Blood Development Update - August '96

## BLOOD DEVELOPMENT - AUGUST 1996

#### Update: 08/30/96

Work continues on monster AI and special effects. We've got plenty of cool, otherworldly surprises in store, and the ideas just keep coming. Expect to feel the presence of the restless dead as you make your way through the game. . . ;-)

Nick came up with a great concept for Tchernobog's lair that opened up all sorts of sinister possibilities and led to a stronger, creepier backstory. (BTW, compared to Tchernobog, Shub-Niggurath is a lazy slug.)

Kevin is still working on artwork for the innocents. He also created a lovely balloon for his carnival level that will help make Blood a kinder, gentler place. . . or not. *POP*

Jay reworked The Great Temple, the last level in the shareware. It was already perilous before he got hold of it--now it's, well, more perilous. And it looks better too.

Craig continued working on his train station/train yard level. He can't get over how much easier MapEdit is than Build. He's also puzzled at how Jay can slaughter him so badly in his own levels.

In other news, Jay and his fiancee got a new car yesterday (no, it wasn't a Ferrari) and are still coming to terms with their newfound mobility. They can actually drive places now.

Check out these web sites: http://www.lith.com and http://www.blood.com.

#### Update: 08/23/96

Not much work got done yesterday (8/22). Everyone here is aching from riding jet skis at the company party. We and our guests went down to a local lake (Sammamish) and rented a bunch of jet skis for the whole day. Plenty of food, fun and drinking made for a great party. Now it's back to the grind. Everyone will be here tomorrow to compete in the chosen Death Day games - Industrial Quake and Blood.

We managed to sneak in a little programming even though we got strapped creating some paperwork for the big boys at 3DRealms and interviewing people for some future projects.

Kevin has been detailing the Tchernobog model and adding hanging bits of rotting flesh. After painting it, digitizing should begin in a week or so.

Jay reworked some older levels with new effects and tightened them up for BloodBath play. He's also been teaching some new level designers the nuances and features of MapEdit - they all know it beats the competition hands down.

I got bored late one night and came up with some friendly anagrams for a few game companies - see if you can figure them out. If you don't know what an anagram is, look it up. :) The first one is easy.

1. DIE, SOW FART!
2. ERE ST. DAHLMER (or RESET DAHLMER for those of you not familiar with Old English)
3. I DO HURT TO SEED

#### Update: 08/16/96

Artwork: Added sequences for a humorous additions to our creature list. The Fly takes serious advantage of our 3D sound spacialization code and is pretty annoying. We're not giving away any details on what the Fly is or does just yet, but it is both humorous and satisfying.

Kevin has the HellStaff artwork nearly complete and Kevin replaced another weapon to test it. This is absolutely the best looking/feeling weapon in the game, and may even become favoured over the Voodoo Doll.

Levels: Finished off the Mall map and put it into internal playtest. Kevin will be adding some new art to support this level. Jay is organizing Death Days for our internal staff to compete against each other in the various multiplayer games. Blood is at the top of the list, of course.

Programming: Tidied up some menu and interface code. Started coding AI for the Fly.

#### Update: 08/09/96

Programming: Added in-game keyboard configuration. Players don't have to exit net/modem games to reset their key mappings anymore.

Artwork: Kevin continued his mission to eradicate normal sprite items from the game. Almost all items and objects use the new renderer. The new Blood logo is also beginning to look very impressive.

Levels: More internal BloodBath testing on Dark Lab and House of Horror. Jay started an untitled map with a mall theme, which he says is a tribute to Dawn of the Dead. We're also going through maps to add more ambient sound effects, tricks and traps.

#### Update: 08/02/96

Programming: The level testing has been going well and the few bugs that have shown up are being squashed. Mike is spending some time on the network code which we hope to significantly enhance. Nick took a "break" to get his computer running again after it was corrupted by the update to the mail program. (Thanks for being patient Joe!)

Level Design: Jay built the "Dark Laboratory" and put it into limited playtest (3 net players). With the synchronized lightning and sound effects it feels like Frankenstein's lab. The stacked sectors made this BloodBath level feel much bigger than it really is.

Artwork: Kevin reworked more items into the "better than polygons" technology. We may change some of the hazards like the spike, machine gun and flamethrower traps to the new 3D rendering system too.

In order to keep loading time to a minimum, only the current month's entries will be on this page.
You can get older months pages via this index.

1. December 1996
2. November 1996
3. October 1996
4. September 1996
5. August 1996
6. July 1996
7. June 1996