Addtional Credits: Producer: Suko, Graig Hampton, James "Purple"
Music Director: Grunke, James
Developer's weekly reports These documents are converted from the contents of Eric Smith's development hard disk, originally written in AtariWorks STW format.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 2/26/94 and 3/5/94
Club Drive ----------
Worked at tracking down and fixing the "jitter" bug: -- Added interpolation to sine and cosine functions -- Added rounding off and damping to rotation code
Met with Todd and Craig to discuss schedules.
Re-arranged code to permit easier implementation of other types of games (e.g. racing); now different "physics" modules can be loaded depending on the game type.
Fixed bugs in the polygon tree building program.
Added a "bail out" key to stop spinning and correctly orient car.
Re-arranged sound code to make it easier to add new features, and added engine noises.
Implemented collision detection for rotations, and interactions between edge collisions and rotation.
Made crash sound depend on speed.
Implemented a priority scheme for sounds, so that more "important" sounds will override less important ones, and so that if a sample is already playing it won't be started again.
Added "special sounds" code (for sounds to be played when certain objects are collided with).
Implemented the race game.
Added flashing polygons (to be used for e.g. marking the start and finish lines).
Made the dashboard appear in 1 player mode, at the bottom of the screen.
Cleaned up the car timing code, in preparation for adding on-screen timers.
Made the tag game timer independent of frame rate.
Artwork:
Manually tweaked the car models to draw correctly.
Fixed up the "dashboard" image (to be more symmetric, and to better fit the needs of the various new games).
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 3/18/94
Club Drive ----------
Implemented the car timers.
Implemented car compasses.
Implemented radar.
Implemented speedometer.
Tracked down and fixed bugs in tools used to produce models.
Added limited "depth cueing" to mkbnd program.
Integrated intro screen and main game code; this took a lot longer than expected, because the integration introduced many alignment problems.
Integrated new sound code.
Made game romable.
Added zip decompression code.
Ported C code to GNU C (see below).
Tested music and sounds together during gameplay.
Optimized some GPU code for size, to make room for more physics code.
Added inter-car collisions.
Artwork:
Did artwork review and linking together of pieces for the big house.
Built fonts for compass, timers, and speedometer.
Added transparent center to dashboard (for radar map).
CD-ROM ------
Assisted Pradip with GEMDOS boot sector problems.
Found a collection of MS-DOS disk utilities for Unix, and gave them to Pradip for evaluation.
Misc ----
Ported a GNU assembler -> MAC tool, so that we could use gcc rather than lattice (gcc -O2 is almost twice a fast, for some operations; plus, gcc gives you the assembler output explicitly, so you can hand tune it).
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 4/1/94
Club Drive ----------
Made some of the polygon data (used for collision detection) dynamically allocated and calculated, rather than pre-calculated and stored. This results in large savings of both RAM and ROM, at a relatively small cost in run time.
Wrote GPU code for doing unzip decompression, to speed up load times for the various worlds.
Optimized collision detection code.
Found proper scales and origins for maps.
Adjusted the score keeping code to take into account the selections made when starting the game.
Implemented crash and score game.
Fixed powerball drawing and animation bugs.
Added lap and dot counters.
Added rudimentary garbage collection to memory allocation code.
Incorporated new music, and an updated version of the synthesizer.
Implemented basic pause code.
Began working on end of game code, made it possible to go back to the game selection screen rather than the title screen.
Artwork:
Integrated updated art for western world.
Talked to Ed about sky bitmaps and maps.
Converted new sky, powerball, and map bitmaps to CRY format.
Made powerball backgrounds transparent.
Tweaked some of the arenas.
Misc ----
Helped Normen with some blitter questions from developers.
Cleaned hard disk to make more room for Club Drive.
Met with Sam and the Club Drive team.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 4/16/94
Club Drive ---------- Finished pause code.
Fixed music mute code.
Fixed the sky drawing in 2 player mode.
Implemented rewind code.
Prepared a romable version, integrated changes from other team members.
