copied the from the list and images and then searched for the trailers so you guys could watch them from here. I tell you why I liked the movie or, if I haven't yet seen it, why I want to watch it. Enjoy. :)

For the record: my favorite movie so far this year is Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; the movie I look forward to the most is Syriana; the 2 movies I expect to visually kick my ass are Narnia and King Kong; the 2 other movies that I expect to emotional kick my ass are Munich and The New World; the biggest suprises of the year for me was how great Jarhead was, how funny The Weartherman was, how fun and not a rehash sequel The Legend of Zorro, how not sucky but really good Derailed was and nearly crying near the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Fantastic year for movies, this year. Wow.


October 21st 2005


North Country

I haven't seen this movie yet. I missed it during the regular theatric release. I want to watch it in the discount theater at least before DVD. Seems like a really good movie to watch with an audience. I know the subject and I want to see other people's reactions to it. I love seeing movies in theaters for that reason. To watch how other people react to a film.



Warner Bros. Pictures, 127mins, R



October 28th 2005


The Legend of Zorro

I loved The Mark of Zorro. Antonio Bandaras is such an underrated actor in the US. This movie didn't do too well here but it is cleaning up at the international box office as it should. It is the PERFECT family film: fun, funny, exciting, clean, jokes that go over kids heads, emotional. Mark my words. The little kid is going to be a very great actor. Ussually kids aren't good at all. This kid was keeping up with Antonio Bandaras. Amazing. The boy version of that blonde girl in War of the Worlds and I am Sam. See this with your kids.


Sony Pictures, 126mins, PG

The Weather Man

This movie just kicked my ass all over the place. Wow. Just wow. Who knew? It isn't doing well at the box office either... but that's cause it's being overlooked. This is one of those movies that are just hard to sell to a mass audience because they are too complex to fit into a 2 minute trailer explanation. This is the movie for grown ups who want to laugh. And... damn... it is so goddamn funny. This is the best movie Nick Cage has ever been in hands down. This will be in the next AFI top 100 movies of the century. Brilliant film. Not weird either. Just brilliant. But not for those people who can't handle gratuitous nudity and sexual talk. This movie is a hard R.


Paramount Pictures, 102mins, R


November 4th 2005


Jarhead

I already told you all how much I liked this one a couple of plans ago. This is just a must see must own. A literally perfect movie. I didn't expect this movie to be interesting let alone perfect. Wow.


Universal Pictures, 100mins, R


November 11th 2005


Derailed

OK. This is almost a guilty pleasure movie. But not in the way you are thinking. No nudity and no actual sex scene. This is a mystery movie that could have been a HBO or Showtime movie but transcended itself with superior writing, directing and acting by Clive Owen. My wife claims that Jennifer Aniston is unrecognizable and amazing in this movie but I don't know. I still see Rachael. But then again I had the plot spoiled in a review for me, so, I think I may have been distracted. She's not the major role the trailers and marketing suggest. This is Clive's movie and if Daniel Craig hadn't become James Bond I would have been pissed that Clive wasn't it. Cause Clive is the man. But, so is Daniel Craig. Anyway. See this on DVD if you don't see many movies, otherwise, catch it in a matinee cause it's worth it.


WeinsteinCo, 110mins, R

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

THIS movie is officially my favorite movie of all time!! I actually give a money back guarantee for friends to go see this movie, it's so good. I have been trying for so long to write a comedy detective story, but not silly comedy, and this movie is EXACTLY the kind of stuff I have been writing. I wish so bad to make a game like this movie, but I couldn't begin to figure out how. I could quote you a hundred lines from this movie that would make you laugh cause they come across like machine gun fire in this movie. I laughed so hard I had trouble breathing. Although, not everyone in the theater laughed when I did. Probably about 1/20 the times. The humor is so rapid fire that you have to be really quick to catch it. It's hard to explain. If you like funny action exploitive movies aimed at smart people... this is your movie. If you are a smart ass... this is your movie. If you like gratuitious nudity for long long long extended periods of time... you pervert... this is your movie. Just do me a favor when you see it. Email me and tell me what you thought. I could literally go on and on and on for longer than this entire plan about this movie. So. Just see it. At least on DVD.


Warner Bros. Pictures, 102mins, R


November 18th 2005


Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Best of the series in my opinion. I loved it. I only wish it could have been longer and I could have seen more. If you aren't seeing this movie. Shame on you. It's Harry Potter. The modern day icon of the underdog dreamer.


Warner Bros. Pictures, 157mins, PG-13


November 23rd 2005


The Ice Harvest

This just looks funny as hell to me. Yeah, the trailer is kinda week. But it's John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa mode. You can't go wrong here. I loved Bad Santa with a passion. I actually worked at a theater the winter it was released. I loved working at a theater during the holidays. Cause you get familys that come together to movies and it's just exciting. Anyway. Bad Santa looked stupid as hell to me but everyone kept walking out of it laughing their asses off. It was when the group of elderly women came out laughing that I finally had to see what was so great about it. I asked the elderly women. They said it was terribly dirty and funny. Then paused and said 'is that bad of me to think that?' and then all burst out laughing even more. I watched it at least 20 times during breaks that winter. Funny as hell. I hear this movie is practically Bad Santa 2. I'm there. Hold my seat for me. :P


Focus Features, 88mins, R


December 9th 2005


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

Who isn't excited to see this movie? Looks spectacular.


Walt Disney Pictures, 135mins, PG


Syriana

Read this interview with the director to see why this movie is going to kick all our asses. I can't wait to see this movie and yet I am also afraid to see it cause it looks like the kind of rare movie that shakes up your worldview. I am stressed out enough already lately. :P Check out the trailer below.


Warner Bros. Pictures, 100mins, R


Memoirs of a Geisha

The trailer got me along with the fact that I know it's a best seller book. Plus, watching this movie with my wife will score me so many points. :P


Dreamworks Pictures, 137mins, PG-13


December 14th 2005


King Kong

Again... who isn't excited about this movie? Crazy people.


New Line Cinema, ??mins, TBA


December 21st 2005


Fun with Dick and Jane

Jim Carey... I'm there.


Sony Pictures, 94mins, PG-13


December 23rd 2005


The Matador

Pierce Brosnan is an amazing actor who is unfortunately stuck in a pretty boy body. Did you know that he worked out with Quentin Taratino to direct a rated R Bond film but the producers gave the thumbs down. Pierce gets his revenge with this anti-Bond role. I think that of all the Bond's so far that Pierce has been the best since Connery and the one with the potential for a post-Bond carreer.


WeinsteinCo, 97mins, TBA


Munich

Just watch the trailer.


Universal Pictures, ??mins, TBA


December 25th 2005


The New World

Terrance Malick directed The Thin Red Line. I'm there.


New Line Cinema, ??mins, TBA


Thanks again for tuning in. So long and catch you all next week with more Un-Official GarageGames Weekly .Plan Highlights