From Blood

HYPERTENSION is a fictional multi-platform first-person shooter in development by TDGMods. It's a "re-visualization inspired by the computer game Blood", which began development on August 13, 2008. The game uses the technology called "Hyper3dge", which is derived from the EDGE engine, which is based upon id Software's DOOM Source Code. It is currently being developed for the PC/MAC/Linux, and Sega's Dreamcast console. It will contain many new features as well as weapons, levels, and characters. The film shoots are being handled by TDGMedia/ATBT. Various developers and amateur actors will participate in the game's graphic novel cutscenes. The game's score is being provided by Ashley Tarrant and a fair list of contributors. Mindburner will write the main theme song for Hypertension, entitled "Your Slave". Avenpitch is still set to write the other theme song. On May 7, 2009, a teaser trailer was released.

On October 16th, 2009, two additional teaser trailers were released in parallel, hyping the official worldwide debut of the Hypertension Trailer. The two teasers contain wholly live action shots. DieHard GameFAN released the trailer a few weeks later.

On November 2nd, 2009, two days after the release was delayed, DieHard GameFAN released the official trailer to critical acclaim. ATBT followed up with a live-action trailer. ATBT was removed from the live-action production over design conflicts after they rushed the extended trailer to poor reception.

Diehard Gamefan then released an exclusive interview with TDGMods about Hypertension's development on November 4th, 2009.

Hypertension will include a sub-game called Zombie Invasion, which will be used for competition between players, and will serve as the Botbath portion of the game. While set in the same universe, Zombie Invasion will play fundamentally different and feature different maps, and a few new enemies/weapons not found in the main game.

An Expansion Pack is currently in the works. Hypertension has no release date - only hinting at a possible 2010 release. Hypertension is being ported to multiple systems - the Sega Dreamcast, the Sega Genesis CD32X, the Atari Jaguar, and the GP2X Whiz. A Nintendo64 and NintendoDS ports are planned in the future.

Contents 1 Story 2 Game Engine and Features 3 Enemies, Items and Weapons 3.1 Enemies 3.2 Weapons 3.3 Items 3.4 Characters 4 Soundtrack 5 Engine Development 6 Game Ports 6.1 Phased Development 7 Game Development Credits 7.1 Former Team Members 8 Live-Action Production Credits 8.1 See Also 8.2 External Links

[edit] Story

"In Hypertension, you play as Caleb, an undead called from Limbo to destroy a corrupted society called the Cabal, under control by Tchernobog, a Dark God. The Cabal murdered Caleb and his wife Ophelia in his previous life, who were once devout followers. Caleb must work his way through the year 1928 and end Tchernobog's plans for total annihilation, and to get the revenge he sought.

Hypertension introduces a new character, named Aurelia, a demon-slaying mage from the year 2028. A vile corporation called CabalCo controls most of the Earth in the present time. Gideon, the main villain, is intent on resurrecting The Novus, an ancient band of exiled Dark Demons formed by Tchernobog, to destroy Aurelia and her group called the Chosen. She must gather the Chosen and work her way into the fortress, to stop Gideon from opening up the cross-dimensional Makai barrier and destroying the world."

Hypertension's storyline will encompass both Blood and Blood 2, while adding in a lot of original plot. Gideon's role in the game will be expanded significantly, and Tchernobog has a more developed place in the storyline. Hypertension introduces two new major characters, Aurelia and Dr. Herbert West.

It will feature, to an extent, a heavily modified version of Blood II's overall storyline, but mostly for continuity differences. The writers have dissolved most of Blood 2's original storyline, and in its place is a streamlined, reworked version that fits in with Hypertension's universe.

[edit] Game Engine and Features

Hypertension includes a number of differences and features over Blood. While a lot of the game's original spirit is carried over, things have either been updated or changed to take advantage of the 3d engine. While trying to keep compatibility, some things were broken or are not supported from Blood itself, which will be documented. The EDGE engine allows for numerous enhancements over the original BUILD engine.

These include:

Weapon Dynamics: Various original Blood weapons, as well as a handful of new ones, will require reloading. Depending on the condition of certain weapons, reloading might jam the gun or break the weapon. Certain weapons can take different kinds of ammo, and if you can gather pieces together, you can modify into entirely new creations. Or pay off a merchant to do what you want - but be warned, sometimes altering weapons can have bad side effects. Guns Akimbo will also make a triumphant return.

