Miscellaneous:
Affiliates:
Promotion:
News
Everyone hates being left in the dark, not knowing what's going on, if anything, behind the scenes can be kinda annoying. Therefore we've put together this list of work carried out on Absolute Terror in order to keep you all informed of developments:
16/07/2008 - Looks like we're done now on the enhanced game communications. To finish things off we've now got the 'Remove Squad' functionality working for both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists. We'll have to find something else to sink our teeth into now...next...
07/07/2008 - We've tweaked both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists some more to provide further squad information. In addition, squad based communications are now possible from the 'Hit' list too...so now there's no excuse for a few well placed taunts! - Peace?!?! What the fudge's that?! ;)
06/07/2008 - Both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists can now have their views toggled such that they can display either units or squads. In addition, squad based communications are now possible from the 'Comrades' list. Note that the 'Remove Contact' functionality is not yet live for squads.
02/07/2008 - We're now getting stuck into some enhanced in game communications. As suggested by 'Superdaddy', on the Absolute Terror Message Board, we're working on allowing both the 'Comrades' and 'Hit' lists the ability to toggle their views such that they can display either units or squads. This will in turn lead to squad based communications. Currently this new functionality is in development. Watch this space...
22/06/2008 - As requested by the AT community we have indeed pressed on with the development of a new unit for SEELE. Say hello to the 'Trident' unit, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Stick these bad boys on guard duty with their 'Inferno Cannon' and you're laughing, provided you're flying the flag for SEELE of course. Special thanks to 'Rashnu' for supplying the source imagery for this one.
18/06/2008 - Continuing on with the 'Bug Hunt', we've managed to nail a few more...including units not being deleted when 'Retired'!!?! Man, what's that all about...in any case, it's fixed now along with a few others. Hopefully the game is in a pretty solid state again so we're ready for something new - see the Absolute Terror Message Board for the various options on offer and have your say.
Alex: "I'm off on holiday too now for 2 weeks!! ;)"
16/06/2008 - Liam: "I'm back from my holiday so I'm getting stuck into the fray once more."
Just one bug fix today. Units 'Immobilised' by 'Overguard' attacks now drop their droppable items on the hexagon they were 'Immobilised' on. Originally this wasn't the case as items were being dropped on their previous hexagons which was very unfair for defenders. Attackers now need to pay more care to items, procured or stolen, taken into battle - if you go down then your items will be in the hands of the defenders!
We're generally on a 'Bug Hunt' now and will be looking to resolve those issues identified on the Absolute Terror Message Board before pressing on with a new unit for SEELE!
03/06/2008 - Just a couple of bug fixes today. 'Overguard' no longer causes multiple immobilisations on a single enemy unit. Whilst this bug didn't really cause any game damage, it did mean, however, that 'Overguarding' units were occasionally scoring kills when in fact they shouldn't have. On a more shocking note we found a criminal bug in the 'Overwatch' routine. This little bugger was preventing 'Overwatch' from firing off 40%!!! of the time. Needless to say...we delighted in smashing this bug into the void - apologies to all those 'EVA Mass Production Models' out there who have no doubt been feelin' the pain...until now!
Liam: "I'm off on holiday (to Crete) for a week as off this Friday so game updates are going to go quiet for a bit. Once I'm back in the UK I'll resume action again. Apologies if the server goes offline during the week...I'm afraid arrangements to get it back online in my absence are limited as I'll be reliant on the cat nudging the power button with its nose."
01/06/2008 - We tweaked the 'Overguard' attack sequence today such that attackes now go in the following order: Those units with long range artilery set to 'Overguard' will launch first, short ranged weapons will fire second before giving way to melee combat strikes.
31/05/2008 - As of now 'Overguard' attacks are limited to a maximum of 8 separate attacks i.e. a maximum of 8 units can defend any one hexagon so best set your elite units on 'Overguard'. Excess units set on Overguard will simply not fire, however, they will be primed for action should their comrades fall in battle. We have done this to take the edge off of 'Overguard' so that the 'Third Impact' objective will be feasible when live. As ever, if you feel the balance is wrong then please do air your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board - we will do what we can, though obviously we can't please everyone sadly.
Next, we've made a new 'Art Of Fighting' section which explains the game's advanced abilities and weapon attributes.
Then we fixed a bug which prevented NERV units from targeting SEELE 'Blast Doors' when in 'Sniper Mode'.
And lastly, Paramine cashed in his chips as reward for promoting Absolute Terror. If you want to check if you were a victim of his rampage then check out the 'Promotion' section for more details.
21/05/2008 - Units are now automatically deleted if inactive for over a year. In addition, game accounts, i.e. squads, which no longer contain any units are automatically deleted. This should ensure that Absolute Terror doesn't become littered with ancient immobilised units which has been the case recently. Hopefully the corpses will now decompose after a years worth of immobilisation. On that note, it's now possible to out right die in Absolute Terror. ;) As ever please do keep an eye out for those bugs...we've taken a special backup of the database (in case anything goes wrong) this time round since the latest update deletes stuff 'n all.
18/05/2008 - Apologies for the lack of updates this week people. The sale and purchase of a new Alienware laptop (which is also used for development of AT) has knocked any development work on the head this week sadly. Next week, however, we're looking to get some code in place to delete inactive units - say those not used for a year. Plus, we need to review 'Overguard' and see how that's going...no doubt this will be in the form of a new thread on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
11/05/2008 - Woohoo! Thank you very much to Gabriel Matzner at OnRPG for not only adding Absolute Terror to its game listings, but also for rating it 7 out of 10. Cheers Gabriel.
07/05/2008 - Just corrected some minor site inconsistencies today and tweaked the 'Promotion' section such that the 'Action Points' reward now comes in the form of 8 'Adrenaline Ampoules' due to the game's 60AP maximum threshold limit which we'd forgotten about - Ooops.
05/05/2008 - It's been a while coming, but 'The Cage' has now finally graced the 'Mini Map'.
04/05/2008 - To try and generate some more interest in the game, as well as more real-time battles, we've decided to have a go at a promotion. All the details on the promotion can be accessed by clicking on Asuka's ass, or there abouts, below. :) As ever please do let us know your thoughts, like whether the reward is adequate enough or not, on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
01/05/2008 - We've got more than a 'pinch punch' for this first of the month...we've got 'Overguard'!!! It's now live! This was a real pig to code so watch out for any potential bugs please people and let us know how it goes. At present the proposed -10% chance to hit modifier is not in force for 'Overguard' - we'll see how it goes for the moment. Sorry if this new functionality messes with the game's chi...we'll probably have to monitor this one closely and tweak it as necessary. As ever please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
30/04/2008 - The new 'Overguard' functionality is almost complete now. We're just working out a single, but stubborn, last remaining bug before going live. Watch this space...
27/04/2008 - Loads more behind the scenes work done on the new 'Overguard' functionality today. It's been a real hard slog so far but we think we've almost broken the camel's back so to speak. Give it another week and we should be there. You can now setup your 'Overguard' settings should you want to, however, at present they won't actually trigger any defensive firing.
