Plan for Phil Carlisle
by Phil Carlisle · 06/12/2005 (2:43 am) · 15 comments
Well, a busy last week here that I thought I'd write up. I'll post some new shots tommorow, but I thought i might as well do the write up while I still remember :)
First up thought, congrats to the bravetree and gg guys! taking the bravetree guys under the GG wing seems like a "duh" move really.. same building for so long and you know those guys are great.
Does this mean we finally get the component system into torque??? :)
Only thing that makes me slightly sad, is that its yet another indie thats kind of not an indie anymore.. Does that make sense? Its like bravetree were a role model for us as indies and now its been amalgamated :)
Is GG the borg of indie development? :) GG = EA?
Just kidding guys.. great move all round really.
So! onto my own news... which is plentiful.
Warming up for my RTW trip, so I'm desperately trying to get everything in place technology wise, new laptop, making sure I have installs for everything I need for art creation/inspection, builds etc.
The biggest news of course, is that with MS2 of TSE in CVS, along with an impending code-drop of our new physics engine. We are basically technology complete!
This means that all of the required technology features we required to ship the game are in place, ok they are still in a fairly rough form, but it does mean that they are usable and that the core risks are now mitigated.
The release of the terrain has given me a LOT of things to try out. I've been going through a lot of different apps looking for ways to create the type of terrains I want. Given that atlas isnt going to be having the editing features I need in place before I ship (most likely). I wanted to get a toolchain in place for me to make some levels up.
Suffice to say, I've pretty much managed to contrive a toolset that does the job pretty well :) Using various editors and generators and such. Its quite a long-winded process, but that doesnt matter, we arent envisioning a huge array of arena's to fight in. Just a couple of key ones.
Yesterday I got a couple of packages that are really going to help. I got the texure libraries at www.texturemonk.com on DVD (ten of the suckers!). 12000 textures for 80 bucks? a bargain in anyone's money!!! the fact that the textures are of places in france and england is a bonus (hint: world war two air war kinda happened mostly above france and england, at least the european part of it).
Not only that, but I've found a way to make the kind of terrains I wanted to make. With a bit of tweaking and some messing with some forest stuff, this is going to be VERY exciting :)
So now the next phase is really just consolidation of the code. Once the new physics is in place, I'll be able to finish up the FFA and TeamDM areana's and start the long slow alpha-beta tests. But it looks like we are inline for our xmas release schedule. Once we get the release done, there are lots of interesting deals to be made, lots of changes to roll in and I should have a roadmap for the next few years of this and more game developments in place.
A busy week!
First up thought, congrats to the bravetree and gg guys! taking the bravetree guys under the GG wing seems like a "duh" move really.. same building for so long and you know those guys are great.
Does this mean we finally get the component system into torque??? :)
Only thing that makes me slightly sad, is that its yet another indie thats kind of not an indie anymore.. Does that make sense? Its like bravetree were a role model for us as indies and now its been amalgamated :)
Is GG the borg of indie development? :) GG = EA?
Just kidding guys.. great move all round really.
So! onto my own news... which is plentiful.
Warming up for my RTW trip, so I'm desperately trying to get everything in place technology wise, new laptop, making sure I have installs for everything I need for art creation/inspection, builds etc.
The biggest news of course, is that with MS2 of TSE in CVS, along with an impending code-drop of our new physics engine. We are basically technology complete!
This means that all of the required technology features we required to ship the game are in place, ok they are still in a fairly rough form, but it does mean that they are usable and that the core risks are now mitigated.
The release of the terrain has given me a LOT of things to try out. I've been going through a lot of different apps looking for ways to create the type of terrains I want. Given that atlas isnt going to be having the editing features I need in place before I ship (most likely). I wanted to get a toolchain in place for me to make some levels up.
Suffice to say, I've pretty much managed to contrive a toolset that does the job pretty well :) Using various editors and generators and such. Its quite a long-winded process, but that doesnt matter, we arent envisioning a huge array of arena's to fight in. Just a couple of key ones.
Yesterday I got a couple of packages that are really going to help. I got the texure libraries at www.texturemonk.com on DVD (ten of the suckers!). 12000 textures for 80 bucks? a bargain in anyone's money!!! the fact that the textures are of places in france and england is a bonus (hint: world war two air war kinda happened mostly above france and england, at least the european part of it).
Not only that, but I've found a way to make the kind of terrains I wanted to make. With a bit of tweaking and some messing with some forest stuff, this is going to be VERY exciting :)
So now the next phase is really just consolidation of the code. Once the new physics is in place, I'll be able to finish up the FFA and TeamDM areana's and start the long slow alpha-beta tests. But it looks like we are inline for our xmas release schedule. Once we get the release done, there are lots of interesting deals to be made, lots of changes to roll in and I should have a roadmap for the next few years of this and more game developments in place.
A busy week!
About the author
#2
Don't forget to keep blogging whilst on your RTW trip. Are you going to any exotic/not often visited places?
06/12/2005 (4:56 am)
Map and Level making for FPSers is a long winded process, but it doesn't stop people enjoying and releasing mods. If there is any way to allow new terrain to be added to airace by the community, no matter how difficult it is for the community, someone will do it, which can only be a good thing (tm) :)Don't forget to keep blogging whilst on your RTW trip. Are you going to any exotic/not often visited places?
#3
06/12/2005 (5:05 am)
hey Phil, you still looking for an artist?
#4
I definitely think people will want to mess with it..
Gary: I'll be posting some pictures, making a regular blog and such.. Exotic? depends what you call exotic.. but yes, defintiely some "different" places.
Eric: Yeah, a few guys are doing some tests, but I'm always on the lookout for good professional artists to work with.
