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Post by machf »

Searching on Google groups, I found a few Trespasser (p)reviews quoted:

Quote 1, PC Gamer Vol. 5 No. 12 pg 139 December
Trespasser's lead programmer, Seamus Blackley, is a true physics
guru. His work on the original Flight Unlimited from Looking glass was
heralded as revolutionary with perfect flight modeling and amazing
visuals. Now he's looking to carry his experience into the first-person
action genre with Trespasser, the latest title from Dreamworks
Interactive.
Trespasser is set shortly after the events that occurred in the
Jurassic Park sequel The Lost Wold, with the player, (a girl called
Jane, voiced by Minnie Driver) stuck on the menacinv Site B. Your only
goal is to get the hell off the island by any means necessary. The bad
news is that you don't have any weapons--but the good news is that you
can do just about anything in the world of Trespasser that you could do
in real life: break barrels, float wooden objects, stack crates, etc.,
giving you dozens of ways to attack each puzzle you encounter.
Trespasser contains no indivdual game 'levels'--it's all one giant,
continuous 3d world, with dozens of acres of realistically modeled
jungle terrain. And you're not alone because herds of dinos that
realistcally flock, attack, and hold their distance will be sharing
space with you. The AI system adds a twinge of raw, terrifying
unpredictability--a raptor that materializes 10 feet in front of you may
not be hungryat all...or it may be poised to strike. And yes, the T-Rex
is in there, and she's rarely ina good mood.
Trespasser's aim is to play the way the player wants it to--you can
go in guns-a-blazin', or you can trick the dinos with phsics-based
traps. It'll be intersting to see if the game can feature such amazing
complexity while actually still being fun to play--but...
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Post by machf »

Quote 2, from 3Dgaming.net:
Another great example of the detail that went into making Trespasser as
believable as possible would have to be your little utility belt. When you look
down, you will actually see your utility belt. While this may not be something
new or totally ground breaking, it sure is cool to see certain knick-knacks like
that in the game which attribute to a greater sense of 'Being there.'

>Rockin' your world

For a long time now, there have been no huge advances, or execution, of superb
audio. Granted, there is now 3D Audio, and while it's very cool, that won't fix
a game with bad audio. The last game I remember where I actually took notice to
the Audio was C&C (original). The guys were screaming all while 'Hells March'
blasted through my speakers. But, sadly, with most games, audio will be the
first to experience cutbacks and ultimately only achieve mediocre quality.

With Trespasser, however, you will definitely notice the sound FX and audio.
Why? Well, that's because it's based on that buzzword you have heard numerous
times over in this preview so far - that's right, physics. No, that's not a
typo, and yes, I do know what I am talking about. The audio in this game is
indeed physics based.

The development team for Trespasser sat down and pondered, why in the world do
you hear the same exact sounds when you use the same items in different
conditions. Go ahead, try this one out. Let's say you tap your monitor with a
bat. It makes a soft 'Tink', doesn't it? Well, would the same sound be heard if
you beat the hell out of it with the bat? Of course not. So why do they make the
same noise in other games? Because other games aren't based on the physics
engine!

Another example of the physics-based sound, you see a Velociraptor at the
bottom of a hill. You quickly dislodge the boulder next to you with your crowbar
and send it rolling down at the dinosaur, crushing him. What do you hear? In any
other game you might hear a thump and a default scream. What do you hear in
Trespasser? The crowbar making contact with the rock, the rock slowly rolling
down the hill, gaining speed as it moves faster, the rock hitting the raptor,
the raptor's bones breaking, and finally the raptor screaming for help.

Basically, when you do something in the world, it will register with the
physics engine. Then the physics engine tells the sound what you did, and the
sound makes a whole bunch of calculations, and then spits out the appropriate
playback. The sound is played based on thickness, type, and other properties of
whatever you interacted with in true, 3D space. "...You will have to struggle to
hear the same sound twice."

>Conclusion

DreamWorks has really out done themselves with this one. It is definitely the
game to look for when it comes out this holiday season. It has practically
everything a gamer could want, and some pretty cool, if not revolutionary,
interactive features. A physics engine to die for, AI and gameplay unsurpassed
by anything, and what looks to be extraordinary audio, all wrapped up nice and
neat in a little package called Trespasser.

The game will be machine-intensive, however. And right now they are saying that
it will probably run fine on a system with 64 Megs of RAM, a P200, and a solid
3D Card. That's only at this current stage in development though, and they still
have a lot of code tweaking and refining to do before the final version hits the
shelves.

Bottom line is this. When Trespasser comes out, you had better hope you have a
box of diapers ready, because you're going to need them...

