What about A7 ?

Posted By: Shinobi

What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 06:31

I have the A6 Comm. and now iam thinking about to buy the Pro Version , but if there come a A7 , i better wait for that. So my Question is , will there come a A7 version ? and if so when will it come ?

Anyone knows that ?

thx ..

Shinobi ..

Posted By: myrlyn68

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 08:01

My guess would be that A7 is still coming (otherwise it is unlikely that Doug and Marco would still be going to work

). As far as when - that hasn't been announced, but most software operates on a 2 to 3 year cycle between major versions (unless you are dealing with 3DS Max which seems to be on a 10 month cycle now

). That means that the likely earliest date we will be hearing about an A7 will be Summer of 2005 - though I would guess early 2006 myself.

Posted By: Shinobi

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 08:35

Hope it will come and fast

what do you think will be new in A7 ? will it be like the HL2 Engine

would like to know the major things that will be new. Couse maybe it will be enough for me to buy A6 Pro . But i am still learning and i am building my first game (alpha 0.8 version) so maybe i didnt need to buy the pro.
otherwise i dont like to be limited

Posted By: myrlyn68

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 08:56

I hear they will put a "Read my mind and make the Game button" in the Pro version.

It is way too early to really speculate on what the new features will be, but it is certain to cause half the forum to bitch about having to pay for the upgrade, another half to bitch about no real new features being added, and a third half

to silently purchase A7 without so much as a peep.

BTW - what is missing from A6 to keep it from being like Source right now? Mostly a bit of polish and professionalism from the end users. Anywho - it will come when it comes and not a second before.

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 10:31

My thoughts on engine technology and what might happen with A7.. remember this is total speculation on my part so dont take it too seriously. First off I think A6 has a good while to go yet and many improvements will be made. When it comes time for A7, they may decide to totally redo the terrain/outdoor part of the engine, adding in a much more integrated terrain editor, prolly in WED instead of in MED. Also, speaking of WED, it think that's going to change a lot.. i would imagine support for higher-order surfaces, and support for real-time viewports.. meaning the viewport will look pretty much like it will in the game, real-time lighting depending on whether they fully embrace some kind of new lighting model. There could be just an open ended material system as there is now, or there may be more integral support for a particluar lighting system, perhaps some kind of spherical lighting model and High Dynamic Range. Again you can't always use the same lighting system for everything usually.. FarCry is an excellent example of a multi-lighting-model system, using diffuse lighting on terrains, and bump+specular on indoors.. they also use lightmapping in FarCry and HL2, so i doubt A7 will totally abandon lightmapping the way Doom3 did. I would expect also more types of dynamic shadows, including projected shadow maps and soft shadowing. Anyway this is my speculation so who knows what really will happen.

Posted By: Shinobi

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/06/04 10:37

That would be nice if they do that .

what i realy want is maybe a 3ds Importer for Med or to remove mdl format and use something that the most 3d Apps uses maybe 3ds. I am using 3ds Max and cant do without it but i dont have a mdl7 export plugin for it , so i cant make models with Bones

Posted By: Doug

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/07/04 05:39

Quote:

My guess would be that A7 is still coming (otherwise it is unlikely that Doug and Marco would still be going to work ).

We still come to work because people are buying A6.

We can't give a release date for any further version, but I can say that 100% of my work at this time is for A6. There are a lot of features left "in the pipe" for A6.

Quote:

hear they will put a "Read my mind and make the Game button" in the Pro version.

The "Make Game" button will not be released until A9 at the soonest.

The "Read my mind.." feature will have to wait until Microsoft releases the "DirectMind" SDK.

Posted By: slacer

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/07/04 06:24

Quote:

Microsoft releases the "DirectMind" SDK.

Damn, this will be an US-Only product... because of the export restrictions

-- slacer

Posted By: SingleCell

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/07/04 12:53

Dont worry about it. Using the A9 SDK the rest of us outside the US can make a plugin that uses "Open Mind" which I hear is not available in the US.

Posted By: ventilator

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/08/04 18:05

my speculations:

6.4 will be the last a6 update. i hope/guess octrees, the new terrain/model features and the light management will make it into that final update.

the main features of a7 at the beginning of its life cycle will be lite-c and a new much more modern wed interface. wed will use the engine for displaying the 3d view and maybe incorporate the announced interactive template editing. later a7 will get stuff like weighted bones, a shader editor, improved stencil shadows with multipass rendering like in doom3, depth map shadows as an alternative to stencil shadows, the planned game starter,...

