Posted by teratos at 10:43 am, 8/30/08  |  Category: Highlights

Introduction
So far the response to these smaller but more frequent updates has been positive. Continue to let us know what you think and how we can improve them. We will attempt to implement your suggestions.

Also I want to say that if you have sent a message via our contact form and did not get a reply from me, please contact me directly on the forums. Occasionally a message gets missed/filtered in our system. If I see your message, I will reply to it in some way. I apologize if I have missed your message.

 - Teratos

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


Community Highlights
Noteworthy threads:

·        PB*Tech’s “Working on Ascension teaser video” – Complete with (his) teaser video.

·        StarSeeker’s “Suggestion: Recording and playback” – Discussion of recordings, what people would like to see in-game, and existing limitations.

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.

Inside Ascension

Engine

The Engine Department continues to work on the beta build of Ascension. The installer and patching system have been tested by multiple team members over the last two weeks with no errors. The engine department has also been removing some software we integrated to make up for missing functionality in TGEA that has become available. Byte has also begun working on clan tag support. The current system is limited but working.

Some of the other fixes:

·        Keybinding errors

·        The mission list bug

·        A scripting department error that only allowed health kit usage when player had full health

·        Increased lexel count for AO

Marketing

Two weeks ago we promised to release the FFP interview in this update. For more information, you can look at Magellanic’s “Interview with the Devs: Got questions?” thread.

The audio file can be found here.

~ 12 minutes @ ~ 11 MB

 

We would enjoy hearing your comments. 

Modeling

The Modeling Department continues to work on the smaller items that are left. Fleeky informs me that he is currently doing a grenade set from word (our concept artist).

He has also been doing some Polysoup tests within Ascension. If things continue to go well, this will allow for some interesting additions to our current maps.

The modeling department is also fixing various items on the current issues list. Several incorrect pack rotations were corrected tonight.

Scripts

The Scripting Department has been seeing more bug reports as we are now play-testing more often. In addition to continuing work on the inventory system, Mr. Keen and Guardian have been tuning things like hand grenades, the disc launcher, and the grenade launcher.

There has also been continued work on the GUIs so that the initial group of testers will not need to know our console commands. This includes the first release of the admin GUI.

Other Work:

·        Improved Vehicle Station performance

·        Improved handling of clan tags

·        Fixed gnome-armor bugs

Play - Testing

We are going to continue to include information about play-testing since it seems to be popular.

Since the last update, there have been a few patches put together for the beta build. I had been using the beta build exclusively since the last update while most of the team continued to use the developer build. Not surprisingly, this occasionally caused some issues…

So now I tend to use the developer build more often as it is more up-to-date.

Byte and I hopped in-game a few nights ago to test some things. One thing was the working mine. Byte planted a mine near my base, but I had just spawned so I killed him (I cannot help myself sometimes). In the spirit of cooperation I ran over and stepped on the mine – to my surprise Ascension said “You picked up a mine”! That is fixed now, but it was a bit of a surprise at the time.

After that the game went well. Byte made some pretty good capping runs. He even managed to beat me back to his base a few times. A few other people joined and we were playing CTF until the flag carrier dropped...at this point the flag disappeared. That is fixed now too.

Recently we have been playing on Serpentine quite frequently. Serpentine is something of a shallow oblong-bowl with two small tower bases and few platforms on either end. Fleeky has been adding a little variety to the map – some other-worldly terrain formations - with his Polysoup tests. Calsa has been dying so quickly that he has been using the heavy armor more often. This makes him considerably harder to kill, but the good news is it is easier to MA him (which I do often enough). I am not fast enough yet to steal his flag and get back without him taking mine. I tend to go outside of the bowl for my capping routes in something of an angle bracket shape <, pass just over the type of a rock arch, and grab the flag. This sets me up to either do the same on the return trip (on the other side of the bowl) or come back through the inside of the bowl on the far-side. Coming back down the center to kill Calsa returning with my flag has taught me two things:

1.      Calsa cannot aim a mortar very well.

2.      Calsa is pretty good at dropping a mortar just below a fold in the ground when I am chasing him – this results in me dying.

Last night we kept crashing the server while playing. We narrowed the cause down to an active shield pack. Hopefully that will be fixed by the next update. Between crashes, I did manage to MA/kill Guardian a few times.

The physics continue to improve, but they still feel a little strange at times. We continue to make adjustments. They are a major improvement over the changes we had made towards the end of June.

 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 fleeky.
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.


If you wish to discuss this update, you may do so here. Also, I apologize for any formatting abnormalities - this stuff is giving me an anxiety attack.

 - Teratos