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Lesure Suit Larry : MCL... GOLD!
John Walker
Shadowman
in Zocalo v2.0
[SIZE=3][url=http://community.vugames.com/WebX?230@231.pbwTd9wdNfZ.0@.1dd82da2]
Larry's Gold[/url]!
Boom, baby![/SIZE]
Howdy everyone --
Sorry I've been so absent.
After a bearable (but annoying) crunch [url=www.leisuresuitlarry.com]Larry[/url] is gold for all three of the US builds. [SIZE=3][b]Finally.[/b][/SIZE]
I am still finishing up various demo releases, and a few other things that are still under wraps, but the lion's share of the work is behind me now.
I hope those of you who play it like it. If not, "Hey, I'm just the programmer." ;) It's coming out in Europe "soon" (I know, because I'm supporting the localization team in Ireland, and I have to make the PC demo builds). I don't know if they've announced the languages yet, so I have to keep my mouth shut.
You wouldn't believe the trouble I had with Win9x and Audigy cards. Oi! Oh, and we beat HalfLife2. Ha hah ha! :rolleyes:
"Okay, so what does this have to do with B5?" ... for those of you who don't know me, I was one of the developers on B5:Into the Fire "back in the day".
Be seeing you --
-- john :shadow1:
p.s. I'm a programmer working for [url=www.high-voltage.com]High Voltage[/url], not VUG. VUG is the IP owner for LSL and the publisher. High Voltage developed the game.
Larry's Gold[/url]!
Boom, baby![/SIZE]
Howdy everyone --
Sorry I've been so absent.
After a bearable (but annoying) crunch [url=www.leisuresuitlarry.com]Larry[/url] is gold for all three of the US builds. [SIZE=3][b]Finally.[/b][/SIZE]
I am still finishing up various demo releases, and a few other things that are still under wraps, but the lion's share of the work is behind me now.
I hope those of you who play it like it. If not, "Hey, I'm just the programmer." ;) It's coming out in Europe "soon" (I know, because I'm supporting the localization team in Ireland, and I have to make the PC demo builds). I don't know if they've announced the languages yet, so I have to keep my mouth shut.
You wouldn't believe the trouble I had with Win9x and Audigy cards. Oi! Oh, and we beat HalfLife2. Ha hah ha! :rolleyes:
"Okay, so what does this have to do with B5?" ... for those of you who don't know me, I was one of the developers on B5:Into the Fire "back in the day".
Be seeing you --
-- john :shadow1:
p.s. I'm a programmer working for [url=www.high-voltage.com]High Voltage[/url], not VUG. VUG is the IP owner for LSL and the publisher. High Voltage developed the game.
Comments
It was release candidate 3 (RC3), the 24 August 2004 submission to CPC.
(Based upon the 17 August 2004 build of Larry.exe, optimized release)
Yes, I have spent way too much time lately swimming in build numbers, bug counts, certification requirements, and submission versions. :(
Oh, and never, ever, ever use InstallShield to deploy your game. Ever. Really. Really really.
Like [i]"Krikey! D3D device lost!"[/i]
or [i]"G'Day, please hit start to continue."[/i]
:D
(Yes, I am flicking your ear...) :shadow1:
Glad things are going well for you!
;)
[B]ShadowBoxer: How do you spell "krikey!" I need it for some localized error messages.
Like [i]"Krikey! D3D device lost!"[/i]
or [i]"G'Day, please hit start to continue."[/i]
:D
(Yes, I am flicking your ear...) :shadow1: [/B][/QUOTE]
If that crazy, immitatable Australian guy on TV has taught me [b]anything[/b], it's that krikey is spelled as crikey!
example:
"[i]Crikey[/i], it's a lone croc sitting peacefully by her nest! Most crocs would give up their lives to defend the nest. Lets check one or two of those buggers out!"
but seriously, I'm really looking forward to this game. The videos make this look pretty damn good!
[B]Sanfam is correct in his spelling. Personally, however, I feel better messages would be along the lines of "Geez mate, you call that a video card?" [/B][/QUOTE]
I can't wait for the new LSL, as someone who played them all when they were new.
I'll be buying it as soon as its available, i can't wait! YAYAYAYAY!
Is this the same game as LSL on the PS2? If so I almost picked it up today, EB had an offer to get a copy if you put money down on GTA.
Jake
CRI worked great and their support was first class. I highly recommend them.
I know that EB is giving out some sort of LSL preview disk when pre-ordering LSL, but I didn't know you could get it by pre-ordering something else.
Funny thing in that preview disk: they are showing interviews and stuff with footage from the throw-away prototype (of one level in the game with two concept girls and a different larry model) running in the background. Big "inside joke" laugh for us at the office when we saw it.
I don't know if that's all that is on that disk, and I haven't even seen one, so I may be way off, that's all second hand info.
I've heared rumors that the US version is a bit toned down compared to the European version for example. Do you know if there's any truth to this?
