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Here's how it's gonna go down...

This week has been very productive. I added something into the game, finally. After so much prototyping during the development cycle, I finally got one thing to work. Say you're playing the campaign. You press the '0' button. What does it do? It takes you to a dialog box. You type something into the dialog box, and the game saves.

It may not sound like much, but making a save game system in Game Maker proved a little difficult. I finally got it to work. There is one glitch though. If you load the game from the Main Menu, it will take you to your previous save, and somehow see through walls. I tried fixing it, but there doesn't seem to be a way. I'm afraid that that's one bug that'll ship with the game :/
I'm not proud of it either..

But there is some more news.
We'll call you Leroy...

Just kidding. But we will announce the official tagline to Pathways 2.

Return to the Dark.

Sounds catchy, no?

More on the Development Cycle

Above is the simplest script I could type to just save and load games. You would think coding this simple function would be maybe 5 lines of code long. Coding does get complicated. The learning process is so...
I'm currently working on the levels for the third chapter in the game, The Mystery. I won't spoil the campaign here, but I will tell you that I have just 2 more chapters to complete. I'm so excited to be almost finished with this game! I hope that you all like it as much as I loved creating it. I'm so tickled.
And I'm so glad that they're here for us. They aren't like other developers. They're Bungie. They allowed us to create this game. The gave us that right, and in return, they got a spot in the game. You see the screen above right after the Recon-2 Softworks splash screen. And it'll live on forever. Bungie gave us the IPs we so love. Every moment in Marathon, Myth, Halo; we still relive and revisit these worlds they created. Heck, I got Marathon 2 and Myth sitting right above my computer. I'll pop a disc in later...


But I think that'll be all for this week. See everyone next week!
-baile045
 
 

The Pathways II Guide

The Development Process

Above, you see the final design of the long concepted main menu. No telling how many times I've redesigned it. Originally, it didn't even have a background. There were more buttons, and most were pointless. It didn't have the logo. It was bland, but after a long process of just designing what Pathways main menu would look like, here's the final product. But that's the main menu.
Here's the title menu. I think it's beautiful.
But not much here. You get here after the Recon-2 splash screen and Bungie splash screen (we thanked them for letting us make the game). The main theme begins to play, and you can just sit here and listen if you want, but we all know that you want to play the game. So you click Main Menu, and go to the Main Menu.

Above, you see the Game Maker IDE, and a level in Pathways Into Darkness 2. I have 3 more chapters in the game to complete. Thanks to Game Maker's drag and drop interface, level design is pretty quick. After I complete the levels, i'll add the story details into the game which is fairly easy. The story is told in a way kinda like Marathon, except that the dead bodies are the terminals. You talk to them, like in the original game, but don't ask questions. They simple tell you if there's monsters ahead, if a ladder is somewhere in the room, or just a general piece of information, like how they died.

Weapons in Pathways Into Darkness 2

At first, we took weapon sprite off the internet and planned to intergrate them into the game. We cut that idea on count of copyright infringement possibilities. So in spite of that, we created our own, and i'll show you the weapons. There are only 2 present in the game, and each have a bottomless clip (we'll tell you why later).
This is the Hellraiser pistol. It is the first weapon you will use in the game. It fires a single round, and is semi-automatic (meaning you have to keep hitting the spacebar to fire).
This is a AR45 Individual Combat Weapon System. It is an assault rifle, and is fully automatic (just hold and mow).

Now I said that I would explain why the guns have bottomless clips. I tried to build a ammo system, with a sum number of bullets in a clip. The system would not work no matter how many times I tried. The game would crash or display so many errors. I had to cut it due to frustration and time constraints. Im sorry, but at least you can mow headless's c:

The monsters of Pathways Into Darkness 2

The monsters of the game would probably be the most important aspect of the game. They all will try killing you. I even hid some so that you will walk past them, and they'll come up behind you and attack. Headless's do not shoot gunk at you, Ghoul's don't throw rocks, and so on. And there's a reason for that, too. I could not create a complex A.I that could make decisions on the go. As much as I want them to, no... and I wish it would work. I have a lot to learn about GML. But at least they give you something to shoot at, and the Headless's snowy plover screech will live on in the game. Anyways, here's the monsters.
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Headless
The Grunt's of Pathways 2. They return in the sequel, and will do anything to kill you and eat your tasty flesh. They usually travel in packs, but some wander the pyramid alone...

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Ghoul
The hunchback-like abomination that stomps in the halls. There rare in the game, and walk toward you with there mouths watering.

