Well, things
are going, which I suppose is at least pretty good
. I know it's been more than a month since our last website update, and we are planning to do something about that, too - just haven't gotten around to it.
So, what exactly have we been able to get done? Well, as I mentioned at the start of March, all the winning path missions for episode 4 are done - obviously, some of them still need to be tested and balanced a bit, but they're still very close to final (minus the briefings - I haven't done most of the briefings yet... I hate them, and I'll take any excuse to leave them for later, even though they're not really all that complicated).
On the losing path, things are still a bit more out of shape - I actually did two missions this weekend, and yesterday I started another one, which I hope to get done today or tomorrow, along with another mission. That will still leave a few (can't remember how many right now - probably around five-six) missions to be done, though, and some of those won't be done for quite a while. As you can see from what I wrote, it's not an issue of missions being time-consuming - by now, I've reached the stage where I can literally get a mission done from start to finish in one four-hour session (though more complicated missions still take more), but the issue is finding time for that four-hour session
. Back in February, I set myself a deadline to finish all the winning missions before the end of the month, and I did - but sitting over Standoff every evening for three weeks non-stop is not something I'm capable of repeating more than once every three months or so.
(oh, and if the above makes it sound like I'm the only mission coder we have available... well, unfortunately, that is indeed the case at the moment
. Both Pierre and Tango did a few missions for episode 4 last year, but these days neither of them has any time at all for modding, so at least for the time being, I'm all alone on that front)
Of course, missions are just half of it - there's still a few graphical items that need to be done, and most of the FMV scenes. Eder
is making progress on those - but unfortunately, he takes his university studies a lot more seriously than I took mine (back during UE, I don't remember any university assignments that I did
not leave until the night before they were due
), and consequently the FMV is likely to still take a while. But then again, usually he is able to make significant progress during breaks, and I do believe there's an Easter holiday coming up, so...
.
