POD3 Project

Freddy · Message par **Freddy** » 08 mai 2004 17:26

I am POnDering here whether the POD3 Project was abandoned for good or is it just on hold because of Trackmania?.

I am one to think that the legacy of POD should forever continue.

I will be POnDering about this for a long time...

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 08 mai 2004 17:45

Just on hold cause I was working on another game.
Ho and trackmania too took most of my free time

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 24 juil. 2007 10:28

I guess the POD3 project has been abandoned, right? Didn't hear from it for ages.

And sadly the forum here seems to be very inactive, too. :-(

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 24 juil. 2007 12:07

By the way: Ubisoft still is in the possession of the POD source code, deeply hidden in some archive, right?

They should release it, I mean, they aren't doing anything with it anyway...

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 24 juil. 2007 15:14

I'm pretty sure no one currently at Ubisoft even knows where those source could be.
Anyway this code is way too old to be of any use.

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 24 juil. 2007 19:01

Hm, I thought it could serve as some base for a revised version of POD. You know, all the control parameters for the cars driving behaviour etc. Then again I don't know enough about coding games, so... :-)

It's just that I'm afraid that in 5 years from now on no one will be able to play POD anymore (except for a very few old computers where it still will be able to run).

It's a pity nobody has enough skills to make a new version of POD, with higher resolution, maybe a few more effects and such, but in essence still being the good old POD. I would do it myself, but unfortunately I hardly know anything about coding a graphics engine or a game. :-/

So what happened to the POD3 project? Any future plans for it?

clash · Message par **clash** » 25 juil. 2007 10:31

Well I just asked a friend who works at Ubi.
but I don't know if he worked on the Pod project, so I'll just wait his answer.

Invité · Message par **Invité** » 25 juil. 2007 11:48

Thanks for your effort, clash, it really is appreciated.

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 25 juil. 2007 12:05

Well I have the source code... That's why I told it's useless. Tools, code design, render technics... All are not used in game industry anymore.
Trying to reuse anything from it would be harder than building a new project from scratch.

That's also why I started this pod 3 engine some years ago.

It's a pity nobody has enough skills to make a new version of POD

It's not a matter of skills but rather of spare time and motivation.

So what happened to the POD3 project? Any future plans for it?

Nope. It's dropped for reasons above. I'm working for a game company now and that's enough time consuming

clash · Message par **clash** » 25 juil. 2007 13:13

Nolendil a écrit :J'imagine qu'on doit avoir les sources et les données archivées quelque part mais je ne connais personne qui ait bossé dessus et qui pourrait appuyer une telle requête

To get it briefly : He thinks they have the source code somewhere, but he doesn't know who worked on it.

But as Sik said, i'm not sure using the old code would be a big help.

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 25 juil. 2007 14:28

@ Siklist:
Oh, I see... That's sad news then...
I heard you were involved in the development of TrackMania, so you're working for Nadeo?
Were you ever involved in the development of POD, too? Did you actually buy the source code of it, or how did you get it? (I'm just curious.)

Well... I was really hoping that some day POD will be released as some sort of sequel, with all the old tracks and its original atmosphere and maybe a few more features (better graphics, of course; new tracks/cars, etc.), but I guess I can bury that hope now... :-(

@ clash:
Oh, okay. Thanks again for your effort, dude...

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 25 juil. 2007 16:01

I heard you were involved in the development of TrackMania, so you're working for Nadeo?

No you misread something, I'm just a trackmania fan

Were you ever involved in the development of POD, too? Did you actually buy the source code of it, or how did you get it?

A friend of mine (now working at the same company as I do) is an ex Ubisoft employee who worked on Pod. I got the source code from him. He read this forum too but he is currently on vacation.

Well... I was really hoping that some day POD will be released as some sort of sequel [...] but I guess I can bury that hope now...

Like everyone here...
But the Pod license belongs to Ubisoft and it seems like they'll never exploit it further.

There's many other great racing games around (like trackmania) and I'm sure sooner or later some company will develop another podlike futuristic racing game. Let's have faith

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 25 juil. 2007 16:28

Siklist a écrit :No you misread something, I'm just a trackmania fan

Yep, my fault. I was misinterpreting something you wrote above (were you wrote that TrackMania took most of your time). ;-)

Siklist a écrit :A friend of mine (now working at the same company as I do) is an ex Ubisoft employee who worked on Pod. I got the source code from him.

