Vega Gameplay Footage!

The good news just keeps coming! I’m following up release of 12 new screenshots with the only thing better (besides the release of a demo of course) – a video!

I’ve put together a video of gameplay footage from the 3 maps in our “let’s get this baby published” demo. It’s all direct capture and in full 720p HD! This should give you a very good taste of what Vega both looks like and plays like right now! You ought to notice several improvements over the QuakeCon demo including new and improved maps, cel-shading, powerups, a fully functional health, armor and ammo system… well, you get the picture.

I sincerely hope you all enjoy this! A ton of work has gone into this without a doubt.

Anyway, enough blabbing from me! Enjoy!

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Posted in Screenshots | 4 Comments

New Vega Screenshots!

With the last map in our next demo complete, we’re finally ready to show it off! Here are 12 new screenshots from the 3 maps in the demo we’ll be showing to publishers!

Enjoy! :)

Posted in Screenshots, Updates | 1 Comment

Sometimes it’s better to start over

This past week I’ve been working on the second redone map for our publishing demo. It’s been coming along great, but along the way, I’ve hit a snag or two. A couple of areas… no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to look good! One of the areas in particular was a long hallway. No matter what I did to it – no matter what kind of ceiling/wall decoration I added, no matter how intricate…

… it still looked boring.

So I decided to do something different. I decided to break the hallway up into different sections, and shape it differently overall, while still keeping the same basic idea. I added a couple of inlets to a curved room with some steps, which ended up being a lot more interesting than a hallway. See for yourself:

I don’t know about you, but I think that looks a lot better!

So what’s the lesson here? Sometimes a design idea can be so flawed that no amount of detail, texturing, lighting, etc. can save it. All you can do it scrap it and start over. If you find yourself frustrated while trying to make something look nice, ask yourself if the underlying idea is fundamentally flawed. (Is it too simple? Too complicated? Is it not consistent with the rest of the map?) If it is, scrap it and start over, and quit banging your head against the wall trying to make something work that can’t! You’ll free yourself to come up with something much better, and save yourself lots of frustration.

EDIT: You can now click on the shots for a higher resolution version!

Posted in Game Design, Screenshots | 7 Comments

Strike

… is not the real name of this game.

So today I went to see the person who is now my lawyer to discuss several things, including getting the real name for the game codenamed “Project Vega” trademarked so it can be shared with the world. The real name for the game up until a couple hours ago had been “Strike”. I really liked that name – it was short, simple, descriptive, sounded cool, and had some interesting properties to it (Strike 2? Strike 3? Hah! Get it?!?!). However, certain other games already have a claim to that name, so it just plain wasn’t going to work. Hell, even throwing something before “Strike” (ex. Counter-strike… oh boy, aren’t I funny) was going to be a long shot.

As a result, I’m going to have to come up with something else. I’ll be doing a lot of brainstorming over the next few days to try to find something that both sounds cool, and is defensible. Did I mention I’m doing all of the mapping and programming? Yeah, that too. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks, but I’m up for it! Thankfully everything is going well, even if it is a big work load.

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Happy 1/1/10 – Redux!

So a few days ago, I posted some screenshots of a new map I’ve been working on. It’s come to my attention that there are some problems with the shots, including:

  • They’re pretty dark
  • Some of the texturing/architecture is pretty crappy
  • It’s a lot better now!

Which begs the question: What’s the point in starting the new year off on the wrong foot, especially when it can be corrected? I sure can’t think of any good reason! So, to make up for those subpar shots I showed before, here are some (hopefully) better ones of the same map! It’s in a lot better shape than it was a couple of days ago: it has a new theme, several weak areas have been redone, and a lot more of it’s been detailed now (whereas only a few rooms had before).

Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

See you again in a few days after I correct all of the problems with this batch of shots! :lol:

Posted in Screenshots, Updates | 7 Comments

Happy 1/01/10!

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a good time celebrating the start of a new year decade! What better way to kick things off than with some screenshots!

A couple of days ago, I began to remake the first demo map. It had some pretty serious flaws with it (an unreachable secret, way too dark of rooms, inconsistent detail due to being worked on by two people, etc.), so I decided to redo it, while trying to keep some of the elements in tact from its previous incarnation. The layout is great this time – it even has some jumping and crouching-related secrets! I’ve only spent a day or so working on the detailing, but so far I’m pleased with the results!

Enjoy! :)

Posted in Screenshots, Updates | 6 Comments

Mechadon – Mapper of the Year!

Just wanted to pass along that Project Vega’s very own Brett “Mechadon” Harrell has won Mapper of the Year in this year’s Cacowards over at Doomworld! He’s been part of a number of large scale projects released this year, such as Greenwar II, Claustrophobia 1024, and is certainly very deserving of the award. Congratulations to him!

In celebration, here are a few new-ish screenshots of what Mechadon has done in Project Vega so far:

Posted in News, Screenshots | 8 Comments

Still alive and kickin’!

I just want to make a quick post to let everyone know that in light of recent events over at skulltag.NET (boy does that feel weird to say), everything will continue as normal here (minus the grand “forum copy+paste” threads, of course!). I’ll have more details later, but the bottom line is that we’re nearly complete with a brand new demo that we plan to start showing to potential publishers. Neat, huh? :)

Stay tuned!

Posted in News | 7 Comments

Torchlight – Better than Doom!

… 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

Posted in Game Design | 1 Comment

We found our men!

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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