H.A.Z. - Can you Survive...
by Quinton Delpeche · 11/19/2012 (2:08 am) · 10 comments
Been a while since I posted here but I am fast approaching the release of a Pre-Alpha and would like to get some thoughts / feedback and maybe drum up some interest and hopefully recruit some help.
H.A.Z. is a FPS (First Person Shooter) RPG (Role Playing Game) that is multi-player enabled and played on-line.
H.A.Z. is actually a play on words but is also an acronym for something. The play on words is for Haz, as in HazMat (Hazardous Material) or Bio Hazard (Biological Hazard) and works quite well with the game and art style we are trying to achieve within the game. Secondly H.A.Z. is an acronym for Humans and Zombies (lame I know - but I thought it was cool) and pretty much implies exactly what the game is about and should portray what style of game it is fairly effectively.
There is no more Law ... There is no more Order ... There is only Survival!
We have various social pages that you can visit to seem some of the work completed to date:
H.A.Z. Facebook
H.A.Z. Google+
H.A.Z. Twitter
H.A.Z. YouTube
We have a placeholder website in place:
H.A.Z. Website
We have forums in place:
H.A.Z. Forums
We will be going for Funding at a later stage but the game will follow the Free-to-Play model that will limit you to one character slot. More character slots can be purchased. There is perma-death in the game but without giving too much away ... we have a twist to the perma-death concept ... let's just say it involves a choice that the player makes and includes Zombies.
I currently have 1 Developer (besides myself) and 2 Artists ... but there is always room on the team for more. I have a full Internal Release Plan available on the website in the Private Forums ... and anyone who is interested in joining the team will get access to these Private Forums.
Anyway ... please take a look at our social pages and the albums and galleries ... and let me know what you think. If you want more information or want to ask questions ... please feel free to contact me here or on the H.A.Z. forums.
Thanks for your time.
H.A.Z. is a FPS (First Person Shooter) RPG (Role Playing Game) that is multi-player enabled and played on-line.
H.A.Z. is actually a play on words but is also an acronym for something. The play on words is for Haz, as in HazMat (Hazardous Material) or Bio Hazard (Biological Hazard) and works quite well with the game and art style we are trying to achieve within the game. Secondly H.A.Z. is an acronym for Humans and Zombies (lame I know - but I thought it was cool) and pretty much implies exactly what the game is about and should portray what style of game it is fairly effectively.
There is no more Law ... There is no more Order ... There is only Survival!
We have various social pages that you can visit to seem some of the work completed to date:
H.A.Z. Facebook
H.A.Z. Google+
H.A.Z. Twitter
H.A.Z. YouTube
We have a placeholder website in place:
H.A.Z. Website
We have forums in place:
H.A.Z. Forums
We will be going for Funding at a later stage but the game will follow the Free-to-Play model that will limit you to one character slot. More character slots can be purchased. There is perma-death in the game but without giving too much away ... we have a twist to the perma-death concept ... let's just say it involves a choice that the player makes and includes Zombies.
I currently have 1 Developer (besides myself) and 2 Artists ... but there is always room on the team for more. I have a full Internal Release Plan available on the website in the Private Forums ... and anyone who is interested in joining the team will get access to these Private Forums.
Anyway ... please take a look at our social pages and the albums and galleries ... and let me know what you think. If you want more information or want to ask questions ... please feel free to contact me here or on the H.A.Z. forums.
Thanks for your time.
About the author
Gobbo Games is an Independent Games Development company operating from Durban in South Africa. We believe in creating high-quality cost-effective games that remain true to the belief of Independent Game Developers around the world.
#2
11/19/2012 (6:54 pm)
Quote:You won't be saying that come the zombie apocalypse! ;)
You can never have too many zombies
#3
Bit of a process at the moment ... but I have written some scripts that make my life easier. That map is a test map that I used to get the audio working properly as well as various other minor elements (including the Zombie AI) ... nothing worse then running around an empty terrain.
