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7-8-99	uncola
Big Preview with Tons of New Information PC Zone UK has yet another preview of V:tMR with new screenshots and more detail on almost every part of the game from the storyline to the combat system. It also describes the 3d engines special effects which they've used to create the dark mood of the game as in this excerpt: Nihilistic are concentrating a large proportion of their time on fine-tuning the many atmospheric effects -lightning storms, rain, thunder, fire, brimstone and treacle - that will enhance the feel of the game. There will even be a fully-working simulation of night and day and the four seasons. Nihilistic say they're not throwing in the effects simply because they have the means, and also that they are using every aspect of the engine to enhance the gothic-punk feeling of their representation of the World of Darkness. They also shed some light on the feel of the combat system: Combat, like pretty much everything else in the game, will be governed by the laws of real time. When things hot up and there's a ruck on the horizon, the view will change to accommodate all combatants. Nihilistic see Vampire's combat sections as being intense and tactically challenging, and from what we've seen, they do look different - in fact, they're not too dissimilar to the fight scenes in Squaresoft's classic Final Fantasy VII.
6-30-99	uncola
Rob Huebner Update Rob Huebner from the Nihilistic program has updated his .plan over at BluesNews. Here is a little piece from his update: We also re-did our sky rendering system. Up to now we had the basic 6-sided box thing going, but it wasn't very flexible. We decided to try using the existing soft-skin mesh/skeleton system for rendering the sky box as well. Seems weird at first, but it worked like a charm. Realvideo Footage of V:tMR ZDTV has a small article on V:tMR accompanied by a 1 minute video of gameplay with some rather lame audio commentary. The clip is mostly of Christof fighting and doesn't show him talking to NPC's or the Storyteller interface. You can really see the effect of weighted vertices on the cape animation. Full Article here. Direct link to Video.
6-25-99	uncola
PC Zone Redemption Preview A Preview of Redemption with new screenshots as well as gameplay descriptions and 3d engine details provided by V:tM Redemption's producer Chris Hewish. Read it here. Link purloined from Bluesnews. Here's an excerpt in which he describes how they've kept the Whitewolf character attribute system: "We've based our game directly upon White Wolf Publishing's Vampire pen & paper system, including all the associated game mechanics. But we didn't stop there. We basically have hidden all of the dice rolling and allowed the players to concentrate on the action and on developing their characters. The armour you're wearing, your experience in a certain discipline, the state of your character stats; these all have real effects within the game."
6-23-99	uncola
New Interview Gamer's Crypt has a new interview with John Heinecke from the Nihilistic team. Read about it here. Here is a little piece from the article: In Vampire, you don't just play a 'level', but worlds consisting of linked areas filled with enemies, NPCs, shops, etc. all tied together by a story flow. We call these experiences 'chronicles', from the paper game's terminology. Players will be able to accompany eachother through the single player chronicle cooperatively, and the game will ship with several specially created cooperative and antagonistic multiplayer chronicles. White Wolf Looking for Graphics Designer White Wolf is looking for an experienced Graphic Designer with two or more years experience working with Photoshop, Freehand and Pagemake(extensive experience with Quark and/or Illustrator instead, is also acceptable) in a Mac environment. Position involves the design, layout and pre-press of White Wolf's varied product lines in a fast-paced, fun, laid-back and unique company culture. Salary and benefits commensurate with experience. You must be willing to relocate to Atlanta. Visit their homepage. Contest has Changed The contest to win a free copy of Vampire the Masquerade has changed. To see the new rules go here. Nihilistic President Comments on Multiplay Ray Gresko, President of Nihilistic made some comments about V:tM Redemption in this Next-Generation Online article. "Since we are introducing an entirely new way of playing multiplayer RPGs, we spend a lot of time making sure this mode of play has all the functionality and expandability that it needs. The thing I look forward to is seeing what the end users will come up with in terms of multiplayer chronicles and narratives and the formation of a community around the title."
