End of the Year Update

December 14th, where has the time gone? Well it's flown by as has the year, and the team has been doing well. I haven't updated the site or blog in awhile because of the work that's been going on as well as college and life's hassles. To fill you in though I decided to post this end of the year update (because it should be my last post of 2006 as the Christmas break starts on Monday).

This year we've seen a lot of changes around Etherea: Dark Genesis, everything from a better looking website to a new game engine. The biggest change was the new game engine, and it had a lot of unexpected obstacles to overcome. Bugs, adapting to the programming language, model porting problems, etc. However thanks to Gelco and the team we've been able to sort through most of this and get back on track, we knew it'd take us off track to switch to the new game engine but the enhanced graphics, game mechanics, and potential in general was to great to pass up.

With the year winding down the team decided, with Gelco's original idea, to put together a small alpha test. The test is still being worked on and models still being created for it but it will mainly be focused in the Human Outpost. The Human Outpost, capital city for the human race, is looking really good and there should be the ability to combat some local monsters. What's more exciting to the player though is that Martin F has also been working on a surprise for the Alpha Test, a dungeon he has completely designed and created, and is still creating, by himself. The dungeon will include a few monsters for the test and of course the very nice dungeon atmosphere. To show you what he's been doing with it, here is the knight armor he created...haunted armor acting as its own mob:

The dungeon and Human Outpost are coming along well but will require a good bit of work before it can be properly displayed in the Alpha Test. Hopefully the start of 2007 will be the launch of the Alpha Test and in doing so the first playable version of Etherea: Dark Genesis in our new game engine. This milestone may seem like a small piece to the puzzle, and true it is, but in "breaking the ice" with this Alpha Test I expect production to pick up and it not take so long to add future zones and outposts to the Alpha Test.

Luckily for everyone out there the dream of creating this non-profit "back to the fun of gaming" MMORPG is more than alive and well due to increasing community support and an amazing team that is just working for the desire to make the dream possible.

Thanks to the team and the community for the great support this year and hopefully this time next year you all will be exploring the world of Etherea.

Happy Holidays!
Robert

Developer Updates #6

Man, it's been awhile since I posted last but it's been very hectic in real life and around the team. For awhile there not much work was getting done at all because we were moving from the Torque Game Engine to the Torque Shader Engine (not much change but enough to set us back some).

Needless to say though even as an amazing product the TSE is still full of plenty development stopping bugs so Gelco, Tom, and I decided to continue working in TGE and upgrading the game to TSE after launch. Tom has done a lot of great coding and now is going to be working on nothing but terrain building to make the Etherean world. Gelco is heading back to purely coding and we can look forward to a lot of great systems coming out soon.

Scott from Low Poly Corp is doing amazing work for props and various world items to bring the world to life.

Martin F and Darkraven had built up a great stockpile of models and organic models so while waiting on them to be textured and animated they have been working hard on a mod for one of their favorite games (I'll post a link when they are done). Sometime next month Martin will be coming back to start working on some dungeons and finishing up some he started on, which look amazing.

We have been getting some other new people on the team who should add some great momentum and life around the forums and in terms of getting work done. Without to many large bumps in the road we are looking at a very fleshed out Alpha with plenty of systems and content in three months.

That's all for this post, till next time!

Developer Updates #5

A lot has been happening around the team lately, the developers are pumping out a lot of good material and picking up the pace in all areas.

Toth re-did some GUI as well as more player character and monster textures.

Martin F is working on a complete dungeon (he is doing the organics and non organics for the entire thing) and more information will be out on that when it is finished.

A new member on our team Scott (from low poly corp) is working hard on world prop models.

Another new member on our team Tom has been pumping out a lot of hard programming work and with our engine, integrating features we needed as well as setting up various systems to make everything easier on the developers.

And Gelco is working hard within the engine as always and trying to get everything set up.

The other developers are all working on things such as armor and weapon sets, models, buildings, etc. The work done recently has been more than impressive.

Also we have some big changes to be announced later in reference to the engine we are using and some of the new features that we'll be able to offer.

Have a good one!

New Model Shots

New model shots are now up on the main Etherea website including the Gargoyle, Etherean Spider, Boar, Skeleton Dagger, Skeleton Axe, and the male Minotuar player character.
Screenshots will be added soon as well with some simple shots of the Human Outpost.

Gelco figured out some more of the bugs that we were facing so now we are moving ahead quickly again, hopefully the Alpha test won't be far away and we can get some more community members testing the game.