06/12/2005 (6:41 am)
Andy: its only long winded for certain types of terrain. Otherwise, its pretty easy. Once the TSE terrain tools come online it will be as easy as TGE.I definitely think people will want to mess with it..
Gary: I'll be posting some pictures, making a regular blog and such.. Exotic? depends what you call exotic.. but yes, defintiely some "different" places.
Eric: Yeah, a few guys are doing some tests, but I'm always on the lookout for good professional artists to work with.
#5
I sent you a couple of emails. I was wondering if you got them. I don't want to keep bugging you if you are just deleting them.
I used the email in your profile.
Tim
06/12/2005 (7:54 am)
Phil,I sent you a couple of emails. I was wondering if you got them. I don't want to keep bugging you if you are just deleting them.
I used the email in your profile.
Tim
#6
It's more of a collaboration than a Suit / Programmer / grunts corporate environment. Indies still need to work as
a team to get modern good quality games out one way or another.
06/12/2005 (9:37 am)
Well I don't know if you can't still call them indie. The workplace environment there is not or does not seem as rigid.It's more of a collaboration than a Suit / Programmer / grunts corporate environment. Indies still need to work as
a team to get modern good quality games out one way or another.
#7
06/12/2005 (10:33 am)
Did I miss something? When did Bravetree get taken up by GG? If anyone can post a link to this, that would be cool
#8
06/12/2005 (1:05 pm)
Yeah, I didn't know anything about Bravetree becoming part of GG ... interesting! Can't wait to see all the great technology come together, I'm sure you'll do amazing things with it! 
#9
06/12/2005 (1:27 pm)
@Charlie, their was a news item on GG... guess they took it down. 
#10
If you can wait one month and if you are interested, i will be available for work as a freelance artist.
Christophe
06/12/2005 (1:58 pm)
Phil,If you can wait one month and if you are interested, i will be available for work as a freelance artist.
Christophe
#11
So, now things are a lot simpler. And, if we have to move to another set of offices, we get to take Joe/Clark/Matt/John/Mark with us, which is awesome. :P
On the component side, we'd already negotiated everything about that around the time of last IGC. We've just had so much stuff in the pipeline that it's been taking a while to get Torque updates out. We'll get components out to ya when the time is right. :)
06/12/2005 (2:26 pm)
I believe Joe did a plan on it, and it was up on the RSS feeds, too. From my perspective, I see this as a really awesome thing for GG and BT. We kept wanting to work on BT projects, they kept wanting to work on GG stuff, and it was hard, because both companies had to focus on what would keep them in business.So, now things are a lot simpler. And, if we have to move to another set of offices, we get to take Joe/Clark/Matt/John/Mark with us, which is awesome. :P
On the component side, we'd already negotiated everything about that around the time of last IGC. We've just had so much stuff in the pipeline that it's been taking a while to get Torque updates out. We'll get components out to ya when the time is right. :)
#13
yes, but the reality is quite different. As BraveTree, we were doing well, and we had some good contracts working for cool people. But the contracts were not extending our IP or adding to our tech base. We were working to maintain income while some of the team worked on long term technology/game initiatives.
Now, as part of GG, we no longer have to do this. Everything we now do is either on our own IP, or somehow related to extending the tech base. Beleive it or not, as part of GG, I feel even more indie than I did at BT.. we have a lot more freedom to do what we want, and a lot more opportunity to work on things that we will 'own'.
As for a role model.. we try to live up to that, and it is my hope that after these 'big' projects I will have more time to give back to the community in terms of 'what I have learned' blogs to help get those getting started past the hard parts of running a team and making a game..
it is not a bad thing at all.. you can look at it the other way too.. that our joining GG is a way to 're-indify' GG and try to steer it away from the path of borgification... first we need to convince them to stop wearing those stuffy looking 3-piece suits.
06/13/2005 (11:22 pm)
Quote:Only thing that makes me slightly sad, is that its yet another indie thats kind of not an indie anymore.. Does that make sense?
yes, but the reality is quite different. As BraveTree, we were doing well, and we had some good contracts working for cool people. But the contracts were not extending our IP or adding to our tech base. We were working to maintain income while some of the team worked on long term technology/game initiatives.
Now, as part of GG, we no longer have to do this. Everything we now do is either on our own IP, or somehow related to extending the tech base. Beleive it or not, as part of GG, I feel even more indie than I did at BT.. we have a lot more freedom to do what we want, and a lot more opportunity to work on things that we will 'own'.
As for a role model.. we try to live up to that, and it is my hope that after these 'big' projects I will have more time to give back to the community in terms of 'what I have learned' blogs to help get those getting started past the hard parts of running a team and making a game..
it is not a bad thing at all.. you can look at it the other way too.. that our joining GG is a way to 're-indify' GG and try to steer it away from the path of borgification... first we need to convince them to stop wearing those stuffy looking 3-piece suits.
#14
The move is actually a great one for all parties involved--and while I will be pushing towards more "commercial" style work as part of my role in GarageGames, the addition of BT to the GG stable of developers and artists counter-pushes to keep GG working on the core vision: games and tech for the masses. Simply from the consolidation of adminstrative and overhead costs, to the ability to even more fully share work and ideas, it's a great move.
06/14/2005 (1:01 pm)
@Joe: I told you that wasn't "stuffing" making my suit so big! /duckThe move is actually a great one for all parties involved--and while I will be pushing towards more "commercial" style work as part of my role in GarageGames, the addition of BT to the GG stable of developers and artists counter-pushes to keep GG working on the core vision: games and tech for the masses. Simply from the consolidation of adminstrative and overhead costs, to the ability to even more fully share work and ideas, it's a great move.
#15
06/20/2005 (8:53 pm)
@Phil, how are you likeing the texturemonk collections? Maybe you could post a comment here? http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=31283 
Torque Owner Andrew Nicholson
Andy