True 3d Floors: Blood did not have true room-over-room, which Hypertension will include in its level design, and can technically stack 100 rooms over each other. Hypertension also supports true 3d swimmable water (and other hazardous swimming), without the use of portals (the game still uses portals). The game also supports moving vehicles.

GL Acceleration: Otherwise obtained through 3DFX.exe in the original, Hypertension comes with OpenGL acceleration out of box. This allows the game to use 3d models, high-resolution textures, dynamic lights, and many more advanced effects, such as HQ2x sprite scaling, and the ability to filter Blood's original graphics through OpenGL.

BLOOD Software Emulation: A new all-at-once toggeable rendering option will allow the user, while still using OpenGL rendering, to run the game in a compatibility mode that closely resembles the original game for those die-hard fans that just don't like that flashy orange Napalm glow or the smoothness of Caleb's upper lip.

Enhanced engine: Hypertension's engine can handle tons of enemies, which will be introduced as the storyline evolves. Hypertension can also technically support 99 different kinds of weapons, and over 6000 new enemies. Introduced in Hypertension, which was not in EDGE, is a decal system. Blood splats, wall decals, and even the pitchfork's holes will all be in the game!

Powerful Scripting Engine: Utilizing EDGE's RTS/COAL/DDF in conjunction, Hypertension's world will vividly scream alive. Experience things and interactivity never before seen in Blood - talk to strangers, buy items or bribe people to give you what you need. The game relies on the scripting language for unparalleled atmosphere - are you sure you want to go into that dark corner?

Mixed Media Approach: Moving away from 3d animation, the crew are implementing MP-style storytelling, with a combination of live-action, CG, and stop-motion. About 10 minutes will be all live-action, and this carries into the game's design as well.

Movie-like Script: The inclusion of graphic novels and heavy scripting allows the game to take on a movie-like production, where character development and story pan out in a realistic, engaging way.

Bloodlust: Gather enough souls up and use the energy to transform into a vile beast - be warned, this does not last forever, and can have adverse affects on health and armor. This feature is currently experimental and might change.

Multiple Character System: Hypertension's new codebase allows for different characters to be playable, each with their own weapons, gameplay styles, and level sets! No cheap hacks here, kiddies.

Sound Engine: The sound code supports our very own DMS, with an even higher bit/mixing rate than Blood's engine could pump out, resulting in very clear, and very scary, SFX tracks. EDGE also supports true 16-bit WAV and OGG Vorbis loaders - say goodbye to snowy noise!

Cult References: Think Blood had enough? You're wrong. Hypertension takes it in a mind-blowing direction, with even more of your favorite obscure horror and pop-culture secrets than ever before.

Seamless World: Levels are non existent in Hypertension, opting to use a HUB system (similar to Hexen/Strife). This allows for a dynamic and changing world - that key you needed is now available 3 levels back!

Classic Episodes: Relive your favorite Blood episodes in Hypertension, as well as a brand-new Classic episode, separate from the main single-player campaign!

There are many other features that have yet to be properly documented, which will be updated as time progresses.

[edit] Enemies, Items and Weapons

Hypertension's AI is more aggressive than Blood's, and as such, they will keep coming after you even if you think that they used to give up. Heavy scenes of battle will often times require your character to take cover, as even 2 or 3 cultists at a time can be deadly. Being armed is being smart. Here's an overview of some of the enemies, items, and weapons Caleb or Aurelia can get over the course of the game.

[edit] Enemies

The enemies in Hypertension are a changed mix of old and a lot of new. Here you can find just a few of the enemies you'll find in the game:

• Crows
• Cultists (and variations)
• Fanatics
  
• Axe Zombie (and variations)
• Puke Zombie (and variations)
• Hell Hounds (and variations)
• Lesser Demons
  
• Dark Prophets
  
• Tainted Wizards
  
• Venus Spawners
  
• Rodents, Spiders
  
• Decroated Zombies
• Severed Bodily Parts
• Phantasms (and variations)
• Poltergeists
• Ghosts

[edit] Weapons

Hypertension has a lot of weapons - sometimes more than Blood. Here's a quick overview of some of them:

• Zippo Lighter - Caleb only begins with a simple lighter. While ineffective in combat, in can be used to light up dark areas of the game world. Aurelia instead uses Flares, which burn out after a certain amount of time.
  
