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| Battlezone IRC Chat Log- February 28, 1998 Battlezone Center |
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[markin] Thanks everyone for coming. [DrunkOM] All right, Mike Arkin is here with us again this week [markin] We are getting really close to code release, it looks like we might even beat Starcraft! 8-) [markin] Has everyone noticed that our new web site has gone up. It is about 10x better then the old one. [markin] If you have not seen it you should take a look. [markin] Ok, that is all I have to say. Please send DOM your questions. [DrunkOM] Here we go... [DrunkOM] [missionyr] Do you have patch planned to take care of the pirated copies of the beta? [markin] Well, I'm not sure how a patch would do anything, but very soon we will set the servers to only allow the final version of the game. [markin] That will lock out all the pirated versions. [markin] Well, I posted a message calling for a vote, but my message got lost in the internet black hole. [markin] I'll post again and then you will all need to vote yes. I need about 50 votes for it to happen. [DrunkOM] I never could find your post [markin] I think that our mail server lost it. 8-) [markin] Just like real mail! [DrunkOM] [Ace4] will activision ever have actual good support for joysticks? [markin] I can not really speak for the company as a whole, but I think that we are really trying hard to correct past mistakes. [markin] I never really knew that the joystick thing was an issue. [DrunkOM] It seems to be [markin] I played I76 and mech with a joystick and it worked fine. [Ace4] i meant in battlezone, customization mainly (sorry to but in) [markin] Battlezone has good support for all the common joysticks and as much as it can be played with a joystick, you will be able to. [markin] IMHO, it is not really a joystick game, but that is a personal issue. [DrunkOM] There was a question about Force Feedback yesterday, any word on that? [markin] I play with the mouse. [markin] FF did not make the cut. [markin] We really wanted to get it in, but it would have drained more valuable resources. [markin] We did not have enough scrap! [markin] It was either launch a daywrecker or add FF support 8-) [DrunkOM] Scrap is pretty scarce to start with [DrunkOM] [graham\] Do you intend to release any editing tools for the game or specs so others can make such tools? [markin] Yeah, we could have recycled 2 programmers and then we would have enough. [markin] 8-) [markin] Sorry, I'm feeling a bit funny! 8-) [markin] Editing tools. [markin] There will be editing tools with the game. [markin] They were always there, but we have written the document that tells you how to get to them. [markin] Also we hve a util that makes the terrain and autopaints the textures. [markin] It will be VERY easy to make multiplayer maps. [DrunkOM] [Boogiem0n] can we put the res up to 800x600 on voodoo cards in the final version? [markin] for now, the res is set at 640x480. [markin] if we uped it to 800x600, we would run out of texture memory. [markin] maybe we will allow 800x600 on V2, but we would have to do that as a patch. [markin] Sorry for using the P word. [DrunkOM] [Captain_G] from what I've heard it sounds like the Soviets are more powerfull then US. Are you doing anything to change this and make it more even? [markin] I would be very curious to hear why you think that is. What makes the sov's stronger? [DrunkOM] It's just what he's heard [markin] If I can get some specifics we will look into it. [markin] We have been tuning things quite a bit as a result of the MP beta test. [markin] just e-mail me if you can tell me what mekes them stronger. [DrunkOM] [Rapala] Editing tool"s". More than just the map editor? [markin] There is a terrain generator. [markin] This creates a blank map. [markin] then there are lots of options that can be tweeked in the INI for that map. [markin] then in the game you can edit the terrain mesh. [MikeArkin] back [MikeArkin] Ok, I was saying talking about how the editor works. [MikeArkin] After you edit the terrain mesh, you can hit a key and jump into texture mode and paint textures. [MikeArkin] then you hit a key and jump into object placement mode and drop weapons, powerups and spawn points. [MikeArkin] So, it is really one editor but it does a bunch of stuff. [DrunkOM] [Boogiem0n] are there going to be any options to control multiplayer games like how much scrap there should be in the world overall? or maybe weather or gravity? [MikeArkin] When you make the map, you can set all of that in the .ini for the map. [MikeArkin] Well, not Gravity. That would have been too complex for our physics model. [DrunkOM] [MikeArkin] You can set the time of day, which will place the sun and the shadows as well as a bunch of other stuff. [MikeArkin] That can be done, but I think that we will need to document that later. For now we are only documenting how to create MP maps. [DrunkOM] [Guerrero] you have more textures than say Quake2? [MikeArkin] I don't actually know how many textures quake has. [MikeArkin] but we have 256x256 textures for each vehicle. [DrunkOM] He's asking in reference to higher resolutions [MikeArkin] and there are over 30 vehicles. [MikeArkin] Yeah, i'm not