Short and sweet, those are the keywords.
Remember me mentioning The Grail of Eternal Life, a Spear of Destiny-mod that me and Havoc made some years ago that's getting a complete overhaul for the better? Sure you do, or else I'll be angry. And you don't want me to become angry, really.
Anyhow, I've uploaded a christmasy/wintery trailer for it, to show that it's still alive, and going really steady. Over the last three weeks, the mod's been ported to Wolf4SDL (thanks Havoc!) and around four more maps have been made. That's incredible, considering that over the near two years before that, the mod's progress has been incredibly slow, going at a map per every six months or so. It looks like it'll see the light of the day already next year, if all goes well *wink*!
Check out the trailer at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I0h4l7Jv4g
That's all for now, happy holidays!
/Marcus out.
2008-12-21
2008-12-18
We Are Next.
Prey was released just over two years ago, but had been in development for several years before that, I think it might've been ten even. But don't quote me on it.
Prey was originall designed and developed by 3D Realms, you know, the guys behind the infamous and commonly ridiculed vaporware-title Duke Nukem Forever, but after some years, Humanhead Studios took over the development. 3D Realms were still involved with the production of the game though.
Prey takes place in modernish time, at a pub somewhere in a native American reservation in Oklahoma. As usual, you play the good guy; a garage mechanic named Tommy, who's not particularly fascinated by his cherokee heritage. His girlfriend, Jen, is a bit more interested however, but neither her nor Tommy's grandfather can convince him about the importance of his heritage. He'd rather move out to the big cities and live like everyone else. At the night of the frightening event, which will later be explained, Jen is working at the bar and Tommy and his grandfather are also there, as well as two fellows who've had a few drinks too many. After having a quick and easy fight with the rude drunks, things start to happen. Bad things, of course. Without spoiling too much, the three of them, Tommy, Jen and Tommy's grandfather, are abducted and brought to a peculiar alien vessel of some sort, called the Sphere.
Prey is quite famous for it's twisting and turning of gravity in real-time. It's been seen a few times since, in games like Super Mario Galaxy. Portals similar to those found in Valve's Portal (nifty name, huh?) can also be seen throughout the game, and both these elements play a big part in the game's fun and unique gameplay. Another interesting element is the spirit form, which is neccesary to change to in some situations. It keeps the gameplay from becoming dull running and gunning and the fact that you cannot really die but instead go to a spirit realm where you shoot down lost spirits in order to regain your spirit power and physical health keeps you from frustratingly beating the shit out of your keyboard.
Story-wise, the game is still really good, but the storyline seems a bit mediocre at first. Average, working people get abducted by aliens with laser weapons, but don't worry, it builds up and gets a lot more interesting as it progresses.
The plot involves a few minor twists and turns, and about seven tenths through the game, the main objective and motivation for our hero Tommy changes. He also develops as a person through the game and the relation between you as a player and your virtual cherokee avatar make a pretty steady bond, but it doesn't go quite the whole way, which might be because of the game's length, or moreso lack of it.
This is one of the game's weak points, which prevents it from being as fantastic and enticing an adventure as I imagine it could be. Some might argue that the id Tech 4-engine is a bit outdated to today's standards, but the amazing design makes up for whatever the engine lacks in nifty physics and advanced shaders.
Overall, it's a great game and I recommend anyone to buy it, since you can find it real cheap in stores today. I'm hoping to see a sequel soon, to compensate for the rather short alien-slaughter experience that it was. Hopefully, any sequel will not take as long to come out as the original title did. Wether or not it was worth the wait, I cannot answer, as I heard of it just some months before its release, but it sure deserves the positive comments that the front cover's been decorated with.
That's all for this time, over and..!
/Marcus out.
Prey was originall designed and developed by 3D Realms, you know, the guys behind the infamous and commonly ridiculed vaporware-title Duke Nukem Forever, but after some years, Humanhead Studios took over the development. 3D Realms were still involved with the production of the game though.
Prey takes place in modernish time, at a pub somewhere in a native American reservation in Oklahoma. As usual, you play the good guy; a garage mechanic named Tommy, who's not particularly fascinated by his cherokee heritage. His girlfriend, Jen, is a bit more interested however, but neither her nor Tommy's grandfather can convince him about the importance of his heritage. He'd rather move out to the big cities and live like everyone else. At the night of the frightening event, which will later be explained, Jen is working at the bar and Tommy and his grandfather are also there, as well as two fellows who've had a few drinks too many. After having a quick and easy fight with the rude drunks, things start to happen. Bad things, of course. Without spoiling too much, the three of them, Tommy, Jen and Tommy's grandfather, are abducted and brought to a peculiar alien vessel of some sort, called the Sphere.
