Project Singulari7y

[envy]

Update: I've found myself with an opportunity to design the systems of the UESC Marathon in a school sanctioned, peer-assisted project, under the guise of "Science". Since this is a way I could potentially be assisted by other people in an environment such as my school, I've no option: the progress we'll make will put a serious dent in the overwhelming amount I've got to do to deliver on my dreams, and make a full 3d Marathon. While I hate to be so capricious, I'm not going to develop PiD until I've designed an entire colony ship. Someone, somewhere, is heartbroken, I know, but this is worth it. If anyone else shares my view that it would be fun and rewarding to design the Marathon in greater resolution, with every facility from temperature control to the fusion core designed as realistically as we can muster, PM me, send an email, sign up at the website, or make a post. I reiterate that I cannot do this alone.

Since I first found Marathon, I wanted nothing more than to have it fully realized. Over the course of four years, I've learned how to use the multiple programs requisite to recreating it's unparalleled story in a fuller shape. Recently, my mind has expanded enough to understand javascript. I've constructed an engine, and have exported all of the 3d meshes and textures I had made for Pathways into Darkness. The engine is not from scratch: I'm using Unity3d and a few frameworks for systems other people have already made. I credit Dastardly Banana's Studio for the gun script. I've been working, for the most part, alone, but some members of the community have sporadically contributed, and my intention in releasing this demo is to increase this aid to a level where the completion of this understatedly ambitious project. I credit Vinmaleth for the updated sounds you hear, but I made the teleporter hum, not him. Remember that.

My plan is to work up the necessary expertise in building PiD, and then, with, perhaps, a small group of people, develop M1 and M2. I've a hard time of making level meshes, and we're also in need of someone who understands Raycast.Hit and arrays more fully than I. Along with pictures of almost everything I've done so far, here is a website you should create an account on if you possess these talents, and a bit of free time. I've not updated the pictures recently, but everything I've done recently is featured in the game. I have one photo which shows all the guns, and how my proficiency in creating them has developed since I started.

Without further ado, I present you with a new Ground Floor.

Pathways into Darkness Demo IV, Mac and PC

I've omitted some cool features for the file size, and also because it is somewhat slow. It runs faster than Marathon in Shader Mode on my 2003 MacBookPro, but that isn't saying much. The pillars, in a fuller, slower build, would explode when shot at, and I'd have the headless as an enemy, but they were just too much. I downgraded from a real-physics bullet system to a vector system for performance, and as a result, you can shoot the spectre with bullets.

We/I are/am in need of help: and that I can't decide if other people have helped me enough to consider it "we" is evidence enough. This undertaking is more than any one person, of any caliber, could ever finish. With the help of a few people, however, there's a tangible end. As it is, the sheer volume of the levels for these games, shortened as much as the story can survive, is still entirely too much. I need help, and I hope this community can provide it.

[President People]

Alas, poor Squiggy. I knew him well.

[Tfear7]

Wow VERY impressive!

[goran]

Good work on the demo.

If you want to this with marathon, I suggest your skip PID and jump right to the candy. It is possible to learn the necessary skills along the way. No need to prepare with other stuff. I am saying this to you because today you are young, but when you get older priorities change. Job, family, studies, new interests etc etc. It is now you have the time, the desire and the will. I confess don't know you very well though. If you like pid more than thon, forget what I said!

[thedoctor45]

A nice approach Envy, accurate weapon models and nice lighting effects - although it does lag quite a bit on my late 2008 MBP - I assume it has something to do with the flashlight?

Also it's difficult to check out the levels because I always get toasted after a fews seconds of gameplay. Less aggressive enemies would be welcome.

All in all great job and I'm looking forward to seeing some more 'thon-ish stuff

[Destiny]

I died right at the start.
Darn skeletons! Couldn't avoid their attack...

Something you might want to know: I used the windows version while playing the game. When I died, I couldn't do anything. I did the things I knew for exiting a program, but it did nothing. I had to restart the computer in order to fix it. Is this normal? I would really like to try playing it again.