sure. [MikeArkin] As it is, at 640x480 we are at the limit for most cards. [MikeArkin] I'd have to do the math, but I don't think that we could do 800x600 with z-buffering. [DrunkOM] [yamamoto5] question: Will there be support for unit intellgence? For example in Dark Reign, we are able to set independence, pursuit range and damage tolrance. [MikeArkin] I think that you can edit those functions, but no we do not have those types of controls in the sim. [MikeArkin] It would be far to complex. [DrunkOM] [primetime] why do all of the soviet units "cost" 1 scrap less than the NSDF? [MikeArkin] That is a good question. [MikeArkin] Let me check with our lead designer. [DrunkOM] [graham\] how many missions does each side have? [MikeArkin] There are 17 US missions. When you finish those there are 8 soviet missions. [MikeArkin] the soviet missions are MUCH harder. [MikeArkin] Back to the unit costs. [MikeArkin] there was once a bug about unit costs that was fixed. Were you on easy? [loomer] the soviets are more advanced though... maybe they have better scrap processing [DrunkOM] [Kandyman] will we be able to play 512x384 on Voodoo cards? [MikeArkin] That is not consistant with history. [MikeArkin] Soviets typically have been more brute force oriented. [MikeArkin] Build lots of cheap fighters. that is the basic soviet doctrine in the 70's and 80's [MikeArkin] I don't think that voodoo supports anything less then 640x480. [MikeArkin] Why would you want to play voodoo at 512x384? [DrunkOM] The actual card does. [DrunkOM] Back to Soviet Costs, Primetime says he was playing Multiplayer. [MikeArkin] can you play the beta at 512? [MikeArkin] Anyone? [MikeArkin] Primetime may still have had easy set. That was the bug. [DrunkOM] [primetime] wasn't fixed in 28.3 though [MikeArkin] sorry. [MikeArkin] use that to beat your friends! [DrunkOM] Hehe [primetime] i will always be the sov's then :) [MikeArkin] but not against me! [primetime] the best thing about it is that armory ammo and repairs cost nothing [DrunkOM] Hehe [MikeArkin] Yeah, that is a good thing. But in MP sometimes your base is really far away. [MikeArkin] Oops, forget that. [primetime] btw, I have a voodoo card and I can only play at 640x480 [MikeArkin] I forgot that the SLF is now the armory and the armory is now the Supply depo. [MikeArkin] Hard to keep up with all the name changes. [DrunkOM] [MikeArkin] I'm not sure. [MikeArkin] We had some trouble with getting all the Heat stuff to work right and we were still fixing general internet and MP bugs that heat became a lower priority. [MikeArkin] We will still have the tourniment soon though. [MikeArkin] Might have to be post ship. [MikeArkin] I have a few special team t-shirts put aside for stuff like that. [DrunkOM] [SgtPain] Are there / will there be team only chat keys? [MikeArkin] yes, when you chat press the up and down arrow buttons and you cn select who to talk to. [DrunkOM] [Kandyman] Can 2 ppl play one one team, e.g. one as defender and one as attacker, vs. 2 others? [MikeArkin] Sure, you can ally in the game. [DrunkOM] [SpamHunte] What's the deal with the Satalite feature in the first level on the demo? How will you get this in future missions? [MikeArkin] It is enabled with the comm tower. [MikeArkin] We put a comm tower in the first mission so you would get to see it in the demo. [MikeArkin] We wanted all the cool stuff to be in the demo. [DrunkOM] Except multiplayer :) [MikeArkin] I knew that was comming. [DrunkOM] Hehe [MikeArkin] MP would have made the demo really big. [DrunkOM] [Rob_Z] When using the sniper rifle, why does your soldier turn at such a slow rate? Even though you're kneeling, that shouldn't be that you're that incredibly slow to turn. [MikeArkin] Well, it is because you are kneeling and holding still. [MikeArkin] Try kneeling and turning around at the same time. [MikeArkin] It is impossible. [MikeArkin] We had to have realism!!! 8-) [DrunkOM] [krusader] will the scavenger ai be any good or will we have to put up with bad ai like the ore truck drivers in red alert? [MikeArkin] Some of those truck drivers were looking for work after you blew up their trucks and they applied for jobs with the NSDF and we got stuck with them. [DrunkOM] Those scavengers are like bumper cars sometimes. [MikeArkin] Seriously, we have spent lots of time improving the AI for the scavs. [MikeArkin] After they can not get around something, they eventually will just stop trying to be nice and drive through. [MikeArkin] It works much better now. [DrunkOM] That's good, baby sitting in BZ isn't that easy [MikeArkin] They still might bump into you sometimes, but you don't ,make it easy on them by moving around so much! [DrunkOM] Bumping into each other is the bigger problem :) [DrunkOM] [yamamoto5] Will there be a ladder ranking system for Battlezone through Activelink? [MikeArkin] Not now there is not. But Heat which is a free service does support that type of ranking. [MikeArkin] They should have that support for Battlezone soon. [DrunkOM] Alright folks. That was the last question for this week [MikeArkin] Thanks everone for coming. [DrunkOM] Thanks for coming out, and thank to Mike also for taking our questions [End of transcript] |
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