Posted By: Ix

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/08/04 21:21

i think so too

ok... i hope that this will happen

Posted By: fastlane69

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/08/04 21:59

Quote:

weighted bones, a shader editor, improved stencil shadows with multipass rendering like in doom3, depth map shadows as an alternative to stencil shadows, the planned game starter,...

...and a partridge in a pear tree!

Posted By: Shinobi

Re: What about A7 ? - 12/09/04 07:24

So i better wait befor buying A6 Pro , i am not that Pro enough yet

Posted By: JvsJGameDesign

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/03/05 09:47

I currently have the A6 Extra version, but I was planning to buy the pro version too... I don't know it for sure.

Posted By: WHURL

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/03/05 22:43

Quote:

Dont worry about it. Using the A9 SDK the rest of us outside the US can make a plugin that uses "Open Mind" which I hear is not available in the US.

LOL

... *hears cars pulling up outside*

Posted By: Red Ocktober

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/03/05 23:25

Quote:

Using the A9 SDK the rest of us outside the US can make a plugin that uses "Open Mind" which I hear is not available in the US.

HAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!

ooooooowaaaaa.... hey... HEYYY.... wait a minute...

--Mike

Posted By: xoNoid

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/04/05 01:47

Quote:

Quote:

Using the A9 SDK the rest of us outside the US can make a plugin that uses "Open Mind" which I hear is not available in the US.

HAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!

ooooooowaaaaa.... hey... HEYYY.... wait a minute...

--Mike

Wait I just got it HAHAHAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAA!!!!

snob..sniff...thats made my day

Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/04/05 06:07

Doug about GDC 2005;

Quote:

A7, Engine Updates, Big Surprises: At this time, their isn't any plans to release a big "bomb shell" at the expo. We are still working on A6 and A7 is nowhere to be seen at this moment. We may be showing off the beta version of the engine but we will not rush a feature just to try to wow the crowd (or hold something back from you to build suspense).
Remember most of the people at the show probably haven't seen 3DGameStudio. In past shows, people I talked to had heard of 3DGS, but hadn't seen it. Just having the engine there on display with the tools, demos, and released products will be a huge bombshell for them.

I guess we have to wait a bit longer for anything that can truly be called an A7 engine, right? Any rough estimates on a release or would we be talking about several years? Is there any guarantee that there will be an A7??

Edit:
Jcl said:

Quote:

As a sort of reward there'll be a little contest: We'll draw lots among all who contribute boxes, videos, or something else to our GDC presentation. Two of them will get a free upgrade of their edition to the next GameStudio generation, A7, when it comes out.

So I guess it will come out then, when it's done...

Cheers

Posted By: Locoweed

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 02:39

I just happen to be working on some little sensors that attach to various spots on the persons head. It may come in handy if Conetic wants to beat Microsoft to the punch with all this DirectMind stuff. Unfornately you have to shave your head and there have been some side effects like flinching, stuttering, headaches, vomitting, brain tumors, blindness, 1st degree burns, the shakes, hullicinations, ADD, loss of appettite, paralyzation, and occassionally death to name a few.

I think I could possibly have most of the side affects gone by the time A9 comes out if I can keep finding new volunteers for the test. The only problem is the tests have only suceeded once and that was when someone accidently typed "Hello World!" when he got a 112 volt shock and developed the shakes.

I will keep you informed on any progress though.

Loco

Posted By: Doug

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 05:47

Quote:

Any rough estimates on a release or would we be talking about several years? Is there any guarantee that there will be an A7??

I can't guarantee something like that even if I wanted to (engine releases are outside my control) but, given what has been said in public from JCL and our past marketing, I would say there is an excellent chance that we will release a sequel to A6. It may be called A7 or "Wizo3000"

, but there is still a lot of things we can add to our product to warrant a new release.

I'm even less qualified to give you a release date, even the roughest one. Using the A5 to A6 update as a reference (again, I'm not disclosing anything here you couldn't look up yourself) we have *at least* one more A6 update release (2-4 months), maybe more, then we would have to begin work on A6+1 (6 months to 2 years depending on the features). So I can honestly say the release date could be the end of this year, sometime in 2006, or even 2007.