I finished off the terrain for one of the final maps last night and will be populating it with rubbish, decals, power-lines and all the things a good Zombie Apocalypse will need. :)
11/19/2012 (8:59 pm)
@David: Thanks for the comments ... they are always appreciated from the community. Yeah ... I am still busy re-texturing most of my models and converting the textures to DDS as well as organising them in to a texture sub-directory.Bit of a process at the moment ... but I have written some scripts that make my life easier. That map is a test map that I used to get the audio working properly as well as various other minor elements (including the Zombie AI) ... nothing worse then running around an empty terrain.
I finished off the terrain for one of the final maps last night and will be populating it with rubbish, decals, power-lines and all the things a good Zombie Apocalypse will need. :)
#4
www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21998
11/20/2012 (12:38 pm)
don't know if you spotted it but Ron Kapaun gave away some nice free models that are probably perfect for a nice Zombie Apocalypse game :-)www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21998
#5
At the moment I am ensuring that all objects support skins and that they all have LODS in place. :)
@ALL: On a side note, we have decided to release the Pre-alpha internally and to a select few people on the 12th December 2012. This is the first stage of my release plan and the idea is to ensure that I get a stable base for the game without too many low-level bugs or glitches in the game.
Each subsequent release: Alpha, Beta, Release Candidate, and Release will add functionality and features. Each release will also have a full test - fix - test again - rinse-repeat cycle until all issues are squashed.
This means I have no definite release date for the any of the other releases, but will be able to provide these dates for the next release a short while after the previous release's testing is completed ... hope this makes sense ... been awake since 04:00 S.A. Time ... so brain is a little fuzzy. ;)
11/20/2012 (7:27 pm)
@David: Yeah I did spot that ... I have about 4 different packs that I purchased many moons ago that provide me with the same type of items and objects.At the moment I am ensuring that all objects support skins and that they all have LODS in place. :)
@ALL: On a side note, we have decided to release the Pre-alpha internally and to a select few people on the 12th December 2012. This is the first stage of my release plan and the idea is to ensure that I get a stable base for the game without too many low-level bugs or glitches in the game.
Each subsequent release: Alpha, Beta, Release Candidate, and Release will add functionality and features. Each release will also have a full test - fix - test again - rinse-repeat cycle until all issues are squashed.
This means I have no definite release date for the any of the other releases, but will be able to provide these dates for the next release a short while after the previous release's testing is completed ... hope this makes sense ... been awake since 04:00 S.A. Time ... so brain is a little fuzzy. ;)
#6
Looks like you have a very solid plan! Honestly, it's one of the most solid plans I have seen for a game of this scale. I will be keeping an eye on this. If I actually had any free time, I would chip in but, alas.... Me have no free time!
Oh yeah, the freebie pack that David referenced is LODed (where it makes sense, since most are under 300 polys I did not do them all), skins though, I would have to look into, let me know if you want em. I can update them quick enough. (always looking for ways to make even the freebies more usable!)
Ron
11/21/2012 (3:00 pm)
Quinton,Looks like you have a very solid plan! Honestly, it's one of the most solid plans I have seen for a game of this scale. I will be keeping an eye on this. If I actually had any free time, I would chip in but, alas.... Me have no free time!
Oh yeah, the freebie pack that David referenced is LODed (where it makes sense, since most are under 300 polys I did not do them all), skins though, I would have to look into, let me know if you want em. I can update them quick enough. (always looking for ways to make even the freebies more usable!)
Ron
#7
I have had a pretty steep learning curve when it comes to the Art Pipeline and getting the LOD and Skins working ... but I have it sorted now and I am making good progress. I am a developer by trade and so having to learn how to 3D stuff has posed some unique challenges ... but I shall prevail.
Yeah I noticed your pack was LOD enabled ... I am currently putting all my Assets in an optomised state on a new 2 TB drive that I purchased purely for storage of all my assets ... there are so many scattered all over the place that I had to make a plan.
Once I have that done I can then focus on choosing the assets that match the style of game ... so I will let you know.
