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6/18 Development Status Report

 
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6/18 Development Status Report - 6/18/2004 11:57:49 PM   
Joel Billings


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At the risk of throwing raw meat to the Sharks (my favorite hockey team), here's my limited view of what's been going on in development the past few weeks.

Around the beginning of June we had a pretty solid game. We were frantically working on the manual, which was a beast in its own right. David was working on getting higher quality sound and music files for the game. Knowing that we had some time to kill while the manual and sound/music were being finished, we continued to fix some annoying bugs as they were discovered. Most of these were small bugs or undesirable features that we could have lived with if we needed to. Of course with a game this complicated, any change has a chance of creating additional problems, and occasionally a bigger issue would pop up that we needed to fix. At this moment, we have no major issues outstanding.

The manual was finally sent off for layout about a week ago. The game manual came out to be 220 pages and we have 325+ pages of total documentation on the CD. Mike Eckenfels (game and editor manuals) and Richard Porter (tutorial guide) put in a lot of effort along with Marc Schwanebeck (PDF layout) to make these as informative as we could get them.

While David was working on the sound and music we realized that with a few changes to the sound engine, we could reduce the size of the files dramatically. Again, since we had the time, it made sense to try to do this. From what I understand, Matrix is just finishing up the sound and music files now and should be in a position to put together a complete game sometime within the next few days. This will still give time to test the final gold version and duplicate CDs for Origins.

Although we would have been happy to have been finished a few weeks ago, the extra time has resulted in a few more items being cleaned up, and hopefully much better (and smaller) sound/music in the final product. Anything can happen, but I know that David, Matrix and 2by3 are all doing everything possible to get the game out for Origins and then shortly (as soon as possible) thereafter for the Matrix Store. Now you know the real story (at least from where I'm sitting).

-Joel
Post #: 1
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 12:05:18 AM   
kaleun

 

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YEEHAAW. (Flipping over in glee)

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 12:09:51 AM   
kev_uk

 

Posts: 288
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Great stuff. Wish you every success...

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 12:17:45 AM   
freeboy

 

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Can you imagine the time involved from inception to now.. my hat is off to the team.. testers included

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 12:21:25 AM   
GameTester


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Everything looks good Mr. Billings. Can't wait to see the end product.

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 1:04:48 AM   
ltfightr


Posts: 537
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From: Little Rock AR
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Fresh meat ummmm

Great News I hope that every thing goes well

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 1:28:10 AM   
Xargun

 

Posts: 3690
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Everything sounds great Joel. Thanks for the update. I am assuming you will make a final announcement over the next few days if the game will be at Origins or not for 100% ? I would hate to drive there, buy a ticket to get in only to find out its been delayed. Thanks again.

Xargun

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Post #: 7
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 2:05:01 AM   
bilbow


Posts: 741
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From: Concord NH
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Mmmmm. Very tasty. Thanks
I'll be at Origins Thursday with credit card in hand.

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 2:12:25 AM   
rroberson

 

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From: Arizona
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Hehe to think I just sent you my fed ex box ;).


quote:

ORIGINAL: Xargun

Everything sounds great Joel. Thanks for the update. I am assuming you will make a final announcement over the next few days if the game will be at Origins or not for 100% ? I would hate to drive there, buy a ticket to get in only to find out its been delayed. Thanks again.

Xargun

(in reply to Xargun)
Post #: 9
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 2:15:49 AM   
Ironman664

 

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Thank you for the update....

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 3:09:08 AM   
brisd


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From: San Diego, CA
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Wonderful news, thanks for the update Joel!

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 3:55:35 AM   
captskillet


Posts: 2493
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Those who are about to die salute you

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 7:58:12 AM   
joliverlay

 

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Those who are about to BUY salute you!

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 8:04:39 AM   
Platoonist


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Heeheehee ! I'll drink to that.

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 10:31:36 AM   
Apollo11


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Hi all,

Thanks for info Joel!

Great work Matrix/2By3!!!


