June 1997
| June 29, 1997 |
I saw on Preystation that yesterday was Lon Matero's birthday and...wait that's me. Thanks for reminding me Aaron! :)
| June 27, 1997 |
The movie of the Prey E3 demo has been released! The QuickTime movie is a 11.2MB download. The movie isn't an AVI, as expected. I'll have more on this tomorrow.
A 640K AVI version of the movie is also available (Thanks Lithium and looynboi).
3D Realms will soon release an AVI movie file of the demo shown at E3 that took everything by storm. George Broussard announced this last night on IRC. (See the full log of his visit) It is expected to be somewhere around a 10MB download, and will be released within 48 hours. To view an AVI, use Media Player or Netscape 4.0.
This will be the public's first look at the game other than static screenshots. Keep your eyes open for this movie!
The Prey team wants to add two more level designers for Prey, so that the team will have a total of three mappers. Paul updated the Prey Development Update Page with the news. And for details on the jobs, look at the Job Opportunities page.
Prey Stuns E3 Attendees with Next Generation Engine -- A press release posted yesterday summarizing the reaction from the press after looking at the Prey demo at E3.
| June 25, 1997 |
You may have noticed that there have been a great number of updates here since the 19th. This was because E3 started on the 19th and the press and the widespread public got a peek at the game. The overall response of Prey has been positive and was shown to have the best 3D technology at E3. And I'm sure this is making many people happy.
This has sparked some interest in the game, which is good, and maybe we will have more people looking after this game now. But, Prey still is very far away, and is essentially still in early development. Nothing that you see now should be in the final game, it will probably change.
Be Brave - Prey will continue to evolve.
Ever since E3 took place, a wealth of screenshots showing the demo have appeared. Below are links to five new screenshots released today.
- These three screenshots have from a Prey Preview at OGR (more below):
- OGR 1, OGR 2, OGR 3
- These two screenshots were on 3D Realms' weekly update:
- Update 1, Update 2
OGR has posted a great preview on Prey, just like everyone else. OGR does go into detail about the engine and other parts of the game. OGR also says that Prey received Computer & Net Player's Best of E3 Show award.
The Prey development page was updated for the first time in June today. Paul updated us with what happened at E3 and an update on the game:
The whole team is excited to be back, and ready to get rocking on some new ideas we have. Loyal Bassett, our third coder, started today, and he's ready to get up to his elbows in code. All that's left to round-out the Prey team, and to get us into "full steam ahead" mode is the addition of two mappers... look for a notice on those openings real soon.
3D Realms also updated their Prey page with previews of the game, including this one from Sandmoose of the Daikatana Cabana.
There was a non-interactive demo of Prey running in the 3Dfx showroom. From what I saw of this demo the textures and colored lighting looked pretty darn awesome. I'd even go so far as to say that it's a step above Quake 2. The colors just seemed to be richer and the models more intricate. The bad thing is we won't see Prey until late '98. So I don't think Prey will be a Quake 2 competitor so much as it will bridge the gap between Quake 2 generation games and id's next big thing.
| June 24, 1997 |
AV posted 12 more screenshots of the Prey demo today, and these have high resolution versions! Click here to see AV's Page with the screenshots.
Gamespot took some pictures of the Prey demo also. Although they are nothing to get too excited about, they do show the demo fairly well. Click here to see Gamespot's page on the screenshots.
The Adrenaline Vault posted six pictures they took of the Prey demo at E3. Now, these pictures show a lot more than levels. They show a weapons and some enemies! Even though these pictures are a little small, the these things can still be seen.
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Scott Miller did a large update in his .plan including this on the Prey demo at E3:
* Prey. The response to this game was far beyond anything we could have predicted. Every reporter to a man (and a few women) said it was the most amazing technology at the show. GameCenter wrote "Prey blew our minds...it would seem 3D Realms currently has the advantage." And Gamespot wrote "The graphics are so convincing and so fluid that they don't beg comparison to existing games like Quake, but instead to reality itself. We realize that may sound ridiculous, but it's true." Across the board, the press were all dramatically floored by our behind-closed-doors presentation, where we showed all the good stuff we kept from the on-the-floor, non-interactive demo. It was funny to see at least four other development companies video taping the floor demo, with some of them trying to hide their badges so as not to be recognized.
In an article done by Gameslice, Prey and story-lines where mentioned. Here is a part of that article.