Thanks again for all the comments and tips ... this is still the best community around and the Zombie Outbreak will be coming real soon. I will post a new blog in a few weeks time that will go over what features we want to include and maybe how we plan on addressing those features.
11/22/2012 (12:13 am)
@Ron: Thanks for the offer of help if you could ... it is appreciated and I understand how hard free time is to come by. :)I have had a pretty steep learning curve when it comes to the Art Pipeline and getting the LOD and Skins working ... but I have it sorted now and I am making good progress. I am a developer by trade and so having to learn how to 3D stuff has posed some unique challenges ... but I shall prevail.
Yeah I noticed your pack was LOD enabled ... I am currently putting all my Assets in an optomised state on a new 2 TB drive that I purchased purely for storage of all my assets ... there are so many scattered all over the place that I had to make a plan.
Once I have that done I can then focus on choosing the assets that match the style of game ... so I will let you know.
Thanks again for all the comments and tips ... this is still the best community around and the Zombie Outbreak will be coming real soon. I will post a new blog in a few weeks time that will go over what features we want to include and maybe how we plan on addressing those features.
#8
Yeah I had to go through and do the same exact thing with my model library. Sitting a little over 2 gigs worth of stuff that I have put together. It was spread all over so I organized it. (That does not include the assorted 3D Max files in progress) That was not nearly as bad as the texture files.... Not going to go into that but in the end organizing is key. Good luck.
Ron
11/22/2012 (5:13 am)
Quinton,Yeah I had to go through and do the same exact thing with my model library. Sitting a little over 2 gigs worth of stuff that I have put together. It was spread all over so I organized it. (That does not include the assorted 3D Max files in progress) That was not nearly as bad as the texture files.... Not going to go into that but in the end organizing is key. Good luck.
Ron
#9
Now I usually keep copies on 2 or 3 drives plus in the cloud. also a word of warning about DVD's they also don't last forever.
Having some good drive recovery software helps as well, unfortunately If you tell your friends you get them producing drives or bringing there computers around to 'Please just recover my pictures' Lol
11/22/2012 (4:01 pm)
Just a word of warning about putting them all on 1 drive, make sure you have backups. The number of times I have lost unreplaceable code/meshes/etc. because I thought I had a backup and my whole drive crashed and burned taking said Items with it (usually I didn't even know I had lost them till it came to needing them)Now I usually keep copies on 2 or 3 drives plus in the cloud. also a word of warning about DVD's they also don't last forever.
Having some good drive recovery software helps as well, unfortunately If you tell your friends you get them producing drives or bringing there computers around to 'Please just recover my pictures' Lol
#10
Yeah ... I am an old hand in the IT Industry, so I have a Linux server that I RSYNC to from that drive and then that is backed up to another drive and a DVD Media system. The DVDs are created every week and the drive is backed up every night.
Because our internet in this country is not as efficient as elsewhere ... cloud type storage is difficult to use effectively in this regard.
I have another two 500GB HDD that I do incremental backups to ... can never be too safe. :)
11/22/2012 (10:18 pm)
@David: How does the saying go: "The Backups work ... it is the restore that is tricky!"Yeah ... I am an old hand in the IT Industry, so I have a Linux server that I RSYNC to from that drive and then that is backed up to another drive and a DVD Media system. The DVDs are created every week and the drive is backed up every night.
Because our internet in this country is not as efficient as elsewhere ... cloud type storage is difficult to use effectively in this regard.
I have another two 500GB HDD that I do incremental backups to ... can never be too safe. :)
Torque Owner David Robert Pemberton
www.deadlyassets.com
Have taken a look at your facebook pictures and (I don't want to be too critical as I know its pre alpha) your world could do with some litter, street lights, signes, etc. just to make it look well less empty :-)
a few decals of grime, potholes, fallen leaves etc. could make a lot of difference to the look of your levels.
I'm going to keep an eye of this, keep it up. You can never have too many zombies, well unless your the one running from them hehe