[envy]

When I died, I couldn't do anything.

My first bug fix! The game seems to take the pause settings from the opening scene, and project them onto the other. In the editor program, at least, the game level had a pause, and the mouse would release. Since I've no idea where that atrocious blue-green pause dialogue came from, I'm assuming it's some sort of vestigial exception to the independence I thought existed between levels, or "Scenes" in Unity3d jargon.

Although it does lag quite a bit on my late 2008 MBP

Nope! It's because of the horrible inefficiencies I've got in the assets. It's a terrible challenge to retain detail from the million-polygon models, and I haven't optimized either the meshes or the textures. Each Skeleton is about 12,000 polygons, currently, as I couldn't get it to keep shapes like the elbow joint and optimize lower. This is why I made them so hard, because if I put more than 10, it was simply unplayable. I've got a few ideas about making the software do all the work of optimizing the textures and models. A positive side effect is that my models are very complex, geometrically, and look very nice at all of the detail levels. It runs very well at "Fastest" for me, and it doesn't look half bad. I've got to switch some texture colors so they look the same without their special effects, but with perhaps 2x Antialiasing, it'd be great. I'd never actually seen the game in the other detail levels, as I use "Simple" in the editor.

It is now you have the time, the desire and the will. I confess don't know you very well though.

I have desire and will, but I haven't the time. I can continue going as hard as I am, but I can't complete any of this alone. I understand my own lack of time, and that of other people too. I feel the way to overcome this would be to ask of people short-term, commitment free labors, upon which I'd embellish and modify for use in the game.

I herein proposition you. The lack of a 2d texture artist is half the reason why level meshes are so challenging. The current one is a 4096x texture, and I couldn't even texture the walls (though the floor is among the more intricate things I've done). A few 512x512 textures of different textures and patterns would go a long way. I've got a lot of things I have yet to figure out, and I think a running job board on the first post would bolster more participation. I could imagine most employed architects and engineers would have access to AutoCAD, and could create low-polygon meshes. I've used such a program in my Engineering Drawing class at school, but I lack a 64 bit processor to run the 2010 Mac version. It's an apt tool - the program the original Marathon maps were made in. I believe that Marathon can't have bridges or balconies because the engine is built around the CAD system that ran a limited, 3 axis CAM machine, and had less to do with technological impediments. (I make this observation only from the 1983 CAM Mill at my school, which has a similar limitation, not from any knowledge of 'thon)

I've enumerated my organization and long-term plan on the above mentioned website, but essentially, I've got three shells. I am the first, people who have time and talent who can work with me for longer than a month occupy the second, and everyone else is in the third. I know the second shell will be perpetually empty. It currently occupies Vinmaleth, RAITHE's left foot, and Fishman92's nose. My intention in revealing this to the community was to grow the size of the third shell, and possibly ooze people into the second, to bring this project to a size where progress is frequent enough to have a great end result.
For the plan, I do intend to do a very paraphrased PiD, and a compressed Marathon and Durandal. I know that the fewer levels I include, more succinct will each be: Tackling every level, event for event, would just suck, and I feel fewer levels can express more. Making it shorter than absolutely necessary would make the game a misnomer. Honestly, I don't even think Infinity is canon, but it did have it's moments, so I intend to intermix it with Durandal, and possibly elements of Marathon, further splitting the somewhat linear story. I'm not going to go all Finnegan's Wake on you, but decisions should change things.

Below is a concept for a bridge in the M2 level, "Charon Doesn't Make Change". It's my favorite. We intended to use the Lh'owon desert as the demo, but couldn't texture map Vinmaleth's building, and at that time, I didn't even have an animation program. There's much more in the "Photos" section of the website, and if anyone is interested, they should register there.

