These diaries are just supplied as information sheets corresponding to the development cycle of MDK. Feel free to use parts of this information to create articles etc.

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Happy New Year to you all!

MDK is looking better with each passing day. One day I think that the game will never get done, and then I get a company email suggesting I "Look at the changes in Level 8". Level 8? There wasn't a Level 8 yesterday, but sure enough, there's a 90% complete one in there today. THAT'S the kind of breakneck speed the team is working at - Nick even took a laptop on his Christmas holiday!

Tommy Tallarico stopped in today to talk about the sound effects and music for the game. The batch of 14 tunes that he played today were amazing. We'll be recording the main character's voices later this week.

Both Interplay and Playmates were willing to give us a bit more time to really make this game great. We can't thank them enough for the trust they've put in us. So to all you who expected the game for Christmas, sorry. We won't let this one out the door until we're satisfied that it's the best we can possibly make it.

In MDK news, the snowboarding sections are now in! Not content to let you just run and fly and shoot, we thought you'd appreciate some variety. Imagine hopping on a snowboard and heading down a bobsled run. Now imagine that you're being shot at and you've got obstacles all over the place.

That's what we call snowboarding in the MDK world.

Has DP mentioned the bombing run? Or when you get to steal the Stream Rider's hoverboard? Surely he must have mentioned the secret cow weapon. Well, maybe I'll tell you about it next time.

The demo version of the game (only 1 or 2 of the arenas that will be in the final game) should be hitting the Shiny website at the end of January. This will show off some of the cool weapons that are available in the game, as well as giving you a chance to play it for yourself. If you don't have net access then check your local bookstore for the demo version that will be bundled with several of the top PC game magazines.

The aliens are getting more intelligent with each passing day.

They're growing up so quickly! Each time I encounter them, they've got a new trick up their sleeve. The few remaining weeks we have on the project will be spent cleaning up animation, tweaking gameplay (hey, we want it to be hard, but fair), and looking for areas that could use some minor enhancements to really make them shine.

 

Keep an eye out for the demo, and you'll see what all the fuss has been about.

 

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This is an exciting month for the MDK team.

 

They have been really starting to put all the separate pieces of the game together. It's funny, how much more it looks like a finished game when you add the plug and play install program and the "START GAME" / "OPTIONS" screen.

 

We have just added a "PERFORMANCE" feature to the options menu. This allows you to see the speed combination of Processor and Video card that your machine REALLY achieves. We call it the GAMERS PERFORMANCE. Forget what you read in the magazine advert when you bought your PC, this value is the TRUE GAMEPLAYING performance. We are actually posting the program onto our Website so that you can see what horsepower you are actually getting: www.shiny.com "performance Page".

 

There has been a big technical advancement this month. We have found problems in the Pentium chip and have written special code to get around it. The result is that the game is now running 20% faster. This game will really be the demonstration of what a PENTIUM PROCESSOR is truly capable of. Our engine is now out-performing most 3D hardware cards in software. As we are already happy with the speed of the game we have used this extra speed to handle some new things.....

 

(1) We have much more detailed backgrounds. Each arena of the game looks COMPLETELY different. The idea is to make it so that while you are playing MDK you will not need to draw any form of map on paper. As you play, each arena is so different, you will easily remember where you were previously. You will never get lost.

 

(2) We have added a grenade that you can lob over walls. This is SO COOL because the grenade has a camera attached to it. This means that when it lands on the other side of the wall you can see what is going on there without danger to yourself. Then blammo the enemies are toast as the grenade explodes. It is really a double use weapon, if you need to know what is around the next corner, you can ?spend? one of these bombs to take a look for you.

 

(3) We have a lot of glass effects in MDK, having this extra speed allows the game to have glass over glass over glass. It makes some of the areas you are in feel huge. It also is kinda scary walking over just a floor of glass so that you can see where you fall to your death below should this glass be broken.

 

(4) We have added an inflatable Kurt decoy. Imagine a situation when the enemies have set up an ambush for you. The way to flush them out is to send in the rather funny Kurt decoy. It looks like one of those old silly inflatable punchbags that kids used to play with. It has a picture of Kurt painted on it and the enemies (not so bright) get lured in, then you (with your sniper helmet) can enjoy some target practice.

 

(5) We have added the 'Worlds most interesting bomb', it is a really funky box that attracts the attention of the enemies. They stop what they are doing, huddle around it saying "Wow" and then the damn thing explodes in their faces.

 

 

(6) We have added the "BONES AIR STRIKE", this is a really cool, you can point at a group of enemies that are waiting to ambush you, then call on your buddy 'genetically engineered dog' to come in and rain firey death all over them. You can do this so far away, you can't even smell their flesh burn.

 

Some big decisions have also been made this month...

 

We were offered a Childrens Saturday Morning Television Show, but have decided to turn it down. We are holding out for MDK the movie. (I am actually typing this diary on a British Airways flight, I am flying to the Develop conference in England to give a speech on how to sell characters). Getting an MDK movie would really make my day. If it happens, you will read it here in future months.

 

We totally upgraded our Web Site as promised. It is now at about 75% complete. http://www.shiny.com I think we are even selling some MDK stuff on the site.

