voyage to mars
Friday, December 31, 2004
It wasn't my intention to keep you kids waiting until the very last day for the second super exclusive, super tiny Dreamfall screenshot - but hey, it drives traffic. Also, I've been preoccupied. But here it is, finally, in all its (tiny) glory:
Together with Zoë, you will revisit Venice, a neighbourhood in the North American city of Newport where April Ryan once resided. A decade has passed, and the years have definitely left their mark. Following the Collapse (oooh, mysterious), Newport - and especially Venice - struggled, and now things are gloomier than they were back in April's day...in more ways than one.
I like the way the 'Hot Sexy' sign contrasts the stark background, power cables silhouetted against a late afternoon sky heavy with rain and pollution. I also like the bird.
Together with Zoë, you will revisit Venice, a neighbourhood in the North American city of Newport where April Ryan once resided. A decade has passed, and the years have definitely left their mark. Following the Collapse (oooh, mysterious), Newport - and especially Venice - struggled, and now things are gloomier than they were back in April's day...in more ways than one.
I like the way the 'Hot Sexy' sign contrasts the stark background, power cables silhouetted against a late afternoon sky heavy with rain and pollution. I also like the bird.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Merry Christmas, everyone!
As a very special Yuletide Treat - and a bona fide RagnarTornquist.com exclusive - I've procured a couple of New! Exciting! Sexy! screenshots for your viewing pleasure. You can't find these anywhere else.
The first shot is from Jardin des Roses in Casablanca, the street that Zoë lives on. It's a quiet residential street, filled with traditional houses, cozy alleyways, and - as the name implies - rose bushes.
The second screenshot will appear in this blog at some point between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, so check back for that. In the meantime, have a peaceful and rewarding holiday!
(Oh, and I'll try and make higher resolution versions of the screens available somewhere after the second shot has been posted.)
As a very special Yuletide Treat - and a bona fide RagnarTornquist.com exclusive - I've procured a couple of New! Exciting! Sexy! screenshots for your viewing pleasure. You can't find these anywhere else.
The first shot is from Jardin des Roses in Casablanca, the street that Zoë lives on. It's a quiet residential street, filled with traditional houses, cozy alleyways, and - as the name implies - rose bushes.
The second screenshot will appear in this blog at some point between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, so check back for that. In the meantime, have a peaceful and rewarding holiday!
(Oh, and I'll try and make higher resolution versions of the screens available somewhere after the second shot has been posted.)
Thursday, December 23, 2004
I noticed a few people commenting on yesterday's new screenshots - specifically the field of view (FOV) and the perceived 'flatness' of the Zoë model - and I'd like to address that briefly.
Yes, the FOV was definitely exaggerated in those shots. We currently don't have a way to adjust it when using the so-called 'god camera' (which allows us to fly around and snap pretty pictures inside the game), but we'll be adding that functionality soon. Keep in mind that most 3D games use an exaggerated FOV to enhance the sense of speed and space. With Zoë standing close to - and in two cases, slightly to the side of - the camera, you get a little warping of the model. Thus the 'fisheye' effect. It won't look like that in-game...except where we want it to look like that, of course. The next batch of screens might use an adjusted FOV.
As for the flatness of the character, that's literally a trick of the light. The Zoë model is actually incredibly detailed (though, of course, we're not done with her: we'll keep tweaking the player-character models until the game ships), and, in the right light, she looks absolutely stunning. But our artists haven't gotten around to setting up the lights in the scenes yet, and the exterior shots of Zoë in Casablanca use only temporary, placeholder lighting. The interior shot is slightly more representative, though that too uses an early lighting setup. And, of course, the FOV in that one makes Zoë look a bit like a (very sexy) cardboard cutout.
Thirdly, I saw a comment regarding the environments - that they don't seem to match the level of detail and complexity of those in The Longest Journey. Yes and no. They are actually much more detailed in Dreamfall than they ever were in TLJ, but then the background plates - the 'mattes', if you will - in the latter were not only retouched, but they were also very, very low resolution (640 by 480). Once you increase resolution, things look sharper and cleaner, but they can also look more clinical and less detailed. It's a trade-off, but once you see these scenes in motion, with a full assortment of shaders and lighting (these locations aren't done yet, and we are taking a calculated risk by showing you work in progress), they look absolutely stunning. Take my word for it. Yes, TLJ had the classic 'painted' appearance, but Dreamfall will look even better. In my opinion.