Toned down: Yes and no. The vast majority is identical: lines, language, etc. The main difference is with censor bars for frontal groinal nudity. US has the bars, [i]some[/i] European versions don't. Note that all versions "go topless", even in the U.S.
//rant
... because nudity is much more horrible and frightening than explicit violence or reenactment of psycho-killing (Manhunt). :rolleyes:
(Please keep your political comments about this party or that to yourself. They are both the same in my book.)
// end rant
I'm not trying to be vague, I just have to be careful. Back in the day, dev's could openly talk more about stuff. Now, well, things are different and we get scolded/punished/fired for saying anything specific which "might jeopardize the carefully timed plans of the marketing team" :rolleyes:
Jack, the game biz. isn't what it used to be. You aren't missing anything.
:shadow1:
[B]Thanks.
Toned down: Yes and no. The vast majority is identical: lines, language, etc. The main difference is with censor bars for frontal groinal nudity. US has the bars, [i]some[/i] European versions don't. Note that all versions "go topless", even in the U.S.
//rant
... because nudity is much more horrible and frightening than explicit violence or reenactment of psycho-killing (Manhunt). :rolleyes:
(Please keep your political comments about this party or that to yourself. They are both the same in my book.)
// end rant
I'm not trying to be vague, I just have to be careful. Back in the day, dev's could openly talk more about stuff. Now, well, things are different and we get scolded/punished/fired for saying anything specific which "might jeopardize the carefully timed plans of the marketing team" :rolleyes:
Jack, the game biz. isn't what it used to be. You aren't missing anything.
:shadow1: [/B][/QUOTE]
Thanks :)
The answer wasn't more vague than i anticipated, in fact, it's more detailed :)
[B]Back in the day, dev's could openly talk more about stuff. Now, well, things are different and we get scolded/punished/fired for saying anything specific which "might jeopardize the carefully timed plans of the marketing team" :rolleyes:
Jack, the game biz. isn't what it used to be. You aren't missing anything.[/B][/QUOTE]
Doesn't sound like things have changed much at all...
;) :p :D
[B]Thanks.
Toned down: Yes and no. The vast majority is identical: lines, language, etc. The main difference is with censor bars for frontal groinal nudity. US has the bars, [i]some[/i] European versions don't. Note that all versions "go topless", even in the U.S.
:shadow1: [/B][/QUOTE]
See what i don't understand, is why can't they put the bars in, but allow some sort of unlock code to play it without them, then people who'd be offended can leave it off, and the rest of us pervs can play in "Full Frontal Fun" mode. lol
I really can't wait to play this game, i loved all the old LSL games, and most of the original Sierra Online (Ken and Roberta's Sierra, not what it had become after) adventure games.
[B]//rant
... because nudity is much more horrible and frightening than explicit violence or reenactment of psycho-killing (Manhunt). :rolleyes:
(Please keep your political comments about this party or that to yourself. They are both the same in my book.)
// end rant
[/B][/QUOTE]
To quote South Park:
[I]Just remember what the MPAA says: Horrific, deplorable violence is OK as long as it doesn't contain any naughty words.[/i]
Jake
That doesn't mean that someone won't figure it out without our help... :shadow2:
I hope people like the game, but it's very different from the originals. It also won't hurt my feelings if people don't like it; it's not like it's ItF or something!
Mac, GameCube:
The GameCube is a tough 'after the fact' port. It's a quick little box, but the RAM is smaller (but faster) that the other consoles and the mini-DVD thing is tiny. Larry is 3 GB of content [i]after[/i] compression of the audio and the textures, and with the animations using combination of repeat frames to shrink them. Heck the two compressed audio banks are over 700 MB each: that alone is more than the GC's entire disk!
The Mac's obviously have the grunt, but their problem is selling enough units to justify converting the engine to OpenGL/SDL/OpenAL on the back end and then dealing with the platform particulars for the PPC architecutre, etc. It's like doing a Linux port: we'd be happy to do it (the Larry programmers would love it) but unless VUG is willing to pay for the work, there's to much to do for us to donate the time or try to do it "on the side". Way, way too much work for that.
Sorry, it bums me out too.
[b]Crikey[/b]. Thanks. Crikey, my spelling is awful! :p
There aren't very messages that tell you much in the form of error dialogs, etc. Usually it's more like the game execution is hosed and we're trying to give a hint to the user why it crashed (after the fact). Although I do throw a dialog if the video card looks too weak, but you can just hit a button to go on. I don't trust my video card test.
Example: The Atlas cross-platform engine we use for all our in-house games at HVS doesn't handle random D3D device loss during the middle of a rendering loop (it was written initially for consoles and consoles don't do that). So if, for example, you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and it interrrupts the game in the middle of a draw (which is usually what it's doing) Windows yanks the D3D device, the game code freaks out and boom, you're sitting there on your desktop wondering what happened. :o
Bug: Game crashes on CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Fix: Don't do that.
