Wow People! I Am Both Stunned And Impressed!

[McJobless]

I have another 2 quick questions for you...to start of with, sometime back I got an email from the head of DDI requarding a tool that the artists/programmers would of had some hand in creating/using:

  'name= said:

Hi Ben we do not have the tools to create a .FLH file. From what I remember .flh was a standard run length encoding plus an extra delta compression for each frame. Based on the .flc format, (http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/flc) but we specified a height and width so we could print at any size. The first frame was stored and then sequential frames were just the difference in pixels between the next and the previous frames. If would save a number of pixels to skip, then the length of data to write, (follow by the RLE data) then the next skip size. If you have some programming ability you might be able to work this out.

Question 1: Did you know anything about this?

Question 2: How many tools/programs were there in total to make LegoRR?

Question 3: How many people are at DDI now? Less or Greater than originally?

You did a great job Karl...looking forward to the answers!

[rrcoder]

  On 1/18/2011 at 9:22 PM, CTXXTC said:

Also Karl who composed the music for LRR?

The music was composed by someone at Lego (or contracted by Lego) using various sound effects and beats that we provided them. Our sound engineer, John Saul, created the loops and sound effects used in the music throughout the game (as well as all of the sound effects used by the game itself, and the videos).

  On 1/18/2011 at 11:14 PM, Extreme110 said:

I have another 2 quick questions for you...to start of with, sometime back I got an email from the head of DDI requarding a tool that the artists/programmers would of had some hand in creating/using:

  'name= said:

Hi Ben we do not have the tools to create a .FLH file. From what I remember .flh was a standard run length encoding plus an extra delta compression for each frame. Based on the .flc format, (http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/flc) but we specified a height and width so we could print at any size. The first frame was stored and then sequential frames were just the difference in pixels between the next and the previous frames. If would save a number of pixels to skip, then the length of data to write, (follow by the RLE data) then the next skip size. If you have some programming ability you might be able to work this out.

Question 1: Did you know anything about this?

Question 2: How many tools/programs were there in total to make LegoRR?

Question 3: How many people are at DDI now? Less or Greater than originally?

You did a great job Karl...looking forward to the answers!

1. I don't know, unfortunately. I simply used a tool created by another programmer to encode the videos, so I didn't know anything about the tool's internals. I should also note that it was the same tool used to create the maps, and to apply texture maps before Lightwave natively supported UV mapping. It was a single tool that pretty much did all of our conversions.

2. See above. One tool to rule them all.

3. The number of people we have varies all of the time, depending upon various factors. At the moment we have fewer actual employees than we did during LRR, however we often use freelancers and outsource work to other companies (as is typical for the games industry).

[bartvbl]

So how did lego rock raiders start? Did lego walk up to you and said "go get us a game which should accompany the lego rock raiders theme"?

And who came up with the concept of the game?

[Lair]

  On 1/18/2011 at 3:30 AM, TheDoctor said:

Out friend Lair made some opaque crystals and they don't look very nice.

Pardon me but I never made any crystals.

  On 1/21/2011 at 3:01 PM, bartvbl said:

So how did lego rock raiders start? Did lego walk up to you and said "go get us a game which should accompany the lego rock raiders theme"?And who came up with the concept of the game?

Lego Rock Raiders sets and the LRR PC game were designed side-by-side, not one idea then a followup.

With that out of the way, I have some questions. Karl may answer these or not if he doesn't with to.

Encyclopedia. What was it going to be? I've been working on it and it's gone poorly.

More importantly, soil. Why was it removed? And is there a way to add it back? (Unsuscessful so far)

[Addictgamer]

I have a question:

Why do you/did you like RR?

Was it simply because "I made it", or was there more to it?

Could you possibly fill out this questioner?

[bartvbl]

  On 1/26/2011 at 4:24 AM, Lair of Rockwhales said:

  On 1/21/2011 at 3:01 PM, bartvbl said:

So how did lego rock raiders start? Did lego walk up to you and said "go get us a game which should accompany the lego rock raiders theme"?And who came up with the concept of the game?

Lego Rock Raiders sets and the LRR PC game were designed side-by-side, not one idea then a followup.

I knew that part. I meant this more as from the viewpoint from DDI; why were they chosen to do it? And how did lego approach them?

