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Jedi Knotes #4


digl

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Jedi Knotes #4 - November 10, 2001

We are extremely busy right now and heading into Beta. We have added many new features to the already complete Quake 3: Team Arena® engine, and now we're just tweaking them. These features include adding all of the single player elements to the engine (ladders/saved games etc.), light styles, a new scripting language and a new, from scratch A.I. system.

 

Perhaps the most exciting new feature is the Lightsaber Combat. We've developed an entire system of play that is controlled by your movements and actions. You can chain together attacks, flips, rolls, wall jumps and back flips in deadly combinations. Lightsaber blocking allows you to defend against oncoming blaster shots and enemy lightsaber attacks. We've enhanced the third person camera controls to really show off the Lightsaber combat as well.

 

Another big new feature is the GHOUL2™ modeling and animation system. We took all the best features of the original GHOUL™ technology from the original Soldier of Fortune® and took the Carcass™ system from Elite Force® and merged them together for GHOUL2 to make a fully hierarchical skeletal animation system. It features (among other things) per poly hit detection, smooth skin models and animation overrides on any bone.

 

A really cool feature that turned out extremely well is the dynamic music system. We collaborated with LucasArts to enhance and improve upon the simple two channel system we were using. The new system supports multiple entry and exit points within each music piece to create seamless transitions from the Explore to the Action pieces as it responds to your actions and play style within the game.

 

James Monroe

Jedi Outcast Lead Programmer

Raven Software

 

Im posting all the news, what will you do without me now! :D;)

 

You can chain together attacks, flips, rolls, wall jumps and back flips in deadly combinations

per poly hit detection, smooth skin models and animation overrides on any bone

OMG

wall jumps!!!!this is too good to be true!!!! and with that animation overrides the lightsaber battles will be really amazing!

 

And they worked with LEC to make a fully dinamic music system

I guess Its something like iMuse 2 :D

 

new scripting language and completly new AI

 

this is getting better and better

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Good news scoop, digl!

 

Maybe the wall flips are modeled off Heretic II? Alotta fun.

 

Really looking forward to the dynamic music. Presumably it is mp3-based. Hopefully the music will be based on the original orchestral Williams' scores, not electronic synthesized compositions.

 

Also, I wonder what the scripting language is? Are they refering to the ICARUS camera scripting system? Or is this a user scripting system? Something else?

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OMG as if i didnt want the game bad enough before, now this news about wall jumps and flips!!!! this game is all im gonna be thinking about now, from the looks and sound of the game it will have just as much or even more lasting appeal than the last jk game, ive always loved the features that was put into jk games, the speed,saber combat, and the great gameplay,and it looks like this game is going to be well beyond all of our expectations, and i guess its kinda nice that they dont have an overwhealming amount of movies and screenshots so that everything we see int he game will be a great suprise to us.

 

can u believe its only been about a year and the game looks like it is going to be one of the best so far, if not thee best, while other great games of this quality can take up to 4 years to make.....they must have some very talented people at LEC and raven....

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Digl- your parting gifts (to us) just seem to be mounting! This is probably one of the juciest updates I've heard and to me, its better than any screenshots that we have recieved so far. The way the sabre combat is described has renewed my hope and I agree that little info up to this point has made the game infinately more appealing!

 

I agree with you SlowbieONe; knock on wood that this is the beginning of a flood of information culminating with the release of the game in March!

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I knew when I read the preview in PC Powerplay that players would be able to almost re-enact the choreographed battles from EP1 with the versatility of the moves, but i didn't expect this!

 

Rolls! Wall Jumps! Flips and Back Flips! sheesh.......

 

 

And i thought the JK1 matrix dojo map with SBX on was fun. man, this is gonna go off!

 

 

digl, I'd kiss you......... but no :)

 

 

whats the bet that as soon as digl leaves we'll stop getting info lol

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You could almost feel how excited the developer was in his note ... or maybe it was my excitement reflecting back ;-)

 

The vision for the game just gets better and better ... and I had set my expectation level early on at "JK 'expansion pack' with Q3 level graphics and better AI" ... to ensure I wouldn't be disappointed ...