• Aerosol Can - Use this combined with the Zippo Lighter.
• Gasoline Can - You can pick up Gasoline Cans and spread the gas amongst the ground, and then light it with a flare or the Aerosol. It comes in good handy when you can't get past a certain area. If the monsters touch it they burst into flames, and can ignite other people, creatures, etc etc. 
• Flare Gun - the flare gun has been revised in HYPERTENSION, but needs reloading time.
  
• Sawed-Off Shotguns - there will be different types of shotguns in Hypertension. The alpha boomstick makes a return in this release.
  
• Cleaver - Both Caleb and Aurelia can grab these from the Butchers. Quite powerful but slow, and is able to behead enemies.
  
• Revolver - Heartens back to Caleb's old days. The revolver is a 6 shooter, and time to shoot is slow. An alternate fire mode allows Caleb to rapid-fire, though it reduces accuracy.
  
• Alcohol - Hey, Caleb's gotta have his fun too!
• Cigarettes - Smoke these. They can have health boosts, armor boosts...or the opposite. They will never degrade your health below 10 however, so use these if you need a few extra hit points.
• Tesla Cannon - makes a comeback in Hypertension. This time, the alternate attack is slightly modified - in a certain radius, the gun acts like a stun gun. Keep the pressure going to send them frying!
• Axe - spewed out by the Axe Zombies at random, they are mostly useful for getting past points in the game that require an Axe. They have limited durability and a slow-rate of fire, but they are strong when working against slower enemies (using this on the Butchers makes them knockback nearly 20%.
• Pitchfork - Caleb's trusty pitchfork carries over.
  
• Tommy Gun - The most valued Tommy Gun made its transition, and is now upgradeable. Caleb can also pick up an alternate form of ammo: nails, and load them into the weapon. Caleb can also perform two upgrades over the course of the game to the weapon.
  
• Flashlight - Aurelia's first weapon. In her scenario, you can use the Flashlight to ward off Supernatural. While it does not kill them, it gives you ample time to run away. Later additions can be used to harm and even exorcises them.
  
• Syringe - A Defensive weapon for Aurelia, she's able to stab the undead and inject them with various sedatives, knocking them out for a short period of time. If you obtain the poison from the Hospital, you can kill them later in the game, otherwise the sedatives render them unconscious. She needs this for the Voodoo Doll as well.
• Voodoo Doll - a new addition for Aurelia, she can use the Needle with the Voodoo Doll, but only if she has the needle first. She will be able to learn more spells for additional types of Voodoo attacks. There will be 3 Dolls available, each doing something different.
• Uzi - The Uzi from Blood 2 is back, with little overall changes. This time, you can use the little HUD on the weapon to zoom in and pick them off from a distance.
• Dark Runes - weapons obtained from Dark Prophets, you can use these to stun an enemy, useful for stopping hordes of badguys. Secondary attack obliterates enemies within a certain radius of the rune.

[edit] Items

Hypertension supports most items from Blood, as well as new ones you will find throughout the game world:

• Life Essence - these are the essential "medikits" in Blood, and the same holds true for Hypertension - however, you can only get these from vanquished enemies. Enough of these can yield interesting results...
• Mystic Potion - the most common type of healing items in Hypertension. These can restore 1 - 5 hit-points at a time, and are abundant. If you find a bottle, carry some of this with you - you can fill these at certain points and use it as a portable healing source. Alcohol isn't always the answer!
  

[edit] Characters

• Caleb - Risen from the grave to exact revenge on Tchernobog, he soon finds out that there's more to his resurrection than he once thought.
  
• Aurelia -a modern day Demon Hunter in a society called The Chosen, her crew is underground and responsible for destroying most of the things CabalCo lets through the Makai barrier in the real world.
  
• Gideon - The main villain in Hypertension, he controls CabalCo and is also involved on resurrecting a strange demonic race. He also serves as the main Antagonist of the game.
  
• Dr. Herbert West - a rival scientist who sides with Gideon after he witnesses his ReAgent. He is responsible for most of the undead throughout the game. Gideon longs for total power, but Dr. West has other ideas.
  
