August 23, 2000 - GFX

Well, I just spent an entire 14-hour day doing those stupid intermission graphics ("now entering: [mapname], by: [author]"), at a rate of about 1 letter per minute for 25 maps. Jeez that cut+paste crap is hard. Then I go ahead and put the GFX into the main WAD and guess what? All the colors get swapped; the cyan (transparent) background becomes yellow and the small red letters for author name turn blue. Fortunately, the large silver mapname letters remained unaffected by WinTex, and in the end it turns out the blue letters look cooler than the red ones, so all I did was spend an additional 30 minutes recoloring the backgrounds. But it's done, so yay! Did a little more graphics work for those 2 unfinished maps; made some 3D bridge textures for the opening scene and caution railings for another part. Also shot off a full beta report of the engine to our coding guru, so that stuff will get up-to-speed soon too. ...and that's today's report. - Lüt

August 21, 2000 - Hide Nowhere

Yep, we're back. And just about complete. So you're wondering just what in the hell is going on with us? Well let me tell you... Levels: All but two of mine are done. The two that aren't done are each 90% done. The first uncomplete one needs an exit room, a secret room, two little storage rooms and a few custom textures. The second uncomplete one also needs an exit room, some odds and ends touched up, and a few custom textures. Textures: As noted above, only a few custom/modified textures need to be put together. 10 at the most; shouldn't take more than an hour once I figure out what's needed. Engine: Two bugs with Z-Clipping occur; the first one is having no control while you are on top of an object, and the second is projectiles changing vertical angles when using the MLook feature to fire down on enemies. The current particle fountains will be modified slightly so as to put out less particles. An option to turn bright/dark walls on/off will be included. Two new monsters of the same breed still fight with eachother. Storylines will be included once written (see "story" section for more details). Enemies: All new graphics and AI/programming are complete (with the exception of the "fight" bug mentioned above). Music: All of the music is done. 1/3 of it is allocated. Story: The main story and conclusion are done. The per-level intermissions have yet to be written. Documentation: ...is generally laid-out, and will be completed once the game is done. Testing: The first 20 maps have been tested. The last 4 are mine, and will be tested once I complete them. Once that completes, a final version will be passed around the team to playtest and we will release a few days after it is OK'ed by everybody. So there. And stay tuned in; I'm spending the next two weeks locked up in my basement, so expect almost-daily updates. - Lüt