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Status info, gameplay changes,
request for more coders

Posted by Fettness
September 6, 2010

Articles
8 Months later....
By Lindsey
Published: May 17, 2010
Updated: May 17, 2010
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Hard to believe eight months has elapsed since my last news post <_<
As someone on the forum was asking a few questions about the current state of things I figured I might as well mirror my reply here as well as on the mod db profile:
I currently plan to have the summer off and we have two coders in addition to myself working on the two features we really need to do. I would say we could get it done by fall (allow me to fully explain this more though in a second) which would leave just retooling some maps to support the Objective gametype. As far as what we have left to do:

Redo the HUD (porting the current one has been difficult so we might do a new one in a more simple layout thats not dependent on screen resolution as much.

Create an objective entity that mappers can use in their maps to signal the end of a round/assign a winning team

Create a proper round timer that restarts the round and works with the objective entity(s)
Class work wise its been very easy to make them, I'm figuring the classes we'll have at release will be:
Scout: basic blaster and pistol
Soldier: Repeater blaster and pistol
Heavy: rocket launcher and pistol
Sniper: Sniper rifle and pistol
We have some special models like a SBD and Arc trooper we could use for a "special" class for each civ like how Battlefront handled it but the rebel/empire currently have no such models ready to get ingame (I would envision a Darktrooper and Wookiee), therefore the fifth class would wait until another release.
Now then, as for the actual release, I would LIKE it to release this fall, in fact I would have liked this to release about 3 years ago <_<
The fact of the matter is my pursuit of a degree in Game Design has eaten away my time for modding severely and the mod's development has suffered as a result. However with my free time this summer and two coders willing to help I feel confidant we can close the gap on the last 2% of code we need to develop and finally release something --- assuming everything goes as planned.
Hopefully my next update won't take as long to post and I apologize for the long absence of updates >_>


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By Darth.Hunter
Published: April 20, 2010
Updated: April 20, 2010
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Waiting for releases can be a pain. And especially painful when you've invested a lot of time with a team of very talented artists and still don't have any coder to patch all the assets together. On the bright side, the folks at Invision Games haven't given up on their passion, but have invested this time to work on some interesting projects. Today, we want to show you some of the current developments behind the scenes of Invision Games.
One of our developer crews has just today won a design award while our composer David Fang has just started his professional career with one big blast! Read more for the full story...
Read More...


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By Lindsey
Published: October 7, 2009
Updated: October 7, 2009
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Hello everyone, I think it’s time to give you some information on what’s been going on behind the closed doors these last few months, as no doubt you are wondering what the heck is going on with our mod, why hasn’t it released yet, etc. Before I go into that though, I should give you all a bit of a back story so you can better understand our predicament.

When we first started this mod three years ago (yes it really has been that long), we went at it with the intention of emulating a typical multiplayer game with team deathmatch and capture the flag. In many ways we hoped to achieve gameplay alike to that of the Jedi Knight series. We made considerable progress; a team system with 3D previews of the player model you were selecting, a weapon pickup system for distribution on the map akin to Quake and Unreal Tournament, an ironsights system for more precise aiming and a pretty nifty HUD. Art asset wise our team constructed a huge library of various Star Wars maps and props consisting of locations like Dagobah, Felucia, Tatooine, Coruscant, Naboo, the Deathstar and other various locations. After this three year period so much stuff has been constructed one could consider this a total conversion more than simply a mod.
Of course with all these positives there have some negatives in there. We’ve had lots of bugs with the code and many of them have been fixed but the overall glaring issue that has become painfully apparent to me after many beta tests is that the gameplay just isn’t cutting it.

It’s a known fact that the games we play today have evolved significantly from their ancestors only a few years ago. The masses that used to play on servers just to constantly hunt down their opponents nowadays seek out a slightly more tactical challenge. Even the games that still have this older form of gameplay keep it fresh with unique twists and abilities (see Call of Duty). Therefore we are presenting to you the public the following changes which we hope to implement:

  • The mod is being ported (in some cases rewritten) to the new SDK template that Valve released not too long ago. This version of the SDK has a lot of the features we were implementing only in a cleaner/easier to use format. One of these features is a class based system with easy to edit attributes. With this we intend to augment the Team Deathmatch mode with classes of varying weapons/abilities.
  • In addition to Team Deathmatch we are considering pushing forward the team assault gametype. Originally intended for release 2 I feel it could be easily added in with only a minor bit of coding (an objective completion signal would be needed to award the winning team). Some team members want this feature badly enough they’ve already begun work on maps and assets for it. For example one of our mapper’s; borgking has been working on a Mustafar map with a TF2 payload like objective of hauling Anakin’s burned body through the complex back to the shuttle. Team Assault will also have classes.
  • With the exception of Capture the Flag, both Team Deathmatch and Team Assault would have a Last Man Standing game mechanic. If you’ve played counter strike you would be aware of having one “life” and then staying dead when killed until the start of the next round. Adding a feature like this into the mod would help strengthen the gameplay and open up the possibilities for more tactical options.

