Blog for James Hamar at GarageGames.com

Monday Jan 6 18:35

James Hamar — 2003-01-06T18:35:37+00:00

new developments, new artists, hiding staff

well over the last few months we released a few builds of the game. Josh has implemented our control scheme idea, and it works... to a point. We have had bad luck with artists and animators since day 1, so that has really hampered progress. This is an animation intensive game, and without ample supply of GOOD animations - we cant really progress. However, one of our animators logs on occasionly and supplies us with those mentioned "good animations"

I have continued to refine my compositions, increasing them to full length pieces, instead of 45 second snippets that loop repeatedly. Right now im considering aquiring the universal studios sfx library - to accomplish the sfx portion of my work.

hopefully i can negotiate something to get that library, and then i can figure something out on how i want to get my music from midi to something either digital ot live

Wednesday Jul 10 3:26

James Hamar — 2002-07-10T03:26:47+00:00

Music, life, happiness, work, sfx

Yeah, been a long time. Well, the epsilon team is back on track! Everyone has re-emerged from the cracks, and work has resumed at an accelerated rate.

I recently picked up the LotR soundtrack and the gladiator soundtrack. WOAH! I really love Hans Zimmer's style, and the instruments he uses on all of the more ethnic sounding songs.
Each cd has really provided a lot of inspiration for me, so I have currently gone back and re-wrote some of the stuff I already had.

I am also in the market to picking up some digital sound sample cds as well, to make the jump that joel and nick have made - and to hopefully showcase my music and have it in league with theirs. :) I have faith that I mixed it up pretty well, but all of the digital options will definately be something new to me. Poor old midi just doesnt cut it anymore... (maybe if the SNES was huge still)

Thanks for reading.
check out our atrocious site at
http://crosshate.initialized.org

(I put up a temp design a long time ago, never changed it into something nicer... maybe i should do it since i have time.)

Monday Apr 1 19:35

James Hamar — 2002-04-01T19:35:41+00:00

Music updates, more sfx, new company name, game name

Well, im at school right now doing research for an english paper. So i was online looking
for sources and I figured this was a good opportunity for a plan.

I have done some more music -- mainly the theme song, its short and sweet and all of that
stuff. Im pretty excited on the quality of it, and I hope that i can somehow get it off of midi format.
I also have mixed my existing tracks a lot better, so important instruments shine when
they have to.

In the sfx department, I have created different footstep sounds, and I am doing more of
the needed grunts/groans for pain and damage. We are starting to discuss the
campaign, and I am beginning to consider how I should take on voice acting.
Depending on the quality, i might just try to keep everything in-party. It would be great
if the guys are good voice actors. Ill have to find out. :)

Also, we renamed our company -- Its now called Epsilon Entertainment
the web address is still the the same at http://crosshate.initialized.org

Our game has also been named "Legionnaire"
If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask me or josh albrecht. :D

Tuesday Jan 29 3:36

James Hamar — 2002-01-29T03:36:00+00:00

Storyline for project

Here is a snippet of some of the stuff i have been writing about the storyline, seeing how i have been appointed in creating the general outline for the campaign.

Here goes:

2. Break into Senator's Home->Find Documents->Find Senator->Join ?
-Start one street away, identify house.
-Character Suggestions:
-Choices: Recon
Charge
Infiltrate
Silent Assault
Disguise
Distraction (fire/riot/noise)
Talk
?
-Guard Objectives: Live
Guard House
Raise Alarm
Get Help
-Character Reactions:
-Rebel Character Joins.
- -- Entrance to level on a street near the house. Try to approach the house and not to seem suspicious or alert the guards. There are a few different ways to get in, through an aqueduct behind the house, charge through the front door, or smooth talk your way into the house.
- Inside the house. Move about the house to find some documents you are looking for. Inside you must be wary of guards. You can fight them, or try to remain in stealth the entire time. The senator’s room is on the top floor, marked by a large house insignia. The room with the document is adjacent to his room, and when the players make it to him, he will send a few guards to deal with them as a test.
- Speaking with the senator. After speaking with him, they learn he is part of the , which they don’t believe. He then orders them to follow him into his study – sees the seal of the , and they begin to wonder what they are involved with. He also gives them the document that they are looking for, which is providing information on how the plans on the . If the player does NOT find the senator first, he has to fight through two huge guards to get to the study, and they will also call the alarm. The player must then break into the senator’s room and then a cut scene starts – where the player non-lethally attacks the senator, and then realizes the player isn’t , but a .
- Either way, the senator will offer them a chance to join the , but he will give them a different objective depending on the path they chose when approaching the study. (We will discuss this.) The player will react accordingly, and comply. This doesn’t mean that he will have to complete that order next mission to progress, but it just allows a deeper level of interaction, or many different ways to approach one goal.

As you can see -- i have cut out words so I dont spoil too much of the plot. But, thats the outline for mission 2... but a very basic one. Hope it intices you.

Sunday Jan 20 19:53

James Hamar — 2002-01-20T19:53:01+00:00

Sound effects!

Seeing how I am a musician/sound composer, its part of our job to create sounds. And well, I have just finished a 10 page set of dev. notes on what sounds I want to make, and how to do them and such.

The list right now, is about 55 sounds, not counting different pitches in the voices and stuff. Maybe i can get my other co-workers (programmer) to create something a la Operation Flashpoint, a little sliding meter to adjust pitches of voice.

ANYWAYS, i have stuff ranging from rainfall, ambience in a roman cityscape, to different intensities from weapon contact. So that would mean, if a glancing blow were to happen, the sound won't be as severe as a clean direct hit. I also hope we can implement voice commands, to order units (a la STARSIEGE! THE BEST GAME EVER!). They pulled that off pretty good.

Finally, I just purchased Digidesigns Protools, so now I have the sequencer/sampler setup i need. (I have cakewalk 9 too). I just need some sound libraries. Anyone want to donate? :) Or know of any resources? (I dont want to pay 1000$ if i dont have to).

Anyways, thats about it from this front. The tech demo we are hopefully going to test tonight, and ill post a lot more pics on the website. Oh well, thanks for reading - hope you all are doing as well as I am.

James Hamar
Crosshate@hotmail.com
icq: 54863319

Saturday Dec 15 4:48

James Hamar — 2001-12-15T04:48:59+00:00

Web, Updates, Demo, Music

well, i added the skeletal site frame for the insomniac site, and I have done tons of music snippets. Raistlin has taken over as animator for now, so we hope to have the demo out by this week. *crosses fingers*

http://crosshate.initialized.org

also, stop by http://initialized.org and check out the site. Raz, the serverop has done a lot for us, and thats the least we can do to show him some support for the great job he is doing.

Oh yeah, pardon my horrible job at what i call a website. im more of a musician than an html master.

Friday Nov 16 4:29

James Hamar — 2001-11-16T04:29:36+00:00

Sound Woes

Im composing new material like crazy with the help of my dad, a music major. Its coming out really nice, and it really suits the very grim and epic style of music that was depicted in the Roman era. Its definately not on par with gladiator or john williams, but its catchy.

The web page hasnt been updated in a while, my ftp client's trial expired.. darn it. So until I figure out a way to fix that dilemma, I will continue to compose.

Otherwise, things are going great with the rest of the team. That demo-release date was really pushed because of the terrorist attack in september, and then a few team members had personal problems to attend to. They are back, and things look to be getting back on schedule.

http://crosshate.initialized.org