- Written by BlasTech.
Well hello there.
Missed us? Dreaded that the project died? Guess again! Even though it's been almost 9 months (heh..!) since our last published developer diary and way too few dev screenshots, we are far from inactive behind the curtain. This might have been our problem in releasing updates, but from now, we hope to bring back a winning concept in the shape of smaller but frequent diaries. So, apologies for the delays, and let's move on to the diary!
For those who have been around from the very start, it has now been 3 years since the current incarnation of Jedi Knight Galaxies was first announced back in 2008. But man, we've come a long way..! What we currently have most progress in is the combat area - at the moment, JKG features an incredible array of 74 weapons, all available in-game! Combat in JKG is extremely diverse, ranging all the way from paralyzer pistols, blaster rifles, accelerated charged particle guns, flame throwers, slug thrower carbines to man-held mortar launchers and much, much more! As we have revealed in our previous developer screenshots, a fraction of our weapons include the DH-17 Blaster Pistol used by the Rebel Alliance soldiers, the massive DC-15A Plasma Blaster Rifle used by the old Republic's troopers during the Clone Wars, its Imperial counterpart - the T-21 Light Repeating Blaster, as well as a classic from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 and Mysteries of the Sith - the Sequencer Charge, a very handy demolition item. And this is still not even the top of the iceberg - we have lots from various aspects of the Star Wars universe, ranging from the movies to RPGs like SWG, shooters like the Jedi Knight series, Republic Commando and Battlefront, as well as our very own, never-before-seen designs.
Now, we don't just have weapons to tease you with. Our mappers are working hard on what we would like to keep a secret for a while longer, but I suppose we can give you some really good-looking work in progress screenshots. The following is early WIP by Arkan - an incredibly looking medical bay on [secret location], where players can seek medical aid and possibly be revived after being incapacitated in the field.
Along the way, BlasTech moved into the line of making droids. First off - the classical Viper Probe Droid completely retextured!
Continuing with refurbishing BaseJKA droids, the Marksman-H Training Remote also received a new texture. However, that was not enough... Throughout development, the remote went through a radical improvement model- and texture-wise.
The GNK Power Droid, R2D2 Astromech Droid and C-3PO Protocol Droid have also had their textures updated to comply with JKG standard, the first also by BlasTech, the two latter by Darth Phae.
Remember the X-34 Landspeeder by Karpman that we showed in Diary #25? It is now in-game, and I tell you... It's really fun to soar across the dunes of Tatooine in this.
Much as a response to the tremendous amount of weapons, we also have a fully functional inventory system thanks to joined efforts from Eezstreet and Xycaleth. It is still very basic and has a temporary UI, but brings a very important aspect of JKG to life.
I'll talk a little more about the diversity of JKG's combat. I mentioned flame throwers, didn't I? Well, what do flame throwers do? We'll let a video show! And since we're celebrating our third anniversary, I've given the participating developers (just me, Reven and BobaFett available at the time though - all big-time cheaters..!) free hands to use whatever they like here, which means some sneak peaks for you. As always, this is a Work in Progress. Disregard any concerns on the map, we're mostly here to show you the fire damage type and our effects. Enjoy!
As you also can see, the thermal detonator explosion effects have been redone to be slightly less intrusive on gameplay (the previous version was very intrusive on visibility), and... well, on the whole, many effects have been altered since the New Year diary. A nice touch - there is no longer even a spec left on BaseJKA's effect assets used in JKG - everything uses BlasTech's own work.
To wrap up this pretty large update, I'd like to introduce the concept for some of the armor variants you may encounter in JKG by our very own Sharpie. Really nice artwork.
Keep in mind that everything should be considered Work In Progress - a modder's work is never truly finished... With that said and done, this is all we'll reveal this time. Hopefully it won't be the same long wait for our next update. BT over and out.
Love and dedication
- the Jedi Knight Galaxies Development Team
Amazed. Thats my state.
Excellent music. I would like to have the BSO
Great!