The Update
Starting this week off, MamboKing finished recording on the second track for the TC, and I daresay this is even better then the first, you're all in for a real treat with the music being put together for SWQ. Also on the sound front, Jalus Nebl has submitted some initial sound effects for the player model which are working out very well, and the rest of the required player sounds should be finished shortly. dolomite has finished up the architecture on his DM map and is now finalizing texture placement, Privateer is working on some misc. model assignments, Brad is doing some final tweaks to the new bystander faces, CaRRaC is doing some bug fixes, and BrokenFixed is coding in the new player model animations. In the midst of this, after some debate we have decided to include some visual features in SWQ which will require the presence of a Quake-2 compatible 3D accelerator. Note that the game will still play perfectly fine without one, but some things may look a little different when played in software mode. None of this, however, will impede gameplay in any way, and overall it will amount to a better playing experience. [Red Knight]

The Phantom Touch
Well, I'll be honest. Between everyone's Real Lives, and the opening of a certain movie, we didn't accomplish much this week (as expected). However, we've still got some news to report to you. First off, MamboKing finished off recording on the first track for the TC (the Jedi Academy), and the results are very impressive. Just for those who are curious, music will be distributed in a .mp3 format and decoded into .wavs on your hard drive after the download, which dramatically reduces download size (by about 500% for the music). In other news, EleCtRiC finished up the Force icons before he signed off from the team, Asylem Escapee made some major progress on his DM level, and we've picked up a new member. A big welcome to Jason Landis, who will be assisting us in the programming department. Finally, SWQ will be included in Total Control magazine's mod feature, so for those of you in the UK, watch for that in an upcoming issue. Now, I've got some time to make up for. [Red Knight]

Converted^2 Interview
Converted^2 has posted the interview that Merlin did with me a little while ago. There's several things in there that I don't think have been said before, or at least not as clearly, so swing by and check it out. [Red Knight]

The Flyby
This past week turned out to be a busy one for all of us, so progress slowed down a bit. However, Privateer's modifications to the player model animations were completed, and Brad created the new g_model skins mentioned last time. Aside from those finishes, work has been focused on the "big" items, such as the new maps and lightsaber/force work, so there's not a great amount to tell. However, we do have one announcement that we'd like to make: a big congratulations to EleCtRiC, one of our 2D artists, has been hired by Crytek Studios, a professional game development house over in Germany. The best of luck to you EleCtRiC, you'll be missed among the SWQ team, but we're all glad to see you realize a dream!

And for those of you who have little to no caring for the movements of the SWQ team, here is your weekly dose of screenshot (or model shot, as the case may be): [Red Knight]

Position Open
Our lead programmer, CaRRaC, is being forced to deal with a bout of Real Life difficulties, and as a result, we have an immediate opening on the SWQ team for an experienced programmer to assist with some of the final work on CaRRaC's assignments. A knowledge of the Quake 2 codebase is required, as well as a willingness to devote long hours to the project. However, if you're interested in helping speed along production of the SWQ, just send an email along to Red Knight. [Red Knight]

Woeful Weather
Ack. Some nice storms stopped me from posting anything last night, but here's your quick update:

With the desire on everyone's part being to get the DM release out as soon as possible, the whole team is putting in every spare moment that they can. Here's a quick list of what's currently being worked on: Privateer is adjusting the player model's animations a bit to match with the new specs, falkon2 is doing the same with the v_lightsabers, ViolentBlue and Paolo are working together to animate the female Jedi, and Brad has finished the biker scout and the heads for the smugglers. With those done, he'll now be updating some of the g_weapon skins and creating a new player model skin. In the other departments, work continues on the multiplayer levels, and MamboKing is preparing for the grueling six-hour recording session for the new music track. Finally, CaRRaC is making some quick fixes to the Force code and doing extensive commenting before he is called away.

That pretty much sums up what's going on here at the moment. I should warn you in advance, though, that progress will probably slow down tomorrow and the following week, due to the Star Wars equivalent of the second coming (can you blame us?). See you in the ticket line! [Red Knight]

Quickie
I'm kind of tied up in a few things right now, so I'm going to have to skip out on the weekly update tonight, but watch for it tomorrow along with a new model shot or two. [Red Knight]

Delivery
As noted last time, I've made a brief update to my page, and also done a little bit of maintenance on the FAQ. [Red Knight]

Future Tense
Later this month we will be releasing a multiplayer DM test of SWQ. This will be a multiplayer-only test of the TC (no single-player levels will be included). The purpose of this release will be to assist in balancing the weapons/Force powers, and to attempt to locate any holes in our multiplayer code. Further details will be announced as we close in on the release. I'll also be updating my page later this week with to give you a personal spin on how things are going with the project, and just how close that final release is.  [Red Knight]