Wolf-Bytes Newsletter issue #3 - November 2004 From: wolfbytes@mail.com To: wolf3dman@aol.com Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 4:27 AM Issue # 3 - November 2004 "Whatever the question, lead is the answer." - Apogee, 1992 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents Foreward Xarkon reviews "WolfenDOOM" Hair Machine reviews "The Untold Story" Wolf-Bytes Interview - Ringman on The DieHard Wolfers TC Coding Corner by Dugtrio17 - Scoring The Most Memory Possible Mod Of The Month - The Last Mission World Wide Wolfenstein - DieHard Wolfers Retrogame Retrospective - Depth Dwellers Epilogue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foreward! We're up to issue number three so far, and steadily getting better! A lot of great changes have occured with this issue alone. Changes that will only make Wolf-Bytes better in the future. This is the first issue to feature an HTML layout, as you can see. It's nothing flashy, but I didn't want anything frilly - Just something to make navigation a little easier and display the graphics and screenshots readers have requested, and still stick within the guidelines and limitations of HTML-based newsletters (which is pretty strict). Hopefully this will make everyone a little happier. I think I said something about making the newsletter smaller? Smile Well, this issue ballooned up to over 40K in size! I had intentions of weeding through everything and condensing it, but I couldn't bring my editing hand to it. I hope you agree with me when I say I think the whole issue is quite an enjoyable and interesting read. There were some great contributions this time around. Hair Machine and Dugtrio17 have offered their services to the newsletter, and I accepted greatfully. Hair Machine wrote up a very nice review that I enjoyed, and I'll probably toss him more writing assignments soon to keep him busy Smile Dugtrio will be helming a new column called Coding Corner with various source code tutorials and tips. His first tutorial is featured here, and it's really great and should be useful to everyone. Also, Ringman agreed to an interview about the DHWTC. It's a long, really in-depth interview and very interesting as he talks about working with others and modding in general. Xarkon also returned with another great review, which I think readers will enjoy. I'm still getting offers from people who are interested in contributing to Wolf-Bytes, so who knows what #4 will be like? Let's make it even better! Have fun, Ian Franken, Editor, Wolf-Bytes [Back to top] Xarkon reviews WolfenDOOM WolfenDOOM by AReyeP WolfenDOOM is a great game which even I enjoy to play sometimes rather than some of the newer mods these days. It is a great game for people of all ages, as most wolf or spear mods are, but I highly suggest playing it. AReyeP is a well known Wolfer and has been on the wolf scene for a while now about nine or so years. AReyeP, really is Steve Walley, a security guard from Victoria, Australia, but in his spare time he has made some wonderful mods and TCs for the wolf community. Steve is a superb graphic artist as you may have seen from some of his other works such as Spear2: Resurrection or his upcoming TC Spear3: End of Destiny. But even before the ideas of Spear Mods, AReyeP decided that he would have a look at making some cheap low class mods. DOOM, being a popular game out at that time, Steve wanted to make a take off of DOOM, WolfenDOOM. Basically in WolfenDOOM, you have all the same enemies as in DOOM 1 and DOOM 2 and have to fight your way through them all just like in DOOM, but it really is great. The story is extremely long, but if you have a spare 20 minutes, I suggest reading it before playing it or the game play is lost because you don’t know what or why you are shooting big brown Imps. "Why play this mod?" You may find yourself asking, well for a start it is better than some of the mods these days, it has good new graphics, good new sounds, and even greater new style: THE OLD WOLFENSTEIN STYLE! Well that’s because it is based on the wolf engine. Most of the graphics are copied from the original DOOM set, but they are not directly converted, they are hand drawn copied. This proves how good an artist Steve Wally really is. If you find that you would like to play this awesome Wolfenstein mod, you can go directly to areyep.com and download all of Steve’s marvels or you can go to other wolf web ring sites and search for other great titles. Go to www.wolfenstein3d.co.uk and hit the downloads section for WolfenDOOM and other awesome mods or TCs. To email AReyeP and send questions and comments, send to rip@areyep.com, but as usual, do NOT, bombard the person’s email with too much stuff or they will probably get