Auran Releases AURAN Jet® Public Beta 2 Preview of Auran's Next-Generation Game Architecture

BRISBANE, Australia -January 31, 2001-Auran® today released AURAN Jet® Beta 2, an evaluation version of Auran's next-generation game architecture. Users can download AURAN Jet® Beta 2 at the AURAN Jet® Website (www.auranjet.com) for free. AURAN Jet® is a game authoring environment that enables developers to create responsive and robust 3D applications.

AURAN Jet® was created to support independent game developers by providing game architecture in order to create interactive entertainment with less expense. Auran CEO, Greg Lane, commented, "For those that don't have the capital to spend time on their own research and development, AURAN Jet will outsource the R&D and help them get to the all-important EPOC (Electronic Proof of Concept) quickly and cheaply, in order to attract a publisher."

"The support that we have been receiving for AURAN Jet®, has been overwhelming," Lane said. "Beta 1 has been downloaded over 4000 times since September 30th, 2000. We are receiving very targeted, constructive feedback on all issues; both technical and non-technical which have been added to Beta 2."

Auran has created a dedicated AURAN Jet® Web site at www.auranjet.com which contains in-depth information on AURAN Jet®, including regular updates on documentation, tips and tricks, forums, example code, bug reports and developer demos. The Beta 2 public release also features extensive documentation.

AURAN Jet® Beta 2 builds upon the feature set in Beta 1 and includes the following additions:

• Progressive Mesh Reduction Support
• Collision Detection & Physics System Implementation
• AI Infrastructure and example
• DirectX Support - Both OpenGL and DirectX are now supported in AURAN Jet®
• General Networking Improvements - channel management, session-joining procedure, still-online checking, etc.
• AURAN Jet® Network System - message management: guaranteed delivery, message order preservation, large messages, multicasting, compression, etc.
• TCP/IP Support * Host Migration - peer-to-peer sessions continue when the session host leaves the session.
• Client-Server Optimization
• Network Lobby Support - The NetworkLobbyDirectX plug-in provides connections to external launchers built using the DirectX Lobby API.
• Network Statistics
• Plugin Managment System
• Localization Support - Low-level multi-byte support has been added to AURAN Jet®. The Input and Interface Systems now support extended character sets.
• Drag and Drop
• Plugin Support for the Interface & Resource Systems
• Improved Animation - The skeletal, key-framed animation system now supports blending and sub-bone animation.
• Optimized Dynamic Lighting
• Material properties - AURAN Jet® now supports ambient, diffuse, and emissive components for materials with and without textures.
• Volumetric Shadows - AURAN Jet® can now use the stencil buffer to generate shadows.
• Multi-Texturing Support
• Change Textures on Loaded Meshes
• MP3 Support
• 3D Studio Max v3.1 Mesh Exporter - Now includes support for both Progressive and Fixed Resolution Meshes.
• Multithreaded support - A number of classes and systems (including File, PString, String and the Log system) have been modified to ensure correct behaviour when used simultaneously across multiple threads
• AURAN Jet® Tutorial - This extended example implements a simple but complete, functional network game. It provides a sample architecture, identifies and describes core application components and introduces a number of game concepts (To be released separately from the Beta 2 release).

AURAN Jet® Building on the company's game software expertise and the urgent worldwide need to reduce game development costs, Auran is developing the world's first accessible game architecture. AURAN Jet® has a FREE ACCESS(tm) licensing agreement that caters to developers of all sizes. Non-commercial use of AURAN Jet® is free. Commercial use of AURAN Jet® will attract a modest fee. The draft licensing agreement is available on the AURAN Jet® Web site at www.auranjet.com.

Auran has a proven track record in engine development. Auran's first engine, the Tactics Engine, was used to power the hit PC strategy game Dark Reign and has since been purchased by an international games publisher. Auran has invested US$4 million and fifty person years on the research and development of AURAN Jet®. AURAN Jet® will be used to power all of Auran's current games in development, from cutting-edge showcase titles, to online collectible games such as Trainz(tm).

Auran® Auran is an Australian interactive entertainment company. The company was established by avid games player Greg Lane and co-founder Graham Edelsten in 1995, and is driven by the mantra, "Don't Predict It. Create It.". Auran has been a successful player in the game industry with hit PC title from 1997 Dark Reign, powered by the Tactics Engine, and continues to create leading edge interactive entertainment and technology. Dark Reign has sold 680,000 copies internationally.