Counting down.

The countdown to the Nadir beta is underway, but in the mean time, we are able to show you some of the new updated graphics. This week, we will be busy updating some of the games environments. Previously, the environment textures in our original examples had been created by another artist and had been used to create a proof of concept. They were always going to change and when we did update them, we were able to create a much deeper, immersive environment. This was mostly due to the increase in the environment resolution. Fig. 1. shows a Nebula scene with an enemy ship ahead.


Fig. 1. Inside a gas giant with a ship in the distance


We are also beginning to add graphics to our menu screens. We wanted a subtle yet engaging title screen so after some initial designs we were able to create some concept art for the title screen. We wanted movement in this screen so we have used a filter to provide a subtle overlaying motion effect. Fig. 2. shows our initial title screen concept art.


Fig. 2. Concept art for the Nadir title screen


We have started work on the concept art for the HUD. We wanted to get a modern or futuristic feel to the HUD so we started looking at some of the new laser technologies being used in modern cars. We also looked at some of the movie interpretations of futuristic HUD interfaces and decided that we would try to get the feeling that the HUD was being projected onto the inside of your cockpit windshield. We really liked the effect of a semi transparent, neon hue and this started to evolve into the following concept screenshot, Fig. 3.


Fig. 3. Developing the HUD


We want to thank everyone who has already contacted us about our beta program, I suspect that you guys will be beating us at our own game in no time. There are still available beta test slots open for anyone who would like to join in with us from June 1st 2010. To be part of the beta testing team, simply drop us an message from this contact form and we will get back to you.

Gary Paluk

Nadir Beta Testing Announcement

Today, I am happy to announce that, as described in our previous post, we have been working on a new browser title. This game is called Nadir and is a multi player, 3D space shooter where you take control of a space craft and engage in a dog fight style battle in timed rounds.

Luckily for you, we have decided to conduct open beta testing of the game from the 1st June 2010.

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester, you my apply by dropping us a message (including a contact address) at our contact page. A shortlist will be made and, if successful we will send you instructions of how to access the game, along with your username and password.

To give you an idea of the game (very early and poor quality), here is the game in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7QUBAdTdTo

Regards

Gary Paluk

Sharp shooter

After a development delay making my own C.V. website, teaching some programming and doing a short contract. I am currently learning the more in depth workings of the Smartfox Client Server technologies and I have decided to create an initial, smaller, more simple game, to better understand the development process of creating such a large Flash project on my own.

I have based my initial game design on a multi player dog fight, where users log in, enter or create a new game room and then fly around and shoot their opponents. This will make use of some of the core technologies that I will base my time based game on. The games are timed and a user may enter the game at any time during an air battle, similar to the technique used in games such as the multi player, Call of Duty 4. I have used the PureMVC framework to create my overall architecture, Smartfox for the back end comms, I have included database drivers and written custom log in and server side extensions. For the 3D ships, I created a low poly ship in Blender, exported it as a 3D Studio Max model. I then textured it in Paint Shop Pro 7.04.

The server is now communicating positional data to all other users in a given room, this will allow the simple interpolation of positional values since there are no obstacles within this space environment.

The most difficult part up to now has been PureMVCs state machine integration, since I think it has a relativly steep learning curve, however once mastered, it's invaluable. Smartfox is great, but lacks a neat way of handling event objects without wrapping existing SFSEvent objects. This makes it neccessary to know (or learn) the SFSEvent objects' API, since there is no auto completion for this type of object in FlashDevelop.

Overall, creating such an advanced game in Flash is proving to be very enjoyable. I am having fun working on it, I'm learning alot and everything seems to be on track and will, undoubtably, be a great first step to bringing these technologies together for my MMORPG.

I have included a few screen shots of my development process below.



Gary :)