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Blog 83 (28/05/08)


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Welcome to this week's blog. Today I'll reveal to you some juicy details about what's happening with AR and a little background info on all of the units slated for the first release.

 

<h3>Mod Overview #1</h3>

Well where shall we start eh? Let me just start by saying to all of the doubters that AR is really the polar opposite of APB in terms of gameplay currently.

 

It handles more like an arcade shooter with emphasis on fun, fast gameplay. (not to say that APB isn't fun though). APB is a slower paced, more "realistic" shooter.

 

Ex staffer, Saberhawk, approached me earlier asking if we were still interested in the concept of cel shading. I'd love to continue down this path since it would really make AR stand out from the rest of the mods on the w3d engine. I want to hear your input on this though, since you guys are going to be playing AR too!

 

On top of all this, APB seems to be aiming for the "gritty, dirty" wartime appeal, where we all know AR aims for a slight cartoonish feel. Now, today I'm going to go through all of the infantry units that you will see in Apocalypse Rising RC1 and how they will function (to my knowledge). Feel free to ask questions and stuff, because I love answering them.

 

Next week I'll have another overview feature on a differant aspect of the game so you guys can get the full picture on everything.

 

To begin, yes bullets will damage buildings. This is not copying APB, this is staying true to the source material, a.k.a Red Alert 2. Obviously we will tone down the damage slightly, since we don't want single GI's felling buildings in under a minute. The same with vehicles, but light to medium vehicles should be wary of a mass of basic infantry coming for them. AR is going to be quite fast paced, since the vehicles (notably ore mining units) move proportionally faster than in any other w3d mod and damage is also amplified slightly. As a result of this, gameplay is much more arcadey in feel. Which adds up to fun, fun and lots of fun! (I sound like I'm trying to sell something here xD)

 

But now let's take a look at some infantry.

 

<h4>Allied Infantry</h4>

Basic Infantry

 

GI

Cost: 0

Primary Weapon: Machine Pistol/Light Uzi

Secondary Weapon: Heavy Machine Gun, (Deployed in sandbags)

Description: The Allied GI is the basic infantry of the allied faction. When mobile, the GI is only allowed to use his primary weapon. By pushing "Q" to deploy the GI, you gain the use of a heavy machine gun. When deployed, in the sandbags, you may manouver with limited movement. The primary weapon is weaker than the secondary weapon, but you get the added bonus of being able to move around a lot more with the primary.

 

Technician

Cost: 0

Primary Weapon: Cordless Impact Drill

Secondary Weapons: Beretta Pistol, Pliers

Description: When you need repairs, but can't afford an engineer, the technician is your only choice. These guys were seen in the RA2 cutscenes as well as ingame as civilian units. When structures are repaired by an engineer in RA2, a sound of a drill can be heard so we decided to give a drill to the technician. This is a standard Allied industrial impact drill which is used to repair buildings as a steady rate. We may also add a melee attack to the drill, to increase the fun of using it. The Technician is also armed with a Beretta sidearm for self defence and a pair of pliers to defuse enemy bomb threats. Phear the techy rush :)

 

Advanced Infantry

 

Guardian GI

Cost: 400

Primary Weapon: Spectre SMG

Secondary Weapon: AT4 Rocket Launcher, (Deployed in metal shield)

Description: The Guardian GI functions much like the basic GI, but he fits more of an anti-armour/air role. When mobile the GGI carries a Spectre SMG. In RA2 he was meant to have the same primary weapon as the GI, but the graphics said otherwise, so we will get an SMG as opposed to a machine pistol/uzi. When the GGI deploys, he whips out an AT4 Rocket Launcher which he can use to cause angst to Soviet armour and air forces. unlike the GI, the GGI is uncrushable when deployed, giving him a massive advantage over enemy vehicles. Soviets better watch out when a group of these guys show up to crash the party (especially when in a battle fortress, eventually :D ).

