Hover Strike - Unconquered Lands

Developer's weekly reports


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 5/12/95


Jaguar 3D Library
-----------------
Fixed bugs in the PC version of the
3DSCONV utility.

Investigated tradeoffs in triangle
vs. arbitrary polygon rendering,
and produced versions of the renderer
optimized for large polygons (such
as in the Hoverstrike terrain).

Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Helped simplify the makefiles,
and wrote a small utility to grab
symbols from an object file, so as
to streamline the linking process.

Made changes to rendering code
to optimize it for Hoverstrike
(see above).

Miscellaneous
-------------
Tracked down a clipping bug
in the blitter.

Installed a new hard disk in
my system to hold the Hoverstrike
sources, and copied the sources
over.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Finish cleaning up makefiles.

Continue integrating the new renderer
with the game code.

Jaguar 3D Library
-----------------
Continue documenting, debugging, and
optimizing the library.

Jaguar II Hardware
------------------
If time permits, write software to
simulate hardware antialiasing.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 5/19/95


Jaguar 3D Library
-----------------
Discussed optimizations and timing
data with Leonard, and wrote a program
to time triangle drawing.

Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Finished streamlining the make process,
and fixed some bugs in the makefiles.

Added the new rendererer, and tried
two different methods of depth cueing.

Re-compiled some textures and models to
take advantage of the shading features
of the new renderer.

Miscellaneous
-------------
Assisted Dave Schwartz with font code
for the Game Film project.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Jaguar 3D Library
-----------------
Improve Z buffering of shaded textures.

Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Incorporate fixes from the 3D library.

Fine tune the depth cueing for different
textures.

Jaguar II Hardware
------------------
If time permits, write software to
simulate hardware antialiasing.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 5/26/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Incorporated bugfixes from the main
3D library code into the Hoverstrike
code.

Improved the Z-buffering algorithms.

Tuned the depth cueing parameters.

Made the external view mode use the new
shading methods.

Finished re-compiling textures and
models.

Re-synced code with Denis.


Miscellaneous
-------------
Discussed Jaguar CD boot rom and
Memory Tracker incompatibilities
with Dave Staugas.

Fixed bugs in the 3D Studio converter.

Did a small demo of the Highlander
character for Leonard, and discussed
use of the 3D package in the game.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Work on Cinepak code.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 6/2/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Obtained Cinepak player code from
Dave Schwartz. Fixed bugs that prevented
it from playing films larger than the
screen size.

Made a stand-alone player that plays
the Hoverstrike title movie.

Fixed several bugs in the stub loading
code which caused problems with the movie
player.


Jaguar 3D Library
-----------------
Revised the 3D Studio file converter
to make it possible to output multi-part
models.

Worked out data structures for playing
back 3D Studio animations.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK

Usher at my brother's wedding.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 6/16/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Debugged cinepak player. Fixed
sound shutdown and startup routines.

Wasted time tracking down the "feature"
of the CD emulator that files on the PC drive
must not be fragmented. This restriction was
not mentioned in the documentation that
we have.

Fixed the "win level" and "lose level"
sequences.

Glued together all the pieces on CD,
and got the basic game framework up
and running (much tweaking remains before
it is polished).


Miscellaneous
-----------------
Met with Pradip to discuss 3D rendering
(for Black Ice) and Cinepak issues
(for Hoverstrike CD).

Talked to Rob Dybble of Lore, and discussed
adding Gouraud shading and texture mapping
to Highlander with Ted.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Add transition screens to cover up CD "loading times".

Look at the warping problem appearing in some textures.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 6/23/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Implemented a dissolve routine in the
GPU to run during transitions (i.e.
while data is being loaded from CD).

Adjusted the movie player to work
properly in both NTSC and PAL screen
resolutions.

Cinepaked some test footage, and
experimented with various cinepak
settings to try to get good quality
movie playback on the Jaguar.

Merged changes from Denis and Cary.

Fixed some bugs in the end level
and win level code.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
More bug fixes.

Get real movie footage installed in the
game.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 6/30/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Synced with Denis and Cary.

Re-cinepaked and tweaked some
of the movies.

Fixed bugs in the lose level
sequence and in the high score
sequence.

Added code for playing music from
CD.

Made a test CD to check overall
game structure.


General Jaguar
--------------
Added preliminary Lightwave 3D support
to the 3D converter for the new
library.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Fix the music volume code.

Get the "win game" and "lose game"
movies installed.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 7/7/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Re-cinepaked more movies, and assisted in
adding sound tracks to existing movies.

Fixed various bugs in the music playing
and volume control code.

Added music to the map screen.

Synced with Denis and Cary.

Fixed lighting levels.

Various other bug fixes and tweaks.

Built another test CD, and assisted in testing
a few basic game features.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Bug fixes.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 7/14/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Fixed music bugs.

Improved the Z-buffering in the 3D
renderer.

Made the renderer work with larger sized
textures.

Made a work-around for WinOnCD bugs.

Various bug fixes.

Assisted in production of a demo CD.

Added a "Mission Aborted" segue.


Miscellaneous
-------------
Discussed 3D rendering issues for
"Dactyl Joust".

Fixed some bugs in the 3D renderer.

Answered some 3D questions for
Mike.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Bug fixes.

Whatever else is necessary.


Miscellaneous
-------------
Meet with Robert Dibley about Highlander
3D issues.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 7/21/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Added flag for turning off between level movies.

Modified the lock on target display to use a rendered
image instead of a static bitmap; this results in
a considerable space saving.

Debugged the NVRAM code, which was incompatible
with the (old) CD boot ROM we had. It turned
out to work with the most recent boot ROM.

Assisted in syncing and burning CDs.

Fixed some music bugs.

Fixed various other bugs.


Miscellaneous
-------------
Meet with Robert Dibley about Highlander
3D issues.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Bug fixes.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 7/28/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Reduced memory requirements for the game, in order
to free up memory for better textures.

Modified target lock on screen to render the enemy
in real time, saving us space for pre-rendered
images, and also expanding the number of enemies that
can be displayed in the lock on.

Fixed lock on screen bugs.

Added wire frame "easter egg".

Added some error checking to the cinepak player.

Assisted in debugging, and fixed various bugs.



WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Bug fixes.

Whatever else is necessary.


WEEKLY REPORT for Eric Smith
Week ending: 8/25/95


Hoverstrike CD
--------------
Assisted with the final debugging of
the game.


Jaguar 2
--------
Discussed Jaguar 2 demos and features
with various people.

Began producing an Oberon specific version
of the Jaguar 3D library.


WORK PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK


Jaguar 2
--------
Continue working on Oberon specific version
of the Jaguar 3D library.

Look for and report whatever bugs I can find
in the new hardware.

Start planning demos.