25/04/2008 - We did a little bit more work on the new 'Overguard' functionality today. If units are eligible then this is now shown within the respective unit's summary in the 'Know Your Enemy' section. In addition, eligible units will now have an 'Overwatch' / 'Overguard' toggle icon in the "Weapons load-out & communications" section in game.
23/04/2008 - Nothing new today I'm afraid, however, we have made a start on a new 'Overguard' function. The idea is that you'll be able to set a unit to guard a certain hexagon such that it will automatically fire upon any enemy units moving to the hexagon in question. This is going to be a complicated sucker to implement and so may take a few weeks, but once implemented it should introduce some interesting new tactics. We will probably impose a -10% weapon accuracy modifier when using 'Overguard' to simulate units falling asleep on the job and to prevent game abuse. In addition, 'Overguard' will probably only be available to certain units e.g. the EVA series, 'Ramiel', 'Tank Battalions' etc...
14/04/2008 - The 'Sephirot' are now completely banned from entering all safe houses since enlightened units don't cower in safe houses, they flaunt their divine emanations on the open battle field instead. ;) We've also fixed, hopefully, the dodgy experience bars and now display squad levels adjacent.
09/04/2008 - Just some minor updates today in light of suggestions posted on the Absolute Terror Message Board. The 'Jet Alone' 'Nuclear Meltdown' now causes 'Infect' damage. It was always meant to, however, we'd over looked this. Since the 'N2 Mine' is non-nuclear this will remain untouched. We've also removed 'Berserker Rage' from 'Leliel' since it doesn't really suit this particular Angel. We're now looking into how to prevent the 'Sephirot' from being hoarded in safe houses.
31/03/2008 - Both the 'Comrades List' and the 'Hit List' are now split down into pages to make them more manageable.
30/03/2008 - It's been a long time coming - we've now consolidated the 'Comrades List' and 'Hit List' so that both lists are now global to a squad. This means that if you add a contact with one unit in your squad, then switch to another unit in your squad, the contact you added will still be visible i.e. all of your squad members will be able to see the newly added contact. This has been quite a complex trick to pull off as we've had to merge all of your existing contacts accordingly with some migratory code, however, we believe it all turned out ok...at least the testing we did looked good. Fingers crossed. Since both the 'Comrades List' and Hit List' are now likely to become very long we will look to split these down into pages over the next few days. If it's possible we'll try and group contacts by squad as well.
21/03/2008 - We're happy to announce affiliation with 'The Anime Crisis Center' aka 'TACC' - cheers Lynk. Both 'Guide To...' and 'TACC' affiliated some years back so it's nice to build another bridge with Absolute Terror. Hopefully we can all swap some visitors and mutually benefit. Because of all this we've now added an Absolute Terror button graphic to the 'Downloads' section.
19/03/2008 - Continuing on with the 3D objects...'Affordable Apartments' now also display in 3D. We'll probably implement 'Luxury Apartments' next and then move onto other things e.g. some of the outstanding concepts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
16/03/2008 - It's taking a long time to implement, but 'Office Blocks' and 'Skyscrapers' now display in 3D which is a start at least. The fire damage just wasn't working out so instead we've made objects turn red when ruined.
15/03/2008 - We're now working on displaying large 'Objects' in the 3D world...and because we're crazy enough to have a go, we're going to attempt to set fire to them when their life drops below 40%! Mad we know...but progress so far has been promising. Watch this space.
14/03/2008 - It's now possible for us to designate game areas as being 'Undercover'...and indeed we have already done this - see 'Battle Report' section for more details. Areas which are 'Undercover' prevent the use of air support i.e. 'Mine Drops' and 'Air Strikes'. Unit levels are also now displayed in the 'Comrades', 'Hit' and 'Squad' lists. On a slight downer though, we had to remove all inner obstacles leading to non safe house areas since they weren't actually working and never will as it turns out for an abundance of boring code like reasons - sorry. :(
10/03/2008 - We've now finished off the 'Acceptable Losses' aspect of the game as the 'Jet Alone' 'Nuclear Meltdown' is now also subject to these conditions. In addition we've had to run an emergency repair on Absolute Terror's database as it was well and truly corrupted today from a poorly timed power outage caused by a local storm. Fortunately the repair came good and only 2 events were lost from the event log! Amazing! Anyway, if you've not been able to log in today or were blessed with our "Bugger, an error occurred!" page then you can blame Mother Nature for this. ;)
09/03/2008 - To avoid unnecessary friendly fire in faction safe houses 'Indiscriminate' items are now subject to 'Acceptable Losses' - see 'Items' section for more details.
05/03/2008 - We've now uploaded a 'Code Of Honour' i.e. a policy, for the game.
02/03/2008 - It gets worse. 'Jet Alone' now causes collateral damage as well. Blast weapons are now very haphazard indeed. They may well take out the enemy - but they also take out any surrounding defences!
29/02/2008 - And now the 'Mine Drop' causes collateral damage too - run for cover!!!
28/02/2008 - Bloody hell...the 'N2 Mine' now causes collateral damage - and it's real nasty!!! It's time to get repairing Superdaddy. More to come...
27/02/2008 - We've been working on collateral damage for the game's blast weapons so that surrounding objects also get mashed by these deadly nukes. We've made a start on the 'N2 Mine' but the going's real slow as the process is very complex indeed. We're hoping to be able to release some updates for this over the next few days.
25/02/2008 - Just a little update today. We've tweaked the 'New Message' button so that it now brings up the 'Event Log' pre filtered to show messages.
22/02/2008 - Man bugs a plenty...but at least they're getting nailed. Cheers to Melikegames aka pilot4490, we think, for pointing out two bugs. The 'Hill' consolidate button was causing those on the 'Hill' to crash when closing their inventory. In addition, units with more than a certain number of items appeared to be immune to being 'Immobilised'...well we can't have that! Both issues are sorted now we hope. We've also made a 'New Message' icon and have even commenced work on collateral damage! More on this later.
20/02/2008 - Fixed a bug which caused the game to crash when successfully scanning an 'Armament Building' with your last action point. Thanks to Superdaddy for isolating the cause of this long standing bug. Also, you can now filter the 'Event Log'. Please note, however, that only messages logged after this point onwards can be filtered since the event log now tags all game events with categories which are used behind the scenes for filtering purposes. If you can't see the filter dropdown then be sure to refresh your Internet browser so that it picks up the game's new stylesheet. Enjoy.
17/02/2008 - 'Armisael' is now ready for a stunningly infectious rampage across Tokyo-3. Please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board as this unit was quite tricky to put together and will no doubt require some fine tuning because of its unusual nature.