 

Rocketeer

Cost: 600

Primary Weapon: High Velocity Rotary Mini-RPG Launcher

Description: The Allied Rocketeer is a fast and nimble unit that uses a jetpack to move around the battlefield. He is armed with a small rocket propelled grenade launcher that fires small grenades at high velocities, as seen in concept art here and here. Now, the rocketeer will work by pushing "Q" to toggle the jetpack on and off. You may have seen this already in C&C Reborn's infantry beta. The AR rocketeer will utilise some differant scripting that physically turns the rocketeer into a VTOL aircraft unit. This way, the Rocketeer can have a differant speed in the air than he does when walking on the ground, along with much less laggy, but more realistic flight physics. Cool huh? The Rocketeer is good for providing fire support, from above, on any kind of target.

 

Navy SEAL

Cost: 1000

Primary Weapon: MP5 SMG

Secondary Weapon: Timed C4 Explosives

Description: The Allied Navy SEAL is one of the most formiddable anti-infantry and anti-building units on the battlefield. The MP5 can be used to mow down enemy infantry at a decent rate without being overpowered. The SEAL is not equipped to take on vehicles so stay out of harms way. We are still playing around with concepts for the timed C4 (if possible, I'd like to have a timed remote C4 that only gets announced when the remote is activated and the bomb becomes live). SEAL's will be able to swim in later versions of the mod, but this feature will be kept back from the initial release.

 

Engineer

Cost: 500

Primary Weapon: Utility Case

Secondary Weapon: Beretta Pistol, Pliers.

Description: The Engineer's utility case is a powerful weapon which can be used to turn the tide of battle. It can be used to repair a significant amount of building health (click to repair), capture a building (deploy like a beacon), repair a bridge (click to repair) and completely restore the health of a building weakpoint (click to repair). I hope that, unlike APB, you will not have to rebuy your engineer after using the case, but the "reload" time will last for a significant amount of time. This is all yet to be tested out, so it may change. He may even be armed with a separate weapon for capturing tech structures, but we'll see. The Engineer will also carry a Beretta sidearm for self defence and a pair of pliers to defuse enemy bomb threats.

 

<h4>Soviet Infantry</h4>

Basic Infantry

 

Conscript

Cost: 0

Primary Weapon: PPSH-41

Secondary Weapon: Powder Bomb?

Description: The Soviet Conscript is the most common commie infantry unit seen around the battlefield. He utilises a PPSH-41 machine gun to dispose of his foes. This weapon fires fast and if fairly innacurate. The conscript has a longer range than the undeployed GI, but a shorter range than the deployed GI. This also applies for weapon damage. A little idea I want to throw out here is the use of a powder bomb for the Conscript, as seen on the live action costume, here (it's the round black bomb thing). I'm not sure what you guys think of this, so I'm throwing it out as a potential idea.

 

Technician

Cost: 0

Primary Weapon: Gas Powered Welder

Secondary Weapons: Some form of Soviet Pistol, Pliers

Description: When you need repairs, but can't afford an engineer, the technician is your only choice. These guys were seen in the RA2 cutscenes as well as ingame as civilian units. To emphasise the working class nature of the soviets, we have chosen to give the Soviet Technician a heavy, gas powered welder. This welder can be used to steadily repair friendly structures as well as the potential ability to burn enemies who get too close. The Technician is also armed with a sidearm for self defence and a pair of pliers to defuse enemy bomb threats.

 

Advanced Infantry

 

Flak Trooper

Cost: 300

Primary Weapon: Portable Flak Cannon

Description: Effective against both ground and air units, the Flak Trooper boasts a flak cannon that can fire explosive rounds of standard flak to attack air and ground targets. The primary fire is an arced shot that has a lot of splash damage that is best suited against ground units. The secondary fire is a high velocity straight shot that is only effective against aircraft and rocketeers with their jetpacks enabled. Flak troopers fit a good anti-air role, since they are not very effective against vehicles and buildings.

 

Tesla Trooper

Cost: 500

Primary Weapon: Tesla "Glove"

Description: The Soviet Tesla Trooper is proof that Tesla technology has the potential to be used in all forms of ground-based combat. The Tesla Trooper fires a powerful electric charge from his right arm which is highly effective against infantry, vehicles and, to an extent, structures. The Tesla Trooper can also charge up Tesla Coils to give them better range and attack power, as well as enebling them to operate in low power situations. I am unsure on how this will work right now, but I'll be sure to knock a video up for you guys when we get it working. The Tesla Trooper cannot be crushed by vehicles (apart from the battle fortress). Another feature we are going to be debating for the Tesla Trooper is the electro knuckle sandwich attack. Basically it means that he is going to be able to punch the allies with that massive right arm of his. I'd like your input on this, since I think it'd be pretty fun to have xD

 

Crazy Ivan

Cost: 600

Primary Weapon: Anti-unit dynamite

Secondary Weapon: Timed Anti-Building Dynamite, Pistol, Knife?

