Kilroyfx found, alive and well!

#1
Well a few of you might know I had been trying to track down the author of several Youtube videos regarding an SOM game that was in development that basically no one here had heard of.

After a 2 month absence, the author contacted me tonight, and the conversation was not only interesting it was inspiring.

It turns out mr kilroyfx (i will leave his name undisclosed until he decides to join our boards) had likely been in contact with your friend and mine, one JDO whom I am assuming he got his copy of SOM with the translation from. ‎  It appears, however, not unlike a few of the folks that are active on these boards (Holy I am pointing right at you) he has a grasp for programming etc that far exceeds the limitations of SOM.

Within about a 2 hour conversation, I was honestly taken through a first person tour of the entire game he was making with SOM. ‎  He laid out programs he had created to inject pages of text straight into conversation boxes, advanced scripting programs that could automate creating events that moved objects in a very complicated manner in just a few seconds, then allow you to tweak settings and have it erase and recreate the event at the click of a button. ‎  He went on and on about the underlying story plot of the game, about the maps he had created and the whole concept of AI.

AI...and no I dont mean the generic junk you think of when you'll play my game, but I mean real world style interaction with npcs. ‎  Somehow through massive text injection coupled with constant random timer optimization, he had created npcs with personalities...that would interact differently with you dependant on how you played the game, and even how fast you clicked through their conversation! ‎  In other words, if an npc detected you were ignoring what they were saying just to creep through the dialogue quickly, they would change their mind about talking to you and walk off agitated. ‎  Holy shit?! ‎  Also he described how he created a dream world, dependant on what you had accomplished and what part of the game you were working on, that when you entered the dream, you would be whisked away to a dream like state, where you could possibly find answers to questions on the quest you were working on.

Anyways, sadly enough, mr kilroyfx feeling rather deflated that the only feedback he got on his videos was quite negative (this is fake, this looks non-kingsfieldlike etc etc) decided to move on from the project. ‎  It remains probably 30% complete, and we will likely never get to experience melanat as he was prepared to paint it. He has moved on to producing some games that I think everyone here may enjoy in the future, I will not spill the beans about any of it, but they will likely be available for the XBOX live arcade, and from just listening to his visions I have decided they will be games worth downloading when they come out.

It always pains me to see people start SOM and give up, especially so knowing he was as far into his game as he says. ‎  There may be a silver lining to this though...well there is for me and may be for the SOM community.

#1, he gave me the original animation for his melanat island model/video, so I can toss that crappy Bryce island I made and put something decent in my opening cinema.

#2, and more importantly, he is going to upload his project files as well as copies of the auto-it programs and some other various tools he was using to simplify and expand the functionality of SOM. ‎  I will of course promptly deliver the program files to Holy to make heads or tails of, but with his project space we will have access to a plethora of new models, map parts and an inside look to how he was using SOM in ways we may not have tried to accomplish things we may now think impossible with the tool. ‎  I figure at the very least it may help Holy in his efforts to rebuild SOM properly, and for a change let him delve into something created by someone on his level of programming.

So in short, hopefully the guy joins the forums and can help us out on things like breaking the animation coding for enemies and npcs (he dabbled in it a bit he said but wasnt 100% able to figure it all out). ‎  It would also be nice if we might be able to get him to finish his game, or move it to someone's able fingers (now Im pointing at Tom, cuz this guy's ideas were WAAAAY outside the box for his game concepts, and that my friend is your department).

- Todd DuFore (DMPDesign)
Site Founder
Reply

#2
If all of this is as it sounds, this could be interesting. The game still looked sketchy to me, but if you describe some of the sections as "dream sequences" it seems, well not very KF, but a plausible/acceptable explanation/execution.

I think kilroyfx as described is more of a hacker and amateur game developer. Where as hacking for me goes against everything I normally do, and I would describe myself as a bleeding edge software engineer, and professional artist. So this could be a happy marriage. I'd especially love to have a lot of the original SoM hacking duties lifted off my shoulders so I could focus on the remake/simulator angle exclusively. I can do work on the remake while at the same time justifying it, but the hacking is more just focus on a single piece of software, which is cool in itself, but I think my time is better spent developing the remake (which itself is just a demo of the stuff I'm already developing... so no prob to do)

I see working with SoM a not something to get disheartened about as much just a geeky kind of nostalgia, but most of all an invitation to make blatant KF games, where otherwise we'd be charting a course thru fairly illegal territories. Not to mention it just happens KF is basically my all around favorite video game of all time so far, so... it's an easy thing to commit to for me.
Reply

#3
I actually think expanding the dream element from KF3 would be a very good way to expand the KF experience. Like in a KF2 remake if you had beds to sleep in you might get a glimpse into what is going on with the cybernetic esthetic of Geara's lair. I don't know why precisely but it always seemed natural to me that KF2 is like a Wizard of Oz type virtual reality and all the people there are really shadows of people in the players life outside the game... kind of like "Total Recall" (We Can Remember It for You Wholesale) ...So like dreams could be a way to get outside the game world and tell that story too.

Also it would be cool if the whole structure of the fantasy world was really a freudian kind of psychoanalysis deconstruction of the mental state of the the person playing the game.
Reply

#4
Btw, if we really want to get ambitious. I think a lot of these projects would be much wider received in Japan, where the SoM devkit never seemed to have taken off / inspired the imagination of the Japanese, but nevertheless I think the games would be much better received by the fan base there. I think we should eventually translate the projects into Japanese/make them available in Japan. I know a number of people, but at least one guy in particular who would help us with that.

Also if we can really polish these (I'm pretty good at this I think) so they are solid gameplay/fun wise. I think there is a sizable "auteur" element of the game fan scene that feel they are just being completely under served by the game industry, and with the right kind of publicity might well embrace these new games... as in fundamentally superior to what is being stocked on store shelves these days. I know I could definitely use the publicity anyway.
Reply

#5
From a glance at a few of his videos, it looked like he integrated model packs from that first person shooter creator.

https://www.fpscreator.com

....since you said those could be integrated easily Todd, any chance you could get those model packs from him?
[Image: banner.gif]

Probable mucosal damage may contraindicate the use of gastric lavage.
Reply

#6
Hi - no those are not model packs but I did build and texture those models in Maya and converted them with Milkshape. Currently the models exist in the SOM model format and also in maya. I have no problem with sharing these models just let me know how you would like to receive them.
Cheers

KilroyFx
Reply

#7
I would also like to add, that I have in my library a high resolution avi file of the original ASCII and FROM software logos, with the soundtracks remastered so that people can use these in the openings of their games. ‎  Since the original movie files only exist on the ps2 I had to rebuild most of the logos from scratch and redo the audio, but the final result was very pleasing.
Cheers

KilroyFx
Reply

#8
Yes the final result is sweet...im trying to integrate it into mine right now, only problem im having is space. ‎  When I try to incorporate your opening into my launch video for my game I end up having to compress it quite a bit for space reasons and it just doesnt look as good as it did originally.

I got your email regarding the autoit programs, Im going to forward it to holydiver who is our current SOM inner workings guru so he can play with it and get a handle on what it did for you.

I will have him post here if he has questions.
- Todd DuFore (DMPDesign)
Site Founder
Reply

#9
Are we sure it's a good idea to use Fromsoftware logos without approval from From'? In general that is impersonating a legal entity which I think can technically get you in a lot of trouble Sweatdrop
Reply

#10
**Shrug** technically the game is made by from software :P

Im pretty sure the SOM logo that it auto inserts into the game exe has their copyright on it too.
- Todd DuFore (DMPDesign)
Site Founder
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
4 Guest(s)