 

I finally gave in and am now allowing an Internet "TEASER" of MDK to happen. I was holding fast on this that we would not release the game on the Net because I wanted people to have the FULL experience. However, it has become really clear that even though we have proved it to the magazines, the public don't think that the screen shots on our web site are real. Let me just say here publicly, the screenshots were dumped straight from the PC screen DURING gameplay. (We have a secret code that instantly saves your screen to a .GIF file.) We also use this feature for the save game feature (to show you exactly where each saved file will let you start).

 

So the screen shots are totally genuine. And I am willing to prove it by releasing a demo onto the Net. The only difference will be that the demo is just a very short TEASER so that it does not take as long to download from our website.

 

When will this appear?. Bookmark our site and check it in January. We are also adding a MAILBACK service so that our site will email you the day the file becomes available.

 

We have also added a "QUOTES" area to show you what magazines from all over the world think of what they have seen and played.

 

The box design is done. The manual is being written at the moment. Even though the tagline for the game is "In MDK on a good day 2.5 billion people will die" the manual is really funny.

 

The game engine is now about 95% complete. The basic concept of the engine is that is gives power to the artists and designers. This power comes in the form of being to be able to modify an enemy in just a few seconds and then be playing the updated game instantly. This technique is one of the reasons we have always got our games built so quickly. No, this is not some stupid level editor. Level editors are for children. That would be like everyone cooking from the same cookbook. Our system allows the separate team members to come up with REALLY different and varying gameplay styles. This is another reason why people keep saying how unique the game actually is. One of the artists just added a snowboarding level!.

 

So what still has to be done before the game is actually complete. We have to keep working on the enemy intelligence. It takes a long time to get that right. Every time we think that it works, then some damn enemy goes and gets stuck on a diving board or something like that. Luckily we still have a month left to get it right.

 

We would like to OFFICIALLY thank Playmates and Interplay for having the guts, vision and trust to let us develop a true GAMERS game.

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MDK - LETS GET TECHNICAL THIS MONTH. September 21, 1996

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Well, the European Computer Trade Show finally happened. Right up to the last minute, the MDK team was working through the night making the final tweaks to the demo that the public would get a chance to play.

Its funny, you would think that by the end of all that relentless work that the team would sleep the entire 11 hour flight from Los Angeles to London., but no, on First Class in Virgin Airlines they very kindly have a Super Nintendo fitted to every seat. What a great way to pass time.

Arriving in London and consuming copious amounts of British Beef we rest before the Show. (Anybody who knows Earthworm Jim probably thinks that we already suffer from Mad Cow Disease anyway).

At the show, the Editors from just about every magazine in Europe turned up to see the game, Presidents of rival companies stood and watched all the fuss from afar.

After 3 days nearly all of the Editors who got a 'behind the scenes' demo of the game voted it Game of the Show. Guh-roo-vey.

In our demonstration, we showed our helmet/binoculars zooming in on enemies (FIGURES 1 & 2) that were so far away that they were originally just one high resolution dot on the screen. When zoomed in, you could see their face fill the screen as you move your crosshair right over their nose. Bang, the enemy would reel back in pain as we examined their bloody nasal cavity. (FIGURE 3)

figure 1	figure 2	figure 3

The next step was show the COLLISION DETECTION system that we have working in the game...

Most video games use boxes, these boxes are laid over and around an enemy so that checking bullets against the enemy can be done quickly and easily. The programmer simply has a piece of code that says "If a bullet hits a box, then kill the enemy". For every game with an inaccurate machine gun weapon this system works great, but as you can see, in FIGURES 4 & 5, the boxes tend to fill gaps, for example, under this enemies arm.

figure 4	figure 5

Now, here's our problem, our gun is so accurate, we need to be able to shoot at an enemy and if we miss by 1 millimeter, then WE MISS BY A MILIMETER (FIGURES 6 & 7). The thing that we have to keep track of is the speed that the game runs. We need to keep the game running faster than any other 3D game. The solution is simple, we developed our own proprietary programming language that is dedicated to video game development. You're probably heard other teams mention ENGINES, basically our system generates the engine and the fuel to run it at the same time.

figure 6	figure 7

99% of developers use 'off the shelf' programs that they build their games with. The problem is that these programs are generic and are also used by people that write really boring, slow, business software. They are not even close to perfect for the job. The solution that most developers have what they call a TOOLS department. This is important because these TOOLS guys build you the weapons to fight it out with your competitors.

What most developers do not realize is that it does not stop with tools. Building your own hardware is also a good idea, and in our case our even own LANGUAGE.

As all developers who read this roll their eyes thinking, "What's the big deal about making a custom language". The reason... If just your programmer programs the game, it takes ages and only reveals the creative flair of that one key individual. At Shiny our artists and designers actually design the language so that as non-programmers they can still build levels by themselves. To us, LEVEL does not just mean a bunch of walls, every level in MDK is COMPLETELY different, that has a lot to do with the team approach. The result is a much faster created game with oodles of creativity and a very close team.

Not that I want to bore you with all this technical stuff. Its important if you want to understand what Shiny does different.