Description: The Soviet demolitions expert, or Crazy Ivan as he is known, attacks by lobbing sticky dynamite at the enemy. Dynamite can be stuck to anything, including friendly units, cows (eventually) and anything else you can think of. The smaller charges will be infinite in quantity, and effective against all manner of units, but not as effective against structures. That's where the Timed Demo Packs come in. These charges, built from vast amounts of dynamite (and coloured with Ivan's own insignia) will be highly effective against all manner of structures, including bridges. Ivan is also armed with a sidearm for close engagements and also has the potential to wield a knife, as seen in this concept.

 

Engineer

Cost: 500

Primary Weapon: Utility Case

Secondary Weapon: Some form of Soviet Pistol, Pliers.

Description: The Engineer's utility case is a powerful weapon which can be used to turn the tide of battle. It can be used to repair a significant amount of building health (click to repair), capture a building (deploy like a beacon), repair a bridge (click to repair) and completely restore the health of a building weakpoint (click to repair). I hope that, unlike APB, you will not have to rebuy your engineer after using the case, but the "reload" time will last for a significant amount of time. This is all yet to be tested out, so it may change. He may even be armed with a separate weapon for capturing tech structures, but we'll see. The Engineer is also armed with a sidearm for self defence and a pair of pliers to defuse enemy bomb threats.

 

<h3>Flag Pole</h3>

Poggel modelled us up a generic flag pole (as seen in RA2!) which we can place around our maps. This will be included in the mapper's object pack when we release the mapping tools for AR.

 

Check it out below!

 

Referance

cucufgl%200000.png

 

Clay Render

Flag_Pole_Clay-1.png

 

Render with Materials

Flag_Pole-1.png

 

<h3>9th Conferance Overview</h3>

Here is the overview to the 9th AR conferance, brought to you by the Hero from Hungary! Yes! It's dtrngd!

 

The conference was a littlebit long, but successful.

Conclusion:

-We will have sounds when buying vehicles. Your whole team will hear it, but a few vehicles, for example the Kirov Airship and the Lybian Demolition Truck will get global announcement when bought.

This helps teamwork a bit too, imagine two players buying Rhino tanks for example, then the rest of the team, when hearing the buy sounds, might join the attack.

 

-IFV now can only carry 1 player inside, deploy delay timer is removed. Turning mode is to be decided for now.

 

-Per infantry "boinks" are not possible. So we can't have every infantry have a separate "boink" sound. Per infantry dying sounds are possible though and will be put in.

 

-From now on, TruYuri and TheBeerinator are responsible for muzzle flashes, and emitter stuff.

 

-The website should be up during the summer holiday.

 

<h3>Team Notices</h3>

I'm free of college. I have around one exam a week though. Don't expect to see me around IRC and places this weekend. I'm off to a house party today to drink, have fun and drink some more. Viva la' Alcoholicion!

 

cfehunter got APB working on Wine! If you have linux and are missing out on the fun, get him to link you to the tutorial (which I can't seem to find right now).

 

TheBeerinator survived a tornado!

 

Exams = No Fun

 

<h3>OWA's Random Section</h3>

Red Alert 3 is looking pretty cool at the moment. Especially looking at this thread, where drunkill has posted up a video to the first real walkthrough of the game as such. The graphics really like to glow bright when lots of things are happening, which rocks! Kudos to EA for bringing us RA2-style graphics, but in 3d!

 

A shout also goes out to Aaron "Apoc" Kaufman, who does a lot of work to get guys like us, APB and Reborn mentioned on the official C&C site and to tell the world thatfanatics like us exist! :thumbsup:

 

Check it out here.

 

Also here's an awesome video I found on youtube for you Metal Gear Solid fans. Totally epic!