6-22-99	Flamerunner
Free Game Giveaway The Masquerade.org is giving away a free copy of Vampire the Masquerade Redemption to it's 50,000 visitor. Read more about it here. Vampire Chess Set White Wolf has made a chess set for Vampire the Masquerade. To learn more about it go here. Multiplayer Interface Trail has posted a message about the multiplayer interface. Here it is: Ok, I'm going to make a few guesses on this based on common sense and what we know of the interface so far. 1) Camera will primarily be third person for most events. Ingar is working on the dynamics of the camera, but from what we've been lead to believe is the camera will more or less be fixed at one perspective for most of the game and for most actions. Though it "might/should" be manipuable via scripts. 2) Interace will essentially be the same, with extra menus and buttons... From the sounds of it, the buttons might be smaller and a larger resolution might help the story teller more then the players in that regard. 3) Because the player can just tab between characters to change them for control and for following them, I'd assume the storyteller would have the same ability. I imagine the view centers on the character selected... So I image two could wander off, or all in four directions. Now the question becomes is the game turn-based at this point or realtime.. if realtime, the storyteller has their hands full. 4) I think it would make sense that multi-player combat be turnbased. If only for the sanity of the storyteller. One person can't control more then say three combatants at once, and those three would have to be close together. So unless the AI is just incredible.. I imagine it will be turnbased for combat. Either that, or the storyteller would need to pause as each combat is dealt with. 5) Have no idea on this one... no map feature has been demonstrated at this time. Overall the more you think about it the more difficult implimenting the storyteller feature is. There is ALOT to consider, track, etc. Basically I can see the storyteller feature being implimented in one of two ways. 1) The storyteller can talk to players (group or indivdual), control NPCs in combat, decide the level to be played, and that's about it. Basically feed the story to the players, but other then that, they would have no control over the environment. Kinda a referee in a coop game. 2) Allow the story teller to manipulate the properties of all objects in the game via their interface. The storyteller can place a new object within the game and define it's properties.. whether it be a creature, light, or weapon. Perhaps dragging from a list on the side (perhaps a prepared list with scripts and properties already defined). Could drag in a sound on an overhead map to be heard by the players, or manipulate the environment they are in. Perhaps extinguish lights or placing a screaming sound behind a locked door. The story teller could decide if an object can be destroyed, and remove it from the game if necessary to keep the story going. Perhaps the door is too strong for players to destroy but rather then ruin the planned story, the storyteller removes it anyways. You get the idea... basically an almost level editor interface for the storyteller that allows them to add, remove, or change objects. I imagine you can guess which I would like. My basic fear is that the features offered as a storyteller will be minimal, and the hardcore rpg crowd will be disappointed in the results. Nothing has been shown so far about the storyteller feature and no screenshots, maybe this discussion might help in the decision making process... who knows. I imagine that at this time, it hasn't been completed and likely has alot of work remaining.
6-21-99	Flamerunner
New Layout I have just finished the new layout of the page. We are still looking for some news reporters. Check out the jobs section.
6-18-99	Flamerunner
Pen and Paper Section I have finished adding the pen and paper section. It has everything you need to get started playing the roleplaying version of the game. Check out the downloads to find out more about the game.
6-16-99	Flamerunner
Looking for Staff We are still looking for staff so check out the openings. New Preview I have found a new preview over at GamePrix.com. Here is a small piece from the article: For hundreds of years, humans have been fascinated by the concept and myth of vampires. Like the belief of a god or higher power, the icon of the vampire exists within the folklore of nearly every society and civilization.
6-15-99	Flamerunner
New Poll Be sure to take the time to vote in our new poll. Finally Done Our site is finally finished. We will update it with new info whenever it comes out so be sure to visit us everyday. Also we are looking for some staff. Check out the jobs here. Ready to Go Just about all the links are working on the site now. We are almost fully ready to start having visitors. Make us your number one choice for new news and info on this game.
6-13-99	Flamerunner
First Day Up Today is our first day up. I am working on the layout and graphics. Please come back and visit us in about one week.