Back to the E.C.T.S., the other things I showed the editors was a thing called CLIPPING. Many programmers follow the current train of thought. When you have too much stuff on screen to display, you need to THROW SOME AWAY and hope the player does not notice. Great examples of this are MECH games and DRIVING games. Have you ever noticed the fact that TREES in the distance are not there once second and then BAMM they appear as they approach you?. This is CLIPPING, (don't display it for as long as possible then let it appear in a big glitchy pop). Clever programmers came up with a trick called FOGGING, a great example of this is "MAGIC CARPET". This system means that anything that is in the distance disappears into a bank of FOG. things still appear in a big glitchy pop, but you cannot see it because of all the fog everywhere.

At Shiny we have NO CLIPPING. You can see so far you can shoot somebody a mile away. This was fun to demonstrate. (FIGURE 8 & 9)

figure 8

figure 9

The next big issue is SPEED. Most games on the PC use really big pixels in LOW RESOLUTION to make the player think the game is running fast. However, if you switch the game into SVGA, high resolution with full detail, it runs like molasses. So what is the response from the development teams that write this stuff? - "ITS NOT OUR FAULT, ITS YOURS FOR HAVING A CRAPPY PENTIUM PC". This is UTTER nonsense, the thing that we have learnt after making dozens of games on very weak machines is to make the best of what you have got. The PC is bloody marvelous compared to the consoles and on those machines slow is not acceptable.

So why do you the gamer care? What can we the developer do to help?. At Shiny we care about the FEEL of the game, if a game runs slow or jerky, the response to your hand is all screwed up and an important gland in your brain goes YUK. The solution is simple, the game should predict if something really big is happening on screen that the program should focus on the player and not the screen. Basically the game should care more about the player than the screen. 99.999% of developers have not realized this yet and continue to pour all their attention to the screen.

How could they speed up their games? - What we do is to play it over, and over, and over. Anytime it slows down, we move things around, speed up the code, change the artwork, WHATEVER it takes to keep the speed up. Basically it is just a lot more time consuming, but it makes a much better game.

Another thing that we showed at ECTS is our approach to SECRETS. In console games you have to earn secrets, you have to work out interesting things to do to give you access to hidden or seemingly impossible places to reach. A true secret should not be relied upon to finish the game. However it should give the player who finds a solution a really good pat on the back. MDK is built around this philosophy. You can move objects around to help climb to secret places, you can steal other peoples vehicles and use them etc... (FIGURE 10) Personally I hate things like secret invisible holes in walls, that is an annoying secret to have to find, these people need to buy a console big time!.

figure 10

I could go on and on, I feel like I am ranting a bit, but I hope you can feel how passionate we are about making games.

Next month, I will continue to discuss some more of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, that actually sets the tone and FEEL of any video game that you play.

 

 

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The next thrilling episode in the MDK diary's (Murder he wrote, or typed to be more accurate.)

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This month has been a weird one. One of our artists by the name of Bob Stevenson forgot for a moment that he was indeed Scottish and decided to emulate the burly surfers that live in our neighborhood. A few moments after casting his puny body into the wild and violent surf, the ambulance had to be called. Soon his beaten and bedraggled body was swept onto the beach. A stretcher was the only thing that he got to 'ride' that day.

A year later after sitting slumped in front of a computer, the pain killers finally called it quits, the last resort was the surgeons knife. If you think after all the work he has done on MDK that he would not be squeamish, you'd be right.

He died on the operating table. Nah, only joking. He is much better now and has new white-knuckle hobbies like floating in the pool with a beer in his hand. It's a hard live over here in California.

 

So after that bit of drama, MDK is back on track...

Last month I was harping on about how crappy some video cards are compared to others. This was to help some people understand what all the waffle on the boxes really means. So, in the interest of supporting people that have bought bad cards and are stuck with them... Do not fear!, we have decided to finish the Windows 95 version of MDK early. This will make it possible for people that have cards like the Imagine-128 to really see what their card is really capable of.

Basically we want the game to run around 30 Frames per second on all machines and will be spending a lot of time making subtle modifications to the layout of the game to keep up this speed. (Moving things around, changing textures etc...) This leads me to an interesting concept that a lot of developers use. They program for low resolution ('Yorkie' pixels - cause they are chunky), they think it makes their code look more impressive. Their attitude is that high resolution is not worth worrying about. The result is always that their game looks cool in big pixels but runs like molasses in high resolution. Here the developer has two choices...

(1) Design the game so that it will run fast in high resolution and make good use of the color and detail.

(2) Put in switches so that the player can switch off graphics section by section until the game finally speeds up.

 

Amazingly, many developers choose option number 2. That totally sucks. We have chosen number 1, and are very pleased with the results.

People who want to write low resolution games should stick to the Gameboy. Only then will they appreciate what the PC is actually offering them and begin to take advantage of it.

This month in the game we have been concentrating on enemy intelligence. This is VERY important, at E3 I talked on a panel with Peter Molyneux on this very subject.

