[GUY]

I just download the 720p torrent and have to say this has to be the best looking space game anywhere. are the effect tracked for for each ship visually because you can see everything and its just great. when i talk to friends about the different features that would make the game easier i never even thought about the ambient effect like dimmed lighting for fighters in hyperspace and the backlit icons for the hud. yeah i'm pretty blown away but would you ever consider,
adding movement around in the cockpit like some figiting
changing up the outside turning angles of the fighter so it looks more directed in a 3-d pan.
having a fade into outside ship angle so you can pilot a ship in a 3rd person view
and porting to the ps3 would be pretty sweet with sixxaxis and rumble.

How much bigger has you dev team gotten since the collectors edition because your game looks alot more focused than the screens of the original echo squad.
Please keep it going through 2010+!

[Supreme Cmdr]

The "dimmed" lighting for ships in hyperspace is actually called "motion blur" and we do it full screen and on the entire scene. So if you're in hyperspace and looking at anything from any view, you will see the motion blur.

And yes, all the ships have the effects; as long as it is applicable to it.

Since the entire cockpit is a 3D model, it was easy to add environment lighting (internal and external) to it.

There are no plans to anything else to the game at this time. Its feature locked and on the final stages to release.

We have no plans for a console version of this ES game.

The Second Edition version of the game looks tons better than the GameTap original (developed in 2006) because of this amount of work that went into it.

The game looks 50% better than in trailers which have been subjected to various types of compression (MPEG2, MPEG4, QT).

[GUY]

personally ill push for 1600x1200 whenever can move to graphics card that will sit will in my set-up. i've got a single pci-express so anything that can run smooth with those frames would be perfect like 9800 x2. the interface seems good though if you think about ucce it looks alot easier to focus on the combat and knock off whatevers i front of you like an fps doom or ut with the plus plus for the interface. I'm really just looking to pick off tanks at 50m but thats just what i do.

[Quazar]

Those are some sweet shots, Boss! Even the youtube version of that movie is killer awesome. Keep up the good work.

[Supreme Cmdr]

Wow!! It has been one busy week!! I've been swamped with so much work as we ramp up to the game's release. So, whats new?

Echo Squad SE Release Date

Since we are way ahead of schedule and not waiting for the boxed version's production materials and all that, the game's official digital distribution release date is
now March 3rd instead of the original March 28th.

IGN Exclusive (one week) Sneak Preview

The sneak preview is already in the hands of the IGN folks and should be going live today or Monday once all the DRM backend stuff has been checked and double checked. All the other backend stuff they already did a couple of weeks back.

IGN will also be doing a pre-orders program with the release of the sneak preview.

New digital distributor added

We also signed Echo Squad ES (and four of our Universal Combat back catalog: UCG, UCAWA, UCSE, UCCE) to Paradox Interactive's popular Gamer's Gate portal. The Universal Combat games should be going up sometime next week.

They're also on track for a March 3rd availability of Echo Squad SE. They too are going to be running a pre-orders promo program (10% off I think or something like that) different from the IGN (who got a week's sneak preview instead).

Sneak Preview Details

The sneak preview is the latest RC16 build. I expect that there will be one or two more builds (tweaks and such) ahead of the final release for March 3rd. I plan on locking the game on or before Feb 22nd.

The only differences between this preview and the full game are:

• Does not include the [mind blowing] intro movie
  
• Only contains two of eight music tracks
  
• Does not have multiplayer
  
• Does not contain all the VO (voice over) files (about 100MB) for the tutorial as well as the Episode One campaign. Hence the 320MB instead of the final 416MB size.
  
• Does not contain any campaigns. It only includes a demo specific version of the game's tutorial scenario. The full game's version is just the tutorial (three phases as per the docs), while the demo starts with the same tutorial and depending on how well you do, there are two intense combat missions thereafter. Just like the old days where you had to plot through a space game's tutorial first before being allowed to go any further.

Public Demo

The IGN exclusive sneak preview will run for a week. The public demo version (same as the sneak preview but possibly with a newer game build and of course DRM scheme) will be released thereafter. Which puts it somewhere in the week of Feb 25th.

That whole GameTap thing


btw, no doubt you've seen the latest media sensational news reporting. Of course its our sensationalist media again with the whole Derek Smart thing because this is hardly news

And because, like everything else, they [media] took it out of context. I'm already in touch with Rick at Turner he's not very pleased about it either; but we can't control what the media does/says. They took one interview - which had nothing to do with me - and made it about me; complete with the usual sensational headlines. Why? Well, because Derek Smart is a celebrity of sorts and anything with my name in it, makes the news, gets people talking (and gnashing their teeth) and drives site traffic I guess.

