Pariah: News, Views and Attitudes

We have a winner...

2005-02-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

The winner of The Anvil's first wallpaper contest is eek. There were a lot of great entries which made it a difficult decision. I'm going to be adding a poll to this weeks contest so that forum members can vote on their favourite wallpaper.

Two new interviews

2005-02-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

There are two new Pariah-related interviews posted in the "Interviews" page of my site, The Anvil. The interview by Music4Games is with Tim Larkin and the interview by GameTactics is with James Schmalz. The Anvil is having some database issues but I've managed to squash the big bug that wouldn't allow users to register. Also, Morgan Page, of the Pariah Online Team is also reporting that a new trailer is due out in a few weeks. I have an inkling what the theme will be and I'm looking forward to it.

And just for fun, here's a cool Pariah wallpaper made by a fan. Click it to enlarge it.

Pariah Web Ring added

2005-02-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

I've added a new menu to the, uh, menu. It's called "Web Ring" and you can find it near the top of the right menu. So far both "Previous" and "Next" point to my blog so if you know of a Pariah site you think should be added to the Web Ring, contact me.

And just for fun, here's an image of a cool explosion. Click it to enlarge it.

Upcoming series and Forum changes

2005-02-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Digital Extremes is planning a 'Day in the Life of a Game Developer' series starting Feb 7, 2005. It should be interesting to hear about Developer experiences and opinions. First up is level designer Jim Russell.

To improve my website, The Anvil, I plan to add an advanced forum, a web ring, some sound (IE only) and, hopefully, some more languages, like German, Dutch and French.

Just for fun, here's a screenshot of a Bogie in the midst of a jump. Click to enlarge it.

New look. Same blog.

2005-02-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I've overhauled the entire blog to give it more of a Pariah focus. I'm also hoping to go to Digital Extremes again, sometime in March. I'm planning on getting the Pariah community involved by enabling them to fund my trip there. It would be great to playtest the PC demo and preview the PC tools. Also, a number of questions arose as a result of the last interview, so I'd like to see if I could get those answered as well. And just for fun, here's an image of a mounted dual-machine gun that you'll find in Pariah.

Blog wins 2nd place, Website wins 1st

2005-02-04T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a banner day for me. My site, The Anvil won first prize in the Pariah Online Teams website contest. My blog won 2nd place.

Here's a summary of the winners. Check 'em out:

Website contest:
1. The Anvil
2. pariahgame.de
3. pariahzone.de

Blog contest:
1. Netwin
2. Me
3. supervixengirl

After looking at the 1st place blog and reading the suggestions for better websites, I feel quite motivated to improve both. Look for some changes to the blog template coming soon.

The Anvil gets mentioned in several online mags

2005-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

I googled ["The Anvil" pariah] (without the brackets) and got a number of hits to magazines mentioning my recent visit to Digital Extremes. Pretty cool!

I also had a bit of a frustrating time on the Gravity Gun last night. I've been able to change the colour of the beam from green to red in the client but bots still shoot green beams. I don't know if it's bot code or server code that needs to be changed, but I should find out tonight when I playtest the gun with my brother-in-law. If you're playing UT2004, look for DieparBaby's Fatpipe.

No word on Xbox certification yet

2005-02-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

While I was at Digital Extremes last Thursday (January 27), I was told that the staff were hoping to submit Pariah to MicroSoft for Xbox certification (round 2) by Monday, January 31st. No word yet from DE so I'm willing to bet the game isn't as bugfree as they'd like it to be. Still it was looking very polished when I played it. I only found 1 or 2 bugs, neither of which were show stoppers, and heard of two more.

In other news, I made some great progress on the Gravity Gun for UT2004 last night. The primary mode now fires in short bursts of .25 seconds (still needs tweaking) and players can only fire once a second (also needs tweaking). Other tweaks needed are on the momentum transfer and the radius. I also have to prevent the weapon from being used on player/bots and it should only fire when there is an object in the line of site. Also, the momentum transfer should depend on the distance from the player.

The alt fire is going to the most difficult but I've got some idea of how to do it. Once the primary function is working the way I want then I'll move to the secondary function.

Wallpaper contest

2005-02-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

The Anvil's first wallpaper contest is coming along nicely. I've got 3 entries so far and I'm hoping for many more over the next week and a half.

I've restarted the gravity gun. This time I'm going to do a lot more planning and find out which methods should be used before I code.

Report on my visit to DE complete

2005-01-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

I just finished posting part 4 of my trip to Digital Extremes in Toronto. Check it out in the Features section.

Back from trip to Digital Extremes

2005-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a great day at Digital Extremes | Toronto. We talked shop, we played Pariah, we debugged code, we created maps and we ate over 300 chicken wings. Everyone there was so friendly and nice, I never felt that I was getting in the way. I even got to see a wicked preview of Dark Sector, the first person outside the games industry to do so.

