Xsera - Now in 3D!

Yes, Alistair is working on the ability to put 3D models into Xsera. No, we're not going full 3D. Yes, you will still be able to play with the original sprites.

So Alistair thought of the genius idea to incorporate 3D models directly into Xsera instead of creating 3D models and taking 2D images of them. When finished, players will be able to use either 3D or 2D models in the game for differing experiences.

In other news, the Xsera team has acquired a web developer for making the website shiny, and also a graphics guy to make an Xsera logo along with weapons and shield graphics. The website overhaul has been started (www.xsera.org to see it) and Xsera's logo is looking great. Hopefully I'll have links to it the next time I post.

That's all for now!

Oh boy. Antares.

So it turns out a guy that appeared to be helping Xsera out, Chris Pickel / Sfiera / Pallas Athene, has really been working on his own version of Ares X. And he calls it "Antares". So forget about the whole authenticity issue, Xsera's going to rock the socks off Antares. Right now Alistair and I are working on some pretty nifty warping distortion effects unlike anything in the original Ares. We will also have the old warping style, but I think once you see the new, you'll like it too much ;)

So yeah, Sfiera... it's on. So on.

... and don't copy our source. That would be very cheat-y.

Xsera and Google Wave

So you may have heard all the buzz about Google Wave. I've gotten a chance to preview it, all thanks to kickme for the invite ;). From what I've seen, it's pretty good, all bugginess aside. I don't know what's the issue, but whatever Google server handles my requests must be messed up, because sometimes it takes 10 minutes just for Google Wave to tell me that I need to refresh my browser. Other times, it's lightning quick and a wonderful tool for live collaboration - you can type at the same time as the people you're chatting with and see their responses live. This makes for quick revisions and quick unification over issues - if everybody checks it consistently enough.

Overall, I find it to be pretty nifty. And we will be using it with Xsera if we can get everybody on board. Which is easier said than done.