Plan for Jerane Alleyne
by Jerane Alleyne · 02/25/2002 (1:43 pm) · 2 comments
What has Passed
======================
The past year has been an interesting ride. We began our project, Event Alpha, under the wing of the Lithtech Engine. While it was a good engine to use, it proved to have a steep learning curve in terms of coding. I do miss its tools. I'll miss you, RenderStyles and ModelEdit!!
As we were making our first atempt in getting out first HUD and player with animation in an early demo, we decided to halt on using Lith further and would switch to Torque. I was very uncertain about using Torque in the beginning, mostly due to concerns about its stage of development, and method used to market games created with it. But after I reread the licencing agreements and FAQs, it seemed like it would not interfere with our plans for what we want to do with our game. I was a bit annoyed at having to do the animation over yet again(!), but that comes with the territory :) I have to personally thank Joe Muraschak, without whom I'd still be trying to figure out why my player would not walk forward. Thanks Joe!
General Progress
======================
Well, transition from Lithtech to Torque was pretty good, mainly because we started from scratch in most areas. To be honest, we've made more progress in 6 weeks than we've made with Lith in 6 months. We still have a long way to go, but the road is a little clearer now. At the behest of our teammates, we've set up our own IRC channel to have mandatory weekly meetings to discuss individual progress, duty assignments, and issues. We are currently getting our bearings on a system to for programmers to make their code changes for the game, without stepping on each others' toes. Now its just a matter of time to get everyone more familiar with CVS...
I'm doing a rewrite of the main game design documentation, in order to make it more Torque-centric. Right now, I'm concnetrating on sections that we are currently working on, providng an Objective list in order to make development of an area go a little more smoothly.
Design Progress
======================
We've finished all primary animation, and are now getting our new sequences to work in the code. Right now, we have sequences like throwing, punching and reloading able to be triggered, with a keystroke, and the next step is attching the proper function to them (i.e. getting the reload sequence to work with a function for reloading a weapon).
Work is beginning on level design. We have concept work being done on the first map we are designing, a military base. We could use another level designer to join us in this area, as well as down the road. I've already done a basic terrain map with textures to use with the base.
I've found a very, very low-brow way to include decal insignias for our player models. When we get to the ability of switching skins, players should have the ability to add their own custom insignias, with luck.
At the moment, my fellow 3D modeler along with myself are working on additional player models and their skins to test in sharing animation, as well as see how they look in our current version of the demo.
Programming Progress
===========================
Well, nothin' says progress like a programmer making it! We're trying to attack a few fronts, beginnign with the player class, getting it to behave more like our design specs. Scripting makes it easier, and down the road when we have our inidvidual types, it'll be fairly easy to do them all. We still have a number of attributes to add, and work on some of our special areas, that will require their own class.
Our HUD's basic functions work. Thanks go out to Phil Carliste for aiding with our compass. Other areas we're looking at getting functional are radar and displaying specific damage.
An inventory system is also being developed. We're creating basic weapons in order to add to the inventory system for testing its functionality.
Website
==============
In about 2-3 weeks, we should have our website up. I want to have the new site, and an update to our Sovereign Studios site, to more accurately reflect our new status. The Event Alpha website was put off mainly because development of the game was uncertain, until now. It loks like we are reaching a level where we need to more aggressively promote our game. We'll be including screenshots as well around the same time, although I'm itching to show some now :)
Well, that covers nearly everything so far. It looks like its time to get back into writing .plans on a more regular basis....
'til the next....
======================
The past year has been an interesting ride. We began our project, Event Alpha, under the wing of the Lithtech Engine. While it was a good engine to use, it proved to have a steep learning curve in terms of coding. I do miss its tools. I'll miss you, RenderStyles and ModelEdit!!
As we were making our first atempt in getting out first HUD and player with animation in an early demo, we decided to halt on using Lith further and would switch to Torque. I was very uncertain about using Torque in the beginning, mostly due to concerns about its stage of development, and method used to market games created with it. But after I reread the licencing agreements and FAQs, it seemed like it would not interfere with our plans for what we want to do with our game. I was a bit annoyed at having to do the animation over yet again(!), but that comes with the territory :) I have to personally thank Joe Muraschak, without whom I'd still be trying to figure out why my player would not walk forward. Thanks Joe!
General Progress
======================
Well, transition from Lithtech to Torque was pretty good, mainly because we started from scratch in most areas. To be honest, we've made more progress in 6 weeks than we've made with Lith in 6 months. We still have a long way to go, but the road is a little clearer now. At the behest of our teammates, we've set up our own IRC channel to have mandatory weekly meetings to discuss individual progress, duty assignments, and issues. We are currently getting our bearings on a system to for programmers to make their code changes for the game, without stepping on each others' toes. Now its just a matter of time to get everyone more familiar with CVS...
I'm doing a rewrite of the main game design documentation, in order to make it more Torque-centric. Right now, I'm concnetrating on sections that we are currently working on, providng an Objective list in order to make development of an area go a little more smoothly.
Design Progress
======================
We've finished all primary animation, and are now getting our new sequences to work in the code. Right now, we have sequences like throwing, punching and reloading able to be triggered, with a keystroke, and the next step is attching the proper function to them (i.e. getting the reload sequence to work with a function for reloading a weapon).
Work is beginning on level design. We have concept work being done on the first map we are designing, a military base. We could use another level designer to join us in this area, as well as down the road. I've already done a basic terrain map with textures to use with the base.
I've found a very, very low-brow way to include decal insignias for our player models. When we get to the ability of switching skins, players should have the ability to add their own custom insignias, with luck.
At the moment, my fellow 3D modeler along with myself are working on additional player models and their skins to test in sharing animation, as well as see how they look in our current version of the demo.
Programming Progress
===========================
Well, nothin' says progress like a programmer making it! We're trying to attack a few fronts, beginnign with the player class, getting it to behave more like our design specs. Scripting makes it easier, and down the road when we have our inidvidual types, it'll be fairly easy to do them all. We still have a number of attributes to add, and work on some of our special areas, that will require their own class.
Our HUD's basic functions work. Thanks go out to Phil Carliste for aiding with our compass. Other areas we're looking at getting functional are radar and displaying specific damage.
An inventory system is also being developed. We're creating basic weapons in order to add to the inventory system for testing its functionality.
Website
==============
In about 2-3 weeks, we should have our website up. I want to have the new site, and an update to our Sovereign Studios site, to more accurately reflect our new status. The Event Alpha website was put off mainly because development of the game was uncertain, until now. It loks like we are reaching a level where we need to more aggressively promote our game. We'll be including screenshots as well around the same time, although I'm itching to show some now :)
Well, that covers nearly everything so far. It looks like its time to get back into writing .plans on a more regular basis....
'til the next....
About the author
#2
02/27/2002 (8:03 pm)
Heh, I have a feeling that integrating the story-driven campaign structure will be child's play compared to developing the rest of the game...but that's what the code monkeys are for :)
Torque Owner Tim Gift