-Tim Krupinski

>http://www.3dgaming.net/features/trespa ... view.shtml
Link to Internet Archive copy (already seen it before, several screenshots, also a link to an Interview with Seamus Blackley)
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Post by machf »

Another article contains this link to a Gamers' Alliance review:

http://www.gagames.com/games/reviews/trespasser.html

The Internet Archive has a copy. Unfortunately, it's only the "front page", so to speak, the actual article can't be retrieved (it gives a "Path index error" message...
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Post by machf »

Quote 3, from Gamecenter
by Tom Chick
(8/18/98)

I'm huddled over a monitor with Austin Grossman, lead designer of
_DreamWorks Interactive's_ Trespasser. He's matter-of-factly showing me
one of the game's levels in which the lead character, Anne, is navigating
a maze of powered-down, unlocked dinosaur pens. Suddenly, a shrieking
Raptor shoves one of the pen doors open with its nose and surges out into
the corridor.

"Cool!" Grossman cries. "I've never seen them do that--I've never seen
one of them come through the door like that!"

Seamus Blackley, the game's producer and physics guru, says he has
experienced similar moments in which his own engine surprised and
delighted him. "That kind of 'stupid grin' immersive joy is the heart of
Trespasser and my design philosophy," explains Blackley.

It seems as if there is no limit to the way in which Tresspasser's
components can interact. Dinosaurs, for example, have no scripted
behavior or animations. Rather, they are assigned a handful of behaviors
from a list of 40 or so actions, including "bite," "look," "charge," or
"howl." These behaviors are further affected by a list of changing
stimuli, such as fear, hunger, fatigue, and curiosity. Dinosaurs are even
defined by their bulk, which determines whether they can go around
certain objects or plow right through them. Sophisticated stuff...

Darwin's theories of evolution seem to be at work in this unique
action-adventure game--that is, Trespasser has evolved dramatically since
Gamecenter's _first sneak peek_ last December. Read on for a complete
look at how this prehistoric meat eater is shaping up en route to its
savage release on the gaming public this fall.

Trespasser's dinosaurs are like sentient creatures in all their
unpredictable glory. Each of the seven species in the game has a library
of up to 50 sounds, which are associated with certain AI behaviors.
Grossman shows me a fight between a Raptor and a Triceratops, both
creatures circling and charging each other in a dance of feints and
thrusts, accompanied by a veritable symphony of shrieks, growls, snorts,
and whimpers.

The dinosaurs are built out of skeletons with bump-mapped skins
stretched over them. The bump mapping, an effect that gives textures the
illusion of height and enhances the game's lighting, renders the
creatures' skin a lustrous, shimmering quality that you can almost feel.
Amazingly, the artists don't do any animations for the dinosaurs; rather,
the engine's AI and physics dictate the movements that the artists would
normally program into the game.

Artist Kyle McKisic demonstrates how this works by using his cursor to
lift a T-Rex by the scruff of the neck as if it were a kitten. "You can
pick him up and drop him and he just deals," McKisic says. Sure enough,
the behemoth kicks his rear legs, scrambling to hold himself up as his
bulk hits the ground.

The game's sound is also built using the same philosophy of
interacting components. Brady Bell, the game's sound man, demonstrates
"real-time Foley." Although it sounds like a buzzword, it is in fact a
simple concept for creating sound. Every object and surface in the game
is given a property, such as "dirt," "wood," "concrete," "flesh," and
"bullet." When two such objects collide, a recorded sample is played,
with the volume and pitch determined by the force of the collision. There
is even a separate sound library for objects sliding against each other.

Bell gives an example of this by playing several sounds: a board
smacked against an oil drum, a girder pushed along a concrete wall, and a
bullet hitting a dinosaur. Anne's footsteps also use the real-time Foley:
a foot model collides with whatever surface Anne is on, at whatever rate
she's moving.

The setup makes so much sense that I can't help but ask why other
games haven't taken the same approach. "It's the brainchild of a bunch of
really smart engineers," Bell says. "It's really hard. It takes a lot of
time. It also takes a lot of the processor's time and it's memory
intensive."

The interface in Trespasser is designed to provide an unobstructed
view of the game world. At this point, the screen has no numbers or
information; no overhead maps; and no inventory screens. Anne can hold
only one object at a time; whether she's carrying a keycard, a crate, or
a shotgun, she'll have to leave it on the ground to pick up something
else. On one hand, this will no doubt lead to some grumbling among
gamers, who will want to know why Anne can't tuck a pistol or a keycard
in her waistband. On the other hand, it significantly streamlines the
gameplay.

"The interface starts from a base of Quake, with the added effect of
the arm," says Grossman. The basic mouse-look interface will be familiar
enough to gamers. Hold down the left button, though, and Anne's arm
reaches out. While the button is held down, the mouse moves her arm
around the screen; if it moves to a screen edge, the view scrolls. Touch
Anne's arm to something and click the right button to pick it up. Click
the right button again to drop it. If you have something usable in your
hand (like a gun), hit the space bar to activate it.

Grossman proudly shows that there are no overlays or separate screens
in the game. There is no health bar, because Anne can take only minimal
damage before dying, anyway. There's a keypad puzzle in which you reach
out and press the actual keys rather than zooming in on a separate
screen. You aim by peering down the sights of the gun. As Anne fires her
weapons, she counts aloud the number of rounds remaining.