I'll have another update later this month with more screenshots or model shots as well as news on how the game is developing.

I'm Back!

I'm back from Basic Cadet Training and now in college at the Air Force Academy. My time is more limited but I still have plenty of time to run everything. Luckily for me I came back and saw that Gelco had led the team well and that the entire team worked very hard and fast while I was away.

Simple new things from banners to make the site look better, new models, new textured and animated models, and new artwork and ideas.

There are still some kinks being worked out with exporting EDG to TGE but they are being worked out quickly and the new test should be up before long with a good bit of content to be tested.

Robert

LOA for Awhile

I'll be on a leave of absense for awhile, from June 28th to sometime after August 6th I'll be away at Basic Training at the US Air Force Academy.

If anyone needs to contact the EDG team please email Gelco, the lead developer, at chrishill2001@hotmail.com

I wish you all well and I'll be back in August!

Robert

EDG's New Game Engine

As I mentioned in the newsletter and on the Etherea: Dark Genesis main site, we have been able to get a new and better engine for developing Etherea: Dark Genesis. The game engine is C++ based and has many added features to the one we were previously using as well as better graphics.

The new game engine has a physics engine, better texturing abilities, better network code to allow more players to be online at one time only being limited by our hardware, actual lighting, etc.

Gelco got a hold of the engine and has been working closely with R@nsid to get used to the engine. Today Gelco was able to get R@nsid's models to work in the game, he set up a small server, and imported some buildings into the new game engine. Everything seems to be running smoothly and you can already tell the difference between this game engine and the one we were previously using.

The June 20th Alpha Test will still occur using the old game engine so that the Alpha Testers can see the difference in the engines. When Alpha re-opens with the new game engine the Alpha Testers that were chosen for the June 20th Alpha Test will be invited back to test throughout the game's testing phases.

These changes are very exciting and we are all looking forward to all the new things, like real AI, we can do in this game engine.

Changes on the Horizon

Recently Gelco closed the ability to apply for the Alpha Test not only because the deadline was reached but because we had so many people apply that we could use these applications for the next couple of tests (don't worry when we get ready for another test we will open the process again). This was exciting for Gelco and I as it means that many are interested in EDG, which is always a great thing to a game developer.

Tomorrow there will be a dev meeting for EDG in which all the developers will talk about what is going on, what direction the game is being taken in, and things to come. One of the topics of discussion is currently a surprise to the public but it'll be a great change to EDG that will be for the better.

Also, tomorrow it will be one year since Etherea: Dark Genesis' development was started. One year ago I started planning the world of Etherea and obtained some online forums. I began recruiting people for the team and soon there after Gelco came on board. We obtained a game engine and started making our game, ever since then we've been building a more productive and stable team and getting closer to launching our game. It's very exciting as most indie teams/games aren't around that long and usually disband in the first couple of months, I believe it speaks a lot for Etherea.

I'll post again soon with what was discussed at the dev meeting so hang in there and good luck!

The June Alpha Test Approaches

The team started taking applications for the June Alpha Test today, all applications need to be in on the 10th and if you need to know how to apply just visit us at www.etherea-dg.com. We are still very busy around the team getting some final things together including a few more models animated and some quests put in. Hopefully we'll have a few finished terrains done so that we can plug them in to the game as well for players to wander around in.

So far I am very happy with how things are coming together and how much work people are putting into this Alpha test, although it'll be very basic it should be a very good test.

The June Alpha Test will take place on June 20th and hopefully in July-August we'll have a lot more content added to bring in a good number of additional testers.

Developer Updates #4

Gelco recently used Tyranx's map and split it up into a graph paper like design to allow Existance and Sevas an easier time in creating the terrain.

Existance and Sevas are now working on the terrain and the normal zone size will be 1/2 x 1/2 miles or 1 x 1 miles (depending on the location). The world is going to be 10 x 7 miles which is 70 square miles (this is larger than the original EverQuest world if that gives any of you an idea of world size).

Toth is working on a side project for me as well as working hard with texturing and animating. He's working on finishing up the Elf animations for the Alpha test next month.

Simking has been working on armor and clothing sets for players, a large task as each piece needs to be drawn 6 times (to fit humans and elfs, minotaur, and panterran and then the two sexes for each.)

Martin F is finishing up the Panterran player character as well as some unique monsters including the Hydra and Cerberus.

