Unannounced Sci-Fi Shooter: First Screens

[Ennui]

Though we're still mostly in the dark, we've got some information on an excitingly fresh-sounding project that is as-of-yet untitled. What we DO know is that it's a dark, gritty science fiction shooter, with an emphasis on stealth and strategy - and lo and behold, it's single player to boot! Feast your eyes on these delectable first screenshots, which are early versions of what this intriguing project is going to end up looking like.[br]

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[br]As you can tell from the unskinned model of what appears to be a spacecraft in the hangar screenshot, and the abundance of familiar HL2 content, this project (by Dirigible Games, a brand new independent developer) is in need of a texture artist or two, so if you feel you could contribute, head over to the Dirigble Games Forums and post.

Feeling a tad intrigued? Stay tuned to Halflife2.net's news, because we'll post whatever we get - and there's more media and information on the Development Diary.

 

[-smash-]

Hmm, this looks pretty interesting and full of polygons.

http://www.dirigible-games.com/media/engine_interior1.jpg

Nice

 

[Sprafa]

orange spaceship would look nice...

/me seches the guy behind it all....

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Very good sechseh!

 

[Asknoone]

I mapped the engine. lol.

 

[Asuka]

Looks interesting. Looking forward to more info.

 

[polyguns]

that engine is mapped and not a model? nice brushwork if thats the case!

 

[SimonomiS]

Looks ****ing epic already.

 

[Jangle]

Was reading that development diary a while ago... Looks awesome!

 

[Asknoone]

that engine is mapped and not a model? nice brushwork if thats the case!

Yep and oh if only you knew

 

[agentbob00]

Looks great and very original hope to see more from these guys'

 

[63]

Nice work Pi.

 

[Dowie]

Looks interesting. Will keep an eye on this game thats for sure

 

[Reginald]

Just to state, the news article doesn't make it clear whether this is a mod or full game. And for that matter, I am unclear too.

 

[Asknoone]

You will see soon enough

 

[63]

You will see soon enough

So it is a game, and you plan to sell it the same way as shadowgrounds?

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

So it is a game, and you plan to sell it the same way as shadowgrounds?

I plan to sell it myself, because I want money!


Note: I am joking.

 

[dys-Fuzzy]

So it is a game, and you plan to sell it the same way as shadowgrounds?

Based on this entry in the development diary I'd say that they're going with the "make a mod and use it as a demo to try and woo Valve into a profit sharing deal with distro over steam."

Good luck to all involved. Since we've heard nothing solid following the rumours of GMod being sold over steam, I'll watch eagerly to see how these guys go.

The light at the end of the tunnel for modders / indie devs is the fact that The Ship is actually living out their dreams. But then again, they managed to get outside funding.....

Modding heros like Charlie Cleveland find it extremely difficult to get funding behind a new Natural Selection project, something that has already built up a good player base and "brand" name.

 

[Al3xand3r]

Rumours? It's been confirmed ages now by Garry... I don't think there was any stage that it was only considered a rumour even.

 

[-smash-]

I mapped the engine. lol.

Isn't it less taxing on the engine to just... Model it? >.>

 

[Asknoone]

Haha, I didn't really map it.
Jesus did. Modelling isn't as...rewarding as building something from brushes, least that'd be my reasoning.

 

[Ennui]

It's the same principle...

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Looks Damn sexy if you ask me.

 

[polyguns]

It's the same principle...

nah, mapping is more like booleon modeling, its very ineffecient, but simple to do. the prob lem is when it gets rendered as polygons you have very little control over tesselation, and sometimes it will create abnormal geometry. regular polymodeling is much more effecient and the reason why brush based modeling is essentially dead except for hallways and columns, even some complex columns need to be rebuilt as geometry in order to optimize poly counts.

Booleon modeling does have its place. I use it to create fast geometry, then use poly creation methods and vertex snapping in order to make a mesh that will work.

maps will get so detailed that programs like hammer will be nearly irrelevant. if a mapper wants to be known for great maps, he'll have to learn a 3d ap, if its not that way already

 

[Asknoone]

It's the same principle...

I think you just totally missed the point.

 

[-smash-]

maps will get so detailed that programs like hammer will be nearly irrelevant. if a mapper wants to be known for great maps, he'll have to learn a 3d ap, if its not that way already

And I do believe this is how Valve has produced/produces most of their levels for HL2/Episode One - They use apps like XSI.

 

[Geogaddi]

I'm a tad intrigued.

 

[99.vikram]

Looks pretty. What engine is that?

