[Gareth]

A thread for miscellaneous updates on SoW.

This thread has it all! News, interview links, blog updates, leaked photos of the devs caught snorting coke off the breasts of hookers! You thought Zach was sick but he is actually awaiting his court date! Scandal!!!

But before we continue with the hawt gossip, an update from our affiliate, the Blog of War:


29/05/2009
From Concept to Game Asset

[Anonxeuix]

http://scarsofwargame.com/DevBlog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/10.jpg

That one looks so goddamn nice. The port was definitely a good step!

[Nick]

SoW is going to look great - Zach + T3D is an ultimate upgrade to the project! =)

On the day screens, though, it's visible that windows are floating in front of the wall, or at least I get such an impression from the shadow behind it.
http://scarsofwargame.com/DevBlog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/8.jpg
http://scarsofwargame.com/DevBlog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/9.jpg

It's not a SoW art, though, I know =)

[Gareth]

I saw that as well, I thought I had made sure they were properly sunk into the building mesh but I may have made a mistake.

If not, there may be a flaw in the depth/shadow algorithm. Or perhaps a lack of precision in the tests that is resulting in objects that are almost aligned with another plane to not quite be considered to occlude the light source fully.

I know it doesn't do depth samples at the same resolution as the screen buffer, so it could be related. If it is a bug I will log it in the T3D private beta forums.

[MaximB]

Didn't notice that you migrated to T3D until I got an email from GarageGames with your "review" : http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/17137

So they say that Mac port is on it's way which is good.
I remember posting at garagegames about Linux support for TGEA and T3D , they said it's not going to happen : http://www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/87813 .
I guess you will be the first one to try to port your game to Windows/Mac and Linux using the T3D engine and tell us about it, but I'm afraid it won't be before world's end at 2012

I'm really upset that garagegames dumped their support for Linux - they lost many costumers in their evil deed

BTW what have you done with your hair Gareth ?! :  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?sid=fe760368c88f012f019e806d72b4fbe7&id=556656146&hiq=gareth&ref=search#/photo.php?pid=3152511&id=556656146

[Gareth]

Hey Maxim, yeah, I saw they put my comments in their letter, lol.

Porting T3D to Linux won't really be that different from porting TGEA 1.8.1, so... same amount of work for me

I have shaven my head, yes. I am far more aerodynamic now.

 

[Gareth]

*Update*

4/6/2009
Legendary

[Sleet]

Good call on the Legendary blog. Always was an issue of escalation especially once players got to a certain level/power. In the table-top gaming it was an issue as well, but this could be resolved in many ways by the gamemaster. A computer game is a different beast.

Glad to hear it will be a low power environment. Where if you meet the legendary monster way more often than not you will enjoy getting to know its gullet  - or being a new lawn ornament. 

[Resch]

Gareth, correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean that unique monsters require unique tactics in SoW? Or just that you won't repaint any Diablo-style, suddenly making them twice as strong?

That Medusa example got me thinking, it would be intriguing to wait for just the right moment to flash a mirror shield in her face, turning her gaze against her. Do you plan a scenerio of this kind for that Kayd wielding The Black Spear of Anados and other legendary creatures?

[Frost]

Gareth, correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean that unique monsters require unique tactics in SoW? Or just that you won't repaint any Diablo-style, suddenly making them twice as strong?

That Medusa example got me thinking, it would be intriguing to wait for just the right moment to flash a mirror shield in her face, turning her gaze against her. Do you plan a scenerio of this kind for that Kayd wielding The Black Spear of Anados and other legendary creatures?

Just please no minigames like that. At least make it possible through some skill check. Please no "flash a mirror to medusa three times to keel her" Inteligence check would be good. If char is inteligent enough, he or she should find out that way to kill her with mirror. Not by goddamn twitchy minigame.

[Gareth]

Gareth, correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean that unique monsters require unique tactics in SoW? Or just that you won't repaint any Diablo-style, suddenly making them twice as strong?

That Medusa example got me thinking, it would be intriguing to wait for just the right moment to flash a mirror shield in her face, turning her gaze against her. Do you plan a scenerio of this kind for that Kayd wielding The Black Spear of Anados and other legendary creatures?

Some do, yes. But combat is only one path through the game, so it's not like you will have to fight Kayd to "win". It's more that you can choose to follow a certain path that leads to such encounters and will have to actually think through solving them beyond "How much dps can I do?".

