Updates


hy are you so eager to check on us...? We told you before that we're working on it... You don't beleave us? You think I built this page just to waste your time?! You want to see progress?! Well then, let me introduce you to our little Progressometer(tm).

(As of 4/9/01)
Overall Design:Far more planning than doing at this point.
Story:Overall plot completed. Overview of all acts completed. Act I about 10% scripted.
Characters:Eleven playable characters and thirty-six plot-driving characters in the works.
Artwork:Interface and tile art mostly, with some sprites.
Music:Seventy-some-odd songs in development, sixty five of them complete in MIDI format, and not a one converted to Module format...
Sound Effects:Minor progress
Game Systems:Awaiting v2.7's changes, then the port will begin
Maps:Not half bad looking test maps.



- Updates by date -

Monday, April 9th, 2001
Haven's Saga is on hold again, as Speed has gutted VERGE and is rebuilding it into something much better. The new beta is already running in the 40-50 FPS range in 640x480x65535 on my P233 (v2.6 runs 4-10 FPS) and it looks really promising. Pixel accurate movement is in, though I wasn't really waiting for it. Multidimensional arrays are in, and I didn't know I needed them until I found out what they do. (Hello, area of effect attacks) Apparently structures are going to be added, which will apparently replace the DMA stuff I was doing with the character system. Other than that, the new beta might as well be called VERGE3, rather than V2.7, as pretty much everything from the previous versions of V2 has been removed or drastically altered. I like all the changes though. I'm just waiting for the structures and the VC graphics to become functional so I can start porting. Oh, you can take almost total control over the map render now, so it's looking like my advanced graphic effects (shadows, reflections) might make in into the game after all.

Anyway, since we've hit this delay, it appears that I won't be staging a big surprise showing of the new OLAD, so just go to the Art page and look at three high resolution screenshot/mockup hybrids. Yep, I actually gave up on 320x240. It was the Dreamcast that did it. Skies of Arcadia was high res and looked good doing it. That and I realised that doing 640x480 is actually easier than the AA system I was trying (poorly) to implement under 320x240. (Although it looked good, it was way too much work) I always wanted the cinematics to be high res anyway, but VERGE sucks at resolution changes, and I don't think tSB understood exactly what I meant when I asked for a 320x240/640x480 pixel doubled mode with the option to switch to true 640x480.

Sunday, March 25st, 2001
Hmm, the crash comes back if I mess around too much with it... Speed has a new beta out, too. Going to play around with that. Gladiator won best picture for some stupid reason probably related to Famitsu giving FF8 near-perfect marks. At least Almost Famous (good movie) got Original Screenplay, because it was amusing enough that Gladiator was nominated for it, considering that it is only a copy of The Fall of the Roman Empire from '64, which would seem to put it under Adapted Screenplay, no?

Wednesday, March 21st, 2001
Well, tSB didn't get to take a look at the problem, because it doesn't exist on his machine. He rearranged and rewrote sections of the offending code anyway, and now it works fine. Beats me, but at least we're back on track.

Saturday, March 17th, 2001
Yes, I've never done this before, but I deleted the last two updates. I was angry when I wrote them, and they served no useful purpose other than to let out some steam. It's not as if VERGE had any idea what I was saying to/about it. To sum up: VERGE got screwy all of a sudden, and I lost my temper about it. I'm feeling better now, and the Speed Bump wants to look at the code in question, which bodes well, since he fixed the problems the last time something like this happened. (The prefix corruption somehow related to blits that draw off the screen even through the clipping back in V2+i)

Tuesday, March 13th, 2001
Fixed alot of the problems with VERGE. Went on a rampage through the folder and the VC code, deleting stuff left and right. Wiped out all the old utils that don't do anything any more, cleaned up dead functions, killed that AutoExec, (and noticed that the VERGE window has suddenly become movable. When did that happen?) remade almost all the fonts and coded the framework of the new menu system. I've updated my design notes with a more verbose version of the above and previous update. Strangely enough (and I had a feeling) all the bugs went away when I moved the code from the AutoExec into the map's VC. I'm going to get the nifty loading screen™ set up again, and then get back to the menu I think.



Friday, March 9th, 2001
There are two new and one updated character portrait(s) available. Other than that, not much has happened. VERGE is really bumming me out with its constant crashing. I had to remove the nifty loading screen because it crashes for no good reason. Tried to fix up the old textbox, but it's not quite working correctly, and on top of that, VERGE crashes if you load the new font format. ME2 crashes alot, too, but at least it's predictable.