EDIT: Source, eh?

 

[Ome_Vince]

Looking forward to this! Single player mods are great!

 

[Orcone101]

You will see soon enough

If it's a full game, I may be interested in applying for the texture artist position.
If it's a mod, good luck!

 

[amckern]

Thats looking kick ass!

 

[Sulkdodds]

Gasp. It looks rather good, doesn't it? :O

 

[dys-Fuzzy]

Rumours? It's been confirmed ages now by Garry... I don't think there was any stage that it was only considered a rumour even.

I swapped emails with Garry right after the Steam Review article was pimped all around the modding scene, he explained to me that the deal wasn't finalised.

Until I see an announcement in a Steam news update, I'm treating it as rumour. Feel free to be as optimistic as you feel comfortable with, but there's really no arguments with the fact that GMod being sold over Steam isn't official yet.

 

[SimonomiS]

nah, mapping is more like booleon modeling, its very ineffecient, but simple to do. the prob lem is when it gets rendered as polygons you have very little control over tesselation, and sometimes it will create abnormal geometry. regular polymodeling is much more effecient and the reason why brush based modeling is essentially dead except for hallways and columns, even some complex columns need to be rebuilt as geometry in order to optimize poly counts.

Booleon modeling does have its place. I use it to create fast geometry, then use poly creation methods and vertex snapping in order to make a mesh that will work.

maps will get so detailed that programs like hammer will be nearly irrelevant. if a mapper wants to be known for great maps, he'll have to learn a 3d ap, if its not that way already

There were actually several iterations of the mesh that would have merited a post to themselves. Unfortunately, both they and the mesh (along with about a year’s worth of other 3D work) were lost in a massive hard disk failure. There’s nothing quite like an object lesson in the importance of backups.

At this point, I rethought how the engine would work from a game standpoint - a static mesh has many good features, but they can be extremely limited in terms of texture detail, especially on an object so large. So I decided to rework the whole engine in Hammer, using smaller static props for details.

I think there's something about light being blocked better by brush work too, I'm not at all sure.

 

[Al3xand3r]

I swapped emails with Garry right after the Steam Review article was pimped all around the modding scene, he explained to me that the deal wasn't finalised.

Until I see an announcement in a Steam news update, I'm treating it as rumour.

So how exactly is it a rumor, if it's told by a person who knows more about this than anyone (the creator) and if it's in fact quite real and simply "not finalised" yet?

The fact it's not "finalised" doesn't say anything about how much of a chance it has of NOT happening in the end, does it? So, unless you have any information about that from a respectable source, I'll treat what you are saying as a rumor, since it's more fitting to the actual meaning of the word.

And I wouldn't say I'm optimistic about it, or perssimistic, simply congrats to Garry for earning this, personally I don't really care as a consumer or player. I only care about it as part of the HL community.

 

[Kadayi]

Nice looking (if a tad on the dark side), I'd reduce the size of that valve though (it looks a bit cumbersome). Good to see another SP mod/game on the way.

 

[Apocalypse89]

I just hope its not yet another generic horror game. I'm goddamn sick of those.

 

[Ennui]

I think you just totally missed the point.

Mind enlightening me then?

If it was some witty bit of humor, I completely missed and do not understand it.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

You are a beautiful person Chris, we all are.

Looking gooood, i love the blue lights and manual over-ride for steam operated doors *drools* I like it, don't judge

 

[dys-Fuzzy]

So how exactly is it a rumor, if it's told by a person who knows more about this than anyone (the creator) and if it's in fact quite real and simply "not finalised" yet?

The fact it's not "finalised" doesn't say anything about how much of a chance it has of NOT happening in the end, does it? So, unless you have any information about that from a respectable source, I'll treat what you are saying as a rumor, since it's more fitting to the actual meaning of the word.

And I wouldn't say I'm optimistic about it, or perssimistic, simply congrats to Garry for earning this, personally I don't really care as a consumer or player. I only care about it as part of the HL community.

From the very link you so kindly supplied: "a piece of unverified information".

Like I said, until I read about it in Steam news or see an official announcement from Valve; I consider it a rumour.

I also congratulate Garry, that was infact what my email to him contained.

I really fail to see what exactly you're arguing with me about.... I never mentioned anything about any chance of it not happening. Just that I know first hand that Valve doesn't move quickly on anything. Like most modders, I'm eagerly waiting for Valve to follow through on a number of promises they've made regarding mods (sdk codebase update, distro over steam, etc). I don't doubt that these things will happen, I've just stopped being optimistic about time frames.