Prey is quite famous for it's twisting and turning of gravity in real-time. It's been seen a few times since, in games like Super Mario Galaxy. Portals similar to those found in Valve's Portal (nifty name, huh?) can also be seen throughout the game, and both these elements play a big part in the game's fun and unique gameplay. Another interesting element is the spirit form, which is neccesary to change to in some situations. It keeps the gameplay from becoming dull running and gunning and the fact that you cannot really die but instead go to a spirit realm where you shoot down lost spirits in order to regain your spirit power and physical health keeps you from frustratingly beating the shit out of your keyboard.
Story-wise, the game is still really good, but the storyline seems a bit mediocre at first. Average, working people get abducted by aliens with laser weapons, but don't worry, it builds up and gets a lot more interesting as it progresses.
The plot involves a few minor twists and turns, and about seven tenths through the game, the main objective and motivation for our hero Tommy changes. He also develops as a person through the game and the relation between you as a player and your virtual cherokee avatar make a pretty steady bond, but it doesn't go quite the whole way, which might be because of the game's length, or moreso lack of it.
This is one of the game's weak points, which prevents it from being as fantastic and enticing an adventure as I imagine it could be. Some might argue that the id Tech 4-engine is a bit outdated to today's standards, but the amazing design makes up for whatever the engine lacks in nifty physics and advanced shaders.
Overall, it's a great game and I recommend anyone to buy it, since you can find it real cheap in stores today. I'm hoping to see a sequel soon, to compensate for the rather short alien-slaughter experience that it was. Hopefully, any sequel will not take as long to come out as the original title did. Wether or not it was worth the wait, I cannot answer, as I heard of it just some months before its release, but it sure deserves the positive comments that the front cover's been decorated with.
That's all for this time, over and..!
/Marcus out.
2008-09-28
I Am...
Long time no see, huh? Well, technically, I can't possibly physically see my readers, although I could meet them after having finished a post. So, well... Ah, nevermind.
This time around, I'll try to keep it strictly to game-related stuff, since that's what this blog was mainly to be about. First, I'd like to mention a Spear of Destiny-modification called Absence. I was in the dev-team as tester, sort of, and graphics artist. I made a few sprites and sprite modifications for it. My friend from Germany, who goes under the web-alias Havoc was the project leader, and responsible for pretty much everything that made the mod to the interesting new experience that it is. If you're a fan of and know how to handle old DOS games, you should check the mod out. For the comfort of those interested, here's a link to the news section of the Wolfenstein 3D Dome; just click.
What else, well, I've been playing the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-series a lot lately, mainly Shadow of Chernobyl, which I recently finished, and of course the sequel/prequel, Clear Sky. They're both great and interesting games, and the freedom to explore a seemingly infinite landscape of anomaly and monster infested land makes up for every little nitpicky flaw the games have.
Expect reviews of both Absence and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-games to end up here sometime, although I wouldn't count on them popping up in the near future.
Well, seems my mind is trying to tell me that there isn't much else to say/type for now, so I guess it'll be a relatively short post this time. One last thing though, as some audiences from Sweden might know, Idol has started. That's right, I watch that shit. I don't know if I should feel bad about it or not, but it's actually entertaining at times. There's two contestants, or should I say; artists, in particular that stand out slightly from the others, which I like. It's a bit more varied now with the new judges/jury, since they seem to have taken the whole concept of what an idol is with a wider view, and not just accepting potential pop idols. Overall, the show has had a refreshment for the better. I won't be calling in any votes, since it costs like a buck for every vote you call in, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for some of the more interesting ones.
That's about it, apologies for the lack of any interesting content whatsoever, save for mentioning Absence, of course. Download it. Now. Please?
/Marcus out.
This time around, I'll try to keep it strictly to game-related stuff, since that's what this blog was mainly to be about. First, I'd like to mention a Spear of Destiny-modification called Absence. I was in the dev-team as tester, sort of, and graphics artist. I made a few sprites and sprite modifications for it. My friend from Germany, who goes under the web-alias Havoc was the project leader, and responsible for pretty much everything that made the mod to the interesting new experience that it is. If you're a fan of and know how to handle old DOS games, you should check the mod out. For the comfort of those interested, here's a link to the news section of the Wolfenstein 3D Dome; just click.
What else, well, I've been playing the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-series a lot lately, mainly Shadow of Chernobyl, which I recently finished, and of course the sequel/prequel, Clear Sky. They're both great and interesting games, and the freedom to explore a seemingly infinite landscape of anomaly and monster infested land makes up for every little nitpicky flaw the games have.
Expect reviews of both Absence and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-games to end up here sometime, although I wouldn't count on them popping up in the near future.