I will freely admit this proposed plan of mine has been met with some hesitation from a few members of our team. Some feel we are experiencing what is called “Feature Creep”, which means piling on more and more goals, pushing back the release of something to almost indefinitely. I can understand the frustration but at the same time the evidence of beta testing is quite clear to me. Having seen a huge number of mods fail within a short period of time due to issues similar to what we’re having I can predict that releasing the mod in its current state would have unsatisfactory results.

There are upsides to my plan of course, since much of the code is already in the SDK template, all we really have to port is our Capture the Flag code and Heads Up Display. The weapons code is pretty much already in along with the class system and team structure. All we really have left to do is code in the Last Man Standing mode, implement a round timer, and code up an objective entity and the rest is tweaking done with results from testing. Sounds easy right? Your next question then must be “what’s the hold up?”

We’ve had a constant issue from the beginning with coders. For the few we had that were dedicated, most had their lives get a lot busier or complicated enough that they were forced to pull out of development. Others were hired on only to disappear never to be heard from again. It’s annoying but something to be expected when you have a team of volunteers. Currently we have two coders actually doing anything, myself and Emiel Regis, a coder who has been with us since the beginning. Getting these features implemented has been slow as the SDK template has things layed out a little differently than before and we’re still learning the Source engine code.

So here’s my request: If you have any knowledge in coding (esp. coding in the Source engine), then please apply on our forums for a coder position. I want this mod released as badly as you guys do but at the same time I don’t want it to end up another entry on the gravestone of dead mods. Help us get this thing done!

So that about covers everything. You guys know now pretty much what we know (I never was big on secrecy). I end this update today with a little flythrough video Darth Hunter made of some of TNE’s maps:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gmHjDygtlA

EDIT: Discussion on this can be found in this thread: http://www.invision-games.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=952


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By Darth.Hunter
Published: June 28, 2009
Updated: June 28, 2009
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For me, it's always a pleasure to introduce the great artwork that our team members are producing. Today, I'm not gonna show you visuals however, but I have something nice for your ears. We're lucky to have the brilliant composer David Fang on our team, who allows us to enhance the atmosphere of our games with an orchestral score that can compete with any AAA title out there.

To let you experience some of his fabulous work, we've updated the media player on the right column with some of the recent tracks from two of our projects:
  • The battle begins (TNE main theme)
  • Tarn Vedra (Andromeda: The Darkest Night)
  • Trance, the Sun Avatar (Andromeda: The Darkest Night)
  • Captain's Orders (DROM main theme)
  • TNE action cue
If you've always wondered how it is possible to produce orchestral music without the budget for an actual orchestra, check David's latest developer diary for some information on his composition process.


Discuss this article in the Forum!



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By Darth.Hunter
Published: May 31, 2009
Updated: May 31, 2009
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Tired of our old wallpaper collection? Your desktop needs a change? Well here's good news for you. We have a brand new wallpaper featuring the matte painting that is being used in the game's menu.



Download it here:


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By Darth.Hunter
Published: May 24, 2009
Updated: May 24, 2009
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If you read our previous article on FedCon and delay trouble, you already know how tedious things can become if you are a mod team without fulltime coders. But while we were waiting for bugfixes and features to be implemented, our team has been quite busy creating new content. The result: The first release will contain by far more maps than we planned and we're happy to provide some diversity to TDM and CTF alike.
In this media update, we want to show you some of the new content we're working on (some of it is WIP, so don't be wondering if you see orange textures). To begin, level design is not just about brushwork and texturing. The best layout looks empty and dead without all those detailed props that the 3D artists provide. Here are two of the larger props: The Republic Cruiser and AAT (Federation tank).





Proceed to the next page for our long-awaited map update!
Read More...


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By Darth.Hunter
Published: May 10, 2009
Updated: May 10, 2009
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Time flies by - a phenomenon that becomes more and more present when you are connected to annual events such as FedCon - the largest science fiction convention in Europe. It has been one year since Invision Games hosted a LAN with a preview version of Star Wars: The New Era at this convention. Time to reflect what happened throughout the last year and to see what interesting news FedCon brought to us. As you can imagine, the largest European scifi convention did kinda touch all of our games...

Read More...


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By Darth.Hunter
Published: March 28, 2009
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If you notice downtimes or strange website behavious or style, don't worry! After some software updates and forum restructuring, the website is the next logical step. During the next few days, it might look a bit strange to you while we add in the new layout.
This step is taken to be able to use this site in order to present multiple projects. We hope you will enjoy the new design and usability once it's done!


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