 

<center><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfInFGJRCbY&hl=en"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfInFGJRCbY&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfInFGJRCbY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></center>

 

<h3>Tada!</h3>

That's your lot.

 

Next Wednesday will be more stuff (as usual)!

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Guest Allie29

I'd say no to the powdered bomb for the conscript, yes to the knife for Ivan. While the powdered bomb would give the conscript an ability that (I think) he shouldn't have, the Ivan knife is more of a "lolknifed" kind of weapon since he already has a pistol.

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Guest Glaedr

Didnt you have an idea at one time to have seperate installers, a cel-shaded and a non cel-shaded? With them both being completely compatible with each other? im all for that, i like cel-shading!

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Guest MuadDib15

Cel shaders ftw.

 

no to bomb, yes to knife, i love bfs ((battle fortresses)+lvl3 GGIs+seal+lvl3 GI)*6=mass pwnage

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Guest Kakashi

SHADE THE CELLS!!11!1! *runs out into the cold rain to shout 'hooray for cel-shading!!'*

 

...

 

Err yeah... Okay, now to the more serious part: Limited Grenades - Yes, altough I'd like that to be tested before made final.

Knifes - Yes, why not? In fact I wouldn't mind that being standard issue for all inf (Or crowbars, crowbars rule... Yeah I've been poulted by Halflife and it's mods. Sue me :D... or better: don't)

 

As for that Pole, could you script it so the flag is being hoiseted with the flag of the nation you're from when you're around it? Or maybe when you poke ith with the "use" button? Lol I see "Capture the flags for resources" coming with these.

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Guest EVA-251

Cel Shading- Hell no.

Powder Bombs- Hell no.

Tesla Trooper Arm Melee- Hell yes!

Ivan Knife- Maybe.

 

And as for the whole Rocketeer deal, it worries me, to see you guys considering concepts and maybes over what is really in the game. It reminds me of another similar standalone...

 

First

[JUMPJET]

Primary=20mm

 

[Ore Truck]

Primary=20mmRapid

 

[20mm]

Damage=25

ROF=30

Range=5

Projectile=Invisible3

Speed=100

Warhead=SSA

Report=RocketeerAttack

 

[20mmRapid]

Damage=30

ROF=20

Range=5.5

Projectile=InvisibleLow

Speed=100

Warhead=HARVWH

Report=WarMinerAttack

Anim=GUNFIRE

 

;super AP shot

[sSA]

;CellSpread=.3

;PercentAtMax=.5

Verses=100%,100%,70%,60%,40%,40%,75%,50%,25%,100%,100%

InfDeath=1

AnimList=PIFFPIFF,PIFFPIFF

;Bright=yes

Bullets=yes

ProneDamage=50%

 

[HARVWH]

;CellSpread=.3

;PercentAtMax=.5

Verses=100%,80%,70%,50%,20%,20%,20%,15%,10%,200%,100%

InfDeath=1

AnimList=PIFFPIFF,PIFFPIFF

;Bright=yes

Bullets=yes

ProneDamage=50%

 

All of that mumbo-jumbo boils down to this- The Rocketeer had a bullet weapon in RA2 and not a grenade launcher of any sort.

 

-PIFFPIFF is a machine-gun type bullet impact animation.

-SSA is a small arms weapon warhead, and is shared with the deployed GI.

-RocketeerAttack points to a bullet weapon sound effect.

-ROCK.SHP, the SHP for the Rocketeer, shows what appears to be a bullet type weapon firing.

 

The flag-pole looks fine, and I am sure it will look better with a flag on it. :p

 

And if possible, you should make it impossible to allow mode changes for advanced infantry classes in IFVs. GIs and Technicians should be the only ones able to switch modes (don't depress me anymore by saying that the Techie will provide an IFV mode). I'd find it quite...inconvenient to have that elite SEAL IFV switch over to its insane, building slaughtering, Kirov-downing 4-missile pod after gunning down 3/4ths of my team.

 

EDIT- To clarify things, I meant H A R V, not ORE TRUCK

Edited by EVA-251
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Guest Deadpikle

If the cell shading is anything like the SS I've seen and doesn't slow the game down much/any, I say all for it!!

