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+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | _______ _ _ _______ | | | |_____| |______ | | | | | |______ | | | | " O F F I C A L " | | _____ ______ _______ __ __ | | |_____] |_____/ |______ \_/ | | | | \_ |______ | | | | | _______ _______ _____ | | |______ |_____| | __| | | | | | |____\| | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 2-27-98 VERSION: 1.2 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Author: Lon Matero (klmatero@oakland.edu) Copyright: The Prey FAQ is Copyright 1996-98 by Lon Matero. If you wish to use part of this document, please leave it intact, and show it belongs to The Prey FAQ by the author, Lon Matero. Disclaimer: This FAQ was not written by Apogee or 3D Realms and they do not take any responsibly for what is said in this document. Any information in this FAQ can change at any time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Table of Contents: ------------------ }I. Prey: The Game }------------------ 1. Introduction 1.1 About this FAQ 1.2 Where to obtain this FAQ 1.3 Future additions 1.4 Revision History 1.5 Credits 2. About Prey 2.1 What is Prey? 2.2 Who is making Prey? 2.3 Who is 3D Realms? 2.4 Who is distributing Prey? 2.5 When will Prey be released? 2.6 What are the System Requirements? 2.7 What Operating Systems does Prey work with? 3. The History of Prey } 3.1 History 1995 } 3.2 History 1996 } 3.3 History 1997 4. The Prey Team } 4.1 Who was on the first Prey Team? } 4.2 Who is on the current Prey Team? } 4.3 Who is creating the music? } } 5. Storyline / Characters } } 5.1 Who is Talon Brave? } 5.2 What is Prey's setting? } 5.3 Storyline: Pre-Prey } 5.4 Storyline: Prey } 5.5 Storyline: Post-Prey } } 6. Single Player Prey } } 6.1 What will Prey feature in single player? } } 7. Multi Player Prey } } 7.1 What will Prey feature in multi player? 8. Where to find more information 8.1 World Wide Web 8.2 Newsgroups 8.3 IRC }II. Prey: The Technology }------------------------ } } 1. PreyOS } } 1.1 What is PreyOS? } 1.2 I just want to play the game, what does it do for me? } 1.3 I want to edit the game, what does it do for me? 2. Prey Engine 2.1 What is the Prey Engine? 2.2 How does the Prey Engine Work? 2.3 What are the Prey Engine's features? 2.4 What is Portal Technology? 2.5 How does the Prey Engine compare to...? 3. Hardware Support 2.3 What 3D API does Prey use? 3.3 3D Cards } 3.4 Input Devices } 3.5 Output Devices } 3.6 Sound Cards } } 4. Multi Player Technology } } 4.1 What kind of Multi Player support will Prey have? } } 5. Preditor } } 5.1 What is Preditor? } } 6. Skinner } } 6.1 What is Skinner? +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Part I: | | Prey: The Game | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 About this FAQ ------------------ Prey is the game and FAQ stands for: Frequently Asked Questions. Here, you will find a vast amount of information about Prey and hopefully answer many of your questions. } - shows that this text has been added/changed since the last release. 1.2 Where to obtain this FAQ ---------------------------- The latest version will be posted to these places: http://www.oakland.edu/~klmatero/prey http://www.apogee1.com/faq/ alt.games.apogee Now there is a Japanese version of The Prey FAQ! This version is handled by Yukio Ide (yukio@anime.club.or.jp) and if you read Japanese, it can be downloaded here: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/6040/prey.html } (Site currently not working) 1.3 Future Additions -------------------- This FAQ is always being worked on and updated. Here is a list of what is planned to be added in future versions of the FAQ. Feel free to make suggestions. + More on Multi player aspects of Prey, including "Prey Tribes." + Adding more depth to the Prey Technology section of the FAQ. 1.4 Revision History -------------------- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Version | Date | Description of additions and changes | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |v1.2 2-27-98 Rearranged the whole FAQ. Condensed the Prey Team section| +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |v1.1 8-13-97 Started the list of 3D Cards supported, added new | | information on the Prey Engine. Misc Updates. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |v1.0 4-08-97 The Prey FAQ renamed to The Official Prey FAQ. Brought | | the FAQ up to date. Started the history of Prey. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |v0.15 12-7-96 First public release. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ 1.5 Credits ------------ + Rob Brown - robbrown@nwinfo.net (Proof-reader, biography, IRC section) + George Broussard - georgeb@apogee1.com(The history of Prey section) + Joe Siegler - joes@apogee1.com (For guiding me along) + Yukio Ide - yukio@anime.club.or.jp (The Prey FAQ Japan Translator) + Paul Schuytema - pauls@apogee1.com (Wealth of new information) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. About Prey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 What is Prey? ----------------- Prey is an upcoming first person, 3D, Sci-Fi, dark, futuristic, action game. In Prey, you are Talon Brave, a Native American, out to battle races of aliens. Prey will have both single and multiplayer play, along with support for many hardware devices and operating systems. Prey is also very editable, with a scripting language and a level editor. Prey's project leader explains why "Prey" was chosen: "Prey is a cool name because of the double-edged meaning: the prey/predator meaning and the 'pray for help' meaning." A few mottos or subtitles have been also posted: Prey: You are and you'd better! Prey: If you don't come back, they will! Prey: Be Brave! 