Blood Development Update - September '96

## BLOOD DEVELOPMENT - SEPTEMBER 1996

#### Update: 09/30/96

We powered up Blood's HellStaff weapon, making the alternate fire an almost instant death weapon - if you can get close enough without getting a shotgun to the face. The HellStaff receives the power of your target's soul when you destroy him. Don't use the HellStaff Blast on zombies though, it just wastes ectoplasmic energy.

Ken changed around how the video system works in the Build engine. Blood now has in-game, on-the-fly video mode switching in addition to the dynamic key mapping we added to Blood a few weeks ago.

Corpses rot away instead of just disappearing - now if we could just get rid of those damn flies. Explosions now have twice the previous radius, calling for another round of playtesting the shareware maps.

Friday night Blood appeared front page on c|net. Check out www.cnet.com to see their exclusive on Blood!

NOTE:
Effective immediately, the day that the new updates will appear will now be Monday, as opposed to Friday, like it used to be.

#### Update: 09/20/96

INNOCENT BYSTANDERS BLOWN AWAY BY BLOOD!

Kevin completed the first Innocent Bystander model. The first dude is a scrawny prisoner that can be shot, burned or blown to bits - all the while screaming and letting other players know right where you are. The death frames are also done, but weren't ready at the time the first screen shots were taken. More screenshots will follow. The second innocent is more like the hookers in Duke, in that they do not walk around. Still, killing them is far more hilarious than killing a chick. We aren't saying who the second innocent is, just that he fits in with the "DARK CARNIVAL" and "HOUSE OF HORRORS" level themes.

Found a new and unique use for the Crystal Ball besides spying on your opponents. Jay created a new map, "CRADLE TO GRAVE", that has become our new death match favorite. It will likely be positioned as the first shareware map.

Nick has been fixing editor bugs in the art tools, making them more useful for artists and preparing them for release when Blood ships. And speaking of release dates, the Official Word from 3D Realms is "When it's done." We appreciate all your mail with questions and comments about Blood, but please don't inundate us with e-mail asking us when the shareware version will be out. The game will get done when it's done and will kick ass over every other 3D multiplayer/network games. Just let us keep on working and providing weekly updates and we'll all stay happy.

Ken Silverman will be here for a couple of weeks to work on Blood's net and modem code for the DOS version. Maybe he will enhance the 3D sprite editor for doing 3D characters while he's here. Keep watching. We'll let you know about any new groundbreaking changes.

#### Update: 09/13/96

Added the taunt message and macro interface to Blood. Started on the RTS sound effect playback mechanism. Modified Blood's cheat code system to work more like a couple of other multi-player strategy games we play around here. Instead of typing the cheat codes sight-unseen, you now hit the SendMessage key and type in the cheat code text.

Craig is still finishing off "THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS", his fantastic train station map. BloodBath is fast and furious and the map is just big enough to make single play exploration scary and fun. There's a really cool room where zombies rip through the walls and come after you full bore. It scares the hell out of everyone who plays it.

Kevin is still working on the Innocent models. Apparently he had an accident with the foam latex, and can't even talk without coughing up bits of foamy goodness. The Official Blood Home Page at www.blood.com is looking awesome, especially the new ScreamShot(tm) area. Check it out.

On the home front, Kevin's and Nick's wives are pregnant, which means they've been doing far more than programming and artwork lately. (Hey, that almost sounds like bigamy, but it's grammatically correct.) Craig likes it so much here in the Northwest he is thinking about moving closer to work to bicycle in. Little does he know how much it rains here in the winter. Hehe..

The answers to the anagrams posted a few weeks ago are as follows:
DIE, SOW FART is ID SOFTWARE
ERE ST. DAHLMER is 3D REALMS (with the 3 spelled out.)
I DO HURT TO SEED is STUDIO 3DO

#### Update: 09/06/96

Made Blood's weapons more powerful now that armor has changed a bit. Finished off the Napalm Cannon. The projectile is a large, smoking fireball that does massive concussion and fire damage to the victim. The are a little faster than flares used to be, with a wide concussion and flame area of affect.

Sped up the flares, gave them more impact damage and less burn time, making them far more accurate and deadly. You still get a nice toasty feeling when flares stick in your chest and melts away your fire armor. Double barrel blast from the shotgun is way more hefty. Single barrel blast remains the same, but is more accurate and faster to pop off. The Tommy Gun (with or without the AP power-up) just rocks now that the damage has been tripled. Next stop - HellStaff, Voodoo Doll and Spray Can power increases.

Finishing touches on levels and the new Blood Home Page continues...

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