Friday with Means - October 2nd, 2009 - A week of daring escapes

[Means]

It has been a week of escapes. After a reasonably quick update to solve some hefty/horribly random issues from the 2003 to 2005 conversion of the entire client it seems like thing are reasonably back to normal. That and of course it is great that we are still all at our desks. Macrosun tells me he wants to quit at least three times a day...so work on the mail system must be going well.

Engine

At the bottom of this thread I have attached some of the first "new engine vs. old engine" screenshots. The engine guys are working very hard on getting this together and it is fantastic to see it really starting to get that AO "feel"...but now with proper shadows, bump mapping on the ground, and general improvement on all texture rendering in general. I can't wait for them to tell me the new grass and water is "ready" for me to be able to show it...I don't like waiting either...but you know how people are with "works in progress". These screens show the "nuts and bolts" of the new engine working (ground, mesh and shadows)...I can't wait until we get to show the new shinies that this conversion is going to give us. I know it doesn't feel like it...but this is going way faster than I ever would have imagined.

Balancing

This week we have had Metaing in the office for lengthy balance discussions with the entire team. After purchasing new helmets these discussions will continue all next week. Next Friday we will be posting a document containing all the proposed changes to existing perks and descriptions of new ones. This will give us all a chance to examine these changes in detail before implementation in the coming weeks.

Nightclub Opening

The grand opening of "The Grind" will be on Friday October 23rd. Watch the launcher for the time closer to the event. Halloween is traditionally the largest AO party of the year...what other time would be better to open the new club? Anything else would be wrong.

Pants. Definitely Pants. I am really tired. This FWM was brought to you by Tylenol - Extra Strength.

[RoH]

First !

[Eldorado]

Second

[Effrit]

third

[Klod9000]

IBTK

Meh.

BTW, a question. Is this new engine finally faster when rendering AI cities?

[tentonhammer]

I think you only need some backlight in the Billboards now, judging from the screen shot

Looking great though! Keep going!

[ninor]

2 out of 3 plus 2 extras. Thank you and have a nice weekend =)

[Zackkeep]

Screenshots!!!

Shame about the backyard doors being miles out of place though.

[Mud]

first page!

[Psithief]

Anti-aliasing! 8x! 16x! Does it go any higher? I wish it did.

[trousers]

Pants. Definitely Pants.

Wut?

[heruharoth]

nice work on the shadows

[Eponyx]

starting to get that AO "feel"...

I had more that Ahhh Oooh shinies feel than that AO "feel".

[Dunsany]

Shiny!

[Ekarona]

Late... as always...

Hmm, don't know if there is too many textures, but hi-res textures for buildings?

[Neista]

Next Friday we will be posting a document containing all the proposed changes to existing perks and descriptions of new ones.

Wow, i really hope you guys have some flameshields ready, its gonna be a feeding frenzy this time next week...

[BugsCoT]

Really diggin the screenshots, man.

[Dagget]

Good to see the progress. nail down those doors, though.

Would be nice if the next engine update was a little video.

[Macrosun]

Hello.

[IHaveHugeNick]

Wow, i really hope you guys have some flameshields ready, its gonna be a feeding frenzy this time next week...

Actually, oh the hilarity, with so many changes i don't think anyone will be able to grasp the big picture just from paper, so it'll be propably be reasonably quiet.

PS. Nerfbat for all those guys below please.