It's always a bit touch-and-go showing stuff that isn't quite ready for primetime, but it's either that or a total embargo on screenshots until we go gold. I'm happy to see that most people are excited about the new art, and I'm also - believe it or not - happy to get constructive criticism, and even negative feedback. It's tough working in a vacuum, which is why we like to show off what we're doing. I firmly believe that Dreamfall will look as good as anything else out there at the time of release, especially with the enormous amount of variety we have in the game. There are landscapes and characters in there that (I hope) will blow your mind. Not to mention motion captured animations, facial expressions, lip sync, wonderful voices, fantastic music, lights, shadows, particles and special effects - and of course that whole gameplay thing. Apparently there's a 'story', too. Ooooh.
Yes, the FOV was definitely exaggerated in those shots. We currently don't have a way to adjust it when using the so-called 'god camera' (which allows us to fly around and snap pretty pictures inside the game), but we'll be adding that functionality soon. Keep in mind that most 3D games use an exaggerated FOV to enhance the sense of speed and space. With Zoë standing close to - and in two cases, slightly to the side of - the camera, you get a little warping of the model. Thus the 'fisheye' effect. It won't look like that in-game...except where we want it to look like that, of course. The next batch of screens might use an adjusted FOV.
As for the flatness of the character, that's literally a trick of the light. The Zoë model is actually incredibly detailed (though, of course, we're not done with her: we'll keep tweaking the player-character models until the game ships), and, in the right light, she looks absolutely stunning. But our artists haven't gotten around to setting up the lights in the scenes yet, and the exterior shots of Zoë in Casablanca use only temporary, placeholder lighting. The interior shot is slightly more representative, though that too uses an early lighting setup. And, of course, the FOV in that one makes Zoë look a bit like a (very sexy) cardboard cutout.
Thirdly, I saw a comment regarding the environments - that they don't seem to match the level of detail and complexity of those in The Longest Journey. Yes and no. They are actually much more detailed in Dreamfall than they ever were in TLJ, but then the background plates - the 'mattes', if you will - in the latter were not only retouched, but they were also very, very low resolution (640 by 480). Once you increase resolution, things look sharper and cleaner, but they can also look more clinical and less detailed. It's a trade-off, but once you see these scenes in motion, with a full assortment of shaders and lighting (these locations aren't done yet, and we are taking a calculated risk by showing you work in progress), they look absolutely stunning. Take my word for it. Yes, TLJ had the classic 'painted' appearance, but Dreamfall will look even better. In my opinion.
It's always a bit touch-and-go showing stuff that isn't quite ready for primetime, but it's either that or a total embargo on screenshots until we go gold. I'm happy to see that most people are excited about the new art, and I'm also - believe it or not - happy to get constructive criticism, and even negative feedback. It's tough working in a vacuum, which is why we like to show off what we're doing. I firmly believe that Dreamfall will look as good as anything else out there at the time of release, especially with the enormous amount of variety we have in the game. There are landscapes and characters in there that (I hope) will blow your mind. Not to mention motion captured animations, facial expressions, lip sync, wonderful voices, fantastic music, lights, shadows, particles and special effects - and of course that whole gameplay thing. Apparently there's a 'story', too. Ooooh.
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Have any of you goodly Mac people out there used an application called Delicious Library? I've been looking for a good database utility to keep track of my mushrooming DVD collection, and this appears to be a solid option. But is it delicious? And if it is, on a scale from one to 'yummy', how delicious is it? That's my question to you.
You'll want to (if you're a Dreamfall fan-in-the-making, of course) check out Dreamfall.comlater this afternoon right now for a Special Surprise. Yes, we are delivering on our non-promises. This will actually mark the first new art released since, well, E3. You have been very patient, my young ones, which is also why there's a Second Surprise on the way (also as non-promised a while ago): In the January issue of Edge magazine - arriving in the hands of some subscribers (and maybe newsagents) tomorrow - there is an exclusive and detailed preview of Dreamfall, featuring new screenshots, new concept art, and juicy gameplay details. I haven't read it myself yet, but it ought to be pretty good.
