Rampancy

As posted on Thursday, SiliconDream and David Bricker (and now a few other Aslylumites) will be holding a teach-in at RHL tonight at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern. Sili posted his announcement here and I posted a crash introduction to hotline and RHL here, in case anybody is wondering how to attend. If you don't have an RHL account yet, you'd better hurry and request one now because they likely won't be handed out during that period. (We'll be more interested in teaching or participating)

Only a small one, but what do you expect when we're just getting back to normal?

Wow! Over a month since the last written Halo Update. It's nice to get back into the swing of these. By the way: big thanks to everybody who showed up at the Fanfest last week, especially those who transcribed the live Halo update for the benefit of folks who couldn't show. In general things went well, though there were definitely things that could have gone more smoothly. We already have several pages of ideas for making the next one even better. As always, the lion's share of the credit goes to Miguel Chavez, truly Bungie's #1 Fan and an organizational mastermind. As I type these words the Second Annual Bungie Pentathlon has drawn to a close. The Halo team took first, followed closely by the Phoenix team in second, and the Oni and Sin-O-MatiXXX/Online Coalition tying for third. As soon as the collective Bungie Blood Alcohol Level dips a bit, everyone will head over to the celebratory dinner. So now seems like the perfect time to write up a Halo Update. Unfortunately there's not much to talk about this week, but hey...sometimes it's just a slow week. - This week has largely been a cleanup week; the programmers fixed bugs in the engine and editor for the artists, and the artists took advantage of the fixes to get things done. If any of it was earthshaking I'd report it here. Much of it is labor-intensive, detail-oriented stuff. - Work continues on unit variations. It's a different alien unit this week, with a nifty energy shield. - Matt Segur started work on Halo's scripting system. - Chucky performed some sort of bizarre coding miracle that allowed vehicles to navigate indoors, which they were not able to do previously. He demonstrated this to me by driving the jeep into a building, down several flights of stairs, and ultimately into a portion of the level known as The Shaft. Watching the sucker flip and spin as it plummeted to the bottom made my day.

Heh... can anyone say indoor tank battles ? You could make a Combat mod (from the Atari 2600) if you wanted to! What about extracting your team from a tight spot? Hrm... I wonder how much indestructium will be on the Halo... It would be SO awesome if you could reproduce a certain extraction scene from Aliens, wouldn't it? All wild speculation, of course...

Kudos to John Bell, who pointed out an interview with Scott Campbell, the story designer and project lead for Myth 3, at DailyRadar. While I'd swear I've heard a particular line from this interview quoted before, I think it's new material... must be deja vu. An excerpt:

DR: What new feature has you most excited about Myth III?

SC: The incorporation of 3D unit models. This will completely change the look of the game. Having units that react with the landscape (like leaning forward as they walk up slopes), react to enemies (like turning to look at advancing foes), and having fluid animation from any angle and zoom level, will give the game a awe-inspiring appearance to match its already cutting-edge gameplay.

That, incidentally, is the angst provoking line. A fair deal of interesting information to be had in the interview... need to start working on an FAQ for Myth 3. But first, I need to go harm Noc for mocking my overuse of 'kudos'...

As posted on the FutureMyth forum, SiliconDream and David Bricker will be holding a teach-in on the Myth storyline at RHL two nights hence. It'll be at 6pm Pacific / 7pm Mountain / 8pm Central / 9pm Eastern. I'll admit I've not yet observed David expounding upon the storyline, but to listen to Sili is really something.

Don't forget that RHL is login-based, so if you'd like to attend you'd be well advised to have an account in advance. Bring your thinking caps, your Myth manuals and your best netiquette!

• Forum: If you're interested in Myth story...