In all honesty, it was rather surprising to hear 3D Realms’ talk about a plot to their games at such an early state, as their usual comment is "Yes, the plot will be done the day before the game ships." However, both Miller and Broussard are adamant that their future titles such as Prey and Max Payne will have well developed stories from the outset, hence dramatically increasing the level of realism in the game.
| June 23, 1997 |
3D Realms had a single computer 3dfx demo running on the main floor (and one in the 3dfx suite). It looked pretty cool. I wanted to see more. Fortunately, Lithium of PreyStation was able to get sCary, Ronsolo, and several of us in (the other people he didn't name on his page) to see a behind closed doors demo of Prey, that left me extremely impressed. The portal technology made for some cool gaming possibilities. The graphics were better than Quake 2's even, but it as even darker and had no outdoors scenes. The only problem is that it won't be out until the end of 1998 and may have better competition by then. I am really looking forward to it nonetheless.
Phoebus saw Prey for himself, and posted this excellent update on Prey:
I met George Broussard and Paul Schuytema and was given a closed door showing of Prey. This was more like a trip into The Portal Zone, with your host, Paul Schuytema. Portals, which have been highly touted for good reason by 3drealms on their Prey page, are initially difficult to explain. The easiest way to describe them is that they are akin to Quake's teleporters, except that you don't disappear into them, but you simply walk through. You see exactly where you're walking, because that's where it exists. To illustrate, the last thing Paul showed me was a deceptively simple, circular level. He explored around the alien architecture and discovered that many of the features of the environment were exactly the same. The level appeared to be in some sort of endless loop. As it turns out, the room contained a portal of the same room within itself, with the dynamic, color-blended lighting and shadows reflecting from and into each one.
Another amazing feature of the game was the pristine mirrored tile and the incredibly subtle directional colored light reflections. For example, if a light of one color was placed under an object, you would see the light reflected on the bottom of that object and blending with the other lights from other directions on the object, all dynamically. Paul also told me a bit about Prey's setting. The Tricara (three waring races) and another race reside on four separate "islands" that are on the inside of a sphere that contains a simulated sun as its nucleus. This inverted "planet" is actually an enormous space ship that exists in our universe. Paul also stressed that Talon Brave, the lead character, is a serious, very human character, who has faults and foibles, and a painful past that makes up a very complex personality, not an overblown, cartoon character, a la Duke Nukem. Paul also discussed the editor, which is completely 3D. You walk around in the editor, just as you do in the game itself, and point and click to create objects and properties for the objects. Instead of placing light sources into levels, as in Quake editors like WorldCraft, you will be able to click on an object and give it the property of light, and you then give the light whatever properties of color, intensity, etc.
| June 22, 1997 |
PC Gamer released three screenshots of Prey during E3. I think these are from the old engine. Click on the links below to see them(640x480):
Screenshot #1, Screenshot #2, Screenshot #3
Aaron Corcoran, the man who runs Preystation, went to E3 for three days and saw Prey for himself. He wrote a summery of what he saw on Preystation. The update is also shown right here:
It all started on Thursday morning when I walked into the giant GT Interactive site. Wandering
through the crowds of fans playing Shadow Warrior and Duke Nukem, I finally came across the
single computer playing a fly through demo of Prey. My jaw dropped as the monitor seemed to
steam up from my heavy breathing. I was asked politely to please stop drooling, since I was
messing up this woman's nice new dress.
The flythrough demo consisted of one weapon, one naked chick with a hole through her
stomach, amazing colored lighting, and a few enemies that demonstrated some of the more
important points in Prey.
While watching the demo Paul Schuytema came over as we exchanged evil glances (heh ok
handshakes and intro's). I was simply blown away by the fly through. From the dynamic lighting
(meaning that if you moved through the lights, everything would change accordingly, weapons,
enemies, etc.). If there was a blue light shining up from the floor, the weapon would be lit, but not
everywhere, simply on the bottom, an astounding feature that Prey will incorporate into the
game.
The three enemies I saw were wonderfully done. A naked chick (from the waist up), with a huge
whole in her stomach, showed the views what could be done. She ran, flipped, and walked her
way throughout a room designed by Matt Wood. There was a large creature, which I am not
quite sure how to explain that stood on a mirrored marble floor, which took my breath away. It
was a perfect mirror, stunning in all aspects! Last but not least was the wasp character. . . my
personal favorite. This creature had three neck types merging into one head. This creature flew
around the room demonstrating once again the beautiful dynamic lighting that took place in the
game.
