Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:36:59 -0700 http://fringespace.org/ FringeSpace.org en-us http://fringespace.org/images/logo.gif http://fringespace.org/ rk@razorskiss.net http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=54 Figured it was about time folks had something new in the way of news.... Besides the usual issues of work, time, and difficulties therein, we have had some changes around the place. While SparK and 5XL (megaman) have left for various reasons, we'd like to welcome Mike and Slap to the team. Mike will be helping with some coding and Slap is working with the tables files. Forum member Timmon and IK Ghost have been providing us with some neat concept art. The Demon warship is rather awesome: Demon Hydras There's been a development at HLP where the HUD system has been overhauled and per ship unique HUDs are now possible. It's still somewhat a work in progress, but we should be able to finally recreate the Tachyon HUDs and expand in the future. This is a feature we've been wanting/needing since we started. Not a great deal of developments due to the economy and folks finishing up school, but we're still here. Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:36:59 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=53 Yesterday we had a staff meeting for those available and I'd like to share some of what what discussed so you guys can know what's will be transpiring in the future here with FringeSpace. First off I know I've said it 3 times now, but RK's back and is working on the Warhammer, which is partially complete. We'll have some pictures up once she's a bit more welded together. It wasn't per say brought to a vote, but the opinions were unanimous in deciding that FringeSpace will be a "clean" game in the sense of text, imagery, and verbal communications in the game. In other words we don't feel it's necessary or appropriate to use vulgarity in our voice acting. We should be able to play the game with our kids and in the company of others. Now there still will be "slaggers," "cowards" and an over-the-top fenris announcer guy, so we're not really changing much, except increasing the size of audience the game can be enjoyed by. In the ships department, we've actually got enough vessels made that we can tackle the alpha now. However, the last group of fighters prior to alpha will be the Bora. So they will be in alpha, but it will be a pausing point once they are finished in order to focus on other needs before we continue with the remaining ships/objects. Since we've got the additional ships, we will be actively looking to acquire a dedicated texture artist to help us get them fully completed. If you have skills in the areas of UV mapping or texturing ships, please let us know. In addition, we also have need of a dedicated FRED or map/mission creator. If you've not worked with FRED but might be interested, that's ok. The basics can be learned in about 10 minutes time. There's plenty of documentation and people that can be asked for advice. Of course if you're a modeler, coder, or anything else, we can also use your talents as well. Furthermore, we're not real certain on a time frame due to the workload, life, et cetera, but there will most likely be a website redesign in the future, as well as branching out into more social networks. We're aware there's several areas of the current site (gallery for ex') that are in need of updating now and we'll try to get that more up to par than we have in the past. To give an idea of what we've got to-do before alpha: 12 model related items 14 issues with tables 15 programming related items 4 things to take care of with audio 7 missions related issues 13 misc items that need work So in short, we've come a long way, but there's still work yet to be done. Oh and if you break it... you bought it ^_^ ...and a little picker upper from Nutri: Accelerate.mp3 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:13:22 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=52 Hey folks, got some stuff for ya. First off I'd like to announce we have a new staff member SparK. If you've not already seen the sidebar, he's lending us a hand with his skills in coding. Tis' much appreciated. RK should be making a return in February as I mentioned below. He's already checked in a few times and is excited to be working on things again. House Paladin or "HP" is undertaking a period of restructuring. They'd like to request any current or former members check in at their forum. Link About the last week that SparK's been with us, we've been working on getting various features fixed or put in the system. Thanks to a joint effort between Bax, SparK, myself, Nutritious and several of the FS2 SCP staff, we have a nice looking main menu. Looks new and familiar all at the same time. Videos available here: YouTube: Video Link Direct (HQ): Video Link Not a huge amount of stuff going on, but a just taste of what is yet to come. Thanks for stopping by. ^_^ Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:58:45 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=51 Hey guys, 2009 has been turned to space debris leaving 2010 in it's wake, ready for a fresh start. Feels good eh? Not a great deal to update you on, but a little news: RK will be returning to active status with the mod around the first of February. We're excited to welcome him back aboard. He's already done some work on a new Warhammer model and will be finishing it up. We'll likely be headhunting as well after his return, so if you have interest in modding, please give us a shout. A staff meeting will likely be called in February, so if you'd like to drop in to take a listen, watch the boards for updates around the end of January. We've secured permission to use some of the base and structure models from the collection of SolCommand. He's got a picture blog here: http://solcommand.blogspot.com/ We'll probably be using these structures primarily for testing (turrets, landings, loadouts, etc) and giving the alpha testers some more things on their maps. Saves us some time having them already largely built. I'm in the last stage of doing a tutorial update to include debris for the ships we make. Plus I'm doing most of the editing on the SolCommand models above so we can get them in-game. Carl's doing some touch up on existing fighters and on the SP Cruiser. I don't expect a great deal of news out of us till about Feb when we start gearing up again. As I've said in my earlier updates, '08 ~ '09 was a pretty hard year on the team for jobs and families. By God's grace we pulled through the trials and tribulations, so we're looking forward to getting back on track and pushing the alpha out as soon as we can. In the meantime, I'd like to mention that a new Mechwarrior mod has been released, based off the Crysis engine. Tachyon fiction usually had a close relationship with the Mechwarrior universe, so you might check it out. http://www.mechlivinglegends.net Some gameplay can bee seen in these videos: Videos Link 1 Videos Link 2 Thanks for stopping in and we'll have some more news for you in a bit. Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:01:02 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=50 Hey spacers and scalawags, sorry we didn't have an update for you in September. Was trying to hold off for the interview done in October, which is now online. Here's where it's located: http://www.fringespace.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=242 There's new pictures of the updated ship series after we made improvements to the textures, and some info on where we've been and where we are headed. Enjoy ^_^ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:48:10 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=49 Well folks it's been about a month since we had an update. Sorry to have kept y'all waiting. On the bright side we've got a super size picture update this time around for your ocular pleasure. First off here's Carl's new Sappers, textured and ready to go: Next I'd like to say that we've got the whole ship rigging issue figured out. I'm also writing a tutorial so that when it comes time to have fan made ships or campaigns, you won't have to go through all the troubled we did. Out of this though we do have some things gradually getting in game. Such as the Fenris Bouy: First time it got in game, the scale was way off and the bouy was the size of a small moon! Later tried some tests to see if we could cause some lag. With 62 bouys shoved together, we were still getting about 60 fps, so no lag. Also have the Archangel: ...and my favorite pic: Also the Orion: Do note that we may end up doing some more tweaking to the textures, since the rendering quality is different between our modeling programs and the game itself. For Tachyon itself, our Saturday games seem to have reduced their activity, but the Sunday games have picked up around 1:30 PM Eastern Time (GMT -5). We've had 4 and 5 players in regularly lately. Here at FringeSpace, we'll continue working on getting vessels in game and should have some more news shortly. Thanks for your continued support. Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:08:07 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=48 Sort of a little update here... First off I'd like to show off Carl's latest weapons: Tiger & Sunspot Missiles Tesla EMP (minus glows) & Swarm Missile salvo In addition, I'd like to make mention that evidently Novalogic has licensed Tachyon to sell on the Steam service. Steam is most well known for being a part of Valve, and games such as Team Fortress 2, Portal, Half-Life, etc. Besides being featured on Steam's main site, Joystiq and some other games news sites have picked up the story and there's a bit of a surge in pro-Tachyon comments. Evidently like GameTap, they've got the downloadable version of the game. There's been a few players dropping in the servers lately, so be kind - rewind, and try to teach them some basics should they not know how to get setup. I believe it's only an introductory price, but Tach is currently $8.99 on Steam. See here for more details: http://store.steampowered.com/app/32760/ They also have a forums section for Tachyon Steam users. Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:56:25 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=47 Hope all you spacers had a pleasant month of May. Got a couple things to discuss and some new toys to show off this time around. ::: Challenge ::: First off I'd like to announce that we are establishing a schedule for Tachyon games, in which we hope to further facilitate players to meet up with each other. Tentatively, if you're up for a game, there should be people online Saturday or Sunday, 8 to 10 PM EST (that's GMT -5 time zone for those outside the USA. No one of course is require to be online at those times, just that you'll have the most likely chance within that time bracket. DarkRaven also has also thrown down the proverbial gauntlet with a statement squarely aimed at veterans: "I am also issuing a challenge to all the old timers who just seem to talk and talk but do not show up. Lets see if you are as good as you talk..." So get your stick out of mothballs, clean yer' rust bucket's windshield, and bring a body bag. This could get ugly fast. I'm considering putting up a permanent server like NB Overkilled has, but this will depend on many things coming up. If you'd prefer another time period, or have a suggestion, please leave a comment in this thread: http://www.fringespace.