Nice, I look forward to trying this one out. If the game engine can now handle inserting audio, perhaps you might considder adding some extra game modes to give some more variation to the game. One option might be having a mode that's actually possible to complete and get an ending (maybe with cutscenes as well), in addition to the endless levels mode.
You might also considder different missions with different objectives, such as collecting supplies for your base, (grabbing power-ups), fending off alien attacks in open space (no asteroids), or fighting off aliens in an asteroid mining zone where you need to protect the asteroids and not destroy them. Obviously this all depends upon what you can make the engine do, and how much stuff you'd be willing to insert into the game at this stage, or into an upgrade? or a sequel? Whatever happens, I'll look forward to trying out Torrent. Beware the Grue! Dark. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nolan Darilek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 6:42 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Nolan Vs. the Alien Swarm: another Torrent Soundbite > Despite how silent things may seem here, lots is happening. To prove > it, here's another _Torrent_ soundbite! > > Quite a few bugs were fixed and new features added since the previous > soundbite. Here are a few examples. > > * Ship navigation is more physics-based with drag simulation. Sure, > there isn't any air to create drag in space, but there's no sound in > space, either. > * Collision alerts. When a target is five or fewer seconds from > colliding, a collision alert sound overlays its positional cue. After > all, being told that you're going to collide is no good if you aren't > sure *what* is about to hit you. The alert system doesn't just look > at current positions but extrapolates into the future as well, so if > you and an asteroid will collide soon regardless of your current > positions, the alert is triggered. > * The embedded screen-reader is complete. It's complex enough to > support dialogues, sliders, buttons, checkboxes and text fields. When > sampled speech isn't available, text-to-speech kicks in. > * Licensing is hardware-specific but almost instantaneous. Enter your > name and email address and either be redirected to a purchase page or > have a new key generated on the fly, all from within the game. Waits > of hours or days for key generation are non-existent for _Surreal > Horizons_ games. > * But perhaps the most interesting feature is the addition of aliens. > These vicious creatures pursue you relentlessly, navigating the > asteroid fields and swarming upon you from all directions. > > Included is a soundbite of an alien swarm level. The aliens still > need some tuning as they manage to hold their own quite well against > me, and I might have had a more difficult time had one not collided > with another and destroyed itself, but this gives some idea of how > they will behave. > > Much of the explanation from the previous soundbite still applies, > though the sound index is again demonstrated. One interesting > addition is the speaking state machine. While it might take a second > or more to audibly note that an alien is retreating, it seems like it > would be instantly visually obvious. As such, when the aliens change > states from attacking to retreating, messages are spoken making it > instantly obvious. This seems to offer numerous emersive > possibilities for future games--speech cues tied into state machine > changes might eventually provide a narrative flow of agents' actions > to accompany the sound effects of those actions. > > But, enough talk. [Listen for yourself][1]. > > [1]: http://surrealhorizons.com/assets/2007/1/19/torrent-aliens.mp3 > > Just a few more notes. I'm very close to seeking testers for a closed > beta. If interested, join the [mailing lists][2] and look for further > announcements there. > > [2]: http://lists.surrealhorizons.com > > Also, news updates are available as an [atom feed][3], with > accompanying audio as attachments. You can subscribe to _Surreal > Horizons_ updates via your news aggregator, and even have accompanied > soundbites delivered as podcasts! > > [3]: http://surrealhorizons.com/feed/atom.xml > > Enjoy. > > > _______________________________________________ > Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] > To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can > visit > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make > any subscription changes via the web. _______________________________________________ Gamers mailing list .. [email protected] To unsubscribe send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can visit http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org to make any subscription changes via the web.
