Week 39 and 40
These last two weeks have been especially busy. The whole team now feels that we are on the last lap as more and more deadlines will be coming up. The most tangible sign is in marketing which is starting to take shape around Omikron. The means, both human and financial, that Eidos is capable of mobilizing are really impressive. The first show is to be the E3 in Atlanta.
Obviously, pressure is mounting, even though Herve (our producer) does whatever he can to shelter us from it. It is just that seeing how far Eidos, its managers and marketing people believe in this project, we all really want to give them a game that measures up to their expectations. And the further development progresses, the more we say to each other that we really have the means to make a great game.
The work on IAM has started, with of course the traditional period of debugging. We have been able to test our system of transparent dynamic loading, to move from an outside set to the interior of a store, for example. Simon and Fabien have also finished the interfacing with RAM, which means that we will be able to have complex animations applicable to any element of the set. We have already tested simple animations such as the opening of doors, cupboards and others.
We did really want the set to be fully interactive : each door, each cupboard opens, every object can be picked up.
The placing of the characters and the objects in the set is also in progress. We have decided to set up two important scenes of Section I of the adventure so as to present them at the next Publishing Meeting which will be held in London : the scene in which the player's wife throws herself into his arms to kiss him (all in Motion Capture), and a scene in which a demon goes through a wall of crates to attack the player, with the crates flying around the room.
IAM is a truly revolutionary tool : it will allow us to do what no adventure game, even 2D, has ever done before us.
Everything can be parameterized, the conditions can be established for any event and the consequences assigned to any other. The program is flexible, extremely easy to use, and, above all, it is in real time. This means that when we alter something in the script, we immediately see the consequences in the window of the game without needing to compile or launch another program. The main interest is that we can then test a huge number of different options in a very short time and without too much hassle. Now that IAM is starting to mature, I truly think we made the right choice in deciding to develop this type of tool.
For his part, Fabien is setting up the Shoot part of the game. The character can already shoot with his laser pistol. Corentin is working on the special effects (shooting, explosions, impacts, etc.).
Our new programmers are forging ahead : Emmanuel is setting up the bases of the Direct 3D version (which should be finished for the end of the month), whilst Francois is finishing the flow of passers-by in the streets.
The latest news of the week is the programming by Hakim of the Morphing in real time. This option will be especially useful to us for the transformations of humans into demons. The result is truly spectacular.
Our animators are working hard as well. Tony and Thierry regularly put in their 12 hours. On top of the animations of the characters for the adventure, the fighting and the shooting, they are now animating the doors, drawers, cupboards and other furniture of the game.
Not perhaps the most amusing job, but the work is going ahead and the mood is good.
Everything is going fine for the time being, even though we all know the coming months are going to be really tough.
The team increased again with the arrival of Sophie. She is going to deal in particular with relations with the marketing people and the press, as well as with the maintenance of this site. I really no longer had the time to update the screenshots. I will of course continue to write this newsletter every week and have you share in the stress of the end of this development. We will also try to bring some innovations into this site with a few little surprises.
Tune in next week for further adventures.
Autor: David Cage
Source: Quantic Dream
11/01/1999 Eidos Interactive ships Omikron: The Nomad Soul
09/23/1998 September News 2
09/15/1998 September News 1
07/28/1998 July News 2
07/14/1998 July News 1
06/08/1998 Week Beginning June 8
06/01/1998 Weeks Beginning June 1
04/20/1998 Week Beginning April 20
04/13/1998 Week Beginning April 13
03/16/1998 Week Beginning March 16
03/09/1998 Weeks Beginning March 2 and 9
03/03/1998 March 3
02/16/1998 Week 39 and 40
02/02/1998 Week 38
01/26/1998 Week 37
01/05/1998 Weeks 33 and 34
12/22/1997 Weeks 31 and 32
12/08/1997 Weeks 29 and 30
11/24/1997 Weeks 27 and 28
11/10/1997 Weeks 25 and 26
10/27/1997 Weeks 23 and 24
10/13/1997 Week 22
10/06/1997 Week 21
09/29/1997 Week 20
09/22/1997 Week 19
09/15/1997 Weeks 17 and 18
09/01/1997 Week 16
08/25/1997 Weeks 14 and 15
08/11/1997 Week 13
08/04/1997 Week 12
07/28/1997 Week 11
07/21/1997 Weeks 9 and 10
07/07/1997 Week 8
06/30/1997 Week 7
06/23/1997 Week 6
06/16/1997 Week 5
06/09/1997 Week 4
06/02/1997 Week 3
5/26/1997 Week 2
5/19/1997 Week 1
5/19/1997 Preamble to Week 1
Monday, February 16, 1998