15/02/2008 - In response to various comments on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've temporarily paused work on 'Armisael' to implement the following game fixes:
1) Enemy units can no longer be exiled to exiling unit's safe houses
2) Obstacles now exist on the inside of substantial safe house area exits to prevent cheap raids
3) 'Deep Water' removed from 'The Geo Front' since inaccessible by all NERV units
We've also tarted up the location descriptions for 'The Cage'. As ever, please let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
11/02/2008 - We've made a good start on a new unit for the Angels: 'Armisael'. This one's going to be incredibly fast, though very weak, with 'Infect' and 'Stun' weapons at its disposal and will also be able to fly. This will be a real hit 'n run Angel designed to be a constant irritant. Give us a few more days and it should be ready to go.
06/02/2008 - Gawd...the Absolute Terror server, aka 'ELLA', has been up and down more than a yoyo this past week so we decided it was time to take a break from weekly updates and sort her out. We've stripped out some kit to increase the air flow inside 'ELLA' and have also vacuumed out all the cat fluff which seems to have been sucked into her over the last year. We're now cooking at 42 degrees which seems alright. Other than that we've made a start on the next sub-level of NERV's base of operations. There is also now an Absolute Terror Drifters Message Board for those people that want to chat about topics unrelated to the game. Sadly though you'll have to make another user account for this additional Message Board should you wish to use it.
30/01/2008 - The ultimate flash bang is now here...'Pulse Grenades' are now available from your nearest 'Armament Building'. See 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - Pulse Grenade' sections for more details. Also fixed a bug which under rare circumstances allowed units to be both 'Immobilised' and 'Infected' simultaneously - not good. :)
28/01/2008 - Just a minor bug fix today as the 'Hill' from the 'Kings Of The Hill' objective had doubled up. Thanks to Úlfhéðinn for pin pointing the offending doppelganger. We think this was fall out from a bug a few weeks back so hopefully this won't happen again now. Whilst we were poking around at this particular objective we decided to increase the 'Adrenaline Ampoule' acquisition rate to 15%.
Next on the cards we have 'Stun Grenades' followed by two new Angels...watch this space.
23/01/2008 - Absolute Terror has just been blessed with its first ever chemical weapon - the 'CN-20 Canister' available from your nearest 'Armament Building'. See 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - CN-20 Canister' sections for more details. Enjoy. :)
20/01/2008 - Just some minor tweaks today. We've amended the weapons for 'Bardiel' and 'Shamshel' to give them more unique styles of attack to set them apart from the other Angels. As usual, all feedback is welcomed on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
19/01/2008 - In response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've set the action point requirement to enter 'The Ethereal Plane' back to 20 action points + standard movement. It now, however, costs no action points to move around inside 'The Ethereal Plane'. We've also added 'The Ethereal Plane' to the 'Mini Map', to stop new Angels from loosing their way, and have made a custom sky for 'The Ethereal Plane' as well.
17/01/2008 - Finally had to admit defeat today. Tried to devise a way of implementing 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype's shield block but failed miserably. From a game engine standpoint it's just looking too dam complicated, and potentially a drain on the game's performance, to implement. As such we've parked the idea temporarily so we can have a re-think. So...instead we upgraded the game's 'Mini Map' which now shows multiple game levels. We'll expand on this as time goes on but we're sure you'll all get the concept as soon as you see it.
16/01/2008 - We've been tidying up 'The Geo Front' over the last few days sorting out all the location descriptions and have also made some amendments to 'The Ethereal Plane'. It now costs Angel units 15 (previously 20) action points + standard movement to enter into 'The Ethereal Plane'. In addition the 'Ethereal Portals' in 'The Ethereal Plane' have been moved and are now placed one per chamber room. Note, some of the chamber rooms are still empty - these will contain portals to new game areas once created. The portal to 'Tokyo-3 City Centre' has also been removed since the Angels never directly appeared in the centre of Tokyo-3 in the series. However, the central chamber has been renamed 'The Host' and is aimed at being a focal point for Angel discussions on battle plans, tactics etc... There is also a 'Shrine' in 'The Host' chamber.
09/01/2008 - We tweaked the 'Battle Report' today to show which areas are faction safe houses. In addition we fixed a bug which meant you could accidentally consolidate a unit on the 'Hill' when already consolidated on the 'Hill'. Thanks to Rashnu for tipping us off regarding this one.
08/01/2008 - The remainder of SEELE's safe houses are now live. A UN 'Research Station' can be found to the north of 'Tokyo-3 Inner Northern Region', and 2 UN bunkers, the '59th Bunker' to the east of 'Lake Ashi North' and the '23rd Bunker' to the south of 'Lake Ashi South', can also be found. All are secured with 'SEELE Blast Doors' and all have one or more 'Weapons Caches' inside. All SEELE have to do now is defend them.
07/01/2008 - The first of SEELE's safe houses is now live. A UN 'Munitions Silo' can be found to the south-west of 'Tokyo-3 Inner Western Region'. More to come...
06/01/2008 - Just a couple of bug fixes today. Units may no longer consolidate behind objects they're already consolidated behind. In addition, 'Air Strikes', 'Mine Drops' and 'N2 Mines' may not be used within the 'Ethereal Plane'.
05/01/2008 - The game's 'Infectious' attacks are now live, as such we've revisited some of the units and have revised their weapons to include infect damage. 'Bardiel', 'EVA Unit 04' and 'Tank Battalion's now have 'Infectious' attacks at their disposal, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. We've also made a start on a series of safe houses for SEELE which will go live sometime next week.
02/01/2008 - Happy New Year! Nothing visual today, however, we have written large amounts of code to cope with up coming 'Infectious' attacks. Basically if your unit is hit, and infected by, an 'Infectious' attack then it will fail to regenerate and continue to loose 1 life point every time it moves. Infected units will be cured once immobilised or by healing themselves, see the 'Objectives - Prolonged Life' section for more details. Although not quite finished yet, this feature shouldn't be too far off now.
Aside from this, we're now commencing work on a new game area which will house a base of operations for SEELE.
29/12/2007 - More feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board means that we've tweaked repairs to objects such that they now range from 5 to 15 life points (originally 1 - 10). In addition 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype' has been improved when it comes to repairing objects given that it has more time to issue such commands on the battle field given its lack of weapons, hence its primary focus isn't combat.
27/12/2007 - Firstly we hope everyone had a cracking Christmas...and secondly the 'Event Log' now shows you the last 48 hours worth of activity spread across multiple pages. This was implemented in response to feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board where by commanders wanted to know who was responsible for immobilising their unit(s) even if it was a couple of days back.
24/12/2007 - It's finally got there. Absolute Terror is now out of its Beta testing phase and has moved into Alpha territory. Whilst we will still be as committed to furthering the game's progression, we'll now be looking to open up the game to a wider audience. Oh, and we've tweaked the 'Jaw Breaker' in light of feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board. It now has a 55% weapon accuracy. We've also added an Asuka Christmas Message to the main site. :)
23/12/2007 - We've upgraded the 'Sniper Mode' so that you can now attack game objects with ranged weapons. Great news for all those 'Ramiel's out there. Plus 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype' now has a new melee weapon, called 'Jaw Breaker', which also has a reasonable chance to stun its opponent.
