Welcome to the first status report on the progress of the Intent port of Payback. The port has only been underway for less than two months, but already it's totally playable under the Windows SDK and runs completely smoothly even in rotating view mode. However, the Intent version is more than just a straight port of the existing code and several new features have already been added:

• The entire software renderer has been rewritten to work in 16-bit, rather than 8-bit. Amongst other things, this makes the gouraud shading look much better (see the screenshots).
• Lots of PDAs have unusual (by desktop standards) resolutions such as 240x320. The game now supports these.
• Thanks to the increased screen depth, it was possible to add a neat camera shaking effect when you get hit by a big explosion - as illustrated in the top right screenshot. This looks especially effective when you see it moving.
• The reflections on the water and ice now change realistically as camera tilts forwards.
• The background picture on the title screen has been changed.

There are a few things that haven't yet been completed - mainly the sound, the non-rotating view and the control configuration. I'm also planning to reduce the game's RAM and disk usage by compressing the textures and removing the look-up tables that are no longer necessary now that the software renderer works in 16-bit. I hope to get the port completed within the next two months and I'll try to post another status report before it's done.

For more information about Payback, click here.