God I hate Microsoft Sam. I hate all three of the Microsoft voices but Sam is the worst. It ain't pretty when the pretty leaves you with no place to go. J.D. Fortune, Pretty Vegas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dark" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 1:19 PM Subject: Re: [Audyssey] USA Games News
> Hi tom. > > the Missions thing in Stfc deffinately sounds fun, ---- I'd actually be > interested to know how real time command of multiple ships would work. > > As to Raceway and Monti, as I said, so long as human speech is stil being > used for the atmospheric bits in the game , , I have no objections to the > use of Sapi for reading status information, ----- even the horror that is > Microsoft Sam which I'm forced to endure at the moment (though I'm hoping > to > get this fixed at some point). > > If the release date for the monti beta is Spring, I'm guessing that means > we'll get something playable fairly soon, which will be great! > > Good luck with future developements. > > all the best, > > Dark. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Thomas Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 4:54 PM > Subject: [Audyssey] USA Games News > > >> >> >> USA Games News >> >> March 12, 2007 >> >> >> Introduction >> >> Hello gamers, >> It has been along time since USA Games has released one of these monthly >> progress reports, and we feel at USA Games that one is long over do. We >> certainly have a bit of ground to cover in this issue. >> >> Montezuma's Revenge >> >> Some time ago we reported Montezuma's Revenge will begin beta testing >> sometime this spring. To our knowledge the beta is still on more or less >> the same time table though the release date will be set back by a couple >> of weeks do to some necessary upgrades we will be making to the engine. >> During early testing of the Alpha version the USA Games test team and I >> have converted the keyboard handling from Windows Events to Microsoft's >> DirectX Input technology. The advantage here is faster keyboard response >> as well as a wider range of keyboard options. With DirectX Directinput >> now a core component for the game it shouldn't be long before joystick >> and mouse support will be added as additional input devices. >> In addition to improvements in keyboard input the first two levels have >> been fully written, fully debugged, and are quite stable for game play. >> In addition the core game engine is now ready for new levels and >> additional expansion once we make a couple of upgrades which is going to >> hold up the release for a couple of weeks yet. >> Since it really is very difficult for us to record, trim, edit, wav >> files for processing speech we have decided to build Sapi 5 support in >> to Montezuma's Revenge. There is a great deal of technical complications >> in making wav files act the same as a good tts engine we have decided to >> add the support for directly interfacing with tts engines, and hope that >> those of you who wish to have high quality speech will buy a compatible >> high quality tts engine which will work with all our future titles. >> For example, if you liked the Neospeech voices Kate and Paul you can >> easily purchase them at Nextup.com and then use them with our titles. We >> also will support the Scansoft RealSpeakvoices, the AT&T Natural Speech >> system, and any tts engine that meets the basic Sapi 5 specifications. >> The advantages of this change for us is significant. Faster upgrades, >> easier management, less work, no need to record and edit every voice wav >> file, better game performance, and several other technical updates. >> So if you are willing to wait a few more weeks for us to make the >> conversion we feel this will improve the game rather than harm it. >> >> USA Raceway >> >> We've received a few requests this passed month or so about Raceway, and >> have not been able to fully explain the status to each and every person >> who asked. So we have decided to answer as many questions as we can via >> this forum. >> Do to work on Montezuma's Revenge we have not had much time to really >> work on Raceway. All our resources have been spent on stablizing the >> Monty game engine and preparing it for public beta release >> status.However, here is a brief overview of the status thus far. >> Like Montezuma's Revenge we fully plan to remove any use of wav files >> for speech output, and convert it to a Sapi 5 support. That said some >> things such as radio messages, race announcer, etc will remain as a >> human actor. However, Sapi will fill in for giving in number of laps >> remaining, weather conditions, speed, position, score, etc. >> One of the major things that is slowing Many you have asked why it is >> taking so long to put out a demo of Raceway. Many of you have to >> understand we are rewriting the engine from scratch. The main reason for >> doing so is the differences in languages. >> Initially James North had written the first beta in VB 6 which is >> rapidly becoming a very old programming language which is slowly but >> surely being fazed out. He then started on a VB 2003 version, but that >> engine was far from complete or playable. As a result USA Games decided >> to start over with a fresh and clean engine written in C++. The main >> reason for using C++ rather than VB C++ and C# have better support for >> game devices, especially ff game devices, then the more beginner >> programmer languages like VB. Apparently, Microsoft holds profetional >> development languages such as C++ more valuable for DirectX features >> than beginner languages like VB which was primarily designed for >> non-profetionals or profetionals who need to rapidly produce an >> application or prototype. >> One major distinction in this new Raceway engine is it is geared for >> season based play. It will keep track of season scores, season earnings, >> and all points will be earned specifically on the Nascar based scoring >> system. >> In addition, Raceway will offer several different weather conditions >> ranging from sunny and clear, light rain, heavy rain, snow and icy, >> etc... These weather conditions may cause additional hazards like >> slipping and sliding on the track, low visibility, and other dangers >> that would not normally be allowed for in a standard race, but in the >> game will add substantial challenge to each and every race if weather is >> turned on. >> >> >> Final Conflict >> >> Obviously, do to the Monty release schedule extremely little time has >> been spent on STFC, but we have certainly decided on an up and coming >> 2.0 release of STFC. there are many things we would like to change in >> STFC, and many of the plans for the new version are still undecided. >> One thing we are strongly conciddering is allowing you, the player, to >> decide the enemy to play against. Rather than fighting x Cardassians, x >> Klingons, and Romulans all in the same battle have you choose one enemy >> to face off with and you will face say 15 Romulans, or 15 Cardassians, >> 15 Klingons, etc... This is not yet anofficial feature but a thought. >> Another possability is to base STFC on the Dominion War as such. I can >> imagine being able to command several Federation as well as Klingon >> vessels against Jem'hadar, Breen, and Cardassian ships. >> No matter if this is going to be TNG or DS9 based the new STFC will >> certainly have specific missions rather than all out war as before. >> You may have a mission to explore the disappearence of several ships in >> such and such a sector. When you and your fleet show up you find out a >> Borg cube is responcible and the Borg are building a base there and have >> to destroy it. >> However, again since we are thinking more in terms of missions it might >> be preferable to scrap all move based games for an all out real time >> game which would be certainly more fun in the long run. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gamers mailing list .. 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