Starting fresh.

Starting fresh.

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Moderators: Caydr, Moderators, Content Developer

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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

Going to combine concepts from the to-be new AA, GEM, AWS, and other projects-in-planning into a new mod - or I suppose I should say "game" at this point. Hence the forum rename. I do not at this time intend to comment on the state of the mod or post screens or progress reports of any kind until I have something playable. Expect yet another long wait. Thanks for your continued patience through punishment, I trust BA and Evolution RTS will keep you warm.

Why? Because I've basically already done all of the above, except I'm still mostly using OTA models, scripts, and sounds. I can literally release AA v3 tomorrow and be mostly feature-complete. T1+2 balancing is complete, T3 and T2 structure balance remains, but these are not a big job. However, seeing the end result I am frankly unwilling to waste all of these ideas on a project I can't even say is really my own original work.

Fully original units, scripts, textures, sounds, etc, and especially this part: original gameplay you've never seen before anywhere.

No new AA, ever. At least, not as you're used to it. I do sincerely apologize to all the people I'm disappointing with this announcement, and the comparisons to Duke Nukem Forever are certainly not unwarranted at this point. Fortunately I have no staff to pay and I know how to run a (mostly) one-man show, so it's not as bad as it sounds.
Regret
Posts: 2086
Joined: 18 Aug 2007, 19:04

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Regret »

Good luck. :regret:
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Gota
Posts: 7151
Joined: 11 Jan 2008, 16:55

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Gota »

Oo
Caydr I hope you can model...Just seeing the torment CA crew is going through cause it takes ages to do decent models I fear you will never complete this task..
Can you model,texture and animate proper models?
Sounds?music?
If you want your arsenal to come close to BA's you will have to quit your job and start modeling,
Recording and mastering sounds creating visual effects...
This will take you years on your own and that is if your already a proficient modeler/textureer and sound guy.
If you really have a ready version of AA and you want people to actually play anything you made again perhaps you should consider releasing even though you don't yet have all you mentioned...

Hell if it's as amazing and ground breaking as you make it sound perhaps people will volunteer to help you.
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Caydr
Omnidouche
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Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

I can model, texture, animate/script, balance, make graphical effects, do web design, PR (when I bloody well feel like it), and everything else. For when I have an animation question I can't answer myself due to the poorly-documented nature of our animation formats, I turn to my all-knowing comrade, Archangel. He's always been a big help and has agreed to help me in future endeavours as well.

As for CA's difficulties... I cannot comment as I am not personally familiar with them. However, the vision of a single person will always be faster to implement than that of a committee, especially one as loosely-natured as CA's. This is Part A of the reason I don't want any help in this project. Part B of the reason is, I mod/develop for my own enjoyment and giving away part of that experience is like skipping the middle third of a movie and asking someone to fill you in on what happened later.

Do recall I've done this before, I've just never stuck with it long enough to release anything. That withstanding, I'm well familiar with the process. I also maintained AA for about 6 years there from early 2001 to late (November) 2006.
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Jazcash
Posts: 5309
Joined: 08 Dec 2007, 17:39

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Jazcash »

Cool, sounds exciting. However, I hope you're not planning on "remaking" anything. I'm sick to death of map remakes, model remakes and the like. New fresh content makes me jizz.
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

No, no direct remakes like "this is a 'thud', this is a 'wham', note how their cockpits are in no way similar". All original, with inspiration from my own ideas and many other sources.

Also I reread what Gota said and I should clarify: I'm not trying to hype this, not claiming it will be the best mod ever, just that it will be 100% original and will include many fresh ideas, as well as being inspired by parts of my favorite games, TA being just one of these.

Also, I plan to release a few maps simultaneously with the new mod to demonstrate the full range of how maps should be designed to work with it. I think that not having this sort of reference material at hand when AA was first released is a very big part of the reason why we now have maps with such totally out of whack design. One or two of those maps will be remakes.
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Gota
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Joined: 11 Jan 2008, 16:55

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Gota »

Just out of curiosity when you say whacked maps what exactly do you mean?
any maps in particular?
What exactly don't you like about some of the maps we have now?
Not chokey enough?not open enough?bad e/m dispersal?too much e or m?Bad texturing?
SeanHeron
Engines Of War Developer
Posts: 614
Joined: 09 Jun 2005, 23:39

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by SeanHeron »

Good choice! I would have encouraged you to do the very same.

I'm certainly interested in seeing the results :).
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Das Bruce
Posts: 3544
Joined: 23 Nov 2005, 06:16

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Das Bruce »

Heh, good luck, just don't get employed again.
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JohannesH
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Joined: 07 Apr 2009, 12:43

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by JohannesH »

How would you describe how the gameplay will be?
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

Gota wrote:Just out of curiosity when you say whacked maps what exactly do you mean?
any maps in particular?
What exactly don't you like about some of the maps we have now?
Not chokey enough?not open enough?bad e/m dispersal?too much e or m?Bad texturing?
Too much metal and it is not distributed in a way that is conducive to good gameplay, maps designed to be pretty rather than playable, and little pre-launch gameplay testing to determine how much of the map is strategically viable - this has been my impression from playing on a selection of popular maps. Don't get me wrong, I've played on good ones too.
JohannesH wrote:How would you describe how the gameplay will be?
Mmm... fun I suppose? A fairly large number of units, multiple tech trees, primarily ground-based with air in a support role, less emphasis on teching up, there will be a TA-style commander unit... really I don't want to give too much away. It will be a very flexible design with lots of strategic freedom for the player.