Well, seems my mind is trying to tell me that there isn't much else to say/type for now, so I guess it'll be a relatively short post this time. One last thing though, as some audiences from Sweden might know, Idol has started. That's right, I watch that shit. I don't know if I should feel bad about it or not, but it's actually entertaining at times. There's two contestants, or should I say; artists, in particular that stand out slightly from the others, which I like. It's a bit more varied now with the new judges/jury, since they seem to have taken the whole concept of what an idol is with a wider view, and not just accepting potential pop idols. Overall, the show has had a refreshment for the better. I won't be calling in any votes, since it costs like a buck for every vote you call in, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for some of the more interesting ones.
That's about it, apologies for the lack of any interesting content whatsoever, save for mentioning Absence, of course. Download it. Now. Please?
/Marcus out.
2008-04-15
Eight Melodies
Just dropping in to say that I've just recently spent a total of 220 american bucks for a complete copy of EarthBound for the Super Nintendo (of which 40 dollars' shipping.)
If you know the game and its high value among collectors and fans, you'll know it's not easy to find it in such a condition, with what I think is intact scratch n' sniffs.
But if you're not much into the game, maybe not at all, you'll be thinking I'm complete nuts for spending so much on a video game.
But ah, I say! It is one of the very best games I've ever played, it looks innocent enough for a youngster to play, but if you truly understand it, it plays with your mind in a manner I've never experienced a game doing to me, ever. With years of development on its neck, it shows as one of the most well-made games to date. Some über-programmers over at a fan-site were astonished by the way the Escargo Express delivery man managed to find a route around to the player when there was only just enough spaces to squeeze through the maze-like pattern around the player.
Call me a fan-boy, call me a nerd, call me fucking crazy, but I love this game.
But I'll have to live rather cheap the following weeks. A worthy sacrifice to have the golden snitch of console games sitting in your lap in a few weeks from now, waiting to be taken care of.
/Marcus out.
If you know the game and its high value among collectors and fans, you'll know it's not easy to find it in such a condition, with what I think is intact scratch n' sniffs.
But if you're not much into the game, maybe not at all, you'll be thinking I'm complete nuts for spending so much on a video game.
But ah, I say! It is one of the very best games I've ever played, it looks innocent enough for a youngster to play, but if you truly understand it, it plays with your mind in a manner I've never experienced a game doing to me, ever. With years of development on its neck, it shows as one of the most well-made games to date. Some über-programmers over at a fan-site were astonished by the way the Escargo Express delivery man managed to find a route around to the player when there was only just enough spaces to squeeze through the maze-like pattern around the player.
Call me a fan-boy, call me a nerd, call me fucking crazy, but I love this game.
But I'll have to live rather cheap the following weeks. A worthy sacrifice to have the golden snitch of console games sitting in your lap in a few weeks from now, waiting to be taken care of.
/Marcus out.
2008-04-05
The Premier Post
Good evening, all ye descendants of monkeys like myself!
So, this if my first blogpost ever. Or well, not in all. I've been blogging a bit on other communities, but the main purpose of them weren't blogging, and it was not even a fart's distance to being serious.
Neither is this one, in a way. But I'll try and be serious about posting frequently. I'll not promise anything, though, that's happened in the past. Let me tell you about my game projects, and you'll understand.
The Grail of Eternal Life (http://www.tgoel.tk/) is what I consider to be my first serious project that actually saw the light of the day. Although it's not an original game, but a modification of the Wolfenstein 3D prequel/sequel called Spear of Destiny. It tells the story of gun-blazing, pride-of-the-country protagonist B.J. Blaszkowicz as he spreads lead to his way to rescue the captured Holy Grail from the clutches of the evil nazi's. The mod started as a little hobby-project, a mere map-pack for Spear of Destiny, but it turned into a fully-fledged near-total conversion pretty soon after.
Now, to the point. Development took its time. The release was planned for christmas, but then it was delayed til' new years. It eventually got released around the start of February. Now, that might not seem like much of a delay. Not in comparsion to a certain game that seems to take forever, I think you know which one I mean...
Around the same year, I started work on a Final Fantasy fan-game. The game's been polished and developed over almost two years, and the demo will be around to see the project's second birthday. That's right, the demo.
I worked completly alone on this, though. Until now, for a great guy named Bobby is composing unique musical pieces for the project as I type.
I also made a flash-based website for this project as a final assigment in one of the courses at my school, it can be seen at http://www.finalfantasyfangame.tk/.
