In the first of our monthly content updates, we will show you a couple of our weapon models that will be included in the first beta, a player model, and a couple of notes from myself, "Aneurexorcyst" and our lead programmer, "Nighthawk".
First up is the Colt Python, returning from our previous release. This medium frame revolver packs a punch and houses six .357 Magnum rounds.
Second we have another weapon from our previous release, the Tula Tokarev 33 as seen in the Hard Boiled teahouse scene. This large Soviet service pistol carries a magazine containing eight 7.62x25mm TT rounds.
Our final pistol render this month comes in the form of the common Beretta M92FS. This high quality and popular weapon holds a magazine containing fifteen 9x19mm Parabellum rounds.
Finally our first automatic, the IMI Mini-Uzi. Common as muck and used everywhere, again returning from our first release. A medium frame Israeli SMG, carries a clip of twenty-five 9x19mm Parabellum rounds.
Now onto our first player model, Shing Chen (also known as Ken Shing).
Shing Chen is a respected member of the White Lotus triad in Kowloon. Devoutly Catholic, Shing prays every night to his heavenly father for the strength to undo his enemies, and the patience to wait for the right time to strike at the Black Lotus and give them the justice they rightly deserve. For more information on Shing Chen, check his profile on the media page, here.
We also must welcome several new team members:
- "the_fgdf" has joined as our player modeller and will handle all things organic within OperaWorld™
"A2D" or "Andrew2D" is our dedicated weapon skinner, we hope to show some of his work on the above weapons next month.
"Rifter" is our new animator and will be handling the very complex and stylish animations we have planned...
"Reino" has just joined Genn to complete the (rather large) weapons list.
"SoulEscape" is on board as our resident sound engineer.
Now a little from our lead programmer informing you on our (fast) progress...
- The Half-Life 2 SDK has been a joy to work with.
In the past week I have accomplished what took me several months in HL1: I'd say we have about 90% of the movement code done, mixed akimbo done, damage handling, action meter, client-side effects, etc...
Even did some things that will be staples of The Opera, such as diving through glass. You can ask any team member that's tried the latest Alpha: we would love to have a map made entirely of glass panes that we can dive through.
The SDK does come with its share of weirdness. I'm not 100% sure if the source provided in the SDK is the same source that's used in game for HL2, but there is one major thing that's apparently broken in the SDK: player collision with physics object. We hope that the latest HL2 update, which includes the HL2DM code base, will resolve that issue. But, for now, I've modified the existing SDK so much that it'll take me a bit to compare and contrast changes.
Also, third person mode doesn't work. At all. The command's there, but the player model isn't drawn. This is beyond bizarre to me; why include the function and the code when it doesn't render properly?
Development is going faster than expected, ten-fold faster than it did for HL1. The fact that I know where everything is and have experience in doing certain things helps, but if the SDK wasn't structured the way it was and wasn't as robust as it is it'd still be a long haul.
I've heard a lot of people complain that you have to "create everything from scratch" in HL2. Is this really a problem? I do that anyway, so what's the deal? I know the HL2 SDK is not meant for novice programmers, and you got to know how things work together, but it's not impossible.
Heck, I got "mixed akimbo" working in ONE DAY, literally. You know what's even more interesting: HL2 already has code in it for some sort of "mixed akimbo", or at least distinct left and right view models (it supports up to four view models, actually). And it's wrapped around comments that emphasize "TF2"... Hmmm...
Very soon now I see myself getting involved with the player models and the trench coat. We have added personnel in this department, and expect to see some wonderful things come out of it.
Finally, there's Persistence. Right now in the Alpha build persistence is a server plug-in, and will probably remain as such. I don't quite know the functionality that will be provided with it, but expect some sort of Persistence in the first publicly available Beta.
Anyway, stay tuned for bigger and better things!
Next month expect more weapons, players and a sneak peek at one of our maps... and don't forget to vote for us over at the moddb top 100!
cool stuff :D its just that somehow i'm worried about my frame rate...
Content is being tested and so far frame rate has been fine :)