GLADE Team Project: Dark Magic

[modman]

The Devil Machine was something I completely fabricated, but it has a specific purpose in the faction, so I don't want to cut it.  It will be designed to be an annoying swarm unit for the late game.  I want it to be mechanical, but to have a magical "force" propelling it.  The force could be depicted as blue sparks or something.  It should probably have one wheel, and it will be melee.  It should also be made of wood.  The concept I have in my mind is VERY hard to explain, but I did my best.  Please ask questions to clarify things...

You mean something kinda like this?

Yea, kind of like that, but only sort of crude looking, but still with a "clockwork" feel with lots of gears, but also with spikes.  Thanks for the pic, it gave me a reference point to describe with.

[Mark]

Give me a little time and i will get you some concept art.

[modman]

Would it be OK (Glest license-wise) if I spent a little of my own money to get a soundtrack for this faction?  Keven MacLeod is a great composer and I think he could make a great one for this faction.  Unfortunately, it's not free...I'll have to see how much he wants because I'm only 15 and Bill Gates isn't my uncle.

[John.d.h]

Would it be OK (Glest license-wise) if I spent a little of my own money to get a soundtrack for this faction?

If you pay the guy to license it to you under GPL, then it would be fine.  Personally, I wouldn't go spending money on this, but I'm certainly not gonna stop you either.

[modman]

Actually, I found some really awesome tracks on his site, which are free and the license is really lenient.  You can see it here.  Since I found such good stuff, how long maximum do you think the soundtrack should be?  i am working on the soundtracks because I know how to do it, have nothing else to do, and i can quote Archmage101 as saying the existing one is good enough.  So I'll just improve it.  Also, Mark is in the process of making concept art for the Devil Machine.

[Omega]

Bill Gates isn't my uncle.

Thank god! Who wouldn't want to kill the guy for making IE and not giving it an uninstall?!?

Don't worry too much about the music though, the focus should be the gameplay! Remember that poll on glest.110mb.com? It asked about players opinions of game music, and my answer above basically reflects it...

[modman]

OK.  Thanks for keeping it in context.  I'm just a music fanatic, I guess.  My Dad, and my Dad's Dad were both trumpet players (they were both great, but my dad still plays.  He has a band, Beacon music ministry; they did play in prisons until it broke up).  Also, I'm in the marching band at West, playing trumpet.  (Link to us playing)

Anyways, the soundtrack is going to be kind of long (15 minutes maybe )

[John.d.h]

Don't underestimate the importance of music!  If you took a soundtrack from Goldeneye and put it on an Age of Empires level, then you'd suddenly realize how important having appropriate music is!  Music sets the whole tone, atmosphere, and pace of the game, and has the power to lodge itself into your mind for years.  How many of us can still hum the theme songs from Mario Bros or LoZ?  I know I sure can.  I think most gamers just don't take it into consideration, because the music is sitting in the background doing its job instead of being up in your face.  I know the soundtrack playing during the high-tech portions of Civ 3 gets on my nerves pretty quickly.

I'd try to keep it around the same length as Magic and Tech's soundtracks, but a little bit longer or a little bit shorter should be okay.  I think they're about seven or eight minutes, but I could be wrong.

[modman]

OK, then.  I'll get on it!

[Mark]

Yes, i agree that the music of a game is not to be underestimated.  As an example, one of the songs played during battles in civ4 sounds like some random hillbilly made it with his banjo .  My brother is quite dedicated to making soundtracks fit the style of the faction, so i am trusting him to compile something fantastic.

[John.d.h]

What does everyone think about using the Portal as the main summoning building instead of the Beast Trap, and then making the research building a laboratory?

[Mark]

I personally think that a laboratory is the wrong way to go as far as concepts... however i am interested in what you have in mind--something like this?

[Fluffy203]

Ok guys i'm back sorry , but something came up and i should have the harpy done some time this week  Off topic but if you play wow and wanna play  or wanna get the info on it click my sig its my sever =)

[titi]

OK guys, I'm currently not up to date with dark magic. What's the current state?
Probably its a good idea to keep the first post up to date, whats done and whats missing.
By this I can choose something to model or whatever what is not already done.

and by the way, the portal looks great, good job!

[modman]

Everything that is done is on the first post.  The concept art is mostly done, and the art is linked to at the bottom.  The faction diagram is final, except names, which are all pending (not saying that all need to be changed, but I have a few changes in mind.  Also, if I mention the different names, people will get confused, which wastes time.

I'm glad to see you've tuned into GLADE right now, titi.

[Omega]

I'm not against music, I just think that you should work on getting a fully functional mod with all the units done first. Music IS important, but not AS important as gameplay.

Also, remember that some people will NEVER hear the music. Namely deaf people (I myself have a hearing loss) and people who do most of their gaming at night, when others may be sleeping (I do that a lot). Never make a game depend on sound.

OT: This won't apply to Glest, but always caption/subtitle games. I was glad when Halo 3 did, unlike earlier halo games.

[assassin]

and people who do most of their gaming at night, when others may be sleeping (I do that a lot)

Headphones could help...

[John.d.h]

Okay, so I literally typed up about a page-long response to this thread and then accidentally clicked on one of those annoying taskbar links that IE has (I hate these library computers so very much) so now I have to completely redo it.  Here goes.