22/12/2007 - The 'Exile Unit' feature is now available. Sorry for the delay in releasing it...turned out to be quite complicated to code. In addition we've done some more construction on 'The Ethereal Plane' so that it now resembles the tree of life. We're now also providing Absolute Terror's news via an RSS feed which you can subscribe to from the 'News' section. And lastly...it was about time we properly acknowledged the enormously valuable input from the game's beta-testers during the course of the last year - see the 'Credits' section for more details (please do let us know if we've missed anyone out). Oh, and we've also added a 'Downloads' section. :)
19/12/2007 - There is now a single 'Monorail Platform' and several 'EVA Launch Ramps' scattered around the surface game areas in Absolute Terror which descend to, and ascend from, Tokyo-3's subterranean 'Geo Front'. Whilst NERV can freely utilise these routes as fast methods of transport, both SEELE and the Angels may only do so once they have battered down the various reinforced blast doors and security gates guarding their access.
We've also started work on a new 'Exile Unit' feature which will allow units to exile immobilised enemy units from secure areas e.g. NERV will be able to kick both immobilised SEELE and Angel units out of 'The Geo Front' since this is their domain. Likewise, SEELE units will be able to kick immobilised NERV and Angel units out of their domain once we get around to making it - probably late January time next year.
18/12/2007 - Fixed a couple of bugs which failed to prevent 'Man Hunt' prey from cowering in 'The Ethereal Plane'. This is now sorted so there's no hiding. We're also working on fleshing out 'The Ethereal Plane' and 'The Geo Front' in readiness for the Christmas launch. Next we'll be working on allowing units to launch ranged attacks against objects and to be able to kick immobilised enemy units out of areas dear to them e.g. NERV can kick immobilised Angel and SEELE units out of the Geo Front.
13/12/2007 - Both 'The Geo Front' and 'The Ethereal Plane' are now live. Neither are finished yet but we thought we'd make them live anyway. NERV can now fight to defend their Third Branch (will SEELE aid them this time?) whilst the Angels can either take up the gauntlet or cower in their alternate dimension. Be sure to watch out for those new area exits which are starting to pop up around Tokyo-3. As ever, please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
Note: Area exits to 'The Ethereal Plane' require an additional 20 action points to use. This is to prevent Angels from striking from the ether then retreating back from the fight without incurring any real damage. As such 'The Ethereal Plane' is designed to be an alternative means of travel for the Angels.
12/12/2007 - We're now working on an ambitious new objective called 'Third Impact'. There's already some explanation for the objective on the site, see the 'Objectives - Third Impact' section for more details, and to coincide we've just finished creating 'Gate', 'Blast Door' and 'Reinforced Blast Door' objects which you'll soon see protecting the entrances to several new game areas. We're also creating an 'Ethereal Plane' area, accessible only to the Angels, which will allow them to quickly move around Tokyo-3. The 'Ethereal Plane' area will contain area exits to every surface game area in Absolute Terror thus allowing them to appear out of no where! More on all this over the next few days. Watch this space...
08/12/2007 - We managed to slip in a new weapon attribute today which is the ability to stun your opponent thus immobilising them instantly. Note, you still only inflict the physical damage specified by the weapon used. Stunned units are simply immobilised - they are not automatically reduced to zero life points! Stun attacks only apply to certain weapons, see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details, which invariably are blunt attack weapons such as charges, throws, smashes etc...
We've focused primarily on blessing those more close combat orientated units with stun attacks to try and counter the dominance of the game's long range weaponry. Please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
07/12/2007 - Done...'Shamshel' now roams freely in Tokyo-3 leaving destruction in its path - see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Maw ha ha ha ha ha harrrrrrrg!!
06/12/2007 - We've made a start on a new unit for the Angels: 'Shamshel'. Hopefully this new unit will be available for use sometime tomorrow.
02/12/2007 - Turns out we managed to upgrade the server ahead of schedule. Absolute Terror is once again back in action.
30/11/2007 - We're going to be downing the server for most of the 2nd of December so we can beef it up ready for when Absolute Terror moves into its Alpha phase. Hopefully the mid to latter part of next week will see the release of a new Angel unit. In the meantime though, we've upgraded the 'Battle Report' to show 'Unit Activity' so we can see how busy the game actually is. Since it's currently set to 21 days, it will actually take 21 days (from today) to populate...so in 21 days time this graph will provide accurate unit activity statistics going forwards.
28/11/2007 - Only minor updates today sadly. We've fixed the 'Air Strike' and 'Retire Unit' sub-window graphical display glitches that were appearing under Fire Fox. We're now looking to start work on a new Angel unit.
25/11/2007 - New unit released: 'EVA Unit 00 Prototype' for NERV - see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Was a tricky unit to do this one since there's little available imagery of this unit, hence most of it was scratch built. We're looking into the idea of taking this unit further at some stage but for the moment it is as is.
Next in the pipeline will be some more Angel units we reckon.
23/11/2007 - The 'Artillery Barrage' ranged weapon for 'Tank Battalion's now increases by +2 damage, and +1 action point usage requirement, for each additional mobile 'Tank Battalion' unit within a 3 hexagon radius of the attacker. This represents near by 'Tank Battalion' units adding their weight to the coordinated barrage. The increased damage and action points requirement does not come into play on an 'Overwatch' attack since 'Tank Battalion's are unable to coordinate bulk return of fire at such short notice.
21/11/2007 - The 'Retire Unit' functionality is now live, so if you have a unit which is under performing you can now 'Retire' it from service. We've also made a start on a new 'Artillery Barrage' ranged weapon for 'Tank Battalion's. Once finished this weapon will increase in damage depending on the number of other 'Tank Battalion' units within a 3 hexagon radius of the attacker. This will be to represent near by 'Tank Battalion' units adding their weight to the coordinated barrage.
20/11/2007 - We've made a start on the 'Retire Unit' functionality which will ultimately allow you to delete units you no longer want thus freeing up squad positions. A unit's individual experience is lost when they are retired. Alex also spotted a bug in that you could no longer click in the 'Squad Name' and 'Unit Alias' text boxes so we've fixed that too.
14/11/2007 - Having got Absolute Terror to a stable platform we're now taking a bit of time out to do some proper search engine optimisation in order to increase the number of visitors to the site. We've already made a start by submitting a sitemap to Google, amongst other things, and are now looking into promoting certain key search worlds.
08/11/2007 - We've now sorted the wording on the 'Battle Report' for the status of an area as it was incorrectly reporting on drawn areas. We have also tweaked the wording on the 'Sniper Mode' window when no targets are eligible.
07/11/2007 - In preparation for a potential Christmas Alpha Release of Absolute Terror, we're now focusing on finishing off some of the game's little odd jobs. First up is the game's unit 'Inventory' which is now broken down into pages as opposed to an ever expanding list.
04/11/2007 - Sorry this took us longer than expected, but the F117A Nighthawks have now been fuelled and are ready for take off - 'Air Strike's are now live.