So, what does it mean to the gamer?. - When enemies are attacking you, they come in droves, especially if you are making a lot of noise. Like Police, they hide behind walls, cover for each other, try to flank you etc... If you are damn good with your gun when they are running and diving for cover, one shot to the head will take them out. Otherwise, they might just take a flesh wound. This is where it gets interesting, today we have it so that each enemy has his own personality....

(1) If he sees you winning he might run away. (Chickenability)

(2) He might fall to his knees and plead for his life. (Whimpability)

(3) He might dive to the ground covering his head and be visibly shaking with fright. (Fun!)

 

These sorts of reactions are just not something that you have experienced before. Gone are the days of just shooting something and them disappearing in a puff of smoke.

It gives you a feeling of this all being a lot more REAL than you are used to. This is not hype, it is just a bunch of console guys doing what we enjoy doing. By the time we are done, the game should give you a good feeling why PC games are actually better that console games. Instead of PC games trying to be console games.

At the minute, we are getting ready for the first public showing of the game at the ECTS show in London. We have a lot of motion capture to get ready in time (enemies begging etc...), we also are constantly adding moves to the main character Kurt. For example, if he falls a long way, you will see him land REALLY hard on the floor. This is why we chose to make a game where the lead character is out in front of you. So you can see him take hits, so you can see him suffer when you screw up.

At the show we will be letting the public play some of the different areas. We will listen to the comments and tune the game accordingly. One thing that is really fun and is still to come during the development of MDK is the focus testing. This is where we get to sit in a room hidden behind mirrored glass and watch about 80 gamers play under our watchful eye.

Because we play our games EVERY DAMN day. We get really used to every part. We know where we are going and never do something 'strange'. This is where the focus tests excel. It reveals clearly that hardly anybody reads instructions, hardly anybody reads on screen messages, hardly anybody watches intro's more than once. These are very important things to know and usually cause people to get REALLY stuck. Sitting behind the glass taking notes, we are able to make those last five changes or so that take away about 90% of frustration.

A lot of our competitors have never tried this. It was something that Disney taught us.

Hollywood agents have already started calling Shiny, it looks like we will get a MDK feature movie if we deliver the game with the ideas we are promising.

Popcorn city here we come...........

 

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The next thrilling episode in the MDK diary's (Murder he wrote, or typed to be more accurate.)

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Before I start telling you about all the cool new stuff for MDK....

Pull up a chair, let's talk about the BIG picture of making these video game thingy's. For those who think it is easy, lets start off by talking about Wives, Girlfriends, Boyfriends (I am being politically correct so this covers gays and lesbians also)....

Now I know that most programmers think that 'Star Trek' is the best thing since sliced bread, the reason is because, the guys in the show are portrayed as heros and occasionally they even get to have sex with alien women. What more would a lowly programmer want out of life?.

Back in reality land, in March we lure some poor unsuspecting girl into our clutches, wine and dine them a couple of times and then utter the immortal lines, "MDK needs to be finished, 100,000's of people are depending on us", see you after Christmas.

From that day forward, the stress of making a video game, making it cool, making it on time and having to constantly explain to your chick that they matter more to you than video games is REALLY damn hard. So I would like to publicly apologize to the spouses of my team members to say SORRY on behalf of all the future MDK players. But the game must go on.

Now, for the gamers that think that we have concentrated too much on violence and death, rest assured. We are having a lot of fun making this game, it is rich in gameplay. There are also a lot of gag's. Basically the magic happens whenever you play a serious game and then see something funny, it is like a sucker punch. It is so much more enjoyable. Too much action sucks, too much humor sucks, the balance is what Shiny is concentrating on.

Last week I showed 50 magazine editors MDK running, I have many "QUAKE KILLER" quotes and they loved the boss in the straight jacket riding the exercise bicycle.

One really cool feature that we have in the game is the fact that enemies have EYES. ("So you can shoot them out", I hear you say?). Nah, well yes, but if an enemy is up high on top of a building and is looking your way when you happen to step out of the shadows, then through our "ADMIRAL" engine you will see all the enemies that are around you take it's directions, close in and kick your butt. So, the strategy is to scope out an area, keep out of view, find sentries up high and take them out. That's why we are giving you the most accurate weapon ever seen in a video game after all.

Another level that I have not talked about is the FREEFALL section. Basically before you start each city, you must jump out of a perfectly good spacecraft, fall at about the speed of a bullet and land on a moving enemy city. Whilst you are doing this the city radar sweeps around the screen trying to spot you. Your job is just to avoid the radar and arrive in the city un-detected. (Or else you will have a welcoming committee.) If the radar sees you then a whole bunch of missiles are launched, then you have to avoid all the missiles and the radar. (Gulp!) Now here's the tease, when you jump out of the spacecraft, all your really cool supplies and weapons are also thrown out. As you fall you can collect these items that are falling with you, however that makes it REALLY hard to avoid the radar, then the missiles (you get it?). So if you take the easy route and ignore the falling items, they will land all over the city. If you want them now you will have to find them. Basically for the gamer this gives a really nice way to start the level, if you play well you come in gun's blazing, if you are pooh, then you had better land running.

