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| 5/24/99 |
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Okay, it’s my turn for an update again. It’s been a little longer than usual, mostly because of E3 and its afterpains, so to say. It was a great and bustling show, although it was very busy for me, as I spent all three days of the show presenting and demo-ing “Torment” to a large number of visitors, ranging from writers, journalists, buyers, fans and everyone else who wanted to see the game. It was great because these shows always give you he chance to once again get immediate feedback from people who haven’t had the opportunity yet to see the game. The result was heartwarming, to say the least. Many people really liked what they say, I guess, and I had a few visitors who kept returning to see more of the game. One writer came back three times - once on each day - to get another presentation, hopeful he might see new things he had not seen before. It was great, a resounding success and a few things started to crystallize as THE eye-catchers of the game. The new interface with the pop-up action menu is clearly one of them, but the new spell effects are without a doubt the thing that caused most people to gasp. With the special effects renderers that we have written for the game, some of the spells literally light up the screen and present a very organic look that is one with the background. Without using 3D hardware, “Torment” puts some very cool and radiant hues, glows and translucencies on display, and in an upcoming update we’ll try to show you some of these effects in full animation.
Although my voice started to give up on the second day and I had trouble getting through the last hour of the show, I wouldn’t want to have missed it. Unfortunately I did not have too much time walking the show floor and as a result did not really have the chance to see all the products that were out there. When I got back into the office on Monday, arrangements were already made for more presentations. E3 always gives foreign press an opportunity to visit the publishers in the area. Since the show was held in Los Angeles this year, it was only appropriate for them to stop by our offices and get a more in-depth look at the products we are all working on. So starting early Monday morning, another series of presentations started, and I had the chance to show the game to unsuspecting writers from Australia, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Korea, France and the UK. After that it was time to take care of some specific interview requests and as you can see, it left little time for me to do my weekly web update for that week. Nevertheless, I think the Tuna and all the others on the team did a great job updating you on some of the events surrounding the project these days. I’d also like to remind all of you of the online chat we will be holding this Wednesday. It will be your chance to talk to us directly about things you’d like to know about the game. So make sure to stop by here on Wednesday, May 26th at 6:00 p.m. PD to give us your hottest question!
Gudio Henkel |
| Planescape: Torment & Design: © 1998 Interplay Productions. All Rights Reserved. © 1998 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Planescape, the Planescape logo, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Torment, the AD&D logo, and the TSR logo are trademarks of TSR, Inc. and are used by Interplay under license. TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Interplay, the Interplay logo, Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Productions. Exclusively licensed and distributed by Interplay Productions. All other trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners. |