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Javier also showed me some tests and examples of high-resolution renders, which will be used for marketing purposes. And though they were not the finals they looked extremely cool and well done. I got to see how they sketched out ideas on paper and bring them to life with the Blade engine and a quick peak on the Blade manual before moving on to the level designers.

At the time, this group was in full cheering and laughter. When I saw that they were testing out some multiplayer maps, my eyes were locked at Enric's monitor. Enric was playing the Barbarian, but he got his ass seriously whooped by Dario, which played the Knight. I can't go into any detail on this subject I'm afraid, but as they fought Enric was, at one time, finished off by a weapon thrown directly at him. It was a good laugh! At another computer, Miguel was working on some map tiles (pieces), which - when put together - make out the world in Blade. After watching a few battles I took a look (and listened) to what the sound technician, Emilio, did. When sound files are recorded and sent to Rebel Act, Emilio 'connect' them to the proper animations and make sure they are triggered at the correct frames.

Sound technician Emilio Gutiérrez

In and out of the glass room
Well back in the glass-room I saw the clock was getting dangerously close to my return flight. Damn it! Is this clock showing the correct time? This is the time I seized my photo camera and ran back out to take some pictures before it was to late. I turned the dark room into a flashing disco night as I rushed around in the local. It was indeed not a professional man behind the camera as you may see from the pictures. I then moved back into the testing room and had a look on some more of the game's enemies and levels. Xavier and Juan were there occasionally to see to me and help demonstrating the things I wanted to see. Teresa was also paying me a brief visit to see that everything was well and curious about what I though about the game. Xavier was taking notes of some bugs and reported them to the appropriate crewmembers. While having another cigarette, they tested out some environmental audio effects (EAX). This was not finished yet and the levels were not tagged, so there were echo effects in every part of the level. It sounded cool though. As I was aware of that the time was running out on me, I ran over to Enric (hoping to hide from Juan who would be driving me back to the airport).

Talking with Enric
As I got to Enric's desk, he was working on tiling some textures. When he saw me coming he immediately paused the alignment stuff and started showing me the really interesting things. On his monitor I could see the level editor while the level itself was rendered in real-time on a second monitor. Everything is done in real-time in the level editor, absolutely everything! Enric selected a torch on the second monitor and moved it about. The light and shadows were following naturally every inch he directed the torch; just like in the game. The camera view was currently placed at the the bottom of a tall shaft. We moved up to the top of the shaft, leaving the torch at the bottom, and started moving the torch slowly upwards. Seeing how the light was cast was really cool! Especially when playing with different magnitudes in the brightness-level of the light source and even applying different colors to it. This is defiantly the most amazing real-time 3d engine ever created - no doubt!

He asked me if I was familiar with Arabian architecture and started 'flying' through the level with the camera view. We passed through some corridors and hallways, down a shaft and continued until we reached a part of the level that was just breathtaking! Countless pillars supported beautiful formed bows and curves that melted into the roof. Colorful tiles decorated the walls and the floor as far as the eye could see. Soon we found our self on the outside. Moving from a small room to a wide-open area went seamlessly and the framerate display didn't drop at all! The distant fog gave the landscape a great depth, without cutting off the view at all.

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