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HYPERTENSION was an episodic series of fictional multi-platform first-person shooter/hybrid role-playing games in development by TDGMods. It was a "re-visualization inspired by the computer game Blood", which began development on August 13, 2008, although the game was conceptualized weeks earlier. In mid-2011, the game was re-booted in favor of a, "deeper, original design". Due to this change, the game has been re-branded as an adventure-shooter "inspired by the computer game Blood", rather than a re-visualization. The release date is "When It's Done" to avoid pressure of meeting a deadline.

The game uses a technology called "Hyper3DGE", which is directly derived from and is the direct continuation of the EDGE engine, which is based upon id Software's DOOM Source Code. It is primarily being developed for the Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms, as well as the Sega's Dreamcast console.

On August 17, 2011, a little over 3 years after starting the project, the team decided to completely scrap all of the copyrighted Blood and Blood 2 content for original material, though the existing models and code will be saved. The game will retain the basic elements of what made Blood fun in a way that does not violate copyright law.

In the following month, the design team disbanded over license disputes relating to Hypertension, and have frozen development "indefinitely". A side project was started, to serve as a mod for Transfusion, to import some of the maps and models from the project. This project (also called "Hypertension") is covered legally as it runs directly on top of Transfusion.

While originally intending to scrap the old game, they decided instead to scrap all of the copyrighted assets and remove it from Blood to make it an original game without violating copyrights. The reboot the game went through in August eventually evolved into a separate venture called "SCOURGE", making Hypertension the last "official" game to run on the 3DGE engine.

On January 1, 2013, TDGMods revealed through their Facebook page that Hypertension will be released, as "Hypertension HD". The game will retain the same levels, engine, and gamecode. Rather than being multi-platform, it will only release on Sega's Dreamcast. The assets will be replaced to comply with copyright law; and under this idea, will still retain most of the gameplay implemented while being directly "based" upon Blood.

Contents 1 About 1.1 Engine 1.2 Transfusion Assets 1.3 Team 1.4 External Links 1.4.1 YouTube

[edit] About

The games will contain many new gameplay and plot additions, and will feature the participation of various developers and amateur actors will be involved in the game's graphic novel cutscenes, which will make up the story. The game's score is written and composed by Kevin Macleod, alongside other contributors. Mindburner wrote the main theme song for Hypertension, entitled "Your Slave". Avenpitch, who originally signed on at the beginning of the project, will provide additional game OST and character themes. On May 7, 2009, the first public video (a teaser trailer) was released showing rough development.

The overall series will have two releases - Episode One, which will cover the main campaign, and Episode Two, which will finish the story up with a new character and setting. Both titles will come out for the main supported platforms, with only Episode One being available for the Sega GenesisCD - 32X, and the Nintendo 64 (an expansion pack will be required). In June the team released the first rough footage of the second planned game, Episode 2, though it was mentioned that it will be scrapped following release of the first in order to improve upon the assets.

Hypertension was delayed as of May 2011 and given the date of "when it's done". Reasons behind the decision were the "numerous amount of bugs, incomplete levels and gamecode, broken weapons/enemies, and unfocused development". They have also suspended the beta campaign.

In late June, it was revealed that the team has finished the first multiplayer mode - splitscreen cooperative play. This comes after nearly a decade of requests to implement a multiplayer mode in EDGE (now 3DGE). To celebrate, the team put out a new gameplay trailer demonstrating early functionality. They are still hard at work on the netplay.

In July, the team scrapped the current iteration of Episode 1 and chose to recode all of the AI and start fresh with the maps, which they call "Phase X". Episode 1's design was rewritten and finished in mid-July, with the current team focused on redesigning based to the new specs. The new game will not be based on Blood so heavily for its base - instead on an original backstory, while still including the roles of Caleb, Ishmael, and Tchernobog. They re-branded the series an adventure-shooter inspired by Blood, rather than being a remake or "re-visualization". This idea was eventually made into an original IP unrelated to Hypertension.

In August, the team decided to continue working on Hypertension, removing any and all copyrighted assets that were being used for completely original material, thus not making the game rely on or having anything to do with Blood. In light, they have also changed the art style and reprogrammed the game engine to support other things that the initial builds did not.

In September, the team disbanded, and converted the original Hypertension site to reflect a new project, called "SCOURGE". Hypertension remains suspended "indefinitely" pending further notice.

[edit] Engine

Hypertension runs on a custom engine called Hyper3DGE, which was originally developed solely for Hypertension. On April 9th, 2011, EDGE closed development for good, after 14 years of DOSDoom's continuation. In direct response, a new source port started public development, aptly named "hyper3DGE". This forked engine brings in numerous enhancements and special features that were not part of EDGE in its lifetime. It will be actively maintained, both for Hypertension and for public use. The latest release is 1.36.3A. It is available under the GPLv2 license.

The game initially started on EDGE version 1.29.

[edit] Transfusion Assets

The modeled assets from Transfusion are covered under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported, which states that fair use is to be granted as long as the assets are released back into the public domain. As the team plans on migrating a few holdovers to the new version, the models will be reworked, but released back to the public and Transfusion itself upon game finalisation.

[edit] Team

The reboot of Hypertension comes with new members. Some of them were integrated from the last development team with the old Hypertension. A partial list is below:

Creative Director, Lead Designer 
- Corbin Mathews
Assistant Designers
- Tyler Jessilynn
- Fiend (phase 2)
Project Manager
- Winston Lamaar
Lead Artist
- Jessica Delgado
Lead World Designer
- Sean "Flea" Lett
Level Designers
- Xlink
- Jimmy Stager
- Andrew Grimmer
- Brycent Kamehaiku
- Fiend
3D Game Engine (original)
- Andrew Apted
- Andrew Baker
3D Game Engine (hyper3DGE)
- Corbin Mathews
- Chilly Willy
- Maciej Kadłubowski
Game Logic
- Corbin Mathews
- Fiend
- Karnizero
AI Programming
- Karnizero
- Corbin Mathews (bots)
Lead 3D Artist
- Brendan Doe
3D Modelers
- Tyler Jessilynn
- Tyler Weiss
- Liam Nicoll
Environment Effects Art
- Brendan Doe
Environment Effects Code
- Kalaron
HUD/COAL Logic Scripting
- Tyler Jessilynn
Sound Effects
- Brendan Doe
- Corbin Mathews
Creature Designer
- Michael Hood

To view a full list, see Hypertension Credits.

[edit] External Links

• Game Development Blog
• 2010 Beta Demo Media
• Multiplayer Demo Media
• Hypertension Community Boards
• 3DGE Project Page (Source Port)

[edit] YouTube

• Corbachu's Channel
• Hypertension Official Trailer (HQ) (2009)
• Hypertension Early Prototype (2008)
• HYPERTENSION EX 1 (2011 Cooperative Gameplay Trailer)
• Hypertension (2009 Teaser Trailer 1) -TDGMods
• Hypertension Beta Gameplay (7/10/10)
• Hypertension (2009 Teaser Trailer 2) -TDGMods
• Hypertension Beta (2010 HD Demonstration)