VERGE hates me.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is related to the AutoExec event that was added back in 2K. Previously I was just loading a blank map with all of the VC code in its event0, but I finally decided to make use of the AutoExec function to initialize the game, and now all these problems. Almost like that damn old bug where it crashes with a prefix corruption somewhere in a previously error free section of code, usually several lines AFTER the loadimage which is supposedly to blame, even though neither it nor the image have changed. Just about the only thing that isn't crashing is the map render, and the new map/tiles are looking good.

Speed seems to have noticed these problems as well, since he said something about the VC interpreter should never be able to crash the engine, but does anyway. Granted the Windows port on top of this probably isn't helping any. Too bad DOS went and died. Hey, Mircosoft! When are you going to release a DOS emulator for Windows? You know, one that emulates a Soundblaster and an old SVGA card and EMS and XMS and just plain emulates base memory so that all those old DOS programs and games that are still quite worth running will run?

Incase anyone was wondering, it's 3:40am, and I'm in a bad mood. I just get frustrated when VERGE almost spitefully screws up in the most ridiculous ways. I mean, I'm not even that good a programmer. I'm doing newbie crap, nothing fancy. How the heck did JL and Fruitiger ever program Nuclear Defender and NTWq? That's why I say VERGE hates me. Granted, I tend to be harder on the graphics than most everyone else, but why should that matter... I'm just using LoadImage and a bunch of blitters. Oh, why doth thou hate me, dear VERGE? *Sigh*


Well, it's 9:03am now, and I've been reading (looking at is a better term. Reading implies understanding) the VERGE source code. Somehow I feel closer to it now. At the least I've been amused by Aen, Grue and Speed's bizarre comments, and I got the correct syntax for TMapPoly for my troubles. Of course, I also started downloading Sphere. I remember Sphere from way back. Offhand, just reading the docs is already convincing me that it can't replace VERGE. The very concept of using preexisting anything is so...wrong. Must code own functions... Must blit six fullscreen 640x480x65535 (or 32,000 something in 15-bit, isn't it?) translucent images... Must murder framerate... Must cause prefix corruption...DOH!

I picked up my updated VERGE docs again. I've never mentioned to anyone other than Speed that I've been working on this. I had them more or less finished when I downloaded v2.6 and overwrote the docs... That was a really big doh. They have their own filename now to avoid that, and I replaced most of the stuff, though those two ASCII/INT converters are missing. I'm going to take a shot at documenting the utils next, mainly just consolidate the existing docs into one file and update some parts.

In slightly game related news, I'm working on a new set of animation templates that should look pretty good, assuming they don't suck, which I have yet to prove. I'm also working on a textbox that prints by the timer, not the frame. Sick of framerate bottlenecks in text printing. Something tells me I'm forgetting something else. Oh, well. This update is way too long and strange already.

Wednesday, February 21th, 2001
Nothing to this update, really. Just want to let everyone know (all two of you) that we haven't disappeared. There are some major changes underway, and the game should soon be looking better than ever.

Thursday, January 25th, 2001
Slowly but surely, progress continues. My new character system is running, though there are plenty of extra features (effects/ailments, resistances, skills, etc) that have yet to be implemented. The inventory system, which shares far more in common with the character system then you might think, is coming together, thanks to the fact that it's mainly rewritten character code. I should soon have it test-generating items, and from that point generating weapons and armor is almost as simple as cut and paste. I'm thinking of starting the graphical portion of the battle system ahead of the mathematical bits. The graphics are a very important part. Everything needs to look like it hurts. Too many games (Seiken Densetsu 3, UO, FF8 and Wild ARMs 2 come most readily to mind) suffer from a problem where the developers just throw lots of polygons or flashing lights on the screen, but didn't really make the effects look solid. Even the original Suikoden had some spells that looked better despite the overall low quality of its graphics. Fire needs to look hot, and scorching the ground is a bonus. Ice should be sharp and stabbing. Lighting needs to strike like, well, lightning. The character animation system is also going to need a lot of work, especially since I recently changed the design doc to include anti-aliased sprites (with an option to disable. I realize that bar hardware blitting I'm pushing this thing into the gigahertz CPU range.) in addition to the component and color swapping systems. Even with some aid from a 3D rendering program, I can't believe that I'm actually doing such a complex system and planning 100+ frames of animation per character... And then 11 playable characters so far on top of that... Then come all the bosses and plot opponents... I just hope I can find someone who can keep up with me in terms of monster graphics. I can only do humaniods. (Consider that a request to any artist looking for a project who is willing to draw moderately well animated monsters. Think Xenogears. Cel style is acceptable, more detailed shading is preferred.)