Pariah is looking, sounding and feeling great. The multiplayer over the system link was particularly fun (even though I got smoked by the developers).

I got to play the first 2 levels of the single player game. The graphics are stunning and realistic with the addition of the bloom and blur algorithm. The water, in particularly, looked awesome.

The weapon upgrades are innovative, providing up to 32 weapons in your arsenal. The AI intelligently used cover and team play, surprising me a number of times. The action was fast and I had to use my best strategies to defeat the enemy.

The MAP editor is going to add so much value to this game. You will be able to upload and download maps (deathmatch, team deathmatch and seige) instantly to DE's Xbox live server. And if any of your friends on your "Friends List" have published maps, you'll be able to see and try their maps. DE will even take the best user created maps and list them as officials maps. Who knows, someone may get a job as a level designer because of a map they submitted.

Tomorrow is the big day

2005-01-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

I've sent the interview questions and wishlist into Meridith. Now I just have to wait.

Pariah release date set by Groove Games

2005-01-25T11:42:00.001-08:00

It's official. Groove Publishing announced that Pariah will be released on May 3, 2005 for the Xbox and PC. There is some disappointment on the Pariah forums but better late than never. That couple extra months could mean the difference between an A and an A+ game. You can read the announcement at The Anvil.

I'm very stoked about interviewing the DE staff on Thursday. I've got my list of questions compiled and I will be firing them off to Meridith Braun tonight along with a wish list. It's gonna be fun and hopefully boost activity at The Anvil.

I've made some more progress on the Gravity Gun for UT2004. I still need to make it a projectile/beam combination and cause it to regenerate once a second. Lots of fun.

Pariah release date set by Groove Games

2005-01-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

It's official. Pariah will be released on May 3, 2005 for the Xbox and PC. There is some disappointment about the late date on the forums but better late than never I say. You can read the announcement at The Anvil.

I'm very stoked about the upcoming interview at DE in Toronto. I should have all the questions finished and mailed to Meridith Braun by tonight. I will also be picking up a digital camera tonight from my buddy.

I've made some progress on the gravity gun for UT2004. I still need to make it a beam/projectile cross that regenerates only once a second. I love the investigation and learning.

New Pariah Trailer

2005-01-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

Looks like a new trailer for Pariah has been released. It features a lot of the weapons that we'll see in the game. You can pick it up in the Trailers page of The Anvil.

I've got quite a number of questions from fans to the Pariah developers. I still have to make up a list of my own. I've got quite a number in my head, mostly about the SDK.

I'm going to Digital Extremes!!!

2005-01-20T08:23:00.000-08:00

On January 27th I will be travelling to Toronto to interview the staff of Digital Extremes. I am so excited! I can't wait to meet the staff. I've created a forum especially for this event so that fans can submit questions for me to ask. I'll also have a pile of questions myself. If you want to submit a question, point your browser here.

Hopefully I'll be coming back with interview and gameplay video as well as lots of pictures and answers to questions. Keep watching The Anvil for updates.

Weapon and Vehicle Shorts

2005-01-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

I managed to grab 6 weapon and vehicle short videos from The Official Pariah Game Site. It took about 2 hours because I had to find a free flv2swf converter that didn't watermark the videos. You can view 4 weapon videos at the top of The Anvil and 2 vehicle videos at the bottom.

No news on the UT2004 front since I spent most of last night on the video shorts.

Pariah release dates

2005-01-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

Rumour has it that Digital Extremes will be announcing the release dates for the Xbox and PC version of Pariah today. I've emailed the PR department in hopes that The Anvil will be able to leak the dates.

In the "getting a job a DE" department, I've made some more progress on the gravity gun. I can now push and pull players, bots and vehicles. Now I have to tweak the settings, change the colour and import a new model. Whee!

Lots of updates to Pariah!

2005-01-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

We've added a ton of content to The Anvil including a recent interview with Tim Larkin, a preview by Computer and Video Games Online Magazine, the Pariah theme song and 14 new Xbox screenshots!

Xbox version submitted for certification

2005-01-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

According to Meridith Braun at Digital Extremes, the Xbox version was recently submitted to MicroSoft for certification testing.

We made our first submission to MS for Xbox certification this past weekend. We should hear the results in a couple days. In the meantime, we've split off the PC version of the game and have been working on customizing it more to the PC (i.e. menus, controls, gameplay tweaks, etc.) We're in the home stretch, the team is eager to complete it and see what people think when it ships in March!

Get those Xboxs warmed up people.

Pariah DNA codes

2005-01-10T09:05:00.000-08:00

There's a confirmed rumour going around that codes exist that will unlock features of the The Official Pariah Site. Join the M80 Pariah team and found out more about it here.

I hit another roadblock in the development of the Gravity Gun for UT2004. I'm sure I can handle it, I was just too tired last night to put much effort into finding the solution.