[goran]

I'm sorry, but I am busy with my marathon work. If I were to go on a new journey it would most likely be 3d monster/scenery for infinity. I think that is an exciting expansion for aleph one (and the community). Should I ever go there, you'd be free to use any of my models in your game.

[envy]

I'm sorry, but I am busy with my marathon work. If I were to go on a new journey it would most likely be 3d monster/scenery for infinity. I think that is an exciting expansion for aleph one (and the community). Should I ever go there, you'd be free to use any of my models in your game.

I've got modeling down, pat. I can't make textures too well, though. Would you have the time to help there, or easier still, allow me to use portions of the textures you have on things in my game?

[envy]

Version .2 is here, and includes massive speed improvements, an Inventory, and a large, green skeleton boss-substitute for headless, who will come in the next one. There are four gold bars, an AK, and a silver bowl to find. If you're in a dark, inescapable hallway, you've probably found the last gold bar, and must wait for the construction team (me) to clear out the sand, so you can play the next level. I'm now certain I'm going to do three levels of pyramid: Ground Floor, Ascension, and all the others paraphrased into a nice sort of quarantine puzzle. After that, who knows.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12017860/PiD%20II.zip

[L'howon]

you forgot to turn no clipping off, that or somethings gone awry because I can walk through the sand.

[Destiny]

Alright, this time I was able to play it completely through.

I only found the AK, silver bowl, and one gold bar.

The green skeleton boss was pretty strange. I finally killed it with the AK I found. Is there a difference between the AK I found and the one I start with? Also why am I given all this weapons at the start?

Why is there a floating sideway headless that does nothing...?

In the end I killed myself with the green crystal (O.o). I had to quit via pushing the windows key then close the window PiD II was in. Luckly, I had it in a window this time instead of fullscreen.

[Fishman92]

Alright, this time I was able to play it completely through.

I only found the AK, silver bowl, and one gold bar.

The green skeleton boss was pretty strange. I finally killed it with the AK I found. Is there a difference between the AK I found and the one I start with? Also why am I given all this weapons at the start?

Why is there a floating sideway headless that does nothing...?

In the end I killed myself with the green crystal (O.o). I had to quit via pushing the windows key then close the window PiD II was in. Luckly, I had it in a window this time instead of fullscreen.

The AK is the same.
The sideways headless- well, what'dya expect? This is a very early version.

[envy]

I've not yet linked the gun system to the inventory. In the future, they will be the same, and you'll be able to execute scripts from the buttons the items are pictured on (i.e. being able to drink a potion, equip an AK, etc.). As of now, there are only two AK's, the first one, and the SABOT/cheat AK, available after the black crystal. I've herein determined that there's something not unlocking the cursor, or a difference between systems that breaks it so, either way, I believe I can tell it to release the cursor.

IgnoreRaycast doesn't collide with player, you're right Lh'owon. I've already fixed it, but this isn't enough to re-upload.

I'm actually halfway through animating the headless, he'll be in the next one, along with another level or two.

Edit: Fishy I need additional instruction from you as to how to get differential damage and effects from the raycast bullet systems next time you're on Skype. Either that or we'll work out some art-script trade and you'll just write it for me.

[zero]

I like the PID II idea. Making it a true sequel or full remake would be cool.
Of course if that's not your goal then by all means I am not trying to pressure you.

But if that's what you are intending to do then please, please, please go for it...

As far as the actual demo goes, I like it. The gunplay was shaky and rough around the edges, but competent in it's current state, the guns looked okay considering that this is a very rough demo, and the skeleton model is nice, although not too accurate. Will hands come into play eventually?

The environments and animations were the weak spots. Obviously this is a rough demo (as I have stated), but it doesn't help to encourage progress, and the textures and lighting were very.... Meh. Bland and grey, and that's okay for the environment, but the textures were very low res, and there wasn't any lighting to speak of. And the Banshee/Phantasm/Specter was very crude looking. The guns needed some better textures, and the P4 was WAY too shiny, and weathering would look quite good on it.