The latest thing coded in the game is the bullet view cameras. Basically when you fire a sniper bullet, it flies across the city. Behind it a camera follows and the display on the top of the screen shows it's progress. (Right through the brains of the enemy). The groovy part is that you can pick up homing weapons, if you fire a homing weapon, it too has a camera attached, this means that if an enemy is behind a wall and out of sight, after firing, you can watch your bullet chasing him to his death. (Very satisfying).

 

IMPORTANT:

The last thing that I want to mention is that many PC gamers have been totally ripped off by some of the terrible video cards that are currently on sale. Making a game for a machine that can be crippled by a bad decision is sad for us because you are not getting to see our game in it's full glory. Having to turn off detail in a game totally sucks and in some cases can be avoided just by making an informed choice when it comes to your video card.

Basically here's the problem. Video cards operate differently when some games run verses games written just for Windows 95. Video card companies develop their cards to speed up Windows and many seem to forget that gamers have another VERY important use. (Fast game rates).

On the boxes when they mention "BLAZINGLY FAST" they mean that when you edit spreadsheets on this fancy/expensive card Nigel Mansell eat your heart out. If you are running any decent action game you are totally screwed.

In our tests we have found some cards 10 times slower that others, basically you can cripple a Pentium 166 to below a Pentium 90. I know cause I was ripped off.

I am not advertising any product, but if any magazine does a comparison of video card speeds, check it out. Nearly every card in Shiny is a Matrox MGA Millennium.

 

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Diary - The MOCAP (Shiny's motion capture system) and an Interview with Shawn Nelson the MDK MoCap guru.

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With gamers demanding ever-greater levels of realism, more and more developers are turning to `Motion Capture' - the science of translating real-world movement into computer animation. Basically, the hard part is getting your enemy to look like he just had a agonizingly painful death by recording the movements of an actor. Shiny Entertainment gives you a first look at their own Motion Capture system.

 

So what sort of qualifications do you need to understand this stuff?

After obtaining a Bachelor's degree in sculpture at the San Francisco Academy of Arts, I went to California Institute of the Arts in Valencia for a year. From there, I was drafted to University of Southern California where I got a Master's degree in computer animation.

 

What about normal life kinda stuff?

I collect toys, especially the Spawn line-up and enjoy cartoons like "The Tick". I don't always watch Star Trek but know all the characters by heart. I love boogie-boarding and soccer.

 

How long have you been interested in Video games?

I started playing video games on a state of the art Atari VCS 2600 with Missile Command and Gauntlet. Next came a Sega Genesis, a Macintosh, an SGI and a PC.

 

So, what's so hot about a Silicon Graphics machine besides it's funky color and hefty price tag?

It's the only machine that is powerful enough to run the software that I need to use. I started with Softimage 2.5 and 3 and Power Animator 6.0. We are now using The Alias/Wavefront Power Animator 7.01.1 with a bunch of plug-ins like MS3 (Motion Sampler 3), Composer & Studio Paint 3D. So I canceled my company Ferrari order and bought the $135,000 setup.

 

Is it easy to get machines like that working?

No way. I spent HOURS and HOURS and HOURS on the phone as I tried to get the calibration of our main character just perfect. Each time I though it was right, our actor would put his hands on top of his head. Looking back at the screen, one arm might end up on the floor, the other might stick out of his mouth. It was SO frustrating, then suddenly it all worked, the settings were perfect. Time to make a game.

 

What is Motion Capture ?

Motion Capture is a system where you put censors on an actor, he moves around within a projected magnetic field. The 3D point/space coordinate information is then translated to the data format required by your software. In other words animating skeletons via joints that you then lay the skin of the final character onto. With motion capture you animate from the inside out.

 

What is good about it?

You can record hours of animation in hours. If you make animation by hand with a pencil like Disney it takes years to make hours. So basically we get much more movement than an artist ever has time to draw. All the subtleties are there, the joints work like real joints and most importantly, you can FEEL the weight of the character as he performs his moves.

 

What is bad about it?

Basically it kind of restricts you to humans or animals. If you want to motion capture a Shark, then you are in a world of hurt, literally. If you have a twenty legged monster that you need to do back flips then you had better hope you have a great pet store near your office. (I suppose you could tie 10 actors together, Grin.)

 

 

What restrictions are there?

Space is a big thing. I had to built a stage to cut down the magnetic interference from the steel bars that were in our concrete floor. That coupled with the cables tying the actor to the main computer restricts his movement big-time. It hurts the actor if he does a dive and lands on the umbilical cable link, but I don't care about that. Grin.

 

How many frames per second do you get with Motion Capture ?

A conventional Motion Capture system uses up to 16 censors but we only used 11. Polhemus, the company that makes the MoCap system says it's suppose to record at 50 frames per second but it only does 48. The silly part is the Alias software can't take more than 30 frames per second. Although the data is sharper thanks to the 48 frames per second, we can't read it all. From that point on we give our data to Andy so he can work his programming magic.

 

Is Motion Capture the future of video games ?

More animation, more movements, more move options, ten times as much animation, I think it's a good tool towards the future of video games. But remember, I'm a traditional animator first and you'll never get rid of us.

 

 

 

 

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Here we go...

The latest thrilling episode in the MDK diary's (Murder he wrote!)

