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| Urban Empires Update | 4/25/2008 |
Hey guys, sorry to leave you so long without an Urban Empires update :-) Just in-case you forgot Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. The game will be released in mid-2008.
I can assure you work is still progressing as fast as I can type. Many of you know that I'm essentially a one man shop doing this whole game, so as you can imagine the workload is immense.
I do have an update and a short announcement about the online/multiplayer aspects of the game. I'm currently "in the trenches" re-coding the multiplayer aspects that were 90% good to go about a year ago, to make sure it's quality netcode. I've also updated the server specs to support 64-players per game server.
Currently I've got UE game servers running in London, Raleigh, Atlanta, and Dallas in preparation for the game's BETA testing, I'm also running stress tests on the MasterServers and the whole Urban Empires network. As usual be sure to stop by the Forums or my Developers' Journal for the latest on the game's development!
Any future announcements regarding the game will be made through the Urban Empires homepage/website [ http://www.urbanempires.com ]. You can click this preview image to visit the site.
Thanks.
- Danny Green
President, Radioactive-Software
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| Quick Urban Empires Update... | 11/22/2007 |
I'm working as fast as I can to get the project to a BETA ready state. Though as usual things are taking longer than expected/hoped. Keep checking back for more updates, I'll try to update the site more frequently. There is a lot of artwork still to be created for the game, and there is still a lot of code to be written/tested.
I'll post 2 images the latest guns to come from my weapons artist. Hope you like 'em.
Stay tuned for more updates [ Developers' Journal and Forums ]
Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. The game will be released in early 2008.
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President of Radioactive-Software
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| Urban Empires - Update & Some new vehicles | 11/17/2007 |
The game is progressing slowly but surely...there is an insane amount of work for me to do everyday, luckily I enjoy it :-)
Everything from 3D sound effects, ~1000 voiceovers, a kick-ass theme song, and progress on AI and physics have been going on recently. Also re-writing the networking code, since Urban Empires is centered around an Online experience, with 18 people per-game-server. There are so many aspects that I have to hand design/code myself...if you have 4 years of free time on your hands I highly recommend it. November 3rd, 2007 marked the 4th year of my work on the project (2 years fulltime). I started with a blank directory, and an idea ;-)
Expect the multiplayer BETA to start 'soon'...just keep checking back for news.
Also my car artist has been cranking out some amazing work for me, I'll post some screenshots below that show a few of the new vehicles. The screens are @ 1920x1080 with 4X FSAA, HDR lighting+bloom, soft-shadows [25 samples per-pixel], and a basic depth-of-field effect. I'm working on getting the motion-blur back into the game and I'll have a much better version of the DOF effect soon. Also these screens are taken @ medium texture quality [ 1024x1024 textures, since using 2048x2048 textures for all vehicles/characters would require GBs of video memory ].
There is also heavy working going on in terms of the environment. I have an in-game city/world editor that I can use to create cities for the game [ and so can you ]. The cities in the screenshots recently are simple randomly-generated city blocks. Also there are no streetside objects, etc. I'm getting some new buildings made for the game, and I'm also doing some environment artwork of my own. Up to this point I made all of the buildings in-game myself.
Stay tuned for more updates [ Developers' Journal and Forums ]
Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. The game will be released in early 2008.
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President of Radioactive-Software
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| Urban Empires - Still grindin'... | 10/27/2007 |
I'm still grinding away on the game...getting closer and closer to the BETA date. It's down to a matter of weeks now. There are literally 100s of aspects of the project that I'm working on...things from the auto-update system, vehicle physics, SWAT team AI, all the way down to tweaking the HDR lighting values. It's really a never ending amount of work.
But yea, stay tuned for more updates [ Developers' Journal and Forums ]
The Urban Empires Multiplayer BETA is coming soon...
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President of Radioactive-Software
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| Urban Empires Update - Some new screenshots | 10/2/2007 |
I've got a new update with a lot of new screenshots of the game. Right now the game is very much in a transition stage, with deadlines fast approaching I'm trying to get as much in there as I can before major testing begins.
Visually I'm happy with the new direction the game is taking, it's about 75% where I want it to be...I'm working on a lot of new city artwork and most of the other artwork is about 30% complete so there is still a lot of content that will be showing up.
Soon I will begin my 3rd pass on the physics, netcode, gameplay, etc...then the game should be ready for some testing :-) I've basically re-written the graphics engine over the last 2-3 weeks. As well as updated every major system in the game.
This should be the first of many new updates showing the rapid progress of the game. There will be a lot of new screenshots in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can always closely follow the game's development through my Developers' Journal, also be sure to drop by the Forums for sexy-good-times.
Here is the link to the official press release by my publisher for all the key features of the game, and more! Strategy First Press Release - October 2, 2008.
Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. The game will be released in early 2008.
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President of Radioactive-Software
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| Some Urban Empires progress... | 8/21/2007 |
This update has some images of the "next-gen" artwork that's being created for the game. The first two images are Russian and Italian gangsters that will be in Urban Empires, I just finished writing the skin shader that will be used to render the characters in-game.