2.2 Who is making Prey? ----------------------- A game company called 3D Realms Entertainment. A team of about 10-12 members are working full time developing the game. Developers from previous games and new members are working on the game. A full listing of he people behind Prey is in 'The Prey Team' section of this FAQ. 2.3 Who is 3D Realms? --------------------- 3D Realms is a division of Apogee Software Ltd. set up in 1994 to focus only on 3D style games. 3D Realms' first release was Terminal Velocity. 3D Realms is known for games including Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. 3D Realms uses the "Apogee model", where a shareware episode is distributed for free, then users can buy a registered version to get all the episodes. Apogee and 3D Realms can be used interchangeably. 2.4 Who is distributing Prey? ----------------------------- In 1996 Apogee chose GT Interactive to distribute it's retail versions of their games. 3D Realms does take direct orders of games, but GT distributes to stores. GT also handles all of the advertising of Prey, such as magazine ads. Go to GT's WWW Page: http://www.gtinteractive.com/ 3D Realms is taking care of the publishing and the online distributing of the Shareware version. 2.5 When will Prey be released? ------------------------------- This is one of the most popular questions for any game, and here is Apogee's most popular response: "When it's done." :) } An estimate for the release would be Late 1998 / Early 1999. 2.6 What are the System Requirements? ------------------------------------- * 3D Realms has not announced any official requirements yet. An estimation is: } - Pentium 166 Processor or greater } - 32MB RAM } - Supported 3D Card } - 28.8 Modem for TCP/IP Games 2.7 What Operating Systems does Prey work with? ----------------------------------------------- } Prey is a native Windows 95/98 game. Right now, the only operating }systems planned on being supported are Windows 95 and Windows 98. The }latest version of Microsoft's DirectX will probably be required too. } } Windows NT support is unknown at this time. There will not be a }DOS version of Prey. Supporting other Operating Systems require more }development time. } } Ports to other systems and game consoles could happen in the future. }Mac, N64, etc, versions could show up in late 1999, but no deals have been }made yet with other companies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The History of Prey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 History 1995 ----------------- The Prey project has been in progress for a number of years now. What has happened over that time? Here is an overview of the history of Prey, how it has developed, taking us to present time. This history was written by George Broussard and Paul Schuytema and edited by Lon Matero. The concept for Prey started right after Rise of the Triad. All we knew was that we wanted to do a dark Sci-Fi game. The game initially started probably about July or so in 1995, but this was the very early R&D stages. We were deciding what to do for an engine and whether we could use the Build engine (Duke 3D), or another engine Ken Silverman was doing at the time that was true 3D. We decided to roll the dice and write our own engine at that point, so the team started digging into writing their first 3D engine. The team was very small at first (mainly coders trying to write an engine we could use). It took a little while to get things going, since we had never written an advanced 3D engine in house and there was a lot of experimenting, but in 3-4 months William had a true 3D texture mapped and lit engine up and running. The engine was constantly upgraded for speed, or a new approach to doing things, and this continued throughout the rest of 1995. 3.2 History 1996 ----------------- By March 1996 we had a character on the screen moving around, elementary net play with frag bar, items to pick up, and things were looking good. But we still weren't happy with the engine yet, even though we had 3Dfx support in and working. The lighting just wasn't quite right. William Scarboro (engine programmer) kept tweaking things and about mid year, we all decided to roll the dice again and support hardware acceleration only. It was a bold decision, but we felt the timing was right and it was the only way we could get some of the cool features we wanted in the game. We wanted to be cutting edge. So William went back and rewrote the engine again, this time specifically for hardware (3Dfx first). At the same time he was re-writing "Preditor", our in-house editor for Prey. In August, a few members of the Prey team left the company. This brought up major problem, what would happen to the project? Who would replace them? Near the end of 1996,we started hiring new core team members. We started with Paul Schuytema, who used to be a reviewer with