Eerievale Homepage updated

[Starcat]

Hi folks !

 

I have updated the Eerievale Homepage.

It now features "development status" infos as well as background infos in the "What's Beyond" section...

Check it out.

 

Regards, Lars.

http://www.eerievale.de

[Starcat]

Hi folks !

 

The Eerievale homepage was just upated again.

There now is a better banner on the main page, that can be used to spread the word about Eerievale. (would be great to see it on some sites)

The dev status page was also updated not too long ago.

 

http://www.eerievale.de

 

Regards, Lars.

[moycon]

Thanks for the info, This is one game all Jag owners will have to get!

[Starcat]

Hi folks !

 

It's time for another update of the Eerievale site.

This time there is not that much new for international visitors, just a few new texts.

However for german visitors I finally had the time to create a german translated version of the site.

Check it out

 

Regards, Lars.

http://www.eerievale.de

[walter_J64bit]

[justclaws]

Hello,

 

It's time for another update of the Eerievale site.  

This time there is not that much new for international visitors, just a few new texts.

However for german visitors I finally had the time to create a german translated version of the site.  

Check it out  

OK, now you only need to complete French, and Spanish versions, then

the Chinese and Russian versions to cater for the widest populations...

 

Cheers,

JustClaws.

[Starcat]

Hi JustClaws!

 

I'm afraid you will have to wait for those translations. I first need to learn those languages

 

Regards, Lars.

[justclaws]

Hello,

 

I'm afraid you will have to wait for those translations. I first need to learn those languages  

No, just ask the help of your die-hard fans with those skills!

Volunteers anybody?

 

Cheers,

JustClaws.

[SwedenLynxer]

Hi Lars,

 

This game looks awesome!

 

One question: Have you ever coded anything for the Lynx? I think a Lynx version of Eerievale would be a good idea.

[justclaws]

Hello!

Nice to see you here!

 

One question: Have you ever coded anything for the Lynx?

I think Lars has his hands full just finishing the Jag version!

 

I think a Lynx version of Eerievale would be a good idea.

The game uses pre-rendered backgrounds so a Lynx version is

not possible I don't think, unless you have a secret Lynx-CD add-on.

 

Cheers,

JustClaws.

[Starcat]

Hi !

 

Thanks SwedenLynxer.

 

But I think Richard is right. The game uses prerendered graphics and it would be impossible on the Lynx. Actually it wouldn't be possible on the Jag either, if it wasn't for the JagCD. Music also comes from the CD.

Although even if there was such a cheap media that offered enough memory for the Lynx, I would still have to dissapoint you about a Lynx version.

 

I am not much of a Lynx fan and even though I once had a Lynx and thought about development, it never interested me enough to actually get started. The Jaguar is far more interesting to me.

Besides, I don't think the Lynx would be a suitable system for Eerievale even if there wasn't the memory problem.

Adventure games like Eerievale really need a mouse to be played. It's only half the fun if you have to struggle with joypad/lynx controls.

Another problem would be the lower color depths which would probably make the graphics look much worse than on the Jag and of course also the lower resolution, which would make playing the game a lot harder as less detail could be seen on screen and objects that are important could be missed.

I guess Eerievale wouldn't be as much fun on a portable system either, simply because playing it while you are traveling or during a break from work wouldn't be fun. It's one of those games that is best played in a dark room in the middle of the night with turned up volume. (and maybe a thunderstorm raging outside to create the right mood ).

The game lives from its story and atmosphere and my experience is, that you tend to miss those things when you play on a portable system, because there are so many factors around you to distract you.

 

So I am sorry, but there won't be a Lynx version. You will have to stick with the Jaguar version I guess.

 

Regards, Lars.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

If it was to go onto any other system I'd vote for NUON myself.

 

Either way I'm really looking forward to discovering Eerievale and it's storyline on the Jag CD. I don't doubt this game will interest some of my non-Jag-loving friends. It will also be nice to have another game on the Jag other than AvP that has a real storyline behind it.

[SwedenLynxer]

Thanks for the answer Lars! And good luck with your work on Eerievale!

 

I don't own any Jag-CD right now. But I will buy at least one copy of Eerievale as soon as the game is released!

[Starcat]

Hi folks!

 

Shaggy:

The NUON is a system that could probably do Eerievale quite well. (Although I can just judge on my guesses, as I don't know that much about the specs or NUON development.)

It allows even high resolution and color depths than the Jag and has more memory to offer.

However as I said, I never did anything with NUON development, so some mayor problems still remain:

-If a NUON version was in development I would want to use the NUON properly, which means high res graphics, music off the disc, dvd quality video, etc. As I don't know much about NUON hobby dev, I don't know if those features are available without reinventing the wheel.

