Okay, so I'd forgotten just how tiring Savage matches are to play... I feel like I`ve done a night at MOS minus the pack of Pro Plus and the four RedBulls. J Anyway, as per usual I have to commend the Savage Admins, especially Chrono who covered our Spooks vs ck game, for another top dollar performance. Everything went without hitch despite some fooling with connection probs from Jig, but that didn't take long to sort out and the match passed without problem. Well played to ck, they got off to a nice start at the beginning of the first half and it took us a good 15 minutes to get our sh*t together and start clocking up caps. Links to demos of the match were kindly put up by Chrono on the Savage webboard with a couple of other first week classics. Anyways, good start to the season all round methinks....

A couple of people mailed inquiring where the promised update about Redwood`s trip to id Software to play test Quake 3 Arena had gone. Well my only excuse for that I'm afraid is somewhere at the bottom of a bottle of Creme de Caco and a litre of pineapple juice, so my most sincere apologies. That and the fact he'd gone out for the evening so I hadn't seen him before we started drinking. J Still, said update is now taking place so I hope the wait wasn't too long....

Due to an excessively painful hangover and the left overs of Savage induced adrenaline the conversation had very little structure to it so please excuse me if this update reflects that. I'm far too far gone to think logically and sort it out into some sort of meaningful order. =)

Well first things first, I mentioned the rail yesterday so that's a good place to start. Anyone wanting to take a look at the new rail trail will get similar results by setting:

...in their Quake3Test config, which I'm sure you'll all agree is a hell of a lot easier to aim with. From the general impression I got from Sean it seems they've opted for the thinner rail trail during the final stages of weapon balancing, making it a little easier to use up close in confined spaces where it had looked a lot like a flashlight beam rather than a subsonic particle's vapour trail. To this extent Sean also mentioned the machine gun has not only had it`s spawning ammo cut in teamplay, but it's general damage per round has also be reduced to take away it's impact a little more and force freshly spawned players to search for an alternative. Same goes for the lightning gun, although that he says is still as lethal despite the lower damage, and the BFG which some will have seen in the ihv leak now has travel time (ableit a very small one) as opposed to being a hitscan weapon.

Along with finer tuning to the weapon balance the game also now looks a lot more polished, with the graphical side of setting up a server, config management and actually joining a server and playing a game itself looking and feeling more like a final product than a test release. From really minor but aesthetically pleasing things such as the animated console background which changes to display an artist's impression shot of the level you're about to join and the icons for each model that the renderer loads being displayed whilst joining the level, to major changes like the undisclosable but gorgeous sounding teamplay HUD, new power up effects and player models. All in all, it's sounding a lot closer to the high standard you'd expect from an id release.

Moving away from graphics and weapons we chatted for a whie about the game modes and bot AI that Unreal Tourney has been so vastly praised for. id, it seems, is following a similar route to Half Life and Epic by having all modifications accessible within the one exe rather than externally on the command line, allowing a player to select map, mod and server configuration without having to drop from the program back to their OS. Currently it still stands at those modes of game play available within the test plus CTF, tho it sounded as tho id Software is toying with other ideas before final release. It seems that in a similar sense to mapping, now the foundations are in place, creating such changes takes very little time and effort, allowing the team to focus on the task in hand and be spontaneous rather than struggling over development tools. This will give them much more freedom to be creative and knowing the pressure cooker atmosphere from .plans during the development of Quake 2 I expect we'll see some classy ideas appearing during the last few months running up to release that slide rather unexpectedly into the package.