31/10/2007 - We've made a start on a new item. You can now acquire 'Air Strike's when scanning 'Armament Buildings'. See the 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - Air Strike' sections for more details. This new item isn't quite finished yet though. We'll need a few more days development time before you can go firing them off. For now though...get collecting! :)
26/10/2007 - Just a bug fix today sadly. We noticed that units were loosing all of their items in their inventory, after being immobilised, when containing solely non-unwieldy items. This has now been fixed.
25/10/2007 - Riding on the back of yesterday's updates, you can now also amend your unit's alias. This can be done from the 'Unit information' window. In addition we've also tarted up some little odds and sods around the site, such as graphical glitches etc...
24/10/2007 - You can now personalise your units by writing your own detailed descriptions for them. This can be done by bringing up your unit's information and then clicking on the 'Toggle Unit Description' button adjacent to your unit's profile image. You can also view other unit's descriptions in this way.
If you have any thoughts regarding this latest addition then please do let us know on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
17/10/2007 - Just a minor bug fix today, which now means that Absolute Terror's sky will no longer be going walk-a-bout under FireFox and potentially other web browsers. In addition we've also now textured the hill in the 'Kings Of The Hill' objective and have also created a 'Wood' texture so that we can start laying down some forests.
12/10/2007 - Visual treats today. Absolute Terror now has its very own sky which changes depending on the time of the day. Note, however, that the time read is that of the AT server which is running British time i.e. GMT. So far we've implemented night, dawn, mid-day and dusk skies. In addition we've also fixed a bug which caused inaccurate information to be displayed when scanning other units.
10/10/2007 - We've now fixed the following bugs:
1) 'Rural Settlements' not offering cover
2) 'Kings Of The Hill' objective spawning hill in non-accessible game areas
3) Bug causing 'Jet Alone' to occasionally error game during melt down
Sadly these issues took a while to put right so little else was achieved today. We did scout out some potential imagery though for use when we plan to render the game's dusk, dawn, mid-day and night time graphics. This is what we're currently working on.
08/10/2007 - Absolute Terror has just up-sized - 'Lake Ashi South' is now open for battle, if you look hard enough you'll notice a safe(er) haven inaccessible to land based units. We put a rush on the release of 'Lake Ashi South' due to a glitch in the system - oh yes, the hill is down there already. ;)
04/10/2007 - Lack of sleep last night meant we put a little too much uranium into the 'Jet Alone' nuclear holocaust. We've down played it according to the sane voices on the Absolute Terror Message Board. The damage is now 90, 40 then 15 (still better than an 'N2 Mine') spanning out from the blast epicentre. To compensate we've increased the damage and accuracy of the 'Jet Alone' weaponry. Let us know what y'all think.
Liam: I saw Alex working on 'Lake Ashi South'...he wanted me to keep it secret - oh well, sorry man.
03/10/2007 - It's late, wolves are howling outside and sleep deprivation is setting in...but aside from all that 'Jet Alone' is now able to go nuclear!! You'll find the lovely detonator icon in the 'Weapons List' next to its 'Nuclear Meltdown' attack. Initiate a 'Nuclear Meltdown' and those at the epicentre of the blast will stand a 90% chance of taking 90 damage. Units located at the immediate ring of surrounding hexagons will stand a 90% chance of taking 60 damage, and those at the next ring of surrounding hexagons will stand a 90% chance of taking 30 damage!!! Sick!! Oh, and 'Jet Alone' is annihilated thus unable to move until it manages to stand back up again in the year dot. As ever let us know what you think about all this on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
There's no excuse now SEELE - it's time to bring it!
02/10/2007 - Hopefully SEELE goers will be pleased to know that 'Jet Alone' walks!! But it's unable to self-destruct at present - we need a couple more days to code this nasty piece of functionality.
30/09/2007 - We're now working on a new unit 'Jet Alone' for SEELE. Progress is slow since there are no usable images of 'Jet Alone' for us to work with so we're having to composite together entire sets of new graphic templates so that we can create the necessary in game graphics. Watch this space.
26/09/2007 - The 'Kings Of The Hill' objective is now finally finished. See the 'Objectives - Kings Of The Hill' and 'Items - Adrenaline Ampoules' sections for more details. If you have any views on this new objective then please do make them known on the Absolute Terror Message Board. In addition, units immobilised now fall out of cover. This was done to prevent immobilised units on the hill from still claiming its benefits, but it also makes sense generally so it was applied globally.
24/09/2007 - Fixed a bug with the 'Kings Of The Hill' objective which caused units consolidated on the hill to count towards their factions show of strength after the hill had moved on. This fix will take effect when the hill next moves. In addition we also made a start on the hill's adrenaline ampoule drops, however, these still remain unfinished for the time being.
22/09/2007 - The 'Kings Of The Hill' objective is looking a bit more fleshed out now. Units can now consolidate their position on the hill which will then count towards their faction's show of strength which can be seen from the 'Objectives - Kings Of The Hill' section. Oh, and we've ordered the 'Objectives' section alphabetically now - gawd knows why we hadn't done this already.
20/09/2007 - We've managed to sneak in a bit more work on the 'Kings Of The Hill' objective today. If you go visit the hill's current where-a-bouts you should now see a pretty hill object in the 'location panel'. Next we're looking to implement the hill consolidation functionality and possibly a suitable terrain texture.
19/09/2007 - At last we've made a start on the new 'Kings Of The Hill' objective. See the 'Objectives - Kings Of The Hill' section for more details. So far we've implemented most of the behind the scenes game mechanics which are needed before we can crack on with the visual stuff.
12/09/2007 - We had every intention of starting work on a 'King Of The Hill' style objective today, however, we got side tracked by the Absolute Terror 'Player's Guide' - see the 'Player's Guide' section for more details. We appreciate that Absolute Terror isn't the easiest MMORPG to get to grips with so any feedback regarding the 'Player's Guide' on the Absolute Terror Message Board will be much appreciated as it will help us tune it.
10/09/2007 - The Absolute Terror Message Board is now back online.
08/09/2007 - We've skinned the entire game world now so hopefully the game looks a bit more interesting. The Absolute Terror Message Board is still down (ETA 3 days) but once we get it back online you'll be able to air your thoughts on all this. We're just going to finish off by making a button which allows you to turn off all of the game's world textures in case they're too wild for your liking.
07/09/2007 - Apologies as the Absolute Terror Message Board is currently down, this is because we're currently moving the www.guide-to.net domain which hosts the Message Board amongst other things. The domain transfer should be over in a couple of days. In the mean time we're still working on the game's world textures.
06/09/2007 - We've laid down some more paint today...this time we've decided to decorate the vast open countryside. See what you think and let us know on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
05/09/2007 - Absolute Terror has been looking pretty grey for too long now. As such we've started painting the world with some colour. To kick things off we've coloured all the game's water terrain with water-esque textures. We've been mulling over whether or not to do this for some time now since such textures could make the game look too busy...but anyway, it's here now - please do let us know your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
01/09/2007 - The latest Angel, 'Bardiel' - see the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details, to grace Absolute Terror can now be seen running riot through the streets of Tokyo-3. This close combat brawler should hopefully give the 'City Wreckers' something to cheer about.
