Torchlight – Better than Doom!

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Brad Carney

… well, not exactly. But I had to get your attention somehow, right? :)

If you follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that I recently picked up a new Diablo-like game called Torchlight (which was actually made by the creators of Diablo). The game is absolutely fantastic – it looks great, and has been a total blast to play – and I’ve been playing it off and on over the past week or so (okay, mostly on!). For someone who’s been anxiously awaiting Diablo III, this game has really hit the spot, given that it’s VERY similar to Diablo (gems, randomly generated dungeons, champion monsters, etc.), and might even – dare I say – be better! It’s certainly more colorful and more interesting looking at this point than Diablo III is.

I’ve been intrigued by a few aspects of Torchlight in how they relate to Vega. For starters, it’s bright and colorful, and just plain great to look at. Also, it was developed fairly quickly, mostly due to the use of great tools. Anyone who’s gotten to take a peek at Vega’s editor will tell you that the rendered view represents your level almost exactly how it will look in the game (well, minus shadows at this point – but that will change!). This allows mappers to work on their levels more without having to pause and load it to see how it looks, letting you create maps much faster, and with fewer annoyances.

Finally, it’s smaller in scope (no multiplayer), which has allowed them to get it out the door a lot faster (read: you get to play it a lot sooner), and has allowed them to sell it for a mere $20! That’s pretty similar to what I’d like to do with Vega – release something that focuses on giving you great single player/co-op so we can release it faster and more cheaply, and then focus on other aspects (deathmatch) later on.

Anyway, if this sort of thing is of interest to you, check out the interview with Max Schaefer (the CEO of Torchlight developer Runic Games) for more great insights, and for more information about a great game:

http://www.incgamers.com/Interviews/225/max-schaefer-talks-torchlight/1

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We found our men!

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Brad Carney

You may have been aware that we were recently looking to make some additions to our team (and if you weren’t aware of this, then seriously, what rock have you been living under? For shame! Tsk tsk!). Anyway, we were successful in finding both a beta tester and a mapper, and I would like to both officially welcome them to the team, and introduce them!

  • Morpheus: Hailing from Italy, Morpheus is a mapper whose main experience comes from working on the GZDoom/ST project Stronghold.
  • Wartorn: A beta tester who has both been very involved with the Skulltag community, and who has done some actual real-world beta testing at a major game studio.

Let’s all give them a big warm welcome to the team! :D

Now, mean does that we’re done hiring people? No way! We will still continue to look for mappers (especially ones living in the US), so don’t hesitate to send in an application (there’s even a chance we’ll make an additional hire based on the applications already sent in).

To everyone who sent in an application: A number of you were under heavy consideration for both of our positions, and I will keep your applications around in the event of a new opening. In other words, if something opens up, then you will be the first ones I go to!

That’s it for now! Time for us to get to work making a better, less buggy Project Vega!

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Hiring Bonanza

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Brad Carney

Things have really been going well lately. Over the past couple weeks, we’ve really been firing on all cylinders. No doubt you’ve all seen the screenshots of Mechadon’s latest map (pretty, eh?)! But he’s not the only one who’s been working his butt off! Some of the recent things that I’ve added are:

  • Powerups
  • Scripted dynamic lighting effects
  • The ammunition system
  • Various support items (medkits, armor, etc.)
  • Many other various gameplay enhancements

It’s really quite a bit to keep with. Features are being added too fast for one mapper to implement (poor Mechadon!). Plus, there’s sure to be bugs with all of the new features. Where am I going with this? Well, you probably already have that figured out! Aren’t you the smart one?

Something I’ve really needed to do for some time (since WastedYouth and Spork left) is to bring in one or more new level designers. I’ve always dreaded it because I was afraid to wade through all of the subpar applications I knew I’d get, but I’m going to go ahead and bite the bullet and do it.

So then, I’m pleased to announce that we have not one, but two openings! We’re looking for a level designer, and a beta tester. Head over to the help wanted page for the full details, but the bottom line is that if you’d like to be brought aboard, give me reason to believe that you’d be dedicated to the project, and if you’re applying to be a level designer, please show samples of your work (I’d be willing to take on something who’s talent level wasn’t up to par, provided they had a great work ethic). There, now those rules aren’t too hard to follow, now are they?

I’ll be very much looking forward to seeing some great applications! With a little help, I think we can really move Project Vega forward even faster.

Thanks!

Posted in Help Wanted, Updates | Leave a comment

New phase – new look!

