/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/

	Eternal Status Report
	Posted By: Forrest of B.org	Date: 6/25/06 10:33 p.m.
	In Response To: Re: STUCK on Un-Wired (C Lund) : Ah, ok. Is it still in beta? (can't seem to locate the website, for some : reason) Eternal MkV (the final version of the "get something, anything, out the door" release process) has been out since December 21, 2004 - Marathon's 10th Anniversary. It's not entirely complete; partially by design, partially be accident. It wasn't intended to have the very first or very last levels (for a cliffhanger effect), but the second to last two levels also didn't get finished by the release date, and the new monsters for the last chapter didn't get made so it uses slightly modified Pfhor as stand-ins (which was actually appropriate with that older version of the story, but that has since changed). Also, the F'lick'ta aren't there because I had to hack the Hulks in in place of them (instead of stacked in) in a hurry, and a lot of older M1 monsters never got imported like they were supposed to. I'm really quite disappointed with the whole thing nowadays, but... it's something. Eternal X is the "it's really finished, for good now, seriously" version, and I was hoping to have that done by last summer, but it's official release date has alwys been "When It's Done". My original outside target for a release date was this November (Infinity's 10th anniversary), but that's not looking very likely. Things have slowed down a ton since Goran and Adam quit, and Don just hasn't had much time. And I still need a lot of tedious Anvil work done that I just don't have the time to do between full-time school and 3/4-time work and required preprofessional volunteer work to qualify for my graduate program a and spending (much enjoyed) time with my girlfriend of the past ~3 years... I'm basically doing nothing on Eternal anymore, since I finished all the texture improvements and general interface/MML stuff. I'm relying entirely on other people to do the things I don't have the time or skills to do anymore. I'm actually very pessimistic about Eternal's future these days, despite slow progress being made (thanks Andreas). Originally Eternal X was just going to be "finish the unfinished bits of Mk V and clean the rest of it up a bunch". However, the people I've had helping me clean things up have found it easier to scrap a lot of stuff and rebuild something roughly in it's image instead of just refining what's already built. The results are a lot nicer than I was expecting and a huge improvement over Mk V, but it's also taking a lot longer than I had hoped for. And the unfinished bits have still yet to be finished :-\ Eternal X right now is between 1/2 and 2/3 done. Here is our status in detail: Texture refinements are tentatively complete, though if mappers have suggestions that don't require retexturing existing levels, I'm still happy to make them. New and improved HUD and main screen graphics have been made as well, and the landscapes have been tweaked to look better with fog. Chapter screens have been updated as well. The prologue/epilogue levels are complete. Chapter 1 maps are complete, except for one which just needs some minor adjustments. Four of these (including the incomplete one) are refinements of MkV levels, four are all-new remakes, and the two dream levels are all new as well. Chapter 2 has all but two and a quarter maps done, that quarter map being one in progress that just needs monster population and a few bugfixes. Four of the complete levels (and the two dream levels) are all-new remakes, two are refinements of MkV levels. Chapter 3 has all but 3.5 maps done, though some of the "done" ones might still need some more work. So far all of the updated maps are all-new remakes, though one is actually a modification of an M2 level (story is set at the same place), and another of the unfinished ones will also be an M2 modification. At least 1.5 of the 3.5 un-updated maps will be refinements of the existing MkV levels. Chapter 4 has only the two dream levels finished, though three of the existing Mk V maps don't really need much work. I'm not sure which of the others will be fixed up or remade entirely. Chapter 5 has already had a couple levels remade but I'm not entirely sure how happy I am with them. Two of the Mk V levels are pretty good as-is but will probably still need some work done on them, since they were kind of rushed to begin with. The two dream levels are done, of course. The other two Mk V levels not accounted for in this list will probably only need various redgrees of refinement, not complete reconstruction. But then, there's those last two levels that never got made in the first place... As for other stuff... I've got a complete musical score thanks to Craig Hardgrove, although I'm still hoping for a version of Splash and some other minor refinements on the Woodwinds version of Swirls. I still need the Wasps, Lookers, MADDs, and M1 Juggernauts imported stacked with existing monsters, the M1 stacked Enforcers are buggy and need fixing, the F'lick'ta need to be reimported, and some CLUTs may need adjusting. I've theoretically got someone doing all this but I haven't seen any results on that yet. I also need one new monster for Chapter 5, and would really like to have a second one as well, for very dramatic effect... a boss character of sorts, that you might meet near a dry fountain at the beginning of the world. But first I need to find an artist to make the more necessary Ch5 monster; then we'll talk about Hathor's avatar. I was kind of hoping to remodel the weapons in better quality but that's probably not happening and I think they're alright as it is. I still might replace the graphics for the Wave Motion Cannon (aka Electro Jjaro Thunder Bowler), since I'm not sure how much I like them. Also... I'm scrapping the S'pht Orb for another Jjaro weapon or two in Chapter 5. (George Lucas is gonna sue somebody!). These babies will be really handy fighting off the new monster. Also, the weapon HUD MML still needs work; it does weird things that I don't understand and so there are still no ammo displays. I hope to have netplay capabilities in Eternal X. Well, a bunch of people seem to want netplay capabilities, and I want to appease them, That will require some netmaps, and updated player models to at least show the correct weapons in your enemies hands. That's one big reason I wanted to get the weapons remodeled in 3D... to make it easier to put them on a player sprite. The weapons in-hand and on-ground (and thus, in-enemies-hands) don't entirely match up in design right now. And there is still some terminal writing and refinement to do, but I'm working on that as the level that those terminals feature on get updated. This includes new terminal graphics, including both logos and maps and generic graphics by me, some shiny new action shots courtesy of Blayne. So, that's about it. Eternal X is moving very slow, but what's getting done is prettier than I expected. Some part of me wants to release it in parts too; release Chapter 1 as soon as it (and the M1 monsters needed for it) is finished and thoroughly tested. So far I've gotten mostly negative feedback on that idea though, so it probably won't happen unless the rest of the project drags on a few more years or something...

[ Post a Reply | Message Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg ] Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

	STUCK on Un-Wired	Aaron Sikes	6/24/06 2:59 p.m.
	Re: STUCK on Un-Wired	John Sumner	6/24/06 5:59 p.m.
	Re: STUCK on Un-Wired	C Lund	6/24/06 10:59 p.m.
	Eternal *NM*	D-M.A.	6/25/06 2:33 a.m.
	Re: STUCK on Un-Wired	John Sumner	6/25/06 2:34 a.m.
	Re: STUCK on Un-Wired	C Lund	6/25/06 3:23 a.m.
	Eternal Status Report	Forrest of B.org	6/25/06 10:33 p.m.
	Re: Eternal Status Report	C Lund	6/25/06 11:45 p.m.
	Re: Eternal Status Report	thermoplyae	6/26/06 7:26 a.m.
	Re: Eternal Status Report	Forrest of B.org	6/26/06 7:02 p.m.
	Re: Eternal Status Report	Aaron Sikes	6/29/06 5:46 a.m.
	Re: Eternal Status Report	Shadowbreaker	7/8/06 7:47 a.m.

[ Post a Reply | Message Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg ] Pre-2004 Posts