Some clues are rolled into the environment. For instance, scientists
leave notes to each other on blackboards before the labs are abandoned.
In a nod to the movie *War Games,* a password is written on the extension
of an office desk. Additional background and clues are provided by
Richard Attenborough's mellifluous narration of Dr. Hammond's memoirs.
Although it may not make it into the final product, among Sir
Attenborough's recordings was a heartbreaking recital of Percy Bysshe
Shelley's "Ozymandias"--a fitting postscript to Dr. Hammond's Jurassic
Park if ever there was one.

Grossman describes Trespasser as an action game with enough puzzle
elements to also make it an adventure game. "But we're working really
hard not to make any kinds of puzzles that you can solve by chance or
brute force or just by searching," Grossman explains. "We try not to have
too much stuff based on coordination. You should be able to think about a
situation and use tools to solve it. It's all about using physics, the
rules of this physical world, to accomplish goals."

One such puzzle involves dumping over a rickety trailer by rocking it
from within. Another stumper requires pushing a board across a gap,
walking over it, and then pulling the board behind you to cross another
gap. A particularly insidious puzzle, which fits in perfectly with the
game's emphasis on physics, requires you to actually use a fully
functional scale to compare the weight of some electronic components.

"I want the puzzles to be deep but not arbitrary," Grossman says. "The
game world is full of objects and you can use them, but no object has a
special purpose. The idea is that every object has its own properties and
you figure out what to do with it."

Even more so than the game's mighty dinosaurs, the most mundane
objects betray the power of Trespasser's real-world physics. There's
something almost hyperreal about the way objects interact, whether you're
shooting the leg out from under a table, clacking a gun along the iron
bars on a window, or watching a T-Rex nose through a pile of crates.

Seeing a game world reflect The Way Things Work is almost more
spectacular than the dinosaurs themselves. It opens up endless
possibilities. Grossman compares their approach to Nethack, a venerable
RPG that uses only ASCII characters: "One of the things I loved about
Nethack was that it was a complicated world with consistent rules. There
was always a different way to solve puzzles." In Nethack, you could cast
a spell of water-walking to cross a river, you could freeze it with a
wand of cold, or you could dig through from above to enter the level from
the other side. Such depth of interaction is what Grossman hopes to
replicate in Trespasser.

This wide-open approach does have its limitations. For example, the
game lacks fire and explosions, and there are no shovels (you can be sure
some gamers would try to dig to China) or chisels (otherwise players
might be tempted to spend hours trying to break through walls). You also
cannot fill a bucket with water and make 100 trips to try and flood a
room. "There are a lot of things we don't have," Blackley admits. "We
only have things that absolutely, 100 percent of the time, without
exception, work exactly as they should with everything else."

The open-ended nature of Trespasser's game engine is forcing Blackley
to decide what to leave *out* of the game. "The engine enables so many
different things, but it's a question of what's fun. There are a lot of
puzzles that are just too hard, puzzles that are too realistic, but
they're not fun. Realism in the name of fun is what this is about."

It won't be long before gamers get a chance to decide if Blackley made
the right trade-offs. Will the game be so much fun that you won't mind
that Anne can hold only one object at a time? Will the action be so
intense that you'll forget all about the absence of such action-game
staples as fire and explosions? We'll find out this fall.
(Already seen this one too, if I'm not mistaken...)
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Post by machf »

Yet another one has another link toa a Gamespot preview:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/trespasser/index.html

Interent Archive copy avaialble, 3 pages. I'm not sure if we've already seen it... anyway, take a look at it.
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Post by machf »

Quote 4, apparently from an OGR preview:
by Chris Jensen
May 29, 1998

Of all the titles being displayed at E3, Trespasser was perhaps the one I most
longed to see. This, after seeing it only a few weeks ago at Dreamworks
Hollywood offices. Why the excitement? Well, what other title has the ability to
completely ruin my love for Quake II as much as Trespasser did. The same day I
originally saw this title was the last day I played Quake II. With it's amazing
exterior locations and truly unbelievable physics implementation, not to mention
the cunning dinosaur AI, Trespasser is easily one of the most anticipated titles
I've seen in years. To say it is years ahead of the competition in terms of
gameplay and graphics would be an understatement.
With all of this in mind, I really didn't expect to see much difference in the
Trespasser I saw a few weeks compared with the E3 Trespasser. Well, I was wrong.
It's amazing how fast things change. When I last left Seamus at Dreamworks they
were struggling to incorporate 3D acceleration because of the sheer amount of
polygons they were pushing across the screen. They promised it would be
incorporated by the time the game ships in August, so it was with great surprise
that I saw Trespasser hauling the proverbial butt on a 3DFX card at their E3
booth. Yes, 3D acceleration has been incorporated in just a few short weeks and,
obviously, the effect is absolutely amazing. I asked Seamus point blank how they
were able to pull off this rather impressive feat in such a short amount of time
and the response was typically Seamus: "I'm not really sure. Lucky, I guess,"
and then he laughed.

