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Prepare To Paint The Sky With Colour...Welcome To The Parsec Paintbox |
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The Parsec Paintbox was developed as part of the Team DP Maverick project, and this is where we like to keep all of our graphics related news and information as well as giving our very own TheNeil a small corner in which to shine. |
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News... |
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11th May 2002 Maverick development rolls on endlessly and Del's insistence on making this the best game the world has ever seen has meant tweaks here, there and everywhere and a whole new interface being thrown into the mix hasn't helped any either. AARRGGHH | ||
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20th April 2002 ...but it's just a shame that he couldn't get any decent serial port components. Bugs in the underlying code have meant that the serial port transfer app has been pulled - sorry =:( | ||
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18th April 2002 Ship development continues endlessly but after Neil's tightfistedness stopped him from registering the StarGate app, he went and wrote his own serial port file transfer app. Even better, he's made it available for free download. | ||
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15th April 2002 After an extremely quiet period, Mav development has picked up again. The iPro editor has been called into service again and been tweaked and 'persuaded' into doing some more new tricks (adverts). Several new ships have popped into the Maverick universe and they really look impressive but have managed to stick to the old style | ||
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7th April 2002 With the upgrade system behaving itself in the main game, here in graphics land Neil is designing more ships, space stations, and bits and pieces to make the universe look that little bit prettier. If he can be bothered he might post some new screen shots (but don't hold your breath) | ||
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28th March 2002 An editor to help with the upgrades system has popped into existence and hopefully this should allow the new ship trade-in/upgrade system to be tested fully. Del has reworked the missile system and the results are rumoured to be breathtaking - so good in fact that 'missile cam' might make an appearance... Feedback from the forums has so far been extremely positive and there's already talk of when the next beta will be put together | ||
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25th March 2002 With the Maverick beta now out in the big wide world it's still not time to have a well deserved rest. Some of the new features are demanding a whole new set of ships but Neil has worked out a way to cut the amount of data for each ship by about 2/3 - the result is faster drawing and smaller files. Del has implemented an upgrade system and from hereonin, you're no longer confined to the ship you start off with | ||
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23rd March 2002 The new Maverick beta is available for download right now and Del has been coding almost literally up until the last second. And there's already a list of features for the NEXT version that we want to implement - will this never end? | ||
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9th March 2002 Space station meshes are starting to shift from Neil's head into the world of 3DS and although they won't make it into the next (imminent) release, they should see the light of day in the next but one release (along with space scenery, new ships, bounty hunters...) | ||
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28th February 2002 With the code pretty much stable (shock) it's the graphics that are going berserk at the moment. Several new interfaces have been created for Maverick and the never ending mesh creation is still going on. That aside, Neil is playing around with some code that replaces all the Windows caption bars. Trivial, useless, and therefore typically Neil (but it's more stable than the versions that use Windows Hooks) (even if the effect is not quite as flawless). Expect a release soon | ||
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20th February 2002 A new and updated version of the Offline Help system is now available for download and Del's made sure that I've put loads of new stuff in: A complete system guide, an expanded species guide... It never ends | ||
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18th February 2002 Work has just started on the space objects and although we're sworn to secrecy, there are some quite bizarre objects about to be added to the Maverick universe. Hot news though is that Del has figured out how to load JPG files into the code and the new beta download has now gone from 28Mb to a mere 6Mb. No more modem meltdown | ||
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8th February 2002 Not much going on but a revision to the JumpGate editor has seen an automated space 'road map' generated. It creates a set of HTML pages that link the systems together and allow access to all the universe data. Not really a ground breaking piece of code but until we get some feedback on the new beta (released next week) it's all there is to do | ||
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1st February 2002 With the new beta stalled for a couple of weeks (grrr) things are a little quiet around here. A new set of meshes are under way but they're not the usual ships as we're looking to add some space junk... | ||
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17th January 2002 The next beta of Maverick is coming up, and we're looking to improve the realism level this time around. Moons are now making an appearance and that means a reworking of the universe editor. It's been rewritten to use a far more realistic model and the end result should be far more realistic systems and galaxies (like you care) | ||
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12th January 2002 With the Space Generator such a blinding success, Del has requested a planet generator (grrr). It's a nasty piece of code but the results aren't too bad when loaded into Maverick. Nightmare to code though | ||
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9th January 2002 Would you believe it, two downloads in one day! The Maverick ScreenSaver is now ready to go and so is the new fangled Image Browser. Both are available from the products page and the feedback that I've got from Del is extremely positive | ||