Implemented user defined controls.
Added a debugging mode that display's the car's current coordinates, for artists' use.
Fixed more bugs in the polygon sorting program, and updated it to reflect changes in the main code.
Optimized collision detection code.
Implemented fixed external camera view.
Artwork:
Integrated new western town artwork.
Continued clean-up of arenas, maps, and sky.
Misc ---- Updated the TGA to CRY converting tool to do dithering; this helps where there are abrupt changes of hue.
Spent lots of time in meetings, waiting for meetings, and planning meetings.
Progress report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 4/29/94
Club Drive ---------- Finished external camera code.
Added smarter clipping code so that pieces of the world that are completely behind the viewing plane are not considered at all for rendering.
Added code to allow portals to rotate cars.
Worked with artists on fixing drawing bugs.
Added brake lights.
Added dynamic lighting of moving objects (e.g. the cars).
Added timed, flashing lights.
Manually tweaked the cars to draw correctly.
Began reworking car display and polygon sorting functions to permit new moving objects.
Merged versions with Todd and Eric.
Misc ---- More meetings.
Progress report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 5/13/94
Club Drive ---------- Integrated texture mapping code.
Worked on improving car physics.
Prepared version for focus group.
Implemented animation functions for each world, including the ability to animate texture maps.
Animated texture maps: pong, fireplace, and television.
Met with Club Drive team and Sam, about the focus group (before and after).
Wrote up suggestions regarding the focus group results.
Prepared new version for testing (integrated Todd's and Eric G.'s changes).
Fixed bugs in polygon sorting functions.
Made a small test version of club drive for testing texture maps and animation code.
Made the "behind the car" view the default one.
Implemented sorting of moving objects (so one car passing behind the other is displayed correctly).
Misc ---- Organized unzip code into a package usable for other projects.
Implemented a "load binary file into text segment" option for aln (so that we could link GPU programs and just re-load the text segment of Club Drive).
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 5/27/94
Club Drive ----------
Rewrote most of the tree sorting program in an effort to decrease the number of visible sorting bugs.
Fixed bugs in run-time sorting routines.
Got drone car and cable car artwork, and manually massaged it for the tree sorter.
Started to implement moving drone car.
Made links for new western world, and compiled it.
Attended lots of meetings.
Misc ----
Fixed bugs in the "mit2mot" program for converting gcc assembly to mac assembly.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 6/10/94
Club Drive ---------- Continued to work on sorting problems. Discussed options for handling unresolved sorting bugs with other team members and with Sam.
Implemented "fish eye" view for 2 player mode.
Integrated Todd's and Eric's changes.
Added a car hood to the inside the car view, and made that one the default again.
Assisted Eric with debugging his end of game code.
Added replay at end of game.
Fixed bugs in the matrix orthogonalization code and in the keyboard remapping code.
Cleaned up the main game loop.
Misc ----
Helped Mike of Rebellion with using unzip code in AvP; fixed bugs in the unzip code and in the mit2mot assembly converter.
Wrote a .TTP version of the TGA to CRY conversion tool, and enhanced it with new features (sanity check on blitter width, ability to output binary files directly, ability to resize pictures with anti-aliasing).
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 6/24/94
Club Drive ---------- Fixed up artwork for western town and some arenas.
Redesigned main game loop for easier implementation of replays and remote play.
Redesigned interrupt structure to accomodate high speed interrupts.
(Partially) implemented remote play by modem, for CES.
Worked on debugging texture mapping code.
Misc ---- Wrote interrupt driven test code for modem.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 7/8/94
Club Drive ---------- Re-compiled San Fransisco.
Fixed the "pothole" bugs in San Fransisco.
Added a drone car to the parking garage, following a pre-set path.
Implemented "camera on a stick".
Implemented collision detection for moving objects.
Re-sized texture maps, and added new ones.
Cleaned up arenas.
Coordinated with artists on getting the correct colors for the 3D models.
Fixed map for west world.