Without going into any NDA breaking details, basically GameTap had the game on exclusive license for a specific period. We did the work, delivered every single milestone on time, got paid on time after their sign off etc. The producer of the game, Roger Faso, an industry vet who sadly doesn't get enough credit since Rick is the face of GameTap made sure that everything was done by the book and everyone was happy. I'm talking picking up the phone at any time of the day kinda stuff. Seriously.

At the end of the day, it came down to marketing. So let me get this out right now. The GameTap marketing people know nothing about our gaming business. And I have tons and tons of emails to prove it. They simply didn't know how to market the game to their own subscribers; who btw, were running up high gameplay metrics for games like Tachyon, Freespace 2 etc (most of which were recently unceremoniously pulled from the service along with 70+ other games) which was the whole reason they decided to license the game exclusively for a period of time anyway!!

Even though the contract called specifically for marketing and such, none was done. Go ahead, show me one single piece of marketing that was done by GameTap since the game was signed back in 2006.

Then they [marketing] botched the release of the demo. A demo which I did for free and without asking for any payment even though I was offered to be compensated. It was to be released first to the subcribers and later the public. Never happened.

Then despite the fact that we hit every single milestone without a hiccup, the release dates kept being pushed from one date to the next. To the point that I completely lost track and just quit asking; instead focusing on Talon Elite and the future of the franchise.

Things came to a head when, in typical GameTap marketing fashion, they unceremoniously informed me that they were not going to be releasing the game on GameTap due to the fact that marketing just
couldn't get behind it. This was after weeks and weeks of emails with them inquiring about what they were doing with the - then 100% completed - game.

Then the pulling of the 70+ games from GameTap came.

The bottom line, apart from the whole marketing thing is, they opted not to release it on the service (when they changed focus?) due it not (according to marketing) appealing to their more casual subscriber base. To be honest, on one hand, I can understand it (being that this is an unpopular genre depending on who you ask). On the other hand, its crap - because they shouldn've known that going in. They [marketing] just didn't know how to market it. All they had to do was release it on the service and it wouldn't have cost them anything more as far as paying me was concerned.

So instead of holding on to the [exclusive] rights without doing anything with it, it just reverted back to me in a mutual termination. If it wasn't mutual or if it was anything but what Rick and I have said, someone would be in a lawsuit right about now because all of you know that I don't take stuff like this lightly at all. Especially since its the first game in a new IP that I took a HUGE risk on developing when I decided to take a break from my niche offerings. But the fact is, this whole thing is just the usual backend decisions that those in our industry make all the time. I enjoyed my time working with Roger (and Rick's) and his crew; and have zero complaints about it. I did the work, got paid. Who am I to complain if they want to sit on a multi-million dollar game when I've already been paid? Its just business as usual.

Plus, I don't know where any of their skeletons are hidden, so its not like they have any incentive to play nice with Derek Smart or else. This is AOL/Turner we're talking about people, not some hole in the wall corporation.

This stuff happens all the time, except that in most cases devs don't own their IP. It was because of this that I decided to do the Second Edition and release it, while moving the second title, Talon Elite into my 2009 schedule.

I had even planned to release the GameTap original version for free on the Internet. I decided against it when it made sense to just release the Second Edition; which btw, has already ended up costing me North of and additional $350K to develop; not including the cost of the work on Talon Elite itself. Thats how strongly I felt about releasing this first game in the new IP, rather than letting it go unreleased. This is how much work went has gone into SE since the GameTap version (at the bottom of the page).

Frankly, if this were a run-of-the-mill fps shooter or one of the usual rubbish casual games, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But the bottomline is that this is a space game. A genre that every [mainstream] publisher just wants to see die. Despite the fact that the genre has a very large install base. All its going to take is one game to post high numbers and everyone will be flocking again to this once popular genre. I make no excuses for the rubbish that is the Wing Commander and Battlestar Galactica games on XBLA. Thats the direction because casual - even rubbish casual - is still casual. So that sort of crap will still get made. And by mainstream publishers who DO have the money to do this genre justice.

I, for one, am never - ever - going to let this genre die. Ever. I don't care if I'm the last man standing and the only one doing these games; as long as someone out there buys enough copies to make me enough money to afford future development, I'll make them. And if the install base drops and I can't make enough money on the games, I'll borrow the money and keep making these games. I will never quit. Ever.

This game is unlike ANY of my previous offerings and, well, anyone who is familiar with my games will be shocked as hell. Guaranteed. But the proof is in the pudding and the IGN sneak preview going out to 10K subscribers and then later the public will allow you space combat fans to draw your own conclusions.

Then you can all go and thank GameTap for dropping the ball and allowing me to develop and release publicly (instead of on a closed subscriber system) a more advanced game which would have come later (rather than sooner) with Talon Elite originally scheduled for Q4/08.

I'll just sit back and watch in mild amusement.