CGW. We liked his style and found out he was producing Mech Warrior 3 for FASA. We figured that if they thought he was good enough for Mech Warrior, we'd give him a call. A few short weeks Paul was here, and he threw out all the old Prey stuff and started re-doing the Prey story (which I was much more happy with). Things picked up fast from there. William got the new engine running under 3Dfx with 16 bit art and colored lighting, and we hired more people on. Scott McCabe and Allen Dilling came on for art and Tom Pytel came here to code everything William couldn't. The game was also being converted to Windows 95/98 during this time. 3.3 History 1997 ----------------- The early months of 97 were focused on refining the abstract concepts of the engine (to make it as robust and general as possible), nailing down our own video API and low-level system programming, and polishing up Preditor. In late April, the first public Prey demo was unveiled at CGDC (the Computer Game Developer's Conference) in San Jose. The non-interactive demo ran so smoothly, and with such visual fidelity, that many thought that it was a pre-rendered AVI. They were floored when they learned that it was the engine, generating the visuals in real-time. By early summer, Preditor had evolved into the most advanced 3D editor we'd ever seen. The speed of the interface, and the fact that the editor uses the engine directly, means that a mapper gets to see the results of his work instantly. In addition, the mapper has almost psychotic control over every single polygon in the map. We also hired Matt Wood, our first full-time mapper. He dove into Preditor like a man obsessed, and was soon creating some of the most intense environments we'd ever seen. Immediately, he and William began communicating on ways to improve Preditor even further. In late June, Prey showed up at E3. We had a cool new non-interactive demo (which only repeated once every 15 minutes!) on a single computer on the floor. We also had a back room office where we could show the demo interactively, plus some other nifty "tricks." The press reception was more favorable than we could ever have hoped for-almost to a tee, the members of the press left our demo with the look of stunned disbelief plastered across their faces. We even took home a "best of show" award from Computer and Net Player magazine. Not long after E3, we were joined by Loyal Bassett (who we grabbed from Microsoft), as a programmer for the character system in the game. }In August and September of 1997, we wrapped up work on Prey milestone 4, }which was a "MultiPrey" test. It was our first time to be able to have a }LAN-based multiplayer Prey experience. } }Out of that milestone, Creditor evolved. Creditor is our own "Prey actor" }texturing and animating tool create by Loyal Bassett. Creditor gives our }artists the ability to texture a model with detail that's never been seen }before in a game. Creditor now has been renamed "Skinner"-the name comes }from several sources: you use the tool to "skin" an actor; Principal }Skinner on the Simpsons and behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner. } }John Anderson joined us from Lockheed-Martin and rapidly picked up }Preditor. John and Matt worked with the texture artists to create the }"archetypal" looks, both texturally and architecturally, for the game's 4 }primary alien environments. } }In October, we began a 90-day tech burst to nail down all the principal }game systems before Christmas of 97. During the first month, the Prey OS }came on line-it's a full featured operating system that allows us to run }and program the game-you can even run DOS from within the Prey OS. } }In late October, we all sat down and designed the levels and flow of }Chapter 1 of the game. We also finalized design on several actors and }weapons. } }In November, we announced that industrial rock band KMFDM was signed to }provide the music for Prey. } } }3.4 History 1998 }----------------- } }By 1998, Preditor was improved even more, and starting on a few Muli Player }levels in the game. David March, artist, joined the Prey team. In February, }a new level designer from Germany, Martinus, joined the Prey team. As the }third level designer, the "mapping" portion of the Prey team was complete. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The Prey Team ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } The team developing the game, The Prey Team, is a unique team because }most of the members were hired off the internet. They were found because of }their pure talent, even though many never made a game before. } } There are really two Prey teams, and two Prey games. One in 1995 and }1996, and the other in 1997 to present. Most of the first team left Apogee }Software and started their own companies. Both teams are shown below. } } }4.1 Who was on the first Prey Team? }----------------------------------- } } The following was the original Prey team creating the game in 1995 }and 1996. } }Name Job What Happened }-------------------------------------------------------- }William Scarboro - Lead Programmer }Mark Dochtermann - Net Programmer (Left to Ritual) }Jim Dose - Tools Programmer (Left to Ritual) }Tom Hall - Project Leader (Left to Ion Storm) }Chuck Jones - "part-time" Artist (Left to Valve) }Doug Wood - "part-time" Artist (Left the company) } } }Here are the two official announcements from George Broussard about these }employees leaving from August 1996: } }* What happened was two programmers left the project, leaving the main } engine programmer, William Scarboro working on the engine. We see } little setback, and will begin interviews immediately for the two open } spots. (Tools programmer/Editor and Net code/general game programmer). } We expect this will only be a little 'speed bump' in Prey's development. } Nothing to worry about at all. } }* More Prey news for you all. Tom Hall has left to join John Romero's } startup company. We wish Tom well and his leaving was very pleasant, } and a little expected as he and John have been friends for a long time. } I will continue to be Executive Producer on Prey as I was with Duke 3D } and will likely bring in someone new as Asst. Producer to help guide } the project and relieve the workload. Again, we know how this looks } to the outside world, but rest assured that we aren't panicking at all } here. These folks will be missed, but the bulk of the Prey team is } here, more motivated than ever and things will go on. } } }4.2 Who is on the current Prey Team? }------------------------------------ } }Name Job Year Joined }------------------------------------------------- }Paul Schuytema - Project Leader 1996 }George Broussard - Executive Producer 1995 }William Scarboro - Programmer 1995 }Tom Pytel - Programmer 1996 }Loyal Bassett - Programmer 1997 }Steve Hornback - Artist 1996 }Scott McCabe - Artist 1997 }Allen Dilling - Artist 1997 }David March - Artist 1997 }Matt Wood - Mapper 1997 }John Anderson - Mapper 1997 }Martinus - Mapper 1998 }Lee Jackson - Sound/Music 1995 } }4.3 Who is creating the music for Prey? }---------------------------------------- } } The musical score for Prey will come from two different sources. Lee }Jackson and KMFDM. CD Audio tracks will come with the registered version of }Prey holding all of the music for the game. } } Lee Jackson is the Sound and Music Director at Apogee software and }will handle all of the sound effects in the game. Along with all of the }sounds, Lee will also compose some of the music in the game. } } Industrial Rock group KMFDM will compose the vast majority of the }music in Prey, including the Prey Theme. KMFDM is a well known band that }was approached by Paul Schuytema in 1997, and they agreed to making some }original music for Prey. } } There will be two types of music in Prey, highlight and level music. }Highlight music is more complex, faster pace music. Level music will be }heard throughout the game as more ambient sounding. Between 40 to 60 minutes }of original music for the game will be created. As of mid-February, KMFDM has }begun serious work on the Prey project. KMFDM plans only two projects in 1998: }music for Prey and a new album. } }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }5. Storyline / Characters }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }5.1 Who is Talon Brave? }------------------------ } } Talon Brave is the main character in Prey, and the whole storyline and }game revolves around him. Talon is an Apache Native American by heritage. Here is what Scott Miller, president of Apogee, has to say about the name: "The word 'talon' is a claw on a bird of prey. The word brave refers to the character's native American heritage, plus it has the double meaning of courage." The character's full name is actually "Talon Brave Sun." Talon Brave is just a shorted version of his real Native American name. } In the game of Prey, we will learn everything about Talon Brave, learn }about his struggles, and how he will overcome his conflict he finds in Prey. } } }5.2 What is Prey's setting? }---------------------------- } } Prey's setting is mostly in outer space, on the "Trocaran }Mothership." Prey also takes place on Earth, in Arizona. The Trocaran }Mothership is a large space station of sorts three times as large as the }Earth. In the center of this large sphere is a simulated sun energy source. }The three races of Tocara plus the Keepers live in this artificial system. }An area about the size of the Earth is designated to each species. Within }this area includes an atmosphere and a "habitation tower," where the aliens }dwell. Everything in and around this Mothership is artificial. Here is a quote of the setting from Phoebus: "The four races 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." (www.phoeb.com) }5.3 Storyline: Pre-Prey }------------------------ } }Prey's story is far from final and is always making changes. Prey's }Project Leader, Paul Schuytema, who is creating the characters and }story, is not letting much out. We will learn the events that lead }Talon into the game, Prey. Prey has three chapters in its storyline. } }Below is a quote hinting at what causes the whole conflict, from Gameslice's E3 Prey Preview: "Prey's current plot has Brave being abducted by higher life forms that are responsible for the creation of the Earth. Brave has to mix his brains with brawn and hopefully save the world from eradication." }5.4 Storyline: Prey }-------------------- } }Throughout the game of Prey, the chapters of the story will unfold. We }will continue to find out more about Talon and the Tocara, and hopefully }guide Talon to complete his goal at the end of the game. Here is some story background from Paul Schuytema: One of the key aspects of the Prey story is that Talon is a reluctant hero. He isn't an Arnold-esque caricature-he's more of a common man who's had a hard life. When he gets sucked into the story, it certainly isn't his choosing to do so. "Talon's challenge in Prey is to survive his encounter with the Trocara, a trinity if alien species who live within a giant mothership (it's a variation of Larry Niven's Ringworld concept). Talon also discovers a mysterious fourth species, the Keepers, who lurk "in between the cracks" of the Trocara. Talon's initial quest is survival, but it soon turns into something far greater..." }5.5 Storyline: Post-Prey }------------------------- } }Prey's story doesn't just end at the completion of Prey, it will most }likely continue in another game or another form. The story of Talon Brave }was written with this in mind. Expect something more after Prey. } } }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }6. Single Player Prey }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }6.1 What will Prey feature in single player? }-------------------------------------------- } }- Dark, moody and extremely intense Science Fiction gameplay, in very } interactive and realistic places. } }Sorry for the shortness of this section, there is no public information }available to add here. } }Explanation from Paul Schuytema: }"From a single player and story point-of-view, Prey is one of the most }thought-out and carefully designed game's we've ever done. We think we've }'nailed down the goods' that will make Prey a truly fresh experience. But }part of that freshness comes through via the player's sense of discovery }during the game. Because we really want to surprise the player, we're }deliberately shying away from telling too much about the single play }experience. I've seen too many games lose their impact by giving too much }away--I don't want that to happen to Prey." } }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }7. Multi Player Prey }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }7.1 What will Prey feature in multi player? }-------------------------------------------- } } Multi-player games have grown into a big market as Prey will feature }multiple player games as an option. Prey will feature the following modes: } }MultiPrey: Everyone against each other, the classic "Deathmatch" like } mode that everyone likes. } }Team Mode: Play on teams against each other such as a three player team } versus another three player team. This can lead to pre formed } teams called Prey Tribes. } }Capture the Flag: Another popular mode based on the game. Two teams each } have a base with a flag. The goal is to take the other team's } flag and bring it back to your base. } } Along with these basic modes for Multiplayer games, more original }ways to play others will be featured in the game. Although, these modes }have remained secret. There will also be a host of configuarable "MultiPrey" }features within each of the possible games, creating a wide variety of }possible game experiences. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Where to find more information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 World Wide Web ------------------ * For the Official Information, go to 3D Realms' Prey Page: http://www.3drealms.com/catalog/prey/ * Other good Prey Pages on the Web: Lon's Prey Page - http://www.oakland.edu/~klmatero/prey/ }Preyground - http://www.preyground.com/ Preystation - http://www.preystation.com/ }Prey Watch - http://prey.questgate.net/ * For a listing of Prey Web sites, please visit this URL: http://www.3drealms.com/catalog/prey/links.html 7.2 Newsgroups -------------- } Newsgroups are a good way to post messages that are read by a }large number of people. The following are newsgroups where there is }discussion of Prey. alt.games.apogee } alt.games.upcoming-3d } comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action 7.3 IRC ------- IRC or Internet Relay Chat is talking in real time to other people. If you want to talk to many Prey fans get a IRC program, such as mIRC, log in to one of the 'Undernet' servers, and join one of the following channels. } #Prey - Channel Manager: Adam T. Brill This channel has been set as the main channel for Prey discussion on IRC. #Duke3D / #SWarrior - Channel Manager: Lon Matero / Rob Brown The Official Duke Nukem 3D channel has been around since early 1996 and has been the meeting place for all Apogee fans. Since then, #SWarrior has shown up as the replacement for #Duke3D. Apogee also has their own IRC channel that can be accessed through an IRC client or through a Java supported Web Browser. It can be reached at irc.pseudo.com, channel #apogee, or www.apogee1.com. Other IRC networks such as EFNet and 3DNet have Prey channels too. Just join a server on one of these networks and join #Prey. }+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ }|Part II: | }| Prey: The Technology | }| | }+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ } }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }1. PreyOS }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }1.1 What is PreyOS? }-------------------- } } PreyOS is short for Prey Operating