 

... I guess that based on the SoFII shots and video, the various other notes, and this new one ... I need to upgrade my baseline expectations!

 

I also look forward to the music. I played JK/MotS on my Toshiba Portege 3480CT sub-notebook, with cheesy speaker. Since I got my Dell Inspiron 8100 (GeForce2GO 32MB, 1.2GHz PIII), and RtCW, I've been using the headphones from my iPod (awesome sound) to play. I have to redo JK/MotS with those ... it make a BIG difference!

 

Mike

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Originally posted by TrUeFoRcE

 

can u believe its only been about a year and the game looks like it is going to be one of the best so far, if not thee best, while other great games of this quality can take up to 4 years to make.....they must have some very talented people at LEC and raven....

 

Not to take away from LEC but I'd give the credit to Raven.

 

From now on when Raven is making a game I'm gonna check it out. These guys are great.

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Originally posted by Hannibal

 

Not to take away from LEC but I'd give the credit to Raven.

From now on when Raven is making a game I'm gonna check it out. These guys are great.

 

yep, Raven do make really good games.

 

*i hope SOF2 isn't banned in Australia like GTA3 was*

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That's a very valid point Ushgarak.:)

 

That's one thing that killed the saber duels in JK. It's a lightsaber for crying out loud. I don't care who you are, you are not gonna survive more than a few swings from that blade.

 

I really hope a swing to the head, throat or heart area kills in 1. If the game is as tactical as I'm anticipating, this won't be a problem.

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It also makes beating that boss much more rewarding, if he survives long enough just avoiding your attacks and gives you hard resistance. Besides, as some of previews have stated, he will also keep you occupied with Force powers so that you propably don't get too many opportunities to strike through his lowered defense and other slashes he blocks easily. :cool:

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This is all excellent news. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the game now. Only problem is I'm going away for five months as of February 12th!

 

The LEC marketing machine has definitely kicked into a higher gear since Christmas. I'm sure we can expect the game before too long, as they're obviously starting to feed us more info to build up the pre-release hype.

 

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get in on the action five months late! :(

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wardz I've never lost my enthusiasm for JKII...I just have some reservations about it that I hope are unfounded. :)

 

...and a new, from scratch A.I. system...

 

Does this mean a totally new system for JKII, or are they simply referring to LICH? The AI for SOFII sounds outstanding...so I hope JKII's isn't too far removed from that. :cool:

 

You can chain together attacks, flips, rolls, wall jumps and back flips in deadly combinations.

 

I agree with Wilhuf...this sounds similar to Heretic II (which incidentally had wall jumps), so we should all be in for some serious fun. Until now, Heretic II has remained my favourite 3rd person game (along with Rune), but I think JKII may be taking that number one spot. :D

 

A really cool feature that turned out extremely well is the dynamic music system. We collaborated with LucasArts to enhance and improve upon the simple two channel system we were using. The new system supports multiple entry and exit points within each music piece to create seamless transitions from the Explore to the Action pieces as it responds to your actions and play style within the game.

 

I really like the idea of dynamic music. It adds so much more atmosphere to the game rather than a laborious piece of music looping endlessly in the background. Great stuff.

 

Thanks for the heads up again, digl.

 

Hannibal

 

From now on when Raven is making a game I'm gonna check it out. These guys are great.

 

I totally agree with you. I've really enjoyed most of their games since I first installed Heretic (I've got all the Heretic and Hexen games, plus SOF and EF). I can't wait for JKII and SOFII. After that, I'll be hotly anticipating Quake IV, because I have a feeling they will make it a lot better than id made Quake II. :D And I'm still trying to Force Persuade them to finish off the Corvus trilogy with Heretic III...come on guys...you know you want to. ;)

 

ed_silvergun

 

This is all excellent news. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the game now. Only problem is I'm going away for five months as of February 12th!

 

[Luke Skywalker mode] Nooooooo! Nooo! [/Luke Skywalker mode]

 

Why on earth do you have to go away for that long, ed? Will you still be posting here? Looks like we'll have to say farewell (for a while) to another long-standing forum member. First digl, now you... :(

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