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Brad Carney

Things have been pretty quiet from us since QuakeCon. What’s the deal with that? Were we all wiped out in a cataclysmic rain of fire? Were we enslaved and working in the coal mines? Are we all too busy playing Halo 3: ODST (hint: no)? Actually, the answer is none of the above! We’ve been hard at work on the next phase of Project Vega (it’s still a codename, remember?)!

While the first phase primarily had to do with getting the basic technology off the ground (building the editor, getting the scripting system working, getting map basics working, etc.), and the next phase further developed that into a playable demo (lightmapping, basic working monsters, basic working weapons. etc.), this third phase is geared towards developing a small slice of what the game will actually be like. This means we’re finialing the overall look of the game (more on that in a minute), determining what visual technology we’ll need to do this (and implementing this), and developing a few maps that fully reflect the final look of the game, as well as the final gameplay of the game.

Concerning the look of the game, we’ve chosen to take it in the direction of cel-shading. This means that the game will be bright and colorful, looking something like an anime. Meshes will have banded lighting (while still allowing the full spectrum of color), and be outlined. Overall, it looks very cool so far! We’re moving away from a more realistic look to something more interesting, I think. Currently, Mechadon and Esselfortium are working on figuring out how the maps should look under this new rendering system. Once we’ve got it all ironed out, I’ll be sure to post share some screenshots of it!

I’ve also been working extensively on the gameplay side of things. After fixing several bugs/issues noticed at QuakeCon, I’ve added several new elements including powerups and an extensive customizeable skill setting system similar to what’s found in ZDoom. This allows you to define your own skill levels and properties, such as speeds for objects (in some skills you may want missiles to travel faster), player damage factor (so the player can take more/less damage under certain skill levels), and whether or not the monsters should attack more frequently. I’ve been updating the monster scripts to reflect these new properties, and so far I’m very pleased with the results.

We’re well on our way to completing this next phase – a small slice of what the real game will be like, in terms of visuals and gameplay. When this phase is complete, we’ll finally be ready to find ourselves a publisher, and get this game finished!

Posted in Technology, Updates | Leave a comment

QuakeCon Aftermath – Part II

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Brad Carney

As I said in the last part, QuakeCon was a lot of fun and a great success. People seemed to love what they saw of Vega so far, and it was great to meet a lot of new people, as well as several people in person for the first time.

Some highlights of QuakeCon include:

  • After beating me in a couple of rounds of Skulltag deathmatch, I jokingly told Firewolf to “Stop hacking!!1″. Little did I know that he actually did enable the wallhack shortly thereafter.
  • The Doom Freak actually somehow got DRUNK off of the energy drink there called “Bawls”.
  • While standing in line, a girl was throwing free t-shirts into the crowd. Before she got near us, I said “Pfft! I don’t care for a t-shirt.” I then reached up and caught one, and gave it to The Doom Freak.
  • “Am I drinking your bawls?” — Firewolf
  • On the last day, Catman and Firewolf built a massive tower of empty Bawls cans (the tower of Bawls). Some guys a few rows behind us knocked it down by throwing glow bands at it, which was met with thunderous applause.

I’ve also posted up some pictures of the event on my Facebook page which you can view here.

So where do we go from here? Well, it sounds like we’re on the right track. We’ll keep moving forward, start actively searching for a publisher, as well as expanding our publicity to places other than Doom sites. I’m really pleased with how things have so far, and look forward to how they will go in the future.

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QuakeCon Aftermath – Part I

Posted on August 16, 2009 by Brad Carney

QuakeCon is now over, and we’re all back catching up on sleep, and coming down from our energy drink highs (right, The Doom Freak?). It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet a lot of people in person that I had only known over Skulltag, like Catman, The Doom Freak, Firewolf, Rivecoder, and Jehar. Granted, the first day kind of sucked due to waiting in line from 9am to midnight, but it was a lot of fun from that point on.

The response to Project Vega was very positive. We had a lot of people walking by as it was being played say things like “Whoa, what’s that?” and appeared to be genuinely impressed by what we all had done so far. Several of them even sat down and played, and had a good time. I can’t speak for the Skulltaggers who played it more in depth, but they seemed to like it as well. You’ll have to ask them what they think :)

I’ll post more later (since I’m still pretty exhausted), but Firewolf shot some footage of it on the first day (after the infamous 15 hour line), and has posted it up on YouTube. Watch… and enjoy!

Posted in News, Screenshots | 6 Comments

QuakeCon is go!

