Wrack Blog » Updates

New Batch of Screenshots!

Brad Carney — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:22:24 +0000

As the title suggests, I’m very pleased to showcase a brand new batch of screenshots! We’ve all worked very hard to improve the look over the past several months, and I think it’s paid off. These represent how the pre-order Wrack will initially look, so I hope you all like it!

Be sure to check out all of the new screenshots on the media page. But, for now, here’s one to get you started!

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New Wrack Interview!

Brad Carney — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:01:20 +0000

As you may recall in our QuakeCon Wrap Up post, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by The Astringent Gaming Journal. I’m very pleased to announce that the interview is now available!

In the interview, we discuss several topics, which include games today, Wrack itself, and working with the legendary Bobby Prince! You can find the interview here. Feel free to share your thoughts!

Oh, and as a little treat, we’ve put out a new screenshot to go along with the interview. We’ve been pretty quiet lately for very good reason – we’re working extremely hard to improve the visual aspects of Wrack. We’ve got a couple of new people working on it (who had been working on it previously), including Remco Ernst (aka Rulero), and Todd Nickens (aka WastedYouth). Here’s a little taste of what Wrack will be looking like in the future. Enjoy!

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New Music! New Sounds! New Car!

Brad Carney — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:23:17 +0000

Okay, so I lied about the car part (I’m not Oprah, people)… but everything else is true!

So as it turns out, the trailer didn’t do a very good job at showing off one of the most awesome things about Wrack – new music and sounds made by none other than Bobby Prince. In fact, some thought the only reason he was credited in the trailer was because of the Doom track I used, and that he had nothing to do with Wrack! Yikes! Bad job by me!

Well, I’m here to make up for that… and then some! I present to you not one, but two new videos! The first one is a new music track called “Crusher” that will be used in one of the later levels, and the second one shows off many of the new sound effects Bobby has created for Wrack.

Enjoy!

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Last Bastion Is No More

Brad Carney — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:41:42 +0000

… the name “Last Bastion”, that is!

To avoid confusion with another game that’s coming out sometime soon, we’ll be dropping the name “Last Bastion” (which – let’s face it – a lot of people didn’t care for anyway!). I was hoping to have a new name for you guys, but despite weeks of trying to think of something new, I still have yet to settle upon something I really like. I want to get it right this time, and don’t want to settle for a sub-par name. Hopefully we’ll be able to announce a new name soon. … oh yeah, and when we do, it will likely be accompanied by a new website!

Also, big news concerning our first release!

I’m changing up our first release plan. Instead of releasing an alpha, we’ll be doing a pre-order system. By pre-ordering episode 1 of the game (I almost typed “Last Bastion” there – oops!), you’ll get an account which will give you access to the current version as well as updates as we continue to make it! So, instead of getting stuck with an incomplete and possibly buggy (and shitty) version of the game, you’ll get to come along for the ride as we make it! We’ll be able to fix issues, listen to your requests, add features for modders, and most importantly – continue to develop content for, and finish up the game!

That should all be a lot of fun, and it’s coming up soon! Hopefully we’ll be all done and ready to go this summer. Until then…

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Merry Christmahanakwanzika!

Brad Carney — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:01:12 +0000

Well, with the holiday season here, what better to celebrate this time of giving than with a new batch of screenshots! We’ve all been hard at work trying to finish up the alpha of Last Bastion (which is actually getting close to being finished!), and now have a bunch of screenshots for you from the second map of the game, E1M1 (though that may change considering how thoroughly confusing that is). Enjoy!

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Hey, An Update!