Misc ---- Gave sample modem code (torn from Club Drive) to Normen to give to id software.
Fixed a bug in the tga2cry converter.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 7/22/94
Club Drive ---------- Fixed memory allocation problems for San Fransisco.
Fixed a bug which could sometimes cause the camera to turn sideways.
Fixed collision detection on large polygons.
Added portals to garage.
Continued to work on cleaning up San Fransisco drawing bugs.
Updated polygon conversion tools to limit the number of edges per polygon to 8 (necessary for Todd's full screen poly fix).
Put the new velocity park race track into the game.
Increased the resolution of the sky bitmaps.
Implemented the flashing "start" and "finish" icons on the start-up maps (for races).
Turned the starting/finishing lines into checkered flags.
Adjusted scales on some radar maps.
Misc ---- Met with John Mathieson and Denis Fung to discuss programming the Jaguar 2.
Cleaned Club Drive stuff off Eric Ginner's old machine.
Added the ability to rotate texture maps to the tga2cry tool.
Assisted with job interviews.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 8/5/94
Club Drive ---------- Added multiple external cameras per arena (for the garage and studio apartments).
Worked with Ken Saunders on the Velocity Park race track.
Prepared a version for Purple to take with him to some toy fair or other.
Fixed assorted bugs (e.g. made the full screen polygon code work in two player mode).
Finished adjusting scales of radar maps.
Adjusted the bitmapped sky code to allow different horizon levels (for parking garage vs. san fransisco).
Added a title screen for display while the collect game is loading.
Continued to clean up San Fransisco world.
Misc ---- Optimized the unzip code somewhat, and ported it to the new tools.
Discussed voice modem issues with Ken and Richard.
Interviewed Matt Hubbard.
Installed MultiTOS on Ken's and Pradip's computers.
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 8/20/94
Club Drive ---------- Continued to clean up San Fransisco world.
Did some clean up of arenas and the big house.
Added more extensive clipping of distant objects.
Added scrolling help text to the start up menus. Cleaned up menu structure and made room for new options (e.g. modem).
Demonstrated Club Drive to Sam.
Added automatic rewind when the car falls below sea level.
Fixed miscellaneous bugs.
Re-did some object list code, and made the car hood an (optional) object instead of blitting it.
Integrated Ken's new modem code, and built a version for Richard to give to the modem focus group.
Integrated new version of fulsyn.
Worked with James to re-mix music for new version of fulsyn.
Began work on cleaning up end of game high score display.
Misc ---- Uploaded a new version of MiNT.
Discussed modem issues with Ken and with Rob of Rebellion (for Checkered Flag).
Progress Report for Eric Smith Weeks ending: 9/2/94
Club Drive ---------- Fixed loops in music so that it loops forever.
Finished display of high scores during end of game replay.
Cleaned up big house.
Merged code with Todd.
Put in bonus world code and bonus worlds.
Synchronized moving objects (e.g. the drone car in the parking garage) with the clock.
Fixed bugs in moving object code.
Made new cat and mouse recordings.
Placed cameras in San Francisco and the big house.
Put cable car into San Francisco.
Worked with Ken on art.
Made the "4" key a side view of the car.
Lots of miscellaneous bug fixes and art clean up.
Misc ---- Downloaded MiNT networking code.
Interviewed Scott Chandler
Requests from programmer These documents are converted from the contents of Eric Smith's development hard disk, originally written in AtariWorks STW format.
File dated 23.9.1994 To: Craig Suko From: Eric Smith Subj: Club Drive Art Requests
We have made the following requests to the artists:
Sept. 19:
(1) Fixed polygon normals on a building in San Francisco.
Sept. 20:
(2) Split 1 block in San Francisco into 2. (3) Lowered 2 buildings in San Francisco. (4) Made a mountain in San Francisco lower. (5) Added a missing polygon to a mountain in the Old West.
Sept. 21:
No art requested.
Sept. 22:
(6) Added two missing polygons to mountains in the Old West.