As Paul took me on a mental trip through the flythrough demo, he asked me in a Twilight Zone
manner, "Hey, wanna see something really cool." I was waiting for him to peal back his skin, but
no go, he escorted me to the highly secured, top secret Preying Room. This room consisted of
two reporters from Playboy (don't ask me) and a few of my friends that I brought in so they
could carry me out if I passed out.
Let me make a very strong point that the screenshots do NOTHING for the game. I am very
serious about this. . . you can not even begin to express in words what went on in that room. .
.but I will try. First off, let me start off by saying Portals rule. I never quite understood what
Portals were from Paul's lengthy .plan updates, but now I have first hand experience. Put
yourself in this demo scene. You are walking around in a room and you see a doorway. You
walk around the doorway and see nothing but the back of the door. A solid walkway if you will.
However when you circle strafe back around the the front of the doorway, you can plainly see
that there is another room back there...You walk in and you were right all along, a whole new
dimension has opened up, but where did all this room come about? Portals my friend. Another
sci-fi'ish thing that took my breath away relating to portals was the "tear in time". A user can
simply press a button in a certain specific (?) location and a tear would open up, a simple
doorway would appear. You walk around this doorway and whammo, there is nothing there, I
mean nothing, you cannot tell there is any "rip in time" there. Once again, when you walk into the
portal type tear, you are transported into another dimension. Simply stunning.
Oh, I am sure I am missing tons, but there is no way I can express how excited about the game I
am. The most bizarre use of portals in the game was when there was actually two portals
(doorways if you will) which you could actually see through. A pyramid type structure was
behind you, and you could see one through the two doorways. When asked how many pyramids
there actually were, I was surprised to find out only one existed. Apparently the two portals
connected did a 360 and brought you back into the same room. Confusing as it may sound, the
demonstration was simply amazing.
The weapon in the private demo was the same in the walkthrough demo. I am not quite sure how
to explain it, but it had a spinning orb/crystal structure located near the butt of the gun. When
shot, the projectile would cause a shockwave (art identical to the 3D Realm's Prey logo with the
white explosion in it). The shockwave was simply amazing (especially since it is still in very early
development). This demo, mind you, is still in the Lame Prey stage.
I am sure I am leaving something out, but I have only gotten a few hours of sleep in the past days
and all of this excitement is still rushing through my blood stream. I want to take the time to thank
all of the 3D Realms team that were present and have to tell all of you that this game is definitely
going to be worth purhcasing. unfortunately it is not due out until late 1998 which will give the
Prey team plenty of time to make the game they have always dreamed of!
| June 21, 1997 |
This time, GameSpot saw the private, running demo of Prey, and did a detailed report on it. Here it is:
- Prey Revealed:
- The ultimate inside look at one of E3's most talked-about games.
FEATURE: Up until now, mum was the word when it came to talking about 3D Realms' much anticipated action title Prey. The game was the talk of E3, not to mention the one that I was most excited about checking out. My Prey-ers were finally answered when 3D Realms President Scott Miller extended a beckoning wave from one of GT Interactive's "private" demo rooms. Not being one to pass up a surrepititious meeting, I entered the enclosure. The lights were dimmed to darkness, and Prey was unveiled.
I stared at the screen: an iridescent, static image that could have come straight from the cover of "Better Homes and Dungeons." The picture was so beautiful that I gasped when project leader Paul Schuytema pulled a mouse out of its holster and began to move through the room. "A lot of people at the office joke that this is a sort of 'real-time Myst.,'" he laughed. This is when I realized that, when it's finally released, Prey will represent a milestone in game programming excellence. Every physical property of every infinitesimal detail within each room is accounted for: Moving through a tunnel spotted with red and blue lights, you can be sure that every part of your weapon is reflecting those lights realistically. With more color possibilities and texture varieties than any other first-person shooter out there, Prey's levels are far from being run-of-the-mill.
During the demo, Schuytema talked about the new technology Prey utilizes. The game runs on a patented Portal Technology or "PT" programming code. As opposed to bsp (the Quake hard-code used for character and map generation), PT is a more malleable technology, allowing for dynamic environments. For example, during the demo, we approached a small, doghouse-sized room. As we entered it, the room grew larger around us. PT also enables other bizarre phenomena to occur throughout the game. You can fire a rocket through one door and have it whoosh back in through a door in the same room you're standing in. Finally, there will be - for lack of a better term - "droppable portals," through which you can teleport to faraway locations. To paraphrase Schuytema, the physical anomalies enabled by PT throws Euclidean geometry out the window.
