WSippel

Well, first of all, there's only one driver with OGL2 support right now, and that's a beta driver for the WildcatVP series by 3DLabs, not really hardware for gamers. Then, there's not much in OGL2 that's not already possible with OGL1.5 + ARB extensions, the only new thing is that those extensions are now formally approved as OGL standard. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that, OGL2 is cool, and OGL does everything Direct3D does plus a whole lot more (because OGL supports extensions and D3D uses a fixed feature set). But I would love to see more OGL and less D3D based games - I know, some things are easier to do with D3D, but OGL is more mature, more flexible and more portable (I'm a Linux dev, so D3D is not an issue, anyway)... And yes, it should be possible to use OGL2 in software mode, as soon as MESA supports OGL2.

I don't get what some people think a romance should look like - hey, this is not intended to suggest borrowing from Playboy Mansion... I just think the romance in KotOR (only played LS/DS male) gave the story more emotional depth (especially playing LS). Love is an even stronger emotion than friendship, that made the confrontation with Bastila on the Star Forge very touching. But, after completing the game, I found that romance-thingy a little two-dimensional. It was a driving force (for me, that is) throughout the game, but in the end, it left a lot to desire. I'm not talking sex there, I didnt't even miss kissing and hugging cut-scenes, there's a time for this after the quest. But, I mean, look at the ending: You save Bastila by admitting you love her, she tells you the same, and in the end, it seems like this didn't ever happen... There should be more complex relationships (friendship/ romance, with reflections in the ending sequence), it should be optional (and more or less LS bound); but if you choose to tie bounds, it has to be of greater relevance for the story. There are people that find those things motivating - if you aren't one of them, play DS or an eunuch LS hermit... ;-) PS: Yes, indeed, I do have a _real_ girlfriend - and no, that doesn't make me feel guilty for 'loving' Bastila... ;-)

Hear hear! It's interesting to see so many people find the romance thing important (but that's why I prefered to play LS - yeah, I'm kinda romantic... ;-)). Please give us some more!

Love each other??!? This would get a XXX rating... ;-)

Well, the rating does (of course) matter - more or less... You see, it pretty much depends on where you are located. In the USA, you may not show too much romance and gore (no splatter, that is). In Germany, you could depict romances (and even nudity and sex), it doesn't really matter if it's not hardcore (Hmmm - no, we don't want this), but the little violence in KotOR was sufficient to get a 12+ rating. In France or the Netherlands you may show much more without getting a higher rating... Dismemberment and gore would get a 18+ rating in Germany, even if it's optional; simply showing some blood or something like this would make it 16+. Bottom line is, KotOR is rated Teen in the states, which is more or less the equivalent to 12+ in Germany. Would _some_ more romance make it M rated? I think I'll never understand the US laws... ;-) What does M rated mean? 16+? Would it really matter if KotOR2 would be M rated (I think most buyers are older than 16, anyways)?

I think a high one would be better - like, 30 or 40? It should be hard (next to impossible) to reach the cap... Gore should be optional (I would turn it on... ;-)), Romance is _very_ important. KotOR had some potential in that area, but it should have been more important if you played that way... I said 'yes' in another thread, but after thinking about it... Maybe not, some gamers prefer to choose the PC's name themself. How do you want to do a non-odd-looking introduction voice over?!? OTOH, I could live with a pre-defined name. No! A better overall AI! Malak was so unbelievable stupid, I killed him in no time (only using Force Wave)... Hmmm, that would reduce the time needed to finish the game by more than 60%, so I think this would be a stupi idea... Yes, but see above - longer gameplay _and_ teleporting!? I would also love to see a more 'cinematic' design (better camera, better editing, better choreography, better cut-scene style...), more 'epic' boss-battles (Malak was a joke), and longer, more rewarding endings...