System. It is the bottom layre of }the game, the engine, and all the other programs that run with Prey. PreyOS }is a DOS style, command line driven, "console." Within PreyOS, you can }even browse your directories and files! } } }1.2 I just want to play the game, what does it do for me? }---------------------------------------------------------- } } PreyOS is behind the scenes if you load a standard game. You don't }even need to know that it exists. But if you wanted to change a setting }manually or load a file into Prey, PreyOS comes in handy. The PreyOS can }be compared to the consoles in the Quake games. } } }1.3 I want to edit the game, what does it do for me? }----------------------------------------------------- } } The real power of the PreyOS goes to the customizing of the game. }When editing a level or an object, you can load the appropriate tool to }edit, then instantly see how it looks in the game since the Prey Engine }is always running. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. The Prey Engine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 What is the Prey Engine? ----------------------------- The engine is one of the most important parts of a game. It takes the information held in a data files, and puts it all together into an environment. William Scarboro is the man who created the engine used in Prey. 2.2 How does the Prey Engine Work? ------------------------------------ To get an environment on the monitor, a few steps must be taken: 1. Engine does basic calculations, tells API what to draw on screen. 2. API adds special effects and goes to the 3D Graphic Card. 3. 3D Graphic Card renders the environment and displays it on monitor. ------- The following is a excerpt from the 3D Acceleration Primer v1.0 By Daniel Starr (dstarr@math.mit.edu) In 3D graphics, objects are built out of small triangles - polygons. The program starts with a basic definition of how each particular object or building's polygons connect - "this is what a dragon looks like", "this is what the church looks like", etc. Then, to draw images, the program takes these objects and computes how they move in relation to you, the viewer. The dragon may be moving toward you, the knight may be turning around, and so forth. The program has to figure out what the new positions of the objects are, how the light falls on them, and whether your view of them is blocked by other objects or the edge of the screen. To give you perfectly smooth motion, the program has to do this 30 times per second. (In practice, 10 or 15 frames per second may be acceptable. It depends on what you're doing.) Because each object is made of triangles, this job divides nicely into two parts. After all, a triangle is controlled by its three corners - its vertices. If you determine the new locations of the vertices, then the locations of all the other points of the triangle are just weighted averages of the locations of the vertices. If you determine the lighting at the corners, then the light on the body of the triangle is pretty close to an average of the light of the corners. And so on. So the first half of 3D graphics is figuring out what happens to each vertex of each triangle - "geometry". The second half is turning that information about the triangle vertices into information about the body of the triangles, which tells us what to color the pixels on your screen - "rendering". Rendering consists of four basic tasks: rasterizing, Z-buffering, shading, and texture mapping. -------- 2.3 What are the Prey Engine features? ------------------------------------------ There are some features in the Prey engine that make it stand out from others. Below is a list with descriptions: * True 3D Polygon Engine: Six Degrees of freedom gives the ability to move in any direction, plus any architecture can be made. Prey has a unrestrictive engine, and the only limit to what can be made is frame rate. Polygons are used for all objects in Prey including characters. * 16-Bit Colors 16 Bit Color depth(65536 Colors) allows everything to look more realistic with more shades of color. Most software engines only use 256 colors. * Advanced Lighting Effects - Colored Lighting Most lights in games and in real life are white, and they show everything by their true color. In Prey, colored lights can be used. This can be compared to covering a light with a red colored plastic, for example. It gives off a red tint of light, and everything the light touches is also red. Add another light, and they can mix and create a new color. This gives a great variety of lighting possibilities in Prey. The lighting is also 16bit. - Dynamic Lights Lights in Prey do not need to be static, non moving. Lighting can move throughout the environment. Due to the speed of Prey's dynamic lighting system, and low computational overhead, Prey can simulate a large number of concurrent, colored dynamic lights in any one scene. - Radiosity Lighting Lighting can be reflected off any surface in the game, including yourself! This makes very realistic lighting. Textures can also have their own light value under Radiosity. - Shadow Casting As the name suggests, a shadow is casted when an object blocks a light source. This shadow can appear on any solid object, depending where it is in relation to the light source. * MIP Mapping