angry and try to kill you or something... THE Xarkon WolfenDOOM's homepage can be found at: AReyep.com - WolfenDOOM [Back to top] Hair Machine reviews The Untold Story THE UNTOLD STORY by Bloody Max Software This TC is one of the surprisingly few horror mods out there, containing all of the wierd creepiness that will come to be associated with Max's sets: the bizarre lighting, unsettling horror music, splatter film references and of course large amounts of blood and death. And not only do you get all of that, but it's not actually a bad play either! This game is one of the more impressive source-code hacked games seen recently. You can decapitate enemies with an axe or disembowell them with a mace. You can doge the bullets, which act like rockets now and so are blocked by objects. There are non-hostile people who run around like idiots, and masses of graphical enhancements to the game engine. You can even cause enemies to throw up, giving you a few seconds to get away - this game really isn't for the faint of heart! But beneath the undeniably flashy code-mod exterior, how exactly does the meat of the game measure up? At first glance it might seem almost all of the graphics are ripped from other games, or are at least modified versions of them. However, there is a lot of original material in here too - more than most recent projects, including new enemy deaths, and some very well designed new weapons. Overall it feels to me that the game has it's own atmosphere not seen anywhere else. The maps, too, I found to be almost all large and designed to a good standard. So, what could be improved? Well, if ripped graphics are a big issue to you then you might feel put off this game - at first sight there is a lot of 'borrowed' material. There are also a few minor source code bugs that do detract from the professionalism of the project (please! Fix those weapons, I don't think picking up a pistol should give the player a mace!). The title/signon screens I don't think look very good, and some of the text changes strike me as a bit unnessecary and aren't very user friendly to someone unfamiliar with the game (for example, "Eat Shit" quits.. and that's not the worst). Also, though the civilians are interesting, they have a tendency run at you and get you stuck in a corner! Never mind, you can always butcher them... >Very Happy Despite this, however, I say the mod is well worth a download. It obviously won't be for all - this is quite a large departure from the Wolfenstein norm - but I definitely think this is an improvement over Max's first TC, Sensenmann, and I had a very good time playing it; which, in the end, is all that matters. Hair Machine [Back to top] Wolf-Bytes Interview - Ringman: The DieHardWolfers TC project and beyond Ringman is the project leader of the upcoming mod "The DieHardWolfers TC" (working title), a mod that aims to be the best mod made by the largest group of people ever in the Wolfenstein 3D community. Featuring his own talents, plus the masterwork of such established members as Brian Lowe, Arielus, Majik Monkee, plus too many more to list, it's a mod that's sure to make a splash and become an instant classic. In this interview, Ringman talks in-depth about the DHWTC, his own projects, Wolf3D in general and corn-dogs (well, actually he doesn't talk about corn-dogs - I threw that in). Q: So, from the beginning... How did this whole project start? Ringman: Well, that's a rather long story.... It took a long time for this to get off the ground. It really started in the Die Hard Wolfer's forum hosted by AreyeP, you may have heard of it Wink The whole thing was a spur of the moment topic that someone posted a while a go. I'm pretty sure it's been the longest post ever, but you'd have to check that one yourself. The whole idea was to create a community mod for the forum, so everyone began posting. I remember they were going on about a reason to explain some futuristic weapon that was going to be used in the game, and I don't know if the discussion ever went beyond that. I had offered help, but it seemed the biggest problem with it was that no one really had any idea what they wanted to do, and they never got an initial story off the ground. It faded into existance after that. Now it didn't end there, but the story takes a slight turn. Majik had just finished HOS and I had really just found the community. We were chatting about mod ideas when we both came up with an idea of a mod about BJ getting captured and rescued by a new hero. He wanted to do something with many different mutants, where as I was interested in a "what if" storyline. We were going to merge these two ideas, but somewhere along the lines we both got caught up in other things. The interesting thing