This was all exciting news to me, but I had one burning desire at that point: to see somebody get smoked. "You'll have to wait a little longer for that," replied Miller apologetically. I did however get to see a gun fire. It was the design team's so called "test gun," but, given its amazing effects - dramatic light sourcing and a resulting explosion somewhere along the lines of a mushroom cloud - it seemed more likely that it was a version of the "crystal" gun that's rumored to be in the game. Operating on the piezo-electric energy of a gem, the "crystal gun" will act as one of several different weapons, depending on which gem is placed in it. And this multi-ability weapon will only be one of several guns in the Prey arsenal.
We guided our first-person camera through a few more of Prey's incredible environments - Grecian decor and Egyptian reliefs scrolled by. At one point, we ran into a wall: "You see that," exclaimed Schuytema, "you can't see any pixels until you've practically got your nose against the wall." He was right. The anti-aliasing is so smooth on the game that, even though we were running the game on a standard Pentium, the movement was smooth as butter. Things got really exciting when we found the first monster. "Wait," I said "...that's not a monster!"
"Oh yeah," said Schuytema, "that's one of our female adversaries." We got closer to her, and I noticed that she seemed to be unclothed from the waist up. I asked about it. Shuytema's reply was as clear and succinct as could be: "We're 3D Realms, man."
The female "monster," along with the two other creatures we encountered were animated incredibly, each one composed of several moving - dare I say "breathing" - parts. Undeniably, Prey's monsters, ranging from insectoid to humanoid, are frighteningly lifelike. Once the game's AI development is finalized, the enemies encountered in Prey will do things like pursue you in a mad, cannibalistic chase through a level, fleeing once they've taken too much damage.
The designers have come a long way with the game, even though it isn't even shipping until next year. That's good, because now that they have most of the art and game engine ready, the design team can begin to hone the gameplay elements - like AI routines. What is really amazing is that the 3D Realms Prey level editor or "Preditor" software will be packaged with the game. Both Schuytema and Miller assured me that the editor will be so easy to use, players will be able to custom-build gorgeous Prey levels much quicker than Quake levels, even with the most user-friendly of Quake editors. Who knows? Maybe in handing its design tools directly to the public, 3D Realms will find its next hot level designer in a Prey-fanatic.
By Tim Soete, GameSpot
Gamecenter took at look at Prey also, and did an article on it that can be seen here. GameCenter gave us our first look at what was shown at E3 with the screenshot seen below.
Prey blew our minds
by Doug Lombardi
June 20, 1997, 3 p.m. PT
In a dark room hidden deep inside GT Interactive's booth, the guys from 3D Realms fired up the latest burn of Prey and all the reporters there wet their pants.
The war is on in first-person shooters, and judging by what's being shown here in Atlanta, it would seem 3D Realms currently has the advantage.
Not to say Unreal doesn't look super. But after seeing development on that game move at a snail's pace for the last year, more than a few people are starting to wonder if the game is going to make it out before the technology it's built on becomes passé. GT officials say it will be done by November--we'll see.Meanwhile, Prey's got nasty monsters, guns that boom like thunder, shadow casting, 16-bit colored lighting, and tripped-out levels that make you go "huh." All of this is running smooth as glass on a P166 with a 3Dfx card under the hood. The realism is there, and the game has almost no pixelation whatsoever.
The 3D Realms people say they want to implement a compelling story around the character, to give players an added interest in the game. Thankfully, they say they are not going to implement this via a huge movie at the start of the game.
| June 20, 1997 |
Next Generation had this article on Prey from what they saw of the Prey demo:
3DRealms's powerful engine is coming along despite setbacks
There are plenty of high profile first-person shooters on the floor of E3, including Quake II, Daikatana, SiN, Unreal, Hexen II and more. But one of the show's best-kept secrets -- Prey -- is being shown behind closed doors in the GT Interactive booth.
The title has seen some setbacks with developer departures, and must been overshadowed by many of its rivals. But the game has progressed greatly since we last saw it, and the engine is rock solid, and virtually complete. Expect 3D Realms to announce some engine-licensing deals towards the end of the year.