A method using multiple textures, reduces pixelation when up close to an object. In Prey, when you move up to a wall, no pixels should be zoomed in on and visible. MIP mapping also eliminates some of the "moirΘ patterns you can see when very geometric patterns are viewed at a distance. Currently, Prey handles nine levels of MIP mapping. * Kinematics Prey has a Interpolated / Kinematic character animation system. This system gives the effect of smoother motions in the characters, without the need to create more frames of movement. Animations are stored as "bone keyframes" and the players computer will generate the actual frames between each keyframe based upon the speed of the system. * Weather Conditions Fog, and possibly other weather conditions such as rain or snow may be present in Prey. Again, these make a more realistic environment. * Sound Prey will be using a third party, Windows 95 Sound Engine. At this time, this engine has not been chosen yet. 2.4 What is Portal Technology? -------------------------------- A new technology, Portal Technology is the key to Prey's engine. This technology allows environments and events to take place that would be impossible in real life, or by Geometry Laws as we know it. Other 3D Engines like Quake use BSP (Binary Space Partitioning) trees. Portal Technology is differs from BSP in a few ways. * What Paul Schuytema says about Portal Technology: "What the portal technology gives us, is the ability to break free from static environment geometry-our environments can change geometry dynamically, during game play, in a far more interesting manner than simply opening doors and moving platforms that are found in most BSP-based engines." * An article in Boot Magazine interviewing Joe Gilby about Portal Technology: In portal games, the world is made of connected convex polyhedrons with polygons allowing visibility between the polyhedron cells. "The idea is that these cells are stored in a graph structure such that, when traversed, they will sort correctly," explains Joe Gilby. "If you're in a room with an open door into another room (all different portals), the far rooms are drawn first but just the pieces that are visible through the door and window are actually rendered. The cells subdivide the world into pieces that quickly identify areas that are of interest, and the objects which exist in those cells. Portal supports arbitrary sloping surfaces, and six-degrees-of-freedom viewing" One advantage of this approach is the flexibility of defining the portal cells. Current BSP implementations require splitting polygons that straddle the extended plane of other polygons, so the more complicated the scene, the more polygons you have to deal with. Portals require splitting in order to maintain polyhedron convexity, but it's local to the immediate neighborhood and can be avoided by level designers, given a little training. This allows for more complicated settings. Also, the portal cell based approach can avoid screwing affects such as characters and explosions piercing through walls, due to the portal cell drawing order. In a BSP renderer, the physics have to prevent objects in one leaf penetrating into another or clipping, because the renderer will dutifully draw them in both. "In portal, objects are confined to their containing cell, unless you explicitly say otherwise," says Gilby. "This makes the superpostitioning come out right. We can also use portal cells to define open spaces containing an atmosphere medium, such as flowering water, billowing smoke, and murky water." 2.5 How does the Prey Engine compare to...? --------------------------------------------- |Feature | Prey | Quake II | Unreal | DirectEngine | _____________________________________________________________________________ |True 3D | YES | YES | YES | YES | |Hardware Only | YES | NO | NO | NO | |API |Own/OGL| OpenGL |D3D/Glide| Direct3D | |Color Depth | 16Bit | 8Bit | 16Bit | 16Bit | |Engine Type | PT | BSP | BSP | BSP | |Radiosity | YES | YES | NO | NO | |MMX Support | NO | NO | YES | NO | PT = Portal Technology BSP = Binary Space Partitioning D3D = Direct3D ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Hardware Support ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.8.2 What 3D API does Prey Use? ----------------------------- The 3D API (Application Programming Interface) is the software interface for graphics hardware that allows programmers to produce high-quality 3D objects. It is independent of the Hardware and Operating System. A 3D API serves as the link between the 3D Graphics Card and Prey. }Currently, Prey uses a cross between its own API and Glide (3Dfx's API). The engine talks to the API which, in turns, talks directly to the drivers of a specific 3D card. }The Prey team is sitting back and watching where the two main 3D APIs, }Direct3D and OpenGL, are moving and will decide on one in the future. }In choosing an API, speed comes first and manufacturer support second. 