Who loves ya, baby? Huh? Huh? We do.
You'll want to (if you're a Dreamfall fan-in-the-making, of course) check out Dreamfall.com
Who loves ya, baby? Huh? Huh? We do.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Some of the biggest BitTorrent sites went down today. Depending on your outlook, that's both a good thing and a bad thing. Yes, SuprNova (et al.) was facilitating for the distribution of pirated software, movies, and music - and that's clearly a Bad Thing. On the other hand, without torrents, I have to make do with whatever shows Norwegian channels choose to broadcast, whenever they choose to broadcast them. Without torrents, I have to stop watching a half dozen TV shows that I'd never be able to watch otherwise - shows that I'd never have started watching in the first place if it weren't for BitTorrent.
Piracy isn't going away, and it's definitely a serious threat to my industry, and to the movie and music industries. Shutting down these sites will help in the short run, but Life Will Find A Way (so to speak). Other sites will take over, other methods of digital distribution will appear - legal or illegal. The only solution left is to make content available online, cheaply, easily, as soon as possible. I believe that, given an option, people will pay. I know I would. On the music side, there are options - at least for some people. (No iTunes Music Store in Norway yet, unfortunately.) As for TV: Embed ads in the shows, sell them for a few bucks each, and make them available for download in high-def quality at the same time they're being broadcast.
Will this happen? Nah-ah. Not in the short run. I'll still have to ignore my principles, convince myself that it's not theft, and seek out alternative sources for my tee-vee fixes. And everyone else - those people who don't consider piracy to be theft - will find other ways to download their games, software, movies, music. There's no stopping it now, I'm afraid.
Piracy isn't going away, and it's definitely a serious threat to my industry, and to the movie and music industries. Shutting down these sites will help in the short run, but Life Will Find A Way (so to speak). Other sites will take over, other methods of digital distribution will appear - legal or illegal. The only solution left is to make content available online, cheaply, easily, as soon as possible. I believe that, given an option, people will pay. I know I would. On the music side, there are options - at least for some people. (No iTunes Music Store in Norway yet, unfortunately.) As for TV: Embed ads in the shows, sell them for a few bucks each, and make them available for download in high-def quality at the same time they're being broadcast.
Will this happen? Nah-ah. Not in the short run. I'll still have to ignore my principles, convince myself that it's not theft, and seek out alternative sources for my tee-vee fixes. And everyone else - those people who don't consider piracy to be theft - will find other ways to download their games, software, movies, music. There's no stopping it now, I'm afraid.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
To compensate for my week-plus-long ab(log)sence, I bring you this wonderful Christmas treat (courtesy of Screenhead):
Michael Jackson's favourite things.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will - well, enjoy. Now I can't get that song out of my head.
With two milestones in two weeks, the dreaded Christmas shopping (still missing five presents), and various other extracurricular activities, my spare time has been woefully limited. I don't expect the coming week to be any better, although work is winding down. With people leaving for the holidays, I'll actually be able to focus on some good, old dialogue writing. For a change.
Thanks for sticking around, people. You are, as always, the most patient of blog-readers. I'll be posting updates most of this week, and I'll even toss in a tasty Christmas blog (with two servings of 'jolly' and extra 'merry') on Friday. Hurray!
Michael Jackson's favourite things.
You will laugh, you will cry, you will - well, enjoy. Now I can't get that song out of my head.
With two milestones in two weeks, the dreaded Christmas shopping (still missing five presents), and various other extracurricular activities, my spare time has been woefully limited. I don't expect the coming week to be any better, although work is winding down. With people leaving for the holidays, I'll actually be able to focus on some good, old dialogue writing. For a change.
Thanks for sticking around, people. You are, as always, the most patient of blog-readers. I'll be posting updates most of this week, and I'll even toss in a tasty Christmas blog (with two servings of 'jolly' and extra 'merry') on Friday. Hurray!
Friday, December 10, 2004
Milestones aplenty these days: there's one today, and then, conveniently enough, another one next Friday. At Funcom, we don't just encourage progress, we enforce it. Today we have a few more features and a couple of more locations implemented, while next Friday sees everything tied neatly together with Actual Gameplay. Which means that, by Christmas, a solid chunk of Dreamfall will be playable from A to Z-- well, to 'G'.
