My take on the 3DR NDF affair 13th May 2009

Now don't know about this one. Put it down as a 'what if'.

DNF is going to be released for free!

Sounds Crazy?

Well yes but so was giving away 1/3 of a game when DN3D came out.

The radar group? An alternative to the likes of Epic and Valve. What do they have in common? An engine.

3DR have not just been working on a game. They have their own development suite they made the game in.

Now what if they figure their engine and tools can make a rich game in a fraction of the time.

It would make sense of some off the stories like levels being scrapped and rebuilt over and over again.

Then there is the dispatching off the staff, who know the development suite. The jobs fair, to showcase the engine and what can be done with it.

Hmmm sounds a bit far fetched...

So you are selling a development environment and staff that can make heavily scripted immersive games quickly.

5 deals could net you more than a million people buying the game, think Sony, Disney, Universal, Fox or even book authors!

http://www.radargroup.com/projects.html

Unannounced Project 1 & Unannounced Project 2?

DNF & DN3D both made with the new engine, both for free!

Why free? Remember "Radiohead offers next album for download by donation"? Remember donation-ware?

How many people have said they would give all their money to see the game?

Save DNF donation site with rumours of it being set up before the news was announced.

Give the game away and ask for donations and sell the development suite.

Think I'm crazy?

http://www.3drealms.com/news/about_3dr_3dr_staff/


3rd Newest news story.

"Because in today's industry it's nearly impossible, unless you're Epic or Valve, to create original games and not give away full IP ownership to the publisher."

Or develop your own games with our easy tools...

"Another key part of the Radar plan is that all of our projects are built around a rich storyverse. Think about properties like Star Wars, Harry Potty and Lord of the Rings."

Turn a story into a game with our storyboard to game development suite.

2nd to last story.

"How long should a demo be? A level? Two levels? Apogee had different ideas. Starting with the concept of "shareware" (try before you buy), they pioneered the idea that a game could be successful by giving out anything up to a third of the full game for free, and encouraging gamers to pass on the disks."

Giving the game away makes a game popular, spreads it faster and makes the development suite worth more. I bought DN3D because it had build for free, maybe this time it will be game for free pay for the tools.

Last story Good-bye?

Were off to get new jobs, guess which development suite is on the CV's?

Hmmm ok but it better be good...

So there is the media leak. Always smelt fishy to me.

First the shots that look like production shots, Models next, a bit off video showing off some heavily scripted scenes. All from within the development suite ;)

Bit off eye candy and better quality shots.....

Now here's the REALLY CRAZY bit....

We are watching the game development as it happens for a massive demo?

Yep in real time?

Days not months....

If true they will be kings, if not anyone else fancy a go sounds like a cunning plan :)

As I've been saying WIN (when it's done) has become WAS (wait and see)

Running QuakeLive on OS X via CrossOver Pt 2

Got in and downloaded the plugin







But kept getting these incomplete messages








Tried a Software install again







This time to the bottle i created earlier.







Same message over and over. Restarted and tried FireFox and enough had installed to get to the next stage of the site.Create a character and downloading the first map.







After a few of these...







Launch Time







Got this the first time







Then it looks like either a connection problem or more problems their end.

Running QuakeLive on OS X via CrossOver

Step one get the OS X version of CrossOver and the windows installer for FireFox, look for the little link to 'other systems' under the big FireFox button.



Save this file to disc and install CrossOver and run it.



Choose install software and from a file, browse and open the firefox file.







When it has installed and you have FireFox open go to the www.quakelive.com website. Here you will be prompted to install Flash.







You will probably have to do the by clicking on the manual install. This will download in the Windows FireFox download manager. Wait for it to download and then double click on the file in the download manager.







This will say you need to close FireFox. So close all the Firefox windows and leave the Flash installer open. When FireFox is closed click try again.








The bottle will reboot after installing Flash and show you a Finder window with FireFox. Double click on the FireFox icon and it will launch the Windows version with Flash installed.








Now you will be able to log into the quakelive site like a windows user. As I'm now only number 13,000+ in the line then it might take some time to see if the plugin works...

Same old same old.

There are a few things that you really appreciate if you really understand what they mean.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Ignorance is bliss.