EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/us3yE.png)
My estimation of 1 month of work was perfectly attainable had I not encountered some massive setbacks.
My video card decided to start giving me some serious issues and had to be replaced, setting me back by about $450 and a fair amount of time. On top of this, the game's particle editor mysteriously stopped working afterwards, as did my ability to direct edit AAC audio from mkv files in audition (though unrelated and more of an annoyance than a serious issue).
I spent a long time trying to figure out what the particle editor's problems were, time that would have otherwise been invested into the project. Eventually I was forced to teamview my crappy laptop to get some work done.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IIacT.jpg)
I'll admit - even though I had "fixed" the editor, the project was looking a whole lot more agonizing to complete.
I was at the brim of a huge revision of all existing particles, and I had set off all needed particles for new ships to do in that revision. In essence, I had to go through a dozen extra steps per particle per test of particle (each particle usually goes through 10+ mini revisions to tweak intensity and such) and all of the associated latency involved with simple actions to perform a colossal workload I had set back to save time. Oh me oh my.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kM0cQ.png)
A colossal number of ships needed their sounds and particles to be finished, work I intended to pass at when I added a chunk of models in segmented fashion. I was poised to re-record the entire Black Sun video project after taking advantage of new skills I had learned in effects and sounds. Now, I would be lucky if I ever finished the project at all...
And then the particle editor mysteriously stopped working on the laptop, too. I was ready to throw in the towel. No particles means no Black Sun.
Part-way through my fevered rage, a friend of mine discovered that the particle editor stores its settings in plaintext. Plaintext that, as it turns out, the program will corrupt randomly. Yay for indie devs and .net 2.0! Deleting those files allowed the editor to work on my main computer, and all was well, save a colossal amount of wasted time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aFfjI.jpg)
:everythingwentbetterthanexpected:
Following this hideous series of events I took strong swings at all particles in the game as well as creating over a hundred new weapon sounds. Both the Anahn and the Undead saw their part 1 portions complete, and I re-recorded the entire Black Sun video project that had thus far been completed. In the weeks of this work I revised the compositing, acquired the female dialogue I needed from a first-time voice actor, and finished all I could immediately finish of the project.
Part 2 of the video remains to be done, with a quantity of Xy`Kranasha ships needing to be modelled and appropriately set up ingame. Most concerning of all, however, is the amount of CGI material I still need for the project that has not yet been started on by Lavarinth. As I do not know After Effects and my modeling skills are very limited, possessing absolutely no rendering, animation, or material know-how at all, I am looking at probably having to ditch all of the CGI aspects of the project.
The fate of the Zelconian ships, two of which are ingame and one remains to be complete, is uncertain. Three ships is a little low to showcase a race with, and they aren't particularly big ships, either...
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZMeXq.png)
Seems like a waste to ditch all of the work I did for them, though.
Playing catch up is always a bitch, but I expect ingame stuff, compositing, and all over things I am capable of doing myself to be done in a few weeks now. Then the real battle will be fought - the decision on whether to attempt the CGI junk myself or drop it from the project concept and release without it.
If all goes well, and it probably won't, my next big post will contain the finished product.
