Plan for David "RM" Michael
by DavidRM · 08/27/2002 (9:43 am) · 27 comments
Progress on Paintball Net the past couple weeks has been, unfortunately, somewhat slow. This is due to a couple of factors, not the least of which was me finishing up a new release of my The Journal product.
Despite all that, though, we *did* have some progress.
Dave Astle and I managed to finally wrestle the 3DS-to-DTS exporter to the mat and get it to build in VC6, and so we have an exporter now that gives much more frequent "status updates" during longer portions of the export. That took way more time and effort than it should have.
Because Melv has been busy lately, he's kept us busy keeping up... ;-) But the new foliage replicator features, and the new, improved water rendering are worth keeping up with. If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend them.
Since our last plan, we've also talked with a couple of modellers, and may be adding a new member to the team very soon. Our thanks to everyone who offered.
Lars started a new job recently, but he's still been working on the new map. He's having a lot of fun with creating "glass" and other in-map shapes that contain transparency. A couple of screen shots to show off part of the first new building of the new level:
That's all for this week. Have fun!
-David
Samu Games
Despite all that, though, we *did* have some progress.
Dave Astle and I managed to finally wrestle the 3DS-to-DTS exporter to the mat and get it to build in VC6, and so we have an exporter now that gives much more frequent "status updates" during longer portions of the export. That took way more time and effort than it should have.
Because Melv has been busy lately, he's kept us busy keeping up... ;-) But the new foliage replicator features, and the new, improved water rendering are worth keeping up with. If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend them.
Since our last plan, we've also talked with a couple of modellers, and may be adding a new member to the team very soon. Our thanks to everyone who offered.
Lars started a new job recently, but he's still been working on the new map. He's having a lot of fun with creating "glass" and other in-map shapes that contain transparency. A couple of screen shots to show off part of the first new building of the new level:
That's all for this week. Have fun!
-David
Samu Games
About the author
#2
Why was the old bird's-eye view stuff abandoned?
08/27/2002 (11:23 am)
So the new Paintball-Net is a first-person shooter?Why was the old bird's-eye view stuff abandoned?
#3
Paintball Net will be primarily first-person view, yes. You're able to switch between first-person and third-person. Third-person does provide a wider viewing area, but, for the moment, if you want to be accurate with your shooting, you'll use first-person.
I'm hoping that by the end of the project, we'll have a more sophisticated third-person view. That would give some of the feel of the old "birds eye" view.
"Birds eye" view like it used to be would be awkward in a 3D environment. I'm sure it's do-able, witness Neverwinter Nights, but it just looks painful.
For the Truly Curious, here is a screen shot of the original Paintball Net:
The original Paintball Net was an "arcade MUD". It could be played with a VT100 terminal all the way to the end when it was taken offline. The screen shot above was of the graphical terminal we created for Windows.
We've come a long way. =)
-David
08/27/2002 (11:54 am)
Ran Dai:Paintball Net will be primarily first-person view, yes. You're able to switch between first-person and third-person. Third-person does provide a wider viewing area, but, for the moment, if you want to be accurate with your shooting, you'll use first-person.
I'm hoping that by the end of the project, we'll have a more sophisticated third-person view. That would give some of the feel of the old "birds eye" view.
"Birds eye" view like it used to be would be awkward in a 3D environment. I'm sure it's do-able, witness Neverwinter Nights, but it just looks painful.
For the Truly Curious, here is a screen shot of the original Paintball Net:
The original Paintball Net was an "arcade MUD". It could be played with a VT100 terminal all the way to the end when it was taken offline. The screen shot above was of the graphical terminal we created for Windows.
We've come a long way. =)
-David
#4
~MalibuCXV~
~Old Pbn Addict~
08/27/2002 (6:16 pm)
Things are looking great David. Cant wait until the release of this. Hope to hear more about it soon.~MalibuCXV~
~Old Pbn Addict~
#5
Looks good and worth keeping an eye on, well done :D
08/27/2002 (6:45 pm)
Will you have other realistic paintball occurrances like guns jamming? *Grumbles about his last game where the gun jammed for half the match without me noticing...*Looks good and worth keeping an eye on, well done :D
#6
No. Currently, we're not planning to include any of the less-fun aspects of paintball:
* gun jamming
* paintballs exploding in the barrel
* pressure bleed off
* frozen paintballs
* over-pressuring guns for too-fast muzzle velocity
* painful welts
* and so on.
We just didn't figure those added much to the actual gameplay.
