Progress Update

J

Joel_VanEenwyk

Spaceman
I know Howie promised you all a progress update from me. Recently, the progress has been fairly good. Last few weeks, I have been fighting two deadlines, however. One at work and one on Pioneer. Unfortunately, the one at work takes precedence and has delayed my original projection. The deadline ends this weekend, so then I will be back to a more normal schedule.

Another problem has been that my computer recently decided to stop working, so as a temporary replacement, I bought a Mac Mini. This is a highly unusual choice for me (I'm not generally a Mac fan), but it has been an interesting adjustment. Because of this, I have been porting the game over to the Mac. Since I have designed the game from the start to be cross-platform (it has been running on Linux), it hasn't been overly challenging. It does, however, take time to gather all the needed libraries and get everything in order on that end, so that has been a slight hitch. I'm not sure how many in this community will benefit from this port, but regardless, I believe it is a positive step.

As a side note, I will probably use Boot Camp to setup dual boot for Windows here shortly, but that is not immensely high priority for me since I really want to get the port done. I still need Windows, though, so that I can give Howie his test builds. :)

I will seriously try to make a stronger effort to make more updates. Unfortunately, my work is highly technical, so given that you are a more visually oriented group (please correct me if I'm wrong), it may come across as boring to you, but if you like textual updates, I can probably provide that more frequently. :p

Take care,

--Joel
 
Joel_VanEenwyk said:
I will seriously try to make a stronger effort to make more updates. Unfortunately, my work is highly technical, so given that you are a more visually oriented group (please correct me if I'm wrong), it may come across as boring to you, but if you like textual updates, I can probably provide that more frequently. :p
Click to expand...

Any form of update is better than silence :D
 
Shhhh.......

Oh, and I suppose now is a good time to show this off...
http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Bengal50.jpg
http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Bengal52.jpg
http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Bengal53.jpg
http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Bengal54.jpg
http://www.hedfiles.net/~hday/Bengal55.jpg
Totally a work in progress, and I feel the need to point out that this is "A" Bengal class Strike Carrier, not "The" Tiger's Claw. As such the paint scheme is slightly different, and it's only 690M long, not 700M. The are some other structural differences, though this version is far more faithful to the sprites in the game than to the images in Claw Marks. Do let me know if there's anything that looks obviously wrong. (The turrets are still very much WIP... that's not what they'll look like in the end. Totally placeholder.)
As for what this is going to be used for in Pioneer...Let's just say we'd like to keep our options open, story-wise. We don't have any specific plans, but it did seem rather foolish to not have the iconic WC1 carrier in our WC1-era game.
Enjoy.
 
I saw the then-untextured WIP of that over at Scifi-Meshes. Looks great Howard.

PS: Options eh? How about Wildcat carrier ops some time down the line?
 
SWEEEEEEET! Though it could use a little bit more colour on the bottom and a bit of resizing on the subsystems, it looks great so far!
 
Deacon: Thanks, glad you like it.
Magnum: I'd have to check and see what they'd be flying. As I understand it, the Wildcat is an older fighter - It'd be in use with the LRFR. Probably not flying off a Confed Carrier in 2652.
Kevin: Thanks! Which subsystems are you talking about, exactly? and the bottom hasn't even been started yet - there's a few turret emplacements and the entire bottom superstructure to do there.
gevatter Lars: That's what she said....oh. Yeah, it's much simpler to build a game model than a high-res one. I know that seems obvious, but the amount of texture work I've already done for Pioneer lets me snag pre-existing work more often than you might think. For example, all the windows are the same materials and textures as I used on my civilian medium station. I'll probably need to tweak them eventually, but hey, it's a start.
 
Those look great!

EDIT - The Wildcat is retired not to long after the start of the war and replaced by the Corsair. Don't have AS handy, but I'm sure someone will quickly fill in any other details.
 
It is but still it would take me ages to get even this done.
I am still confused about the size stuff...maybe you read my PM on Scifi. I can't get rid of the feeling that I did something wrong.
 
Gevatter Lars: Okay! I think I see what's going on...My launch tubes are only one fighter wide. You look like you're trying to put two fighters side-by-side in each tube. I don't know of any reason to do this, you always seemed to be centerline with the launch tube in WC1, so I think that's your problem right there. Please correct me if I'm wrong. That's just juding from your images.
Hope that helps.
 
Howard Day said:
Kevin: Thanks! Which subsystems are you talking about, exactly? and the bottom hasn't even been started yet - there's a few turret emplacements and the entire bottom superstructure to do there.
Click to expand...

For subsystems, I mean the bridge and engines. Notice how they are a bit too short and they look like they are squished...
 
Thanks for the update, Joel and ditto for me on future text updates. :)

Howard, those Bengal renders are absolutely breathtaking! :D
 
@Howard
I will stay in contact with you. I think you got it a little bit the wrong way.

Anyway...please make a nice Wallpaper from this baby when you are done.
I am a total Bengal-class fanboy ^_^
 
Kevin Caccamo said:
For subsystems, I mean the bridge and engines. Notice how they are a bit too short and they look like they are squished...
Click to expand...

Actually, those are the structural variations I mentioned before. The in-game art has been my guide on this, not Claw Marks. I was trying to match what you actually see in the game. Anyhow, as an example, take a look at the original sprites:
https://www.wcnews.com/ships2/images/4views/wc1bengal4.gif
That superstructure and bridge are pretty squat, yeah?
I haven't really started on the engines yet, but I think it's going to be 7 total - as the best in-game reference shows that number. I know that's completely arbitrary, but hey, if all the references matched up, there'd be no problem.
 
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Howard Day said:
Magnum: I'd have to check and see what they'd be flying. As I understand it, the Wildcat is an older fighter - It'd be in use with the LRFR. Probably not flying off a Confed Carrier in 2652.
Click to expand...
Guess you'll just have to create a Landreich carrier then, eh? ;) Seriously though, I think there's a lot of potential for a later side-campaign/expansion/etc. flying an older fighter like the Wildcat.
 
Joel_VanEenwyk said:
I will seriously try to make a stronger effort to make more updates. Unfortunately, my work is highly technical, so given that you are a more visually oriented group (please correct me if I'm wrong), it may come across as boring to you, but if you like textual updates, I can probably provide that more frequently. :p

--Joel
Click to expand...

Technical details sound great to me.
 
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