-NUON still has the huge problem of controls and I also don't know much about the compatibility issues between players. A lot of players don't have the controller ports and I guess remote control is the worst control you can get in a game.

-Developing Eerievale on a system where you always have to burn a disc to test it, is impossible. On the Jag I have the alpine which saves me a lot of trouble (and cds), but on NUON hobby developers are still "forced" to burn a CD each try, right?

-Is it really worth it? Is there enough interest?

-Last but not least, how is it with the rights to NUON? Can anybody develop software for it and publish them as we do on the Jag?

 

So a NUON version isn't much of a question at this time, because there are simply too many unknown factors for me. The first system that gets Eerievale is the Jag and after that I will see (if it is sucessful enough), if it will be ported to other systems as well.

 

SwedenLynxer:

Thank you for your support.

 

Regards, Lars.

[justclaws]

Hello,

 

The NUON is a system that could probably do Eerievale quite well. (Although I can just judge on my guesses, as I don't know that much about the specs or NUON development.)

Having done a bit and exhausted my stock of CD-R's, I'd tell you that

it's as interesting as Jag development, but much more frustrating really!

 

It allows even high resolution and color depths than the Jag and has more memory to offer.

The NUON SDK has so many options, but is strangled by encryption,

and the limits of the incomplete SDK and the variations in BIOS sadly.

 

-If a NUON version was in development I would want to use the NUON properly, which means high res graphics, music off the disc, dvd quality video, etc. As I don't know much about NUON hobby dev, I don't know if those features are available without reinventing the wheel.

They are not available as one would expect in the Open SDK.

Hi-res graphics - well yes, to an extent - it's still NTSC/PAL output.

Streaming music and DVD quality video - no, not with the Open SDK.

The Open SDK includes a boot loader - but will only load off a CD/CD-R.

 

-NUON still has the huge problem of controls and I also don't know much about the compatibility issues between players. A lot of players don't have the controller ports and I guess remote control is the worst control you can get in a game.

The NUON controllers aren't bad, and would work with Eerievale OK.

The trouble with an infra-red remote control is that it can only send a

single action at once, and response and behaviour (also key mapping)

varies between units, so real-time games are fairly impractical sadly.

 

-Developing Eerievale on a system where you always have to burn a disc to test it, is impossible. On the Jag I have the alpine which saves me a lot of trouble (and cds), but on NUON hobby developers are still "forced" to burn a CD each try, right?

Yes, right. I still hope to create a BJL type solution to load via NUON

controllers, but to-date still don't have controller ports on my N505, nor

do I yet have any N501, although I've bought one from Ebay in the USA.

 

-Is it really worth it? Is there enough interest?

No, sadly not I think, but what is enough in hobby development?

 

-Last but not least, how is it with the rights to NUON? Can anybody develop software for it and publish them as we do on the Jag?

Yes and no.

Anybody can create a game using the Open SDK and publish it on CD-R,

with the usual warning screen of homebrew games imposed by VM-Labs

before they folded. However, nobody can publish a DVD, nor can most

of the NUON units run the homebrew games in any case unfortuantely.

Samsung Extiva (N2000) - no, Toshiva SD-2300 - no.

Samsung N501 / N504 (yes), Samsung N505 (yes, no controller ports)

and RCA NUON equipped players (yes, no controller ports, and they

cannot run commercial games.)

The N505 can additionally not read a CD-RW, where the N501 can.

 

Only the Samsung N505 can reliably extra read data from a CD-R.

 

Cheers,

JustClaws.

[Starcat]

Hi JustClaws!

 

Thanks for the info. At this point I will just focus on the Jag version and afterall depending on the interest and success of Eerievale I will think about whether or not it gets ported to other systems.

 

Regards, Lars.

[justclaws]

Hello Lars,

 

Thanks for the info. At this point I will just focus on the Jag version and afterall depending on the interest and success of Eerievale I will think about whether or not it gets ported to other systems.

What colour depth will the final game run in? 8, 16, or 24-bit colour?

Playing the demo with Ocean Depths, I wondered, and I also wondered

how far one can get with that demo. Can I get that fuse box turned on?

 

Cheers,

JustClaws.

[Starcat]

Hi JustClaws !

 

The final game will have 16-bit color.

In the Eerievale demo that is included in Ocean Depths you can get into the house but not further. You can take a quick look into a few rooms, but not progress any further. In order to get into the house you need to solve the fusebox puzzle though.

 

Regards, Lars.