Then, halfway through the development of the FF-demo came The Grail of Eternal Life 1.5. It was supposed to be a new map-pack for the original mod, but then grew into a complete remake of the mod, with only the story somewhat intact. Havoc, who previously helped me out with source-modding for the first release, agreed to do the math-intense programming parts again.
This remake has yet to see the light of the day, even though the custom executable with many new features over the original Spear of Destiny and over the original TGoEL is finished, and all graphics have been replaced to my satisfaction, I've been stuck at the mapping part for several months. It's killing me that I can't do anything that I feel is good enough for this, but I refuse to give it up since it's so close to being done.
It will be released one day, though I'd not expect it to be before fall this year, since it's been delayed several times already.
Talking about delays, I've been typing this blogpost for some hours now, going back and forth between playing Chrono Trigger to typing to looking at some vids on Newgrounds. I'm like that, I can't do one thing at a time, and it bugs the living fuck out of me sometimes.
Ah, but enough ranting about my imaginary disorders. I think I'm having my fifth cup of coffe for today now. The week-ends mainly consist of gaming and coffee, but it doesn't bother me. So my future disgraceful descendants might get damaged from all the caffeine I'm constantly pouring down my throat, who cares. Considering that the possibilities of humanity's end increases with two figures every year or so, it feels like wasted effort to raise a kid that's going to die from an asteroid crash whilst the oceans eats up all that used to be steady ground.
I'm a negative fucker, so sue me. I am happy and all optimistic at times too, not too often though. It's not healthy.
My coffee's getting a bit cold, better pour it down before it starts tasting like distilled man chowder. Urgh.
Until next time!
/Marcus out
So, this if my first blogpost ever. Or well, not in all. I've been blogging a bit on other communities, but the main purpose of them weren't blogging, and it was not even a fart's distance to being serious.
Neither is this one, in a way. But I'll try and be serious about posting frequently. I'll not promise anything, though, that's happened in the past. Let me tell you about my game projects, and you'll understand.
The Grail of Eternal Life (http://www.tgoel.tk/) is what I consider to be my first serious project that actually saw the light of the day. Although it's not an original game, but a modification of the Wolfenstein 3D prequel/sequel called Spear of Destiny. It tells the story of gun-blazing, pride-of-the-country protagonist B.J. Blaszkowicz as he spreads lead to his way to rescue the captured Holy Grail from the clutches of the evil nazi's. The mod started as a little hobby-project, a mere map-pack for Spear of Destiny, but it turned into a fully-fledged near-total conversion pretty soon after.
Now, to the point. Development took its time. The release was planned for christmas, but then it was delayed til' new years. It eventually got released around the start of February. Now, that might not seem like much of a delay. Not in comparsion to a certain game that seems to take forever, I think you know which one I mean...
Around the same year, I started work on a Final Fantasy fan-game. The game's been polished and developed over almost two years, and the demo will be around to see the project's second birthday. That's right, the demo.
I worked completly alone on this, though. Until now, for a great guy named Bobby is composing unique musical pieces for the project as I type.
I also made a flash-based website for this project as a final assigment in one of the courses at my school, it can be seen at http://www.finalfantasyfangame.tk/.
Then, halfway through the development of the FF-demo came The Grail of Eternal Life 1.5. It was supposed to be a new map-pack for the original mod, but then grew into a complete remake of the mod, with only the story somewhat intact. Havoc, who previously helped me out with source-modding for the first release, agreed to do the math-intense programming parts again.
This remake has yet to see the light of the day, even though the custom executable with many new features over the original Spear of Destiny and over the original TGoEL is finished, and all graphics have been replaced to my satisfaction, I've been stuck at the mapping part for several months. It's killing me that I can't do anything that I feel is good enough for this, but I refuse to give it up since it's so close to being done.
It will be released one day, though I'd not expect it to be before fall this year, since it's been delayed several times already.
Talking about delays, I've been typing this blogpost for some hours now, going back and forth between playing Chrono Trigger to typing to looking at some vids on Newgrounds. I'm like that, I can't do one thing at a time, and it bugs the living fuck out of me sometimes.
Ah, but enough ranting about my imaginary disorders. I think I'm having my fifth cup of coffe for today now. The week-ends mainly consist of gaming and coffee, but it doesn't bother me. So my future disgraceful descendants might get damaged from all the caffeine I'm constantly pouring down my throat, who cares. Considering that the possibilities of humanity's end increases with two figures every year or so, it feels like wasted effort to raise a kid that's going to die from an asteroid crash whilst the oceans eats up all that used to be steady ground.
I'm a negative fucker, so sue me. I am happy and all optimistic at times too, not too often though. It's not healthy.
My coffee's getting a bit cold, better pour it down before it starts tasting like distilled man chowder. Urgh.
Until next time!
/Marcus out
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