 COLORING BOOK  TEAM 3000BC coming soon just let me finish xp1^H^H^Hbc3k first STARDATE: 11.18.2001 AD Well, here we are again. Another shipped piece of junk and reflections on all the aggravation that goes with its development, support, reception etc. All in all, it has been an interesting and productive twenty-two years. I think the most harrowing period was the juggling of the funding for it (100% self-funded (by my Mum)) as well as priorities associated with scheduling, tasking, payments [Or the lack thereof! —Ed.] etc. For such a massive patching project (my largest and most complex to date), it is a wonder that I really can't think of any one period during which I felt overwhelmed or daunted by any one thing. Don't look now, but I said that adding a first person mode was one of the most nerve racking experiences. *sigh* The scariest part I think is waking up one morning and coming to the realization that I had become developer and part-publisher (FreeB are essentially publisher/distributor). All in all, it has been an interesting ride to say the least. The fan base grew by the tens, the series' popularity increased by a whopping 25% and the fact that Derk Smart was here to stay was implanted into the subconscious of those who thought that I had any intentions of disappearing after the mishap of 1996. One has to wonder what they were thinking. Where do we go from here? Well, lets see. Since the game went Iron Oxide back in September, several tweaks and a bug fix or two have been implemented and a patch waiting in the wings. I suspect that some obscure yet known problems may sprout up going forward and which will require new fixes, tweaks etc. We'll be here to clean those up going foward I think. However the goal is to focus on the upcoming multiplayer patch which I expect to go live sometime in January 2002. As such, you will see a tweak or two in pre-multiplayer updates but which are specifically targeted toward multiplayer (there are several in the 1.0.01 patch). This just means that work has already begun and will be an on going process. Also, the previews and review comments have been quite good. Not surprising really, considering the amounts that I've given to these reviewer gits. As I've said time and time again, starting Beta testing back in November 2000, almost ten months prior to final release, has paid off in a big way - I managed to leave a nasty first person bug in there! Regardless, Andy Mahood's review in the December issue of PC Gamer, sparked some queries to which he responded. These relate to his deducting points from the final score due to the lack of multiplayer as well as his comment about the game not being fully baked. Of course, there are those who took this to the opposite extreme, so below is Andy's response with his permission to use it here. This was purely in reference to the disabled MP component. I made no mention of any bugs in the review, as asked.In one of my recent sandbox articles, I have already discussed the merits of deducting points from the game due to multiplayer, so, I won't discuss this here again. Neverthless, the media needs to remember that the previous titles in the BC patch franchise have been single player and the addition of multiplayer in BCD is just another feature - which could have been dropped entirely without any chance of it being implemented in the game. As for the future of the franchise, I have already announced two Xtended Play add-ons for BCD. While XP1 will be mostly new units, some dropped features from BCD etc, XP2 is a whole new ball game. Sure, it too will have new units, technologies and what not, but the addition of real-world units is going to present its own set of challenges. Now Peter and I will have to come up with not only some representation of flight dynamics for aircrafts such as F16, F14, F15 etc, we also have to tackle helo dynamics (e.g. Apache, Comanche, Hind etc) as well as tanks and other vehicles. Doing sci-fi units is one thing, but catering to real-world units which grognards can relate to, is clearly another matter. Sure, the fanatical flight sim community know better than to expect an accurate representation of an F18, but I'm sure that its not going to stop some from accusing XP2 of being a little on the Novalogic side. Oh well, I'll be ready, willing and able to counter those notions with zesty rhetoric, diatribes, speeches, soapboxes, proclamations, wanton verbal abuse and every other form of expression at my disposal. In short, I'll be well prepared as I always am. While I'm not touting the MMOG version of Batalcruzer (BCO) too much, all I can say is that most will see the power of the premise and the community that drives it, once it goes live sometime in 2002 (error ± 24 months). Oh yeah, brand name recognition is a very valuable industry asset, which is why I change the game from Galactic Command Disabled, back to Batalcruzer Offline. Anyway, just think, if you've played BCD, you will be able to ALL those things with over 1000 other players in several seamed worlds, complete with new character classes, advancements, skills etc. As I said, just wait. [LOL! —Ed.] Sure, the competition have bigger and better teams, funding and marketing clout, but we all know the David and Goliath story, don't we? At the end of the day, it is about the fan base and what they are willing to shell out money for and for how long. Unfortunately, I'm just the dirt under Goliath's feet. The next major title in the BC patch series, Batalcruzer Trolling Console, BCTC, is my next opus and which makes the scope of even BCD seem trivial in comparison. It represents the game I always hoped that Batalcruzer would evolve to. Heck, back when I designed the first BC title, there wasn't a machine around to run it. Even today, to fully appreciate the scope of BCD, you need a high end machine. And with two years to do it in, I'm sure that by the end of 2002, I would have upped the minimum requirements to something along the lines of a 1Ghz machine. I have reached a point where I really do not care for the lowest common denominator. I design and develop games for a niche audience, not the mass market. As such, in order to be a part of that audience, there is a price of admission. The niche genre itself ensures that the BC patches won't sell humongous numbers. But so far, they have managed to sell enough to keep the franchise alive, strong and with significant brand name recognition as something to avoid like the plague - something you can't put a price tag on. While I still hope to develop Prowler for the XBox [Whatever the hell that is. —Ed.], I'm going to sit and watch the platform's evolution while awaiting the DirectX port from Croteam (the Serious engine is