Monday Already

Work

Having crunched code over the weekend, it feels odd that Monday is my first day back.  Despite the strange feeling, I set to work obliterating my backlog of emails, sorting out the work for the next two weeks and getting some key issues resolved in the engine.  I have sent code off to Simon to add shadows to the Construction Kit and a new version to Rick so he can make some nice videos about the new Vegetation Pack.

Still the best news is the massive memory savings I made by loading the HUGE textures used by the engine into GPU Video Memory. The consequence is that I can make seriously large levels now and the system memory creeps up very slowly compared to the old version. I have ideas to make even more savings too, but as much as I want to chase that particular tiger down, the elephant in the room (performance) remains the highest on my personal snag list. I will be running a demo of Reloaded on an Ultrabook in exactly two weeks time in the biggest developer conference on the planet, and I don't want egg on my face. Yes I will be saving face, but you will be getting some serious performance boon as a result so I think we both win.

I also got an email asking for clarity on the license terms of media provided in Reloaded, and the legality of releasing it as part of the standalone build. The official TGC EULA for this product allows you to distribute the assets (encrypted or otherwise) providing it remains part of the standalone demo you built. If anyone remembers the culture of sharing FPSC Classic games, same deal. We do specifically exclude the extraction of those assets for use elsewhere, either as part of a library or other game creator, but within the context of using the assets to show off your Reloaded creations you are quite safe.  It's also great to see the maturity of the community to ask such a question as it demonstrates your respect for copyright material and the terms of use applied to digital media.