3.3 What 3D Graphics Cards does Prey support? --------------------------------------------- Prey will use 100% hardware acceleration. Meaning to take advantage of the high speed engine, Prey will be designed to use the 3D Graphics Card. By using Hardware only, a greater graphic quality is achieved and more special effects can be added. Prey will support all of the top 3D cards. Prey will NOT run without a supported 3D Card. It is required. Currently, Prey is supporting Chipsets from the following companies: 3Dfx - http://www.3dfx.com/ Rendition - http://www.rendition.com/ The following cards can be used with Prey: [Chipset:] [Card Maker, Product Name] }3Dfx Voodoo 2: } California Graphics, 3D Wizard } Creative Labs, 3D Blaster Voodoo 2 } Diamond, Monster 3D II } Jazz Multimedia, Renegade 3D } Orchid, Righteous 3D II 3Dfx Voodoo Rush: Hercules, Stingray 128/3D Intergraph, Intense 3D Voodoo Jazz Multimedia, Adrenaline Rush 3D } Deltron, RealVision Flash AT3D Rush } Skywell, Magic 3D Rush } DFI WG-8200 / 3DX 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics: } miro, miroHISCORE 3D (6MB) } Canopus, Pure3D (6MB) } Guillemot, Maxi Gamer 3D } TechWorks, Power3D } Skywell, Magic 3D Deltron, RealVision Flash 3D Diamond, Monster 3D Orchid, Righteous 3D }Rendition VΘritΘ v2200: } Hercules, Thriller 3D } Jazz Multimedia, Outlaw 3D } }Rendition VΘritΘ v2100: } Diamond, Stealth II S220 Rendition VΘritΘ v1000: Canopus, Total3D Creative Labs, 3D Blaster PCI Intergraph, Intense 3D 100 } I/O Magic, MagicVideo 3D miro, miroCRYSTAL VRX Sierra, Screamin' 3D }3.4 Input Devices }----------------- } } Prey has been programmed with all new input controls. Prey supports }the default keyboard and mouse plus other devices. As for specialty input }devices, the rule is, if Windows supports it, Prey should support it. } } This section will list which products that work with the game and }which products that do not. } } }3.5 Output Devices }------------------ } } The most popular way of displaying Prey is on a conventional CRT }Computer Monitor. Other ways such as LCD screens and Television Sets should }work fine with Prey. Other devices such as VR Glasses have yet to be }determined how they work with Prey. } } Resolution is the most important thing to look at when displaying }Prey on a screen. The rule is, the higher the resolution, the better the }image quality. There is a setback to higher quality, that is speed. }When your video card has to update a larger area, speed and frame rate slows }down. } } The recommended resolution for quality and speed is 640x480. Prey }can handle any resolution your 3D Card's memory can hold. } }3.6 Sound Cards }---------------- } } Sound is half the experience! Prey uses a licensed Sound Engine for }the game. Prey should work with all sound cards. If yours is setup in }Windows and works correctly in Windows, then it should work in the game. } } 3D Sound? The Prey team is looking into possibilities of of new }sound technologies to be incorporated into the game. Nothing solid has been }decided here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Multiplayer Technology ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 What kind of multiplayer support will Prey have? ---------------------------------------------------- The following is a list of planned methods of playing multiplayer games in Prey. TCP/IP Internet Play: True internet play is planned for Prey. A Client/Server system will be used where anyone who wants to play others logs into a server. It is unknown at this time how many players a server can handle at a time. Playing over Total Entertainment Network(TEN), will also be offered. IPX/SPX Network Play: The fastest and smoothest way to play Prey. Playing over a LAN may be the best choice for many. Serial Play: Because Play is geared toward TCP/IP play, serial play may be hard to fit into Prey. This will be a major engineering task to make play over a Null Modem Serial Cable work. Modem Play: Modem Play has the same setup as Serial play, and will face the same problems. }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }5. Preditor }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }5.1 What is Preditor? }--------------------- } } Preditor is the level editor for Prey. It will be included in the }registered version CD of the game as a bonus. Preditor was designed to be }very powerful, yet easy to use. Preditor can look like Quake Editors with }the conventional top, side, front, and iso views, or it can look more like }the famous Build Editor. Preditor allows "Build Style" editing by walking }through your levels and editing in real time. There is also no waiting once }you want to play your level in the game. Simply save and run. } } Many people are looking forward to editing Prey and using the mighty }Preditor. Expect many different guides and FAQs to help everyone out on }this editor once it is released. } } }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- }6. Skinner }---------------------------------------------------------------------------- } }6.1 What is Skinner? }-------------------- } }Skinner is the object and texture utility for Prey. Skinner is used for }all objects in the game including characters and items. Skinner opens }files with the VRML 2 format, then the object is prepared for its }entrance into the game. "Bones" are fitted into the object, then Skinner }helps with texturing the object and it is then ready for the game. -- The End --------------87410CFC0D74F9CCCE3D2C49-- -- Joseph Seymour (a.k.a. Lord Soth) lordsoth@ix.netcom.com Maintainer of Lord Soth's Games on the Internet WWW site: http://happypuppy.com/lordsoth/