For make great the viewing pleasure of constituent enjoyers, here is a video debut of the latest Terminus Machina features including:
* Wireless internet and hacking (sniffing, decryption, using malware)
* Realtime minimap
* Item invention/craft/scrapping system
* The EMP rifle used to temporarily disable robotic counterinsurgency soldiers.
* Siphoning electricity from the grid using the Powersink.
* Social engineering using the Nohface electronic persona mask.
* Getting the living **** blown out of you by a police state drone like some North African oil-rich dictator disobeying his/her American leash holders.
At present, Terminus Machina is rapidly approaching the demo release phase, which will initiate once I can get a bit more of the content (characters+voicings, models, UI) hung up on the armature of the new coding edifice. Most of the core Unrealscript modification is completed, I'd estimate 60%. As such, I'm still in need of:
* voice actors
* modelers
* texture artists
* mappers
* music
I'm going to be taking a two week techno sabbath (vacation) to detox from all the 4G EM radiation, flouride in the water, and car-crash television that comes with living in a major US city. I'll still be checking in daily via a ZX-81 calculator connected through 14.4 kbps dial-up, but I will be beginning a brief hiatus working on Terminus Machina till 4 AM trying to build fifty games into a 20,000 x 20,000 BSP cut. I will be trading the HERF rifle for the quill, focusing on more writing of story and script. All voice actors/actresses please continue your brilliant and dilligent work and send it in when you can as I will be available to review it.
Kudos to the voice actors GamerShelke, RedGiraffe, Firestorm9000m and Neveos for hashing their larynges working on my long winded soliloquies. Special thanks to all the TNM folks who spared my receding hairline many a grey strand with unmatched troubleshooting assistance with the archaic DX engine.
Thanks to all the fans and supporters for your continued support, for without your encouragement this mod would almost certainly succumb to the black hole that is IRL tribulation and lazy consumption of back seasons of Dark Angel.
Now I must disconnect from this sweltering Tunisian cafe's glacial internet before the Bilderberg Cartel sends one of these babies across the Atlantic to hound down my IP address.
The identity stealing system is really cool. While other games have done it, it's still very much a fresh concept. Keep on the good work.
I really enjoyed this demo video. It really showcases what you're going after, and I have to say that the scale of it is quite ambitious. Even more importantly, one get's "the sense" of the environment. It's quite immersive on an emotional level - this is not an easy task, but you're nailing it, so kudos to you.
I wish that Deus Ex's engine was better at capturing nighttime environments and lighting, as it's pretty clear from what you've shown thus far that most of it takes place at night. The UT Community SDK ( Moddb.com ) has made great strides in enhancing and expanding the engine's original capabilities - how much of these enhancements is possibly applicable to your work here?
Also, the EMP-rifle's firing effect seems odd to me. All of the electrical effects are right in the player's face, whereas I'm expecting to see an electrified bolt to travel out to the target that's being affected. To me, it would better convey the cause and effect that's taking place on the target's systems.
Keep up the great work. Impressive.
Thanks, I'll have a look at the UT community SDK. I'm actually considering changing the final skybox for that level to a hazy reddish sky , although I haven't gotten around to it yet.
I've been wondering about the best way to make the EMP rifle firing work visually. I was thinking a sort of dimming/static-ey effect to suggest a slight affect on the player's systems. A real EMP gun doesn't actually emit any visible electrical effects, though I suppose a bolt of electricity could be a better trade-off of visual impact for full realism. I guess I'll try that.
What about two little bolts, like in a stun gun. But, instead of using wires, they might be charged in a wireless-like idea.
So, any idea on the release date?
very impressive, fresh, ambitious. A hacking oriented FPS shooter, which I haven't seen before. Deus Ex Human Revolution featured this but it was more of a mini-game that didn't have any near the focus you've put into it. I'm really looking forward to this, like Uplink but with a real world to explore and converges the cyber and real world like I've never seen before.