Seamus may be lucky, but the real lucks is now with the gamer. Any doubts that
Trespasser could potentially ship without 3DFX support can now go the way of the
dinosaur. While many elements to the title are still being added, the one that
stuck out as being pretty inventive was the horseshoe game. Seamus was walking
along a mountain side and stumbled upon a little horseshoe area, picked up the
horseshoe, and proceeded to toss it at a distant spike in the ground. This may
not sound like much, and yes, it has nothing to do with the game proper, but
just the fact that's it's there is good enough.

Be sure to read OGR's exclusive preview of this amazing looking title for
further details. And stay tuned later today when we'll present to you the first
screenshots of the 3DFX accelerated version. You won't want to miss it.
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Post by machf »

Quote 5, from 3dGaming.net (apparently, this goes before the other quote from 3dGaming.net)
The first person shoot 'em up genre. When you ask any knowledgeable gamer about
3D Shooters, you will probably get a response in terms of Doom. Alien worlds,
one marine against the onslaught of evil monsters that threaten the Earth or
some remote military installation. And, in turn, when you ask somebody to think
of a 3D Adventure game, you will probably receive a reply talking about Tomb
Raider. Run around with your pistols and intimidate monsters with your huge
breasts. Alright, maybe not the latter, but you get the idea. Mix the two, add
more gameplay options than you can shake a stick at, rev it up with a physics
engine that would force your Trig and Calc. teachers to ponder, and what do you
get? Trespasser, from DreamWorks.

Both Doom and Tomb Raider alike were huge hits, as well as milestones, for the
computer gaming industry. Why? They offered the next level in gameplay as well
as a good sense of intuitiveness. However, in the past few months, or even
years, 3D Shooters have been dry and lacking in a sense. Not to say that Quake 2
sucks, but it uses the same basic gameplay formula that made Doom a hit - the
same weapons, virtually the same plot, and all in all is not a whole world apart
from Doom. Yeah, Valve is working on Half-Life which should please story-goers,
and Ritual with SiN's real-world levels that bring back memories of Duke Nukem
3D. However, DreamWorks plans to take Trespasser to the next level - all while
leaving competitors in its virtual dust.

>Mind-blowing, Nut-Blazing, InterAction

Trespasser will be set up like any normal first person shooter. You progress
from level to level, or in this case Region, to ultimately get off of the
dinosaur-ridden island. To accomplish this goal, you need to fight, run, sneak,
or do just about anything feasible to get off of the island. And this is where
the real fun starts, and the game leaves the immutable FPS genre behind.

Two words can describe the heart and soul of this game - physics engine. If you
check out any interview, preview, or even talk to the designers about the game,
they will probably mention something about their physics engine. That is because
it controls the entire world of Trespasser. And this isn't some lame attempt at
a physics model, either. *Cough* *Cough* Quake *Cough* *Cough* This physics
model is the environment. It controls the world. Everything in the world, right
down to the hinges on a door, is affected and influenced by the physics. That's
what makes this game so cool_ and unpredictable.

For example, in an exclusive interview with Seamus Blackley, project lead on
the Trespasser team, he stated an instance when he killed himself. No, he didn't
fall into a pool of lava in some sky-high military base. No, he didn't pull the
wrong lever and have a wall crush his arse. He was reaching for a rifle, but the
supports weren't steady and a crate fell on his head.

> "A lot of things you do seem simple but are really cool in a way gamers
> haven't seen before. You finish a puzzle and its like you really solved
> it yourself, you didn't just pull the lever and get the card, you really
> DID something."

As I said before, this point is where the game stops being a traditional FPS
and takes on a shape of its own. The game does not have any other human
opponents_ they are all dead. The game will have, however, things you can kill,
such as dinosaurs (duh).

Right now your probably thinking this to be some sort of Tomb Raider knock off,
except instead of running around ancient ruins and blasting wolves and bears,
that you run around some third-rate, artificial-looking outside world blasting
Dino's with your guns. Well, not quite.

First off, if you find a gun - that's like discovering cold fusion. You
probably wont be finding many guns in this game. And if you do, well, shooting a
T-Rex with your pistol is like shooting a little kid with a water pistol. All he
does is scream and run around and try and hurt you. Instead, you will be
scrambling to find other means of defense, or if you will, offense. By this I
mean you will be hoping to find some sticks or rocks to defend yourself - maybe
a 2x4 to whack a dino right in the eye. Where do you find this stuff? Well, why
don't you try pulling the leg off of a table, or hurling a chair.

If you are the clever gamer, and prefer using brains over brawn, then you could
try other means of getting rid of prey that's on your trail. Why not try leading
the pack of velociraptors into the T-Rex's nest, where the hunters will become
the huntees. Or better yet, you could try prying that boulder loose on the hill
with a crow bar in hopes that it will roll right through a pack of angry dino's.
It's all up to you, the player, to decide how you will get past your enemies.

