SHADOW WARRIOR DEVELOPMENT - MARCH 1997 [ Main Shadow Warrior Page ] Update: 03/28/97 A lot has been happening in the last 2 weeks on Shadow Warrior. Our primary focus has been to stabilize the game for Beta #2 (which we just released to our testers today).

We feel that the shareware version is about 90-95% done at this point. We are mainly down to bug hunts and tweaks of current ideas in the game. We have added a few cool new items to the game, but we're stopping for the most part, as we feel that the shareware version has more than enough gameplay and coolness to it now.

Our primary focus now is to get the shareware out, and that means fixing the current bugs and implementing any final features that haven't been done yet. We still have to integrate TEN code into the game, but that should go smoothly as it's mostly the same work we did for Duke 3D.

You might notice the new fist gauntlets in the shot to the right. We rendered them and added these sharp little barbs to them. They looked so menacing, that we kinda went off and added a "fight" mode to the game, when you can just run around punching and kicking. With this, you can now use pretty much traditional weapons if you want and punch, kick, and sword people to death. It's a lot of fun and adds an alternate way to play. We've been having a blast in net play using just the traditional weapons. We also feel this will offer more playability to the game and appeal to those that wanted more than big guns. Still, don't expect Mortal Kombat 3D here. It's cool, but the weapons are still the main defense.

We are still aiming to have the shareware version ready by mid - late April. It will be close, but we think you will love the game. There is a lot of stuff you can "do" in Shadow Warrior that you can't do in any other 3D games at the moment.

Update: 03/14/97

First of all, there are some new screen shots up today, showing the new Lo Wang character in the game. (Click on the image to the right to see a larger Lo Wang Game Shot) We still have some touch up to do on him, but you can get a good idea of what he looks like here. Also some cool shots of large areas of transparent water in one of Keith's maps.

We have been working very hard the last 2 weeks to get Shadow Warrior into our beta testing program. So, we've been pretty much sleeping at the offices, pulling 14+ hour days to get it ready. I think we will actually release one to the testers early Friday morning.

We've gotten a lot in the game like the new Lo Wang character, added a new 2nd firing mode to the shotgun (very cool -- a net play favorite here), tons of sounds, cool level additions, squashed nearly all of the outstanding bugs, and generally gotten this thing into shape.

There is still a lot to do, but the light is at the end of the tunnel and we think the shareware beta could go pretty fast.

We also had to deal with a major press tour from Europe with magazine people from the UK and France, so that distracted us a little. Man, press is great, but it sure eats into the development time :) As I type this, I am preparing a CD with tons of screen shots and artwork for their various previews.

Looks like our buddies over at Monolith released Blood online, so we wish them luck with it, and hope it's a success.

The next update should be a little sooner, and we should have some cool screen shots from net play, now that we have the new character in and looking cool. Look for Shadow Warrior soon. The release date is still "When it's done", but that's looking like pretty soon. We think an April release of shareware is very doable, so get ready.

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