[karsten]

On my disc of LRR it sas Artworld what has Artworld to do with LRR and why if i google for them i don't find annything?

[McJobless]

  On 1/27/2011 at 3:57 PM, karsten said:

On my disc of LRR it sas Artworld what has Artworld to do with LRR and why if i google for them i don't find annything?

I'm willing to bet that "Artworld" is a small time games distributor that takes old games and sells them.

[karsten]

  On 2/3/2011 at 9:37 AM, Extreme110 said:

  On 1/27/2011 at 3:57 PM, karsten said:

On my disc of LRR it sas Artworld what has Artworld to do with LRR and why if i google for them i don't find annything?

I'm willing to bet that "Artworld" is a small time games distributor that takes old games and sells them.

Ehh no i got the original copy from 1999. And my disc is made in 1999 so Artworld is not a reseller!

I think they made the movie's or textures realy dono but i bet that is not a reseller!

[rrcoder]

  On 2/3/2011 at 10:33 AM, karsten said:

  On 2/3/2011 at 9:37 AM, Extreme110 said:

  On 1/27/2011 at 3:57 PM, karsten said:

On my disc of LRR it sas Artworld what has Artworld to do with LRR and why if i google for them i don't find annything?

I'm willing to bet that "Artworld" is a small time games distributor that takes old games and sells them.

Ehh no i got the original copy from 1999. And my disc is made in 1999 so Artworld is not a reseller!

I think they made the movie's or textures realy dono but i bet that is not a reseller!

This is an easy one to clear up: DDI and Artworld were almost one and the same...

Artworld was the name of our art department. Because we did a lot of contract artwork (not just games programming), our art department operated under a separate company name, "Artworld UK Ltd". Artworld was also responsible for the original Lego Adventurers comics (we worked on that for years), and it was billed as one of the world's first fully computer generated comic. I technically worked for Artworld when I animated the LEGO Harry Potter intro.

In fact, this reminds me... I have a request... Would anyone happen to have a copy of the VHS tape that came with the Jack Stone LEGO set? That was another animation I worked on, but I haven't seen it myself for years, and I can't seem to find it online anywhere.

[lol username]

I've heard of that Jack Stone tape, but never seen it. I'll look around and see if I can dig something up.

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/3901_Jack_Stone_Video

http://www.amazon.com/Lego-Jack-Stone-VHS-Video/dp/B001OYQWIU

Looks like it's available on Amazon.

[bartvbl]

  On 2/3/2011 at 5:14 PM, jamesster said:

I've heard of that Jack Stone tape, but never seen it. I'll look around and see if I can dig something up.

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/3901_Jack_Stone_Video

http://www.amazon.com/Lego-Jack-Stone-VHS-Video/dp/B001OYQWIU

Looks like it's available on Amazon.

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=0&itemID=9736

this one's cheaper. :P

[lol username]

  On 2/4/2011 at 10:28 PM, bartvbl said:

  On 2/3/2011 at 5:14 PM, jamesster said:

I've heard of that Jack Stone tape, but never seen it. I'll look around and see if I can dig something up.

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/3901_Jack_Stone_Video

http://www.amazon.com/Lego-Jack-Stone-VHS-Video/dp/B001OYQWIU

Looks like it's available on Amazon.

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=0&itemID=9736

this one's cheaper.

Good find, I forgot about Bricklink. Yeah, 25 cents is a lot cheaper then $15. :P

[McJobless]

Sorry 'bout this Karl, but I have another question which is gonna extend the lengths of your mind again (this one isn't as prominent as the others though).

What was the "AI Map"? I was going through the .exe file, looking at all the strings hidden in it's murky depths and I found it. Was it meant to be a way of programming the AI to do specific things during the game which you eventually let NERPS handle? Or was it a feature that got cut for time limits?

Thanks,

Me.

EDIT: I'm also having a problem which I was hoping you could help with...I'm trying to get levels to start in "FPMode". According to the .cfg:

  Quote

; Notes:

;		StartFP		TRUE		; This starts a particular level in first person

;								; It uses the first Rock-Raider in the o-list 

;

I have put it in the .cfg for the level, and I have tried both with only one and many RR's, but it's not working. It shows the UI and the main screen area appears as a purple colour (It flickers between that and blue). I can go back out of it and return into FP Mode to fix the bug, but when I have more than one RR on the level and I try switch to FP Mode on them, the level bugs up and I get the Purple-Blue screen bug on both Shoulder and Eye view for all raiders. Can you help?

