| Q&A |
 UnderDog
15/07/02 |
| Q1 |
A brief
presentation of UNDERdog Team and activities. |
| A1 |
UNDERdog
is our online laboratory, exploring the possibilities of multimedia
and 3D to provide online 3D games and applications. Our goal
is to provide free high-quality online 3D games.
Our team consists of three (young) members :Wim, Mathias and
Sven. All of us are active in both the field of design and
computer programming. We try to combine the possibilities
of the increasingly faster internet and computers, with real-time
3D-rendering, providing game-play and new forms of user interfaces
and design.
We also want to share our developments with other creative
people. Our W3D model viewer applications are an example of
this. Great for browsing and inspecting 3D models (online
and offline). We plan to bring out more of these 3D applications
someday soon (e.g. a W3D walkthrough engine for architects).
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| Q2 |
Why
did you choose Shockwave 3D as 3D web plugin for your online
games ? |
| A2 |
The
ShockWave plug-in, like the Flash plug-in is very widely spread
and once installed offers fast instant access to online applications.
The plug-in is not only restricted to 3D but also offers other
possibilities on the web. as sites, databases, video…
Macromedia, a major software provider will undoubtedly keep
innovating the field of online applications and 3D (a domain
that’s quit new).
And most of all it’s very user friendly. Especially
if like us, you already have some programming experience.
(Flash action-script, VB-script, Java-script,…).
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| Q3 |
What
do you think about Director development tools ? Is Lingo enough
powerful and productive ? |
| A3 |
Macromedia
Director 8.5 is the first version of Director that really supports
the integration of 3D worlds. Lingo powerful enough? Hmm. The
powerfulness lies in the creativity in which you use your tools.
Nevertheless, for the time being Lingo will do fine…
Of course we are waiting for the new Director version to hit
the streets! We hope the 3D aspect gets even more attention.
Maybe with support for newer DirectX drivers. Who knows..? |
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| Q4 |
Figures
: What is average development length of an on line game such
as Skybolter ? |
| A4 |
Since
the end March we’ve been developing different basic game
engines, several 3D environments and characters. All these items,
as seen on our website, were mainly for made for testing the
performance and possibilities of 3D in Shockwave.
Until last week we had no idea how long it would take to finish
a complete game. So because of this interview, we decided to
finish our first full game! ;))
We took one of the engines we developed earlier this year and
off we went… Storylines, interfaces & graphic elements,
3Dmodels, environments & textures, sounds and music, different
levels, high-score database,…
In total we spent about 4 weeks to finish the game now known
as SKYBOLTER. The beta version is available on our website.
We are now waiting for bug reports so we can fix any problems
found.
http://www.underdog.be/skybolter/skybolter.html
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| Q5 |
You
create very low polygon models, and very compressed files which
3D package are you using ? |
| A5 |
We use 3DS Max R4. The low polygon models require some cleanup,
that is: deleting unnecessary vertexes/polygons. The lower the
polygon count the more processor-friendly the ShockWave 3D file
gets.
But not only the 3D models should be optimised. The textures
should also be optimised for use on the internet and on slower
computers.
As for the game-engines, we use the strong ShockWave compression;
enabling us to get
a low file size. Same goes for audio, well compressed audio
files (for example MP3) are made before the project and later
imported. The settings for those compressed/small-sized games
is just a question of fiddling around and testing, testing,
testing and… more testing ;)) |
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| Q6 |
What
are the key features for a good 3d online game ? |
| A6 |
We
think online games differ from other games because online gamers
expect “instant action”.
Most people still pay for the time they are connected to the
net. This means that they don’t want to spend hours mastering
game controls. But it also means that the relationship between
download times and graphic quality should be reasonable.
That’s why we try to provide as much “instant action”
as possible! Online games should be easy to learn, difficult
to master. Compelling, addictive, clever, unique,… Hmmm…
hope we can live up to these standards ourselves!
You know; it may sound a little bit weird but creating games
is like playing God. You create your own worlds with it’s
own laws and rules. The only difference is that we don’t
need a church for our ‘religion’ just a modem and
a PC.
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| Q7 |
What
is today's business model for on line game ? What about advertising
games to promote company's trademark ? |
| A7 |
Today’s
business model? Haha… we don’t really have one!
We’d love to just create our own games and have no worries
about how we could make money… But things don’t
work that way do they?!
We aren’t backed up by some big company, there is no net
to catch us if we fall… we’re just 3 guys doing
our thing,… we’re the UNDERdog!
A possibility we are thinking about is adding banners or even
3D adds in the loading section or billboards of our games.
We think this would be the best solution for us, because in
that way, we can still make our own games, and earn a little
doing so. ;))
If that doesn’t work, we’ll probably have to start
making advert-games soon, we’ll need some cash quite fast…
In short…Yes we are looking for sponsors and advertisers!
If anyone can help… please do!
“Resources are low! Mine more minerals!” ;)) |
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