29/08/2007 - The new laptop's in, configured and ready to rock 'n roll. To open up procedings we've fixed the following bugs:
1) Attacker terror increasing from successful defender 'Overwatch'
2) Attacker triggering defender 'Overwatch' when shot out of range
3) Attacker failing to be immobilised when immobilised in 'Real-Time'
...thanks to all the beta testers for finding these (you know who you are).
Secondly, we've now started on 'Bardiel' for the Angels!
Thirdly, we're currently producing a game guide come FAQ.
And finally, we're now mulling over the 'King Of The Hill' objective currently being discussed on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
22/08/2007 - Chimera Exodus suggested, on the Absolute Terror Message Board, that it should be free to chat, in game, to units of the same faction. A great idea...so we've implemented it. Note, however, that 'Broadcasting' still requires 1 action point even if you're only 'Broadcasting' to units of the same faction since 'Broadcasting' provides a significant tactical advantage if used wisely.
18/08/2007 - A recent laptop death has left us lacking a decent development machine, however, all is not lost - and certainly not Absolute Terror which is backed up to the hills and back. Untill the new laptop ships in from those lovely, but expensive, people at Alienware we're going to be scratching away at the game. So whilst pottering around we made some more objects which you'll see start to populate the world, in particular the new 'Lake Ashi North' region.
16/08/2007 - It's arrived...'Lake Ashi North' is now fully open for business. Aquatic and airborne units have access to all areas, but land based units can't traverse the deeper waters. Aquatic and airborne units should also note that no hexagons in this new area offer complete shelter from ranged attacks - 'Lake Ashi South', however, will provide such relative 'Safe Zones'. Should make for some interesting tactical developments.
15/08/2007 - Bug fixing today I'm afraid. We've now destroyed the 'Displacement Bug' - see Absolute Terror Message Board threads for more details. Sadly though it's moved a ton of buildings around, and has even deleted a load, during its residency...so, tonight from 8:00pm till 11:00pm Absolute Terror will be down whilst we flatten the world of all its buildings and recreate them (sounds a bit like Legend Of The Overfiend).
In Addition 'Lake Ashi North' is around 60% complete now.
Addendum (22:43 pm): We've now recreated all of the in game world objects such as buildings, shrines etc... The city was pretty beat up from prolonged exposure to the 'Displacement Bug', however, it's now once more flourishing with life - until the Angels wreck it all. ;) We're pretty much bug free now. Just one more minor issue left to cure and then we'll tackle some more new units.
13/08/2007 - Absolute Terror now has real time(ish) unit regeneration. Basically units are regenerated whenever they're displayed in the 'Hit', 'Comrade' and 'Squad' lists along with the 'Sniper Mode' and 'Units Panel' windows. This should produce reasonable results without hammering the database every second and will prevent units set on 'Overwatch' from burning up their action points too quickly as units will regenerate offline.
12/08/2007 - We've been correcting some 'Overwatch' bugs today as well as some other small issues. All seems well now and the whole return fire aspect of the game seems to be developing nicely.
10/08/2007 - At long last we've completed the 'Overwatch' functionality which is now live! Please do watch it closely for bugs because it was incredibly complicated to code which usually means bugs.
Next we plan to make 'Unit Regeneration' look real time by attempting to regenerate units whenever they're displayed on screen. In Addition 'Lake Ashi North' is around 30% complete. After this lot we'll rock on with some more units...and oh yes, Bardiel and Jet Alone are on the cards.
08/08/2007 - Gawd we're so close we can taste it...but still no 'Overwatch'. It's getting insanely complicated to code this piece of functionality so the going's real slow unfortunately. It's around 90% complete now. Hopefully we'll release it end of the week.
05/08/2007 - We've completed a load more work on the 'Overwatch' functionality - it's getting very close to completion. At present you can set a weapon on 'Overwatch' along with a retaliation threshold, however, as it stands 'Overwatch' retaliation attacks will not occur. The ground work is all in place but the final piece of the jigsaw is yet to be completed.
03/08/2007 - No visual changes today unfortunately, however, rest assured that we're still slogging away on 'Lake Ashi North' and the 'Overwatch' functionality behind the scenes.
01/08/2007 - The 'Western Region' is now up to speed and as such we're now working on 'Lake Ashi North'. We've also started on the much talked about 'Overwatch' functionality which is so far looking to be a total nightmare since 80% of the attack routine needs overhauling in order to cope with it. Still, we'll have a bloody good go at it even if it does take several weeks to implement.
30/07/2007 - We've now completed the 'Man Hunt' objective. Active prey now receive an adrenaline boost - see 'Objectives - Man Hunt' section for more details. In addition we're now sorting out the location descriptions for the 'Western Region', after which we'll start on 'Lake Ashi' which we promised a while back now.
27/07/2007 - Managed to sneak in a bit more work on the new 'Man Hunt' objective. If you're the current prey then you'll see this in bloody writing on the screen, likewise if you're the current hunter i.e. you immobilised the last prey. There is also now a 'Master Assassins' section on the main site and the current 'Man Hunt' hunter receives a 10% weapon accuracy bonus which was suggested on the Absolute Terror Message Board.
25/07/2007 - Off the back of some really good feedback regarding the proposed new 'Man Hunt' objective on the Absolute Terror Message Board we've decided to get stuck in and bring the thing to life - see the 'Objectives - Man Hunt' section for more details. To our horror, one of our own units was randomly selected as the first prey. Bloody random 'my ass' code!! ;)
23/07/2007 - Arrrr...what the hell, those changes to the 'Born Killers' section we mentioned yesterday...well...we've done them on the 'Boot Hill' and 'City Wreckers' sections too.
We're now at position 137 on GameSite200 in the MMORPG section - yesterday we were 188! Thanks for voting guys...the support's much appreciated.
Lastly, check out the Absolute Terror Message Board for a 'Man Hunt' objective we're proposing.
22/07/2007 - Chimera Exodus suggested, on the Absolute Terror Message Board, that we offer up more information regarding squad performance. As such we've made some changes to the 'Born Killers' section on the site. If these changes go down well then we'll follow suit on the 'Boot Hill' and 'City Wreckers' sections.
Oh, and we're now on GameSite200 in the MMORPG section - woohoo! Position 188 last time we checked...well, it's a start. ;)
16/07/2007 - The 'Unit Upgrade Function' is now live! Make sure you choose your upgrades wisely, however, as there's no turning back...plus, watch out for those bugs. ;)
15/07/2007 - We're still playing around with the 'Unit Upgrade Function' unfortunately. There's been so much good feedback on the Absolute Terror Message Board that we've pushed back the release date for this new functionality so that we can build onto it some more prior to its release which shouldn't be that much longer now.
11/07/2007 - Sadly we've run out of time today and so the 'Unit Upgrade Function' remains unfinished. It's very nearly there now and you can play around with it in game, however, the 'Accept Upgrades' button is currently not live. We need to do a bit more testing before enabling it else you may screw up your units - which I'm sure no one wants. ;)
09/07/2007 - Unit upgrades are on their way! Once finished you'll be able to upgrade your units each time they level up. So far we've created the behind the scenes mechanics, the upgrade button and window. The rest will follow in the next few days hopefully.