The team has been divided up into Departments now with Simking leading t Art Department, Toth leading the Animation/Texturing Department, and R@nsid leading the Modeling Department. The new departments and appropriate forum for each will give a better work flow and professional feel around the team.

The forums had been slow because of exams and finishing up a year at college for many on the team, but now that has all calmed down and work is beginning to return to normal.

Developer Updates #3

The terrain creating tool we were waiting on is finally ready and able to be used so now two of our team members, Existance and Sevas, are working on the terrain for the world.

Gelco and Conquer are still scripting various systems for the game and upcoming alpha test.

Toth has been working on finishing some animations sets including the Eransects and Elf.

Martin began modeling the Panterran male and soon will be moving onto the Panterran Female.

Simking finished the model sheets for the Panterrans and is beginning work on some boss Dragons and the Darke family.

Wildmax began work on a new dungeon that is beginning to look great with multiple rooms and various quests throughout it.

The forums have been kind of slow but the last week or so has been very busy in R/L for myself and I believe a few other of our developers.

Until next time,
Robert

Test Version 1.1.7

Test Version 1.1.7 of the game was released over the weekend which included many new features and abilities as well as the basic systems that Gelco had been working on. Martin F's Elf was added into the game with Toth's texturing and animation, this is our first player made character to be added to the game.

The updates, test zones, models, and systems are all proving to work very well and are providing a great foundation for our Alpha testing which will take place next month. By the Alpha test hopefully there will be some more mobs, some more systems, and maybe some instancing with guild and housing zones.

Everyone around the team is busting it lately to make sure this Alpha test is a huge success. ^_^

Developer Updates #2

It's been a busy week around the developer forums, we are all getting ready for the Alpha test and trying to get in as much content as we can before we launch it.

Gelco has been working hard on programming the systems and has finished all the basic combat systems as well as getting everyone's stuff together and putting it in the test.

Toth is still working on the interfaces and they are looking amazing. After he's done he'll be going back to texturing and animating to see what other models we can bring to life for the test.

Martin F is taking a small break from modeling to try out some texturing on a model he just completed.

DarkRaven just finished some epic weapons and they look great and exactly like the concept art.

We have a new member on the team, Venthe. He is an animator/texturist/3d modeler who will be focusing on animation on the team. Hopefully with his addition to the team we will be able to speed up development some more and be able to add more models to the test before the deadline.

Everything is looking really great and we are all excited about the Alpha Test, hope to see you there!

Robert

Work Log from Gelco (Lead Developer)

Gelco is the Lead Developer on the team who is in charge of putting everything made for the game together as well as programming inside the game and game engine. Here is a work log he posted in the General Chat forums to update everyone about himself and his work:

"Hi everyone. Thought I would make a post on whats happening behind the scenes on Etherea: Dark Genesis, what my job is etc. I dont spend massive amounts of time posting on the forums so quite a lot of you might not know me. Basically Im the guy putting a lot of other peoples hard work together into the game and organising releases etc as well as programming/scripting work. I also organise things like the website and forums.

Currently we are on alpha release 1.1.7. (Its actually the 8th test version I think). These are internal tests for the team only. However they are proving useful and we do have a world you can run around in. We are getting very close on the completion of our first outpost, the human one. A lot of work has gone into it and its beginning to feel more real to us now about what we are making. The other outposts are almost ready and just waiting to go into the game for the most part. We are waiting for a new tool which will help us build our terrains and hopefully then the world will grow in size very fast and we will start thinking about external alphas/betas.

Personally this week I have been working on the combat system, which Im sure you will all agree is important and it's a massive job. It also includes the class and loot systems going in later on aswell but hopefully it will be done in the next month or so. We are also getting close on setting up the guild system. Although we have encountered some problems with the game engine, I think we will get around it. Conquer, one of the scripters, is doing a great job on the guild systems. Im also hoping we can get our first screnshots of the ingame layout out soon, think perhaps at the end of the month.

At the moment Im working on alpha 1.1.8 which will be our next release. Im hoping that by 1.1.10 we will begin having external testers in, hopefully that wont be to far away. Im hoping it will be a lot of fun by that stage for people to see. Anyway, hope you found that reasonably interesting. Just wanted to give you all a bit of reassurance that things are going on in relation to the game not just making models or art work."

A very good and interesting work log. To my understanding and from the looks of things we will start bringing in community members (only a few at first and slowly) at mid-late June on schedule with the timeline we had released earlier.

