Week Beginning March 16
The big news this week is the take-off of the Voodoo 2 conversion. Eidos and 3DFX came to an agreement to port Omikron to the 3DFX new 3D card. We got some cards and our first impression is extremely positive. Even in Direct 3D the game runs much faster on Voodoo 2 than on the other 3D cards we have tried.
The agreement with 3DFX means producing a Voodoo 2 dedicated version using the Glide library. The conversion will exploit the features of the card to a maximum in order to show its full potential. Which will make this version the most complete, both technically and visually.
Emmanuel, who has been working on the Direct 3D version for some weeks, has just integrated some new and pretty cool functionalities, like colored fog, RGB lights, mirror lights, transparency etc.
Christian has started work on the special FX: powers, shooting, explosions, flames, time warps: there is no shortage of work.
In preparation for E3, where the Anekbah district will be presented, we have decided to devote some time to retouching the decor. Stephane spent the week retouching all the textures. Everyone agrees that Anekbah is now much more visually impressive, more coherent and sinister, even more realistic than before.
In the programming department Francois has added the management of several animation banks for the passers-by. Now they can not only walk about but they can stop, run, ask for information, sit on benches etc.
Antoine has practically finished work on a large part of the combat intelligence. The editor now manages the enemy's behavior in a much more intuitive fashion.
The emphasis will now be on the PlayStation version. Everything is ready to be adapted to the console and porting absolutely must be finished for E3. Bringing the game out simultaneously on PC, 3D cards, Voodoo 2 and PlayStation is an enormous challenge. We are moving heaven and earth in order to rise to the occasion.
Our PlayStation rendering is already impressive. We are impatient to finish porting some new console options, like real-time Motion Capture, the passers-by strolling about the streets and the dynamic lights.
A few more all-night sessions this week with Tony, our animations man, in order to finish the combat animation of one of the heroes of the game. Quite a few impressive blows, combos, holds and counter-holds. We don't claim to have the same kind of depth as Tekken 3, but we are working hard to give the player the same kind of feeling. Besides the great quantity of Motion Capture animation, the character can move about in 3D (like in Soul Edge) attack the enemy on the ground in several different ways, get up in 3D or attacking, do holds etc. All this on uneven ground and while colliding with walls.
Next week we'll be continuing with the demon combat animation, using the Kung Fu technique known as "the dragon" in Motion.
The scripting of Section I is coming along nicely. As expected, scripting is a pleasure with our IAM editor, but assembling the hundreds of graphical, programming and animation data is taking a little longer than we thought. Sophie is now coordinating the lot, so that should save us some time.
Now more than ever, the heat is on. We are all in it together, back to back and battling along.
Watch this space.
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
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09/29/1997 Week 20
09/22/1997 Week 19
09/15/1997 Weeks 17 and 18
09/01/1997 Week 16
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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, March 16, 1998