is Majik just recently released a mod with Dumscheisskopf that has alot of similarities. : ) So the idea never truly died. My storyline eventuall grew to be: "What if BJ failed in his mission to retrieve the SOD? What if Hitler captured him? What would the Nazis do with him, and how would the Allied forces find a way out of this dilemma?" Now, I never really thought much more of this idea, but I began to work on an improved wolf vswap to enhance the experience when I played mapsets. It wasn't anything fancy just graphics I borrowed from different places. The one thing that I was impressed with, was the addition of shadows to all the enemies. Everything else in wolf has shadows, why not the enemies? I haven't even seen a mod with something as simple as this done, and it really enhances the visual appeal. Once again, however, nothing really came of this and it kind of just faded away for a while... On the forum, a user by the name of Aryan just hit the scene, as far as I know, and he saw the old Die Hard Wolfer's TC post, and he decided to post a new topic in hopes to gain new interest. Zach Higgins, a former group member of the original attempt, was doubtful and told Aryan that it wouldn't work. He was probably the greatest motivation for me, and I should probably put him in the credits for that. He said that it could never work, and that Aryan should just give up before he starts. He said there was way too many ideas but nothing to pull it together. Thanks Zach, you challenged me and I hope we've proved you wrong!! So I looked at the original topic, and then decided, he's right. This thing needs a plan, a structure. So I posted an outline of my original idea that I discussed with Majik, and I posted everything that would need to be done to make it possible, including detailed descriptions of each level and episode. I even clearly stated, that I don't plan on being the project leader, I just wanted to help this thing get off the ground. Well obviously, I made a mistake there. Aryan drafted me as leader, and several people began to respond. I was scared at first, but I didn't want to let anyone down. Aryan made a website for us to start with, but that didn't work out too well, so we put together a yahoo group instead. That's how it started. Q: Who all's involved in this project? Ringman: Alot of people! Though we want to have more. Here's a list of people who have contributed so far: Adam Biser, Majik Monkee, Schabbs, Arielus, Mr. Wolf, Joe Wolf, Chief Rebel Angel, Merthsoft, Loki, Metal Overlord, Me, QuickmanEXE, Aryan, Reviax,Wolf3dLevelord, and we still have more people who plan on helping! Q: What do you think is the key to success when it comes to working with such a large and pretty diverse group as the DHWTC team? Do you guys ever argue about things like what color a sprite should be, for example, or does everyone pretty much see eye-to-eye on this whole thing? Ringman: Well that's a 2 part question, but I'll try to keep from going off topic. I think the key is trying to communicate well with each other. Especially as a leader, something I had to learn the hard way. You not only need to learn how to give criticsm, but how to take it. I mean I got really angry when people told me that my art was bad at first. I even got in a fight with poor wolf3dlevelord over textures. I still fell bad about that. I hope he doesn't take any offense by it. I did redo many of my textures afterwards, and just about all of them have been redone at least 3 x's to try to fit, not just my vision, but others as well. Maintaining a balance of satisfaction has always been difficult. We even had a texture decoration that me, quickman, and Mr. Wolf all worked on just to get it to look right. It's an awesome texture though. Most of the maps seem to work out perfectly, each map has a signature style, but I doubt you'll be able to tell know which one was done by a newbie and which one was done by an expert, because the vet mappers have collaborated with the newbie mappers to insure quality. Another interesting squabble, I had was with Arielus, but the weird thing was, that we weren't even arguing for any real reason. It was over a statusbar, Arielus told me he'd like to do one, I thought he meant that I should do one. I told him not to worry about the statusbar, I'll get it done eventually. Then later I thought it might be better for someone else to do one so most of the art is not done by me so I asked Aryan. Arielus was angry at me and asked me why I thought Aryan was a better man for the job, when he specifically requested to do the statusbar. I got confused and thought he was angry at me because I didn't take the burden of doing the statusbar myself. I thought he was telling me I was