Xbox version in the last stages

2005-01-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

According to Meridith Braun (PRDiva), Digital Extremes is in the last stages of completing the Xbox version of Pariah. A playable demo will soon be available. You can read more about it here.

I made some progress on the Gravity Gun yesterday. The forums search really paid off. I'll be gone for the weekend but hope to do some very preliminary testing with Neil (my brother-in-law) on Sunday.

More updates to The Anvil

2005-01-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

This morning we finalized the header image and created a new background for The Anvil. I'm pleased with everything except the colour of the block headers, although it's not too bad.

I did a little work on the new weapon for UT2004 yesterday. It's still not working so I'm going to surf the forums. There should be lots of info about weapon replacement.

Lots of updates to The Anvil

2005-01-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've made quite a number of updates to my fansite: The Anvil. I expanded the Overview section, added a few FAQs, added a Characters section, added a Vehicles section, added a Weapons section, added an "In The Press" section, added a Requirements section nad added Articles, Interviews and Downloads sections.

On the UT2004 programming front, I've made an initial plan for coding a new weapon, similar to the Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2. The bare bones classes compiled fine but the mutator replace the Shield Gun with the Gravity Gun like I expected. O well. I've run into problems before and solved them so I'm not discouraged. It'll just take time, research and perserverance.

New Pariah render

2005-01-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

I've added a 5th render to the Media->Renders section of my Pariah website, The Anvil. It's a 4th image sequence of the development of Katrina.

In other news, the UT2004 modding continues to go well. Last night I learned how to create the SuperArena and Cooler mutators. My next mini-project is to learn how to modify the minigun.

I've also added 2 new links in the sidebar to Digital Extremes, the creators of Pariah, and Groove Games, their publisher.

Let the coding begin!

2005-01-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the digital wilderness I was forced to endure while at my in-laws. Today I'm updating my Pariah fansite with 8 trailers. Look for them around 5 pm EST. After watching the trailers I'm even more excited about this game, especially the upgradeable weapons in multiplayer.

In other news, I purchased UT2004 over the holidays with Christmas money from my Grandpa (Thanks Grandpa!). I even got it for half price. Once I installed UT2004, I setup the editor. Being accustomed to command line programming, I was discouraged at first by the UDE interface. But after going through all the drop down menus, I was relieved to see how easy it would be to do some scripting. So far I've created a couple of unoriginal but fun mutators. I'm very excited about creating my own game mode. I just have to be careful to plan, plan, plan first.

New Links

2004-12-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

I added three new links to the sidebar today. Be sure to sign up for the Pariah Team, visit the Official Pariah Site and visit my Own Pariah Site.

Did I mention how much I hate dial-up?

Minor update before Christmas

2004-12-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm down at my parents for the holidays and they've only got dialup. I don't expect to make any major changes to the Pariah website. I did change the name to "The Anvil: The UnOfficial Pariah Website". Sounds a little more masculine than PotPourri. I also did a bit of work on the sidebars. Most of the links currently point to the home page but after the holidays that will be fixed.

Have a safe and merry Christmas!

New Website! New Pariah Screenshots!

2004-12-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

I've started a Pariah FanSite called Pariah PotPourri: The UnOfficial Site. It stills need a lot of development but I have managed to upload a large number of screenshots and other images as well as start a simple forum.

In other news, Fappin.com has collected 5 new Pariah screenshots. You can view them via the Screenshots - PC link at Pariah PotPourri: The UnOfficial Site.

First step towards employment at Digital Extremes

2004-12-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

I've just finished generating UC programming reference pages for UT2003 and UT2004. They are automatically generated using a scripting language called Tcl/Tk. Pages include a colour coded hierarchy of classes and an alphabetical listing of classes. There is a reference page for each class which includes:

a link to the source code
a class hierarchy diagram
a list of #exec calls segmented into type and key/value pairs
a list of variables segmented into Actor Property, type (includes links to class page if type is a class) and name categories (includes links to source code)
a list of structs segmented into type and name (with links to source code)
a list of events segmented into type and name (with links to source code)
a list of functions segmented into type, name (with links to source code) and parameters (with links to class page if the parameter type is a class)
the default properties.

Link to UT2003 pages.
Link to UT2004 pages.

I could spend more time on them but I'm happy with their condition at the moment. Their primary purpose is to help me become intimate with the UT2003/4 classes. Once I know where the classes are and what their purpose is, I can get started on an idea for a mod. I'm betting that at least some of the Pariah UC code will be the same. And if it's not, I should be able to easily parse the code into reference pages. I'll find out more about that as soon as I've successfully registered at the Pariah forums.

First Blog Post

2004-12-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Every blog needs a first post. My primary objective is to report any significant news coming out of Digital Extremes and post my opinion on it. My secondary objective is to find out as much as I can about the scripting code base and its similarities and differences from the UT2004 code base. My tertiary objective is to create a mod of either UT2004 or Pariah and submit it to Digital Extremes along with my resume.