07/07/2007 - Tired of being immobilised and having to wait ages to regenerate your units? Well now there's a solution! See the 'Objectives - Prolonged Life' section for more details. It's time to get off the floor people, get some healin' and then throw yourselves back into the bloody fray.
05/07/2007 - Done. 'Israfel' is now free to roam Absolute Terror.
04/07/2007 - So close and yet so far....new Angel unit 'Israfel' is very nearly finished. Reckon we'll be releasing this unit tomorrow.
30/06/2007 - We've had another stab at trying to rid Absolute Terror of its few remaining bugs before moving on. We're not entirely sure the updates will have the desired effects because the outstanding bugs are all related to Internet latency which is a minefield. Time will tell... Oh, and we've just started work on another new unit - 'Israfel' for the Angels.
27/06/2007 - Absolute Terror is pretty Angel dominant these days so to try and level the playing field you can now acquire 'Mine Drops' when scanning 'Armament Buildings'. See the 'Objectives - 'Eavy Weapons' and 'Items - Mine Drop' sections for more details. Oh...and we think the teleporting bug is half fixed - confusion still reigns here unfortunately.
24/06/2007 - Well...we didn't manage to fix the teleport bug (boo, hiss etc...), but we did manage to roll out 'EVA Unit 04' for NERV so it's not all bad. See the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details. Sadly 'EVA Unit 04' only has a couple of weapons thus far as we're having to composit the imagery out of thin air since there's little usable material on the Internet.
23/06/2007 - Before cracking on with new game features (such as new units) we needed to sort out two main bugs, those being the issue of teleporting and unique objects vanishing - see Absolute Terror Message Board threads for more details. We've definitely sorted the later now and may have cured the teleportation cheat, however, we can't confirm this since we can't duplicate the bug ourselves. Úlfhéðinn gave us the clue we needed on the Message Board, so if this fix does work then cheers! Oh, and there is also now limited information available as to the where abouts of the ten 'Sephiroth' - see the 'Objectives' section for details.
17/06/2007 - Only boring bits this time I'm afraid - but they were necessary. We've fixed a ton of bugs with the world editor and have sped it up enormously. This should mean that working on the game's world remotely (during work lunch breaks etc...) will be more viable thus potentially increasing the game's world construction rate which Alex is spearheading. In addition, we can now cordon off areas which we're currently developing. This means we can now build an area and release it once it's finished as opposed to having to build an area whilst players are currently in it which used to be the case.
15/06/2007 - We've just completed a load more work on the event logging. This now records specific details on all attacks taking place around you including the destruction of objects as well. In addition, you will now be informed of which faction the enemy is affiliated with.
13/06/2007 - We started working on the event logging some more. You will now notice when other units within the visible area are immobilised. This will be fleshed out in time to include exact coordinates of where the attacks take place, however, for the time being it's not that specific (needs more work). That said it should give you a bit more of a feel for what's going on around you - in particular, whether your mates are being decked.
10/06/2007 - Back from holiday and back on the project. Just some minor tweaks today in light of the debates currently taking centre stage on the Absolute Terror Message Board. The SEELE 'EVA Mass Production Model' has had its weapons improved slightly and N2 mines are now slightly harder to find. If you have any thoughts on these then please do make them known under the appropriate threads on the Message Board.
That's probably it for a week now I'm afraid as I (Liam) am off (out of the country) on holiday for a week. Alex is going to be landscaping the 'Inner Western Region'...probably more towards the end of next week, but other than that we're done for a whole week.
We'll resume the project again round about the 13th of June. Hope you all enjoy the updates...please do share your thoughts (good and bad) on the Absolute Terror Message Board in the meantime.
Although it shouldn't...I apologies in advance if the server goes down whilst I'm away since there won't be anyone around to reboot it - haven't quite trained MISTY yet.
31/05/2007 - SEELE now have a new unit which is a 'Tank Battalion'. Check out the 'Know Your Enemy' section for more details.
26/05/2007 - Squad names now appear in the 'Born Killers', 'Boot Hill' and 'City Wreckers' sections on the main site, and also under 'Unit Information' in the game itself.
25/05/2007 - Squads can now be given names - this can be done from the 'Squad List' window. Next we'll be looking to use squad names in various different areas throughout the game and the main site.
23/05/2007 - Nothing exciting today I'm afraid. The server's been overheating and shutting down so we've had to do some work on it to keep it cooler. It's running 5 degrees cooler now so hopefully it won't go down when the sun comes up. Also we've been fixing some bugs that have come to light on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Next in the pipeline are 'Squad Names' and 'Unit Profile Descriptions'.
18/05/2007 - It's great having a week off work because you can get so much done. Be sure to check out the new style 'Battle Report'...it's a massive improvement over the original. There is also now a basic static mini map available in game so that everyone can get their bearings.
17/05/2007 - The 'Squad Function' is now finished!!! Thank gawd for that...we're having a little breather now. Now doubt it'll lead to more and more features in the future, but at least it's here now - you can see further details on this functionality in the latest Absolute Terror Message Board thread. Remember to choose your squad units wisely as there's no undo.
16/05/2007 - We've been working furiously on Absolute Terror all this week and have nearly completed the long awaited 'Squad Function'. This functionality has so far required tons of code to be rewritten and new code introduced to cater for unit swapping, experience, levels and loads more. All will be revealed in the next day or so...we just hope it doesn't introduce too many bugs.
13/05/2007 - In a bid to try and get the main site finished, the 'Technology' section is now completed and good for a laugh or two.
12/05/2007 - The Absolute Terror Message Board seems to be buzzing with people's views which is great, so it was time to design a proper skin for it so that it fits in neatly with the main site...that skin is now live.
09/05/2007 - Mainly bug fixes today. Sadly they took ages to sort out, but they needed to be resolved before we could begin implementing the long talked about 'Squad Function'. We've got some time booked off work next week to dedicate to this task so hopefully good things will happen then. Lastly, the 'Know Your Enemy' section is almost completed.
03/05/2007 - Managed to sneak in a bit more work on the 'Know Your Enemy' section, plus we're landscaping Tokyo-3!! - which in plain speak means we're tarting up the world. Apologies if we up root any objects you're consolidated behind...it just means you'll be out of cover until you find a new object to cower behind.
02/05/2007 - Rashnu suggested on the Absolute Terror Message Board that we introduce some method of determining what units are like before signing up for them so we've started on a 'Know Your Enemy' section on the main site. It's far from finished yet (no weapons yet for example) and still looks a tad ropey but it's now underway.
29/04/2007 - We've now introduced a 'City Wreckers' section on the main site for a giggle so you know who messing up the Tokyo-3 karma. ;)
28/04/2007 - EVA Units 00 and 01 now have an 'X20 Positron Rifle' and 'Handgun' respectively which brings them both up to speed with EVA Unit 02. We'll look to also beef up the Angels' weapons accordingly as well, however, this is trickier since some of them have so few attack types in the actual Anime series. Leliel now has a slightly better 'AT Field' and we also introduced 'Castles' as new objects which provide reasonable consolidated cover to both NERV and SEELE units.
