15 November 1999

The Bad News

Unfortunately, Payback is not going to be out by Christmas. It'll probably be more like late February. This is partly because of delays getting the soundtrack sorted (still no track listing yet - sorry!) and partly because I want to make sure that Payback is as good as it can be. Sorry folks.

The Good News

The extra time means that I'll be able to make sure that Payback is really top-notch. You can expect lots of hidden extras and great attention to detail. I've also added four new screenshots to the screenshots area to cheer you up.

Despite the delays, Payback is still progressing nicely. The audio mixing code is now in assembler and doesn't noticeably effect the framerate of the game. One of the more sophisticated features of the sound engine is that it can juggle up to 100 sounds into the 12 available channels by automatically playing the loudest. This allows me to add sound effects for almost every object in the game - you can hear fires burning, phones ringing and people walking around, all in glorious stereo.

Also, I've started adding the commands to the scripting language to allow non-linear mission structures - all I've got to do now is actually make all the levels!

Well, that's all this time. See you next update!

For more information about Payback, click here. To find out how to join the Apex Designs' mailing list, have a look here.

Drawing on my command of language, I said nothing.
Mark Twain