I’m not brave enough to announce a release date yet, but things are moving forward. That as much as I can say right now!

I’ve been working on the main menu lately. I’m putting so much effort on it that feels more complex and intrincated than some of my previous works. I’m replacing some old brush work using models instead. Propper is helping so much for this task. The result is a better optimization, shorter compilation times and an overall improvement of the menu’s quality. I haven’t recorded a new video yet, but hey! We can always take a look back the old awesome stuff:

Plus, I finally got a Flattr account! If you don’t know what Flattr is, then you should click over any of the three Flattr references in this very sentence. I don’t expect getting rich with this new service, but every single click will definitely be a good motivation to keep working on SDK-Project and any of my Valve Hammer Editor experiments. Being modder is not going to be so hard from now on! : D

More updates soon! Promised!

I guess there is not much to say, but you may have some questions. Questions? Yes? No? Anyone?

Well, after quite some time, I thought that all of you deserve an explanation about the current state of the mod and why the f*** is taking so much time. As a proof of my honesty, I recorded myself (Which I really hate) talking in English (which I think is embarrassing) to give you all the information you’ve been waiting for. If you have more questions, I will be pleased of answering you here.

Well, it has been a long time since the last update, but as I always say: this mod is not dead, it is just being painfully slow developed. My job takes away much time and motivation to continue with this project, but whenever I have some spare time, I try do some progress on the mod. This stuff is like a year old, but I thought it would be great to share  it with you and prove again that SDK-Project is, not only alive, but also in progress. Enjoy and leave feedback!

Thanks to Harry64 for giving me the idea of creating a brand new custom menu for the mod!

After a while, I’m back with some things that I want to remark:

1.) I have renewed this site for 2 more years. “This is stupid” – you may say – “when you barely update this site once every two months”… and you are damn right, that’s why I want to reorient this site focusing more in my career and porfolio and less on my mod. Since I’m working in the industry, I really would like to express my opinions and concerns about many things that happen within it often (Like my opinion about “killerspiele”, retro-gaming, Valve’s upcoming games and such…). If I just focus on my mod, all of this is pointless.

2.) I took one week of vacation just to work on SDK-Project. No shit. 5 days of my annual 21 days just to continue working on my projects, starting from TODAY. So, be ready for updates (This time, for real).

3.) The game I’m working on here in Germany will be soon announced, and I’m really looking forward to that moment. You will love it.

4.) I have recently published a Left 4 Dead survival map called “Locked in Hell”. I’ll write a post fully dedicated to it. However, you can download its 1.0 Version HERE.

Hell, it’s about time!

To be honest, I felt bad about the SDK-Project website, because I didn’t update it in a long long time, not only referring to news, but also the functionalities, links and content of the site, and that’s why I’ve spent some time today to bring you some new features on the site:

- Sidebar Chat:

Sometimes we feel lazy for a comment, and we just want to let the people know that you agree or disagree with the latest news. The Sidebar Chat will allow you to express your happiness, your anger, fear or concerning about whatever I write on the site. Awesome, uh?

- Main Navigation Menu:

Basic as vodka in a White Russian. Before, the main section in the Sidebar dissapeared if we were not in the index page, which was a bit annoying if you wanted to move backto the main page. Not anymore! Also, I added a couple of very useful links, including Video and Screenshot galleries. The last section “About me…” links to a spanish portfolio which I have to translate sonner or later. : P

- Video Gallery:

My favourite videos about my mods can be watched in the SDK-Project Playlist on this section. Very recommended if this is your first time in this website.

- And this…

… the most adorable headcrab ever drawn. I don’t know exactly why I  uploaded it, but it was getting dusty in my hard drive and I wanted to give it a chance to explore the world. You can find him walking around this website from now on.

I’ll keep updating more aspects of this website this month…

Probably most of you are wondering what the hell is going on with this mod.

First, and as a usual statement: NO, THIS MOD IS NOT DEAD.

Second , I want to apologize to all of you for not showing any media more often, but most of the changes are gameplay related, so you will not notice the difference.

Third, I haven’t updated my YouTube Channel since 6 months already. Of course I could show something, but I’m keeping the whole surprise for the right moment, and I promise: it’s worth!

This last Christmas I couldn’t go back to Spain, and so, I spent like 2 weeks working non-stop with SDK-Project, porting BlockStorm to Orange Box, creating an easy and accesible menu (Of course, in Hammer) and fixing Ouija’s gameplay. I must say that porting my old mods to Orange Box has been a pain in the ass, due to many changes in the SDK since the last time I updated them. 

So… what’s the status?

BlockStorm: Finished.

Foozball Fever: Gameplay finished. Minor changes.

Pacman Missions: Gameplay finished.It needs more levels.

