More bigger stuff...

Well after 6 weeks of nonstop XML gauge and system programming, totaling thousands upon thousands of lines of code, my brain is utterly fried... and I'm only halfway done with the functionality in the cockpit haha.

And when my brain gets fried I need to make some art, so here's the latest repaint, an aircraft from the sadly defunct but still very cool looking Slovak air force formation team, the Biele Albatrosy ("White Albatroses").

A request for more feedback...

Firstly, thanks to everyone who answered my poll before on the handling etc. That was a huge help to me and I think you're going to like the results. I have one more feedback request though for any of you that have a moment to spare.

I'm working on the sounds for the plane at the moment, among a million other parts, and unfortunately FSX isn't all that flexible when it comes to this stuff. To circumvent its sound limitations I'm planning to license Doug Dawson's excellent XML sound gauge, and I've already confirmed that it works great in Shared Cockpit mode as well as normal multi and singleplayer. The only problem with it though is that it runs outside the FSX sound slider system, and so matching up the volume level of all the extraneous sounds I plan to add, like the Saphir starter and G-suit pump etc, is really going to be a tricky exercise.

What I need to know from you is where you normally keep your sound sliders in the sim, specifically your numerical values for each one would help me a lot. Such as: Engines: 60, Cockpit: 40, Voice: 70 etc etc. Also if you use different settings for multi and single, or change them around for other reasons, I'd like to know the reason and your numbers there as well.

If you have a minute to check your settings and let me know I'd really appreciate the help. I'm looking for an average to work with, just for the sole reason that I don't want to blow anyone's eardrums haha. The hitch of course is multiplayer. FSX's voice chat is unfortunately so quiet compared to the average in-game sounds that myself I end up putting all the other sliders down to around 3 or 4 out of 100, and leave voice way up high.

Here's hoping FS11 improves this aspect greatly!

Thanks all!

-lotus

Two seconds of fame...

Well... more like 1.2 seconds, hehe.

Here's another great TED Talk, this one by Dave Perry of Shiny Entertainment, discussing the progress of video game graphics and the medium as a whole. There's a pretty slick progress video about six minutes into the clip showing the graphical evolution of various game genres, and the basketball players I made in 1999 for NBA Live 2000 appear for... you guessed it, exactly two seconds hehe.

I've never been proud of or happy about any single minute I spent working at EA, or of anything I created while I was there. I never was a basketball fan either, ending up on the NBA Live team somewhat by accident when I'd applied to work on Need for Speed, and I basically consider it a wasted few years of my working life, but, I was pretty stoked to see my stuff included in a TED vid. You can see my basketball dudes at 7 mins 10 seconds.

The World of Warcraft stats he discusses are pretty humbling too, and although this video was released on Ted.com just last month, it was recorded over two years ago. Those stats are a *lot* higher today. Scary! :)

Anyway, enjoy.