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The big question these days is "What does MDK stand for", I think it stands for "My Diary something beginning with K".

So what have the Shiny happy people been up to? Following the Spring ECTS exhibition in London, England. The Shiny (jet-set) team flew back to the Baywatch sunny beaches of Southern California, all greasy after feasting out on the majestic English delicacies like Fish & Chips and Bangers & Mash with loadsa gravy.

The next show was E3, in Los Angeles, California. The only video game exhibition where it makes sense to carry a gun.

This time the people who order video games for the mega huge chain stores get a chance to check out all the latest and greatest games in a comfortable intimate setting. (Or at least that is the idea - never mind the fact that it is about 110 sweaty degrees, you have to walk miles to find who you are looking for and the whole time you are walking you are getting blasted with 500 decibels of beepy music blaring from 50 surrounding games).

These kind Buyers generously give you THREE minutes of their time during which you have to convince them that 'all the planets have aligned' and formed the PERFECT video game which happens to be the one you are demonstrating right at that very moment.

Between the buyers, in stroll the game magazines from all over the world. They are a lot more skeptical about planets aligning and so they say really provocative things like "Prove it" or even worse than that, the immortal words that strike fear into the hearts of developers "Arighty, show me it then".

Now the end of the project is drawing near (the string has been pulled on the guillotine), the big mothership of a show, the grand ECTS exhibition in London, England, September 8-10 is about to hit town. For this we need to prove that all the crazy MDK mega-hype is actually justified OR find a VERY good hiding place considering the fact that the game has cost MILLIONS of dollars to make.

Back at base, we have been working around the clock and have even hired in an extra 3D guy to write the blood code and a bunch of other groovy stuff.

Is anything working? Why are other developers saying MDK is not real and is just a video? Why did the buyers say "HOLY S@#T, THIS IS THE BEST GAME OF THE SHOW?" Why do press call most 3D games the same but MDK original? What is the deepest ocean in the world? All important questions, and they will be all be answered in the coming months of "MURDER HE WROTE"....

 

Lets start with (1) Is anything working?

 

* When the main character puts on his mega accurate helmet, you see down the high-tech barrel. The ZOOM is controlled by the player and you can enlarge an enemy from one pixel far away in the distance right up until his face fills your entire monitor screen in PERFECT detail. The accuracy is so good that you could easily shoot him in the eye when he is over a mile away. (But don't expect any Nobel Peace Prizes for the rest of your life).

* We have non-clipping worlds working, this means that there is no visual pop-up of scenery. When you play games like Daytona, you can see the scenery being built up just ahead of you, this is because the hardware has a problem handling the whole world at one time. In MDK you can see across an entire city, with no buildings disappearing. It makes the whole feeling of the game much, much more solid and real.

* In the next diary I will be talking about the unique intelligence routines that are used to control the enemies.

* We have created our own 3D sound system, basically this means that you will hear bullets wizz by you. It will also make it easier for you to pin down proximity droids. When you inflict major pain on a distant enemy you hear it's horrific death scream as if it was actually far away. (This gives the player a really nice warm eerie feeling).

* We have true polygon collision detection working. Sounds pretty boring stuff, but just let me elaborate. Basically,

Z= Y * LOG(32)+47/TAN(95.47) + COS(X*Y) + SIN (3.141592654)

 

Only joking, imagine if we can shoot a bullet a mile and ping somebody's nose off (which we do have working by the way) it goes without saying that MDK needs one of the most accurate systems ever made for knowing which bits hurt most on an enemy. We now have it so accurate you CAN shoot a bullet BETWEEN AN ENEMIES THIGHS and JUST miss your target by a millimeter. At Shiny we have never had such cool stuff before to build a game from. (The camel dung in Aladdin is now a distant memory).

* We have blood spurting (Well come on, don't start giving me a hard time, it's MDK after all.)

* We have absolutely SEAMLESS real-time loading working so that each arena in the game is a full memory load (8 yummy Megabytes at a time). When you walk from one highly-detailed area to another, the new artwork just keeps coming and coming and coming!. Gone are the days of "LOADING-LOADING-LOADING". Let's all bow down to the invention of compact discs.

* We also have a juicy secret which I will reveal in the next diary. No, not the one about the 7-UP and me being caught naked at ECTS.

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MDK Diary - part 3

"ANDY ASTOR INTERVIEW"

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Who are you and what have you done ?

I'm Andy Astor. I have a Computer Science Degree from Brown University and over 10 years working in developing computer aided design and engineering software for automotive and aerospace companies like General Motors and McDonnell Douglas. I also worked at Virgin Interactive on tools for Aladdin, Robocop versus Terminator and others. I've been with Shiny since the start and worked on Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 and Earthworm Jim Special Edition. I'm now the lead programmer on MDK.

 

What video games do you like ?

I really love Command & Conquer, Warcraft 2 and Duke Nuke'm 3D because they're great multi-player games and I like playing against an intelligent opponent. I also enjoy the single player game.

 

What programming languages are you using for MDK ?