One really important thing is: never buy the book without browsing it for some minutes! I've wasted a lot of money on books that didn't fit my style - everybody has a different way to learn, some like a theoretical approach, I prefer a practical way. When I wrote my first C++/ OpenGL piece, I browsed some stuff on NeHe, fired up my IDE and just started. It took me three hours to get a feeling for C++ and OpenGL, but then it was done... Something else: D3D or OpenGL is more than a matter of taste. OpenGL _is_ more portable, as is SDL (a free DirectX equivalent) or OpenAL, and it _is_ harder (if you use extensions), but it's also more flexible. D3D is nothing but a bunch of functions a GPU needs to have to be D3D compliant. But what do you do if you want to use something D3D doesn't do, because Microsoft decided it's useless or this function simply wasn't available when the last DX version came out? Right, either you have to skip using it and hope MS will add it in the future, or you'll switch to OpenGL and use an OpenGL extension... To sum it up: OpenGL does everything D3D does, and a lot more (depending on the GPU). Some info about SDL (used for, eg: UT2k3, UT2K4 and most likely Doom 3): http://www.libsdl.org PS: If you start coding, try to write your code OS/ architecture agnostic (eg use SDL instead of DX where appropriate and OpenGL instead of D3D, and never assume an INT to be exactly 32bit). It's not that much harder, but it makes life much easier... ;-)

Giving PC's a voice would be consequent - they have a face, after all... And I want some more mature content (some gore, even if optional, and some romance... - the game will most likely be rated 12+ or 16+ in Germany, anyway). Other than that, I want better outros and better a designed environment, but I already started a thread about those issues...

Well, it comes for a reason that Softimage makes heavy inroads in the gaming biz... ;-) No, really, XSI is the most powerful 3D package I've ever used, especially for game development and NLA - can't wait for 4.0. The poly and SubD tools are by far the best in the industry, and the ability to easily drop in any display engine you want makes it really great for games - XSI 4.0 will also include OpenDE for dynamics, with the ability to replace OpenDE with Havok or anything else you want to use. BTW, Softimage also offers a free edition of XSI, called XSI EXP. It's far more full featured compared to Maya PLE (it also includes Mental Ray, Hair, Compositing etc.). The student license is available for about $ 300, and it's said to be the full XSI 4.0 Advanced Edition - with additional features like Syflex cloth (similar to Maya cloth, but many times faster; developed by Square for Final Fantasy - The Movie), OpenGL accellerated Mental Ray, raster- and vector paint etc. The commercial Advanced Edition is pretty expensive, about $ 9000... See: http://www.softimage.com/exp/

It's C++ (g++) and Java for me, with basic GNU C understanding (good enough for basic debugging), as well as some scripting languages (BASH, CSH). I'm mostly into PHP and SQL, but that I do for work. And I also have some _really_ basic knowledge of QT, Nvidia Cg, OpenGL SLang, ErLang, Smalltalk and Python... BTW, I'm getting a little angry here: Plankalk

I just finished KotOR (LS+DS), really great game - I was very happy reading that Obsidian will do the sequel. But there are (as usual) things I hope Obsidian will do better with KotOR2 than Bioware did with part one: 1.) The outros of KotOR suck big time. They are boring, ugly, badly designed and all-to predictable. Since they are drawn using the game engine, it would have been reasonable to spend a little more time and effort to satisfy the player after hour and hour of playing the game. 2.) It's good that Bioware choose to render the cutscenes using the game models - it fit's better in the overall look. But why pre-render the scenes? This gives the cutscenes an odd look, using 1280x1024 for the game when the cutscenes are only 640x480... 3.) Using some more, different textures and (even more important) the use of normal maps (especially for the characters) would greatly add to the visual appeal of the game! See here for some infos about 'normal maps': http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/normalmaps.html 4.) Bigger level segments (to reduce loading times) would also be great, maybe using preload similar to GTA (when you near a certain segment, the segment gets loaded and set-up, so you don't ever realize it's loading anything).