I found this rifle mod for the Nintedo Wii being sold on Amazon.  Just imagine how awesome it would be to play an explosive, action-packed, 3D version of Anaksha on a console using this as a controller!! 

Just wishing everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year! Hope you all got lots of presents and celebrate by playing lots of games and/or watching TV.

As for Anaksha, 2010 is going to be a big year for her! Let’s hope lots of good things are on the horizon for this project.

Anyway happy holidays!

- Arif

OK I don’t normally talk about stuff like this but Rage Against The Machine (mentioned in the original script as one of Anaksha’s favourite bands) are in the fight to get to the Christmas no 1 in the UK chart. This morning they were on the BBC Radio 5 breakfast show, and despite being told not to swear, they went along with it for a while then suddenly - WHAM!!  You can listen to a hilarious recording of it all here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIa5NoPH9c

I REALLY hope they win cos firstly I’ve been a HUGE Rage Against The Machine since I was 15 and secondly I can’t stand commericalised, sub-standard pop music being forced down my throat every Christmas.

There was a subtle reference to the band in the first game when Edward lectures Anaksha about listening to that “flag burning” music.  Rage Against the Machine are also mentioned in the game sequel.  You’ll see a close up of Anakshas new cellphone and you’ll be able to catch the occasional glimpse of her personal “pre-mission” playlist.  It’ll give players an idea of what she listens to, to pump herself up just before a mission.

I know there’s not been much activity going on with the status bars to the left (even though I’m working on it pretty much every single day).  So I’ve added another bar to keep you updated on whats happening.

The “construction” phase come comes just before the actual illustration phase.  In most cases, what an illustrator will do is draw construction lines and rough guidelines to build up the drawing.  But In my case (because I’m on a deadline and because I’m still learning) I’ve got no choice but to use a lot of 3D and photographic reference which are being set up to look like the shot I want.  After which, all I do is go over the lines and stylise everything in my own unique way.

This should help speed things up and I’ll hopefully be able to release the game for April.

Well its been a while since I’ve said anything so I’d better write about what’s happening before people lose faith and think its all over.

The game is coming along really well so far.  I’m busy with all the cutscene illustrations, which there’s literally hundreds to do.

As for the release date, I think I may have a possible estimate for you all.  I was going to release this information via the mailing list, but it’s still not active yet.  Having said that I still encourage you all to go sign up for it here, so when it finally does go active then you won’t miss out on stuff.

OK. Now for my estimate.  I reckon I’ll have the game finished, tested and ready for release by April 2010. That means there’s only 4 months left for me to sort out everything and knock this on the head once and for all.  I’m pretty confident I can do it!

Just added a mailing list to the index page on the main website.  I’m hoping to use it to send out breaking news updates to all subscribers BEFORE it’s announced on the main website (just the important stuff).  That includes things like new game announcements, features, possible rumours, etc.

I still haven’t tested it fully so bear with me.  But please feel free to sign up anyway so that way when things do get going you won’t miss out on anything.

Please note: The Anaksha logo you’ll see when you sign up is the new one in the sequel, which is slightly more refined.  It’s just a shape at the moment and I’ve yet to add a chrome effect.

Hi guys

Its been a while since my last update.  I’ve been distracted for the past two weeks. Something turned up and I had to see it to it quite urgently.  But anyway things have been sorted now so I’ll be continuing development in my spare time again.

So far there’s nothing new to report besides the fact that I’m just busy creating more cutscene illustrations, etc which is tiring work and there’s still a hell of a lot of drawings to do!!  *pulls hair out*

Will keep you posted on the progress.

OK. I’ve spent the last two weeks experimenting with cutscenes and MAN is this tough!!!  If it wasn’t for my highly charged sense of passion for this project I would have seriously lost motivation and quit!

So what have I learnt from the past two weeks?  Well I’ve got a better idea of how big the final file size will be and I’m now estimating around 20 - 30mb.  I’ve also decided it would be best to split it up into chunks which load on request, so the actual game will only be something like 2mb and will only load each cutscene as and when required (only IF the player has chosen “Story Mode” otherwise there will be no cutscenes)

I’m also noticing some lag of around 10 frames when a cutscene has been playing for around 3 minutes. Yes I know its only 10 frames but its not a good thing if the music is timed to the visuals. You remember the last cutscene on Anaksha Female Assassin? That’s how all the cutscenes are in this game.  The music is also of a much higher standard.

The artwork is still black and white (with the occasional splash of colour) which is how I like it.  It’s a God-send how it suits the game so perfectly yet its one of the easiest styles to draw. Which is a good thing if you need to quickly knock up extra artwork to fill in those “emotional gaps” in the shot.

With regarding to testing the main game for lag, all those issues have been resolved.  I’ve replayed some of the new levels over 20 times in a row and there’s been no loss of frame rate.  All the variable clean-up is working nicely.

Its amazing how big the file gets once you start adding graphics. I remember not so long ago, the SWF was just over 200k.  Adding 11 levels has bloated it to 800k, and there’s plenty more levels yet to be added.

I’ve got a feeling once the cutscenes have been added along with the soundtrack, the swf filesize is gonna catapult to around 40Mb - 50Mb! I’ve already created an interesting preloader for it which should keep the player mildy amused/occupied while the game loads.  Other than that, it will all depend on how good the player’s internet connection is.  I think its not such a huge issue in this day and age. If it was 10 years ago, then there might have been a problem. But I think a 50mb game shouldn’t take too long to load given the average user’s broadband connection, and the speed of most web servers nowadays.

As always, time will tell.

It’s a question which is on a lot of people’s lips, if not yours. How long before the game’s release or at least how long before we all get too see a teaser/trailer or something?

Well I don’t have a definite answer, but I can try and answer it anyway.

I reckon the main game will be complete within the next 3 to 4 weeks or so. Now don’t get too excited - I said the MAIN game not the whole game. Once that’s done, I have to start the cutscenes. Once I’ve completed one or two of them I will have a better idea of how long its gonna take in total. Ideally I’d like to get it done by the time I’m 65… ok maybe a slight exaggeration there - maybe Christmas 2009.

All I have left to do is to draw the rest of the levels and all the cutscenes. Everything else game code, agent animations/clothing, story, etc is all pretty much in place.