Just please no minigames like that. At least make it possible through some skill check. Please no "flash a mirror to medusa three times to keel her" Inteligence check would be good. If char is inteligent enough, he or she should find out that way to kill her with mirror. Not by goddamn twitchy minigame.

No, no mini-game. More like AoD's text adventures, where you have to find the correct path which may involve skill checks etc. It would be pointless putting in a legendary opponent and just auto-resolving it based on a single skill check, there is little player input / gameplay in that. The player him/herself will need to think and do certain side things instead of just charging forward. Charging forward will result in a painful lesson and then the reload screen.

[Frost]

So how's the porting to T3D coming along ? Maybe some percentage how much is done ?

[Gareth]

A little hard to tell in the middle how much work is left, depending on how long it takes to fix certain issues I'd estimate somewhere between 60-75%. Some of my code has broken badly due to certain restructurings in the engine. Sigh, AGAIN I have to fix the dynamic material blending code, it's only like the 5th fucking time I've had to fix it after a merge.

And I'll be honest with you guys, it's taken longer to do than it should have. I've been in a bit of a mindfucked place recently, it's affected my pace of work, haven't been concentrating properly.

But I'm focused again now, should fall fairly quickly, got a fair bit done this weekend. Had to redo some of it, a consequence of not enough concentration, sigh.

Addendum :

Women : The most destructive force in nature. For reals.

[caster]

Tell me about it... my summer just ended and i still have to go through three months of the bloody bugger... Gym? Drugs? Banging head against the wall? Work till you drop dead? Let me know which one works.

[Frost]

Tell me about it... my summer just ended and i still have to go through three months of the bloody bugger... Gym? Drugs? Banging head against the wall? Work till you drop dead? Let me know which one works.

Gym works. Helped me to unleash my rage and fury Plus I've put on weight and muscles about 10kg, but I've been intoxicating myself with massive amounts of creatine.

@ Gareth:

So we all know that you're porting SoW to T3D. But what is already done and functioning in the SoW's code? Post some details on what is already done in game becouse we don't really know what progress you made. Inventory is working? NPC's alive? Some gameplay mechanics already done and working ? I think everybody here would like to know.

[Gareth]

So we all know that you're porting SoW to T3D. But what is already done and functioning in the SoW's code? Post some details on what is already done in game becouse we don't really know what progress you made. Inventory is working? NPC's alive? Some gameplay mechanics already done and working ? I think everybody here would like to know.

With the port? It's not quite like that, when it comes to porting. Stuff still works, its more like some of the connections across code modules have broken. The inventory of NPCs work, the code that creates the NPCs simply isn't running because the startup code isn't calling it. A few core functions have changed in startup and I need to adapt my code to match.

So think of it as being a bunch of parts with a few of the wires communicating between them having been snapped. I'm rewiring the main init code now, it's about 90% done, once it's finished and all the core code calls are occuring in the right order then all the functionality should just work as before. Actually, I've been doing more than fixing it, I've done some restructuring to hopefully avoid some of the code breaking in future merges. A bit more time now, less time in the future, that's the hope.


What is more fundamentally broken is some of the special rendering code I put in for dynamic texture/material blending and creation. The way materials work in the core engine has changed (and it's changed with every revision of TGEA, breaking the same code each and every damn time. I'm really sick of fixing the bloody thing now ) and that broke my code. I'm currently figuring out exactly how it has changed so I can rework my code. That is the main remaining obstacle.

[Frost]

Well... maybe I was not clear in my post. I wanted to ask, what was already done and working, some list of features, before porting screwed some of things, which is normal and understandable. Some overall progress, not strictly porting. It would be cool to know what is already done in SoW.

[Nickless]

My apologies for the following jackass question, but, given the current date, are you still set for your soft release date of mid 2010, or will you guys be delaying? I'm merely curious rather than desperately craving the game with every fiber of my being that I feel the need to incessantly whine about release, though I do wonder how far you are into production, and how long it will really be until release. Admittedly I have only had a cursory read of the forums and FAQ, I haven't delved into anything beyond the first page, so you may have already answered this question recently, in which case I apologise for my impatience with the search button. There are so many great indie RPGs in production currently, I just want one of them in my hands.

[Gareth]

It's not a jackass question.

No, I'm afraid the mid 2010 release won't happen. I'm shifting it out to next year. I'll update with a better approximation later this year, I just have to make sure the kind of delays I saw in the second half of last year don't happen again.

Thanks for the interest