[shihminhao]

It's really nice to see that we can get Echo Squad SE shortly.
And also nice to see Gamer's Gate have ES digital distribution.I've used their online digital download purchase which is running very smooth and almost met no problem.
Too bad for GameTap....

[Supreme Cmdr]

I have made the game's full documentation available online. These are the same docs in the sneak preview as well as the demo and final version. These docs are also available from within the game.

[Supreme Cmdr]

UPDATE @ 14:12 EST: ITS GOLD!!!!


The State of the Union

Good morning boy and girls. This is what I believe to be my final dev update for the GALCOM ES project. The almost final final dev VCF is now online as well.

As I type this, we're on the "Gone Gold" count-down clock for today as I expect to pull the trigger later today and release a formal statement. We've already notified all our digital distribution partners who will have the game on their servers by this coming Friday.

The Echo Squad SE game supports up to 9999 (yeah, I just made that up because its less egotistical to just say, oh, I dunno, infinite) episodic scenario. When Turner expressed an interest in the original Echo Squad game, a lot of work went into this sort of thing because that was the concept under which we were operating. Coming from a broadcast network, this is hardly surprising.

So, with Echo Squad SE, we have four completed episodic scenarios, each with over 20+ hours of gameplay. This *drum roll* is Season One. If all goes well and we sell enough units of Season One (including the inevitable Christmas bundle), there will be a Season Two and so forth. Of course, since our episodic releases will also include engine updates, revisions, new tech etc, we all win.

• Episode 1 - Rise Of The Insurgents
  
• Episode 2 - The Excalibur Gambit
  
• Episode 3 - Lost Echo
  
• Episode 4 - The War Within

The plan is to release a new episode every month or so, barring any unforeseen problems. Which means that Season One will conclude with the release of Episode Four around the end of July.

The game also ships with two multiplayer scenarios. Deathmatch and Base Wars; both of which fully support co-op. We pretty much overhauled critical parts of our multiplayer kernel (still powered by ReplicaNet developed by my old buddy and support developer, Martin Piper) for Echo Squad and its.....well, just wait. Seriously. Just wait.

I had planned on including 2-4 player co-op support for the campaign scenario itself but due to time constraints, had to drop it from the list. The plan is to complete it and include it in one of the forthcoming episodes. Playing the episodic campaigns with three of your buddies should be worth a thrill I think; especially after you've played it solo with your Echo Squad NPC wingmen.

Anyway, the plan is to roll some of these multiplayer enhancements into Universal Combat CE so that those of you still playing the ol' gal, can benefit from this work. I expect that to happen with the 1.00.06 release due out around the end of this month.

The State Of PC Gaming

Its rubbish really. And only going to get worse.

And the big fish eating little fish phase has only just got started. By the time the dust settles, it will be the same old players, releasing the same old recycled rubbish. Only this time, they'll be doing it with someone else's money. Assuming most of them even have jobs - let alone money - when they get taken over.

Then of course there's the talent. Name one person you know who wants to walk away from a paycheck in this day and age. Nobody wants to quit when you have bills to pay. So the end result is that you have all these really great and talented folks end up working for companies they'd rather not, only to pull a paycheck. Then you have guys with advanced degrees, lots - and lots - of experience under their belts working on....another clone or sequel.

The end result (and good thing?) in all this is that eventually each and every second and third tier publisher (retail or not) will cease to exist. It is inevitable. If nothing else, the price of admission to console game development and publishing will make sure of it. Assuming of course Microsoft stops short of turning XBLA into a swap meet. Right up to the part where Sony come to their senses (as they now seem to have done) and make PSN, as well as development for the PS3, even more accessible.

At this point in time, I really don't care either way who wins or loses. I just want to develop and sell my games. Other [casual] indie devs have been doing it for years, quietly, with no fuss or muss; and portals like Handango, Wild Tangent, Big Fish etc have made it possible. This is what puzzles me the most. All this noise about indie gaming, as if this is something we started yesterday when everyone was sleeping. I guess its just that the term "indie developer" somehow denotes "casual gaming" and since "casual" is the new Black, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. Most don't even have a frigging clue what they're going on about let alone have firm grasp about the indie scene.

In case some of you missed the memo, the release of Universal Combat CE this past October, marks my exit from niche space games. I'll leave that torch to the good folks at Egosoft. I wish them luck - which - given the current gaming climate, they'll be needing a lot of.

If something tickles my fancy, I may do another niche title sometime in 2010 or thereabouts.

Assuming that there is in fact a PC gaming industry still left. I seriously doubt it. Like with everything else - and all my previous predictions (which all came true btw) - I predict that the PC gaming scene will flatline by Q4/2010. In fact, my guess is that only the indies - who will still be struggling to sell titles amidst rampant pircacy and draconian DRM schemes (which, in truth, are just an inconvenience to the gamer and do very little to deter - let alone prevent - piracy) - will be left to carry the torch.