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Phantasm
This mysterious creature lurks in the top levels of the pyramid, and are rarely found anywhere else.

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Zombie
This isn't the apocalypse, but they sure are an infestation down in the depths. They're a common site in Pathways 2.

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Gasher
A enemy that was present in an early version of Marathon makes its debut in Pathways Into Darkness 2. They're found in later parts of the game.

And what wraps up the enemy part of this post.
This is the screen that the 'terminal story' will appear in (minus the text).

Well that just about wraps this week up. I did promise a gameplay video, but due to slow internet (it suckssss), we'll try again next week when my provider decides to speed it up.

See you next week!
-baile45
 

Bungie's Destiny

So I kinda want to brag about Bungie's next great game, Destiny. Personally, I'm really excited about this game. There's a lot of potential building up behind it. I'm sure that a gamer like you has at least heard of it. If not, then i'll give you a brief summary.

Destiny is a upcoming shared-world first person shooter by the acclaimed developer, Bungie. It takes place years after "The Collapse", and tells of humanity's attempt of exploring the solar system once again. Humanity was driven back to Earth, with a huge object known as "the Traveler", protecting them. The Traveler sacrificed itself to save humanity, and then slowly built the Last City. The protectors of the city are known as "Guardians". You play as a Guardian, and you can explore the solar system, and help protect humanity from various races of aliens that occupies humanity's old worlds. The Fallen, Cabal, Hive, and Vex are among some enemies encountered in Destiny.

Destiny releases worldwide in 2014 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Now, to Recon-2 stuff

As you may know, we're working hard to develop Pathways Into Darkness 2. I'm glad of the support I've gotten over these tiring months. Without a select few individuals, I wouldn't be able to pull this off. Thanks to Brandon Reese and Craig Hardgrove for the music in the game, and thanks to my Facebook community for the feedback and moral support.

If all goes as planned, I'm hoping to finish the game by the end of the month, and get ready for release. I'm going to upload Pathways 2 on 4shared.com, for reasons. I can't upload the game to our site because weebly only allows so much space, and Pathways is 250mb's in size, and will possibly grow due to included files. But, the download link will be legitimate. It's been a long year and a half, and I hope you guys love the game I struggled to create.

Cipher is coming together. I've posted a topic on GameMaker Community talking about the story, and they loved it. I've also posted the story on our website, which is further down. Cipher's got a long way to go.

Phoenix is also being thought out. I'm not gonna release any details now, but I will shed light on the old Phoenix that was being developed by Bungie.
Phoenix was kinda like Minecraft in terms of rendering. You could, as Jason Jones of Bungie stated, "Build castles, and knock holes in them, then dudes would come out." Not much information was released about it.

This past week has seen some pretty good production on Pathways. I give this week '2 thumbs up.'

Well, that just about wraps this week up. If the community is good to me, i'll have a little gift for you next week. I may showcase a gameplay video for Pathways Into Darkness 2. Y'all be good to me!

Peace out!
-bail045
 

The Fourth of July Edition

Recon-2's taking break today, other than making this quick weekly update post, we'll talk about some stuff and about this great nations birthday.

First things first. On July 4th of 1776, a bunch of great leaders signed our Declaration of Independence. They didn't only sign the document, they gave birth to this great nation full of creativity. Because of them, we have our freedom to do the things we love, and at Recon-2, we love making video games. God Bless this great nation.

Other than that, a lot has happened this past week. For one, I cracked my wrist falling off an ATV going 20 miles per hour. So, as you may imagine, I'm in pain. I got to wear a cast to speed the healing process. I'm making Pathways Into Darkness 2, with my left hand! And I'm proud to say I got things done.

I guess I'll wrap things up for this week. I will leave a little gift though. Here's a neat Cipher Wallpaper!
I'll be back next week with update #3!!
-baile045
 
For
years, humanity has seeked ways on expanding its civilization. They have
colonized other planets and moons in the solar system, including Mars, Europa,
Io, and Titan. Stellar travel isn't as hard as it used to be, and doesn't cost
more than a modern day airplane ticket to travel to another world. Ships dot the
gaps between worlds. Space cities are a common site. This is mans golden age,
and an end to it is nowhere in site. These are considered the good
days.



The year is 2497.



Humanity wants to go a little
further..