• Zhenson Dacote - Dr. Decote is another scientist, unwillingly experimenting with ancient and advanced, cross-dimensional technology.
  
• Pineapple - a part of Aurelia's demon-slaying group.
  
• Elton - a part of Aurelia's demon-slaying group.
  
• Nautika - a prostitute that sides with Caleb after he frees her from Gideon's sick backroom.
  
• Tchernobog - Once a powerful, all reigning Dark God, he has been reduced to a head in a jar, greatly influencing Gideon's actions. He talks through the collective of a thousand lost souls and is able to briefly reincarnate through Dr. West's abominate creatures. He remains the head villian in Caleb's scenario.
  
• Ophelia - Caleb's dead wife sometimes finds holes in the Makai world and is able to interact with him.
  

[edit] Soundtrack

Hypertension's Soundtrack will vary greatly based on events in the game. The developers have worked with numerous, genre-differing musicians to create a soundtrack both reminiscint and original from Blood's original sound. A lot of the music is a throwback of early horror films, and the situations compliment them well. Ashley Tarrant is joined by Mindburner, Nick Andren, Nick Perrin, Ben Wachal, and Kevin MacLeod. Avenpitch, a Minnesota-based band, is creating a wide variety of original material, as well as producing one of the two theme songs. Mindburner has also written the other main theme, entitled "Your Slave". The developers are working to implement an underscore to the title, which is going to be developed by Isaac Kesington. Hypertension's engine allows for a Dynamic Scripting Music Soundsystem, which plays pieces of music at critical or exciting parts in the game world. The classic Blood episodes will have constant background music, like the original game.

The musical direction includes electronic, orchestrated, dark ambient, metal, techno, and horror. The soundtrack will most likely be released through an independent publisher.

[edit] Engine Development

Hypertension is powered by id Tech 1 technology, which was written by id Software in 1993. EDGE itself was a direct continuation of DosDoom, which was one of the first ports that stemmed from John Carmack's release of the source in 1997. While EDGE maintains several different developmental versions, Hypertension had to be forked in mid-development from 1.29 to support Sega's Dreamcast. Later, after the release of 1.31, the engine once again forked to include changes written by TDGMods, including support for otherwise unsupported consoles, such as the Dreamcast and the GP2X. Hypertension then dropped previous changes so it could be upgraded to Edge's official 1.34 release. The name of the fork used in Hypertension is called Hyper3dge.

[edit] Game Ports

Hypertension is being ported to a vast array of systems. The main versions consist of the PC, Linux, Macintosh, and Dreamcast, and will contain the most up-to-date game engine will all of the features, based on the Hyper3dge/EDGE 1.34 variants. The list of the following ports use slightly different engines:

• The Sega Genesis CD32X port is being designed from the ground-up, based on EDGE 1.27. It will have Software Rendering, but will omit slopes, mirrors, models, advanced dynamic lighting, and some scripting/HUD effects. This version is planned on coming with two discs - one containing Caleb's scenario, and the other Aurelia's. Due to the engine being based on EDGE, a lot of the current code working for the PC ports will also be backward compatible with this version, and will most likely be the most capable port aside from the main releases.
• This pre-development Jaguar Version will use the stock Doom engine through Dehacked. Like Batman Doom, much will be reworked in Dehacked for the weapons/graphics/etc. This version will only contain Caleb's scenario but will come with special exclusives. This port is experimental and might not survive the transition.
• The NintendoDS is currently in experimental stage using DSDoom through Dehacked, and might not survive the transition.
• The Nintendo64 port is in pre-development stage, currently only capable of Software Rendering. GL accelaration will eventually be implemented in this port. This will most likely also use EDGE 1.27.

[edit] Phased Development

Phase Versions are being introduced in development by TDGMods - they signify what phase the game design stands with the version number. Right now Hypertension is phase 1. Phase 1 is the stage of production where all the main engine programming and core features, along with some game design, get implanted. Phase 2 is the stage of development where everything that needs to be in the game is coded in, thus more time is allocated to design and the implementation of said design. Graphic Novel filming, sound production, music production, script design, motion capture, stop-motion animation, and enemy/level programming all goes in this stage, which is considered the most critical. Phase 3 lands on the rest of the game - when most development is complete (the cleanup). It takes quite awhile for a game to reach this phase as it only happens when 80% of the game is completed (think in similar fashion to a Movie Workprint). Phase 4 is the crunch mode, where bugs, playability issues, stability, cross-platform editing and tweaking are designed. Phase 4 also lands in the Quality Assurance testing before ORC - Official Release Candidate, where the game gets released but not in final form. The final edition is when the game goes Gold, certified working on all systems.

