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YEAR 2003 UPDATES Current 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
November
26, 2003 Breaking
News: After a
long wait, and just in time for Thanksgiving, the
Rhea Brothers are happy to announce that the next
installment of their online series Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior, Chapter 14, "Truth" is now
online. Also, in response to a fan's request, four
new 640x480 resolution wallpapers were just added
to the Backgrounds/Wallpapers section for those
with smaller monitors. November
19, 2003 Coming
soon: Good
news - this past week Dave took a break from his
other graphics projects and began working on the
images for the next chapter of Cyberdrome: Emergent
Behavior. Yesterday he said that he had finished
three images and was working on the final two, so
we hope to have Chapter 14, "Truth" uploaded within
the next week or so. Chapter
preview: As
you might guess by the title, Alek will learn some
important truths about Cyberdrome in Chapter 14,
and also rekindle a lost love in the shadow of his
father's passing. Then, in Chapter 15, "Deceit",
Alek discovers that some of these truths are in
fact lies, meant to cover up a secret and illegal
project that has the potential to drastically alter
the world, for either good or bad. The future of
mankind may actually rest on what Alek chooses to
do with this information. Stay tuned - you won't
want to miss this. November
13, 2003 Update:
The "reduced color" wallpapers in the Background /
Wallpapers page have been replaced with the
original true-color versions. They will take you a
bit longer to download, but the drastically
improved quality of the images will be worth
it. November
11, 2003 Update:
A brand new page has been added to the
CYBERDROME section. It is the Backgrounds /
Wallpapers page - a place where you can download
cool Cyberdrome background images for your
computer. Right now we are featuring the three
"machine bug" image from the front page, along with
a high-resolution shot of a Sentinel Tracer exiting
a Memory Gate. October
30, 2003 Update:
Since tomorrow is Halloween, it seemed only fitting
to release another one of Dave's "scary" new
3D artificial life programs. This one is
called a Spider, and wow(!) is it mean looking!
Lets just say that you wouldn't want to meet it on
a dark corner of the Grid without backup! To find
out more about these digital monsters, check out
the newly updated Enemy ALife Section. Story update: Joe
has reorganized the online version of Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior to make it easier to navigate and
remember where you left off. Now each installment
is simply labeled as a Chapter, rather than the old
format of chapter and parts of chapters. Speaking
of chapters, we hope to get two more online by the
end of the year - that one in November and one in
December. As always, stay tuned... October
24, 2003 Update:
Dave has just completed one of his new
3D artificial life programs, the Scorpion, and
has the Spider almost finished as well. For a quick
look at the Scorpion, go back to the Cyberdrome
front page and click on the main image until you
see it. Also, if you have a modern browser, you can
just sit back and watch the images change every 30
seconds or so. Right now there are only two
creatures displayed (Raptor and Scorpion) but
soon you will see the rest. October
21, 2003 Update:
While the brothers have been busy this past month
working on Cyberdrome related material (Dave is
building several new 3D ALife
programs and Joe is actively working on
writing the final act of the story) they
wanted to leave you all with something to "wet your
whistle" until the next installment. Therefore, a
new page has been created to give you, the loyal
readers, exclusive behind the scenes material. It
is called "The Making of Cyberdrome" and can be
found by clicking on CYBERDROME from the front page
(or from the navigation bar at the top of the
page). There are currently 9 images on this page
but expect to see many more very soon. September
15, 2003 Update:
There are many paths to Cyberdrome - in fact, there
are sixty as of today. See them all here.