C and assembler. In MDK, 75% is done in C and the other 25% is assembler . We created our own 3D engine to allow us to get the best performance and capabilities out of the PC. The engine is true 3D with a perspective correct texture feature. It also runs in high resolution. It's not so much programming as design that's fully taking advantage of the memory capacity of the PC versus consoles.

 

How did you go from a 2D environment to 3D ?

My experience both in college and in computer aided design was all 3D stuff so I already had the background knowledge. I also give credit to all the books that are out there and the game developer magazine. A lot of the difference is in the performance of the machine. The new machines are a lot faster. This let's you create much more complicated AI gameplay. For example in MDK, the aliens are aware of what's happening to each other and react accordingly. Commanders will direct their troops in coordinated attacks but if you kill the commander the coordination will be disrupted. Aliens may also come to the aid of injured buddies.

 

What's your favorite feature about MDK ?

The AI and the ability to zoom in and out to observe enemies from a distance. With the memory we are dedicating to high resolution textures when you zoom up on a enemy it still looks crisp and doesn't get pixely.

 

What does MDK stand for ?

Million Dollar KO

 

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MARTIN BROWNLOW INTERVIEW

==========================================

 

Who are you and what have you done ?

My name is Martin Brownlow. Before coming to Shiny I worked at Virtuality, writing virtual reality arcade machines such as Virtuality Boxing and Buggy Ball.

 

What video games do you like?

My favourite games at the moment are Virtua Fighter 2, Terra Nova and Warcraft 2. I also like the XCOM games and anything by Geoff Crammond.

 

How does your experience in virtual reality help you with MDK?

Virtuality uses a set 3D engine which the programmers weren't allowed to touch - any changes we wanted had to be requested, approved, explained to the guy writing the graphics engine and budgeted and could take anything from a week to a few months to come through, so we had to concentrate on the getting the gameplay right. This in turn helped us to become very proficient at moving things around realistically in 3 dimensions. For instance, Buggy Ball has the most accurate car and ball dynamics I have ever seen in an arcade game.

 

You're currently working on improving the frame rate in MDK. How do you go about that?

The first task is to isolate exactly where the program is spending all of its time. Usually you would use a program called a profiler for this. After running the profiler, you basically get a list of how much time the program is spending in each part of the program. I would then go away and look at each of the sections of the program that it spends a significant amount of time in (there's no point in improving a section of code that the game only spends 1% of its time in, since even cutting execution time down to 0 will only get you 1% of the game's time back). The first thing to look at is whether or not the program section is written in the right way (there's more than one way to skin a cat - and some will take significantly longer than others). Then you see if you are recalculating things that are constant (for instance if you are combing your hair, do you put the comb down after each stroke, look for it, pick it up and do another stroke? Or do you realize that the comb is still in your hand?). Finally, you go down to the machine code level and rearrange instructions to make the best use of Pentium processor instruction pipelining.

 

What else do you do on MDK?

I recently implemented improved explosions - pieces of what was shot now fly every which way when it blows up, some trailing smoke, and the pieces bounce realistically off walls and floors. It is now even possible to shoot an alien's arm off in sniper mode and watch the arm come off and fall to the floor - although whether or not we'll make it twitch when it comes to rest is a matter of taste. I also just wrote the 3D sound system which includes stereo sound positioning and the doppler effect (imagine a car going past you - its noise changes pitch as it gets nearer). Also, when you're in the sniper view, the whole of the world's sound characteristics change so that you can only really hear what you are looking at - things at the edge of your view are quieter than things in the middle - and as you zoom in to the aliens, their noises become louder.

 

What machine will consumers need to have to run MDK?

We're aiming for the game to run well on any Pentium machine. Obviously, an SVGA card is needed (since the game runs in 640x480 as standard), and the better your SVGA card, the faster the game should run (MDK will make full use of any linear frame buffers and advanced palettes your SVGA card has). The final game should also support some 3D accelerator cards. Interestingly, since the game contains no FMV, the speed of the consumer's CD drive is unimportant - the CD is only used to install the game and to play any standard CD audio we decide toput in the game, so a single speed CD ROM will suffice.

 

What does MDK stand for?

Obviously, MDK stands for Massive Dollops of Ketchup, and don't let anybody tell you differently

 

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MDK Diary - Part 2

" Nick Bruty Interview " June 10, 1996

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1 - Who are you and what have you done ?

My name is Nick Bruty, I am on the board of Directors at Shiny Entertainment where I am also Art Director and Team leader for MDK. I have been making computer and video games for 11 years now with over 30 titles to my name. My most recent game include Alien3, Aladdin, Jungle Book , Ewj 1+2.

 

2 - What kind of games do you like ?

Well my list of favorite games goes like this, Tie Fighter on the PC ( I can't wait for Tie vs. X-wing multiplayer ), Sega Rally or any multi-player racing game where I can BEAT Nick Jones.

 

3- Where did MDK come from ?

When I'm working on concepts I tend to listen to Film soundtrack's as they tend loosen up my imagination, and I start visualizing action scenarios in my head that I would like to see if I was watching a movie and that's how I first imagined the main character Kurt with his gun attached to his face freefalling into an alien city.

 

4- What's it based on ?