Thanks.

[karsten]

On you website i can see that you (DDI) made 12 lego titles?

Legoâ„¢ (12 titles)

What are all the titles?

[Addictgamer]

I always wondered...What is the logic behind the name "Driller night"?

Don't know why, but I never understood the name of that level.

[Amauros]

It's the first level and so it's the night they first start drilling.

[Addictgamer]

  On 2/10/2011 at 1:18 AM, Amauros said:

It's the first level and so it's the night they first start drilling.

Doesn't make sense, and if it's true, then it is the only level name besides the training missions' names that is lame.

[rrcoder]

  On 2/10/2011 at 5:56 PM, addictgamer said:

  On 2/10/2011 at 1:18 AM, Amauros said:

  On 2/9/2011 at 8:19 PM, addictgamer said:

I always wondered...What is the logic behind the name "Driller night"?

Don't know why, but I never understood the name of that level.

It's the first level and so it's the night they first start drilling.

Doesn't make sense, and if it's true, then it is the only level name besides the training missions' names that is lame.

Well as you've probably all gathered, all the level names are basically terrible puns, and this one was no different...

♫ 'Cause this is driller... driller night,

And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike ♫

_{(unfortunately there was no zombie emoticon)}

[Addictgamer]

1. Actually, there were good puns to me. "Oresome!" being one of my favorite.

2. Am I missing a reference? I don't know of any songs that resemble that song.

[rrcoder]

  On 2/10/2011 at 6:54 PM, addictgamer said:

1. Actually, there were good puns to me. "Oresome!" being one of my favorite.

2. Am I missing a reference? I don't know of any songs that resemble that song.

1. I actually got tasked with naming the levels too (apart from perhaps one or two - funnily enough Oresome wasn't mine ). My favourite was always "Water lot of fun" for being so terrible.

2. (Pro-tip: Replace 'Driller' with 'Thriller', and it suddenly makes sense)

[Aki Dazrold]

  On 2/10/2011 at 6:45 PM, rrcoder said:

Well as you've probably all gathered, all the level names are basically terrible puns, and this one was no different...

♫ 'Cause this is driller... driller night,

And no one's gonna save you from the beast about strike ♫

_{(unfortunately there was no zombie emoticon)}

>_o

are you serious?

*rolls over on the floor, laughing like an idiot*

[Addictgamer]

  On 2/10/2011 at 6:56 PM, rrcoder said:

1. I actually got tasked with naming the levels too (apart from perhaps one or two - funnily enough Oresome wasn't mine ). My favourite was always "Water lot of fun" for being so terrible.

2. (Pro-tip: Replace 'Driller' with 'Thriller', and it suddenly makes sense)

1. Oh lol. Did you do ice spy then? That's my second favorite.

2. Not to me. I think I've heard "Thriller" night before...But I don't know much else other than what I can guess based on what you said.

[rrcoder]

  On 2/10/2011 at 7:00 PM, addictgamer said:

  On 2/10/2011 at 6:56 PM, rrcoder said:

1. I actually got tasked with naming the levels too (apart from perhaps one or two - funnily enough Oresome wasn't mine ). My favourite was always "Water lot of fun" for being so terrible.

2. (Pro-tip: Replace 'Driller' with 'Thriller', and it suddenly makes sense)

1. Oh lol. Did you do ice spy then? That's my second favorite.

2. Not to me. I think I've heard "Thriller" night before...But I don't know much else other than what I can guess based on what you said.

1. Yep, 'Ice Spy' was one one mine. My 2nd favourite was 'Erode Works'.

2. It is actually based on 'Thriller' (as in '...thriller night'). Perhaps it was a little too subtle.

[Alexpanter]

  On 2/10/2011 at 7:00 PM, addictgamer said:

2. Not to me. I think I've heard "Thriller" night before...But I don't know much else other than what I can guess based on what you said.

Never heard of Maikel Jakson? My dear addict, you must be a very happy man.