Sorry for the scare, but I just couldn't resist the temptation ;) Anyway, down to the update. Today there won't be any screenshots but for those who still doubt this project, there is a video. Since Aztec found over 40 questions scattered across the web there will be another update next week which breaks the bi-monthly policy.

Why no screens this week? Well I pulled out the old build I do screens with and wanted to show off a little something that you'll see next week, but thanks to a nice little bug I came across (hurray for development!) I couldn't show off what I wanted to. Since the person who is in charge of the code that has the bug is gone (just until Wednesday), I have to wait for him to return before it's fixed.

I give you warning, this video is crap. Lovely Camtasia didn't like the way we draw menus so it sort of didn't record them but luckily that was only the menu bar. Other problems that plague this video are me rushing the recording, our not-yet-so-perfect camera code, and trying to do the video in real-time where I couldn't go back and fix my mistakes with editing. Oh, I also missed one LOD on the MC, so that isn't his highest quality model, oops.

The real-time (check the clock at the bottom right) video of some of Prometheus in action can be found at the end of this update. Right now, though, it's on to answering some of your questions.

0. O M G! I hate you, I really thought it was over. You are a heartless evil person who should go to ....

Take a number :P Was it cruel? Yes. Did it work? Yes. I would call that a success ;) I meant to let people know it was just a joke a lot earlier than I am, but life gets in the way, you lived.

1. Will this EDIT maps or also be able to inject new ones?

Prometheus doesn’t go about map creation as you’ve come to expect modding tools to over the past years. We aren’t “injecting” anything but rather building an entire map from tags into a cache file. This means that you start out with tags just like you do with the HEK and end up with a map file.

2. Will Prometheus be as powerful as Guerilla when it comes to tag editing/creation?

Depending on how you look at it, Prometheus will be more powerful than the HEK as far as tag editing and creation goes because Guerilla cannot handle Halo 2 tags. As far as Halo 1, Prometheus will be able to create and edit tags just like Guerilla.

3. Will Prometheus be as user friendly as HMT or SparkEdit or will it be just as complicated as the HEK?

Complexly simple is the descriptive term that comes to mind. People will still have to learn how to use it, but the learning curve will be much smaller than what came with the HEK and Prometheus is designed to be more user friendly. Prometheus aims to be an all-in-one version of the HEK with support for future titles that use Bungie’s Halo Engine.

4. Will Prometheus be able to export/import models/bitmaps/collision models/animations and maybe even edit them?

Prometheus will be able to import models, bitmaps, collision models, animations, sounds, and more. We will not allow exporting to a standard format but you can decompile maps to get access to model, bitmap, animation, sound, and all the rest of the tags. This means that you can re-use these tags in your map but you can’t open them with some external tool.

Why have we decided to do this? We don’t want people taking bitmaps and models and the rest of Bungie’s IP and plastering it throughout other games or just making quick variants of them. We’re not looking to open up Bungie’s hard work to the world but rather we look to allow people to create new content for it.

5. On halodev.org there are screenshots, but they are only of halo PC maps...is that because that’s all you’ve gotten done so far?

We simply chose to provide screenshots of Halo PC material because that is what everybody is most familiar with and Prometheus will be editing it too. There are quite a few features we’re keeping secret because without surprises life is boring, you’ll just have to keep watching the site for updates.

6. This is one hot app, can't wait for it to come out, but is this essentially SparkEdit 2?

This is not SparkEdit 2. This tool was in planning (at least in my mind) before SparkEdit and HMT began development. I approached Grenadiac and MonoxideC about converging all of our efforts onto Prometheus and away from their separate applications. This would mean instead of having multiple tools laying around we would have a nice all-in-one tool.

In the beginning, the demand for SparkEdit and HMT were huge and both Grenadiac and MonoxideC wanted to finish up their respective projects. Once they got to a point where they felt satisfied with their work, we began planning for Prometheus much more seriously than just a few design documents that were laying around an after a while work got started.

7. I like the name Prometheus, isn't that in Greek mythology or something?

Yes, it originates in Greek mythology. In short, Prometheus was a titan in Greek mythology that stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. There is of course much more to the story and I will eventually get the background info I threw together up on the site. Until then, make your allusions as you see fit.

8. Hey, what would be really cool is if you could add a .ppf patcher plug-in to the interface.

Prometheus isn’t the type of program that generates PPF patches. You are thinking of creating swap mods, that is not what Prometheus is about. Prometheus is used to design and build maps from tags, just like the HEK does.

9. Add some kickass plug-ins.

I should clear up something about plug-ins. Prometheus plug-ins are not meant to be like adi plug-ins, there is no way to add programmed functionality. While they aren’t really the same type of plug-ins HMT had, they’re the closest comparison in the Halo scene.

The ability to compile and decompile tags will be fully built in and completely finished before release. Tag support should be looked at in two ways: everything you need to decompile and compile tags will be finished and built into Prometheus, and most everything you need to visually edit tags will be in Prometheus but what isn’t can be defined through plug-ins.

Also, when members of the community flesh out a tag with a plug-in and we don’t have it in Prometheus already, we will verify the plug-in and incorporate it into the next release. In this way, the community can help perfect the plug-ins so we have a full set – this feature will be very useful when future games come out.

10. Is this app a great big April fools joke?

No, the project itself isn’t, but the project cancellation was ;)

These questions will eventually make their way to the FAQ, when I've got some free time. Thanks for reading this far, check back next week (Sunday).