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7th January 2002 Christ, it's been ages since I posted anything. Lots has been happening in the Maverick realm too: A new all singing and dancing Maverick screen saver is just about to be released and we're just putting the finishing touches to Del's latest brainwave, an image browser (coded by yours truly naturally). Both look good and should be ready for download in the next couple of days. The next beta release of Maverick is coming along nicely and it promises to have a lot of new features and improvements over the old one | ||
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21st December 2001 EZ-FTP Client has had a bit of work done to it and the latest version (v1.1) is now ready for download. Not much has changed but it's got an improved Windows Explorer style interface and finally has features like sorting built in. And the font's changed too (who says we waste our time on trivialities) | ||
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20th December 2001 The last of the bounty hunters is finished and I've been asked by Del NOT to post any screen shots (he wants to keep them 'mysterious'). Those aside we've been busy putting together a Maverick screensaver and that should be available for download in the next couple of days (from the products page). The new Mav beta is in the offing so just like last time, we're finishing graphics and fixing bits and pieces. The new launch app should keep things nice and neat AND manage to get the download size down dramatically (14Mb is a bit much in my humble opinion) | ||
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14th December 2001 The first of the bounty hunters finally found it's way into 3D Studio this week and although it hasn't been textured yet, the response from Del is positive (thank God). And out of left field came an app that has the team totally gobsmacked: A space generator. Neil magically dreamt up this piece of code that creates images all on it's own and the end results are staggering. Take a look at the gallery page and just remember that these HAVE NOT been edited or touched up but are just how the silicon lord intended | ||
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10th December 2001 After a hectic weekend, the development machine is back up and running but took so long that very little got done. On the plus side though the EZ-FTP Suite apps are now ready for download and we're quite proud of them. They're fully functional and we like to think, very usable. Take a look on the products page | ||
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7th December 2001 Expect development to be upset for a couple of days as our main development machine is being taken down for some major maintenance. Shame that as the bounty hunters were all ready to be implemented... | ||
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6th December 2001 At last Neil got his finger out and cracked the 3D Studio file format. What does this mean in real terms? Well not much but it does let you import 3DS meshes directly in the 3D Animator package. The internal file format has also been rewritten and the resultant project files are now about 20% of their original size | ||
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2nd December 2001 With the EZ-FTP Suite just about finished, the usual Maverick things are starting to re-appear. Ships for bounty hunters are next and they're promising to be 'interesting'. Expect updates and maybe a couple of screen shots in the next couple of weeks | ||
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30th November 2001 Feedback on the Maverick beta is extremely positive and having been tight-lipped about it, I can now say that it's fabulous. The gameplay is stunning and the whole thing shifts like no-one's business. The graphics look amazing but it's Del's code that brings them to life | ||
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27th November 2001 Updated to actually tie in with the Maverick universe (seeing as how Del keeps changing it without telling me), the latest version of the Maverick Help System is now available for download (ta da) | ||
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26th November 2001 The Maverick download should be available right now and hopefully the next couple of weeks will be taken up with bug fixes on the code side of things. That all leaves me to do some work on an FTP client and server suite... | ||
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18th November 2001 With the impending Maverick beta release, things are going insane. The new JumpGate/Artifact editor is finished and incorporates an intelligent JumpGate created system (ie it creates the data itself). Del still needs graphics doing but now we're now down to the aesthetics so shouldn't take too long | ||
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12th November 2001 Oh such a busy, busy time. An updated version of the Offline Help system is now available for download and the work on the upcoming beta release is causing more than a couple of late nights. Work continues on graphics (icons etc.) but a new JumpGate/Space Artifact editor is now under construction and we're hoping to have both in place by the time we finally get a release EXE completed. Never heard of JumpGate's and/or space artifacts? well you'll just have to wait and see won't you. | ||
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9th November 2001 ...Now it's back to the humdrum. A new Maverick help file is on the way (with the new ships) and we're busy pushing for our beta release so it's very much a case of touching up graphics, meshes etc. Does anybody actually care? Has anyone actually ever read this? | ||
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8th November 2001 And lo, the textures and meshes did get plugged into Maverick, and God looked down and saw that it was good. In fact he saw that it was bloody amazing. Feedback from Del indicates that the retexturing has been a phenomenal success and Maverick now looks like the masterpiece that it is. Expects screenshots to start appearing in the next few weeks and be prepared for a full beta release around the back end of November | ||
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6th November 2001 Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the retexturing of the Maverick ships has finished. The CD has gone off to Del and we're just waiting for feedback (and some screenshots). This has been a nightmare and we're just praying that it'll all be worth it. Anyone mentions changing ANYTHING and I'll get seriously annoyed | ||
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16th October 2001 Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Well it's taken weeks but the new ships are coming through in dribs and drabs AND Neil got his finger out and created a few screen shots of the new ships. Why not take a look? | ||