Thanks Gelco and thank you to everyone reading,
Robert

Newsletter Tomorrow

Toth just sent in some pictures of the models he finished texturing and Gelco will be adding them to the site tomorrow. After he does I'll send out a newsletter with some general updates, reference to the model shots and new concept art, and of course a link to this blog.

The "model shots" you will see are the models that have been created and textured and only lack, if they haven't been already, being animated.

Toth will be working on the user interface before going back to work on animating and texturing other models.

Developer Updates #1

A lot of work has been getting done around the team lately including a lot of new models and systems. Here is some of what's going on:

Martin F has been working extremely hard on modeling and has completed many mobs and boss mobs to be sent on for texturing and animating including a Hydra, Cerberus, Centaur, and the Mutant Bat.

Scribbleboy is getting ready for final exams as are some other of are developers and because of this he will not be able to push out new structures for awhile. However, he hit the ground running as soon as he joined the team so we have a large surplus of structures and his department will not be holding us up.

Gelco and Conquer have been working hard on the various systems that need to be programmed. Conquer is working on the guild system while Gelco is working on the combat and looting system.

Toth has been a bit busy with his real life job but in his spare time he is still texturing and animating for us, when he gets a bit more time he'll be able to finish up a few other models and we'll use those Model Shots as the ones we are releasing in the newsletter. After that Toth will be creating a new user interface for the game and Gelco will update it and push out a new update for the game making us one step closer to the next stage of Alpha (bringing a few community members in for testing).


There are so many people doing some great work on the team but I figured I'd fill everyone in on those people for this update.

Until next time,
Robert

Introduction

First off I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Robert Lee and I am the Project Leader of Etherea: Dark Genesis. Games have been my passion, as they have been for millions of people around the world, since I was a little kid. Some of my earliest memories of games were on the Sega and Nintendo. I eventually moved up to the Playstation and got Legend of the Dragoon where I invested many hours of game time. I then got interested in computer games like C&C and then Diablo II where I started playing online games for the first time.

After playing online games I found the great joy of playing with multiple people at a time. Time went on and I started playing my first MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies. During that time I also tried out WoW, EQ, and EQOA. SWG was my passion and there I spent 2 and 1/2 years of playing as a Bounty Hunter, Jedi, and Chef (two accounts). After the changes to SWG and the exit of the community I loved I decided to quit playing SWG.

Inspired by such MMORPG's and other online games I decided that I wanted to create my own online game. I started writing up information about the game and eventually found a site with an affordable and customizable game engine that a small team and I could use without thousands of dollars. Some people joined my development team (one of the originals was Gelco who is now the Lead Developer and programmer/work horse). We got some forums, met on mIRC and came up with the name Etherea: Dark Genesis. The team got a website, went into development and ever since then people have been joining the team with the desire to create a great game that many could cheaply play. Some people joined the team to build their resumes, some just for the fun of it, others to change the industry by having a cheap MMORPG, and then myself for wanting to create a great game that many could enjoy and have a strong and fun community. Everyone on the team works for free and will continue to do so and the team has decided to offer the game as a free download with a low monthly cost of around five dollars to support the server and game costs/upgrading engine later on.

I have wanted to keep my age hidden because I assumed that I would lose respect in the gaming community if anyone found out that I was 17. Well I am now 18, have been working on this game for over 10 months, and now I have been accepted into the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado where I will work towards a Computer Science major. I will be leaving June 27th 2006 and thus will not have as much time to devote to the game as I do now. For the first six weeks I will be in basic training and will have no communication with Etherea and the community, after that though I should be back to normal and able to talk on the forums everyday or at least every other day (on a busy week).

My goals for Etherea: Dark Genesis include making the great game, helping to build the game, and saving the money made on the game to have enough money to buy a better engine such as the BigWorld or Unreal Engine so that the players may experience great graphics alongside the plethora of features we are offering.

I will be staying in touch with everyone not only here but on the forums/site as well. Hopefully this blog will be another means of reaching out to people and letting them know about Etherea: Dark Genesis (the main goal for the dev team is to have tons of people playing our game, not for the money but for the reason of having tons of people enjoying our game). I'll be posting more game related updates on the main website's news (www.etherea-dg.com) but I'll post some development sides and more personal sides of the game development here. I may also start a role playing story about my character in Etherea. (Just for the fun of it!)

Well I wish you all the best of luck and I'll post again when I have more to say ^_^

Robert