-David
08/28/2002 (9:56 am)
Hmm...gun jamming... ;-)No. Currently, we're not planning to include any of the less-fun aspects of paintball:
* gun jamming
* paintballs exploding in the barrel
* pressure bleed off
* frozen paintballs
* over-pressuring guns for too-fast muzzle velocity
* painful welts
* and so on.
We just didn't figure those added much to the actual gameplay.
-David
#7
Tyler Reichelt
ICURNVS
old pbn player
08/28/2002 (5:50 pm)
Will you be sticking with the old equipment like padded eq, special camo, different paint, etc..?Tyler Reichelt
ICURNVS
old pbn player
#8
HEHE. Game is lookin really good. Can't wait to play. Good luck to all those working on the game!
Richboy
oLd SkOoL aDdIcT
08/29/2002 (10:22 am)
*Sees pic of PBN and gets teary eyed*HEHE. Game is lookin really good. Can't wait to play. Good luck to all those working on the game!
Richboy
oLd SkOoL aDdIcT
#10
BluePaintCloud
Old player of pbterm
08/29/2002 (2:06 pm)
Hey David, I know Tyler Reichelt Already Asked, however I to am wondering, will you be using the old Eq and Adding new EQ? or just the old EQ? or just new EQ.... and will all the comands be the same as they used to be? or will there just be buttons to click for that now?BluePaintCloud
Old player of pbterm
#11
HeavyD
08/29/2002 (4:43 pm)
Like the Pictures RM, Might as also add a Hi to all those former PBN'ers out thereHeavyD
#12
08/29/2002 (5:18 pm)
RM I was wondering what the req. were going to be for the game, like what version of windows, memory, procesor... etc.
#13
I too would be interested in the requirements for good gameplay like processor speed, internet connection type etc.
-Ryn
08/29/2002 (7:00 pm)
Game is looking great, keep up the good work.I too would be interested in the requirements for good gameplay like processor speed, internet connection type etc.
-Ryn
#14
08/29/2002 (7:00 pm)
#15
Pentium II 400MHz
GeForce2 w/ 32MB RAM (I have 64MB, but we're not targetting that)
A Radeon video card will work as well. Basically, anything equal to or better than a GeForce2 should be sufficient.
The game should be fine with dial-up connections, but a broadband connection would be better. We're going to do what we can to keep the dial-ups in the game.
-David
08/30/2002 (10:42 am)
The system requirements I'm targetting are...well...my old PC...which is what I'm still using for development, currently:Pentium II 400MHz
GeForce2 w/ 32MB RAM (I have 64MB, but we're not targetting that)
A Radeon video card will work as well. Basically, anything equal to or better than a GeForce2 should be sufficient.
The game should be fine with dial-up connections, but a broadband connection would be better. We're going to do what we can to keep the dial-ups in the game.
-David
#16
Alex
08/31/2002 (8:53 pm)
I beleive someone asked before, but I dont recall you anwering -- is the gameplay going to be based around 4 or 5 servers or so like it was previously, or are we going to be able to make our own servers, etc?Alex
#17
08/31/2002 (10:19 pm)
hehe I wouldnt mind playing the old one but this new one looks good...Better then most online gun games ive seen before...Really good Keep it up!
#18
Will there be the same things in this as the old (i.e. invaders, cans, padded armour, etc.) or are you deviating entirely?
-VAA (is back!)
09/01/2002 (7:39 am)
Hey, looking nice RM! Can't wait to PBN again!Will there be the same things in this as the old (i.e. invaders, cans, padded armour, etc.) or are you deviating entirely?
-VAA (is back!)
#19
I am currently running a 32mb Video Card (ATI Xpert 99/2000 model) on a 1.13Gig processor, with 256mb or ram... should this game run smoothly on my computer, or Will the card I'm using kill me?
09/02/2002 (12:21 pm)
Hello David,I am currently running a 32mb Video Card (ATI Xpert 99/2000 model) on a 1.13Gig processor, with 256mb or ram... should this game run smoothly on my computer, or Will the card I'm using kill me?
#20
09/02/2002 (12:59 pm)
Hey, RM. Game's lookin good. Keep up the work. I've been waiting to see this come for a long time. Can't so who, but somebody gave me word long ago, that you'd be doing a 3D version of PBN. Hehehe Well, looks good. Keep up the good work. And hopefully, we'll see a demo version soon, and get a little taste of it ourselves. 
Associate Melv May
I'm so looking forward to this. ;)
- Melv.