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Thursday 3 June 2004 - So this is what happens when I don't update...

Hi all! Wow, I really haven't updated this site in ages. Never mind, I have my reasons - principally being that SB underwent a HUGE redesign, from scratch. That's right - I replaced everything I've ever done, from code to art through music. Only 2 maps by Loki survived. But believe me, it was worth it! I actually have some sort of plan now for this game, while before I was pretty much randomly spasming about. All the enemy concepts are done, as is the status bar. The weapons are coming along well too. And the code is now practically bursting with new stuff, which shall remain secret. Some screenshots will obviously give things away, but I *hope* to surprise a few people with some of the features in this mod. Here's a new screen, just so you can see the difference:


A new chaingun graphic! Mmmm...

Secondly, I'm also contributing the source code, music and some maps to The Punisher TC. Believe me, this will be awesome - it's based on Marvel's The Punisher character, and it's got a brilliant cell-shaded comic book style; the art I've seen looks truly amazing. I'd advise you to keep an eye out for this one, as you're in for a big treat. ;)

Anyway, I hope that'll do for now. Keep cool.

Simon Williams - The Hair Machine

Saturday 13 March 2004 - Art, art, art. And no coding!

Drawing enemy graphics is looong. It's awesome fun at first, but then as it gets to the region of the 20th frame, things start to drag a bit... I have loads of concepts! But at the moment only two are being fully developed. One is my final idea for the replacement of the original guard... He looks pretty decent. One day I may work a bit more on some of the shading, but still! Here's a small taster... Notice the altered palette...

The other dude is the SS. He looks pretty good, too... Nice smooth shading. At last! It took me long enough. PSP rules. Not only that, but I've got down the concept pictures of the other enemies on some paper... I'm pretty pleased with them in theory, but transferring them to a 64*64 grid will be a bit more testing.

Also, I gave The Anarchist some concept images for two weapons. He should be starting on them pretty soon... I have more ideas too! Ideas that can only be used to their maximum potential by Mr. Blender, the awesome free 3d rendering software.... Cool ideas... I'm sure one day soon Doug'll get bored of my constant nagging to 'model this, model that, model the other', haha. So I'll have to force as much out of him as possible, see? :D

Regarding the levels, Loki assures me he's working on them. Sounds like he's doing a comprehensive job! Or just being lazy... Only kidding ;) . The game's story is all laid down now, so it's up to me to decorate and texture Loki's levels to fit in with the plot. That'll be fun to do.

Regarding the coding? Okay, so I lied in the title above. I put in the seamless levels again. Why? Well, even though I actually prefer the episodic structure, Super Blitzkrieg has such an in-depth storyline that it really needs seamless levels. And lots of 'em, too. I worked out that to move the extensive storyline to its conclusion, there will probably be 45 levels, not including 6 secret levels. SO the final total should be 51... Oh, and another little coding update means my NPC's now use up a mere ONE data byte each. Rock on the NPC's... I was an idiot not to think of this new method earlier. :)

Well, enough chuntering from me. I submitted Super Blitzkrieg to Mod Database today, so I'm waiting for the admin there to accept it...I also added a link to the site at the bottom of this page. It's a cool place, so check it out... Finally, there are no screenshots this week, because the new palette has funked up most of my textures and static sprites. I'm sure the billions of people who come here will be devastated.

Simon Williams - The Hair Machine

Saturday 6 March 2004 - Wow, I'm orgainised

First of my new regime of weekly Saturday updates! I'm amazed I'm even writing this, actually.

Well, since Wednesday I've mainly been focusing on the floor and ceiling textures; I thought that the ones I had were, frankly, not fit to be on a dung heap. So now I have replacements! It's all about smoothness, and a minimum of concrete black lines - it's amazing what PSP 7 and RecolorBMP can do in conjunction, and the 5 levels done so far now look pretty much finished!

Also, I've drawn two of the bosses in their entirety, and polished up the source code a little more. The weapons have changed quite fundamentally, and I can say they are now MUCH cooler, with more varied effects. Plus, I finally fixed up the NPC feature, and now it works how it was supposed to... At last! Unfortunetaly, those NPC's are greedy little buggers, and eat up memory with impressive ease. One NPC consumes as many data bytes as about 10 sprites, so I think their numbers will have to be minimised. Some of the other NPC related features don't use up nearly so much power, though, so expect a lot of those (chests, boxes and the like). Level design for the other five levels should be beginning very soon, as Loki now has the game engine and instructions on how to set up Floedit... I wait with baited breath. ;)

I wanted to do some sound effects too, which is a fascinating area. But I couldn't find my microphone. Darn it, why are the things you want ALWAYS somewhere you can't find them? :(

Well, anyway. Here are a couple of screenshots to keep you amused on a rainy day. Until next week, then!

Simon Williams - The Hair Machine


In the castle hallway


The Fire Key awaits...


Wooo!... The S40 "Totensturm" heavy rifle, and ammunition!


Trust the SS to lurk behind a fence...

Wednesday 3 March 2004 - A turbulent time, that's for sure...

Well, the website was recently down... A DoS caused by a truly HUGE attack on the free service of the Webhost, f2g.net. I wish them luck in sorting out the problem. But we're back up now... As you can clearly see. ;)

NOT ONLY THAT, but I recently wiped my whole hard drive in an ill-fated attempt to set up a dual boot. Taking my entire project to hell in a boat. I stupidly had made no backups, so I was faced with the nightmare of remaking everything I'd done! Thankfully, I got my graphics back, and I found a more recent copy of the source code - but I still had to add in almost everything I'd done in the past month for a second time.

Still, I've done it now... And I've put in more features, as well as improving my original routines. So I'm all back on track, though (obviously) the demo's postponed.

On a more positive note, the Super Blitzkrieg team has grown... We have a third mapper, Loki (from France), who'll be helping me to get this monstrous creation finished. After all, making a full 60 level set requires dedication enough; but with all of the new graphics, sounds, music, code and storyline as well I feared it would get on top of me... So now my team's up to 5 people. I need a Super Blitzkrieg site... *hint, Doug, hint*... :D

Also, Doug provided me with a second 3d model (of the Chaingun) and it looks rather nice. Plus we've been discussing weaponry and sound effects, which has resulted in a couple of cool ideas.

Anyhow, that's all. From now on I'm doing a WEEKLY Saturday update, so people can come to my site every week rather than floundering around trying to guess when I'll next bother to post something.

Later, people...

Simon Williams - The Hair Machine

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All images, music and software on this site is property of Black Gate Corps. Black Gate Corps is (C) 2001-2004 Doug Inman and Simon Williams.