Speaking of Chrimbo, I've picked out some art today that might (emphasis on might) go on the website in a couple of weeks. Dreamfall-dot-com hasn't received much love lately, so it's about time. Expect a piece of concept art (or two), and quite possibly a beautylicious screenshot. You deserve it.
Speaking of Chrimbo, I've picked out some art today that might (emphasis on might) go on the website in a couple of weeks. Dreamfall-dot-com hasn't received much love lately, so it's about time. Expect a piece of concept art (or two), and quite possibly a beautylicious screenshot. You deserve it.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
The next-gen DVD battlefield is getting bloody, and this is unlikely to benefit us, the consumers.
A few weeks ago, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, and New Line signed up with Toshiba and NEC's HD-DVD format, which gave them a major advantage over Sony's Blu-ray. Now Disney - obviously a key brand for any future format - has planted its feet firmly in the Sony camp, together with (Sony owned) Columbia and MGM. That's everyone accounted for, then, and we're all going to have to buy two players in the years to come, unless someone gives in to reason. (And seeing as billions of dollars are on the line, that's unlikely to happen.)
Personally, I would like to see Blu-ray emerge as the victor, simply because it's the superior format - it can hold more data - but, more importantly, I want to see a single format, because that's what the market needs. With two competing high-def formats, everyone loses.
A few weeks ago, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, and New Line signed up with Toshiba and NEC's HD-DVD format, which gave them a major advantage over Sony's Blu-ray. Now Disney - obviously a key brand for any future format - has planted its feet firmly in the Sony camp, together with (Sony owned) Columbia and MGM. That's everyone accounted for, then, and we're all going to have to buy two players in the years to come, unless someone gives in to reason. (And seeing as billions of dollars are on the line, that's unlikely to happen.)
Personally, I would like to see Blu-ray emerge as the victor, simply because it's the superior format - it can hold more data - but, more importantly, I want to see a single format, because that's what the market needs. With two competing high-def formats, everyone loses.
With the assistance of GetDataBack, a program I've used before - and had forgotten about - I managed to retrieve everything that I'd lost from my dead drive: mail, MP3s, documents...everything. I am a happy, happy man. The bonus? A clean installation of XP, something that every Windows user has learned to treasure. The downside? I still have to install my entire development environment, including all the in-house design tools and the game itself. And that, my friends, is a long and drawn-out process. Still, I've been lucky, and I will not complain. And GetDataBack is our bestest friend.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
I'm back, baby, and I'm trying to rebuild my fractured life by scanning the dead drive (see previous posts) with a program called R-Studio. Apparently, it's good at doing miracles when it comes to recovering files - but we'll see. It's sure taking its sweet time scanning the drive. If anyone out there can suggest another program, preferably a free one, let me know.
Monday, December 06, 2004
So my work week begins sans PC - I'm perusing the web from a dedicated video editing machine - and the earliest my system will be up-and-running is tomorrow afternoon. There is, luckily, much to do even without a workstation, so I shan't be wandering aimlessly around the office, wasting time and annoying everyone. No more than usual, anyway. I could, of course, have brought one of my laptops in, but I decided I'd rather focus on graphics and gameplay reviews and design brainstorming today - all of which is done in the Dreamfall team's fully equipped (PC, projector, surround sound) meeting room. No laptop needed.
The Christmas issue of Edge magazine (which is out in stores now) contains an article about point-and-click adventure games, and they've used a screenshot from The Longest Journey to illustrate the article. Which was nice. There's also a (very brief) mention of Dreamfall in there somewhere. Check it out. Edge is always worth picking up even when it's not covering any of our games, since it's usually chock full of well-written articles, interviews, and the best reviews in the industry. And no, they didn't pay me to say that.