That's cool... Although I just learned that that code is useless... ;-)
Btw, what's the companies name you're working at, and what kind of games are they developing? I hope my questions do not bug you, it's just that I'm really interested in all these things that more or less surround POD. And somehow it's good to know that all these wonderful people who created POD are still out there, even though most of them probably don't code games anymore...

Siklist a écrit :Like everyone here...
But the Pod license belongs to Ubisoft and it seems like they'll never exploit it further.

Yep, that's true... And even if Ubisoft would release a sequel to POD, it would be far away from what POD once was... I guess only the original developers and probably a couple of fans could work on a sequel and re-create the true and unique POD atmosphere...

Siklist a écrit :There's many other great racing games around (like trackmania) and I'm sure sooner or later some company will develop another podlike futuristic racing game. Let's have faith

Yeah, I'm playing TrackMania (Nations), too and while I agree that it's great fun, it of course can't be a replacement for POD.

But you're right, let's hope that one day another great racing game full of atmosphere will be released... *prays*

Freddy · Message par **Freddy** » 25 juil. 2007 19:22

Well, It has been a very long time since my post.

With these follow ups on the subject, it has finally put an end to all my POnDering. hmm....has it?

Inevitable Heartbreaking News: "I have been left stranded on IO for now."

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 25 juil. 2007 20:10

RaiseHell a écrit :Btw, what's the companies name you're working at, and what kind of games are they developing?

Load inc.
It's a very small and young company. We're currently developing racing games and launched our first title Mad Tracks last year on PC and this year on XBox360 Live Arcade. It's a car party game between Mario Kart and micro machines.

We just started our next project currently named Things on Wheels. A revolt-like targeted for X360 and PC next year.

RaiseHell a écrit :And somehow it's good to know that all these wonderful people who created POD are still out there, even though most of them probably don't code games anymore...

Indeed the whole team was split around the world. Some still in video game companies, others (like Fabrice Valay the pod lead manager) not.
My friend still has contacts with some of them.

RaiseHell a écrit : I guess only the original developers and probably a couple of fans could work on a sequel and re-create the true and unique POD atmosphere...

Yeah, and be immediatly sued by Ubisoft

clash · Message par **clash** » 25 juil. 2007 23:37

Posting a message. Siklist will translate it if he thinks it could work.

Nolendil a écrit :Tu peux toujours envoyer une lettre ou un mail pour faire la demande. L'équipe de (lien)ScummVM a fait ça pour plein de jeux et parfois ça a marché (sauf que le code n'est pas vraiment open source, je crois qu'il est réservé à l'usage de l'équipe de dev).

Siklist · Message par **Siklist** » 26 juil. 2007 0:13

I think you skipped one of my reply Clash.
Like I said I already have the source code

clash · Message par **clash** » 26 juil. 2007 9:14

oui mais apparamment, cette équipe a déjà repris des demandes de ce type, en partant du code source original pour faire des versions upgradées.
enfin si j'ai bien compris le système.

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 26 juil. 2007 10:08

Siklist a écrit :[...] our first title Mad Tracks [...]
[...] next project currently named Things on Wheels.

Those two games look like fun. Never heard of Mad Tracks, but then again I'm not that much into games anymore.

Siklist a écrit :[...] others (like Fabrice Valay the pod lead manager) not.

Yeah, he recently posted in POD PhReAk's guestbook. I was quite overwhelmed when I found out who he is. ;-)

Siklist a écrit :My friend still has contacts with some of them.

Feels good to know that... :-)

Siklist a écrit :Yeah, and be immediatly sued by Ubisoft

Of course, that's true. There are ways to prevent getting sued by Ubisoft, though.

And someone with connections to Ubisoft maybe could get the rights for the POD franchise, who knows.

RaiseHell · Message par **RaiseHell** » 26 juil. 2007 10:28

By the way, I once more want to come back to the source code topic:

With the source code available, wouldn't it be possible to update the existing Direct3D interface to a newer version, so that POD would be able to run on newer systems in full screen mode and at higher resolutions? Because apart from that there's no need to change anything (tracks, car models, textures, sounds -- everything could be the same, right?). So, kind of making a Direct3D vX.X patch for the original POD.

Probably that wouldn't work either, but sharing my thoughts doesn't do any harm, right? ;-)