Tuesday Catch-Up

Backlog World

Amazing how many emails and accumulate over a three day period!  Took several hours to work through and answer them all but finally got to the last one and back onto my daily task list.

Secret AGK Project

My AGK project obligations moved to the final stage with receipt of new graphics to integrate, with more on the way so hopefully I can be signing them off later this month.  Once they have been officially green lit, I will reveal exactly what these apps are and provide links to them. I think you will approve as they are set to become 'very' popular and provide a great showcase for what AGK can do and encourage new developers to try our development solution.

Reloaded Next Stage

I have an internal goal to eliminate the build step in FPSC by Friday, so that the map editor supports the test level functionality. I am sure there are a whole mountain of horrors I have not anticipated, but I wanted to get the occlusion stuff sorted before diving into the original source code.

The P002 prototype now generates larger bound boxes where smaller bound boxes can be glued together easily, but there is a small bug which allows objects that should be occluded to remain visible, so I will be checking that later today.

The latest FPSC beta was released which should solve the Windows 8 false-positive issue and also solve the floating character issue and with a little luck will be the Release Candidate for V120.  I will be keeping the source code access open for mods, but this will be the last version of the source code in it's current form, and the next official code base will be V1 of the Reloaded source.

P002 Prototype

Once I have solved the strange visibility issue in the current prototype I will post a small video so you can see what it's all about. I am sorry if some of my ramblings are a little technical, but I find it quicker to dump what my mind is chewing over directly to the blog than try and edit it too much.  Here is one such brain dump, my 'in-progress' sketches for the P002 prototype:

Reloaded Art News

I also received word that a new weapon has come off the production line in the form of a sniper rifle of the highest calibre (ah em). The still shot does not do it justice as the use of advanced shading makes this gun come alive when you run around the scene with it.

We have quite a collection now, all ready for the Reloaded Asset Library, but we will be returning to each one and refining their in-game behaviour to rival the features you expect from an FPS game in 2013/2014.  The art is top draw, we just need to make them as game savvy and mechanically slick as they are stunning visually.

Signing Off

I will see if I can get you a video of the above artwork in Wednesday's blog, so you can see what I see. Ignore the scene graphics in the background as they are from the old FPSC Classic. A typical Reloaded scene will be much more 'atmospheric' and high-definition (at least that's the plan).