There will be a little gap in new builds and activity for a while. We need to divert some time into other work that actually pays, so we can keep working on the Data Realms projects later. Something has to take care of the bills, I’m afraid…

In better news: when we come back we will start cranking away on the scene (level/map) editor, and it will kick ass. With this completely in-game WYSIWYG tool, you’ll be able to create the layers of terrain, scatter the debris in the ground, place Terrain Object hierarchies, and place individual Movable Objects (Actors, etc.) wherever you want. Then you can immediately test your scene and see how it plays. It’ll all be completely controllable with either the mouse or gamepad.

So keep checking back here - I’ll be posting some UI concept sketches for the editor later. Just don’t hold your collective breaths for new builds for a while.

Prom sent me this from 4chan… have no idea where or when it came from, but damn if isn’t great:

(Click to enlarge)

Considering it refers to the year 2000 as some semi-distant future, I’m impressed by its accuracy!

Arne busts out some new personal art! This is not related to CC, but damn check it out nonetheless:

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=rifts

I just thought this was funny:

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/20/colin-mcrae-less-popular-than-dirt/

(D.I.R.T. used to be the name of the Cortex Command project, more info here)

This is a real treat if you’re into old games - check out Arne’s (Prometheus’) recent update to his site with tons of remake concept art and other amazing stuff:

M.U.L.E.:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=mule

Utopia:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=utopia

DragonQuest:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=dragon

Alternative Metroid game:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/m05/designdoc.htm

Frontier Elite paper models - print and make ‘em at home!:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/ecp/frontier.htm

And I hear there’s even more to come soon, so keep an eye out on his site!

Testing some ideas combining D and R, I think I like 2 the best out of these.

Edit: Another variant
Har jag närt en KOMMUNIST vid min barm?!?

Should be a bit fatter maybe…

…like this?

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[DT edit] Or this?

I think the merged D-R insignia gets a little too abstract… will probably be hard to get people to make the connection in their heads to the words Data Realms. Why not just keep it clear and pixel-clean?

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[Arne edit] Maybe, but on the other hand logos are supposed to be rather abstract simplifications because you don’t want to type out the entire thing.

[DT Edit]

mmm?

[Arne edit:] Umm? Thinner on the left.

We are working on a new fresh logo for DRL… here’s some alternative starting points:

The second one needs coloring.. it’s not supposed to be three-in-one like that.

Please give feedback in the comments!

This is the new place where development on the Data Realms projects will be documented and discussed! The old dev forum will still stick around, but won’t be the main conduit for updates on our projects anymore.

So stay tuned for a new burst of activity in the Data Realms!