What path brought you to this site? September
10, 2003 Update:
As a way to say welcome to our readers from other
countries, The Cyberdrome front page is now
multilingual! Click on one of the flags at the
bottom of the front page (or above) to see the
translated version of the main logo. Translations
include Japanese, Chinese, German, French, Italian,
and Spanish. Translation was performed using
Bablefish with a great deal of rewording by the
author to get the meaning of the translation
correct. In the future, we hope to have more
multilingual pages. Other notes, Dave
is working on building a new Spider while Joe is
proofing the next scene. As always, stay
tuned... August
14, 2003 Update:
The
Cyberdrome front page now has rotating background
images to show off the new Raptor. Every time you
visit Cyberdrome.org, or refresh the page, you will
get a new random image. To see all of the images,
simply wait 20 seconds, or click one of the small
arrows at the bottom of the page. Eventually, when
Dave finishes redesigning the other Artificial Life
creatures, they will be displayed on the front page
as well. Also, some of these creatures will be
making their first appearance in Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior a short time from now, so stay
tuned. Also, we are
"self-rating" our online version of
Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior as PG-13 for
"minor science fiction violence and some
non-sexual nudity " If you are under 13, please
check with your parents before reading this
story. August
08, 2003 More
Breaking News: As
promised, the next installment of our CYBERDROME
Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior, Chapter 3.3 "Father"
is now online with 8 color images and just over
2300 words of text. Also, the Image Galleries have
been updated so you can see all of the
illustrations from the story at once (we have
nearly one hundred CGI images so
far!). August
01, 2003 Breaking
News: Two new
installments of our CYBERDROME Cyberdrome: Emergent
Behavior are now finished. Today we offer the new
"insert" installment (Chapter 2.1
"Recall") which has 7 color images and nearly
2,400 words of text. Next week, the new
"continuation" installment, Chapter 3.3 "Father"
with 8 color images and over 2300 words goes
online. That's two installments in one week!I
Finally, we liked the new Raptors so much we added
them to the new Cyberdrome front page. July
29, 2003 More
Raptors: While
you're waiting the the next installment of
Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior,
check out the new high resolution images that have
been added to the Raptor Page in the Enemy
ALife section. July
24, 2003 The
Raptors are here: In
addition to doing the final review of the next two
installments of Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior
(coming out any day now) Dave has started
building the next generation Grid bugs. He has one
completed, an all new cool-looking 3D "Raptor"
- preview it now in the updated Enemy ALife
page. July
15, 2003 Almost
here: The
images for the next installment of
Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior,
(Chapter 3.3 "Father") are now finished! All that
is left is a final edit to make sure Joe's story
matches Dave's illustrations. Also, the bonus
insert installment, (Chapter 2.1 "Recall") is
nearly complete as well, and it has turned out to
be one of the coolest scenes, with illustrations
you will have to see to believe. Don't go too far -
one or both installments will be going online any
day now... Also, added a new
Movie Gallery page to display movies that were made
to show off some of the 3d virtual sets and
characters from the series. July
08, 2003 Rhea-fx.com
Update: Jump
to Dave Rhea's website (Dave.Rhea-fx.com), then
click on the words "Virtual 3D Character
Design" There you will learn about the evolution of
the two main characters from
Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior
and find out what it takes to create realistic
virtual actors. July
01, 2003 Coming
this Month:
In addition to the planned next installment of
Cyberdrome:
Emergent Behavior,
(Chapter 3.3 "Father") there will also be an
additional bonus installment. This bonus
installment is the original opening scene for
Chapter 2, which was skipped because at the time,
the Rhea Brothers had not yet created the extensive
virtual sets and 3D vehicles required for the scene
(these sets are primarily used in the second half
of the story). Now that the sets and vehicles are
finished, it was decided to place this scene back
into the online version of the story. Continuity of
the current story line will not be adversely
affected by the insertion of this scene, since it
is essentially a "back story" which was designed to
give the reader a glimpse of what it is like to be
inside one of Cyberdrome's virtual worlds. Stay
tuned. June
11, 2003 Greetings
from the new Webmaster:
First off,
let me introduce myself. I am the new
Webmaster here at Cyberdrome.org, hired by the Rhea
Brothers to take over the task of keeping this
growing site under control, and allowing them to
concentrate on their projects. I've made some
graphics changes to the Cyberdrome site - now the
main page has a similar appearance to the brother's
other site, Rhea-fx.com. I think it helps keep
the two sites consistent (and they look cool
too). There is a lot
going on in the REAL world this month for the Rhea
brothers - Joe and his wife are expecting their
first child, while Dave and his wife are busy
remodeling their new house. With all that's going
on, the brothers tell me that they are aiming for a
July release date for the next installment of
Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior. Hope you can all
stick around until then. June
04, 2003 New
graphics for the Cyberdrome
site - now
every page has a navigation bar at the top to allow
you get get around more easily. Okay,
we realize that it's not as good as a new
installment of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior, but
it will have to do for now :) Trust us, its
coming... May
29, 2003 Extra:
While Dave works on the images for the next
installment of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior,
(Chapter 3.3 "Father"), here are two AVI
format movies showing two of the
3D virtual sets used in our story; May
06, 2003 Update:
With 10 color
3D images and over 2,500 words of text, the
newest installment of Cyberdrome: Emergent
Behavior, Chapter 3.2 "Avatars" is more than double
the size of most of the previous installments.