I said it before and I'll say it again - the physics model and engine in this
game totally rock. Each object you see can roll, tumble, or basically be
manipulated to your gain. Your character even creates a slight breeze as he
walks by, for plants sway in the direction you walk when you walk past them.
What does this all add up to? Basically, this means that Trespasser will be
reaching a new level of interactivity and realism, and it will put shame to any
other game claiming ultimate interactivity with the environment.

>This ain't yo daddies' FPS

With a first glance at Trespasser from random screenshots, it would probably be
categorized as another FPS close with pretty graphics. However, after listening
to any excited fan, or anybody who has played the game for more than five
minutes, you will soon come to discover that the game is much, much, more than
your old, uninspired FPS game.

I want to say that Trespasser is a lot like an adventure game. Except, it's not
like your traditional animated, cartoon-esque adventure game. It's more like
Tomb Raider, but you aren't running around confined to caves and battling
harmless animals. Trespasser is totally unique in almost every way.

One of the first things anybody would notice is that you aren't scurrying
around dark, abandoned military bases on some alien world. Nor are you running
around pseudo-outside levels that look extremely fake and flat. Instead, the
whole world is practically outside in the wild. You may stumble upon an
abandoned shack or some power station, but the vast majority of the game is
outside. This means that you won't be fumbling around in an outside world that
is based on the quake engine. This also means that you will be playing in a
world running off of an engine that was designed specifically for that world,
and that world looks damn good - the best I have seen on the computer. Ever.

Another thing that you will notice while playing through Trespasser is that the
puzzles are way ahead of anything you have ever experienced in FPS's. Countless
times have I been frustrated with Quake 2 or other FPS games that require you to
find a key to get through a door to shut down some power grid (or some other
abstract objective). I'm standing in front of the door with my BFG, Rail Gun,
Gattling Gun, etc_ but it still requires a key. So you go off through the level
and attempt to find the key laying around. Lets look at the same scenario in
Trespasser. You must get into a shack to shut down the power so you can get
across the fence into the next region...

> So whatever should you do? You can...
> A. Run away and look for the key on some fallen dinosaur
> B. Wonder why no message pops up telling you what is going on when your
> at the door
>C. Smash the door open by allowing rocks on the hill in front of it to
> roll through

If you selected C, congratulations, you're not an idiot. If you selected either
A or B, go check out our feature on "Half-Life". Anyway, this is just one
example of a way to get in. You could also smash the windows if there are any.
Or you could try and break the door open with your feet or fists. Other puzzles
include building a raft to get down a river and making a natural ladder to get
to some elevated location. Everything is dynamic and totally open to each and
every gamers' train of thought_ nothing is pre-scripted as to what must happen.
The puzzles in Trespasser may seem logical, and that's exactly what's probably
going to throw many gamers off. Up until now, the solutions to many adventure
games and FPS's have been extremely linear, and not so practical sometimes.
However, in Trespasser, the simplest solution to a problem you encounter will
probably work. Or, if you're a clever gamer, the hardest solution to a problem
would probably work_ and it would probably be the most fun as well.

As said above, nothing is pre-scripted. And when I say nothing, guess what? I
mean it. Not even the dinosaurs are pre-rendered. Of course, they did have to
make the models and AI for the dino's. However that's it. Gone are the days of
repeated death scenes, models sliding around that don't have animations for that
particular motion, or seeing the same animation twice. Instead, you will be
granted with amazing animations that look frighteningly realistic... especially
for a computer game.

>Not some dumb cavemen

The AI in Trespasser promises to be realistic. Notice I did not say
revolutionary, because it probably won't be revolutionary. Why? Well, first of
all, these are animals. Animals for the most part aren't very smart, and they
have other motives than eating you. See that Triceratops? He has more important
things to do, like eat some grass. However, those Raptors over there find you
much more interesting than the grass.

But fear not, because you do have a brain. And in this world, that is what is
really going to count. You can manipulate the environment to suit your needs,
like maybe jumping into a flowing river and watching the Raptors that were once
chasing you drown. You could also try leading the pack of raptors into the
T-Rex's nest and hope that the T-Rex takes more interest in them than you.

The animals do have senses, and virtual feelings. They aren't waiting around in
some cave or invisible region to come out and attack you from nowhere when you
pull the wrong lever. *cough* *cough* Unreal *cough* *cough* They just want to
live, and have a superior sense of self-preservation, at least more than most
games' AI.

It is even said that you can get through the game without killing a single
dinosaur. If that is true, it will be interesting to see how Dreamworks pulls it
off. This also leaves room open for all sorts of players, from the Myst
adventure lovers to the daring Quake fraggers. Then again, it could turn into a
boring game of breaking stuff to get into places, but we will for sure find out
when the final version is released.

>Graphics that could pimp Unreal

The last major advance in art for the PC was, obviously, 3D Acceleration and
hardware support. Practically every new game coming out will have support for
one form of 3D hardware or another, if not supporting it exclusively. This has
pissed off quite a few gamers that still haven't upgraded to a Voodoo, Riva, or
some other card. And while you can now purchase a Voodoo card for the price of
an N64 game, Dreamworks plans on evening the score with Trespasser, which has
not only superior graphics, but environments and ambience as well.