And the only way you'd see a [worthy] PC game - in a box and on a store shelf - is if one of the big boys is still paying (they're called MDFs) the retailers to stock them.

As I mentioned so many years ago in one of my dev blogs (hit the archives), digital distribution is the wave of the gaming (PC and consoles) future, but given the penetrating of retail game sales, it is highly unlikely that digital distribution will gain as much traction as selling a box. Why else do you think publishers are still doing boxed games? Its going to be like the RIAA vs online music all over again. They'll all be sleeping when the ball drops.

Those of you who think that because Steam has 15 million plus subscribers means that games on there are selling like hotcakes, need to be slapped into consciousness because it doesn't work like that. At all.

Think about this. Millions of us have cable and/or satellite (I, funny enough, have both cable and DirecTV, though I hardly watch TV - except for CNN or HNN - opting instead to just record my fav shows using my BeyondTV powered HTPC) - which we're paying for. When was the last time you watched, oh, I dunno, Wife Swap? You're paying for it. And your subscriber still counts you as a subscriber though you hardly watch TV, let alone some of the rubbish (I swear if those mofos don't bring back Life, Journeyman and K-Ville, they'll be hearing from me) they're broadcasting these days.

Whatever those folks - with too much time on their hands - over at Intel, Microsoft etc are cooking up, will fail. Spectacularly. You don't promote PC gaming by - *gasp* - turning the box into a console. That particular gamer rebellion will be louder than the Vista version.

So how are you going to do it? Besides, who said there was anything wrong with it?!?! OK, besides sequelities; but who are we to argue about that if our friends keep buying them. Here's a tip: don't want sequels? uhm, I dunno, but stop buying them. That would be a really good start I think.

Microsoft started it with their Games For Windows initiative, though like most, I - as a staunch MS supporter and long time MS developer - still have no frigging clue what that was about. Apart from it being a way to sell Vista boxes of course. Quick!! Look on your shelf and tell me how many GfW branded games you actually have and which - wait for it - actually make ANY difference whatsover to their digital distribution non-GfW counterparts? Do they crash any less? Do they need less support? Bug fixes? What? Games For Windows was supposed to be about marketing PC gaming. Of course if that worked, why would we even need a PC gaming consortium?

There is only ONE* thing wrong with PC gaming: piracy.

There are THREE companies who can fix it: Microsoft. AMD. Intel.

Piracy prevention needs to be a hardware (BIOS?) and OS (Windows) level initiative.

The much maligned Starforce initiative actually went as far as the OS kernel level. Look where that left them. Thats right, much maligned. And not because it was a bad initiative, but because it was just too intrusive for comfort and in turn wreak havoc with other software and drivers. And guess who got to make the loudest noise? Thats right. The pirates. That much noise is solely responsible for the rebellion against Starforce and causing most big name publishers to stop using it. We stopped using it too btw, but only because SecuROM was far less intrusive and much easier to work with.

With access to the BIOS and all the HW manufacturers that make them, both AMD and Intel can come up with something. Anything!!.

Microsoft knows about their OS kernel more than anyone else. Their Windows activation is pretty much safe, standard, non-intrusive etc. Why not offer to publishers and developers a similar solution to make our games that much less harder to crack and re-distribute? I don't need [now canned] DirectX 11 thank you very much. We've hardly tapped into DirectX 10 yet!!

There is no sure fire way to prevent piracy. Heck, if DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD. iPod, PSP et al can all be cracked, so too will any intiative that these three come up with. But why not give it a shot instead of coming up with an initiative thats either (i) never going to get off the ground (ii) destined to fail - as I predict that it will.

PC gaming was once a hobby. It is now a multi-billion dollar industry and yet still - with all that money and resources - nobody can figure this out. But no, lets have more meetings to discuss the meetings we're going to be having about those meetings with the other guys regarding this whole "Save PC Gaming" campaign we've got going.

This is the same Intel and nVidia that are collectively responsible for our troubles related to sub-par graphics chips (not to mention new chips that are supposed to be better than the previous, but are not etc) and whatnot. Yeah, anyone paying attention to that "gaming alliance" crap has too much time on their hands.

Well, thats all for now. My next dev update will have all the juicy details (and some shots!) from Talon Elite and/or Bravo Team.

* No, bad drivers, buggy software etc are just par for the course and should be regarded as a given. NOTHING will ever fix that. Heck, they're still patching console games. Go figure.

[thomasc]

Congratulations on going gold. I'll be picking this up.

[Spindoktor]

I preordered it from Gamersgate when it went on sale there. I like Gamersgate, seems alot less commercial than D2D and allows us access to some pretty obscure titles.