lazy. Eventually after many posts, we realized that the entire time we were totally on a different page. I still laugh about that. We're pretty good friends now, and Arielus decided it the statusbar would be best if done by a new user. Heh. I guess you would have had to been there. Q: There seems to be a good mix of both veteran Wolfers and Wolfers who are pretty new to the scene with a lot of talent. Have you personally been really surprised or impressed by any newcomers? Ringman: Well, I think I'm most impressed by the newbie mappers. Loki, who I'd never heard of until now just appeared and uploaded a map. It was extremely atmospheric, and it hit the theme perfectly, and I never really gave him a description of what we needed. Loki has since been a major contribitor by helping out other mappers, and giving out suggestions to improve aspects of the mod. We've had disagreements on things, but I'm still glad to know, whenever I ask for an opinion, he's always there to give me one! Merthsoft ,another newbie mapper, made a first attempt map, and it needed major work in many areas, but Loki helped him out to improve it. However, his second map showed his great potential. It was a huge improvement an only needed some small adjustments and now it stands out as a map that I'm sure people will remember! Q: Did you ever think that this project would grow so large with so many people contributing in so many areas? Ringman: Well, I had hoped so. It's still not as large as I'd like, but I think that's mostly because, alot of us tried to take on way more then we needed to. However I'm still hoping we can net the highest credits list in a mod, ever! Q: Can you tell us anything about the graphics, engine, sound changes, etc? How much of a conversion is this going to be from the original Wolfenstein? Ringman: Well this is Wolf3d in an alternate reality, so most changes are still trying to enhance if not retain the original wolf feel. Our environments are different, though. Wolf has such limited space for art and map sizes that it's very hard to make every place look different. However we did manage to keep a basic theme for each episode, with some variations here and there. The first episode takes place in a fictional concentration camp. The second is based in hell. The third is one of thoze crazy multilevel castles that everyone has come to know and love from the wolf universe. All of these may seem to have stark differences, but they are all linked together in the story. The engine has had several modifications, but most wolfer's won't notice them at first. Some enemies are harder, but only slightly, some bosses act differently, and there is one level that is full of engine modifications, but you won't realize it till the very end. Of, course that's a suprise. Q: Are you still looking for contributors? What else is needed? Ringman: Always! We need tons more contributors. There is a large amount of sprites and vgraph art that needs to be done, and a few maps are open. We haven't even touched the sounds yet. We'd really like to have some original composed music, and new sounds. We want new people to contribute these to increase the member list as much as possible. Q: What do you think is the most important thing to focus on when making a mod? Ringman: I think the best thing is to have a plan and know you're limits. If you don't have a well thought out plan you may run into more unexpected problems then needed. I think some people get this great idea but don't really flesh it out or know what it will entail to become a reality. Also some people will try to go all out and then realize that the work is more then they can handle. All of this can be avoided with a good step by step plan. This way you don't get overwhelmed. You need to look at it in smaller pieces and congratulate yourself for each goal accomplished. Some people can look at it and say they only have 20% of the whole project done and it's been 3 months. I would say, "Awesome, we just got another map for me to test!" or "I just finished a texture today!" I think the biggest flaw, which is one I have had is that alot of people come from modding for doom, or quake or something like that. When comparing this to wolf, it may seem that editing wolf will be a synch and this will all be instantaneous results. Making a mod for wolf is just as involved as making a mod for any other game. Q: Are you looking for any beta testers, or will you guys handle that within the group? Ringman: Yeah, we will definitely need some eventually, but for now we just play and comment on new maps as they get finished. Q: To the future! Are there going to be any other projects we can expect from you after the DHWTC is finished? Details, details! Ringman: Whew... Well, there's definitely alot I wanna do. However, there's alot I'm currently working on. I am helping out with Operation Body Count Remix which is a remake of the original in hopes to improve it. I am mostly doing art for now, but I can't wait to start mapping this puppy. It has a lot of intersting features that would be fun to play with. The other project, is kind of a secret. Dugtrio and I have been working together on a project, that changes just about every aspect of wolf. A full blown TC. Everything will be different, and it will be a whole new game. It's still a first person shooter, but has arcade game and adventure game aspects thrown in. That's all I can really say. But, trust me you'll be blown away..... Q: What are your favorite Wolf mods / add-ons, and why? Also, what releases are you really looking forward to? Ringman: Hmmm... I really like Majik's mods. I wasn't too satisfied with HOS because of it's repetetive nature, but I enjoyed the atmosphere and I'm a fan of the original game Blood that it was based on. I loved Hundenscheisse because of it's wacky nature, but also because it still stayed true to wolf. OLS had tons of great atmosphere, and it's levels really inspired me. I am eagerly awaiting SKUNKZ and I hope to help contribute with that at some point. However, I think the mod that grabbed my attention and fueled my desire to mod the most was Operation: Heimzahlung. At first I wasn't interested in the ww2 wolf style mods until I played this. It had excellent features levels and enemy designs. I recommend it to everybody. The mods I'm awaiting are: Helvete, cause of all the cool graphics, Monster Bash 3d, because of that retro feel, Double trouble, cause I'm a beta tester, SKUNKZ, Trench Warfare, because of the new look to the enemies and environments, and Orb of Dilarria because of all the new features and atmosphere. Q: Who do you think would win in a duel: BJ Blazkowicz, or the Energizer Bunny? Ringman: The energizer bunny, hands down! That booger, beat out Darth Vader. BJ would hear it coming, and begin shooting like mad, as he hears the loud thump, thump, thump around the corner. Blam Blam Blam! He looks to see the fallen body, but sees nothing, and then looks below him and is blinded by the pink fur. He tries to fire his gun again but for some reason it jams. He pulls out the clip, and sees that his duracell battery has run out and his gun no longer functions. DAMN YOU COPPERTOP!!!! Q: Any last words for the readers, Ringman? Ringman: Never give up on a mod!!! If you've put a lot of work into it and don't have the patience to continue, please hand it off to someone who wants to make a mod but doesn't know where to start. Or at least just release what you have done to the public so they can enjoy it. The most important thing to remember is: fear all public restrooms! For more information about the DieHard Wolfers TC project, including how to contribute, check out the following links. The DHWTC Group on Yahoo. DieHard Wolfers forums [Back to top] Coding Corner by Dugtrio17 - Scoring the Most Memory Possible Coding Corner is a new Wolf-Bytes column written by Dugtrio17, a respected code hacker in the Wolfenstein community. In this month's issue, he gives you some tips on freeing up more valuable memory for your Wolfenstein projects, allowing you to stuff your Wolfenstein engine with all the memory-hungry features that today's Wolfers demand. NOTE! As always, before you make any modifications to your existing source code, please be sure to backup your project before attempting to make any changes. Color-key chart: Green text = Code Purple text = Program output Red text = Project files So you're making the best mod ever, adding tons of new sounds, enemies, and graphics, then you add one more enemy, compile, test, and... Abnormal Program Termination ?!? What's that? While this is best explained by MCS in his tutorial on AReyeP.com about Abnormal Program Termination, the most important thing is getting your memory back so you can get your mod working again! The two most common methods to score memory: Use a set of modified files obtainable on AReyeP.com (By MCS, 491 bytes) Delete C0.ASM, WOLFHACK.C and WHACK_A.ASM from your project (By Ripper, 1622 bytes) But even after employing these two methods, you can run low on memory. However, there're a few more tricks that can be used to score memory. First, how's an extra 604 bytes sound? Fire up WL_DEF.H, then search for temp2. You should find this line: int temp1,temp2,temp3;Change that to this: byte temp1,temp2;See, that line is in the objstruct, meaning that for EVERY actor (MAXACTORS is 150 in the unmodified source, so that's 151 actors, seeing as the 0th actor is counted) the game has to keep track of those variables. That means that the game duplicates everything in that structure 151 times. Int variables take up 2 bytes, and on that line 3 are declared. 