11 months into the game, the team introduced an SVN system to track revisions and keep better coordinated. The team uses RapidSVN, DiffMerge, and uSVN to structure development.

[edit] Game Development Credits

Corbin - Project Lead, Lead Designer, Logic and DDF/DEH Programmer, 32X Programmer
Fiend - Lead Mapper, RTS Programmer, Logic Programmer, Designer
Chui - Hyper3dge Programmer
Chilly Willy - CD32X Programmer
Brendan Doe - Lead Graphic Artist, Sound Programmer
Brandon Captain - COAL/HUD Programmer
Liam Nicoll - Lead 3d Modeler, Graphic Artist
Gael Romanet - Lead Texture Artist
Doomer1 - Gore/Creature/Weapon Programmer, Zombie Invasion Designer
Alex/Andrew Grimmer - Mappers
Tyler Weiss - Modeler
Eric White - Sprite Artist, Sound Programmer
Tragos - Creature/Weapon Design, Sprite Artist, Texture Artist
Mindburner - OST, Vocals
Avenpitch - OST, Vocals
Ben Wachal - OST, Mapper, Tester
Kevin MacLeod - OST
Zardoz - Game Input, Beta Tester

Contributors

Patrick Pineda - Graphics
Keeper - COAL Programmer
Cory Whittle - Code/Graphic Framework
Andrew Apted - EDGE Programmer
Saxman - 32X Programmer (Hypertension32X)

[edit] Former Team Members

Rebecca Lima - Lead Designer
Ashley Tarrant - OST
Dave - Lead Sprite Artist
Joppu - Mapper, Texture Artist
Visplane Overflow - Logic Programmer
Tyler Bezera - LUA Programmer
Isaac Kesington - OST Underscore
Nick Andren - OST
Nick Perrin - OST
Pineapple - Mapper
Unconscious - Mapper
Melinda - sprite/graphic artist
Kyle Annis - Mapper
Michael Hood - Mapper, Story Writer

[edit] Live-Action Production Credits

TDGMedia is - 

• Official Cast

Corbin - Caleb

Rebecca - Nautika

Andrew Grimmer - Elton

Angelica B. - Aurelia

Brendan Doe - Dr. Herbert West

Michael Hood - Gideon

Amanda Hood - Ophelia, numerous minor actors

Emmerson Valdivieso - Bloat

Eddie Zavala - GateKeeper

Kyle Annis - Zhenson Dacote

Pineapple - Himself, Preacher, numerous survivors

• Production Crew

Kyle Annis - Director, scriptwriter, Set Design, Art Director

Corbin - Scriptwriter, Set Design, Choreography, Second Unit Director

Rebecca Lima - Photography Design, Best Boy, Makeup Artist

Michael Hood - Best Boy, Stop-Motion Choreography

Emmerson Valdivieso - Cameraman

Ashley Valdivieso - Cameraman, Best Boy

Pineapple - Costume Designer, Set Design, Special Effects

Andrea Ball - Makeup Artist

Brendan Doe - Sound Editor, Foley Artist

Tragos - Stop-Motion Animator

[edit] See Also

• Interview with TDGMods on Hypertension by Diehard Gamefan Magazine (2009)
• Interview with the HYPERTENSION staff by zZaRDoZz (2008).
• Fan Made Games Category
• The Doom engine is free software under the GNU General Public License version 2 and the sounds, graphics and music are proprietary and are owned by Monolith Productions (the copyright for Blood has since ran out). 'The Transfusion content (models, skins) is used under permission.
  
• HYPERTENSION and all related material that is exclusive to Hypertension (includes story, characters, artwork, etc) is
• (C) TDGMods, 2008-2010, an Independant Software Design Association.
  

[edit] External Links

• HYPERTENSION's Temporary Site
• Teaser Trailer
• HYPERTENSION Community