On top of that, the muzzle flashes were stuck to most of the weapons. The animations were also stiff.

All that aside, I am fascinated and pleased by this progress, and the project in general. I hope to see future updates to this particular title, although many people say not to continue on the PID project. I think if anything that this is the most important one. Marathon has an active community of players and modders and a (decently) large community. Pathways does not. The game can't be played on any modern system without emulation, and all remakes thus far have been killed off or are in an uncertain state. So yes, this excites me. I always had a strange attraction to that fantastic fiction that Bungie keeps putting out, and PID is no exception.

In other words, keep up the good work, and that's my overview.

[envy]

PiD II just denotes that it's the second demo release. Beyond that, there's a lot to do, I know. I've got a better handle of the animation software now, and with any luck, I'll have the headless and the skeleton in their game-accurate forms. Such software, coupled with a player model, will soon result in both hands and potentially a third person camera. Such a camera is really not suited for PiD, though, and would probably be omitted, as that would be simply awful. Multiplayer, I think, would be even more of an abomination. Texture quality, however, was not something I'd expect anyone to have problems with- most of them are of enormous resolution, the level mesh being the largest at 4096x. Specifically, was there anything wrong with the actual firing of the guns? The framework I'm using because I'm a poor scripter has linked the firing variable to if the muzzle flash has rendered the last frame, and all the animations are temporary until I can master the animation software, but was the actual firing poor, or rough? That I'd like to know about. Also, for the environment, I'm open for what to do with the light. I can't seem to lightmap and use a dynamic flashlight, so either it's going to be dark and shaded in a strange manner, or dim, with brighter, unnatural lights, and fog. I've always liked bioluminescence, but I feel it's not thematically suited to the dead pyramid.

I end, as I usually do, with a cry for help. Z3RO, if you've ever a shortage of stuff to do, I could always use some help organizing ideas or formulating puzzles. I understand that realistically, I'm on my own for scripting, animation, and modeling, but beyond these, practically anyone could be a significant factor in the progression of this project.

I know it's hard to see, in game, but there's actually some significant stuff under your feet.

[zero]

PiD II just denotes that it's the second demo release. Beyond that, there's a lot to do, I know. I've got a better handle of the animation software now, and with any luck, I'll have the headless and the skeleton in their game-accurate forms. Such software, coupled with a player model, will soon result in both hands and potentially a third person camera. Such a camera is really not suited for PiD, though, and would probably be omitted, as that would be simply awful. Multiplayer, I think, would be even more of an abomination. Texture quality, however, was not something I'd expect anyone to have problems with- most of them are of enormous resolution, the level mesh being the largest at 4096x. Specifically, was there anything wrong with the actual firing of the guns? The framework I'm using because I'm a poor scripter has linked the firing variable to if the muzzle flash has rendered the last frame, and all the animations are temporary until I can master the animation software, but was the actual firing poor, or rough? That I'd like to know about. Also, for the environment, I'm open for what to do with the light. I can't seem to lightmap and use a dynamic flashlight, so either it's going to be dark and shaded in a strange manner, or dim, with brighter, unnatural lights, and fog. I've always liked bioluminescence, but I feel it's not thematically suited to the dead pyramid.

I end, as I usually do, with a cry for help. Z3RO, if you've ever a shortage of stuff to do, I could always use some help organizing ideas or formulating puzzles. I understand that realistically, I'm on my own for scripting, animation, and modeling, but beyond these, practically anyone could be a significant factor in the progression of this project.

I know it's hard to see, in game, but there's actually some significant stuff under your feet.

I would be happy to aid in any way I can. I like the idea and I like where you may take it.

As far as the textures go, some of the walls were seemingly just gray, and the floor was very blurry for some reason. The P4 looked very good, but needs a bit more wear. If you would like, I would help with texturing it to wear it out a tad more.
The lighting is just very basic. As far as unnatural lighting goes, the teleporters should dynamically generate a light around the room...
Perhaps the ground floor should have some cracks or something to let in a faint light at the first room, to make you feel more and more isolated from the outside world as you progress.