3 x 2 x 151 = 906 bytes of memory from that one line. Ouch. However, byte variables keep track of numbers as well, though unlike int variables, they can only track numbers from 0-255. The temp values are used in the code, but they never go above 255, nor do they ever become negative. In addition, temp3 isn't used AT ALL, so that can be ditched entirely. So with each variable taking up half as much space and one removed entirely, we're left with that line only cramping up 302 bytes. Another way to score memory is to reduce the MAX values in WL_AGENT.C (MAXACTORS, MAXSTATS, MAXDOORS, and MAXWALLTILES). I would only recommend decreasing MAXACTORS and MAXSTATS, though these are to be done only if you've tried everything else and you've STILL run out of memory. MAXACTORS - It's only recommended to lower MAXACTORS if you don't have an entire army of guards in every level and if your guards/player weapons don't rely too heavily on projectiles. If MAXACTORS is ever exceeded, then the game bombs out with an error, and many things fall under actors, such as guards and projectiles. If your levels are limited to about 90-100 guards each (on the highest difficulty) and there aren't any non-boss enemies firing projectiles, then you may be safe lowering this value to 130. Every time you decrease MAXACTORS by one in the completely untouched source, you'll snag 60 bytes of memory. MAXSTATS - This value is the number of static objects (decorations, ammo clips, treasures, etc.) that you can have in one level. If your levels aren't decorated such that you need all 400 decorations and that you don't think your guards'll drop enough clips to exceed it before other bonuses are fetched, then you may be able to get away with decreasing this down to about 75-100 plus the maximum number of static objects in all of your levels. Decreasing this packs much less of a punch than decreasing MAXACTORS though, as you only fetch 8 bytes of memory for each increment you decrease this by. However, should you have some spare memory when all is said and done coding-wise, then you could INCREASE these two values to give your levels more flexibility. Lastly, here are two things that are good to keep in mind as you edit the source code in order to conserve memory: Statetypes. They're big. They take up loads of space when you start adding them indiscriminately. In case you don't know what one is, fire up WL_ACT2.C and look at the lines with statetype s_(name) = {........};. Those are statetypes. Basically, they're frames for an enemy, and when adding new enemies and such, you may add a few extra frames where they're not needed, such as two frames side-by-side that show the same sprite and have no function whatsoever (by functions I mean the frame performing T_Shoot or something like that). Repeating statetypes are often another memory quagmire, and can be avoided by simply cutting the excess crap. Variable sizes. Int values keep track of integers ranging to numbers well beyond 10000 and -10000. If the number doesn't need to be negative or that big, then try a byte instead. It keeps track of integers from 0-255 and is a mere 1 byte of memory, where integers hog 2 bytes. Also, booleans are handy for on/off kinds of things in place of simply using an integer of 0 for off and 1 for on, or something of the like. Generally keeping those two in mind and avoiding unnecessary declarations of variables will help you conserve memory so hopefully drastic measures such as decreasing MAX values won't become necessary. However, it's entirely possible that even using the most conservative programming techniques won't be enough for a particularly groundbreaking project. If so, try a few of the methods above, and see if there's any fat you can cut. Good luck coding, if there's any quick questions then feel free to IM me on AIM as Dugtrio17. -Dugtrio17 Next issue: Toughening up enemies [Back to top] Mod of the Month - The Last Mission "The Last Mission" is a levels-only shareware Wolf set of 10 levels (9 straight, plus one secret level) by Martin. Don't let the words "levels-only" and "shareware" fool you, though - This is a high quality mapset that is a load of fun. These levels are pretty large and complicated at times, sort of reminiscent of Episode 6 of the original Wolf. The action and difficulty levels are pretty high, and anyone looking for a good challenge will be well served here. If you like oldschool-style Wolf add-ons with plenty of attention to detail and quality (like I do), then this is definitely one you'll want to check out. This is definitely a