There are 9 gang types in the game...everything from the Russians and Italians to gang types such as Bikers, Irish Mobsters, Black and Latino gangs. There are 30+ more character models like these coming so stay tuned to the website. The character models are rigged for full facial animation, they are in the default position for these screenshots.
In the next update I'll have some pictures of a couple of the vehicles that will be in the game, there will be close to 25 unique vehicles (plus variations), they are being created right now.
In addition to the characters shown in these sceenshots, I'll also post a screenshot of the first gun model, there will be 30 weapons of this quality to be in the game.
I'm hard at work upgrading the game's engine, and trying to integrate all this artwork. Expect some new in-game shots soon.
If you want to follow the game's progress drop by the Forums or my Developers' Journal.
Also be sure to bookmark the game's official website which will be active once the game is finished.
www.urban-empires.com / www.urbanempires.com
Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. The game will be released in early 2008.
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President of Radioactive-Software
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| Urban Empires Update... | 8/7/2007 |
Urban Empires is a Multiplayer Gangster game. It combines traditional Real-time Strategy gameplay with the ability to control any of your gangsters at any time, the game is centered around a multiplayer online experience. I'm taking the game to the next level in every way...Next-gen quality characters and vehicles...and having 9 different gang types in the game.
If you want to follow the game's progress drop by the Forums or my Developers' Journal.
Also be sure to bookmark the game's official website which will be active once the game is finished.
www.urban-empires.com / www.urbanempires.com
The game will be released early next year so stay tuned.
- Danny Green
Lead Programmer / Artist / Designer / President
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Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates...I'm still going full steam ahead on the project. I'm working on trying to bring the game to the next level of quality, which is neither easy or cheap.
Among other things [ like integration of the Ageia PhysX engine into the game, and increasing the number of players per-server from 6 to 18 ] I've changed the name of the game. It is no longer called Gang War instead the game is now called Urban Empires.
I'm working on getting all of the art assets re-done @ "next-gen" quality, and I also want to add many more gangs into the game. I think that, coupled with the new physics engine / netcode will take the game to the next level.
If you want to follow the progress of the game check out the game check the Forums or my Developers' Journal
- Danny Green
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| Massive Gang War Update...Lots of new Screenshots. | 3/21/2007 |
Hey guys, sorry for not posting an update in so long. I've been working like a madman on the game lately. I would also like to clarify a few things about this game.
First off, I'm the only person making it...I've coded the engine from scratch, created almost all of the artwork, and have designed the entire thing by myself with a laughable budget. I've been working on it for about 3 years total [2 years fulltime]. The game is still in a PRE-BETA stage.
Second, I would like to clarify the type of game I'm making. Gang War is NOT a linear story-based game that walks you through some dude's rise to power...that has been done 100 times before, I'm not going there. I'm making a fully multiplayer real-time strategy/action game where the players create the 'story' every game. There can be up to 6 players per server, and there are 3 types of gangs you can control...Black, Latino, and Italian. I wish I had the budget to get more gang types into the game but for this game that's the best I can do. There is also an offline practice mode.
Most of the game will be spent managing your gang above in the strategy view, you do however have the option to control any of your gang members. I have recently added a teamplay system allowing arbitrary teams...so some players can be controlling the team's gangsters while the boss is above giving orders to them. Orders are synced between team-mates and can be viewed/modified based on each player's rank. There are a total of 12 different orders/commands you can give to your gangsters.
Anyways if you want more detailed info about the game check the Forums or my Developers' Journal...
Now it's time for the good stuff...keep in mind this is all a work in progress.
I've recently implemented rain into the game...the weather / lighting / environment is totally dynamic. Click here for an older work-in-progress video of the rain.
Now some screenshots of the new 'Order Visualization System' which makes tracking your gangsters very easy. Again, for more info on the gameplay check out my Developers' Journal or the Forums.
A note about the order visualizations...there are 4 different states you can toggle to make the orders appear how you'd like [ie: always on, always off, show icons only, and full depth tested].
Some other screens of the real time strategy view...
I've implemented an internet radio player into the game...with ~20 different stations...so there will always be new music to listen to.
One of the cool things is that you can order your gangsters to drive ANYWHERE in the city, and depending on the urgency of the order command, they will obey traffic rules or do a mad rush to the goal point. Obviously you can also take control of the gangster and drive there yourself...
I'm working on a high quality fire effect / heat blur shader...
Of course what game would be complete without CARNAGE...I've implemented gibs for actors & vehicles as well as ragdoll physics on all actors. Click each image to view a larger slide-show of the good stuff :-) These screenshots were taken in the "Insta Gib" mode where one shot blows things up :-) this is mostly for stress testing the effects.
You can also be arrested by police officers and your gangsters have to go downtown to the police station...
In addition to that stuff I've implemented normal mapping on the character models, here is an in-engine test showing the quality of the shader. If only I could have player models with 9000 triangles :-D Maybe next game...
Before / After comparison of the player models with and without normal mapping...I had to generate the normal maps years after the models were first created...so the results aren't perfect but it's certainly an improvement.
Ok that's it for now...any comments can be directed to me via my e-mail, or the game's Forums. If you think the game looks cool I'd love to hear from you.
- Danny Green
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