Outpost MIA
From OPU Wiki
| Outpost : Missing in Action is a community project |
OutpostMIA is a rewrite of the classic game OUTPOST by SIERRA ON-LINE published in 1994. While OUTPOST was a great concept, the game itself was a lousy implementation and was release before it was actually finished.
| Table of contents |
Links
Outpost: Missing in Action Website (http://www.opmia.outpost-universe.net)
Outpost: Missing in Action Forums (http://forum.outpost-universe.net/index.php?showforum=24)
Project status
On Hold
Outpost: Missing in Action Credits
| Project leader: | leeor_net |
Project updates
23/01/2004
The Interface/GUI graphics are finally almost done. I'm looking forward to polishing everything off and having that part of the project out of the way. Once that's done, I won't have any more excuses to put off the programming.
I've been trying to figure out how I can get the Planetary Telemetry Screen to look good. Basically, the Starship has entered orbit around some planet of the users choice and now is the phase where the user launches probes and continues to gather more and more useful information about the planet. I'm thinking of making a little bit of a change and having the probes gather information and send it back to the ship before the user picks a planet. After the user chooses a planet, geological and various other probes will be launched so that the user can choose a good landing site.
The landing site will be chosen in a different way than the original games' way of doing it. The 'probes' will be beaming back the planetary telemetry and several views will pop up. From there the user will be able to choose a section of the planet to land on and the game will begin.
I'm also trying to figure out how I can create an animated 'telemetry wave' similar to that found on the Star Trek Bridge Computers. It's not necessary but I think it would add to the apparent look and feel of the game.
24/01/2004
I might as well consider the interface graphics to be done. I don't have too much else to do with them. It's the damn video's that are bugging me right now. I'm trying to convert the original videos from Autodesk FLC/FLI/FLX formats to something more standard (MPG or AVI) and I've got to tell you, it's not easy! The conversion process is easily a nightmare and I think a lot of it has to do with the programs that I'm using. Not quite the quality I would have expected. And, of course, the program I'm using to actually generate the movie is Microsoft Movie Maker that came with Windows XP. Ugh... I would have much prefered Adobe Premier to make the videos.
Oh well. Whatever way I look at it, the introductory video is coming together and actually looks pretty nice. It's not done yet and doesn't have any sound or music, but I think I'm going to upload it to the web today so that people can see that something is getting done. I'll leave it in WMV formats. Anyone with Windows Media Player 7.0 or up should be able to view it. The next questions is that of a voice narration. I'm going to have to do something about that. Maybe Colleen can do it? I don't know. I'll see how things go. I'm almost ready to start coding the map drawing routines so I'm looking forward to completing that.
25/01/2004
I'll tell you, converting from one video format to another is no easy task. With frustrations mounting, I'm ready to blow up the computer. Maybe I'm just not cut out for the creation of FMV's. I'm going to keep plugging away at it anyway.
Again, the process of finding a narration for the video continues to plague me. I'll find a voice somewhere.
I've posted a poll on the OUTPOST Universe Forums so that the people who will use the game will be able to decide how the SAVE/LOAD game interfaces will work. I've listed them in order of difficulty; they get progressively more difficult and complex the further down the list the interface goes. I'm willing to spend time on developing the 3rd option but it will certainly take some time to completely finish. I guess we'll see how things go.
25/01/2005
Introductory Video Uploaded (http://forum.outpost-universe.net/index.php?showtopic=1324)
Before you go running off to the website to download the video and fire up whatever program you're playing it in, please note that it's only the very beginning of the video and it is far from complete. There is no sound track and there are no voices.
However, it's a glimpse into the very near future and it's a sneak peek at the game-in-progress.
And yes, I plan on using FULLSCREEN FMV's in the game! :-) It'll be a nice touch, I think! :-)
04/06/2005
Project Update (http://forum.outpost-universe.net/index.php?showtopic=1748)
OP:MIA has continued development and is still slowly on its way to a complete demo.
I had made promises of a demonstration game earlier this year but produced nothing. This was due to several reasons:
- I moved to a new apartment
- I had little free time
- Lack of inspiration
- Health emergency with one of my birds
- Development machine died
Yeah, the machine that OP:MIA was being developed on died. Sort of... the optical drives failed, the on-board sound failed, the network failed and I think the processor is on its last legs (this has been a problem since the PSU caught fire). There was an electrical storm... not much more needs to be said.
The HDD's are fine it's now just a matter of finding the time to remove them and rebuild the machine.
However, in the mean time, I have this computer which is out in the living room. Works very well, has a flat-panel screen, great video card and has a whole lot of room for development.
Getting to the point, I want to release a demo of OP:MIA. But I think it would be more beneficial to release a working demo rather than a graphic engine demonstration. I want to release a game that is not yet complete but give a really good feel to what the final product will actually be (note Outpost2 and Quake3Arena pre-release demos). Yeah... that kind of calibur.
When will it be done? I haven't got the slightest. I just have to get through everything and take each element of the game one at a time.
Thanks for the patience and support.
22/07/2005
Project Update (http://forum.outpost-universe.net/index.php?showtopic=1885)
My development computer has officially died. The information on the HDD's is perfectly intact. However, both optical drives failed, the network equipment is friend and the motherboard is slowly withering away.
Unfortunatly, I neither have the time nor the funds to make the necessary repairs... in this case, replace all the drives and get a new motherboard (a total of nearly $500 for what I need it for). So, I've turned off the machine and it's remained in its dormant state for nearly a month. I will eventually move the HDD's from that machine into this one until I can get replacement parts. So OP:MIA is dead in the water. This also explains the lack of updates to the OP:MIA website.
However, once I have a new development machine up and running properly, work on OP:MIA will continue. As I have had time to think about various aspects of OP:MIA's internal coding (as well as aquiring the official 'strategy' guide {and I use the term 'strategy' loosely} ), I've been able to scribble down a lot of psuedo code and design docs describing various parts of the game and how they should work.
I imagine that there are those who are wondering what is happening so I thought I would post something of an update as to what is going on.