The Christmas issue of Edge magazine (which is out in stores now) contains an article about point-and-click adventure games, and they've used a screenshot from The Longest Journey to illustrate the article. Which was nice. There's also a (very brief) mention of Dreamfall in there somewhere. Check it out. Edge is always worth picking up even when it's not covering any of our games, since it's usually chock full of well-written articles, interviews, and the best reviews in the industry. And no, they didn't pay me to say that.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Thanks to everyone who's posted and mailed their commiserations - no worries, people: nothing Dreamfall related went belly-up in the meltdown. All pertinent work documents are kept on the network drives, not locally, and they're backed up every single day. The material I lost - aside from my mail - was semi-rough work-in-progress, mostly for my next game. And most of those documents I have in different form elsewhere, in bits & pieces. Generally, everything is reproducible - with a bit of patience and perseverence. The only delay incurred will be a personal one: I'll have to devote some time to setting up my work environment from scratch. Which is a pain, but Overtime Is Our Friend. Welcome it. It wishes no harm.
William Shatner's new record, Has Been, is - and I say this without any trace of irony - a great pop album. It honestly is. Don't believe me? Read the reviews. Even better, check it out for yourself. (It's available through the iTunes Music Store: if you only want to sample one track, get That's Me Trying - with lyrics by Nick Hornby, no less.) I listened to the whole thing earlier tonight, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying most of the tracks...and I was even moved by a few of them. It is, at times, bizarre, but it is also very honest, very melodic, and, at times, very funny. A surprise, then, but a pleasant one. I'm making room for it on my iPod tomorrow.
Watched The Chronicles of Riddick last night - the 'unrated' director's cut, no less. My expectations were extremely low, and I wasn't disappointed. Granted, it wasn't that bad. Incoherent in places, yes; often cheap looking (what were those CGI creatures supposed to be? Dogs?); Vin Diesel is looking increasingly bloated and silly, and his one-liners were quite embarrassing (wasn't he supposed to be the Next Big Thing?); and the so-called 'ending' left me cold. But there were a few good set-pieces, the middle part of the movie was entertaining, the design was often intriguing, and, hey!, big screen sci-fi! We don't see a lot of that these days. And given how this movie flopped big time, it'll probably be ages before we see another one. Well, until the Firefly movie - Serenity - that is. At any rate, it wasn't all bad, but it was far, far, far from great.
William Shatner's new record, Has Been, is - and I say this without any trace of irony - a great pop album. It honestly is. Don't believe me? Read the reviews. Even better, check it out for yourself. (It's available through the iTunes Music Store: if you only want to sample one track, get That's Me Trying - with lyrics by Nick Hornby, no less.) I listened to the whole thing earlier tonight, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying most of the tracks...and I was even moved by a few of them. It is, at times, bizarre, but it is also very honest, very melodic, and, at times, very funny. A surprise, then, but a pleasant one. I'm making room for it on my iPod tomorrow.
Watched The Chronicles of Riddick last night - the 'unrated' director's cut, no less. My expectations were extremely low, and I wasn't disappointed. Granted, it wasn't that bad. Incoherent in places, yes; often cheap looking (what were those CGI creatures supposed to be? Dogs?); Vin Diesel is looking increasingly bloated and silly, and his one-liners were quite embarrassing (wasn't he supposed to be the Next Big Thing?); and the so-called 'ending' left me cold. But there were a few good set-pieces, the middle part of the movie was entertaining, the design was often intriguing, and, hey!, big screen sci-fi! We don't see a lot of that these days. And given how this movie flopped big time, it'll probably be ages before we see another one. Well, until the Firefly movie - Serenity - that is. At any rate, it wasn't all bad, but it was far, far, far from great.
Once again, my office PC goes all Michael Myers on me and slaughters my entire hard drive, containing, in no particular order of preference, all my (unanswered) mail - last backup was mid-October - a number of work-in-progress documents, research material, pictures, my rather sizeable MP3 collection (aaah!), bookmarks, online-purchased software, contact list, important stickies - I could lament bitterly for another two paragraphs, but I think my point has been made. Loss. Major. Ragnar mad. The word? Shit!
I honestly don't know what happened. Everything seemed fine yesterday afternoon, until I tried running a program and I got a fatal error. I decided to reboot (every Windows user's first line of defence), which was when Windows slapped up a blue screen telling me there was an 'unmountable boot volume', which sounded rather ominous. One attempted reboot later, and it was clear that something was horribly, horribly wrong. I contacted our network department who came promptly to my aid, but no amount of clever and educated tricks - including booting into Unix from CD in order to pull critical files off the HD - could help. The hard drive was beyond salvation: every file on it appeared to have the same name ('xpad.pad'), and there was nothing left of the original directory or file structure. When the tech guy, after an hour's work, shrugged apologetically, I knew I was screwed.