Do you see those screenshots of Trespasser? You're probably thinking "Man,
Trespasser probably requires V2 SLI to run smoothly." Well, I got some news for
you. Those screenshots... are in software mode. Yes, that's correct, software
mode looks exactly like accelerated mode - the only difference is that
accelerated mode will run faster and won't put as much load on the processor.

However, while the graphics in Trespasser are definitely impressive, it's
really the environment that will, in my opinion, really capture the player.
Until now, many outdoor environments have really sucked, because designers and
producers are always trying to trim down the polygon count to speed up the game.
That always resulted in six-sided trees, repeated floor and sky textures, and
extremely artificial looking foliage, rocks, and such. And although this has
been the status quo for years, DreamWorks will be breaking that barrier by going
all-out with the graphics and environment.

As you walk down a narrow path, you may notice that the sun is quite hot today.
That's because you will see it washing out saturation, and casting mottled
shadows on the ground. Each and every item in Trespasser has its place and can
be altered or moved. Another example of the visual effects in Trespasser occurs
when you come upon a log and turn it over. What do you find? Well, moss and
damp, flattened grass of course.

One of the many things that DreamWorks is boasting about is the Summit in
Trespasser. You must make your way up a hill, and when you get to the top it's
an awe-inspiring moment. Yeah, we all remember the famous waterfall in the
second level of unreal, but that will look like Doom's waterfalls compared to
this one. As you gaze off into the distance, you can see approximately 5KM of
the virtual island, and it looks fantastic. All of the trees, shrubbery, and
foliage look so damn awesome it's impossible to explain.

Another thing that you won't find either, will be those annoying tiled
textures. "We know that as soon as we use tons of tiled textures, an environment
becomes boring. It's no longer interesting to explore because you've already
seen all the art that's used elsewhere. There is nothing more disturbing to the
art staff than a wall, floor, or piece of ground texture that tiles into
eternity." What does that boil down to? Frankly, you won't be finding any
textures that repeat themselves, which will make each new area interesting and
fun to explore. A prime example of this would be the fact that DreamWorks has
multiple textures for the same type of dirt.
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Post by machf »

Here's something from the TresCom Miniboard, thanks to Google's cache:
TresCom MiniBoard
Index > Articles from OGR

User: Message:
machf 2004-10-15 00:57:56Well, with the Internet Archive back again (coincidentally, it started having trouble at more or less the same time as TresCom), I finally managed to retrieve their articles about Trespasser and merge the various parts into (why doesn't English have a word for "sendos", damn it?) .doc files, one for each. I've uploaded them to the FTP server at diehard, under the name "OGRarticles.zip". I want to comment on some parts of them:

From their first preview, by the end of Part 5:

"A little bit later into the demonstration we find ourselves approaching a Geo-Thermal plant which supplies power to the entire island. When the player reaches this location from within the game proper, the plant will have been shut completely down and it will be up to the player to juice up the systems again. Don't expect it to be a process of simply finding some obscure lever somewhere and flipping it up. Nothing about Trespasser is quite that easy. Getting inside the plant itself will take some time, and there are a myriad of ways in which the player could go about it (I don't want to spoil anything). The Geo-Thermal complex is vast with many different parts that comprise the overall whole."

"As the player approaches each segment of the structure, chances are you'll hear the voice of Hammond briefly describing what this or that part accomplishes. It is in this way that the player will get subtle clues to help them out (the player hears these occasional clues because at some point early in the game, you read through Hammond's journal and notes of interest come flooding back to you.) Better yet is the fact that you'll need the clues, for as Rich Flier explains, "We actually did research on geo-thermal plants so it works properly and as it should." Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Then continues in Part 6:

"As Seamus strolls around the geo-thermal plant he comes across a garage door. Instead of just standing there and opening it like most games would find you doing, Trespasser has you kneeling over, grabbing the handle, taking a few steps back while hoisting the door up. It's as real as you can possibly get."

"There will be four major environments (comprising about 11 levels of play, each level taking anywhere from 2-5 hours to complete if you know exactly what you're doing) for the player to explore in Trespasser; Pine Valley, a jungle area, plains, and finally a mountainous region, all handcrafted for your exploratory pleasure. Once each of these expansive regions have loaded into the system, there will be no more loading through the course of the adventure. What that means is, the transition from exterior to interior - from walking through a thicket of trees to navigating the inside of a control room - is all present all the time, seamlessly integrated without any waiting around for a scene to load."

"Rich Flier and Seamus run through a truckload of more locations and while I could describe each and every one, offer you the nature of just a handful of the available puzzles, I won't. Trespasser is all about exploration and curiosity, and any further divulgence of the game-world itself would just spoil the fun that's coming."