The internal CTF release, (currently it seems Zoid will be working on his own version of CTF externally, but this came across very vaguely and I'm sure John or someone on the team will clear this up when Sean updates Stomped later tonight) is moving away from the legacy of ThreeWave, following Epic`s example and currently omitting the grapple. Tho this may change before final, Sean said the maps slated for CTF are very much designed around pushing team work to get the flag carrier into the enemies base and home safely without relying on one man heroic`s aka the grapple or Star Trek throw backs like the Translocator, both of which work amazingly in practice but are judged to detract from the team play element. The mod is also devoid of runes and tech devices following the trend set in the new deathmatch style of having nothing "permanent" to horde, instead using temporary power ups such as invisibility and regeneration, leaving games much more open and relying more on basic skill and cunning rather than which team gets the power amp first. I can imagine many will argue that the changes go completely against the epic nature of CTF, taking away the opportunity for those grueling nights of attack after attack on a well planned defense and the thrill of finally breaking through and making that run back to base, but at the same time I can see it leading to a much more demanding and faster paced game that flows well rather than grinding to a halt every now and then when both sides dig in with the enemy flag. I can see people arguing that id is once again "dumbing" down the game for mass market appeal, but I'll reserve judgment on that one for now.

When I last spoke to Sean after a playtest I was very adamant that he go back and stress just how life like and scary the UT bots were and how much ground id were likely to have to catch up on, but his words this time put my mind to rest. I think he sums it up nicely:

<Carla> are they life like?
<Carla> or just dumb like the erasers?
<Redwood> said you will be able to setup a cycle of maps to play bots on, just go in and select their graphic, click on them all and it sets that cycle up for you to play.
<Redwood> well I like eraser bots, but what do you mean by life like?
<Carla> um
<Carla> particular styles of play
<Carla> fav weaps and moves etc etc...
<Redwood> they have particular styles of play and stuff, yes
<Carla> or are they all autotonomous killing machines with differing levels of accuracy?
<Redwood> Fing major pisses me off jumping my shots all the time. Some duck more, some just rail shit out of you.
<Carla> heh
<Redwood> some tend to go for health if hurt more, some are more aggressive
<Redwood> Sarge was still kicking my arse grr
<Redwood> Thankfully they aren`t super machine gun aimers any more heh

Hopefully in a similar vein to say Mortal Kombat, when we get X bot`s name appear on the to-be-fought-next screen we'll feel the same familiarity, and will think, "ah, that biatch Athena" rather than "oh, another bot, only with slightly higher attributes than the last one..."

I think the poster Steed released not long ago of Visor and Slash dancing together is typical of the sort of advertisements we can expect to see over the next couple of months, building on the personalities and characteristics we will find in the arena as a selling point for the game, unlike the somewhat faceless and clone like UT bots.

Either way, Sean's words on AI did put my mind to rest.

As for maps and stüffe, I was told to expect the usual high standard we've come to expect from the Texas success story, with each map geared toward a particular theme or method of play giving everyone something to like and look forward to on the public server cycle, again reinforcing the drive for accessibility and pace that is echoed throughout the entire game.

In a nutshell, it would seem that despite the doubts brought to mind by Quake3Test induced boredom, the apparent lack of activity from the team, and the recent release of the UT to much acclaim, id are actually listening to what's being said and working away behind the scenes to bring us something special. As to whether or not it is, or just an arcade game your kid brother will love, is another question...

Anyway, enough Quake 3. Thought I'd post the following screenie out of amusement. This has to a bit of a landmark, it also shows just how sad my dearest sister is at times.... Believe it or not, that frag count was achieved, without dying. J

Also, while I'm on the topic of cool piccies, I'll kill two birds with one stone by giving you this:

....for your visual consumption. Was chatting to Pix after my last update about who'd done my homepage button and he sent me this as a laugh. I`ve alos received a couple of mails asking what happened to the Quake Mental Hospital and Paul2 who I raved about so often last time around on the column, so click on the nice piccie and it'll whisk you away to Paul`s column on B0rk.co.uk. =)

Right, well it's getting late, and I think I'm done for the night. Quick shout out to my dearest honi Luna who helped me remember just why I spent six months playing Ra2, and a quick thanks muchly to Redwood for the goss on Quake 3 Arena. Keep those fem sites coming in cos I'm slowly putting together a healthy looking list for your entertainment at a later date.

Night all,
C.

an you say, booooyyyaaakkkaaaa???? J

Cocktail of the Day Urgh no... Not another mention of alcohol till this hang over`s gone ta muchly... And yes I know, it's my own bloody fault. =P