^_^

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Guest =NX=VinGummi2

yes to cel-shading

 

yes to all those melee attack (the knife, the TT punch thingie and wahtever else ther was I forgot)

hmm how will that powder bomb work?

 

and lol that clay render of the flag the bushes looks like snowballs xD

 

but well yeah AWESOME blog

 

And as for the whole Rocketeer deal, it worries me, to see you guys considering concepts and maybes over what is really in the game. It reminds me of another similar standalone...

like APB?

Edited by =NX=VinGummi2
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Guest Trevelian

Epic blogg, as always

 

Cel Shading- Hell no.

Powder Bombs- Hell no.

Tesla Trooper Arm Melee- Hell yes!

Ivan Knife- Maybe.

 

I support all of those, you can never have enough humiliating ways to kill people :p

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smoke bomb = no

testla arm punch = yes

crazy ivan knife = yes

cel shading = i like the idea about haveing both cel-shaded and non-cel-shaded in the installer

 

and question - if the Soviets steal a battle fortress will there units work in it or will the allies weapons stay intact?

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First

All of that mumbo-jumbo boils down to this- The Rocketeer had a bullet weapon in RA2 and not a grenade launcher of any sort.

 

 

Know what's funny about that? I originally setup the Rocketeer with a bullet type weapon and everyone screamed and cried and moaned about it, hence we went with the concept art grenade launcher thing. Plus his firing sound from RA2 does kinda sound more like an RPG launcher than a gun.

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sounds like its gonna be epic

 

as for cel shadeing for the game, it could lead to 2 ways, great fun or great eye sore. but who knows it might work, i was sceptical about zelda doing it, then i played it and it was epic! so i'll say go for it with the cel shadeing :D

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Guest =NX=VinGummi2

Know what's funny about that? I originally setup the Rocketeer with a bullet type weapon and everyone screamed and cried and moaned about it, hence we went with the concept art grenade launcher thing. Plus his firing sound from RA2 does kinda sound more like an RPG launcher than a gun.

so far I remember it was first an rocket then a MG then a grenade >_>

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so far I remember it was first an rocket then a MG then a grenade >_>

 

 

There were a few in between the uber-MG and the current grenade setup that the testers never saw, and neither did most of the staff. IIRC OWA and myself were discussing it on MSN for a few hours running through various permutations and that's how we ended up with the grenade launcher setup.

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Guest M1941

Im kinda curious why theres an absolute lack of rifles of any kind available to infantry. Is this something implied from the RA2 guide Ive missed or is there another reason?

 

Otherwise nifty stuff the techies will be a lot of fun to play it seems and I'm sincerely looking forward to Ivans carnage.

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Guest MuadDib15

Yes to tesla arm punch. and I waver on the powder bombs.

 

If you want this to be a mod, make it different from APB. We want new and inventive things so that people who play it aren't like "OMG ITS A SPED UP APB CLONE WITH DIFFERENT STUFF!!" So don't make it like *Reborn which has new infantry and some cool spy and building stuff that will be coming out in the next patch, or like *APB's MUST STICK TO CANNON, NO DEVIATIONS ALLOWED PERIOD!!, do something different with the units them selves.

 

 

*this is not to start a shit fest.

Edited by MuadDib15
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Guest Allie29

The whole point of the unit list was to show it is neither APB nor Reborn, but its own self with its own style.

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Guest Pyrodaimon

Crazy knife = yes

Cel Shading = yes

Vodka bomb = I just hope it tastes as good as regular bottle vodka.

Tesla Lightning Fist = Hell yeah! It's awesome and will avoid players shooting themselves with lightning when they're aiming at a close range enmy soldier.

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Guest HitmanUltra

No one asking questions? I guess I will!

 

 

How easy is it to head shot deployed GI/GGIs? I just fear they might turn out to be underused when slightly experienced players can HS their deployed mode with ease.

 

What if Guardian GIs get head-shotted by tanks when they are deployed?

 

Will the rocketeer grenades be anti vehicle or infantry? Is the damage somewhat similar to the APB grenadier?

 

Engineers capturing buildings? OMGWTFBBQ, explain!

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Guest Deadpikle

OWA

Will the cell-shading be available to those without shader capabilities? I didn't think of that ealier.

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