ambershee

Luke Parkes-Haskell joined Oct 25, 2003

I'm a Contract Unreal Programmer currently located in London, UK. I studied Computer Games Programming at the University of Derby. I enjoy mucking about with various games in my spare time, amongst other things. I spend a lot of time working with local bands and have an interest in gigging and promotion.

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Blog RSS Feed Report abuse Latest Blog: Rantings of Programmerman #5

0 comments by ambershee on May 1st, 2008 digg this super bookmark

You may not have heard much out of me for the past few weeks - but that certainly doesn't mean anything is going on. For the past five weeks, me and some of the more veteran Shee Labs crew have been working our socks off to create a prototype game using Unreal Tournament 3. You'll probably never get to see it, but it will be showcased at The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Zurich next week.

So what's the point? Well, it was an important exercise in team work (and a way of helping out a friend finish up their university coursework!) before we embarked on something a little bigger.

The next step, in case you missed the little recruitment drive in the forums, is a proper, public project.

It started out as a game mode, derived from the five week project, however it rapidly mutated into a monster. We had originally set our deadline to the third week in June - it all seemed so easy for our couple of programmers and our artist. Then design kicked in. We haven't even started yet, and we've decided to bring in the specialists, have doubled (looking to quadruple) the size of the team.

We're working on a small total conversion now instead; this isn't just a game mode for UT3, this is a whole new setting and way to play. It needs a complete scrubbing of the original assets, and the creation of entirely new ones. We're working on some new nuances in game dynamics, giving the visuals a much stronger tying in to the action; rather than having them a pretty overlay to the game - using advanced shader and camera techniques to signify more than eye candy. We even have a budget put aside for extra assets, are working on online ranking stables, and we're going to be filming live action sequences to overlay into the game environment! - something unheard of in a mod yet, as far as we're aware.

We're still aiming to release third week of June.

It's going to be a long stretch, but consider this the first (very quiet) official announcement of Shee Labs Game Development's 'DataRun'.

Until next time!

AmberZ

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The time has come to decide 2007's elite and what a great year it has been for mods and games alike. We've seen numerous games score 10/10 and now it...

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The Art Institute Online & Alienware challenges you to bring forth your single most striking, awe inspiring and breathtaking original game art. We want...

Escapist Magazine

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The Escapist Magazine is home to some of the best Game reviewers on the net, and I'm here to post it all here onto this Group.

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Comments (40 - 50 of 291)

Bunnyjen Dec 27 2007, 5:22pm says:

lol I haven't played it...i'm just modding it :P

+1 vote reply to comment

Baart Dec 27 2007, 7:13am says:

hi Ambershee, happy new year etc! :<

+1 vote reply to comment

Gin Dec 24 2007, 5:32am says:

Merry Christmas Shee! Don't drink too much but have one for me. Oh and one for moddb. Oh and one for video games. Oh and one for England. Oh and one for the States.(we'd love to have you, haha) Oh and one for......Wait. That's like 5 already right? Ok do the rounds for your health, relatives, friendship, and then get to those.;)

Merriest of Christmas' to you Shee!^____^

+1 vote reply to comment

Gin Dec 23 2007, 3:27am says:

When playing a game, most people will say out loud,"this is retarded." But being retarded is the simple anecdote of referring to vegetables. But when you say vegetable it makes you think of a plant. If anything I can't see how a game could make you feel like broccoli. But I can sympathize with that of a boiled egg.

When it's overdone, it's rather dry in the middle....

+1 vote reply to comment

Ennui Dec 16 2007, 11:59pm says:

Hey mate! Appreciate the work you're doing to help others out with UT3 modding. I'm trying to get into UnrealScript and frankly don't know much of anything at all about modding for Unreal, since I've been working with Half-Life/Source for years, and your tutorials and downloads are a big help.

+1 vote reply to comment

Gin Dec 16 2007, 6:01pm says:

I found myself listening to the HL2 soundtrack and realized how much it sucked ass and lacked any variation. So I thought of you.:) Not to say you suck ass or lack variation. ;)

+1 vote reply to comment

mikejkelley Dec 7 2007, 7:49pm says:

Hi, thnx for the comment re: great media, and you're right the coding is a long ways off, I haven't even started actually. I don't rly know where to start and I'll prolly be back here often asking for pointers if it's OK.

Also thnx for looking at the vid, it's an interesting workaround you've suggested, I'll look into it.

Thnx again!

+1 vote reply to comment

mikejkelley Dec 6 2007, 8:25am says:

Hey what's up ambershee. Thnx for the info re: vid cap apps. I recently made a video of an in-game DCD tour, but I'm not sure if I want to release it now or not. My concern is that ppl will attribute the vid cap app's frame dropping for poor character animations. If you want to take a look at it and tell me what you think, the vid is here;

Dcdthegame.com

Thnx for your time! :)

+1 vote reply to comment

BlckWyerve Dec 5 2007, 3:51pm says:

Man, I hate you. Every time I figure out a cool little thing, I go read something you've written and just feel like a complete moron for being proud of a totally worthless achievement in comparison. :P

+1 vote reply to comment

myles Nov 20 2007, 1:12pm says:

Thankyou amber for all your UT3 downloads,tut's and downloads it is very much appreciated, i would of done the same but as i cant get a copy of UT3 until xmas ill have to wait, thanks!

+1 vote reply to comment