set you'll want to play over and over again, and one of the best shareware sets of recent years. To download The Last Mission, click here -> tlm.zip [Back to top] World Wide Wolfenstein - DieHard Wolfers To me, and I think a lot of Wolfers out there, this forum has just become the "cradle" of the Wolfenstein civilization, right up there with the Wolf3D Dome. It's a great place to go to catch up with all your favorite mod authors, webmasters, coders and artists, as well as to meet Wolf fans who are just as crazy about this game as you are. There's topics aplenty, ranging from discussions about add-ons and TCs, to the original Wolfenstein games, to off-shoot Wolf3D based games, to discussions about wether Godzilla or Thor should be president of the United States of America (*grin*) and way more. I've become truly addicted to this place. Chances are, if you're reading this, you're probably already a member of this great message forum. DieHard Wolfers has become the place to be in the Wolf3D scene, with a little bit of everyone from all points in Wolf's history posting their thoughts about the game. The forums are hosted by MCS and AReyeP (who made some game called Spear Resurrection and its upcoming sequel End of Destiny that you might have heard of Wink) and maintained by BrotherTank, a veteran of the scene and author of the upcoming WolfPlus, a Wolf3D "super-engine" (which I'm sure will be a sensation when it's released). On top of great content, the forums also look great in all the forum templates you can choose. Be sure to check out the DieHard Bunker, as well - Homebase of DieHard Wolfers, providing history of the community, plus all kinds of fascinating information about Wolf3D and Id Software. Great place. 'Nuff said. Go there. Now. Make haste! The DieHard Wolfers Forums The DieHard Bunker [Back to top] Retrogame Retrospective - Depth Dwellers Set centuries into the future beneath the surface of planet Riase, this game combines futuristic and medieval elements pretty well (think of it like a lower-class DOOM meets Heretic). I'm not sure what engine this is, but it resembles Wolf3D's with textured floors / ceilings, taller walls and light shading. This game was apparently made by a husband and wife team that formed a company called TriSoft, but I couldn't find out much about this, and this appears to be the only game they ever released. At any rate, it plays just as well as a game made by a larger corporation for the most part. This game apparently shipped with some VR glasses or such, and you could play the game in true 3-D which sounds pretty cool (I never have, though). If you press F7, though, you get a cool psychedelic effect on your monitor as it switches to stereographic mode. Pretty trippy! =) Gameplay wise, it's a fun game that should hold your attention for a while. Graphically, things could've been a bit better and there's a lot of pixellation here (even for the time) which may put off some picky gamers, but under the pixellation the graphics are well made and pretty realistic for its day (very ROTT-like). The sound effects are cool, and the music is moody and atmospheric. The levels are a bit repetitious, though, and there isn't enough variation in the enemies in my opinion, and this might put off some people from playing for very long. I'm also not crazy about how you can't configure the movement keys, as the default ones are a bit awkward and take some time to get used to. I do like the dark atmosphere, though - Everything is steeped in blackness, and it's difficult to see what's ahead of you. Though some people might complain about that, I find it's pretty challenging and gives you a good start whenever an alien guard shouts "HEY!" at you. Overall, Depth Dwellers is a cool little game, despite some minor flaws here and there that might put some people off. And hell, for a game that seems to be made from scratch by less than a handful of people, it's a pretty good job! To find more information about Depth Dwellers, including a free shareware download, check out: 3DGamers.com [Back to top] Epilogue Well, that wraps another issue. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you read all of that in one sitting, you really do have too much time on your hands Wink As always, many, many thanks to all the contributors (in no particular order, Xarkon, Ringman, Hair Machine and Dugtrio17), to all the people who have given the newsletter praise and constructive criticism (too many to list), to all the readers and subscribers and to all the true Wolfers out there keeping the spirit alive well into the 21st century. Keep it up with the great submissions and comments, and keep reading this electronic rag Wink Ian Franken, Editor, Wolf-Bytes [Back to top]