Next, on Part 7:

"Yet one more interesting tidbit in relation to Trespasser is how the inventory has been implemented. Or lack thereof, I should say. Unlike most adventure/quest/explore/puzzle type games that find most players lugging around literally tons of inventory, Trespasser will have none of that. Instead, you have two hands...and that's it. So, if you find yourself carrying a Mac-10 and you come up to a broken bridge that can be crossed by placing a beam in a certain spot, you'll have to drop the gun, manipulate the beam, get the gun, and cross. "Or the player could opt to throw the gun across the chasm, but that's a nervous throw. If you miss you're f'ed, and that's how it would be in the real world," explains Seamus."

And at the end of the preview, there's an interesting image described:

"[Picture: This shot represents just one small arm of the Geo-Thermal plant.]"
machf 2004-10-15 01:01:23On their second preview ("Trespasser revisited"), by the end of Part 3:

"Case in point: I walking up to a construction area where a crane and a few trailers are sitting on bricks around a cleared area. I move into one of the trailers and start snooping around when suddenly the trailer starts leaning to one side. Before I know it, the trailer is rolling over, sending all interior objects flying. When I finally make it outside the trailer I'm greeted by a rather irate T-Rex that is gazing at me as if I just morphed into a cartoon chicken leg. I do what any reasonable individual would do in a situation such as this, i.e., run. The T-Rex tosses trailers to the side as if they're made out of balsa wood., creating a visual reality that just leaves you stunned, especially with the trailer continuing to roll and lumber down a steep hill while a T-Rex screams come from behind.

The above pictures illustrate the "moment". The trailer is rolling down the hill with amazing realism."

I wonder if that "construction area" is actually the docks in the Lab level...

machf 2004-10-15 01:11:34This is from their review of a "silver master" (pre-release, or pre-"gold", I guess?).
At the end of Part 1:

"For example: there's a bridge with it's supports broken so that it flops like a teeter-totter, and you can't quite get on top of it. You need to cross this bridge to proceed, so how do you do it? In these types of situations, Trespasser shines in a way no other game has be fore. There is never a single solution to any of these puzzles, or even a set of solutions. Rather, you just do whatever works, whatever makes sense, and if you succeed, great. Pretty much anything that makes sense in the Real World will work, and there's really no such thing as cheating or "getting around" a puzzle - that's part of the point. In the example above, you could drag a plank onto the box under the bridge to support it and keep it from lowering when you walk on that side. Or, you could weigh one side down by throwing a couple of rocks on it, then run across and jump to the other side. Maybe you could stack some boxes and jump up them like a staircase to avoid using the bridge entirely."

This seems to imply the bridge we see on the Beach level, as I suggested, may have been elsewhere, very likely in Pine Valley, and it was actually only the second half of a bigger bridge.

Also, compare that to the last part of the first preview, where they mention "placing a beam on a certain spot" in order to cross a broken bridge... and that article was clearly talking about the Geothermal Plant level.
Second Illiteration 2004-10-16 02:55:00that second one seems to be refering to the docks area...made it sound cool...with the rex tipping your trailer and then chasing you
Slugger 2004-10-16 04:49:45Isn't there a screenshot of the second one somewhere? It has the trailer without the door kinda rolling.

Seems like they moved the Rex, if it was at the docks, or else they taunted it.

Could Pine Valley had had a construction yard -- as if they were still building the island when the storm hit?
Second Illiteration 2004-10-16 06:37:14that makes sense....it seems to me that there would probably be some time of continual construction going on at site b at all times...there seems to be a lot of things missing that an island like that might need...

like a hospital...garages for vehicle repair...those types of things
machf 2004-10-16 09:05:55Yes, there is a screenshot that looks like it is from that one (though the T-Rex can't be seen) and another one (or maybe two) that shows the trailer in its original location, which isn'too far from where the T-Rex in in the actual game (it's just to the other side of the building, basically).
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Post by machf »

