The first episode of BWL’s Video update is finished. It did, however, end up longer then I had anticipated originally and was thus divided into two parts.
In this episode we take a look at some project news including Cat-Life and our comics. We also visit the steam chat room briefly with our “From the Chat Room” segments. And our main topic of the day is machinima… what we see in other people’s works and what we hope to do with our three planned shows.
I suggest using the “Full Screen” option for watching this video. You’ll get more out of it I think.
Part 1
Part 2
In the end, this episode was delayed for a few extra weeks due to schedule issues mainly. And, given the subject matter’s resolutions, there is a fluctuation in the size of the letter boxing on most of the machinima topic. Also, there are a few errors that I left in simply because it would have been more trouble then necessary to repair.
This episode ran longer then my intended 15 minute time limit with the “From the Chat Room” features cut down to a few short minutes each. We had already realized that From the Chat Room could be a full audio program of its own and planned to release the full discussion separately. So be sure to check out our full “From the Chat Room” mp3 as hosted by ModDB.
The mp3 has been edited to cut out our long dead air pauses and many “uhms” and “ughs” plus a few other less important or classified bits of the discussion. The full session is around 35 minutes in length.
In future episodes, I plan to focus more on the “From the Chat Room” segment and use that more for our main topic and news sections as it really turned into more interesting discussion.
Thanks again to Syrus Rayne, Radu Iceman, and BiGToM for helping with that. As for why we chose to use steam instead of our Ventrilo server… well… the idea behind “From The Chat Room” is that members of our steam group can join in on the discussion at any time. It’s not meant to be a “podcast” as much as it is a chat room segment for the show.
Of course, that does mean there are some buggy moments with the audio in the full mp3 and a somewhat lower quality to the sound as compared to something like skype or a shout-cast service of some sort.
Originally imagined in 2003 as a mod for Half-Life, Cat-life has spent a great deal of time on hiatus over the years. After a long delay due to missing team leadership, the mod reorganized under current Team Cat-Life leader BiGToM. Yet the greatest missing component, a coder, remains absent. The biggest single set-back has been the cat’s POV code.
However, as has been stipulated before, this mod about a cat trapped and ownerless during the Black Mesa incident has plenty of lives left. Earlier this week, BiGToM announced that an older piece of code from prior efforts had been successfully implemented. The original code had been fraught with bugs such as monsters sinking into the floor. Nevertheless, after a lengthy wait for a new coder [a wait that included a cash reward], the early code was modified and fixed.
Now, with corrected code in hand, Team Cat-Life is able to wrap up other portions of the mod. With this news, the team has also announced a target date for the first stage of Open Beta testing. Expect to be able to download and play the Cat-Life beta in November.
The beta will also include additional bonus content including maps that were cut from the project and some of the original concept.
To help celebrate, I’ve asked BiGToM for some new screen shots for the gallery. We’ve now added four new images. Also, be sure to keep an eye on PHL, TWHL’s Forums, HL2Files, and our FPS Banana Account for this press release. I dispatched two “exclusive” screenshots to each of those sites with our news and those images will not be added to the gallery.
Also, and this is to clarify previous statements, the team does not intend to stop work on Cat-Life and switch over to the Source engine. There is, however, an ongoing discussion regarding the possibility of either converting a finished Cat-Life to Source or… more likely… making a sequel using Source.
No matter the outcome of that discussion, Cat-Life will begin its open beta in November and we do want it finished before moving to the next project.
And if you are interested in working on a sequel in Source, and happen to know how to code… contact me at the_wildcat@bwldevelopment.com I personally would like to have someone writing new source code long before the team is actually ready to work on a second mod and possibly accelerate the development process.
Of Cat-Life, there has been one problem more troublesome then any other. The want of a coder.
In all the years that the mod has been in development… about six now… the team has seen several coders sign-on long enough to get their name on the team list. Then they either leave due to outside circumstances or they simply were not seriously interested in coding for our mod.
The video that BiGToM posted showing the early cat-code was mostly hard-coded map tricks and coding. The actual game code has yet to see any significant changes. This mod would probably be in beta phase by now had any one of our coders remained on team long enough to complete the Cat-FOV coding.
So… BiGToM contacted me yesterday on Steam for help with yet another coder request.
Team Cat-Life needs a coder. The mod itself is not going to develop much further without custom source code.
Cat-Life, for anyone that doesn’t already know, is a single-player Half-Life mod. The player will be tasked with surviving the Black Mesa incident of the original Half-Life, but from a new point of view.
This is NOT playing Half-Life but with cat replacement models or replacing Gordon Freeman with a cat. Rather, Cat-Life is the story of Newton… a scientist’s pet cat.
During the incident, poor Newton’s master is killed and the little fella has to escape the base alone… without being eaten or the ability to pick up the usual weapons.
You play Newton. You eat cat food. You try not be be eaten by the aliens. You claw, scratch, and bite your way through six chapters and a new hazard course. There will be more then 30 custom maps.
This is possibly one of the most unique and interesting mod concepts ever attempted and we ARE serious about completing it.
But we need your help.
Cat-Life needs a good, experienced coder for the GoldSource engine. Specifically, we need someone to lower the Field of View to a Cat’s eye level. That is the number one priority at the moment. Without such code completed for internal testing, the mappers can’t test their maps properly.
We also would like to add a Cat’s night vision, modified jumping, sprinting, pouncing, and such movement options… if these sorts of items are possible.
The original HL 1 C++ is freely available for editing and will be our source. BiGToM has said that he can offer a C++ program to work with and a simple file share program to make this easier for the new coder.
He also said that a reward is available for the coder. He couldn’t give me an exact dollar figure due to not knowing how long recruitment may take or how much will be donated, but he estimated anything from $10 to $60 US. Potential applicants need to discus this with BiGToM directly.
And when I said “We need your help” I was being very literal. If you can’t code, but you know someone who does… point them in our direction. We need experienced help here.
It’s high time we got past this one trivial problem and moved this mod into it’s final development stages. We need a coder.
Contact BiGToM on MSN at sayrken@hotmail.com, email him at sayrken[AT]gmail.com, or stop by our forums at bwldevelopment.com and leave a message. You can even send a private message at ModDB if you like.
BiGToM has posted a new video for Cat-Life today. This one specifically is intended to show some of the current “cat code” work.
The video begins with a run through of a map in traditional Half-Life code. Normal player height, jumping, ducking, etc. Then it offers a view of the same map using the cat’s settings.
There isn’t any combat in this video. Instead, it focuses on the current “buggy” code work and showing how the game “looks” at it’s current level of development.
The video ends with a couple of new map locations revealed from the cat POV.
BiGToM has posted a new video for Cat-Life today. This one specifically is intended to show some of the current “cat code” work.
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