Tuesday, January 11th, 2001
I've completed a rough version of the final battle theme, which means that pretty much all of the boss themes are finished. If only I could write a regular battle theme... The final battle is probably the wierdest non-sucking thing I've composed. Odd chords and strange synth things, a little rock, a little thematic remixing. (Can't very well have a final battle without restating the theme of the entity* involved, now can we?) Rest assured though that it does make sense in the context of the battle.

* The term entity is used in the interests of complete spoiler avoidance. Any assumption as to the race, gender, or mortality of the final opponent could be hazardous.


Monday, January 1st, 2001
On certain commonly used calanders, this is the beginning of a new millennium.

Thursday, December 28th, 2000
Got a Dreamcast for Winter Gift Exchange, hence I've been playing DC games and not working on Haven. My opinions are as follows: House of the Dead 2 is a decent shooter, reminds me of Project: Horned Owl, only way harder. NFL2K, really stupid custom team bugs aside, is the best football game I've played. Crazy Taxi is fun in a weird sort of way, though the only point of the game is to score points. DoA2 is pretty good, since it is about as far from Tekken as you can get. (In control terms, it reminds me of Super Smash Brothers, with only two attack buttons and a throw.) As far as Shenmue goes, it's cool to have such a well realized world, but Genre-defying? Innovative? Anyone out there played Quest for Glory? It plays just like Shadows of Darkness. Not that that's a bad thing. :)

Monday, December 25th, 2000
Have a happy Winter Gift Exchange. Almost time for the real new millennium.

Saturday, December 23rd, 2000
Did some coding on the item system. Not a whole lot, but I got the framework nailed down. Spent some time thinking about how to handle the icons under the new system and V2.6, came up with something that should work. Wrote a theme song for Team Z, the development team formerly known as Heavily Armed Knight Productions.

Also, I only just realized that the last three updates all said "Saturday". Fixed that.

Wednesday, December 20th, 2000
The new character data format is incomplete, but functional. I'm working on coding the item system now, because I need to test the areas where the two overlap. The two systems are in most ways more complex than the originals, but at the same time more compact and much easier to work with, owing to my greatly improved coding skills. And I've cut the usage of global arrays down to just strings and pointers. (Take that, VERGE) After this it'll be on to the new menu so the player can get control over these new systems. Then the reworked battle system comes along...

Tuesday, December 19th, 2000
v2.6 kicks the crap out of all the previous versions. Finally, a stable mesh of v2k and v2+i's code, and running under Windows to boot. Minor bugs aside, I've finally been able to go forward with my system redesigns. Both the AA fonts and new character stat system are in early code form now. I'm also designing a new, more complex test map in order to test some entity and tile things. Soon I'll be taking a wrecking ball to all those global arrays, and most likely the current menu as well. Need more functionality, less Final Fantasy.

I've also put the Christmas decoration up, as you can see. It's sorta crappy, but I'll do better next year.

Saturday, December 9th, 2000
NBCi went too far. That's all there is to it. "Hi! We're NBCi! We're the bastards who killed Xoom, tore out its guts, and crawled inside its rotting flesh! Now, we're going to bog down the servers, make the ad banner twice the size it was before, and introduce frigging huge pop-up ads, okay? Oh, and look at our stupid Peacock!"

I said a while back that I might come here to seek refuge, and here I am. It pains me to leave the home of Haven's Saga for this past year, but it wasn't really Xoom anymore, was it? Just a shell... a shell gone the way of Geocities... Once they were rivals, now their castaway souls have only each other for comfort.

Welcome then, friends, to Chocobo.org. The old bird is a little slow, but nary an ad banner in sight, and no corporate sponsorship. The people who run this place are to be commended, and I'd do it myself if I remembered any of their names. Ian something sticks in my mind, but I am not certain. 'Twas so long ago that I got access to this account from my friend... Back during the days of Dark Magick, which has since unofficially been assimilated into Haven's Saga. For that matter, Dark Magick was instrumental in guiding Haven to its present form. The current Haven is a small but important part of the backstory of Dark Magick, and it is thus that the two are connected.

In game news, things are quiet right now. Ever on the lookout for ways to remind me how much it hates me, V2+i now page faults if I try to load a map. V2k+j doesn't, but it refuses to load 16-bit CHRs. (Something overlooked in the file check routines I presume, should be an easy fix) I'm working on an anti-aliased, variable width font (I think I mentioned that) which should look pretty cool, and I have an experimental anti-aliased sprite, which looks very good. As always, I'm still writing music and dialogue. Just finished up the rough version of what should be, let's see... the eighth boss battle theme. Yep, if you're important to the plot, you probably have your own boss theme.


Read old updates from the Xoom Era here.