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Xeidos2 · 9 December 2005, 11:03 AM

Now that I've finally gotten my portfolio website up and working I think it's time to let folks know what happened to Knights Over Europe and Project A.

A re-cap:

The publishing company Destineer broke it's contract with Aspect Simulations by failing to pay money for a completed milestone. Development of Knights Over Europe stopped in March 2004. Destineer's overlords at Take Two and The Gathering published Wings of War a month later. Aspect Simulations shuts down in May, 2004. Aspect Simulations retained all rights to Knights Over Europe.

Two programmers and one artist from Aspect remain together and try to figure out what can be done to finish KOE. Some outside businessmen make some generous offers to help, but the lead programmer and former head of Aspect doesn't even bother to return their e-mails. Having just been burned by one business group, he's in no hurry to make a deal with any others.

After taking a very close look at the code that was written by a programmer who had left the team it is determined that the terrain system is so flawed that it will have to be completely re-written. After adding up the costs, it is determined that the team will run out of money before the fixes can be completed. This was when the idea for Project A was born.

Project A was to be a simple WW1 submarine game, using code developed for KOE whenever possible. It was estimated that it will take 8 months to make. Project A would be published and sold by the team over the internet. The money from the sale of Project A would support the artist while an add-on for Project A was made and the programmers went back and solved the broken terrain system in KOE.

A short time after work on Project A started the second programmer pulls out and gets a real job, leaving the other two to finish Project A.

The 8 month deadline comes and goes. The programmer realizes that his early ideas about what will make an interesting sub game aren't working. What's needed are more ships, a lot more ships. This will cause the development time to stretch from 8 months to 18. During this whole time, I the artist, had been working 60 hours a week as a minimum, and living off of borrowed money. We were working separately out of our homes. Mis-communication between me and the programmer happens. I won't bore you with the details, but we stopped working together November 14. It's a shame because ProjectA was so close to being finished.

So what does this mean for KOE? The development team is down to one programmer. He has all the models he needs to make a KOE light version, but he has no art support for making user-interface artwork. He could hire somebody to do that, but it won't be me.

Project A was a cover name for "Project 25: Raiders from the Deep"

Project 25 refers to class of submarines built in Germany during 1916.

We came up with Raiders before we discovered the book edited by Lowell Thomas. We were hoping to use it by changing some words around so that it didn't exactly match the book title.

To see what Project 25 might have looked like and some more shots of KOE you can visit my web portfolio. Most of the KOE images were made for an article that appeared in PC Pilot. They had an article about unfinished flight sims.

Images of Project A can be found at:

http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/3d_flig...ct25index.html

The KOE images are at:

http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/3d_flig...Album_KOE.html

So my association with Knights Over Europe is offically over as of now.

9 December 2005, 11:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
Xeidos2 Two-seater Pilot Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Ohio Posts: 99	Project A and Knights Over Europe Now that I've finally gotten my portfolio website up and working I think it's time to let folks know what happened to Knights Over Europe and Project A. A re-cap: The publishing company Destineer broke it's contract with Aspect Simulations by failing to pay money for a completed milestone. Development of Knights Over Europe stopped in March 2004. Destineer's overlords at Take Two and The Gathering published Wings of War a month later. Aspect Simulations shuts down in May, 2004. Aspect Simulations retained all rights to Knights Over Europe. Two programmers and one artist from Aspect remain together and try to figure out what can be done to finish KOE. Some outside businessmen make some generous offers to help, but the lead programmer and former head of Aspect doesn't even bother to return their e-mails. Having just been burned by one business group, he's in no hurry to make a deal with any others. After taking a very close look at the code that was written by a programmer who had left the team it is determined that the terrain system is so flawed that it will have to be completely re-written. After adding up the costs, it is determined that the team will run out of money before the fixes can be completed. This was when the idea for Project A was born. Project A was to be a simple WW1 submarine game, using code developed for KOE whenever possible. It was estimated that it will take 8 months to make. Project A would be published and sold by the team over the internet. The money from the sale of Project A would support the artist while an add-on for Project A was made and the programmers went back and solved the broken terrain system in KOE. A short time after work on Project A started the second programmer pulls out and gets a real job, leaving the other two to finish Project A. The 8 month deadline comes and goes. The programmer realizes that his early ideas about what will make an interesting sub game aren't working. What's needed are more ships, a lot more ships. This will cause the development time to stretch from 8 months to 18. During this whole time, I the artist, had been working 60 hours a week as a minimum, and living off of borrowed money. We were working separately out of our homes. Mis-communication between me and the programmer happens. I won't bore you with the details, but we stopped working together November 14. It's a shame because ProjectA was so close to being finished. So what does this mean for KOE? The development team is down to one programmer. He has all the models he needs to make a KOE light version, but he has no art support for making user-interface artwork. He could hire somebody to do that, but it won't be me. Project A was a cover name for "Project 25: Raiders from the Deep" Project 25 refers to class of submarines built in Germany during 1916. We came up with Raiders before we discovered the book edited by Lowell Thomas. We were hoping to use it by changing some words around so that it didn't exactly match the book title. To see what Project 25 might have looked like and some more shots of KOE you can visit my web portfolio. Most of the KOE images were made for an article that appeared in PC Pilot. They had an article about unfinished flight sims. Images of Project A can be found at: http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/3d_flig...ct25index.html The KOE images are at: http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/3d_flig...Album_KOE.html So my association with Knights Over Europe is offically over as of now.