Prey doesn't use the same BSP technology which is common to first-person shooters, from Doom to Quake -- instead they're using something called portal technology. Apart from technical differences, the engine allows portals to other parts of the level to be created dynamically anywhere within the game environment. Seeing it in action is a bit like an episode of Dr. Who - you can step inside what appears to be a small police call box, only to find yourself in a huge complex. And you can see through the portals.
Other key points for Prey: It's a hardware-only title, meaning you'll need a 3Dfx or other supported graphics accelerator. The engine also supports 16-bit texture-maps and colored lights, created an extremely impressive visual environment.
| June 19, 1997 |
Gamespot did a mini-preview of Prey when they saw the game at E3. Here is what they said:
Watching and Waiting for Prey
PC PREVIEW: For a game that won't be out until the fall of 1998, Prey has certainly garnered its fair share of attention. The original Quake killer, Prey has generated a seemingly endless discussion among gamers and developers alike. Why? Because Prey has the potential to be a breakthrough game, combining never before seen graphics technology with the irreverent (and occasionally controversial) design style of the company that created Duke Nukem 3D.
While it is still far too early to tell how Prey will play when it ships next year, we can report that the potential of the game is immense. Utilizing its unique "portal" graphics technology, Prey offers players the most realistic first-person environment ever seen on the PC, with never before attempted lighting and shadow effects. In fact, the graphics are so convincing and so fluid that they don't beg comparison to existing games like Quake, but instead to reality itself. We realize that may sound ridiculous, but it's true.
This next-generation leap approach is possible because Prey will require a 3Dfx card (or equivalent) in order to run. Apogee is confident that Prey's late 1998 launch date will coincide with widespread acceptance of 3-D hardware and wants to take full advantage of the opportunity such hardware presents.
There are many other unique aspects to the game beyond the graphics. The portal technology has many implications, making new things possible in every area -level design, level editing, gameplay options, etc. Because of Prey's innovative design and technology, GameSpot will bring you continuous coverage of its development over the next year, keeping you up to date on what could possibly be gaming next Big Thing. -- By Vince Broady, GameSpot
Today is the first day of E3. A few thousand people have the chance at getting a peek at Prey, and a handful of Press will actually play it. George Broussard explains what will be shown at E3 in his plan:
A bunch of us are headed off to E3 tomorrow. We're looking forward to meeting up with a lot of you we've talked to and met over IRC etc. Cya there ;)
The Prey team has been working non-stop to get a killer demo done for the show. We will probably release a lot of screen shots after we get back from E3. But the demo has 4 levels to show, an animated weapon firing a cool light source projectile, and ending in a massive explosion, complete with shockwave. There are also 3 characters in the demo walking around and doing things and they will show off the smooth kinematic control system we have. All the art is 16 bit, there is colored lighting everywhere, dynamic lights (from shot projectiles), characters and weapons will pick up light from the sources. If a character walks near a green light, the part of it's body facing the light will pick up the green. There are reflective marble floors in the demo and other cool effects. All in all, things have come together nicely and I want to take this opportunity to thank Paul, William, Tom, Scott, Allen, Matt, Stephen and Lee for working so hard to pull Prey up from it's bootstraps and get it into world class competition ;)
Prey lives, and you can see it at the GT Interactive booth at E3.
Expect a lot of large game sites to have some reports on E3 and some may include Prey.
Joe Siegler has updated the Virtual Tour on Apogee's Web Site, and doing so, we now have pictures of where the Prey team works. Use the links below to jump right to the pages with the Prey team. Look closely at the Prey office, and you will see drawings of some characters in the game!
The new Prey page, Preyframe, has an interview with George Broussard. George talks a lot about Prey, check it out!
| June 14, 1997 |
In a press release, a letter, from many people in the game industry, was sent to Microsoft requesting to add OpenGL Support to Windows. William Scarboro, the creator of the Prey engine, was one of the people signing the letter. If Microsoft decides to support it in Windows, it will be good news for Prey, since that is what Prey is using. Maybe we can expect this in Windows 98.
The biggest computer game event of the year is about to take place, and Prey is going to be in it. Here is what to expect:
| June 4, 1997 |
Another Prey page is going to a commercial site. Jason Pratt decided to move his page, Pailhead's Prey Zone, to Telefragged. The new URL to his re-designed page is: http://prey.telefragged.com
| Copyright © 1997 Lon
Matero. All Rights Reserved. _ Prey is copyrighted by 3D Realms Entertainment. |
