What we have been up to this year...

[Mike Morrison]

I think Agust�n and Eric at Hidden Sanctum should start a bowling team. You guys really know how to fill a calendar! ;D

[Agustin]

Wow! This is excellent and exciting news.

The missions sound varied and interesting, and it sounds like the type of project you can really be proud to work on. Any plans to offer some historic and/or cultural glimpses of Argentina into the game? I've always thought that the Capri games were wonderful in that way -- they give players a glimpse of what Capri is like.

Good thing you've been helping me brush up on my Spanish.

Yes, as a matter of fact the game is going to be riddled with cultural references, mostly visual. We're being quite strict with the style being used in some locations (namely those outside the city, in the Argentine landscape). I fear some references will be mostly funny to Argentine people, but overall the game should be enjoyed by everyone!

[Daniel Pharos]

Man now I am even more keen on that untitled title (or should it be Untitle, like in Undead?) I love Lovecraft

[Agustin]

Given that Nucleosys is working on two titles at the moment, how do you split your worktime between the two? Is it a matter of working on the non-for-profit one with ideas simmering for the concept of the next (presumably horror) title? Or is there an active schedule where you are working on one and then spending time working on the other?

Sorry Kevin, I missed this one. Well, resources are assigned per project. We do have a strict schedule for the Martina project though - on the other hand, our schedule for the horror game is not-so-strict, so we're flexible with that. But both are being worked on and have left behind the concept phase (as a matter of fact, the Martina project is in very advanced stages of productions, it was simply being kept secret!).

[Quill]

Hi Kevin & Mike - hope your Prominance game is coming along nicely! Looking forward to it.

Agustin, are you using a self-made proprietary engine or something like WME to bring Martina to life?

[Agustin]

Agustin, are you using a self-made proprietary engine or something like WME to bring Martina to life?

Actually, we're using a modified version of SCream, the very same engine behind Scratches (and now Prominence as well). It's an entire different branch, but soon it'll all merge (both first and third person adventure support) into a big, versatile engine

[Quill]

Huh!!!

Wow, that's great to hear the the SCream engine is advancing so much! ;D I'd assumed you'd put it on hold while working on the 3rd person game (which we now know is Martina) so that's absolutely brilliant news!!! Can you say any more about advances in it?

[Duhast]

It's an entire different branch, but soon it'll all merge (both first and third person adventure support) into a big, versatile engine

That sounds amazing ;D

[Imari]

Hi Agustin, et al! Disappointed not to hear more about the successor to Scratches :'(, but your other project sounds exciting and very worthwhile. It's also extremely nice to see you guys getting some well deserved recognition. Scratches is going to be a "classic".

[Agustin]

Wow, that's great to hear the the SCream engine is advancing so much! ;D I'd assumed you'd put it on hold while working on the 3rd person game (which we now know is Martina) so that's absolutely brilliant news!!! Can you say any more about advances in it?

Oh no, the engine is still being actively developed. The Prominence team (Kevin and Mike here) are continuing the development of the first-person branch and we are developing the brand new third-person support. There have been many advances (too many to mention in fact) that enhance the engine and its usability in every possible way!

[imported_JK]

Augustin! Just stopping by to say "Hey" and wishing you well on the latest project. Sounds like a blast! If Scratches is any indication, we all have some more high-quality stuff to look forward to from you. Best of luck ...and, ahem, stay scary too! JK

[Agustin]

Howdy JK! Thanks for the good thoughts, so far the project is coming along nicely. Like I said, totally unlike the style of Scratches this one, but I'm sure it'll end up being a nice and funny adventure game. We hope to be showing some artwork very soon!

(BTW you still owe me a DVD of "Ray of Darkness" )

[Quill]

Imari, good to see you eventually made it - better late than never!

Agustin, you have me more than a wee bit intrigued now! I guess I'm going to have to plague you with a few questions ;D:
1) - Does the 3rd person capability incorporate the panoramic view (e.g. when a character walks to the far left of the screen, is there a background cubemap that rotates to follow them rather than a the standard adventure parallel sidescroll)? If so then I think this would be pretty unique to a 3rd person game.
2) - As a sort of follow on from that, could the 3rd person characters be incorporated into a 1st person version of the engine? As an example, first person view of walking into a bar and you see an animated bartender npc working behind the bar that can be dynamically interacted with (i.e. not a video clip as such)?
3) - Are the characters textured 3D models (2.5D like Syberia) or pre-rendered/hand-animated?

[Agustin]

1) - Does the 3rd person capability incorporate the panoramic view (e.g. when a character walks to the far left of the screen, is there a background cubemap that rotates to follow them rather than a the standard adventure parallel sidescroll)? If so then I think this would be pretty unique to a 3rd person game.

This is something that we're investigating for future usage, it isn't going to work that way for the current time being. I'm not sure that technique would work at all, but like I said, it's being filed under the "Experimental" category

2) - As a sort of follow on from that, could the 3rd person characters be incorporated into a 1st person version of the engine? As an example, first person view of walking into a bar and you see an animated bartender npc working behind the bar that can be dynamically interacted with (i.e. not a video clip as such)?

Currently, only the 2D branch has proper NPC support. Integration such as the one you mention would be ideal, and that level of interoperability is what we're aiming for in the engine, but it probably won't work like that for a while.

3) - Are the characters textured 3D models (2.5D like Syberia) or pre-rendered/hand-animated?

Sort of. The characters are 3D models processed with a shader that make them look like painted characters (very much like in the Runaway series). The actual characters that appear on screen have pre-rendered frames, they aren't in 3D.

[Quill]

Thanks for the answers Agustin. Looking forward to Martina's release - it might even help me to learn Spanish!

It's really interesting reading how a lot of the games are being put together although it's a bit hectic trying to read through the mountain of posts here!