Sept. 23:
(7) Added missing polygons to a mountain in the Old West.
(8) Moved the finishing line in Velocity Park.
--- File dated 2.3.1994 To: James Grunke Fm: the Club Drive guys Subj: sound effects
At certain points in Club Drive, when the player runs into an object a sound will be heard; for example, if a car runs into a toilet in the apartment, a flushing sound will be heard. We'd like to have the following sound effects (digitized samples would probably be best):
skidding tires flushing toilet piano crash (i.e. sound of someone slamming his fist down on a keyboard) grandfather clock chime a voice saying "Ouch!" roar of a large animal (e.g. a dinosaur) a splash, followed by bubbles (for when the car falls into water) a rocket taking off a cat's meow a mouse's squeak a "whoosh" (like a plane going past) a creaky door
Comments from the focus group These documents are converted from the contents of Eric Smith's development hard disk, originally written in AtariWorks STW format.
File Dated 6.5.1994 Some Comments on the Focus Group Results
AREAS OF CONCERN
Car control definitely needs to be addressed. This seems to be the number one complaint among users, and fixing this will go a long way towards improving the perception of the game.
Gameplay generally seems to be regarded as satisfactory, except that the racing game is confusing. We can do the following things to improve the racing game: put up large maps at the beginning of the game (while data is decompressing) indicating starting and ending points This is on our agenda, and should only take a few days to implement once we get to it. make the smaller maps less cluttered, e.g. the house should just be a floor plan, without any furniture marked This shouldn't be hard. shrink the worlds, and at the same time remove redundancy; this makes the game more interesting, and also easier (since there won't be so many choices). This will probably take a lot of art time; several weeks? add signs in certain places making it clear which direction the start/finish lines are (e.g. in S.F. signs that say "to the beach" or "to the bridge") Shouldn't be hard add the bonus worlds; while a player is in a bonus world, no time is added to his or her score, and the bonus worlds can be shortcuts. Finding and using these bonus worlds would be a challenge for single player mode.
Graphics: some things we can do to make them better animate some texture maps This is already implemented (wasn't in the focus group version). add some more texture maps (small ones) This will be quite easy to do, as long as we don't go overboard. moving objects: birds in the western town, cat and mouse in house, drone car in S.F., etc. This is work in progress. Note that adding real A.I. to the other players will require a significant amount of work (a month or more). depth shading (only in indoor worlds and arenas) This will probably be harder than we originally thought (we're running out of room in the GPU) but if we have the time I think it would definitely improve the look of the indoor areas.
RADICAL SUGGESTIONS
These fairly drastic changes in the game concept.
(1) In one player mode, link all the races together. If you complete the first race in less than a certain amount of time, you are permitted to go on to the next racing world (with a bonus to your score, of course). This would provide some more inspiration for doing well when racing in 1 player mode.
or
(2) Lose the big worlds (S.F., Westworld) This will make lots of things much easier. If we move racing into arenas, the starting and ending points will be very clear, and it will be easier for players to know where they are. This also solves all kinds of art and drawing problems, so it will probably means we can finish the game sooner.
GENERAL COMMENTS
(1) We shouldn't place too much emphasis on the focus group results. In some cases (e.g. the car control problems, confusion over position and goal of the game, and graphics weaknesses) they're clearly on target, since we've heard these things from lots of places. Some of the results, however, are very surprising (e.g. the dislike for the honky tonk music). We should keep in mind that focus groups are a small sample, and not necessarily representative of the population as a whole (e.g. where were the female players?).
(2) Having said that, I agree that we definitely need to make changes to the game. To my mind, the first priority should be fixing the existing bugs in the car controls and in the graphics, rather than adding new features. At the moment we don't really have a working game to test -- if the car handled correctly and drew correctly, I think Club Drive would be much more fun to play.
(3) I don't see much point in making radical changes to the game play. The basic Club Drive premise seems to be solid (it should be, since it is based on the popular Indy 500 game for the 2600).
|