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=1389#1389 ::: Our Status ::: Secondly - I'd like to explain some of the reasoning behind our lack of updates. As most folks are either experiencing or are aware of, the US economy took and continues to maintain a nosedive. Thus leaving jobs and stability a rare commodity. In our case, here's how we stand: RK - has been "on leave" for both job, family, and education since about July of '08. Nothing much changed here. He's not dead and still posts and checks in about the time we start to wonder if Baron Hajod caught him. Carl - still pluggin away at models. His job has forcibly required more from him and he's had to battle a computer virus which ate some of the more recent stuff he'd finished. Nutri - still available for working on audio and music. Most recently he's been able to complete out most of what we needed for the Wells Cargo test mission. Backslash - Got hit by a megavirus and pretty much wiped out all his computers. Also still around and trying to get back up running. Sonic / Killjoy - Job situation managed to settle down some, but of course it requires more time. In the process of moving houses. Megaman / 5XL - Haven't heard from in a while. Anyone want a bounty contract? We'd prefer "alive" if possible, no desentigrations. JGZ - What business I'm related in, has been very up and down week by week. Some times it seems good and others you wonder if you'll be in bankruptcy tomorrow. My primary laptop PC, keyboard died on it, and then it caught over 20 viruses. Got a new laptop for a month, returned it, then built a desktop. Currently looking for a cheap laptop. So my files have been displaced all over the map. Looked into taking some college courses on game design and artistry, but just don't have the income to manage it right now. So in a nutshell, that's why we've been sidetracked since about March. Technically, things started getting tough in September, but as you can see we're still around and pressing forward as we each can. Main reason I do these kind of updates, is that I know as fans, you all like to know there's progress still being made. There's legitimate reasons for the delays, and we hate delays every bit as much as you do. So take comfort in knowing we're still on the right track, with goals in mind. ::: "We Need Bigger Guns" ::: So enough with the mushy stuff, how about some eye candy! Here we have the newly textured torpedo weapons from Carl: Please note that we're not sure if the electric green is better than blue right now. It's something that can be changed if it becomes an issue, so don't be too concerned if "that's not right!" popped into your mind. Plus we have the new textured Bora lasers to pair with the earlier Galspan set. Thank you for your continued support, and we hope to see you in some weekend games soon. Sat, 30 May 2009 14:03:58 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=46 Got a big update in terms of pictures to show off... Carl's been working on the weapons models and has them finished off. Now the texturing has begun. If it seems like these are low poly (less detailed) it's because they don't have a texture yet (see below). Plus with having lower poly models, that means you can have many more weapons on screen, more players, more AI ships, etc... without as much slowdown on your hardware. In reality, evereything being made is of a higher poly standard than what was used in Tach. So on with the show and tell... Click on the images for a larger view. All the basic weapons except for the plasma and helios rockets. Sappers. Plasma rocket. Helios rocket. Missiles and torpedoes. Misc weapons (railgun, chatter cannon, emp projector etc). Bora lasers. GS lasers untextured. GS lasers textured 1. GS lasers textured 2. That's all for now folks. Should have some more weapons updates with the textured versions soonish. Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:09:17 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=45 Fresh off the Tachband, we've got a special treat courtesy of Carl... he's really outdone himself this time. We proudly present the completed Fenris Observation Tower. Go on, click those images for a better view... you know you want to. Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:31:57 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=44 We have the Fenris Bouy, all decked out and scuffed up by Carl. Ain't she a pretty piece of polysteel? Click on the pictures for a enbiggened version - As to an update on the rest of things. Concerning that gameplay video I mentioned I'd be putting up a while back, still haven't managed to get one. Mainly because I'd like to get the HUD in place, and FRAPS seems to have developed a major problem so I'm looking into other recording app options. We're in the process of tweaking all the weapons and I'll probably be adding a couple more from Tach to the set we already have. Nutri's been getting the Voice Actor clips in and we've just about got a full mission acted out. That's about all I can comment on for now. Short but sweet. Quick and dirty, to the point... you get the idea. Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:41:07 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=43 Sorry about being a tad behind on the update folks, lots of stuff keeping us occupied. First off Carl's posted hi final shots of the Fenris tower and he's already working on the skin for it. Overview: Top Antennas: Bottom Antennas: Landing Pads: Been doing a lot of tweaking to the archangel settings lately, getting one of our alpha maps setup properly, and some weapons edits. Hopefully if things go well, I'll be able to make a pre-alpha play video from one of the test missions soon and have that up for your enjoyment. Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:37:15 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42 Merry Christmas citizens of the Fringe... Carl's gone and given us a present early in the form of an update on some of the new map models we'll be using for the alpha testing. We're also in the process of acquiring several people to voice act some roles for use on said maps. Click on the images for a higher resolution version. WIP wireframe of the Fenris Bouy: Fenris Bouy against a Archangel: The new ECM powerup all finished: A Fenris Tower WIP shot: Hope y'all survive the holidays and we'll see you in 2009. Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:22:19 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=41 An extra thick update w/ half the trans fat: First off for those who don't watch the forums, the tournament ended quite some time ago. We've awarded the winners as such and established a internal forum just for the alpha testers. *Alphas - Note that you need to be signed in to see it* Secondly, Carl has finished the base texture for the Star Patrol Capship! Click on the images for a higher resolution version. Thirdly, it wasn't particularly announced, but we've added Megaman ND to the mod team as our resident map producer. One of the maps we're working on for alpha is the Fenris Arena. We've also been able to secure someone to make what we needed in the way of code to get all the original powerups working for arena, including a new one or two in there as well. Lastly, all tournament related threads in the forum have been moved to the archives section in order to better fit the expanded forum layout. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:50:44 -0800 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40 For visitors, drop ins, and people that have shown up at the last minute: There will be an open Arena hosted in Tachyon if you wish to play. Tournament sanctioned games are passworded and locked to a certain number of players. For players and those interested: Team --------- Player FringeSpace JGZinv FringeSpace Backslash FringeSpace RazorsKiss FringeSpace KillJoy Team NB Kodiak Team NB Overkilled Team NB Punisher Team NB Warhawk Team 3 Rumrunner Team 3 Werewolf Team 3 Vandal Team 3 Megaman Team 4 Eurofighter Team 4 Raven Team 4 Darkraven Team 4 Tyber Zann Team 5 Bigbrotherbp Team 5 Want To Die Team 5 Jakeslogan Team 5 Wishmaster Larkin and michaelh, I apologize but you could not be placed because of lack of more players and Larkin you only listed you could play Friday which was not a day we could play the tournament. After compiling all the times and information it's impossible for me to arrange scheduled games due to the time zones and times people can play. So what we're going to do is this... Each team will have to decide amongst themselves on a captain if they wish. I would suggest everyone using GSC, or at minimum being on IM as when you can see everyone in the online list you can put a game together much more easily. If you haven't already got a GSC account, it'd be wise to make one. Servers are free and they are hosted on GSC computers so you won't get your net connection degraded. GSC Version 1 can be downloaded here: http://files.fringespace.org/jgz/GSC.zip Drop the unzipped contents into a folder and run GSC client.exe, the program will want to update then you can proceed with setting up your name. Nothing harder here than making an e-mail account. Just be online as much as possible, when you find another team online - play them. You need to complete 4 BW matches and 8 arena matches over the course of Saturday and Sunday. Post the results of the matches back here on the forum using a screen shot. I will be sending out a PM to all registered teams containing the contact information of the other players so you can try to get your contacts ironed out for Friday. Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:23:20 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=39 This is the last notice being posted to inform people of the Tachyon - FringeSpace Tournament on November 1 and 2. Please note that the rules for the competition have changed as of today (10/23) and now include Arena matches with BaseWars. Team size has also been adjusted to function better with scoring and server load. Full rules can be seen here: http://www.fringespace.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=149 In addition - at this time I'm expecting around 40 players to show up (word of mouth), however I only have 11 people registered for the tournament. Registration tells me what if any team preference you may have, when you can play, etc. Forming teams is extremely difficult without this information. If you plan on trying to play in the tournament, please register in the remaining week. Registration is available here: http://www.fringespace.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=146 If you are unable to access the forum, you can E-mail me the following information: Game Name: Clan or Group: Clan Interest: Skill Level: Location: Time Zone: Best Times Available to Play: Voice Chat Program: I will be posting team formations and play times the night of Wednesday the 29th, if you don't have registration by then, I can't place you in a team unless there's a last minute hole. By then e-mail will be too slow and folks will be starting. Thank you. Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:41:57 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=38 Well folks, we're finally ramping up to the tournament.... a month is liable to fly by pretty quick. You're invited to participate in the FringeSpace - Tachyon BaseWars Tournament. Registration is open to teams and individuals, so bring a "wingman" along if you can. The more who play, the more fun it will be - and all the more opposition to pulverize. The Tournament will be a tiered event consisting of several teams competing for the grand prize of being in the FringeSpace Alpha testers group. Basically they who hold the most territory by the final round, wins. The grand champions will have access to early builds and suggest improvements directly with the development staff, as well as get a peak on what we're working on for the future. Basically if you wanted someone to test a update to your favorite game, wouldn't it be best to have the best players? Of course there's always the bragging rights of being the top team... This has been advertised quite ahead of time to give all clans and groups time to break the rust off their ships and spend some time training if needed. You can get more information in the forums. Last but certainly not least, here's another update on Carl's work with the Star Patrol cap ship. Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:03:03 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=37 Well I've spent an entire day updating the site. Among other things, our gallery is 6 or 7 times larger than it's ever been before. So be sure to check that out... Down below on the bottom left menu, you'll find new links to other Tachyon communities, as well as a new voice chat status box and link to the voice server client. Now you can see if there's someone online in voice chat. It's free to use for whatever, just keep things clean and honorable please. Several threads in the forum here have been updated to reflect a status update as to our current progress, and a general fix-it guide to Tachyon if you're having problems is now available in the Support section. Lastly, yet tonight sometime I'll be making more forums specifically for the upcoming tournament. Pretty much that is next on the agenda for an update and filling in the holes. Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:54:17 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=36 As promised, here's some shots of Carl's recent work on the Star Patrol Cap Ship. Click on the images for a higher resolution version. Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:19:13 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35 Just wanted to make a note for those following along on our progress - since you might not have seen a lot going on around these hallowed hangers lately. Starting back around the end of May, most of the Mod Staff has been off for personal issues or dealing with summer activities. However, we are still trying to make some progress during this time: RK is working on porting/rigging all our finished ships into the game; it doesn't sound like much, but that's one giant leap towards a playable demo folks. I'm working with Bax(Backslash) to convert over some FS HUD art, and I'll be gradually redesigning (updating) the Tachyon HUDs. Our goal in the long run is to have a unique HUD for each different ship. If you've got suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them in the forum. I've also got a test cap ship to try and texture. Speaking of Bax, he's working on the code that will allow FS2 to display a HUD Tachyon style since not everything works right off as one might expect. We've also been tossing some weapons effects and ship function concepts around. Carl's been diligently working behind the scenes texturing the monster that is the Star Patrol cap ship. In terms of surface area, it's a project hundreds, if not thousands of times larger than a typical fighter craft. Nutri is experimenting with learning guitar and other audio related compositions at this time. He and I were working on modeling, but due to some program complications we both have decided to drop that temporarily in favor of finishing out other pressing projects. I've also picked up a guitar, so you can look forward to some unique collaborative songs in the future featuring Nutri's great skills with mixing. That's about it really... in short we're still working, but also trying to coast through the summer's blazing heat among other things. I hear fuel cells are running an average of 200 credits cheaper over at Alpha Starbase. ~_^ Drop us a line in the forums... let us know what you've got planned for the summer. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:44:28 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=34 Here's some shots of the last fighter off the assembly lines. As usual, click on an image to get a hi-res render. Thu, 29 May 2008 13:46:39 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=33 You should be able to see all the ships we've got in the works, here. In comparison to the Star Patrol Cruiser. Cool stuff. Sun, 18 May 2008 14:25:43 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=32 Another Carl Gonzalez masterpiece. All the textures are completed, etc. Yet another for the stable - she's a beaut! Sun, 18 May 2008 12:55:22 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=31 As usual, click on any of these to see really overkill sized renders. kthx. It's kinda scary in this one. Like it's going to reach out of the render and bite me. Or vaporize me. Or something. Mommy? Closeups... Another closeup... 6,475 polies. In the last picture, those 3 little specks are Archangels. Oh, and its 1,511 meters long. No, that is not a typo. I have a fun job :D Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:40:42 -0700 http://fringespace.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30 Hey there Tach fans, the FS Team is pleased to announce another excellent model from our lead modeler Carl - the GS favorite Archangel! Click on any of the pictures for a high-res version: Also in the pipeline to be showcased soon is the Phoenix. To explain our lack of updates a bit, a number of the team members are making lifestyle changes due to jobs, moving, or computer failure(s). Weather hasn't been all too cooperative either with Internet services dropping off for weeks at a time. But we're still working behind the scenes to bring you the very best. Like postal carriers "neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these modders from the swift completion of their appointed task" so check back often. Should have a lot of these little obstacles taken care of in a couple weeks. Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:48:42 -0800