Puzzles are very fun to design, and I'll have to think of some. Because this pyramid is a manifestation of the dreams of a sleeping creature, it wouldn't be uncalled for to find strange things created by deep thought. Essentially puzzles should start off very straightforward, and as you deepen into the pyramid, much like the environments, puzzles should become more abstract and demented. The new engine allows for a lot that Bungie could not accomplish with a scratchbuilt raycaster in the early 90's, so without completely shattering the environment, maybe there should be more creative layouts. As you go deeper, I thought it strange that you never encountered water of any sort, or experienced cave ins, variable ground depth, or large open caverns, as many areas seem to try to emulate. Clearly, that was due to engine limitations, but maybe following the map's layout, but enhancing the immersion and enhancing the environments would be interesting.

And finally, if you would like any concept art, I would gladly pitch in on that.

[envy]

We lack a dedicated 2d artist. Taking this position, however, implies dedication. Out of your week, how many days could you set aside two or potentially more hours to conference on development, and then more time still to preform such things as we discuss and plan? It comes out to be an enormous undertaking, LET ME TELL YOU. (=

Teleporters have lights, its just that the lightmaps have ruined them. I can't have dynamic lighting and baked lighting at the same time ATM, so it's really up for grabs, what it will end up being. I believe I'm going to use the power system to light other areas, but in a dim manner, with runes and teleporters emitting their own. Perhaps puzzle-related runes, too, but that's somewhat limited.

I agree with you on the level design, and have already mapped out the second floor, with much more diversity than the first. Generally, the first and last levels (and all the special ones) cannot be much different: changing them would only detract, I believe. That's why we like them.

I've actually found it quite hilarious, the kinds of things people request here. Questions like "Can you put in doors that slide sideways?", "Can we have a bridge or balcony?". It's almost like a cultural shock, informing hard-core 'thonners of how much is actually possible. Water is simple to implement if it doesn't go above the waist, and even beyond that, is not horribly challenging. I was hoping to make almost excessive use of it in the few levels before the egyptian areas, but that's particularly far into the future.

The grey wasp is one of my personal favorites, and nobody seems to want to go to the site. If I'm abusing bandwidth, I'll stop posting them.

[ellio7t]

looks cool, but the color theory is terrible. I can't remember if it was that bad in the original. Still the model is pretty damn solid.

[President People]

The grey wasp is one of my personal favorites, and nobody seems to want to go to the site. If I'm abusing bandwidth, I'll stop posting them.

I drop by your site every so often, but I haven't seen any new pictures like the one above for ages. Don't stop posting them here, or I'll never get to see them. :(

[zero]

We lack a dedicated 2d artist. Taking this position, however, implies dedication. Out of your week, how many days could you set aside two or potentially more hours to conference on development, and then more time still to preform such things as we discuss and plan? It comes out to be an enormous undertaking, LET ME TELL YOU. (=

Teleporters have lights, its just that the lightmaps have ruined them. I can't have dynamic lighting and baked lighting at the same time ATM, so it's really up for grabs, what it will end up being. I believe I'm going to use the power system to light other areas, but in a dim manner, with runes and teleporters emitting their own. Perhaps puzzle-related runes, too, but that's somewhat limited.

I agree with you on the level design, and have already mapped out the second floor, with much more diversity than the first. Generally, the first and last levels (and all the special ones) cannot be much different: changing them would only detract, I believe. That's why we like them.

I've actually found it quite hilarious, the kinds of things people request here. Questions like "Can you put in doors that slide sideways?", "Can we have a bridge or balcony?". It's almost like a cultural shock, informing hard-core 'thonners of how much is actually possible. Water is simple to implement if it doesn't go above the waist, and even beyond that, is not horribly challenging. I was hoping to make almost excessive use of it in the few levels before the egyptian areas, but that's particularly far into the future.

