Plan for Justin Mette
by Justin Mette · 01/07/2002 (8:44 am) · 7 comments
Admin
I would like to start off by announcing our newest team members; Mike Nelson and Molly Mette (my wife). Mike is a C++ programmer and will be working on the mission generator for Phase Two. In reviewing the schedule, we needed another programmer to relieve some of the programming pressure on the existing team before GDC. Molly is focusing on the marketing materials for the upcoming GDC show things like flyers, the CD label and cover art, and T-Shirts as well as helping us stay organized!
Art
A good deal of research into exporting models/animations was done this last week. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of unresolved issues to tackle in this arena, so we are sending in the troops this coming week. It is currently the one main obstacle that is starting to take its toll on the schedule.
Progress on the Support Ship (safe area) this last week was great. The vortex generator is now much more prominent in the center of the ship. It even is being animated with some cool progressive lighting effects. Some code was added to the engine to try and enable transparent interior textures so that the dome and windows could be added to the support ship expecting some progress in that area over the next week. As well, some final texture work on the med labs and armory is expected.
The Myrmidon model continues development. It appears that we made need different models for the different armor types as opposed to having different skins for a single model. Some investigation remains on how best to handle this situation for example, changing models on the fly vs. changing skins on the fly.
The vortex (or subspace gateway, not exactly sure how to describe it yet) is basically the vehicle for traveling between the surface and the Support Ship (safe area). A lot of concept work was done for the vortex this week from it's manifestation in the generator room of the Support Ship to the gateway opening on the surface. We are still struggling a bit with this topic as it wasn't very clearly defined in the first place, so we are still searching for something that represents the original idea well.
Development
The Mission Preparation and Safe Area code really came together nicely this past week. New features include: the assignment of a Squad Leader (which is essentially the first person into the mission for now and usually the host of the game), elegant handling of disconnect scenarios, and support for a dedicated server (which resets when everyone leaves the mission). As well, the NPC's were placed in the Support Ship (safe area) along with some weapons and ammo (from the Water World mission) so the testers can be armed :)
Character level, experience, and attributes were added to the player class this past week. This is a pre-requisite for additional features like the reward system for completing objectives and taking out bad guys. With this past week, we also saw the beginnings of the inventory system take shape. You can now double-click an item on the ground and pick it up, for example.
Keyboard and Mouse bindings for character movement and camera control were totally revamped this past week. While still not to everyone's liking, they are much closer to what Myrmidon will hopefully run like. The control and camera schemes from Phase One just were not working out. Of course the new options dialog, which should be done this coming week, will allow re-mapping of keys and mouse (similar to Torque 1.1) but having a good default (or two) is always a good idea. Hopefully this latest round of changes will help identify what the default should be after it is used for a while.
Technical Design has started on the energy shield and the machine gun (like) weapon. Some of the final details are being hammered out early this week with some implementation progress expected by the end of the week.
New "skinned" common controls for the user interface developed this week include: a sort-able columnar list control (with header buttons), a combo control, and a checkbox control. Only a few controls remain on the list which should be wrapped up by the end of the week.
Sound Effects
Our first SFX meeting occurred this week where we agreed upon the list of SFX needed for Phase 2 (just under 90!) and other issues like: OpenAL support for environmental ambience (like reverb), volume levels of SFX, and the process for creating/integrating/testing the new SFX.
Intro Movie
Animations for the first 3 cells of the intro movie were put together this past week. A couple of revisions later, it is looking sharp. Some 3D stills were also put together for the next 3 cells in the movie.
I would like to start off by announcing our newest team members; Mike Nelson and Molly Mette (my wife). Mike is a C++ programmer and will be working on the mission generator for Phase Two. In reviewing the schedule, we needed another programmer to relieve some of the programming pressure on the existing team before GDC. Molly is focusing on the marketing materials for the upcoming GDC show things like flyers, the CD label and cover art, and T-Shirts as well as helping us stay organized!
Art
A good deal of research into exporting models/animations was done this last week. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of unresolved issues to tackle in this arena, so we are sending in the troops this coming week. It is currently the one main obstacle that is starting to take its toll on the schedule.