Lots of things will surely change as development reboots, but the following should be consistent: Much emphasis will be placed on making the game 1) fun, 2) easy to learn, 3) different every time without a "right" order to build things. There will always be an attack suitable for a defense, and a defense suitable for an attack.

Rock-paper-scissors balancing is something I consider cancerous and I will avoid it. An example of something I consider good balance is an OTA ("OTA" OTA) Defender missile tower. It shoots a light missile with a long range and tracking ability. It is therefore good at anti-air. But it's also good for hitting fast units, or when used en mass against slow short ranged units, or as a quick cheap emergency fortification, or as a second line behind your LLTs, etc.
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Gota
Posts: 7151
Joined: 11 Jan 2008, 16:55

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Gota »

OTA ("OTA" OTA)?
I'm not sure what this means but as far as i know Missile towers in OTA are over powered and sometimes people even agree not to build them just to avoid the game going into stalemate and lasting 2-3 hours.
Or did you mean the concept of a turret that is good at defending versus everything?

About the maps...If you notice most maps have too high metal value for your taste or for how you envision you game you can always adjust unit costs or metal income...
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zwzsg
Kernel Panic Co-Developer
Posts: 7049
Joined: 16 Nov 2004, 13:08

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by zwzsg »

Gota wrote:sometimes people even agree not to build them just to avoid the game going into stalemate and lasting 2-3 hours.
No. You're just making that up.
Caydr wrote:I can literally release AA v3 tomorrow
But instead you decided to add three more years of work.

Well, have fun!
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Gota
Posts: 7151
Joined: 11 Jan 2008, 16:55

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Gota »

I'm making that up?
I'v seen it myself and confirmed it with top TA players that are currently playing in the warzone lobby.
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zwzsg
Kernel Panic Co-Developer
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Joined: 16 Nov 2004, 13:08

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by zwzsg »

:shock: Oh my, how times change.
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SinbadEV
Posts: 6475
Joined: 02 May 2005, 03:56

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by SinbadEV »

Dude... Missle Forest (wall of Missile turrents 5 deep around base) + ADV AIR CON Swarm (they produce just a hint of metal and energy) + Brawler Swarm Com-Rush FTW SRSLY!!!!
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

I meant the design in principle, not any specific statistics/OPness. Otherwise they'd not have changed in AA. Units should have statistics conducive to the roles gameplay demands, but that in no way should limit you to a simple A>B>C>A design.

I think at some point I will release the generic enhancements that can apply to any TA-based mod, it would be a shame for that work to be lost. For example the improved textures.
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Caydr
Omnidouche
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Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

Can I do lua? No, but I can hack others' pretty well. I understand how it works and I can get it to do what I want.

Can I script? No, but I can hack others' pretty well and... see above. I also have Archangel's assistance when he's not busy.

Can I model? Reasonably well. I have a tendency to go for more detail than is necessary ever since I realized the scope of how much unused GPU power every Spring mod leaves free even to this day. I prefer to add detail in the model rather than the texture, I consider it future-proofing.
My "Streak" stealth fighter from Galactic Empire Mod (G/E/M) will probably never be used in a game now, but it's practically pixel-accurate to the original game's design.
My "Streak" stealth fighter from Galactic Empire Mod (G/E/M) will probably never be used in a game now, but it's practically pixel-accurate to the original game's design.
fearnot2.jpg (32.04 KiB) Viewed 7353 times
Core Storm.  No, it should not have a cockpit really, but the original model appeared to, and it just looked so much cooler this way...
Core Storm. No, it should not have a cockpit really, but the original model appeared to, and it just looked so much cooler this way...
fearnot.jpg (24.49 KiB) Viewed 7353 times
(FYI: No, I do not consider these to be "textured", nor have I ever posted anything besides WIPs with placeholders mapped on them, so don't listen to my unofficial press corps.)

Can I texture? Actually I've gotten pretty good at it since I was last really active in 2006/7. Between texturing and UV mapping, I'd give myself a 6.5/10. But then again, I've never been able to really flex my muscles like this before, and I pick up this kind of stuff pretty quickly. I expect to be at least an 8/10 by the time I'm posting screenshots, hopefully.

Can I balance? Ask anyone that's been around long enough, they'll tell you I love to try crazy ideas but my head's on straight generally.

Am I creative? Yes, definitely. Motivated? Definitely, if I don't finish something this time it'll be the 13th time in a row and my luck's bad enough as it is. I finally have a bit more free time now, the lack of which is what killed AA.

I've got a grand vision for an epic multiplayer RTS and all the tools I need to create it, so don't worry and don't bug me about it too too often.
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Das Bruce
Posts: 3544
Joined: 23 Nov 2005, 06:16

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Das Bruce »

I thought Archangel was dead, seems I'm due a substantial refund.

So.. how's progress?
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Caydr
Omnidouche
Posts: 7179
Joined: 16 Oct 2004, 19:40

Re: Starting fresh.

Post by Caydr »

I, ah... well I spent the whole first day of this new project making the render you see in my avatar, so...
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