Archive for February, 2010

This week has been a roller-coaster, on Monday night at 11:30pm the drive containing all frontier animations stop registering on windows.

You can imagine the look on my face…one of sheer terror. Thinking all was lost (as my backup situation leaves quite a lot to be desired) I phoned my wife’s brother in law who took the drive away to look at.

So Tuesday was spent in absolute suspense hoping against hope that the news would be good and there would be a way to recover all the data on this drive.

At 3pm I get a phone call and the news couldn’t be better: ‘the drive is fine, but your power supply needs upgrading’. It seems all the extras I had added onto this system: extra 2GB RAM, extra 1TB Drive had pushed the power supply over its maximum.

So thank God everything was fine and the animation now continues – God bless my wife’s brother-in-law.

As for Part 8 – it is sitting currently at 71% and I imagine I’m on target for the early March release on youtube.

This week has seen animation of foliage on the surface of Toyr’diablo as we get closer to the first troops disembarking from their carryalls and into enemy territory.

Without giving away too much I would say it’s going to be a bumpy landing.

Other non-animation specific things occurring this week – I started playing a game called Broken Sword 4 – which is a major throwback to the old Police Quest style games on the late 80s/early 90s, and let me tell you that Police Quest II: The Vengeance was one of the first games I played as a kid and definitely one of my favorites of all time (sometimes I even go back and replay it now). So Broken Sword 4 is shaping up to be pretty nostalgic.

And more space orientated old-school gaming, there’s a wicked article that wcnews.com is covering about a review of Wing Commander IV from 1996 (the Wing Commander Series is actually one of the key inspirations for the Frontier series), check it out here!

Stay tuned for more.

Lew

The Manchester was apart of the detachment led by the U.S.S. Roanoke (SDD-1081) from the Imperial 4^th Colonial Fleet sent to rescue the C.S.V. Nile Road (TC-26) at Van Gaal VI.

Upon engaging Dakota forces the Manchester was the first ship to be destroyed by a new Dakota super-cannon that had been installed onto their destroyers and cruisers.

The Manchester was annihilated in a matter of seconds, there are no known survivors.

Go to U.S.S. Manchester Ship Page

Stewart saw 1^st Platoon through their post-Hoyle operations, and stuck by Ender during his demotion back to 2^nd Lieutenant.

Stewart now finds himself bound for Toyr’diablo aboard the U.S.S. Hornblower (SDD-1073) as apart of ‘Operation Red Dirt’ – the invasion of Toyr’diablo.

The men of 1^st Platoon view Stewart as a gruff fatherly figure who keeps them in their place but cares for their well being and commands their respect.

Go to Kenny Stewart’s Character Page

A real quick roundup this week because I’m very useless and have a BBQ starting in 30 minutes and only just remembered about the Weekly Roundup.

So a productive week finally! One major achievement this week was getting Part 8 to 58% which is over halfway – on the downhill now so that’s a good thing!

The animating has been proceeding quite smoothly also – no big errors this week so another plus there.

In regards to a release date for Part 8 – I know I said late February most likely…well now it’s looking a little more like early March and for that I do apologize, the good news is that the hardest rendering part (the atmosphere) is nearing it’s end.

So aside from that, I hope everyone else has a fantastic weekend and stay tuned for more!

Lew

The Nile Road was one of the last freighters to depart Maya, however she was tracked and fell under attack near Van Gaal VI from a Dakota scouting group as she attempted to leave the system. A Union detachment from the 4^th Fleet was immediately dispatched from the frontlines to assist in protecting the Nile Road.

The small skirmish which came to be known as the infamous Battle of Van Gaal VI was a complete disaster. The discovery of a Dakota super-cannon mounted to the front of their destroyers, the arrival of a Dakota Cruiser and the destruction of the U.S.S. Roanoke (SDD-1081) and two other vessels; saw the surviving two ships – the U.S.S. Patton (SCA-703) and U.S.S. Tigershark (SGB-994) under the new command of Captain Krauer, retreat from the battle, despite protests from the Air Wing Commander of the Patton – Major Caine who’s wife and child were aboard the Nile Road.

Soon after the retreat was given Caine was forced to watch the Nile Road be destroyed, there were no survivors.

Go to C.S.V. Nile Road Ship Page

Warren Esteban put in his hard yards as an officer in the Union Navy, the U.S.S. Asimov (SDX-6152) was his first command after his promotion to Captain in 2298.

Esteban had personally requested command of the vessel as he had seen his fair share of combat and was quite happy to be out of harm’s way for awhile.

However this intention was not to be realized, as in 2299 the Asimov was lost in the Reinager system after being sent there under secret orders from Union High Command.

Esteban is now listed as missing in action along with the crew of the Asimov and the ship itself.

Go to Warren Esteban’s Character Page

This week has been very sporadic in regard to work on Part 8 unfortunately; this is the result of course of unpacking and setting up internet, phone, power, etc. But overall the move went very well.

Well this week did see the creation of one of the main ground units that will be used in the invasion of Toyr’diablo – the M7A3 ‘Grizzly’ Main Battle Tank. This sucker is the pride of the union armored corps. Naming this tank the Grizzly is my homage to the computer game ‘Battlezone’ which some of your more die-hard sci-fi fans may remember, this was one of my favorites as a young teenager and saw me through many a weekend back in 1998.

Anyway, back to the tank itself – the Grizzly seats a crew of five (driver/gunner/commander/loader/assistant loader) and packs a helluva punch as we will see in the next few parts of the story.

As for the overall animating of Part 8 as I said above the progress has been slow, as the work has been very disrupted this week. However we past 40% complete so we’re are gradually getting there, if you want up-to-date progress; just have a nosy on the facebook page as I update this regularly.

But to wind up, I have just uploaded one new resolution of the previous wallpapers (see the wallpaper post prior), if you did want any of them with a different resolution just let me know.

Until next time…

Lew