10 replies to this topic

[AndY]

Notice anything different? You're right! This is a new evil hat I'm wearing. How can a hat be evil you say? Who cares! You're here for some juicy IA! news, not fashion tips!

Surprise! We're back with a bang and a bottomless bagful of IA! media and information that we plan to share with you over the coming months as we inch closer and closer to that anticipated first release!


It was only six short months ago that we announced Intruder Alert! on IndieDB, and to kick off the next six exciting months of our indie adventure, we decided to brighten up our profile there with the game's brand new logo and an orange-centric theme. Take a look around!

If you like what you see (and even if you don't), be sure to let us know! We still plan to make a few tweaks to the logo and additions to the page's design over time, but we'd love to get your feedback on what we have so far.


Moving right on to (much) more interesting development-related matters, you'll be happy to know that IA! is coming along quite nicely! With our team still hard at work implementing more of the game's core features (this week: GP Roles) and making good progress on building IA!'s first level, it won't be long before you finally get your hands on that pre-alpha build.

The biggest piece of development news comes from our artists who've been working their tails off on the game's overall look and feel, focusing a bit more on functional design and slightly less on just "making things pretty".

You'll notice that while the art style itself hasn't changed (compared to in-game screenshots we've released in the past), the areas are now bigger, more open and much more interesting! Not only is this new direction much more visually appealing but it is also a big improvement in gameplay terms. We'll be putting together a blog post very soon explaining it all in more detail!


And that's just the tip of the iceberg! You can expect more in-game screenies, new concepts, gameplay videos and much, much more in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we encourage you to participate in this month's Ask the Team!, and don't forget about Overwatch's big release, too!

On a final note, we've decided to make a small change to our news release schedule. Rather than posting once every two weeks on the dot (whether we have much to show or not), we'll instead be a bit more unpredictable and only post when we've gathered enough awesome media and info to share with you. In short, our updates will be slightly less frequent (at least once a month) but much juicier.


That's all for today! Remember to track our profile on IndieDB (or on any of the social networking sites listed below the site menu above) to be notified of any updates!


To all evil masterminds, spies and spyettes out there: hold on to your hats!

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[ScrooLewse]

Well, that's freakin amazing.

Is that the secret lair you were working on in previous updates or is that a new map entirely?

Edited by ScrooLewse, 07 June 2012 - 03:02 PM.

[AndY]

ScrooLewse, on 07 June 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

Is that the secret lair you were working on in previous updates or is that a new map entirely?

It's part of the same environment, yes.

[Coppermantis]

Gorgeous. Fire in unreal must be much more optimized than in Source, that much fire would lag an HL2 map.

[Yakko]

Coppermantis, on 07 June 2012 - 11:14 PM, said:

Gorgeous. Fire in unreal must be much more optimized than in Source, that much fire would lag an HL2 map.

This is literally all in the texture. The fire you're seeing is simply a rock texture with cracks masked in. Then I just added an emissive (glowing) lava texture panning underneath to give it that animated look. Brightness, bloom and depth of field does the rest! It's the primary reason behind my love of the UDK, it lets you do sneaky shenanigans and get away with it. In this case, we can emulate fire without the performance hit. We're also doing our best to employ an array of dastardly techniques (which are actually quite common these days, but I can at least pretend to be an evil genius ;D) to improve overall performance.

[Coppermantis]

Awesome. It seems like that would be possible in Source, but maybe much less practical. Texture work and stuff have never been my strong suit.

[rickinator9]

Does this mean we will have verticality or is some of it just decoration?

[AndY]

rickinator9, on 08 June 2012 - 05:51 AM, said:

Does this mean we will have verticality or is some of it just decoration?

In a section, the GPs' playable area will be limited to a single plane (but height variation within that plane is definitely possible as long as nothing overlaps/blocks the OP's view). On the other hand, OP units will be able to spawn around that playable area (above, below, etc.).

Since levels will be split into multiple sections, you can definitely have sections overlap (e.g. one on top of the other, like stories in a building). Once GPs exit the first section and enter the second, the OP's view/minimap changes accordingly.

So while most of the environment is decoration, some verticality is possible.

[ScrooLewse]

AndY, on 08 June 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

In a section, the GPs' playable area will be limited to a single plane (but height variation within that plane is definitely possible as long as nothing overlaps/blocks the OP's view). On the other hand, OP units will be able to spawn around that playable area (above, below, etc.).

Since levels will be split into multiple sections, you can definitely have sections overlap (e.g. one on top of the other, like stories in a building). Once GPs exit the first section and enter the second, the OP's view/minimap changes accordingly.

So while most of the environment is decoration, some verticality is possible.

That's great! Will mappers have the ability to change plane that OP scrolls in? What I mean is if there's a level in a building, could you turn the OP sideways and have him look through the wall into the various rooms? Or if it was on an incline, could he be put perpendicular to it?

[AndY]

ScrooLewse, on 13 June 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

That's great! Will mappers have the ability to change plane that OP scrolls in? What I mean is if there's a level in a building, could you turn the OP sideways and have him look through the wall into the various rooms?

You'd have to make that building its own "section". It'll make much more sense once we release the details!

ScrooLewse, on 13 June 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

Or if it was on an incline, could he be put perpendicular to it?

This one's very easy, you can position the camera any way you want while building the level.

[ScrooLewse]

AndY, on 13 June 2012 - 04:40 PM, said:

You'd have to make that building its own "section". It'll make much more sense once we release the details!

I can already tell I'm gonna love this surprise.