ShadowCast Holdups

There hasn't been any progress on ShadowCast, and in fact we've taken at least one step backwards, since my last update. The reason is because the team's taken a 3-week break from production, I assume out of general consent, and the new version of Leadwerks only accepts .GMF and .DDS files, so all of our resources are no longer applicable and our maps are no longer compatible with the engine. Which means that when we get back to work (March 18th), we'll have our work cut out for us.

I've taken this opportunity to look more into hosting a website for Team Playground, along with a private Trac system and SVN. I can get us unlimited storage and transfer for $170/year, plus an extra $10~15 for a domain name. I'm hoping to have it all up and running before the 18th, but I need someone else on the team to front the money (it can't go on my card at the moment).

I've also been looking into testing the draw buffer for shadows, but I haven't had a lot of luck yet. I'm thinking I'll get it before too much longer. It sure would make everything else easier, not to mention it would be more correct.

The final thing I've been doing it looking into post-render effects and GLSL. Not a lot, mind, but a little. They are interesting as well, and I feel they are the key to making the game look polished. Hopefully we can cross the line dividing amateur-looking games and professional-quality games.