My only possible salvation is to install a new Windows drive and a program that can scan and recover as many files as possible from my original 250Gb crammed-to-the-rafters disk. If I'm (very) lucky, I can save my mail and those documents - but in these cases, I never have been. Lucky, that is. This isn't the first time I've lost everything, so I know I ought to be more backup-minded, but it's easy to forget.
Virus? Who knows, but seeing as I run Norton Anti-Virus - plus several adware killers; I'm paranoid - I don't think so. Running 'chkdsk' on it also came up blank: the drive seems fine, physically. Just, you know, fubar.
Oh well, life goes on, and as I begin to rebuild my life piece by piece, I'll surely find that I won't actually miss the things I lost...too much. Time heals, as does a brand new drive, and though quite a few of those MP3s will be sorely missed, and though there are dozens of mails that will forever go unanswered, it matters little in the grand scheme of things.
But still:
Shit.
I honestly don't know what happened. Everything seemed fine yesterday afternoon, until I tried running a program and I got a fatal error. I decided to reboot (every Windows user's first line of defence), which was when Windows slapped up a blue screen telling me there was an 'unmountable boot volume', which sounded rather ominous. One attempted reboot later, and it was clear that something was horribly, horribly wrong. I contacted our network department who came promptly to my aid, but no amount of clever and educated tricks - including booting into Unix from CD in order to pull critical files off the HD - could help. The hard drive was beyond salvation: every file on it appeared to have the same name ('xpad.pad'), and there was nothing left of the original directory or file structure. When the tech guy, after an hour's work, shrugged apologetically, I knew I was screwed.
My only possible salvation is to install a new Windows drive and a program that can scan and recover as many files as possible from my original 250Gb crammed-to-the-rafters disk. If I'm (very) lucky, I can save my mail and those documents - but in these cases, I never have been. Lucky, that is. This isn't the first time I've lost everything, so I know I ought to be more backup-minded, but it's easy to forget.
Virus? Who knows, but seeing as I run Norton Anti-Virus - plus several adware killers; I'm paranoid - I don't think so. Running 'chkdsk' on it also came up blank: the drive seems fine, physically. Just, you know, fubar.
Oh well, life goes on, and as I begin to rebuild my life piece by piece, I'll surely find that I won't actually miss the things I lost...too much. Time heals, as does a brand new drive, and though quite a few of those MP3s will be sorely missed, and though there are dozens of mails that will forever go unanswered, it matters little in the grand scheme of things.
But still:
Shit.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Have installed Firefox on all three of my computers - PowerBook and Dell laptops, and my office PC - but I'm not sure yet if I want to permanently switch from Explorer/Safari. It's fast and stable, but I have a few issues. First off, it doesn't remember all of my passwords (there may be an easy fix to that, but I haven't found it); secondly, the backspace key doesn't work as a 'back one page' shortcut. I'm used to that from the other browsers, and it's hard to adjust. Yeah, I know about the security issues, but I've never had any real trouble with Explorer, and I like Safari a lot. I'll keep using Firefox in the weeks to come, so we'll see. I might adjust to it. Besides, change is good. I like change.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
The Thanksgiving-blog bug has been fixed, so if anyone's been holding back on their turkey-stuffed comments, now's the time to act. Of course, seeing as Thanksgiving is so last week, I don't expect a dramatic uptake in comments for Friday's post. Just, you know, FYI.
London was good - busy but good - and the weather was great: after Oslo, it felt like spring. A rather cold spring, sure, but spring nonetheless. I'd like to go back soon and actually spend some time outside of meeting rooms, but a quick peek into my crystal ball spells 'unlikely' for the next few months. My life is owned.
London was good - busy but good - and the weather was great: after Oslo, it felt like spring. A rather cold spring, sure, but spring nonetheless. I'd like to go back soon and actually spend some time outside of meeting rooms, but a quick peek into my crystal ball spells 'unlikely' for the next few months. My life is owned.
