Hyperspace Delivery Boy news?

[Funktion]

John, you mentioned on your webpage that you were «going to announce something cool concerning Hyperspace Delivery Boy». A couple of days ago you hinted on another topic that you were going to release HDB to the public sometime soon.

Is that the news (that HDB will become freeware, if I understand correctly), or is it something else, like further content for the game (map pack, sequel, ...)?

I bought the game when it was released (money really well spent, I love the game!), and since then I've been hoping for a sequel. I hope that if the game will indeed turn freeware it doesn't mean we have seen the last of HDB.

Can't you and Tom make a sequel on your free time???  
 
 [ June 23, 2004, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: Funktion ]

[The Romero]

No, this isn't the last you've heard of HDB but yes the news that we're releasing it as freeware is what i was hinting at.  

Tom and I will just *have* to make a sequel!

[Bad Sector]

Don't think that i'm a 3D hog, i actually like 2D and the art that can be done with them, but i also like the freedom that 3D can give and i would like to see HDB 2 in a Warioland-like (as in gamecube) or Croc 2-like, or generally a 3D platform like world :-).

I'm sure that adding that third dimension wouldn't make HDB lose it's gameplay (it could even add more since there will be the mentioned "freedom").

[Zn]

Bleah. I wouldn't make HDB 3D. A cartoony 3D game with a boy doesn't sound too good to me. I'd keep it as it is: 2D and oldskoole.

[Bad Sector]

quote:
A cartoony 3D game with a boy doesn't sound too good to me.

Then you probably haven't seen Zelda for Gamecube.
 
 
 

(btw, i would like to see this one on PC)

[Malchik]

Just downloaded the Demo, and its pretty good. Reminds me of Zelda, phantasy star, and chips challenge all roled into one.

[Mass]

It is a mistake to look at 3D as the natural progression or upgrade from 2D.  2D, like 3D, is a medium with its own qualities and detriments.  There are places where 3D is a must, others where 2D is better suited.  You can admire a paintings and sculpures, but you really can't compare Leonardo's paintings to Michelangelo's sculptures.  Apples to oranges I say!  

Personally I think that 2D is perfect for HDB.  Remember, impressive 3D graphics require impressive 3D adaptors and most PPC devices don't support 3D yet.

[Zn]

3D would change the graphics and the gameplay. They won't be able to release it on computers like PocketPC. They'll release it on the PC, and probably on Nokia NGage. And the graphics will suck, because they'll be stuck somewhere in 1999-2000.

[pushwall]

Plus 3D games seems to mean lots more development time.  I'll settle for 2D any day as long as there's fun gameplay and crisp graphics.

[Bad Sector]

PocketPC handheld devices are more powerfull than Nokia N-Gage (which has *software* 3D rendering - something that can be done -and already is done- in PocketPCs). So PPC can have 3D.

Now about the graphics quality. 2000 games doesn't look that bad, and i don't believe that graphics can add much if the gameplay is good. However 3D graphics can add a lot to the gameplay because of the freedom. Read again: freedom.

In HDB there were higher places than others, but the scene appeared "flat". If you have a Zelda3D-like view, these will look better and you'll have the oppotunity to give a better feeling.

I liked the Zelda at gameboy color and HDB gives a Zelda-like feeling. I like Zelda3D at Gamecube and i believe that HDB will have a very good feeling if become 3D. Sure this will need a lot of work, but it's 20 years since when one could make a game in 2 days and make it a hit.

@Mass:
I'm not considering 3D a progression of 2D. There    were games which had *art* in them (i'm talking for "pure" adventure games) and they were in 2D. 3D still aren't in a state to reproduce the excellence of detail that 2D can have, but they can be used for other stuff. DOOM is a very simple 3D application (when it comes to visualization of the world) but it was able to produce strong feelings to its players. It's a media as you said and it has it's good and it's bad sides. I consider 2D to be better when it comes to artistic representation of games and 3D to be better when it comes to a dynamic world. Just notice what moves in Zelda2D and what in Zelda3D :-). This can be done in 2D by using vectorized graphics to render textured primitives but then you're just using the same technique as in 3d, without the 3rd coordinate and without applying a projection matrix.

Of course pacman is still better in 2D than in 3D, however it's a very simple game. When a game's environemt becomes complex, 3D will look and feel better.

Now about computation power. Cel-shading is not a hard process. It requires features that are available even in old TNT cards (AFAIK) and if the world is not very complicated, a software rasterizer for those few who still have not a good computer, can be written. But i hardly can think one (and 3D GFX cards are very cheap today - i'm NOT talknig about fat cards, i'm talking about older models).

At the end, John will decide what's better for his game. I just made my comments/recommendations :-). However one thing that i would like to see in HDB2 is better speech. HDB 1 (at least the demo version) had terrible speech in an amateur-like quality. Personally i disabled the speech. Please better speech next time; or no speech at all. Everyone can read text :-).

[The Romero]

I'm not ruling out a 3d version of HDB2.  There's no reason platform-wise to not do it because 3d can be done on everything nowadays.

Hiring real voice actors would cost some cash, but it's probably worth it for HDB2.  

[DI-MeisterM]

quote:Hiring real voice actors would cost some cash, but it's probably worth it for HDB2.  

You could "hire" Joe Siegler again  

[Bad Sector]

Nice to "hear" that HDB2 will "sound" better :-D

[gila]

so when's the date of it becoming a freeware?

[The Romero]

I just finished creating the HDB v1.2 install last night.  Tom and Lucas are going to test it out and offer criticisms and bugfixes or feature additions......then I'll do that stuff and we'll test it again....... then release it.

We're real close.  Maybe this week.