The grey wasp is one of my personal favorites, and nobody seems to want to go to the site. If I'm abusing bandwidth, I'll stop posting them.

Being in High School and unemployed DOES have some benefiets, namely the ability to put aside a lot of time. I will gladly dedicate to a position I have an interest in. I am home at around 3:35 and aside from occasional schoolwork, most days, I have more than 2 hours of free time.

So yes, I would be up to being a dedicated 2d artist.
I like the thought of dynamic lighting being the primary light source, as we are in a pitch black dead pyramid. Use plenty of light emitting sources to produce additional light... Perhaps a test would be in order?

[envy]

Great, and yes, education systems and sinecure jobs are where it's at. Sign up at the site if you haven't, and add me on skype, (get skype first, it'll help), I'm ias.envy. I think some glowing wall runes are in order, but not on Ground Floor. I think I'll leave it unlightmapped for now, and I'll brighten the flashlight a bit. The next level will have some open-air notches in the walls, as well as glowing text for the puzzle, and the flashlight shouldn't be necessary. I feel Ascension would be a good level at sunset, and as such, I'm going to model in the opening seen in the box art. I always find that it's harder and more rewarding to be totally canon in all of the designs, but in doing so, you have to create beyond the game's definition, and there, you have influence, and you're prompted into new realms of thought by the mandate of confining what you design to the original. I always thought the M1 pistol was clip fed, but all the bullets had to pass through a magnetic liquid resistor which both provides thermal energy to the user, and slows the bullet down to a speed safe for inside a spaceship. I do believe my next engineering model is going to be that one, independent of what's requisite for PiD.

Ellio7t, I somewhat like the grey aspects, do you feel the wings and body don't match? These I've ripped from my original model, and I forgot to tint the wing-blood green, and to tone the skin from that nice, New Jersey tan, to a more elderly color. Do you think this one is matched, color-wise?

[Overlord Brinkly]

Since I first found Marathon, I wanted nothing more than to have it fully realized. Over the course of four years, I've learned how to the multiple programs requisite to recreating it's unparalleled story in a fuller shape. Recently, my mind has expanded enough to understand javascript. I've constructed an engine, and have exported all of the 3d meshes and textures I had made for Pathways into Darkness. The engine is not from scratch: I'm using Unity3d and a few frameworks for systems other people have already made. I credit Dastardly Banana's Studio for the gun script. I've been working, for the most part, alone, but some members of the community have sporadically contributed, and my intention in releasing this demo is to increase this aid to a level where the completion of this understatedly ambitious project. I credit Vinmaleth for the updated sounds you hear, but I made the teleporter hum, not him. Remember that.

My plan is to work up the necessary expertise in building PiD, and then, with, perhaps, a small group of people, develop M1 and M2. I've a hard time of making level meshes, and we're also in need of someone who understands Raycast.Hit and arrays more fully than I. Along with pictures of almost everything I've done so far, here is a website you should create an account on if you possess these talents, and a bit of free time. I've not updated the pictures recently, but everything I've done recently is featured in the game. I have one photo which shows all the guns, and how my proficiency in creating them has developed since I started.

Without further ado, I present you with a new Ground Floor.

Pathways into Darkness v0.11, Mac and PC

WASD for movement, Space to jump, Shift to sprint, C to crouch, and click to fire your weapon. Tilde through 8 or 9 selects your weapon, starting at the Walther P-38 and ending with the bahro crystal you shouldn't use, it will kill you. It's a good idea to press two or three immediately upon starting, as two zombies are in the hallway. The yellow crystal will heal you a bit, but I had to make the enemies challenging because I couldn't put too many without massive slowdown. It's dark, and challenging. If you expected something else of a game based on Pathways,

...