Therefore, today we separated the installment into
4 pages to speed up download time. May
03, 2003 Breaking
News: The
newest installment of Cyberdrome: Emergent
Behavior, Chapter 3.2 "Avatars" is now online. With
10 color 3D images (including new
high-resolution skin and hair textures) and
over 2,500 words of text, it is (by far) the
biggest installment yet. Also, the Gallery
has been updated to include all of the images from
this new installment. April
28, 2003 News: Okay,
Joe is back from his research experiment in
California, and while he was gone, Dave finished
all of the images for the next installment. Now
it's Joe's turn! He will give the story one more
rewrite this week (Dave's images always give him
new ideas) and then upload the illustrated
version by this Saturday (May 3rd). Only five days
from now - you can wait that long, can't
you? April
03, 2003 News: While
Joe (the writer) is out on a Research cruise
in Monterey Bay, CA during the rest of April, Dave
(the artist) will be working on the new images
for the next installment of Emergent Behavior. He
is also currently working to improve the realism of
the digital actors in the story (new high
resolution skin and hair textures, and better use
of bump maps). Expect a new (and improved)
installment by the first part of May. In the mean
time, check out the rest of the site - there might
be a few pages you haven't seen yet. Also, if you
haven't been there yet, check out the Rhea Brothers
other site, Rhea-fx.com, and learn about the
artificial life simulator called Cyberdrome that
started it all. March
25, 2003 Status
of the Emergent Behavior
novel: This
week, the first draft of scene 50 was written,
which means that there are only 10 more scenes to
write! The book has also now passed 70,000 words
and is estimated to be just under 90,000 words long
when completed. This novel has been an ongoing
project since 1998, so completing it this year will
be a major milestone for me (Joe). Also, the first
15 scenes (representing Act One of the
story) are now in "final" draft form, while
most of Acts 2 and 3 (the middle) are in
revised draft form. The scenes in Act 4 are
actually going much faster than earlier parts of
the story, since they were outlined in "excessive"
detail and are turning out to be really fun to
write. The illustrated
online version of Emergent Behavior is moving along
slowly but steadily. Once Dave has all of the
virtual sets completed, subsequent scenes might
come along a bit faster. But, for now, please be
patient and stay tuned... March
07, 2003 Update:
We've changed
the look of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior once
again. It is now a reverse-color layout, with white
lettering on a dark background. Also, Dave is
putting final touches on the Virtual Set for the
Cyber-Cartography Room, which is the setting for
the next installment. So far, it looks very cool
(we wish we could be working there right
now!) Our next step will be creating the
storyboards for the scene, which helps us set up
camera angles, field of view, etc. Then Dave will
begin importing and and placing the Virtual Actors
and the Virtual Props. Finally, when all that is
finished and perfect (to us) he will start
rendering the images for the scene. Stay tuned for
more... February
26, 2003 Update:
All chapters
of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior are now available
in HTML version, with full-size 3D images
right in the story (no clicking required), as well
as Adobe PDF format in case you want to take
Cyberdrome home with you. February
09, 2003 Breaking
News: The
next installment of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior,
Chapter 3.1 "Denial" is now online. With 8 color
3D images and over 2000 words of text, it is
the biggest installment yet. February
03, 2003 News:
The next
installment in the Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior
series, Chapter 3.1 "Denial" is just days away now.
"Denial" will begin Alek Grey's journey into the
digital universe called Cyberdrome, and is over
1800 words long and will contain 8 digital images.
Dave is hoping to complete the final two images
this week, but his special effects job just got
bumped up to 10 hours a day, six days a week, so
his creative energy is pretty zapped by the
evening. Let's all give him a collective "Way to
go!" for working so hard on this story. Stay
tuned... In other news,
Joe is days away from beginning of the final act of
the Cyberdrome novel, with hopes of completing it
all by the first of June. After a few months of
editing and reediting, he will begin sending
the manuscript off to publishers. If it gets
accepted for print, we may have to take the online
version off for a while, at least until the
publishing agreements are worked out. If all goes
as planned, Dave and Joe will then work to complete
this illustrated version of the novel with the
hopes of creating the first illustrated ebook on
the market. Stay tuned for more on that as
well... January
22, 2003 Update:
Just uploaded
an Adobe PDF format version of all current
installments of Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior. Now
that the online version of the story is getting
longer, we wanted you to be able to have the option
to read it off-line, or print it to any color
printer and take it with you. If you do not yet
have the Adobe PDF reader for your browser, we
included a link to download it for FREE. Also, the virtual
3D set (and props) for the next installment of
Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior is now completed. We
worked on the storyboards for the planed seven
illustrations this past week, and now Dave is
working on setting up the characters and camera
angles to actually render the 3D scenes. We
hope to have the new installment finished within a
couple of weeks. Stay tuned... January
01, 2003 Happy
New Year from the Rhea brothers ! This month you
can expect yet another installment in the
Cyberdrome: Emergent Behavior series. Dave is busy
building the new virtual set for the illustrations,
and, as usual, he is outdoing himself. To see all
of Dave's work, check out his web site at
Dave.Rhea-fx.com A new item this
month is the Enemy ALife page, where you can learn
all about the "bad" bugs infecting Cyberdrome.
In addition, the Character Profiles page was
updated, with several new members added to the
growing cast of people and programs featured in our
story. |
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