A couple of freebies for you

[Chris]

I've been digging around our archives and discovered a couple of Extras we were planning to release ages ago, but somehow forgot. Head over to the Extras section and click on "Other" - they don't really fall into any easy category. Or just click here.

Firstly we have a Day in the life of a Bedroom Programmer. Filmed using a time-lapse video camera, this interesting and slightly disturbing video shows Chris hard at work during a marathon 8 hour coding session, just a couple of weeks before the Gold master submission of the finished game. The camera was set to take one frame every 15 seconds, and we've edited it down for length. You're seeing an entire day's worth of work taking place in 3 minutes.

Secondly we have an alternative music track for the intro sequence. The full game uses the awesome DMA-SC track "Visitors from Dreams" as the intro, but originally this was intended as placeholder music for Alistair to replace. He did eventually compose some new intro music for us, but we felt it lacked the lovely retro feel and 8-bit goodness of the placeholder track. After some frantic last minute negotiations with DMA-SC we had permission to use his track, Alistair's specially composed intro was consigned to the cutting room floor. But no longer!

[trickfred]

Very cool. It's very close as to which I like better, but I'm going to have to give the nod to this new music piece.

*drops it in game folder*

[Darksun]

That is utterly, utterly bizzare... what are you doing playing the guitar, get back to work!

Hmm, also, I like the alternative intro track, but I don't think it works aswell for the intro movie as visitors from dreams does

edit: did I snatch a bit of Pink Floyd - Great Gig in the Sky? It's the only thing I thought I recognised from the time lapsed music track, but I'm not entirely sure

[Dave2]

We want full guitar!

Also, I agree with the following:

<NeoThermic> SO THATS WHERE UPLINKS WORLD.DAT CAME FROM!

[NeoThermic]

So, lets take stock... We have...
crisps, cookies, apprently pizza...
world map, mine, a level I can't identify (although at a guess, possibly garden)...
rock music, pop music, gituar playing...

You know... I think this explains a lot....

Although we must have a copy of you jamming away there in full, it sounded good (all 4 odd seconds of it).

NeoThermic

[xander]

Wow. The alternate intro really changes the entire mood. It is always facinating to me how music can so alter one's perception of events. The original intro feels much more urgent -- there is a problem, and you must fix it, now! The alternate intro is more introspective -- something bad has happened, and we need to know what. Interesting.

By the way, 8 hours in 3 minutes cannot be good for your immune system.

xander

[Andcarne]

That alternate intro piece is really cool, and well done, but I must agree that Visitors from Dreams works better. (Maybe I'm just used to it too )

That video is also really neat. For some reason it reminds me a lot of The Sims on the highest speed setting.

[xyzyxx]

I really like the way the alternate music goes along with the intro, for example, Visitors from Dreams fades out at the end whereas the new one actually ends.

[The GoldFish]

reminds me of the intro to Black and White now

[LLamaBoy]

Very... insightful video. Is it worrying I'm like that most days though?

The alternate music is pretty cool, changes the whole mood of the intro, as xander pointed out. I got a feeling of modern vs. retro with it. The alternate one gave me the feeling I was entering something new and different as Darwinia was "logging in". Then, when I entered Garden, everything became sprites and fractals I went into a kind of timewarp. If it was the first time I'd seen the game, it would probably be a "woah!" moment.

[elDiablo]

Yay freebies! \o/

[edd8990]

Has anyone else tried listening to the sound of the video without watching it? It sounds cool!

[martin]

I can't watch the video . Realplayer, winamp and mediaplayer cannot play it.

[LLamaBoy]

You'll need the XviD codec which you can find all over the Net (here's a direct link to a file found from the first google result for "XviD binary")

[elDiablo]

Has anyone else tried listening to the sound of the video without watching it? It sounds cool!

I thought that while watching it! \o/

Also, I saw Chris not at the computer for at least 30seconds in the video... Now, 8 hours in 3.5 minutes is 2.2857142857142857142857142857143 hours per minute, there, Chris wasnt working for 1.1428571428571428571428571428571 hours! They lied to us! He didnt do 8 hours straight! \o/