Ahd here's the listing of all threads in the Minboard:
TresCom MiniBoard
Index

Title: Posts: Started by: Last Post:
! slightly unstable server 1 Remdul 2005-06-13 11:12:44
! NEW VISITORS READ THIS 1 Remdul 2005-02-08 17:15:46
! TresCom Isle - Now Available 24 Remdul 2004-12-01 12:24:55
! server problems remain 1 Remdul 2004-11-14 10:18:44
! TresCom News 3 Remdul 2004-10-27 14:46:18
! Server Trouble Update 2 Remdul 2004-10-19 10:05:01
Forum database problems? 1 machf 2004-12-23 12:03:04
Is this implementable? 25 Big Red 2004-12-12 21:46:58
Trespasser Audio Bug Under WindowsXP A Major Community Problem Guys! 13 rms 2004-12-11 05:57:55
"new rex" frenzy 20 Remdul 2004-12-10 18:46:02
Another question! error.log file... 3 Big Red 2004-12-09 20:58:35
Useless loading time??? 15 Big Red 2004-12-09 20:36:16
Beginner to this...... 5 cardinaluk 2004-12-09 19:18:19
State of Fear Contest 4 DinoNeill 2004-12-08 00:02:52
suggestions, commits, and a questions 4 KillerBee256 2004-12-06 23:12:31
Story I've been working on 10 2nd Illiteration 2004-12-05 23:07:44
the password for the new level 12 rudy 2004-12-04 19:03:43
SS Venture 16 2nd Illiteration 2004-12-03 22:55:58
Import stuff from tc isle? 11 KillerBee256 2004-12-03 16:39:57
Problems with TC Isle set up 7 2nd Illiteration 2004-12-01 20:19:32
Spoiler questions answered: 7 Rebel 2004-12-01 12:26:26
Flickering Menus 5 avonnied 2004-11-27 20:36:51
Does the Patch actually work???? 2 Big Red 2004-11-27 17:14:28
Trespasser Comic 2 DinoNeill 2004-11-26 10:23:10
XP 13 hppav 2004-11-22 23:50:26
What Are You Doing Right Now... 15 Sk8er 2004-11-22 00:48:38
Where to make a new forum 1 Darkraider 2004-11-20 16:25:56
Problems w/installing and running Trespasser 2 Desert Fox II 2004-10-27 15:15:48
TresCom Isle screenies.... 10 Slugger 2004-10-27 02:55:02
Band game.. 6 Slugger 2004-10-23 15:02:57
Attention anyone who can model.... 3 Slugger 2004-10-21 20:58:03
I just noticed about the plane... 1 masterchiefoo7 2004-10-21 03:23:00
Most anticipated feature of the TC-Isle level 18 Second Illiteration 2004-10-20 21:35:18
Unofficial Teaser and Trailer 12 MikeTheRaptor 2004-10-20 09:30:28
Will TC isle run on my system? 2 KillerBee256 2004-10-20 02:00:04
Framerate/Praise for Tres/Idea for TC-Isle 5 Mahler 2004-10-19 21:05:28
The New Raptor... 4 Second Illiteration 2004-10-19 07:01:45
Moving Fog? 5 Second Illiteration 2004-10-19 04:55:55
TC-Isle:what do you think will be in it? 21 Second Illiteration 2004-10-19 02:45:55
Spent shells? 5 KIllerbee256 2004-10-18 22:04:41
Jurassic Park Dino sounds? 2 Markosaur 2004-10-18 22:01:36
Terrain textures and Pine Valley 12 machf 2004-10-18 21:56:09
The "unknown" screenshot from Pine Valley 7 machf 2004-10-18 17:41:21
TresEd questions 4 Sakke 2004-10-18 04:27:12
Anne's face 9 lurker 2004-10-17 22:46:27
Google Desktop Search Beta 1 Remdul 2004-10-17 13:49:59
TC-Isle:what do you think will be in it? 2 Second Illiteration 2004-10-16 22:55:24
Removing bumpmaps 10 Sakke 2004-10-16 22:37:15
say hi 21 Remdul 2004-10-16 18:33:44
Articles from OGR 7 machf 2004-10-16 09:05:55
A little help... 6 Slugger 2004-10-16 03:48:18
Hey Remdul... about this MiniBoard 3 machf 2004-10-15 11:58:22
so whats the probelm? 1 Lou-saydus 2004-10-15 00:54:59
dam 4 Markosaur 2004-10-15 00:03:58
Questions.... 2 Slugger 2004-10-14 22:35:28
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Post by machf »

The Internet Archive has a sightly older copy of the MiniBoard (Remdul's latest two posts are missing only, from what I can see), so maybe not all is lost:

http://web.archive.org/web/200502071539 ... miniboard/

Ouch... I spoke too soon... apaprently the actual threads haven't been archived.

Still, Google's cache seems to have them. I'll start retrieving them manually.
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Post by masterchiefoo7 »

interesting. 11 levels. they also state quite a few puzzles that wernt in the retail. I bet if we had a picture of the clay model of the island it would answer a lot of questions. the levels were probably totally different.
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Post by machf »

There is one such picture, but it's too small...
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Post by mega raptor »

Well, considering hardened clay lasts a long time, (I have models of dinosaurs I made when I was 5) it probably still exists. If we're lucky, there might be more photos somewhere.
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Post by Slugger »

You seemed busy machf. Cool stuff. :mrgreen:
0066521C: 'Cannot create local swap file - Is Trespasser installed??',0Ah,0
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Post by Slugger »

I was reading on one of those pages, and came across this:
<Rapala> *BloodFire* question:If you visit a lavatory in Trespasser, will a T-Rex rip off the top and kill you?
<Bakshra> heh...
<DreamWork> That certianly *could* happen; the engine would certianly do it. I don't know if we have a bathroom in an exposed enough place. The game is *big*
So, obviously you can prerender scenes, aside from the Key-Frame, as it probably includes the dinos.

In another article, they mention lifting up a T-rex with a cursor, then dropping it down and watching it react in realtime. Could this be something related to that "GUIInterface" program? I wonder who we could contact to get our hands on that...
0066521C: 'Cannot create local swap file - Is Trespasser installed??',0Ah,0
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