Star Wars Galaxies Developer Diary
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 815
A drawback to doing something new is that you do it slower than subsequent repeats, because you are discovering how to do it as you go along. With new space ships, I knew we needed art. I knew it had to be hooked up. Other than systems I had touched, such as crafting, I needed to learn what files were involved and what the data in them represented. I had to poke through files and discover how to hook up each piece of the puzzle. If I came across an issue, I couldn't go ask someone without knowing who I was supposed to ask. An issue might look like an artist could fix it, which occurred often, but once we delved into the issue it could turn out to be another area of expertise (such as programming or design).
One particular issue was the Blacksun transport's doors appearing as flowers. I kept asking art when it would be fixed. They had no idea what was wrong, as everything looked fine on their end. Eventually, I found a file that designers use to define all the doors and noticed that the door for the transport (now called the (Blacksun AEG-77 Vigo)) was missing. Whoops!
In fact, the art was not finished on these ships as they had never been tested in-game with a person controlling them. Our artists spent a lot of time polishing the art and getting the interiors to function properly.
