[CANCELED] OutbreakX

[DarkSynbios]

WOW so far! Excellent work man!!!

[mazonemayu]

[KGRAMR]

I love that cityscape that you've done.

[111]

There is still a considerable lack of details (like missing doors, street lamps, trashcans, billboards etc) but thanks everyone. Sorry it takes so long, designing a 3d level turned out to be a much complicated thing to do than I thought.


And to answer one of the possible questions: no, I have no plans for "open world" levels, unfortunately. While I do like the idea I'm definitely not a person capable of porting GTA3 or something (this would require implementing some kind of "stage streaming system" at least, and the current world partitioning is very basic to put it lightly). Still, I'd like to try that someday (using official SDK for various reasons), at least the "streaming" part.



(also hooray for the "developer" status I guess)

[Omnibot2000]

That looks marvelous, thanks for hanging in there!
Regarding using the official SDK: I'd not recommend to use this for THIS project (and I guess you were only referring to be able to use "streaming" in general). I hope that this game will see an epic physical release someday, with pressed disc, and all that fancy stuff. The moment you use the official SDK would be the moment when this hope dies ...

[111]

That looks marvelous, thanks for hanging in there!
Regarding using the official SDK: I'd not recommend to use this for THIS project (and I guess you were only referring to be able to use "streaming" in general). I hope that this game will see an epic physical release someday, with pressed disc, and all that fancy stuff. The moment you use the official SDK would be the moment when this hope dies ...

thanks!
And yes, I'm aware that everything related to official SDKs is illegal and even forbidden to discuss on the dreamcast forums, at least when it comes to commercial use.
Originally, I planned to work on 2 versions of my framework i.e. one using KOS, and another using Katana. The second one was supposed to be an "upgrade" to compensate everything I could not implement using KOS, so I can get the best possible result.

Some of the reasons to use Katana:
- ninja library (really neat framework with a lot of useful stuff already done for you)
- dynamic lighting
- 3dsmax export plugins (triangle strips + animations)
- better documentation
- better sound system
and so on.
I'm not saying it's not possible to utilize certain hardware features with KOS, but I'm not the type of person who enjoys digging into "low level" stuff, I'd rather have something stable and ready to use. No disrespect to all KOS contributors, but it's hardly on the same level as Katana (which is something with millions of $ put into it's development) and\or Microsoft's SDK. But that's just my opinion.

[Anthony817]

Plus, it has been over 15 years since it was discontinued, and nobody can even get a license from Sega or Microsoft to use those libraries. Anyways, all it takes is for 1 person to see if they can get away with releasing it with no repercussions and if all goes well then others might actually follow suit. You have to admit Dreamcast homebrew is never really on par with retail stuff except for maybe Half-Life mods, as that is a decent gaming engine we can actually mod.

Anyways, you have all of us in the community cheering for you and it is great to see a dev with balls to test it.

[Omnibot2000]

@111: I'm sure that it IS tempting to use the SDK and it would most certainly result in a "better" game. Maybe it is not even problematic because nobody cares today. But if I were you, I wouldn't use it. It would be a shame if potential publishers would decline a deal just because of this. Believe it or not, you can make good money with DC games. STURMWIND sold over 5000 units despite redspotgames awful work as a publisher and maybe there will be a reprint.
If you are willing to create two versions and make the SDK-version free for download, I wouldn't complain though but I honestly still have my doubts that a project of THIS size by only one person will be finished at all. But your progress is amazing. So this is only an advice by me, if you want a reward that goes beyond the praise of the scene, keep it "clean"

@Anthony: Take a look at STURMWIND and repeat that. And Midsummer will blow you away

[Anthony817]

Sure, Sturmwind is an exception. However it is still a pseudo 2.5d game. Not true 3D but still impressive. The reason I mentioned Half-Life mods is that it is a "retail" engine and one of the only 3D engines people can even posh the system with not counting the homebrew FPS engine ports.

[Omnibot2000]

Yes, I'm not a coder but as 111 confirmed, it must be far more comfortable to develop a 3D game with the SDK. I agree with you that it could result in a "3D boost" in the scene if one dev would take the risk and would be getting away with it.
There is one KOS-based title that looks compareable to the best looking commercial FPS though:
http://youtu.be/B3E3RSC8Tdg
So it seems possible to max out the hardware using KOS, but it is far less convenient.