We've got about a week left before the tentative deadline, so we need to pick up the pace.  If we keep going at the same rate as this past week, we won't be done until August. 

Models that are still needed: Acolyte, God's Bane, Sheol Temple, Blood Fountain, Sorcery Runes, Sorceress, Imp, Balrog, Dark Elder, Alliyp, and Devil Machine.  Take a look at the concept links in the OP and feel free to model any of them.  If we want to get everything done by the end of the month, we need to do about two models per day, including textures and animations.

I'll finish animating the Dark Mage after I get back from the gym, so that should be done some time tonight (GMT -5).

Elimnator, are you out there somewhere?  If so, you can go ahead and start animating the Shadow Walker.  Otherwise I'll just do it myself.

Wciow, where are you?  How's the Wyvern coming along?

MadElf, any progress on that Portal texture?

Modman, the link to the tower model is missing from the OP.  http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tlzwnw2etqq

I personally think that a laboratory is the wrong way to go as far as concepts... however i am interested in what you have in mind--something like this?

I was thinking something kinda along those lines, but I'm open to other possibilities.  A divination crystal maybe?  I just know that the Portal makes sense as a summoning building but doesn't make any sense as a research building.

OK guys, I'm currently not up to date with dark magic. What's the current state?
Probably its a good idea to keep the first post up to date, whats done and whats missing.

Yeah, that's something that's missing from the OP.  *cough*Modman*cough*

By this I can choose something to model or whatever what is not already done.

Feel free to model anything I just mentioned as being needed, or to texture the Pain Tower.

and by the way, the portal looks great, good job!

Thanks.  I'll take credit for the model, but the texture is what's really going to make it look good.

[Mark]

Here are some nice sounds i just did.

Energy (or blood, i'm too lazy to check) fountain:
5 energy
10 energy
20 energy
Oblivian Portal:
Oblivian Portal Production

Hope you like them!     More soon!

Concept Art:

Devil Machine:

The Devil Machine is made up of various parts.  The first is the wheel, which is made out of metal, which is attached via a metal (or any other material) rod to a disc.  The disc is made out of wood and has six spikes on the edges of it, and is parallel to the ground.  In order to make it more Dark Magicey, I thought that maybe there should be a type of engine somewhere on it.  For attacking, the Devil Machine will lean its disc forward and spin it.  For moving, it moves its wheel in a circular motion (duh) and leans the disc forward.  For idle, it needs no animation. 

Sorcery Runes:

The Sorcery Runes consists of one large, central rune stone (in this case a boulder shaped piece of stone with runes carved/chalked on it), with spikes coming out of its sides and the ground immediately surrounding it.  When modeling, keep in mind that it needs to fit in 3-4 tiles, preferably 3.  For producing/researching, the Sorcery Runes’ spikes slide in and out of the rune stone and ground.

README!!!If you are one of those people who doesn't read whole topics, i would strongly recommend you be a pal and make an exception here

[gameboy]

I'll texture the pain tower

[modman]

I have completed what I think is the best Dark Magic soundtrack yet!  It is a compilation of different soundtracks all mixed together (using Audacity).  All of the pieces used are Royalty Free from Kevin MacLeod.  I have download links below for the files in MP3 and OGG file formats (MP3 because it is common, OGG because Glest uses it).

Download in MP3 Format
Download in OGG Format

OK guys, I'm currently not up to date with dark magic. What's the current state?
Probably its a good idea to keep the first post up to date, whats done and whats missing.

Yeah, that's something that's missing from the OP.  *cough*Modman*cough*

I guess I don't understand what you guys mean...All progress is (mostly ) kept in the first post, so that is our progress...

I personally think that a laboratory is the wrong way to go as far as concepts... however i am interested in what you have in mind--something like this?

I was thinking something kinda along those lines, but I'm open to other possibilities.  A divination crystal maybe?  I just know that the Portal makes sense as a summoning building but doesn't make any sense as a research building.

I'm open to ideas at all times, but at this point, if you have the model, I'll go with it!  But you do have a point that the Oblivion Portal doesn't make sense to be researching.  I'll have to fix the diagram, again.

[John.d.h]

I have completed what I think is the best Dark Magic soundtrack yet!  It is a compilation of different soundtracks all mixed together (using Audacity).  All of the pieces used are Royalty Free from Kevin MacLeod.  I have download links below for the files in MP3 and OGG file formats (MP3 because it is common, OGG because Glest uses it).

I like!  Very good selection.

I'm open to ideas at all times, but at this point, if you have the model, I'll go with it!  But you do have a point that the Oblivion Portal doesn't make sense to be researching.  I'll have to fix the diagram, again.

Well, I think I have a decent idea of what the Divination Crystal could look like, and modeling it would be a snap.  I'll see what I can do.

Here are some nice sounds i just did.

Not bad.  The Portal sound might be a little too short, but I'll test out how it sounds on a loop.

[modman]

I have completed what I think is the best Dark Magic soundtrack yet!  It is a compilation of different soundtracks all mixed together (using Audacity).  All of the pieces used are Royalty Free from Kevin MacLeod.  I have download links below for the files in MP3 and OGG file formats (MP3 because it is common, OGG because Glest uses it).

I like!  Very good selection.

Thank you for listening.  And it's not too long?  I don't think so...

[-Archmage-]

what do you think about this?

[John.d.h]

what do you think about this?

What about it?  It doesn't even have a file extension.