• Recording a Video Series

  Mark Sowden • 2021-06-06 • Announcements, Video

  For those that aren’t aware, relatively recently the great folk over at Hidden Palace began dumping a large number of prototypes spread across a number of platforms as part of Project Deluge - you can find them here.

  A couple of weeks months ago I decided to start recording footage of each prototype, starting with those released in the first batch for the PlayStation 2, on original hardware (when possible). The original plan was to upload a video a day but a few technical issues got in the way of this so I’ve been a _little _bit slower than I would like, but I digress.

  For those interested, you can find the playlist available here.

  If this is of interest to you then I highly recommend subscribing to show your support and that will also mean you’ll know when each video comes out as I won’t be announcing them here.

  I’m somewhat prioritising those that are of interest to me first, hence the strange order, but my general hope is this should make quick analysis of these prototypes a little easier for those that aren’t able to run them for whatever reason.

  Going forward, starting with the Kill Switch video, all videos will also be archived here for anyone that wants an offline copy, particularly as I do not think YouTube is a good platform to use for preservation.

• Star Trek New Worlds Source Code

  Mark Sowden • 2021-03-12 • Announcements, Releases

  Today I’m happy to share the source code for Star Trek New Worlds. I’d acquired this a few years ago and was hoping to release it with a ready-to-build copy of the source code alongside it, but time was against me and that didn’t happen.

  As stated on the archive.org page, this includes a prototype build/demo of the game alongside the source code - with lots of other interesting bits to check out! It’s a goldmine for anyone interested in early game development as far as I’m concerned.

  The label written on the CD suggests this is the “final build” of the game, however I think this is more accurately the last build that Binary Asylum probably produced before they were removed from the project and development was handed over to 14 Degrees East.

  My understanding is this originated from the Climax lot, so it was likely sent to Climax to be used as a foundation for the Dreamcast version of the game.

  Anyway, you can find the download available here.

• Final Fantasy XV Source Tree

  Mark Sowden • 2021-02-11 • Game, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy XV, Source Tree

  A while back, a debug build of Final Fantasy XV which included a debug menu was accidently released by Square - you’ve probably seen this.

  Anyway, unsurprisingly, the build included strings pretty much outlining the entire source tree of the game and engine.

  For me, it’s interesting to look at as it demonstrates the seperation of the technology between ‘ebony’, ‘luminous’ and ‘reblack’, which as I understand it is a result of the lengthy development of the game and the culmination of two technologies coming together (i.e. Versus XIII’s own engine and the then new Luminous engine).

  I should emphasize, there is no actual source code here. Just an outline of the tree itself. Additionally be aware it’s not going to be 100% complete.

  If you want to check it out, you can take a look here.

• A Quick Look at the Shadow Man '97 Prototype

  Mark Sowden • 2021-01-01 • Article, Analysis, Game, Shadow Man (1999)

  Wait, what prototype? This one here.

  I came across this a while back and was surprised to see it. I was quite excited in what would be there to see given the age of the prototype and was sad to see very little discussion about it online.

  If you’ve never even heard of Shadow Man yourself, I might suggest picking it up digitally somewhere such as on Steam or GOG (or buy yourself a physical copy on eBay) - it’s a good ol’ third-person game based on a comic-book of the same name.

  Otherwise if you’re like me and have tried playing the game a number of times in the past but just haven’t had the time, perhaps take an opportunity to watch this pretty decent playthrough of the game.

  Continue reading

• Red Faction II Bounty Completion!

  Mark Sowden • 2020-12-12 • Article, Game, Red Faction II

  Just a heads up, but Zidane has completed a bounty provided on the bounty board and this time it’s a bounty to get Red Faction II’s level format reversed.

  While Zidane was unable to reverse the entirety of the level format, he’s reversed enough of it that the levels can now be converted to OBJ, fully textured and with entity meshes converted too. Great work!

  This should be incredibly interesting/useful for anyone looking to convert the models or levels to take a closer look at them.

  

  If you want to check it out for yourself, you can find it on GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket.

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