It's not really based on anything in particular, I don't like copying somebody else's ideas because there's simply no fun in doing that. The reason I make games is because I have the freedom to create entire world's and character's and put that vision into product without it being interfered or tampered with.

 

5- How long has MDK been in the works ?

I started putting the concept together back in December but I didn't have a complete team at that point, so the game didn't really get started until mid January which is why we only ran a Demo at E3.

 

6- What makes MDK different from Doom or Duke Nuke'm 3D ?

Firstly it just doesn't look or play like those games. MDK is a true Hi-res 3D world. All the first perspective games currently on the market tend to look like they were made with the same engine, which most are.

Everything looking very angular with lots of monochromatic gray walls, where MDK is full of colorful Hi-res textures that aren't repeated in every area you go. Also there are simply many more game mechanics and more control over your main character. By putting him physically in the screen we can make him interact with the background much more effectively, so all the mechanics we have learned doing Aladdin and Earthworm Jim can be brought into MDK..

 

7- How is your experience in platform games suppose to help for MDK's network game design ?

Well multiplayer games that have you facing off against each other pretty much write themselves, your basic ingredients are a good arena, guns and fast 3D. Its actually requires more design effort to make a 1 player platform game like Jim 2 fun. Jim has twice as many mechanics as Doom or Duke Nuke'm.

 

8- Can the game be done in less than a year ?

Yes, with good planning although nobody seem's to believe me. I'm constantly amazed by the amount of games that run past their deadlines, some that are even up to 2 years late, when you play these games do they feel like 3 years of gameplay has gone into them, more likely 3years of graphics. I have a simple philosophy for making games on time and that is to know how to finish it before I start making it. There's never a point in the game development where I'm wondering what to do next. It doesn't mean that things can't be flexible and change but you should know what your doing especially if your leading the team.

 

9- What does MDK stand for ?

There's been some speculation about the name but I'd like to clarify that MDK stands for MY DOG KEN

 

 

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MDK Diary - Part 1

"MDK, an update" - May 29, 1996

==========================================

 

Shiny Entertainment is located a mile north of main beach in Laguna Beach, sunny California. Being right beside the coast, the water here is filled with excellent surfers. Because the MDK team is actually mostly British, believe me, they are no threat to she locals when it comes to skill and style in the waves!

Nick Bruty (MDK Creative director & Shiny board member) was born in Kent, England but insists that he is half Scottish (especially after seeing Braveheart!). He also happens to be the walking "Hollywood Reporter" here at Shiny. Basically, he is a movie fanatic!

Bob Stevenson (Senior Artist) comes from St. Andrews, Scotland and does a good job of reminding everyone 150 times a day.

Our 3D Artist and Motion Capture guru is from Mill Valley, California. He is relentless, and gets stuff done that others just talk about, no matter how much work it entails.

Tim Williams (Lead Designer) is from Linfield, England. Many American women love the English accent, his `special move' is to combine it with poetry. They become putty in his hands!.

Live from Mansfield, England, we just welcomed Martin Brownlow (Senior Programmer). Everyone that moves to Laguna, we warn to wear suntan oil. They all ignore the warning, they all get burnt!. One week later, he looks like a red puffed up marshmallow. Luckily though, he didn't find the local nudist beach!!!

From Scarsdale, New York, Andy Astor (Senior Programmer) is the best cook in the house. He has worked with David Perry since the Cool Spot days. Andy programs so fast that he uses two keyboards. (Really)

To start the project Shiny had to create a design video, this was made using an art package on the PC called 3D Studio. It clearly showed the way the game would look. (For fun, the guys put a really horrible looking platform game on the video first, just to see the reaction on the unsuspecting publishers face!).

Making a video killed four birds with one stone..

(1) It saved typing a 200 page description of what the game would look like.

(2) It made fun of the publisher (which is always fun).

(3) It saved trees.

(4) The graphics where finally just used in the game which gave a great push-start to the project.

 

This video was shown to `Next Generation' magazine here in America (the sister magazine for `The Edge' in England). Next Generation visited Shiny and gave MDK the cover and previewed the game concept.

Back in England, `The Edge' was not convinced that the game could run on the PC. So the MDK team flew to the ECTS show in London during April, 1996 and gave the first sneak preview of MDK actually running.

Jason Brookes, the Editor for `The Edge' magazine then printed : "The realtime graphics, surprisingly, have a fairly close resemblance". Shiny returned to America happy. Since then the game has only looked better and better!.

Everyone was amazed that such a small team could put together their first PC game in only two months.

MDK's second appearance took place behind closed doors on the Playmates Interactive stand at E3 in Los Angeles. The game was only 15% done at the time, however feedback at the show was excellent and inspired the team to keep up all the late nights.

The response was so good that Jerry Madaio (the Director/Senior Buyer for one of the largest dedicated video-game chains in America) said MDK was his favorite PC game of the show. Again the team was inspired.

Now working flat out again, MDK's big launch (when people can play the game) will take place at the next ECTS show in London from September 6th to the 10th. In the meantime, Shiny is currently designing the MDK teaser adverts that look like "Coming Soon" movie posters. They will inform the public on how many minutes are left before MDK actually hits the shelves.