Keep checking the beta link, when you start seeing features labeled for A7 (or Wizo3000

) then you can start guessing the release date. But, right now, A6 has a lot of life left in it.

BTW: Anybody who quotes me as saying "A7 will be released on <insert date>" based on this post will be sent to their room without dinner.

Posted By: Yulor

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 05:56

Wizo3000? inside joke I missed? some-one please link me?

Posted By: Orange Brat

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 06:45

Quote:

It may be called...."Wizo3000"

Almost sounds like a urinal accessory..whatever that would be.

We're gonna hold ya to it. Wizo3000 it is.

Posted By: Yulor

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 09:21

haha

Posted By: Matt_Aufderheide

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 10:45

In any case, I dont see a need for A7 any time soon.. its seems like we are just now getting A6 going..

Posted By: MASTERJUNOJET

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/05/05 15:40

I think there will be an A7, I hope we can better and easier integrate shaders into our projects, as well as create better outdoor evironments, the engine interface needs to be modernized as well. A6 is great, A7 will be

Posted By: Doug

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/06/05 05:17

Quote:

Wizo3000? inside joke I missed? some-one please link me?

I just pulled that out of thin air.

I think it has something to do with watching old SNL shows the night before.

"Wizo3000: It's a floor wax and a 3D engine!"

Now you know why JCL gets the final say on product names.

Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/06/05 06:11

Quote:

In any case, I dont see a need for A7 any time soon.. its seems like we are just now getting A6 going..

Agreed!! Yeah, although more and more people talk about DirectX10 that's supposed to be in a far state of completion (don't know the facts exactly, though), I guess A6 is getting there just fine, and won't jump to DirectX 10 that fast anyway, because of hardware standards (lol and we've justed switched to DirectX 9 hehehe) that should be...
Whaaa just by speculating I'm getting more and more hungry for the terrain improvements and other future A6 updates...
Go conitec!!

Cheers

Posted By: Rhuarc

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/06/05 08:13

I'd say I wouldn't expect A7 until at least late 2005 or early 2006. Most likely 2006 is my guess....

Quote:

"A7 will be released on <insert date>"

There, I quoted you perfectly

.

*goes up to his room* (I already ate dinner, HA! beat the system!)

-Rhuarc

Posted By: MASTERJUNOJET

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/06/05 08:30

ha ha ha

Posted By: Yulor

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/07/05 02:58

Alright Wizo3000 it is then...

Posted By: Shinobi

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/07/05 13:34

I know the A6 engine is very good and for Most Projects its ok , but you guys see the upcomming new games and their effekts . SO iam sure sometime there is a need to A7 .

Posted By: Ambassador

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/08/05 00:44

Quote:

I know the A6 engine is very good and for Most Projects its ok , but you guys see the upcomming new games and their effekts . SO iam sure sometime there is a need to A7 .

Yes you have a point there. But why everyone must have the latest effects and stuff. The core idea of gaming has been almost forgotten. People play game so they could forget all their worries and have FUN.

Ofcourse now days games have to have good graphics but when somebody gets a new game, he goes to home with brand new game with awesome graphics. Then he puts the game to his X-box and starts to play with huge expectations. After a while the player is dead bored to playing. The game had awesome graphics but BORING story, terrible gameplay and everything else was poor but the graphics.

We as game developers don't want this to happen. So we have to put more effort to the story and gameplay and THEN comes the graphics ( and then, of course, the music

) So, in other words, you don't have to have killer ligthning, 2048x2048 skins, the newest shaders, super advanced particles ( etc... ) to make a good game. Halo 1, or the newest Tribes did not have many of these elements but I still enjoy playing them.

So make decent graphics and good storyline and gameplay and your game will succeed.

I hope this helped someone.

Posted By: Red Ocktober

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/08/05 03:10

i've gotta agree with waht Matt said above... there's a lot that needs to be fixed with A6 before there is even thought of going onto another version...

... that is unless the shaders and shadows and networking are gonna be completely ripped out and redone

--Mike

Posted By: Doug

Re: What about A7 ? - 01/08/05 05:03

Quote:

... that is unless the shaders and shadows and networking are gonna be completely ripped out and redone

Like the update from A5 to A6, we plan on adding enough changes to make you want to upgrade.

It is too soon to talk about A7. It's *not* coming out soon and I can't give you any information about features that we haven't even started on yet. Besides, we are still adding features to A6, you should spend your time requestion features for the next *free* release.