I've omitted some cool features for the file size, and also because it is somewhat slow. It runs faster than Marathon in Shader Mode on my 2003 MacBookPro, but that isn't saying much. The pillars, in a fuller, slower build, would explode when shot at, and I'd have the headless as an enemy, but they were just too much. (the headless model is in the game, if you look hard enough) I downgraded from a real-physics bullet system to a vector system for performance, and as a result, you can shoot the spectre with bullets. I know of essentially all the problems with it, so assume I know the bug you're about to post about. In the future, the entropy of the project will prevent me from being so omniscient, and at such a time I would very much like everybody to report every anomalous thing they see.

We/I are/am in need of help: that I can't decide if other people have helped me enough to consider it "we" is evidence enough. This undertaking is more than any one person, of any caliber, could ever finish. With the help of a few people, however, there's a tangible end. As it is, the sheer volume of the levels for these games, shortened as much as the story can survive, is still entirely too much. We need help, and I hope this community can provide it.
Edit: learned to use upload properly.
Edit: I updated the link to the second demo.

Heyooo, better make a reply here. I'd be glad to be kept in update with this ambitious project, giving suggestions, etc.

Thank you! After all these years, I have never been able to find a remade version of the original PiD. The problem is that I've never played the original because I never owned an older Macintosh. I'm personally a Windows user, and I thank you for your valiance and bravery to attempting such an endeavour into the world of Marathon remakes. Be sure to keep me up to date with the project.

Now...I've got some comments on the project to point out:
1. When you die, there's no way to escape but to Alt-F4 the window.
2. The graphics aren't the best (obviously.)
3. One of the weapons keeps its muzzle flash after being fired. Very annoying.

Overall, it works fine, but suffers from abysmal presentation. My reccomendation is to use Unreal Engine 3 (Unreal Development Kit, or UDK) because it works much better, and looks much better. You can watch the [thenewboston] tutorials on UDK to help you get started.

Please continue making the PiD remake. Would be great for all of us!

[envy]

I need to do the same to 86-0179 but it will have to wait some till I finish my current Pinto project.

It's too bad, I know the Willy's style dash is hard to find these days. Did you have to resort to glue, or are the screw holes still on the rear edge? That's not plastic, its just the old lead paint, which takes on a more diffuse color after a decade or so. I plan to sandblast it and either just leave it garish and grey, or I'll coat it in blue and then ferritic nitrocarburnize it to get that nice steel color. The wheels aren't holding up, either, so I might have to ruin the authenticity of it and just get 4 ply tires, but I think the current ones can last a bit longer, at least to the showroom, anyways. It's a desirable little coupe, but it's not worth keeping.

PiD Demo III is at the link in the first post now. It is more true to the original, with an animated headless right where you remember him on Ground Floor. It plays more like an expository than a game, though. The icon is my newest skitter model, put it on your desktop: its a 512x icon, and looks pretty. It's good for work, school, lunch, powerpoint presentations, really anything. Among the improvements are a seamless system of walls who abuse the beauty of static batching to provide you with more abusive polygon counts with less slowdown, and a length of detail system to delete them temporarily when they're far away. I've remedied all the other problems, (and by remedy, I mean I removed them or made them invisible) except for the escape key fiasco. Try shooting faster, or using the AK, at button 4 or 5 now.

Brinkly, thanks for the total overhaul idea, but I think this version affords a better visage of Pathways. Also, I'm on a 2003 Mac, this runs at 17 FPS for me. I doubt I could use a Direct X 10 engine, as I'm neither on a PC, or able to reprogram everything I've thus far done, so that's just not an option for me. I know it looks cool, though. I've discovered just now that Google Sketchup can export to COLLADA, so that may prove to be a method I could use for level creation, completing the cycle. If that works, I'll be able to do everything by myself, which is good, because nobody is helping. )= Beyond that, the sole limitation is my computer.

I tried to find some awe-inspiring design, but all that was readily available was my racist Spanish project. Why be conscious as you plow your fields? You can take a nap, instead!

[President People]

The Mac version of Demo III crashes when I try to play it. Running Mac OS 10.6.8. The previous two demos worked, and still work.