Posted on August 12, 2009 by Brad Carney

We’re almost there! In roughly 24 hours, I’ll be departing to QuakeCon to show off Project Vega in public for the first time. The demo is ready (though it may still be spruced up some more in the mean time), and I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out. We’ll all worked very hard on it, and it’s paid off. I’m really proud of the job everyone’s done on it!

The demo is a fully playable. It shouldn’t be too much different than playing some pretty basic Doom maps (though hopefully this looks a whole hell of a lot better!). While small in scope and using textures from UT2K4 for placeholders, the demo ought to be a fairly good representation of what I expect the final product to be, both visually and from a gameplay standpoint. Granted, it won’t be a perfect representation (the second map is a gothic map), but… you get the idea.

We all know what our goals were for the QuakeCon demo. So what did we actually finish? What can you look for in this demo of a nowhere near complete game? Here’s what you can expect:

  • Four all-new monsters, including the sentry, turret, and crawler!
  • Three brand new playable maps (along with some bonus maps)!
  • Two usable weapons – the pistol and double-barreled shotgun!
  • Much, much more that doesn’t fit this nice bulleted format!

I hope as many of you all come by and check it out as possible. I’ll try to get a spot with the rest of the Skulltaggers, so we should all be easy to find.

Anyway, I know you’re all sick of me talking and just want to look at screenshots, and hey, who am I to deny you screenshots? So here you go – one screenshot of each map in the demo. Enjoy :)

BETA0025

BETA0032

BETA0038

See you all at QuakeCon! Be sure to post up if you’re going and we can expect you there!

Posted in News, Screenshots | 2 Comments

Gearing up for QuakeCon

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Brad Carney

With just a little over two weeks to go until QuakeCon, we’re all busy ripping our hair out finishing up our demo for QuakeCon. While things have been going well for the most part, I want to offer a word of warning: Don’t be expecting too much from us at QuakeCon. We don’t have anything even close to what could be considered a finished product. There’s only a few maps, along with very rough gameplay and many temporary models. It ought to still be fun to play, and show off a rough idea of what Vega will look like and play like, but don’t be expecting something totally polished and finished.

Of course, it also doesn’t help that we’ve had back luck with mappers: Mechadon is having severe computer issues preventing him from mapping, Agent Spork was too busy to participate, and WastedYouth had to drop out because his new job swallowed his soul whole. So, unfortunately for all of you, that means that all we’ll left with is… me :( I’ve had to use my subpar mapping skills to texture (and slightly tweak) Wasted’s map which will end up being the third map in the demo, create the entire first map (using some of his architectual/textural choices from a map he started), and may end up having to create the entire second map as well here with about two weeks to go. Ouch. I’d offer an invitation for mappers to come join the team, but eh… since I don’t want to get flooded by 14 year old newbies wanting to map, I think we’ll just try to make due for now.

Anyway, to prove that things actually are going well despite our mapping setbacks, I’ll leave you all with this shot of the final map in the demo, which I’ve spend a the past couple days working on:
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See you all at QuakeCon! :D

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The power of shadows

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Brad Carney

So I’ve been working on the first map of Vega’s QuakeCon demo, and have finally gotten to use one of the features implemented some time ago: shadows! Why am I bothering to write an entire new blog on shadows? Well, clearly it’s because I want to show off this new map lighting is tremendously important, and can make a huge difference in a game.

For instance, take a look at this shot without shadows:
The first map - without shadows.

And then look at this shot with shadows:
The first map - with shadows.

Makes a big difference, doesn’t it? Anyone who’s played Doom 3 can understand just how important lighting is. Without lighting, most Doom 3 maps would appear to have simple architecture and simple texturing. However, the lighting brings the rooms to life, making them look very 3D, and is almost solely responsible for setting the map’s overall mood.

It’s amazing how much of a difference one little checkbox can make.

Posted in Game Design, Screenshots, Technology | 1 Comment

Come see us at QuakeCon!

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Brad Carney

That’s right! As some of you may have already guessed, we’ll be taking Project Vega to this year’s QuakeCon in August. I’ll be there (hopefully along with some other PV members) doing my best to show off what we’ve been working on for the past year and a half.

Here’s what we plan to have working:

  • Three playable maps
  • Four working weapons
  • Several working monsters/inventory items

So not only will you be able to take a look at what we’ve been working on, but you’ll be able to play it as well, and tell us in person how incredibly horrible “okay” it is! Getting some great feedback at this early stage of the game will surely help make “Vega” a much better game.

I don’t know all the details yet of how this will all work (seeing as I’ve never been to QuakeCon), but anyone who wants to help out please let me know! :D

Posted in News | 6 Comments