-- john :shadow1:
p.s. I put an easter-egg into the ConfigUtil for you all. More hints later, after the game hits the shelves... ;)
p.p.s. Jack, the game biz. is worse. Trust me.
[B]Bug: Game crashes on CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Fix: Don't do that.[/B][/QUOTE]
Sounds like most bugs to me. You should try writing research software. It's great. My software has loads and loads of bugs, and I don't have to bother trying to fix a single one until they annoy me enough to. "Proof of concept" and "prototype" are my two favorite things. :D
[B]EZ: There will never be an official patch to do what you suggest from either VUG or HVS. None of the dev's will ever make such a patch anonymously because we would get sacked. (and people always manage to figure those sorts of leaks out) There will be absolutely no hints or anything else on that subject. Crackers are on their own.
That doesn't mean that someone won't figure it out without our help... :shadow2:
. [/B][/QUOTE]
Well my point wasn't really that it could be done with official help, the point is that it shoudl be an allowed option in the first place in the states, then those of us who dont want to be protected from the horrors of animated frontal nudity could play it as it was ment, lol
[B]Yeah, but what about the innocent children that would run across that option and turn it on "not knowing better"?!?! [/sarcasm] [/B][/QUOTE]
Well they would be corrupted for life just like when they accidentally come across the unscrambled porn channel.
John, one question: I've heard rumors that the content in LSL:MCL was toned down a bit because it was "too racy". Any truth to those rumors?
--RC
[B]Only RC 3? Nice work. Most games go to RC 4 or so.
John, one question: I've heard rumors that the content in LSL:MCL was toned down a bit because it was "too racy". Any truth to those rumors? [/B][/QUOTE]
Allready asked that question ;)
look above for the answer :)
[B]Allready asked that question ;)
look above for the answer :) [/B][/QUOTE]
Doh!
I saw John's answer, but didn't think it was an answer to the question I was asking. :) I didn't consider "censor bars" to be a change in content.
Good to know that actual content wasn't toned down.
[url=http://www.timdadabo.com]Tim Dadabo[/url], the voice of Larry Lovage (and other characters in the game), is also the voice of the Guilty Spark in Halo. (goto Characters, listen to the games block... Larry's in there.)
[COLOR=skyblue]Next Project:[/COLOR]
Can't say. To be honest, even I don't really know; there are three possibilities. (each with their own edge) None are signed let alone announced, so they are taboo to discuss.
[COLOR=skyblue]Toned Down?:[/COLOR]
There are always edits to anything. We were told to "push the envelope" and, I am not making this up, there was a conscious effort to offend everyone equally. ;) Of course that means things are going to be over "the line" (whatever that is) and we had to stay under the "M" rating with the ESRB. There were not, however, any major rewrites or anything like that. Typically it was stuff like "that line is too racy" or "change that camera angle to block X". Nothing major.
There was also great attempt to keep Larry (Lovage) from being perceived as predatory in any way. Everyone, especially design, agonized over little details; even to the point of two minigames being cut (about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way into the project) not because they couldn't be made "fun" from a gameplay perspective, but rather because they were making people uncomfortable with the "predatory" line. Snip: they were gone.
Never the less, there are some big zingers in there and I expect some fireworks. I will be quite happy if I am wrong. No one on the team had "an agenda" or anything; it's just humor. Nerds and computer geeks (aka. game developers) are made fun of as much or more than anyone. You have to laugh at yourself first.
[COLOR=skyblue]SETI:[/COLOR]
I can't say that I've contributed in quite a while (years). I handed off the SETI group I was admin on years ago; I would have to reaseach the very polite and helpful person I handed it off to. It's not very encouraging that the web link is dead... :(
For a while I was donating compute for cancer and moleculary biology research, but I was running into hardware aging issues with my systems, and so I stopped doing that also. All my computers are older; hand-me-down's from work, or old friends that I've had a long time. Systems seem to get flaky with age and heat. I try to let them rest a lot now...
[COLOR=skyblue]RC3:[/COLOR]
Thanks, but I don't think there's much to be proud of. I was going back and forth with their testing for 1.5 months before the first RC. If I had to count those, it would be more like RC27. :rolleyes:
You know, it's weird. I don't really feel like getting into the Larry community (no offense to any of them, it's not a rejection since I haven't even looked into it) but here I am on a B5 board talking about Larry. Thanks for indulging me. :shadow2:
(Yes, the three edge reference is intentional. :vorlon: Listen to the music, not to the song.)
The PC version has a first-person camera mode: middle mouse button (and something else on the keyboard...) toggles between 1st and 3rd person view.
The consoles originally had this feature mapped to push/click the right-hand analog stick, but it was removed at the last minute due to political (Xbox, PS2) and bug-hunt/rendering issues (PS2 only).
-- john :shadow1:
just kidding man, Im going to the store tomorrow, got to pick up evil genius (that demo was great its like being Dr. Evil), then I suppose Ill look for Larry (like being austin powers? :D ).
looks good from all the info Ive seen john.