KatsBits ARCHIVES 2005 July

[back]Archive 2005 JULY

Venom Games licence Doom 3 [31st July 05] ^

Although they've not 'formally' announced anything, a recent update to their website reveals that UK outfit Venom Games is recruiting team members that have "...experienced in ... using the “Doom 3” editor, previous incarnations, or similar..." for what appears to be an XBox360 nextGen game. This is of course all speculatively picked at from the tipbits on their jobs page.

Speaking of which.. if you think you up for the job them drop them a line keeping in mind you'll most likely be working on a nextGen title.

Venom Games website >>

Quake3Bits website update [27th July 05] ^

You may have noticed that Quake3Bits has had a little face lift, nothing major, just a spring clean and banner image change to suit the way editing seems to be going these days; models. If you find any errors drop a quick line Quake3Bits way so it can be fixed lickerty-split-quick.

A few more Doom 3 modelling related files need to be added but for now you can find various MD5 importers, exporters and der_ton's MD5 model viewer all linked to bottom section of the colomn to the left. Currently tools and utilities cover 3DS Max, Blender 3D, gmax and XSi.

Doom 'the movie' trailer [27th July 05] ^

Yup that's right, and... it's looks quite good after all those early worries about it not having 'X','Y' or 'Z' or indeed not even being on Mars. Well it is and it does. See links below for small, medium and large versions of the trailer. If you have problems getting the file from IGN the small version can be downloaded from PCGameMods @ 7MB in size.

Screenshot from Doom The Movie

RtCW 'the movie' anyone..? [26th July 05] ^

As with anything related to the next installment of Wolfenstein this hasn't been confirmed any further than some comments that the Todd Miester made in an interview given to IGN. He talks mainly about the upcoming Doom 3 movie, staring 'The Rock', which doesn't look too shabby now that some light (pun intended for those that have played Doom 3.!) has been shed on some 'fears' voiced by fans about the subject matter of the film; rumors were abound that it had very little to do with the settings laid bare in the game.

But then in the final paragraph Todd makes a passing remark about our favourite game, Wolfenstein or RtCW2 as fans have been calling it, and the possibilty of much more from the franchise. Always good to hear that. See his comments below and linkage for the full read.

IGN: Can you forsee any Quake or Wolfenstein movies to be made in the future?

HOLLENSHEAD: Well, I hope so. Quake is a bit more schizophrenic than the Doom or Wolfenstein properties, just because the story for Quake II and Quake IV are in the same universe, but Quake and Quake III are different from the other two. I do think that the Quake II universe would make excellent grounds for a film. With Wolfenstein, that's a project that we've actually had in development. We've been working with some writers and those sorts of things. It's obviously not as far along as the Doom movie was when it took off after we had the E3 showing in 2002, but I think as we go forward with a lot of those franchises, I mean. you haven't seen the last Wolfenstein game. I don't want to talk too much about when or what the next one's going to be, it's still very much in the drawing board phases, but I think as. my hope is, it's not too dissimilar from Doom III and the Doom movie, where we kinda had the game going on, and the movie really caught fire. So we'll have the same thing with Wolf as well.

id hiring [19th July 05] ^

Well this certainly doesn't happen too often; id software are hiring so if you've got what it takes give it a shot.

Name: Kenneth Scott
Email:
Description: Artist
Project:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07-18-2005

Single Attractive Game development studio seeks fun and commitment with likeminded 3D environmental artist.

id Software is seeking a talented 3D environmental artist to assist in creating atmospheric and highly detailed environments. The applicant would be responsible for generating world textures, creating normal-mapped world objects, building set pieces, building terrain, and generally making a nuisance of him/herself in the name of game art excellence.

Requirements:

• 4 years game industry experience, or credit on at least one shipped title preferred.
• Extensive mastery of a 3d app’ (Maya/ Lightwave/ 3dsMax/ Modo/ etc) and photoshop.
• Experience with creating hi poly models and real time game content using normal maps.
• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Strong traditional art background a plus
• Experience with id software’s engines and level design tools a plus
• Experience with lighting a plus
• Familiarity with Zbrush a plus
• Must be comfortable taking direction and reasonably self sufficient

Please submit your application to kenneth@idsoftware.com . doc files are preferable, as are links to website portfolios.

id Software - Responsible for some of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed video games of all time, id's ferociously independent staff of artists, programmers and designers have been rocking the gaming world from Mesquite, Texas since 1991. Ushering in a new era of interactive entertainment with genre-defining blockbusters like Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM and QUAKE, id has secured itself a place in gaming history as one of the fathers of the modern video game.

Original post on Blues news >>

MD5 export script [14th July 05] ^

WARNING - Blender 2.37 & 2.37a

We're getting reports that something has changed in Blender 2.37 and 2.37a that effects der_ton's MD5 export script.

For some reason that's not currently clear, IPO animation data is being 'corrupted' on export which often results in an animation exporting but the playback displaying a 'locked' pose; each frame of the animation has the exact same data in it giving the impression that nothing is happening when in fact it is, it's just playing the same pose in each frame.

Current recommendations

If you are doing any animated mapobjects, NPC's or characters for Doom 3 use Blender 2.36 only and the latest version of the MD5 export script (see below for local download link).

If you open a *.blend file into 2.37(x) and export 'as is' you won't get any problems.

If you open a file into 2.37(x) and edit the IPOs, animation or mesh in any way it effects the output and result in the above error.

Unfortunately if you do work on a file in 2.37(x) and go back to an earlier version of Blender to rework the file it will still be corrupted. The only way to fix it currently is to delete everything to do with the armature, IPO blocks and animation's, and then rebuild the armature from scratch - leaving only the mesh in the file, save to a different name, create a new file and then append the mesh object; this should in theory 'clean' the file slightly so you don't have any 'dead' datablocks floating around in Blender.

Doom 3 & patch mesh terrain [13th July 05] ^

Part two of the Doom 3 patch mesh terrain tutorials. In this episode you'll find out a way to optimise mesh objects further by using a useful approach to building a terrain.

Doom 3 & patch mesh terrain's pt 2 >>

Doom 3 & patch mesh terrain [11th July 05] ^

New tutorial has been added to the Quake3Bits that runs through using patch mesh objects in Doom 3 to create terrain's. One of two parts, part one runs through 'optimisation'.

Doom 3 & patch mesh terrain's pt 1 >>

MD5 model viewer [11th July 05] ^

der_ton recently updated his Doom 3 MD5 model viewer and along with a couple of tweaks it now imports and views LWO files. It currently supports *.ASE, *.OBJ and now *.LWO; as well as the various Doom 3 proprietary MD5 file format; md5mesh, md5anim and md5camera. For more information and bug tracking see the links below.

Wanted beta testers for Auto Assault [1st July 05] ^

What a way to break in the new month..!

If you want to try a MMORG not based of Dungeons and Dragons ® or [insert country here]Army/Anti Terrorist forces vs the World/Terrorists then try this for size; you can be part of the beta testing for the up coming futuristic (sci-fi) MMORG Auto Assault.

Have you heard of AutoAssault yet?
Do you want to be a beta tester?

NCSoft is looking for beta testers for their upcoming MMORPG, AutoAssault. This game allows players to create characters who specialize in vehicular assault, and use their heavily armored, tricked out combat vehicles as their only means of survival. Characters drive through the hostile post-apocalyptic environment for power, wealth, fame, and ultimately… to take over the world. Check out new screens, movies, music samples, concept art, and added features and then sign up to be a beta tester

Check out the official site and sign up >>