Xen Invaders: Gameplay needs to be polished.

My first goal will be to include those mods in SDK-Project’s first release, which somehow I expect that to be possible before Summer 2009. After the release, I will update SDK-Project with new mods as soon as I finish them. Of course, SDK-Project will be released with all the source files that you may need to modify / experiment / investigate / improve the games included.

By the way, THANKS to all of you for your support, patience and forgiveness! You are the reason why I don’t give up.

Now that everything works fine, I cannot guess why the idea of using “trigger_push” entities to help the player turn in the corners didn’t come to my mind sooner. Now it looks like a brilliant idea! It worked perfect since the first attempt. So, this is how I solved the problem about the friction and the Pacman turning:

Remember that the Pacman thing is actually the player from a top view camera. This means that physics affects both player and Pac. However, this is a long story that I will reveal whenever this mod will be released.

What’s next? Fix some problems related with the ghosts. That’s it. After that… create a lot of levels for your enjoyment!

Valve always finds the way to piss me off. This is battle against my patience and my inventiveness… and Valve is winning. Making mods with Hammer wasn’t hard enough, and now they decide to get rid of some basic and historic console commands like sv_gravity and sv_friction were (Actually this happened when the Orange Box was released). Fucking hell! I have to fake every single feature of my mods… and now I have to fake the gravity and the friction as well??? This is just unbeliveable! What those commands did to you, Valve? You raped them! You raped two of my favourite console commands!

Why am I so angry? Well… let’s talk about PacMan. Last week I mentioned that I had some problems related with the friction:

- First, I tried to fix it with a console command. But it wasn’t there.

- Second, I tried to fix it with scripts, creating a new surface with new values. But the friction, apparently, has LIMITS.

- Third, and my last chance: I have to place some crappy invisible toggleable walls to prevent PacMan slip more than it should.

This kills the performance,  it makes me create useless brushes and a non-stable function in the game. This could be fixed even with sv_acceleration… but guess what? Is no longer available.

Valve… why you hate me so much?

PS: I know that there is a trigger_gravity entity and also a trigger_vphysics_motion entity… great, but I don’t care. I want my precioussss console commands back. -_-

This was funny… ¬¬’

Indeed friends… I’m tired of apologizing every time that I update this website for being such a lazy bastard so, let’s skip that part.

SO… what’s the situation here? Yep, I finally moved to Berlin, and I’m working in Yager Development as MultiPlayer Game Designer, and that involves responsabilities that I could barely imagine if I would continue working in Pyro Studios. My lead designer is XSM, which some people will remember as the Project Lead from Dodgeball mod for Half-Life 2 (Related entry). But this is not a coincidence… THIS is happening because both of us really wanted to work together, and THIS has happened in Berlin.

However, I promissed to some of you that I wouldn’t talk about my life in this entry. Too late!

So… SDK-Project! I have been working for the past two weeks in Pacman: Missions,  specially focusing on all the conditions related with the ghosts. Most of the scripts are polished; there are just some minor bugs related with the paths that the ghosts choose randomly and also with the fucking Pacman’s friction. This means that the mod is already working, is playable, funny and even challenging.

This is the current state of the mod (Hammer view!):

There are only two things left (Actually, two doesn’t means two… )

1.) Create missions:

The number of missions can be really high, because adding more levels doesn’t involve creating new maps. The whole game is played in the same field, with the same recicled entities, but some new levels will involve the addition of new challenges. In order to create more levels, we just need to mix some of these variables. These are some of the current conditions which you could find while playing:

- Ghosts (1 – 8 Ghosts)

- Ghosts speed (2 speeds)

- Teleporters (On/Off)

- Closed paths (To create different rooms in the same level)

- Screen conditions (Shake, rotating camera, TV Noise, fog, darkness…)

- Control conditions (Slower, faster, inverted…)

- Special conditions (…)

- Etc.

2.) Create some funny and easy-to-made cutscenes:

And this is not about models, dialogues or animations… is about having good practical ideas. Sometimes, a static camera showing an abstract situation is thousand times funnier than a 3 minutes short animated movie.

These “cut-scenes” work as a reward for the player. If he know that there is a short and funny “cut-scene” each 5 levels (for example), he will try to get as far as possible in order to watch them all. Everybody loves cut-scenes! (Except if a cut-scene involves coke, popcorn and turning off my cell, Mr. Kojima).

Now it’s time for some feedback coming from YOU guys. I need good ideas coming from your brains! Now that everything is working:

1.) Which variables would you like to see on some levels? (Example: moving walls, buttons to open doors, BIG ghosts… etc)

2.) Do you have a funny idea for a simple, unique and memorable cut-scene involving both PacMan and Half-Life Universes?

This was the update you were waiting for!

Guten nacht, mates!