Plan for Don Nilsen
by Don Schaberg · 04/02/2002 (6:25 am) · 0 comments
Journey into Event Alpha.
Im the Lead Programmer for a new game in development by Sovereign Studios, Event Alpha. Whats happening...
So why are you here?
Now that the site has been given a pulse and the heart of the team appears to have a beat, it looks like we are going to give this freak life.
You want more?
I have been working closely with Jerane Alleyne, (Founder, Lead Artist, and Lead Designer) to bring this project to Life. After having initially chosen the LithTech engine to develop Event Alpha, we later chose Torque in midDecember. This was no simple process, such as deciding which beer you enjoy most, it took time and research. After having looked at more than 20 Game engines, and various other game modules, we finally decided on the Torque Engine by GG.
We finally got our hands on Torque in late December and started to dissect the nasty insides of this filthy beast creature in January. After having confirmed that it took effort to actually mess something up this bad, we had finally found a creature to call our own.
Progress
We have been using Torque for about 3 months now, steadily demanding obedience every step of the way. Thus far we have our first prototype starting to take shape, with most of the basic features up and running. We have managed to include a world map, player actions & animation, a working HUD, Weapons & Inventory System, physics, and other fx, all accompanied by our first phase of art, into the current build of Event Alpha.
Why we chose Torque
Torque Features:
Networking-
Few game engines offer the level of Networking support needed to deliver a grade A multiplayer title.
Graphics-
The graphics capability is on par with most of the high end gaming engines, and its capabilities can be extended.
Rendering Terrain and Indoor scenes-
There are not a great many engines capable of rendering both detailed indoor and outdoor scenes efficiently. Torque at a glance appears more suited for outdoor scenes.
Scripting-
Very few game engines provide a game scripting language, let alone a built-in scripting language.
Architecture-
Torque appears to be one of the cleaner engines I have viewed in my time, not to say its without horrors. For extreme lack in good documentation its actually quiet simple to understand and implement the basics for a prototype. Very few game engines have good detailed documentation on their engine, and Torque is no exception. However, even engines that did have very good documentation were many times difficult to understand or implement features with - not to mention those without fair docs.
Conclusion-
These were only a few of the reasons we chose Torque, and feel it was the best decision we could have made - without throwing a $10k down payment on some executive's desk.
Taste the End
Progress is made daily as our Freak is starting to take its shape. This is just the Beggining of End, and our game development experience will never be the same. This is going to be our cherry breaker, so we'll keep in touch.
We look forward to introducing Event Alpha as the first Campaign Driven multiplayer game of its kind.
Im the Lead Programmer for a new game in development by Sovereign Studios, Event Alpha. Whats happening...
So why are you here?
Now that the site has been given a pulse and the heart of the team appears to have a beat, it looks like we are going to give this freak life.
You want more?
I have been working closely with Jerane Alleyne, (Founder, Lead Artist, and Lead Designer) to bring this project to Life. After having initially chosen the LithTech engine to develop Event Alpha, we later chose Torque in midDecember. This was no simple process, such as deciding which beer you enjoy most, it took time and research. After having looked at more than 20 Game engines, and various other game modules, we finally decided on the Torque Engine by GG.
We finally got our hands on Torque in late December and started to dissect the nasty insides of this filthy beast creature in January. After having confirmed that it took effort to actually mess something up this bad, we had finally found a creature to call our own.
Progress
We have been using Torque for about 3 months now, steadily demanding obedience every step of the way. Thus far we have our first prototype starting to take shape, with most of the basic features up and running. We have managed to include a world map, player actions & animation, a working HUD, Weapons & Inventory System, physics, and other fx, all accompanied by our first phase of art, into the current build of Event Alpha.
Why we chose Torque
Torque Features:
Networking-
Few game engines offer the level of Networking support needed to deliver a grade A multiplayer title.
Graphics-
The graphics capability is on par with most of the high end gaming engines, and its capabilities can be extended.
Rendering Terrain and Indoor scenes-
There are not a great many engines capable of rendering both detailed indoor and outdoor scenes efficiently. Torque at a glance appears more suited for outdoor scenes.
Scripting-
Very few game engines provide a game scripting language, let alone a built-in scripting language.
Architecture-
Torque appears to be one of the cleaner engines I have viewed in my time, not to say its without horrors. For extreme lack in good documentation its actually quiet simple to understand and implement the basics for a prototype. Very few game engines have good detailed documentation on their engine, and Torque is no exception. However, even engines that did have very good documentation were many times difficult to understand or implement features with - not to mention those without fair docs.
Conclusion-
These were only a few of the reasons we chose Torque, and feel it was the best decision we could have made - without throwing a $10k down payment on some executive's desk.
Taste the End
Progress is made daily as our Freak is starting to take its shape. This is just the Beggining of End, and our game development experience will never be the same. This is going to be our cherry breaker, so we'll keep in touch.
We look forward to introducing Event Alpha as the first Campaign Driven multiplayer game of its kind.