Leo "Apollo11"

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Post #: 15
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 1:11:03 PM   
Sonny

 

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It better be ready by Origins. I'm making the trip just to purchase it there.

(also I want to see if you guys are as ugly as I've heard).

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 4:43:42 PM   
byron13


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220 pages?

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 10:41:43 PM   
Caltone


Posts: 651
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From: Raleigh, NC USA
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Sonny

It better be ready by Origins. I'm making the trip just to purchase it there.

(also I want to see if you guys are as ugly as I've heard).



That goes double, I'm hoping Sonny can pick up a copy for me too. Good work all around guys, can't wait to get my hands on this one.

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Post #: 18
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/19/2004 10:43:28 PM   
Mr.Frag


Posts: 13410
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quote:

220 pages?


Don't worry, you only need to read it a couple of times.

Whoever you end up playing will be quite happy to remind you of whatever you forgot

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Post #: 19
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/20/2004 1:32:34 AM   
olivier_slith


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Is the maual going to be printed or is it another trip to Kinkos?

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/20/2004 1:37:18 AM   
Mr.Frag


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quote:

Is the maual going to be printed or is it another trip to Kinkos?


Trip somewhere. It's over 300 pages.

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Post #: 21
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/20/2004 7:00:26 AM   
bradfordkay

 

Posts: 8683
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From: Olympia, WA
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quote:

Is the maual going to be printed or is it another trip to Kinkos?


I'm assuming that the Kinko's Document Center will have it, like the one for UV and Korsun Pocket. When UV was orignally released,there wasn't this agreement with Matrix and my local Kinko's quoted me something to the tume of $100 to print it in color and give it a three ring binder. Now I can get a spiral bound one for less than $15, I believe. You may want to wait until you see the manual listed on Matrix's Kinko's Doc Center page.

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fair winds,
Brad

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Post #: 22
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/20/2004 10:31:23 AM   
tigercub


Posts: 2004
Joined: 2/3/2003
From: brisbane oz
Status: offline
release the hounds!! or even the game.......mabe if i get a few beers into me i willnot think about it...bullsh**....quick get the beer anyway. looking for a good player ta face aswell..takers?

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/20/2004 8:34:14 PM   
52nd Lowland


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Notice that Kinkos has a website for Britain...wonder how much it would cost to get the manual printed out over here.What exactly is done with this service if any one has used it before ?

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Post #: 24
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 4:54:53 AM   
Fallschirmjager


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From: Chattanooga, Tennessee
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quote:

ORIGINAL: 52nd Lowland

Notice that Kinkos has a website for Britain...wonder how much it would cost to get the manual printed out over here.What exactly is done with this service if any one has used it before ?


I got my UV manual printed out and sent to me. I went through the doc stroe and picked the crush resistent binder that can lay flat. They sent me a B&W manual with clear plastic over the front page and black plastic for the back cover.
It was very well done and the price was fair.
I hope they offer both WiTP manuals with that method. I would indeed buy them.

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 6:56:38 AM   
stubby331


Posts: 268
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From: Perth, Western Australia
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I reckon you guys are going to have one hell of a party once this monster's released huh...


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Post #: 26
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 7:38:57 AM   
Damien Thorn

 

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One concern: Will the new thing you did to the sound files make if impossible for us to substitute our own? Is it some sort of propriatary compression you are using now?

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RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 7:55:10 AM   
shoevarek

 

Posts: 141
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quote:

One concern: Will the new thing you did to the sound files make if impossible for us to substitute our own? Is it some sort of propriatary compression you are using now?


I think in one of the threads Mike Wood said they switched all music to mp3. Nothing should stop you from replacing the music files.

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Post #: 28
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 8:13:53 AM   
afspret


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Great, but for those of us who can't make it to Origins and are stuck with the ancient dial-up connections, when can we expect it to be in stores, or available for purchase from Matrix?

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Post #: 29
RE: 6/18 Development Status Report - 6/21/2004 1:50:16 PM   
GBirkn


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If I remember correctly: It's not going to be in stores. They'll have mail order available "a few days" after Origins.

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