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13th October 2001 Ship re-texturing is coming along nicely and despite a couple of problems, the new ships should be ready within a month. It's taking even longer than we feared though and EVERYTHING else is on hold until they're finished. Hopefully though there'll be a couple of screenshots posted in the next couple of days | ||
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2nd October 2001 At last I've given into all of the pressure and decided to revisit the Maverick ships. The amount of coverage Mav has had has forced me to realise that this could go big and after much discussion, Del and I have decided that a reworking of the ships is in order. The meshes are staying pretty much the same but the texture mapping is going to undergo a major overhaul (and hopefully that'll do the trick). Another big job so results may take a while to filter through and of course it means that everything else has been put on hold - Grrrr. Happy now? | ||
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28th September 2001 Neil's foray into the world of Java has at last paid off (hey, it only took 3 days). 'Hello World' apps? Bouncing balls? No chance. He's taken the Delphi transformation engine and created a Java applet that allows you to view a mesh online. Don't believe us? Well why not See For Yourself... | ||
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26th September 2001 The first alpha version of the new 3D World Editor has been coded up. Incorporating a complete rule engine/state system, a multi-level visual editor, customisable object and texture palettes, and an isometric world viewer, it's been written to work with the existing iPro data and should allow us to create huge sprawling multi-level worlds for use on the next generation of software. And what's left to do on it? Oh just the simple matter of a 3D engine | ||
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20th September 2001 News on the Maverick front is that the toughest game we've ever developed is close to being completed (after the AI engine was scrapped and replaced with something less complex). The next generation of software is around the corner and the 3D Animator finally sneaked it's way into the public domain where several gasps were heard given it's real time 3D rendering capabilities - Won't be long until this one is starts churning out some useful stuff. | ||
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15th September 2001 The new version of the website is now up and running (obviously) - Had you noticed? | ||
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8th September 2001 Del has been on the scrounge for new editors for the next DP release but no details are allowed to be let out of the bag on this one just yet. Maverick is still far from finished but the code now has a big section of it's background AI engine implemented and the real time state engine is starting to take shape. For more info, see the official Maverick site. Over here in pixel land I'm busy tidying up some of the development code and sketching designs for this and that, and working away on the site re-design | ||
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6th September 2001 Anybody else sick of this web page? I am. Expect a new lick of paint and a re-design in the next couple of weeks | ||
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3rd September 2001 It's been a busy couple of weeks but I'm back from my Washington exile and can honestly say that it couldn't pass quick enough. Did I pick up anything new and exciting on the graphics front while I was there? No chance. You're not interested in this though but it does mean that normal service can now be resumed... | ||
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18th August 2001 Adios Britain, The Parsec Paintbox is jetting off on it's hols for a couple of weeks while I attend a two week developer's conference in the US. Will I manage to survive in the land of cheap DVDs and no pavements? Will the plane crash? Will Maverick ever get finished? | ||
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13th August 2001 The hunt for web space continues and where the URL www.dodgyposse.com will finally point is anyone's business. Currently Geocities have shut us down and Fateback wiped their servers at the weekend which meant all of our stuff got ditched. Keep trying the URL as Del is roaming the net like a man possessed to get Maverick back online | ||
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10th August 2001 Problems with web space, domain names, and host servers are causing all sorts of hassles for the DP team. With Stodge closing his Canadian server down we're hunting around looking for a new server whole put up with our rubbish. It means of course that the official Maverick site may be down but we are working on the problem | ||
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5th August 2001 The initial release of the Maverick offline help system is now finished and ready for download. OK so under the covers it's a simple HTML browser but it's been given The Parsec Paintbox treatment and now looks far more impressive than a simple IE clone. Last minute additions include a dynamic 'news' generator and although it's been a nightmare to work out the HTML and get the data actually created, it looks fabulous. Designed to sit alongside Mav, download a copy right now...go on, you know you want to | ||
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27th July 2001 Will people please stop complaining about the current set of Maverick ships? I know that they're not exactly the most amazing designs in the world but as this was our first real excursion into 3D land I didn't want to go overboard and blow Del's 3D engine up. Time permitting they WILL be redeveloped and the new Renari ships are an indication of this. And don't even think about the textures... | ||
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14th July 2001 While Maverick is progressing nicely in the code stakes, new ideas keep popping up all over the place. New on the drawing board today is an offline help system. No clues just yet but if my tiny mind can work out the details, it should be something neat | ||
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...News prior to this date has been archived offline... |
The Parsec Paintbox was created by and is maintained by TheNeil and while all content is checked and updated regularly, the author cannot be held responsible for any broken links, incorrect information. Any software or data downloaded from this site is done so at the user's own risk and the author cannot be held responsible for any damage caused - ŠTheNeil 2001 |