Mike Mitchell has done some more graphics work for us, including a really cool titlepic. A variation of his titlepic will also be the conbackpic in Legacy.

Stephen Browning has once again pulled off some great work to fine-tune the OICW rifle a bit more. It looks absolutely stunning, I can assure you.

We've now got helicopter gunships in Twilight Warrior! They are fully drawn and coded, and are very cool. They fly high and fast, and with Legacy's proper 3D height checking, they can actually hover above you - which is nasty because they are quite difficult to hit. As the name implies they pack a lot of heat, and it isn't at all pleasant to be strafed by one of them.

In other graphics news, the male hostage is now fully drawn. All that needs doing in terms of sprites are the terrorists and the assassination target. Go to the progress page to see how it's all coming together.

A few, little coding fixes have been done, including an improvement to the PSG - 1. After some internal feedback from the team, Sidearm has upped the power on this baby. A single shot from the PSG-1 is now 150% more powerful than a double shotgun blast. However, unlike the double shotgun, which lacks hitting power beyond medium range (due to pellet dispersal), the PSG-1 retains its sting over long distances. Also, the PSG-1 now has massive overpenetration as well. My testing showed that at reasonably close distances it will take out two or three enemies standing in Indian file.

In other news, we've had a few more visits to this site by the US military. We don't know whose been checking out our project, but it would be cool if Twilight Warrior was eventually picked up and used as a training tool. I know the US Army have used Quake and Marine Doom in the past, so this isn't as far fetched as it seems. But so far these US military visitors are laying low, and haven't made contact with us - so maybe it's just wishful thinking on our behalf.

The preview page has some fresh screenshots, this time of Sidearm Joe's CQB/Killing House level.

In other news, Sidearm has started on a desert warfare level (probably where you'll raid a chemical weapons plant), Ziggy has completed the hand grenades (they spin through the air, and can be lobbed quite effectively, especially using Legacy's mlook feature). Also, the sniper's rifle has been coded a bit more - it now has a manual reload. Unlike the other weapons, the PSG will not continue to fire even if you hold the fire button down. This mimics the action of many bolt action sniper's rifles which have no auto firing mode.

Sidearm's Oil Rig level is also completed. He's gone "fake 3D loco," but it should be ball tearing.

Sidearm has also completed the training level, which has a a sniping range (you practice sniping in simulated jungle and urban environments), and then there's the CQB 'Killing Room.' It's a really simple premise, but it absolutely rocks. It's the kind of area which will separate the men from the boys. The layout is as such: It's a fairly small, concrete room, which is reasonably dark, and is filled with lots of pillars and disconcerting strobing lights. Inside the room are lots of bad dudes. You are armed only with your Heckler and Koch MP5. The level is designed so that it is interactive - depending on what tactics you use the play will be different. I reckon it has got a really high replay value, since the scenario changes each time you play. Anyhow, depending on what you do and when you do it, the multitude of bad dudes in the room will come at you from all angles and try to put lots of holes in ya. Basically, no matter which way you slice it, you ultimately end up in the mother of all firefights.
However, if you practice in this Killing Room long enough, you'll soon develop the ability to shoot selectively, in low light conditions while 4000 rounds per minute richochet off the walls and/or into your ass. And these skills will prove invaluable in many of the later levels, especially when you'll engage in one of counter-terrorism's most difficult tasks - hostage rescue.

Now, to graphics news. Sidearm has completed the bazooka guy and opposing special forces soldier graphics. Ziggy has almost completed hand grenade graphics, and will shortly clean up and slightly tweak the PSG - 1 graphics. Go to the progress page to see how this thing is coming together.

Now, finally, some BIG news. We enigmatically alluded to this news in our last update, but Doomworld never picked up on it. Anyway, here's the drill. For a long time we planned on using the DosDoom engine for Twilight Warrior, but the development of the engine is just taking too long. Given that we're aiming for a release in around four to five weeks, we've decided to use the Doom Legacy engine v1.25 with a dehacked patch. Hopefully this will be well received by the Doom community at large. Please note that this decision ISN'T in any way a denouncement of DosDoom, which we still think is a damn fine engine. However, the constraints on the project at this time mean that we feel Legacy will be the best way forward for this project.

In terms of the dehacked patch, Sidearm has coded all the weapons, all of the currently drawn enemies, and most of the miscellaneous fiddly bits that needed doing. Put it this way, we're getting close! We're really pleased and excited with the way it is all coming together, It now shouldn't be too long until we start internal alpha/beta testing within the team.