The Morgan project was conceived
under two goals: travel to another star system, and achieve slipspace
travel. This program began to develop a set of ideas to achieve this goal. One,
to build the largest starship humanity has ever seen. Two, to build a
Faster-Than-Light engine. Three, to reach the Gliese 581 system. Studies show
that this system houses a habitable planet, Gliese 581g.



They plan to go there.



In wake of this project, the Morgan program
altered one idea: to build two starships to travel to the system. Two ships
under the names 'Daedalus' and 'Icarus' were built, and they proceeded to become
the largest ships in human history. They were mounted with Mass Cannons for
safety from asteroids and other objects, and possibly encountering another
civilization. These ships were built in the asteroid belt in secret until the
project was ready to uncover.



The Morgan project is finally unveiled, and
excitement for this opportunity follows: to start a new life, on another world.
It would take 10 years to travel to the system, during which normal everyday
activities could be done on the ships, or the choice to go into cryogenic sleep.




In 2503, the Daedalus and Icarus complete
there trails across the solar system and on Earth, Mars, and the clouds of
Jupiter. These ships were the best of the best, and the fastest.



They were ready to leave..



And in 2504, they did...




The journey proved to be
a tough one. Many hazards were encountered along the way, including asteroids
and comets, which were destroyed with Mass Cannons and jets called Morgans
(which are flown in-game). It was five years into the journey when the ships
separated..



The Daedalus' science
teams spotted a rogue planet, in which they wanted to study for a few days, and
plot charts to see where it was headed. The Daedalus and Icarus separate, and
for a year, the Icarus is alone..



But then, something
triggered the alarms..



A scan on the radars of
Icarus detected an unidentified object approaching. And then the Icarus began to
get pulled towards the object. The crew attempted to go into slipspace. The
drive read 'Disabled'.



A bright light appeared
ahead of the ship. It had to be at least 600 times larger than Icarus. It was a
spacecraft, and not human in origin.



The Icarus was brought
into a hanger bay. And then it was boarded. The civilians and crew of Icarus
stared in awe at the beings that came aboard: they were
human.



But much larger. At least 8 feet tall with articles of
armor covering them. Even pieces of armor that floated free from them above the
shoulder. They stood with a distinguishing feature, a protruding limb that
started from the ankle up. It was surely human, but the thing was, it was
human.





  • This species of human was taken from Earth, long ago
    when they were still hunters and gatherers, from an ancient race of beings that
    performed tests on humans and other life. They were brought to their homeworld
    (which is unknown at the moment), and sold as slaves. Thousands of years later,
    the humans revolted and overthrew the race, and becoming the dominant race in
    the Milky Way. They started to expand, unbeknowist of where there homeworld was.

The crew of the Icarus was taken as prisoners to
the bridge of the Ancient Human ship. The Humans interrogated them, and saw them
as a threat. They were sentenced to death, only before the crew revolted. They
gathered weapons and fought their way back to the Icarus. Then the Ancient Human
ship rocked as if it got hit. The crew of the Icarus returned to their ship, and
saw that the Daedalus had attacked the Ancient Human ship. They disabled the
tractor beam, and made a slipspace jump away from the enemy
ship.



A
year later, they exit in the Gliese 581 system, approaching the star. In the
battle to break away from the enemy, Icarus was damaged. The shields that
protect from intense heat are damaged, and a hole is present on the port side.
Daedalus moves to the port side of Icarus so that repairs can be made. However,
a comet is making a fast approach towards Daedalus, and can't be shot with a
Mass Cannon because the shell would burn up as it was shot. The Daedalus has to
move, but the Icarus is still damaged. 5 minutes later, the Daedalus has to
move, and the souls who were repairing the outer hull stayed to make final
repairs, and burned up as the Daedalus moved. The crew of both ships mourned
over the lives lost, but sought to
continue.



Gliese 581g (now called Cyrus) is in plain sight,
but it appears that the planet is inhabited. And then alarms on both ships go
off, and is concluded that the Ancient Humans (Cyrians), are engaging Daedalus
and Icarus. A battle ensues all the way to Cyrus. They finally land on the
planet in a remote location. Its alien to the crew and civilians, but then they
see that to claim the planet, they must fight for it. They become a military
force.



Years
later, while on a routine sortie, a Morgan pilot discovers an abandoned
artifact. He lands and enters the complex. It looks destroyed, moss hang on
computer consoles, and dust covers the floor. However, as he enters, the
computers activate, and say "welcome, human. Would you like to return to
Earth?"



He
reports the discovery to Daedalus and
Icarus.



It
appears that the complex is two things. One, its a teleportation terminal, and
two, it can destroy planets. Its called
'Cipher'.


However,
it could only be activated by Earth humans. The ancient race had installed this
device on the planet for the humans there, but between the time the Cyrian
humans evolved and the time the complex was discovered, the genome in Cyrian
humans changed, and rendered the complex
useless.



Cyrian
humans rushed to the site in hopes of destroying Earth. They engaged Daedalus,
and it was destroyed while fleeing. Some scientists from Icarus chose the Icarus
as a target for teleportation, and teleported the ship to Earth, as with
themselves. The player gets left behind from protecting Daedalus, and hurries to
the Cipher for teleportation. He transports to the vicinity of
Earth.



And
the game
ends.

 
It all starts with one thought...
...and that thought could turn into
something great,
something exciting..


The greatest stories begin with a spark.
The spark grows into something
big and something that's fascinating and over time it becomes legendary.
It
becomes you..


You gotta tell that story somehow.
Whether it be in the form of a movie, a
book, a video game, whatever, you best tell it, because it's an insight on who
you are and who your gonna become.


Yeah,
I knew how I would tell my stories.


It's gonna take a while
It happened years ago...


 
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Welcome to Recon-2's newly redesigned website! More importantly, thanks for reading our first weekly update. We're going to get in the habit of posting on a weekly basis, so that you can read up on what everything we're doing.

But you kinda guessed what we are doing, right?

You should know that we are developing Pathways Into Darkness 2. After an ugly virus devasted this computer, I lost hope on ever getting that game made. Good thing I cooked that virus, now i'm back on track to developing this project.

Needless to say, I am happy happy happy (Phil Robertson quote).

Aside from Pathways 2, we're planning a new game called Cipher, as well as the newly announced game, Phoenix.
We're hoping that these projects take off, and unlike Pathways, I'm putting a price tag on these 2 new IPs. Both games are planned to be released on multiple platforms. More on that in the coming months.

Pathways 2 will be released in the 20th anniversary window of Pathways Into Darkness.

I guess this wraps up week one (lame, right?). See you next week up Update #2

-baile045

 
    
    You've probably been wondering where we've been. What we've been doing. You may have questions regarding Pathways Into Darkness 2. If the question is why wasn't it released in August of 2012 or October, there's a reason.

Pathways 2 wasn't ready. It still isn't ready. Actually, we've been working on the game nonstop since January of 2012. We're polishing the game. Making it the best it can be.

But wouldn't it be cool if it was released 20 years from the original?

We're slating the release of Pathways Into Darkness 2 for August 2013, 20 years after the release of the first game. In the meantime, we're going to make it the best it can be. Especially from a team of inexperienced developers. Well, a inexperienced developer.

I'm the only one working on Pathways 2. I'm trying my best. With that, I need support. I'd actually love to have a supporting group. I hardly have support on my Facebook page. Wished people would like it. I need all I can get. So when I get to the point where I click the 'build executable' button, know that I worked hard. When I release Pathways Into Darkness 2 onto 4shared, don't pressure me. It's really my first try on making a quality video game.

So that's that. Now to my next project.

I've been concepting ideas for a new game called Cipher. So far, I've drawn plenty of pieces of concept art and designed a main menu, just to give me a general feel on what the game may look like.

In truth, there is a lot of design being put into this game. It demands high quality art and design and features. The game is set in a unspecified amount of years into the future, where humanity is forced to colonize other worlds. There first step, a planet in the Gliese 581 system. They build 2 huge starships, called Daedalus and Icarus, and set out towards the planet. Along the way, many troubles occur, eventually to the point where they run into a entire alien fleet. You help protect both ships in any way possible, from space battles, to boarding ships, landing on asteriods, and eventually reaching humanity's goal: landing on another habitable planet.

We needed something to give us a challenge, but worthwhile. I slate to actually form a development team, from artists to coders to designers, to whatever. This idea for a game that has potential. It's a story that I need to tell in any way possible. It's going to take on a life of it's own. I'd actually like to see someone take my idea and develop a spin off using the name Cipher. But we'll get to that, one day.

If the game development takes off, and I see that the game will be completed, I will go as far as filming a live action trailer for Cipher. And I will most likely market the game, and charge for downloads, or ship the game on a disc. But i'm an indie developer: i'm not making any promises.

I will try posting more often. In the meantime, don't be afraid.

Pathways Into Darkness 2 is on its way.

And Cipher is coming...