26/04/2007 - As promised SEELE now have a new unit. Should you feel like it, you can now take control of a UN gunship squadron. They're pretty dam fast and are rapid firing, but don't expect to do much damage with them. If you've got your AT field up then these suckers won't give you that much bother...if you haven't then it'll be like getting stung to death by a thousand bees - or so we'd imagine.
22/04/2007 - Finally we've managed to track down the source of the 'mucked up stats' and 'incorrect readied weapon' bugs. Thanks to Rashnu, Von Wulfenbach, Nicholas & Kryten for all their help tracking down the bi##h. :) Turns out the bug only kicked in if you were immobilised whilst carrying one or more objects, hence it took a while to find. The damage has been repaired and we're ready to get on with other bits now. We'll scrub these particular bug report messages from the Absolute Terror Message Board now since they should no longer be relevant.
21/04/2007 - EVA Unit 02 is now ready for launch!! Next on the cards are some additional weapons for some of the existing units, various overdue bug fixes and more SEELE units!! Sorry SEELE people, we appreciate you're currently experiencing a raw deal and are looking to sort this out. We had to get the popular units out the way first unfortunately. :(
18/04/2007 - We've finally finished the 'Tree Of Life' objective. As such the final Sephiroth Hod, Yesod and Malkuth are now all working. We're now focusing on bug fixes and the long overdue Unit 02! Also we deleted the test units which are no longer required so 'Boot Hill' may look quite different now.
13/04/2007 - Gawd, the Sephirot Geburah is now working. This is bad news because one of the 'Born Killers' currently has it...so watch out cos this little Sephirot increases weapons damage! In other news, we broke the N2 mines when implementing 'Berserker Rage'....ooops. This has now been sorted - apologies if you found your detonator to be a dud recently.
11/04/2007 - The Sephirot Chesed is now doing as it should and was last seen at hex: 247. This particular Sephirot was an awkward one to implement so we didn't get time for any other updates today I'm afraid. Unit 02 is next in the pipeline though! :) Plus some additional SEELE units hopefully...see latest Message Board threads for more info on this.
09/04/2007 - We needed a break from the 'Tree Of Life' objective and so have created a new weapon available to all once you build your Terror up to 80% and over. It's called 'Berserker Rage' (see graphic below). It's a melee weapon requiring 2 action points to use. It dishes out 14 life points worth of damage and has an accuracy of 85%!
It's time to drive yourself into a frenzy, go nuts and be your bad self causing massive damage in the process - hence the flaming grin. ;)
04/04/2007 - The Sephiroth Chokmah and Binah should now both be working. In addition we've commenced work on a new area since Absolute Terror now has over 275 units slugging it out for domination of Tokyo-3 - we kinda figured y'all needed a bit more room to fire your weapons.
28/03/2007 - The Sephiroth Kether, Netzach and Tiphareth should all now be working and doing their thing. The benefits don't kick in until you pick them up...so if you acquired any of these particular Sephiroth prior to the latest code amendments then please drop and then immediately pick them back up again to gain the benefits. We'll work on the others as soon as we get a chance. In addition we're looking to get some more weapons in place for the existing units. As usual if you experience any problems then please do air your thoughts on the Message Board.
P.S. We're still working on that bug Nicholas pointed out.
25/03/2007 - Have reduced the number of database connections the game opens and closes quite dramatically which should improve game speed noticeably - we hope. In addition advanced checking has been put in place to prevent items from both duplicating and disappearing when simultaneously interacted with by multiple units.
Last but not least, we've started work on a new objective titled 'Tree Of Life'. The sephiroth are all in game, so track them down if you can, however at present they do nothing. That said this is the next area of work we're progressing so if you do manage to acquire one then you'll be in for some nice surprises in the not to distant future we hope.
21/03/2007 - Oh god in heaven what have we done. Those N2 mines are no longer duds! The nukes are live!!! All's right with the world then. ;)
18/03/2007 - Having worked on the Absolute Terror object interaction engine some more, it's now possible for NERV and SEELE units to scan certain buildings, such as armament buildings, for usable equipment. So far the only possible item drop is an N2 mine which has a 5% chance to drop rate. As it stands the mines are duds since the detonator switch hasn't been coded yet. ;) But get collecting them anyway since the magic red button will only be a few days off then all hell will no doubt break loose. Watch out for those suicide runs!
13/03/2007 - Just added another playable Angel unit - this time it's Leliel. Leliel's extremely destructive, but is also extremely slow, so my advice to all you NERV and SEELE guys, and gals, out there is to run!!
10/03/2007 - The Adam Sample has been recovered by the Katsuragi research expedition at Antarctica and has been seen in Tokyo-3. This is now a new objective, see Objectives page, taking the form of a Capture The Flag style game mode. If you have any thoughts on this new addition then please do air your thoughts on the Absolute Terror Message Board. Next in the pipeline is a new unit for the Angels - watch this space.
04/03/2007 - There are now Radio Transmitters scattered around the ever increasing Absolute Terror world. If you're a NERV or SEELE unit and you're at a location with a Radio Transmitter then you will be able to use it to broadcast to other units in your area all the while it is not ruined...so Angels are advised to get in their and take out their comms. Angels do not benefit from Radio Transmitters since such technology is alien to them. They prefer instead to use their standard telepathic methods of communication.
28/02/2007 - Big thanks from the Absolute Terror team to those of you out there who've already got stuck into the action. Thanks for all your feedback. If you could stick it on the Absolute Terror Message Board that would be grand, but if not then the emails are still appreciated. We've already acted on a few of them. The sniper mode's been made quicker to use by removing the pointless weapon dropdowns, and to make life easier you can now see your remaining action and life points from the sniper mode, weapons, comrades and hit lit windows. Oh, and the game was throwing up the odd error too when moving - this has now been sorted hopefully, plus we've put some more nitrous in the server to help quicken things up a little. More to come...tons in fact (yes we will make the world much much bigger) including more units...just need more time in the day to get it all sorted. ;)
25/02/2007 - Absolute Terror is now online and available for beta testing. Essentially the game is ready to play so feel free to sign up for an account today. It's still early days though so please do express all your views on the Absolute Terror Message Board as all your input will be very much appreciated as we continue to develop the game. To get started just visit the Sign Up page. Enjoy.
23/02/2007 - Sorry for the slight delay, but we're so close now that we're counting down the days till launch date. Absolute Terror is due to be released for beta testing on the 25th of this month. Available units at this time will include EVA Units 00, 01 and Mass Production Model along with Angels Sachiel and Ramiel.
01/02/2007 - Almost there, a couple of more weeks and Absolute Terror will be live and ready for beta testing. I'm not going to prattle on this time as is my usual style, instead I'm going to let the screenshots speak for themselves below:
