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What is it?
This project is a fan reimagination of Biohazard Gun Survivor. The title comes from the prototype Gun Survivor, which was named "Behind the Mask" at some point during development.
What is different from the original?
Almost everything, but it keeps strong connections to Gun Survivor. 3D environments are replaced with pre-rendered backgrounds and the game should play similarly to Resident Evil 1-2-3. We are retooling some of the locations so that they make more sense (a few were simply awkward, like the church main entrance placed in a random alley instead of a main street). Expect to see some changes like in the Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube since we're even lifting background style right from there and REØ.
TL;DR: take all the good things from Gun Survivor, drop the crap, give it a more survival flavor.
Why isn't Behind the Mask placed in the modding section?
Because it's not a mod. The engine is being created completely from scratch, possibly on multiple platforms. At the moment this is a PlayStation exclusive, but there may be PC and PSP versions coming when I start coding in an abstraction layer and hardware helpers (OpenGL should do it for rendering and simultaniously take care of both platforms).
Why recode the engine from scratch when you can mod Resident Evil 1-2-3 Sourcenext Pregunta Turbo Edition?
Because it'd be awkward, limiting, and simply doesn't cut it for us. Create an engine and you're the master of your own code, just to state out the best pro I can think of right now. Plus it can all be expanded easily to include features from later engines, which the original almost lacked along with any form of QA check.
How long has this been coded for?
I started creating the project folders on march 29, so it's 4 weeks. The code is still missing some major components such as a full AI for enemies, but it's taking shape decently and quite steadily (i.e. Zonbi-chan is capable of many actions, including chasing the player non stop). Most rendering tasks are implemented and the engine can move around 3500 polygons with no sweat. Currently we can have about 8 active zombies + Ark in a camera before it starts lagging a bit (the max amount of zombies is really 8, but the number can increase if you add respawn to the equation).
Who's currently on the team?
Me, as coder of the original engine fueling this (Squeeze Bomb) and occasionally as modeler for low-poly assets, SonicBlue who takes care of all the background renders and menu layouts, and a friend of mine who's modeling other low-poly assets for real time rendering.
Screenshots
A before-after comparison of the alley near the helicopter crash site, with Ark, Vincent, and Zonbi-chan:
More coming soon, still working on background renders and the status screen.
Want to join the project?
We're currently looking for:
- 3D-lowpoly and texture artists for in-game graphics. We could use Resident Evil 2 models all the way, like Gun Survivor did, but implementing brand new assets along the way may be better in the end and more interesting to experience, not to mention the finished production would have a less strong "déja-vù effect".
- People good at drawing, either on paper or straight away digitally. Being able to colorize your work is a big plus. We need someone who can redo the main artworks for the whole cast or to create different types of zombies.
- Music composers experienced with sequenced spreadsheets and samples (i.e. Kontakt), and who don't use that train wreck called FL Studio. Again, we could use the original soundtrack pretty much entirely, but it's not exactly what you'd want in a survival horror.
- English translators and editors. Redoing the original translation is a must-have, the number of errors and inconsistency is a bit too much for today's standard.
- English voice actors with good recording gear. Pretty much nobody seems to like the original voice acting, which usually ranks even lower than Resident Evil 1's. If you have a sample to show us, make sure to send it either here or in private form. Please do not propose "random person X has this fab channel, you should contact them" unless you're that person, and please, please, please: NO IMPRESSIONISTS.
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