Progress on the Support Ship (safe area) this last week was great. The vortex generator is now much more prominent in the center of the ship. It even is being animated with some cool progressive lighting effects. Some code was added to the engine to try and enable transparent interior textures so that the dome and windows could be added to the support ship expecting some progress in that area over the next week. As well, some final texture work on the med labs and armory is expected.
The Myrmidon model continues development. It appears that we made need different models for the different armor types as opposed to having different skins for a single model. Some investigation remains on how best to handle this situation for example, changing models on the fly vs. changing skins on the fly.
The vortex (or subspace gateway, not exactly sure how to describe it yet) is basically the vehicle for traveling between the surface and the Support Ship (safe area). A lot of concept work was done for the vortex this week from it's manifestation in the generator room of the Support Ship to the gateway opening on the surface. We are still struggling a bit with this topic as it wasn't very clearly defined in the first place, so we are still searching for something that represents the original idea well.
Development
The Mission Preparation and Safe Area code really came together nicely this past week. New features include: the assignment of a Squad Leader (which is essentially the first person into the mission for now and usually the host of the game), elegant handling of disconnect scenarios, and support for a dedicated server (which resets when everyone leaves the mission). As well, the NPC's were placed in the Support Ship (safe area) along with some weapons and ammo (from the Water World mission) so the testers can be armed :)
Character level, experience, and attributes were added to the player class this past week. This is a pre-requisite for additional features like the reward system for completing objectives and taking out bad guys. With this past week, we also saw the beginnings of the inventory system take shape. You can now double-click an item on the ground and pick it up, for example.
Keyboard and Mouse bindings for character movement and camera control were totally revamped this past week. While still not to everyone's liking, they are much closer to what Myrmidon will hopefully run like. The control and camera schemes from Phase One just were not working out. Of course the new options dialog, which should be done this coming week, will allow re-mapping of keys and mouse (similar to Torque 1.1) but having a good default (or two) is always a good idea. Hopefully this latest round of changes will help identify what the default should be after it is used for a while.
Technical Design has started on the energy shield and the machine gun (like) weapon. Some of the final details are being hammered out early this week with some implementation progress expected by the end of the week.
New "skinned" common controls for the user interface developed this week include: a sort-able columnar list control (with header buttons), a combo control, and a checkbox control. Only a few controls remain on the list which should be wrapped up by the end of the week.
Sound Effects
Our first SFX meeting occurred this week where we agreed upon the list of SFX needed for Phase 2 (just under 90!) and other issues like: OpenAL support for environmental ambience (like reverb), volume levels of SFX, and the process for creating/integrating/testing the new SFX.
Intro Movie
Animations for the first 3 cells of the intro movie were put together this past week. A couple of revisions later, it is looking sharp. Some 3D stills were also put together for the next 3 cells in the movie.
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#2
01/07/2002 (12:53 pm)
Thanks for the support Steve. The "GDC show" refers to our presence at the upcoming Game Developer's Conference in March. There are as least 3 of our team members that will be attending this year and we plan on bringing along a few goodies about 21-6 and Myr, including the Phase 2 Demo.
#3
Have fun too :)
01/07/2002 (8:03 pm)
Wow guys, you are greating greate progress.... i wish you the best luck possible in the upcoming GDC!Have fun too :)
#4
01/08/2002 (6:10 am)
Xavier, thanks for the vote of confidence. I actually have to pinch myself everyday to see if this is all real - it's too fun!
#5
01/08/2002 (12:15 pm)
Heh...should have known about the GDC thing (what else could it be?)
#6
Incidentally, why GDC? wouldnt E3 be better as a promotional place?
Phil.
01/08/2002 (12:56 pm)
Good luck at GDC! my first article in a book gets published there too! whoo! :))Incidentally, why GDC? wouldnt E3 be better as a promotional place?
Phil.
#7
Where can I look for your article?
01/08/2002 (1:09 pm)
We are just taking advantage of the opportunity to start talking about Myrmidon and 21-6 with the game development community. There is a great "indie" undertone at the GDC which makes it a great place for us to network. I suppose we will consider E3 as well, if the timing is right.Where can I look for your article?
Habib Karpal