Brad Carney — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:23:22 +0000

So, we’ve been getting ready for our very first release! Considering that this project hasn’t exactly been free to produce, my plan is to help raise some money to finish up the first episode with… a 3-map alpha! For something really cheap (probably $5 or so), you’ll get the first 3 levels of Last Bastion, as well as the level editor! So, not only will you finally be able to play Last Bastion, but you’ll be able to start creating your own custom content as well! More on this later

Lately, we’ve been focusing on the theme for the next two levels after what we showed at QuakeCon. In these two levels, you’re traveling through a waste disposal area, so it has a grungy industrial type of look with a lot of damaging nuclear waste. Here are some screenshots of the first area. Enjoy

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Resolving Color Issues

Brad Carney — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:40:45 +0000

Some of you may have noticed something about the level shown at QuakeCon – it was really gray! This was never intentional, and is something we’ve worked on since then. The reason the level was so gray is because before we knew what we were doing, two texture sets were created – a highly saturated blue texture set, and a fairly desaturated gray texture set. Here’s why I ended up using the much less colorful gray texture set.

Looking at a screen where the majority of the color is super saturated is a bit unsettling – kind of like eating a cake made entirely of frosting. What we’ve discovered is that it’s much better to have most of the screen be a fairly desaturated color, and then use more highly saturated colors in smaller amounts – such as for object textures, HUD graphics, and borders/supports. Had I used the highly saturated blue texture set, looking at the level probably would have been akin to eating too much candy – nice for a bit, but then made you want to puke after awhile. The gray texture set might have been more boring, but at least it didn’t make anyone nauseated

So while the gray textures set provided a nice desaturated base for us, it lacked color, and was pretty boring. … until now, that is!

With some additional color (in small amounts!) and texture detail, I’d say it’s greatly improved over the way it looked at QuakeCon!

So, the lesson here is: Keep most of the screen a fairly desaturated color, and then do more saturated colors in small amounts. Are you paying attention budding texture artists?

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QuakeCon Wrap Up – And New Shots!

Brad Carney — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:55:12 +0000

Well, after a great weekend, QuakeCon is over, and we’re all back home. I had a blast this year. It was great getting to meet a bunch of new people and share the latest version of Last Bastion with everyone – something we’ve all worked very hard on.

I was really surprised at how well it was received. Even though this has been in development for a couple of years now and we’ve been working really hard on it, it’s still far from being a finish product – even the first level. But all weekend, people were really intrigued by what we had so far, and I constantly had people coming up to me asking me about it, with the majority of them sitting down and playing through it. With only a couple of exceptions, the feedback on both the visuals and gameplay footage was overwhelmingly positive! Needless to say it was a really great feeling.

But hey, don’t take my word for it! Now that QuakeCon is over, I have a full set of screenshots from the first level that was shown there! Enjoy!

One last thing: Some of you may be aware that our site got hacked over the weekend. Thankfully, I was able to restore it thanks to the help of Eruanna and Wartorn! Without their help, getting this back up wouldn’t have been possible (and definitely wouldn’t have been possible in such a timely fashion)! They deserve all of our thanks for getting this back up and running! So, thank you!

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One Screenshot

Brad Carney — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:54:33 +0000

Well, I may not be going to QuakeCon, but since I don’t want you all out to dry (and to prove that we actually have been very hard at work and making a lot of progress!), I’ve decided to give you all… a single screenshot! Enjoy!

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Progress Update – 03/10

Brad Carney — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:53:17 +0000

Things have been running pretty smoothly lately. What little programming work there’s been left to do by me is getting done, the design docs have gotten more planned out, and we’re slowly but surely finding the right people for this project! There’s not much to show for all of this yet, however! Most of the new art assets are still in the conceptual stages, and it’s really hard to show performance increases! It’s not like a screenshot is going to look a lot nicer if the underlying framerate is smoother!

While there isn’t anything new and major to show off, there are a few noteworthy blurbs:

Music support is in! It shouldn’t take too much longer to add the sound effect system as well!
I’ve recently made some major optimizations. Large maps like the second map in the gameplay demo (the gothic one) now run smooth as butter!
I sketched and completed the layout and gameplay for the game’s first map. It has the game’s first miniboss, as well as the game’s first boss!
I’ve added a number of new gameplay elements to Last Bastion recently that should make it more fun and interesting to play. Stay tuned!
I am planning on going to QuakeCon this August. If everything goes according to schedule (ha!), we should have a demo ready by then. If not, you may just get to see an incomplete crappy version!

That’s about it for right now. We should have more to show in the next month or so!

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