Philip Salas letter

Creating new content for Trespasser!

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machf
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Post by machf »

hppav wrote:Did we scare him away?
"We", Kemo Sabay?
:wink:

Well, there hasn't been an ooficial thread for asking him any questions yet, right? Because I've thought of a few...
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Actually Slugger told me this was the thread he would take questions from... :? Perhaps we should start a new, cleaner thread for that purpose.
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Post by machf »

So, are we going to start a new thread for the questions, or should I just go on and post mine here?

Here are the ones I've thought of so far, similar to the ones for Rolf Mohr:

1.- How did you end up working on Trespasser at Dreamworks Interactive?

2.- As a 2D/3D artist, what were you tasked with on the Trespasser Team?

3.- How did the various team members get along?

4.- What happened with the team between when Trespasser was finished and when it was finally disbanded?

5.- What projects have you been involved with after that?

6.- So, it sounds like you remember a lot from the level called "Pine Valley" (sometimes also known as "The Geothermal Plant")... what was your involvement with that particular level? Do you remember enough that you could point to us some locations in a map?
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Particularly, on your old site, there was a concept image labeled "Pine Valley Oasis", showing some raptors near a pond, one of them drinking... on the Internet there are also some screenshots of a similar place:
http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... 4269#54269
Is it the same place mentioned in that concept image, and if so, do you remember where it was located?

7.- On your site (and also on the old one), you have that picture of the Trespasser loading screen which shows a hunter's skull lying inside a dinosaur's footstep on the ground. Is this a reference to the so-called "Hunters' Camp"? Did that location actually exist within some Trespasser level (there are unused voice-overs that seem to indicate that), or even as a level on its own?

8.- Also, another member noticed some letters in a floor texture inside Hammond's mansion in the "Ingen Town" level, which make the words "Borja", "Philip" and "Salas".
http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... 9739#49739
I understand Borja is your son's name, so that's all enough reason to suspect it's an "Easter Egg" left by you inside the game. Are there any others? What other textures are your work (broadly speaking - buildings, dinosaurs, trees...)?

9.- Did you ever play Trespasser after its release to see the results of your work? If so, what did you think of it?

10.- Do you think Trespasser would have fared better if it had been done more recently, with the advances in PC hardware that only became available after that time?
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Post by Slugger »

Just an FYI -- I sent Philip an e-mail a week ago, still waiting for his reply.
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Post by Remdul »

I haven't read most of all this stuff, but why don't do another Q & A like the Rolf Mohr one? Much more practical.

And I'm not sure going into PV alot that deeply will be that usefull. There's more interesting things than just PV to ask.
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Post by machf »

Remdul wrote:I haven't read most of all this stuff, but why don't do another Q & A like the Rolf Mohr one? Much more practical.
Well, that's the idea.
And I'm not sure going into PV alot that deeply will be that usefull. There's more interesting things than just PV to ask.
Maybe, but not everybody can answer them... and Philip Salas DOES remember a lot about Pine Valley. But I wouldn't ask him about things relating to the source code, as he wasn't part of the PROGRAMMING team. Check what happened with Rolf Mohr...

Maybe somebody should ask him first what kind of subjects can he cover... and then tell people to ask questions about those subjects.

Possible subjects (aside from more generic issues):

Level design, game physics, dino AI and scripting, modeling, texturing, programming.

For anybody involved in level design, further possible topics: Pine Valley, the Plains, missing level between Lab and Ascent, possible 4 Ascent levels in total, Industrial Jungle and the E3 level, the Town and how it was changed, the Lab and its puzzles (capacitors, Hammond's data), the Beach and its changes, the Jungle Road and the monorail, the Summit, genesis of the Demo level.

Just to give you an idea...
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Post by General Kenobi »

Have we ever tried asking these guy to join trescom and help us, mabye with there stuff and computer know how, though they may charge us, but they may be willing. They may also have a mental picture of how cut levels might have looked.
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Post by Draconisaurus »

lol they are both TresCom members. Ooops I didn't say that :-X But they will definately not be willing to actually work on the levels we are doing, lol.. they have much more important things to attend to, like making games.. :yum:
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Post by RexHunter99 »

So Drac does that make me super-human?
I have year 10 school to worry about.
I have to help out here at Trescom
I am helping out with HaloCE
I am working on a Game called Pokemon Platinum but thankfully it isnt a one man team.
I work on programs to help out you guys at Trescom.
My family is renovating major-time.
And a couple of other things too.
EDIT: Oh and my Exams are next week
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Post by machf »

So, any news from Phil Salas?
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Tres WIP: updated T-Script Reference and File Formats documents
Sound name listings for the Demo (build 117), Retail (build 116), Beta 103, Beta 99, Beta 97, Beta 96, Build 55, PC Gamer Alpha (build 32) and E3 1998 Alpha (build 22) TPA files
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Post by Slugger »

machf wrote:So, any news from Phil Salas?
I e-mailed him last week, no response. I'll send him another message today.
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Post by Mickey »

RexHunter99 wrote:So Drac does that make me super-human?
I have year 10 school to worry about.
I have to help out here at Trescom
I am helping out with HaloCE
I am working on a Game called Pokemon Platinum but thankfully it isnt a one man team.
I work on programs to help out you guys at Trescom.
My family is renovating major-time.
And a couple of other things too.
EDIT: Oh and my Exams are next week
And what has that got to do with anything? These guys do games for a living its basically there job, so why should they help use make the actual level? we are very lucky they are even here and replying to our question...
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Post by Draconisaurus »

Well said.
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Post by RexHunter99 »

Yea I feel like a fool sorry for saying that.
they do have a lot on thier hands.
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