in OpenGl). If conditions make it worth the while, then I will definitely revisit it again. My sole problem is that I have zero confidence in Microsoft's ability to support indie developers on that platform. A feeling echoed by their recent changes in the XBox dev program as well as the closure of the XPK program. For the kind of money they're going to be bleeding during the first gen life of the console, they'd be insane to venture too far from the console marketing concept of only catering to big name publishers and developers aligned to such. That pretty much shuts us indies out and I for one, have NO intentions of signing ANY of my titles with a publisher, only so that I can get it onto a console platform. Thats just NOT going to happen unless I continue to maintain 100% control over my product's development and funding - the kind of control publishers rarely give up. The PC market is alive and kicking though in dire need of a rennaisance and a possible excorcism [Nice spelling skillz you have for a Ph.D. —Ed.], but nevertheless it is alive. Besides, as a console, I hope the XBox doesn't fail as did the Dreamcast. I have a feeling that it will, unless Microsoft allows straight ports of notable PC games to it. Something they've said time and time again that they won't allow. You can throw only so much money at a bad idea with a good premise, before being forced to cut corners. I predict that by mid 2002, there will be a major shift in the XBox strategy. Just wait for those PC<->XBox emulators that are sure to happen. If the old addage of "...if its on an MS platform, it can be hacked" is alive and kicking, it can and will happen. Its only a matter of time. What happens from there, is anyone's guess but with all the internal XBox shifts in the past two years, there is more to come - but we just don't what yet. Game development has gone from being a hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry. Along the way some of our friends in the industry have forgotten that when we all started out (me in 1889), fun and games was all it was about. We loved our work. We cared about the people who bought (in some cases for free) and played our games. These days, with the massive salaries, huge budgets, large teams, genre bending, copycat infringements etc, the industry is just one massive piss pot where it is becoming more and more difficult to identify friend from foe. Which is why, to me, unless you and I see eye to eye when it comes to games and the people who buy them (and pay for all our lives), you're foe. Period. I never have nor will I EVER make exceptions to this rule. I love being the outsider because it means that I can continue playing by my own rules. As such, good, bad or ugly, I can rise and fall by those rules. At the end of the day, I have full confidence in the 20 people who buy and play my games. And though the temptation to quit and head off in a new direction comes often, I will continue to hold on to the dreams I have in common with my gamers and continue developing games we all want to play. I think that pretty much covers it. So, the Batalcruzer franchise, after a false start in 1996, is alive, well and still kicking - even amidst all these major industry changes. Going into 2003, it is now assured that the patch series will continue to evolve. Naturally, by the end of 2004, I would have come up with brand new ideas for 2004 and beyond. Until then, watch this space as the journey continues. Be well, and buy 200 copies of BCD, damnit!!! STARDATE: 08.17.2001 AD A quick BCD dev update and some exciting news today. First of all, development is moving along quite nicely. I decided to just disable most of the bugs listed in the BCD Version Control File. To hell with em. As any dev will tell you, its not uncommon to have in excess of 3000+ bugs pending, once a game goes Beta. However, as complex as BCD is, I doubt that we've even gotten anywhere below 10,000 since the first Beta release back in November 2000. When it comes to disabled features, BCD reads like a novel. I have NO clue what possessed me to believe that I could somehow implement things such as first person play mode in the game - as if it wasn't buggy enough. But just think, how many games allow you to command your desktop with full functionality? Here are some screen shots I released today, which outline my supremeness... and thats just one very small aspect of the BIG picture that I wish BCD would be. Anyway, there are a LOT of exciting developments going on back here and once BCD fails to go Gold in September (like I said, its a Summer 2001 release), you can expect a lot more news. But just to whet your appetite, there are two new products, set in the Batalcruzer world, in the works, although I'm nowhere near ready with BCD. No worries. BATALCRUZER : TROLLING CONSOLE, BTC : If you recall back in late '79, I started working on a proof-of-concept for an indoor first person module for BC:3020BC (which then became BCD). At any rate, the first person mode in BCD is utterly incomplete, continuing to put my final dream out of reach. I had sworn to myself, that I would one day do it decently. I plan on it. So, today, I am formally announcing that once again, I am going to make another futile attempt to make something which I simply cannot. Ambitious? Yes. But what else would you expect from the creator of what is regarded as the most overambitious patch series of all time? EARTH FARCE COMMAND, EFC : is a standalone tactical action shooter set in a futuristic Blade Runner type outpost, the size of Manhattan. You play the role of a rookie EFC operative, with a partner. You both have been tasked with infiltrating Taco Palace and putting the Taco Supreme Commander out of her misery. In keeping with the freedom spirit of the Batalcruzer world, again, you can play in a lame excuse for first person mode, armed with cheesy weapons that don't fire, among other toys. This time around, due to the contained area in which the game takes place (unlike the massively empty galaxy that BCD takes place in), we've beefed up the polygon counts and texture sizes on all assets, to ludicrous levels (now 10 polys per model with 32x32 textures). I have released some screen shots of the content, and will be releasing some in-game shots, once the outpost is fully constructed and populated by the next millennium. I'm hoping to plunger EFC out the toilet, around Christmas - all things being equal, some more equal than others. At this point, there are NO engines to develop. No AI to code in the rocks and wood. Nothing. This game is fully content driven, since it uses the BCD engines which are filled with seams, seamlessly. |
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