It’s about time all loose ends are tied up and some details are revealed.
“The Opera: Release 2” for Unreal Tournament 2003 was cancelled, but development did not cease, it was merely postponed until a more suitable engine was found. It is time that we announce the engine we have chosen to develop “The Opera: Release 2” under. This engine is Valve’s Source engine (Half-Life 2).

This move has been supported by many over at our forums where discussion is beginning over what is likely to be in the new incarnation of The Opera. We are sticking to a much simpler plan this time round however – but keeping the same vision.

The plan is to release smaller betas, but more frequently as opposed to our previous efforts where we released large chunks of content once in a blue moon.
These plans have been set into stone and we are working through them to release the first beta of “The Opera: Release 2” to the public as soon as possible.

However, the timing of this engine change has not reflected overly well with our development team and as a result we are desperately looking for new talent to head The Opera onto new heights, we will be requiring:

A talented player modeler with the ability to create player models of our concept characters at a budget of 7500 polygons per character. Player skinning is a mandatory characteristic with model animation acting as a bonus. Knowledge of Valve’s Face Poser is also a much desired bonus.

A talented animator with the ability to animate any player and weapon models, with knowledge of Valve’s Face Poser posing a much desired bonus.

A weapon skinner to create multiple skins for our many (already created) weapon models, any bump/normal map experience is much appreciated here.

A texture artist with the ability to create level materials of resolutions ranging from 512x512 to 2048x2048 is needed to help our current team with the high number surfaces in our maps. Experience with Valve’s shader technology is a most wanted attribute, with any knowledge of bump/normal maps acting as a bonus.

Extra support in other fields such as mapping, sound engineering and prop designing will be much appreciated and will help The Opera’s first beta reach the public domain sooner.

If you want to apply, be prepared to show a resume, or some examples of your work.
If you are interested and want to join us, email me at aneurexorcyst@gmail.com and I’ll put you through to the correct channels.

It’s not all bad news though, for we have some new team members to help The Opera along the way.
I (Aneurexorcyst) have joined to help in the mapping department to create level textures and design maps. I’m also helping to create all the weapon sounds needed, and have recently taken up Padre’s spot in the field of Public Relations.

Long time forumite, Genn has joined to take Supernaut’s position as weapon modeler.
And ex mapper, Bert has returned to help mapping progress smoothly, bringing his friend ANTIDEAD (ex beta tester) to create level props where needed.

More news detailing this release soon, but meanwhile you can play a community updated version of The Opera, entitled “The Opera: Mook Arcade Edition” available at the fan site, “The Mook Arcade” found at http://www.mookarcade.tk/