Posted by teratos at 12:54 am, 8/5/08  |  Category: Highlights

Introduction
As I mentioned in the last update, we are once again changing things around. We are now putting out updates more often (our target is every two weeks). These two week updates will be smaller than a four week update, but we will aim to include at least half as much information as the monthly updates.

 - Teratos

This update will cover:
Community Highlights
Developer/Staff Updates
Ascension Updates
 - Playtesting
Open Positions


Community Highlights
We have once again had some questions I would like to address.

Donations: We appreciate donations and everyone that has donated so far. However we are committed to releasing Ascension and all the game content for free. You will not have to pay monthly, or for skins, maps, or any content.

However, we still incur expenses. We have absorbed the most of the licensing costs ourselves and Novanix pays for our hosting, dev server, and domain names.

We are considering purchasing content packs (basic artwork like vegetation, small structures, crates, etc), these typically run $20 - $100. We will also need to purchase some advertising spots around release time.

So, wait to donate, we will tell you when we need money, and you can donate at that time if you wish. Above all, we want to make sure you feel your money has been put to good use.


Reminders:

• We want to encourage our new members AND old members to take the time to introduce themselves in our "Introduce Yourself" thread.
• We encourage all our community members to chat with us via IRC - the quickest way to ask a question and get a response from the RenWerX team. More information can be found here.
• Also, don't forget the Q & A Time thread where you ask questions, and we answer them.

RenWerX Developer Updates
We have one new hire. It is my pleasure to welcome long-time community member Guardian (also known as “Angel”) to RenWerX Studios as a scripter. We like to credit ourselves with guiding this confused young youth from IRC terrorist to productive scripter.

Seriously though, he did a good enough job on his test assignment to impress lead scripter Mr. Keen which is a rare event. We look forward to Guardian helping us to finish Ascension.

Inside Ascension

Engine

For some time now, we have been talking about getting the game ready for beta testers. As of Saturday night, the engine department has completed their work. The first beta build was released Saturday night. You can think of the differences between the developer and beta builds like the differences between Linux and Windows respectively.

 

Marketing

We have had some questions about releasing the interview Calsa and I did with the Final Frontier Podcast. We are still waiting for FFP to be ready for release on their end. Hopefully, the interview will be released before the next update, but if it is not, we will release our copy. We apologize for the delay.

Models

Level of detail work continues, but recently fleeky has been working on the gnome model, which may or may not become the developer model. I personally hope it does. You can see a picture of the gnome in fleeky’s most recent blog post – forum post.

I also have another shot of the gnome while it has was being sculpted: link.

And, a short clip of the WIP animation - link.

Play-testing

We have had requests for information on play-testing, so this is my first stab. Let me know what you think.

Because the new build was coming out, we waiting with the update so that we could play last night (Sunday August 3).

Byte, keen, Calsa, Guardian, fleeky, and I played. We started out in a not too serious fashion and found that one of the death messages was backwards (the victim was listed as the killer and vice versa). There were noticeable improvements to this latest set of physics, but it still needs work. This is about the third major set(?) of physics. I personally preferred the second, but the current physics are improving daily.

The first match consisted of capture the flag on Deep Impact. We setup the teams to be coder vs. artists, I had to join the artists to give them a chance though. I think Guardian managed to MA me once and I hit an MA on Byte. Right now the models float just a little too much. With a little more mass, dodging MAs should be easier. Calsa did most of the capping for us which worked well. I cannot remember, but I doubt the other team got any caps since I was playing defense and chasing.

Overall, most things feel good. The disk speed is right, the chaingun spread and rate of fire is about right. I only played as a light, but Byte seemed to be able to mortar me enough that I think the mortar is ok.

            More next time!

Open Positions

If you are applying for a position, please have a sample of your work ready to show us. We will then give you a test assignment.

Please be aware that the samples must be your own work.

If you do not provide samples, we will not be able to consider your application. If you have any questions, please contact me (Teratos).

Skinning:

If you are a skinner/texture artist, or know of someone that is, please contact either fleeky or Teratos.
Sound Effects:
Our sound effects department is a little behind the rest of the team, if you have the ability to help them catch up, please contact either Calsa or Teratos.


If you wish to discuss this update, you may do so here.


 - Teratos